The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of EllipsisA primary goal of contemporary theoretical linguistics is to develop a theory of the correspondence between sound (or gesture) and meaning. This sound-meaning correspondence breaks down completely in the case of ellipsis, and yet various forms of ellipsis are pervasive in natural language: words and phrases which should be in the linguistic signal go missing. How this should be possible is the focus of Jason Merchant's investigation. He focuses on the form of ellipsis known as sluicing, a common feature of interrogative clauses, such as in Sally's out hunting - guess what ; and Someone called, but I can't tell you who. It is the most frequently found cross-linguistic form of ellipsis. Dr Merchant studies the phenomenon across 24 languages, and attempts to explain it in linguistic and behavioural terms. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Islands and FormIdentity | 3 |
II | 9 |
The Syntax of Sluicing | 41 |
86 | 67 |
Deletio nata atque mortua | 117 |
Deletio redux | 167 |
and Subjects | 185 |
Conclusion | 230 |
Other editions - View all
The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis Jason Merchant No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
3-type shifting Abby called anaphora Anna antecedent IP Antecedent-Contained Deletion argument assume Balkan language base-generated c-commanded called an idiot Chapter Chung cleft clitics COMP-trace complementizer conjunct constraints contrast correlate deaccented DegP deleted IP discussion Dutch e-GIVEN E-type effects elements elided Elke ellipsis site elliptical embedded English entails examples existential closure extraction F-marking fact feature Fiengo Focus condition form-identity Frisian German given grammatical Greek Hindi hire someone I.know identity indefinite interpretation islands isomorphism condition kind left-branch license Linguistic Lobeck Marx brothers movement null IP overt P-stranding parallel Peter phrase pied-piping pjon possible predicate preposition preposition stranding problem proposed prosodic question R-expressions relative clauses relevant requires resumptive pronoun Romero Rooth Ross Sauerland semantic sluiced wh-phrase someone who speaks speaks a Balkan SpecCP structural isomorphism syntactic syntax talk theory tion trace ungrammaticality variable vehicle change verb VP-ellipsis wh-movement who.NOM