Innovation in functional categories:slash, a new coordinator in English

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the distribution and syntactic behavior of the English expressionslash, as inJohn is a linguist slash musician. The interpretation of this ‘effableslash’ is largely equivalent to intersectiveand, but it differs from other connective devices like Latincum, N–N compounding and the orthographic slash </>. A corpus study of American English finds thatslashis productive in this use. Its syntactic properties confirm its status as coordinator, but it is distinguished from standard coordinatorsandandor, in that it imposes category restrictions on the conjuncts: it cannot coordinate full clauses or noun phrases with determiners. I propose that words likeslash,periodandquoteform a class of ‘effable punctuation’ that entered the spoken language from writing. In sum, by incorporatingslashinto the grammar of English, I argue thatslashis a rare example of innovation in a ‘very closed’ functional category.