Ellipsis (linguistics)

Ellipsis (linguistics)

In the grammar of a sentence, an elliptical construction is a construction that lacks an element that is, nevertheless, recoverable or inferable from the context [http://www.sil.org/linguistics/glossaryoflinguisticterms/WhatIsAnEllipticalConstruction.htm] . The elliptical construction is a sequence of words in which some words have been omitted. Because of the logic or pattern of the entire sentence, it is easy to infer what the missing words are.( [http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000331.htm] ).

Example: "Fire when ready." (In the sentence, "you are" is understood, as in "Fire when you are ready.").

Elliptical constructions can often be used in dialog to shorten what is being said.

Ellipsis in Linguistics

Varieties of ellipsis have long formed a central explicandum for linguistic theory, since elliptical phenomena seem to be able to shed light on basic questions of form-meaning correspondence: in particular, the usual mechanisms of grasping a meaning from a form seem to be bypassed or supplanted in the interpretation of elliptical structures, ones in which there is meaning without form.

In generative linguistics, the term "ellipsis" has been applied to a range of phenomena in which a perceived interpretation is fuller than that which would be expected based solely on the presence of linguistic forms. Central examples drawn from English include sluicing as in (1), verb phrase ellipsis (VP-ellipsis) as in (2), and noun phrase ellipsis (NP-ellipsis or N’-ellipsis) as in (3).

: (1) John can play something, but I don’t know what.: (2) John can play the guitar; Mary can, too.: (3) John can play five instruments, and Mary can play six.

In each case, the second clause can be understood as in (4)-(6).

: (4) John can play something, but I don’t know what John can play.: (5) John can play the guitar and Mary can play the guitar, too.: (6) John can play five instruments, and Mary can play six instruments.

These three kinds of ellipsis are distinguished as well by the fact that distributional facts lead us to expect to find structural elements corresponding to the perceived interpretations: wh-phrases as in (1) require clausal sources, modals like "can" in (2) take VP complements, and determiner-like elements such as "six" in (3) require NP complements. In other words, selectional and subcategorization properties of particular elements require us to posit elided structures in (1)-(3), if these properties are uniform across the grammar.

Ellipsis has further been invoked in a range of other constructions, such as stripping (or bare argument ellipsis) in (7), gapping in (8), fragment answers in (9), as well as a host of other cases that fall under the general rubric of ‘conjunction reduction’:

: (7) John can play the guitar, {and Mary, too/and Mary as well/but not Mary}. John can play the guitar better than Mary.: (8) John can play the guitar, and Mary the violin. John can play the guitar better than Mary the violin.: (9) Q: Who can play the guitar? A: (Not) John.

In addition to these structures, the term ‘ellipsis’ covers a potential multitude of distinct phenomena as it is used in general parlance, most of which are of little linguistic interest, or whose connection to the types seen above is oblique at best (such as ellipsis).

In the grammar of a sentence, an "elliptical clause" (a form of elliptical construction) is a clause in which some words have been omitted. Because of the logic or pattern of the entire sentence, it is easy to infer what the missing words are.

Some examples of elliptical clauses are as follows:
*Example: "Jessica had five dollars; Monica, three." (The verb "had" was omitted at the comma).
*Example: "What if I miss the deadline?" (The verb phrase "will happen" was omitted, as in "What will happen if I miss the deadline").

Elliptical clauses can often be used in dialog to shorten what is being said.

ee also

*verb phrase ellipsis, about the elliptical construction in which verb phrases are omitted.
*sluicing, about an elliptical construction in which most of a clause is missing.
*ellipsis, about the orthographic usage rules for '...'.

References

* [http://www.sil.org/linguistics/glossaryoflinguisticterms/WhatIsAnEllipticalConstruction.htm SIL]
* [http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000331.htm English Plus]

External links

* [http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000331.htm Elliptical clause] at English Plus
* [http://tameri.com/edit/phrases.html Phrases and clauses] at Tameri Guide for Writers


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • ellipsis — UK [ɪˈlɪpsɪs] / US noun [uncountable] Word forms ellipsis : singular ellipsis plural ellipses UK [ɪˈlɪpsiːz] / US [ɪˈlɪpˌsɪz] linguistics the practice of leaving a word or words out of a sentence when they are not necessary for understanding it …   English dictionary

  • ellipsis — [[t]ɪlɪ̱psɪs[/t]] N UNCOUNT In linguistics, ellipsis means leaving out words rather than repeating them unnecessarily; for example, saying I want to go but I can t instead of I want to go but I can t go . [TECHNICAL] …   English dictionary

  • ellipsis — el|lip|sis [ ı lıpsıs ] (plural el|lip|ses [ ı lıp,siz ] ) noun uncount LINGUISTICS the practice of leaving a word or words out of a sentence when they are not necessary for understanding it …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Cohesion (linguistics) — Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationship within a text or sentence. Cohesion can be defined as the links that hold a text together and give it meaning. It is related to the broader concept of coherence There are two main types of… …   Wikipedia

  • Compound (linguistics) — In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes (the other word formation process being derivation). Compounding… …   Wikipedia

  • Verb phrase ellipsis — In linguistics, verb phrase ellipsis (or VPE for short) is an elliptical construction in which the verb of a sentence or utterance has been left out (ellided). In most cases the verb is able to be inferred by the listener through prior linguistic …   Wikipedia

  • Scheme (linguistics) — In linguistics, scheme is a figure of speech that changes the normal arrangement of words in a sentence s structure. A good example of a playwright who was notorious for his use of schemes and tropes was William Shakespeare ( Romeo and Juliet ,… …   Wikipedia

  • Null morpheme — In morpheme based morphology, a null morpheme is a morpheme that is realized by a phonologically null affix (an empty string of phonological segments). In simpler terms, a null morpheme is an invisible affix. It is also called a zero morpheme;… …   Wikipedia

  • LINGUISTIC LITERATURE, HEBREW — This article is arranged according to the following outline: introduction foreword the beginning of linguistic literature linguistic literature and its background the development of linguistic literature Foreword: A Well Defined Unit the four… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Эллипсис — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Эллипсис (значения). Эллипсис (от др. греч. ἔλλειψις  недостаток) в лингвистике  намеренный пропуск слов, несущественных для смысла выражения. Используется и как риторическая фигура… …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”