LF-copying without LF

A copying approach to ellipsis is presented, whereby the locus of copying is not a level of derived syntactic structure (LF), but rather the derivation itself. The ban on preposition stranding in sprouting follows without further stipulation, and other, seemingly structure sensitive, empirical generalizations about elliptical constructions, including the preposition stranding generalization, follow naturally as well. Destructive operations which 'repair' non-identical antecedents are recast in terms of exact identity of derivations with parameters. In the context of a compositional semantic interpretation scheme, the derivational copying approach to ellipsis presented here is revealed to be a particular instance of a proform theory, thus showing that the distinctions between, and arguments about, syntactic and semantic theories of ellipsis need to be revisited.