Ellipsis Phenomena Research Articles

Verb‐echo answers in Japanese do not call for syntactic head movement: Arguments for a pragmatic account*

AbstractThis paper tackles the issue of whether syntactic head movement exists in Japanese. Sato & Hayashi (2018) and Sato & Maeda (2021) propose that Verb‐Echo Answers (VEAs), an instance of fragment answers, in Japanese are derived via the so‐called Verb‐stranding TP‐Ellipsis (VTPE; i.e., TP‐ellipsis accompanied by verb‐raising to C), thereby claiming that head movement exists in Japanese as a syntactic operation. In response, this paper argues that pro and Argument Ellipsis (AE) in Japanese sufficiently account for the key observations presented in their works. Specifically, a careful examination of the discourse in each question‐answer pair reveals that the seemingly problematic scope patterns in VEAs do not call for the VTPE analysis. We also show that the unacceptability of voice mismatches in VEAs can be explained by a discourse‐based analysis within the Question Under Discussion framework. Further, we provide an extensive discussion on the alleged evidence against the pro/AE analysis concerning adjunct‐inclusive readings. We show that negative scope reversal effects, which Sato & Maeda (2021) argue occur in VTPE, do not occur between adjuncts and negation in the novel data. Given this, we discuss possible ways to account for the availability of adjunct‐inclusive readings in VEAs with no recourse to VTPE, and suggest avenues for future research. The proposed analyses of VEAs shed new light on intriguing aspects of ellipsis phenomena, which involve complex interactions between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Negative concord in fragments: Reexamining the evidence against the negativity of negation markers

I argue that particular restrictions on the recoverability of elided negation in fragment answers in negative-concord languages follow from the semantics of questions. Drawing parallels with other ellipsis phenomena, I also highlight the role of Agree in making certain heads recoverable. This invalidates a major argument against the analysis of negative-concord items as universal quantifiers scoping above negation.

The Phenomenon of Ellipsis in the Sample of Surah Ahzâb

İnsana Allah’la muhatap olmasını haklı kılan, dil gibi şerefine yakışır bir mucizenin verilmiş olması ve Kur’ân’ın dilinin Arapça olması bakımından Arap dili ve belâgatı büyük bir önemi haizdir. Vahyin dile dönüşümü olan Kur’an dilinin, ulûmü’l-Kur’ân ve dil bilimsel tefsir âlimlerine göre fesâhat ve belâgatı, anlam bilimsel boyutu, hikmetleri, îcâz gibi özel üslûbunda; lafız ve mânâ uyumunda, fevâsılındaki ses ve nazım uyumunda, sahip olduğu belâgatinde, edebî yönteminin üstünlüğünde ve nazirinin bulunmayışında kendini göstermektedir. Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’in, tevhit merkezli okunup fehmedilmesi, tefekkür edilmesi, hikmet ve esrarından kalplerin haberdar olması için vâkıf olunması gereken ilimlerin başında Arap dili ve belâgatı gelmektedir. Kur’ân dilindeki esrarı ve hikmeti anlamanın yollarından birisi olan îcâz konusu da belâgat merkezli bir konudur. Kur’ân’daki îcâz, onun gramerinden ziyade belâgatı, beyânı ve edebî yönüyle ilgilidir. Îcâzlarla dolu Kur’ân’ın mu‘ciz oluşunda, yegâne, tek ve inanılmaz bir üslûba sahip olmasında gerek hazif gerekse kısar şeklinde îcâzının payı büyüktür. Dolayısıyla Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’in esrarlı özelliklerinden birisi de makelemize konu edindiğimiz îcâz-ı hazif konusudur. Kur’ân-ı Kerîmin her sûre, âyet, cümle, kelime hatta her harfinde olduğu gibi Ahzâb sûresinde de bu anlamda birçok vecize ve gizem barındıran îcâz-ı hazif unsurları bulunmaktadır. İşte bu makalede, Ahzâb sûresindeki âyetler eşliğinde Kur’an-ı Kerîm’de îcâz-ı hazif konusu, anlama olan etki ve katkıları, anlamdaki yansımaları izah edilip anlatılmaktadır. Meânî ilminin anlam zenginliğini oluşturmadaki önemini yansıtan îcâz-ı hazfin konu edildiği bu makaleyle okurun; yüce kitabımız Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’deki hikem ve esrara vukûfiyetin, meânî ilmine vukûfiyetten geçtiğini, alelade meâl ve tefsir çalışmaları yerine filoloji ve ulûmü’l-Kur’ân açısından hazırlanmış tefsir ve meâl çalışmalarına müracaatın gerekliliğini, fark edebilmesi ümit edilmektedir. Bu çalışmanın Kur’ân meâl ve tefsir çalışmalarına katkı sunacağı düşünülmektedir. Ayrıca Kur’ân’ın yorumlanma açısından daha nesnel yorumlanmasına dolayısıyla daha iyi anlaşılmasına da yardımcı olacaktır. Çünkü îcâz çeşitleri, bir maksata mebni olarak yapıldıkları için anlam ve yorumlama boyutunda geniş bir perspektiften bakma imkânı sunabilmektedir. Genel olarak îcâz gibi anlam bilimsel incelikleri göz önünde bulundurmadan, onları etkin ve yetkin kılmadan yapılan çalışmalar birtakım sorunları da beraberinde getirmektedir. Bu problemlerden en önemli olanlarının ve hayatî önem taşıyanlarının başında ilâhî kelâmdaki hikmeti ve esrâr-ı ilâhîyi, letâfet, nezâfet ve mâna zenginliğini ortadan kaldırarak onlara itibar etmemek gelir. Bu çalışmanın amaçlarından bir tanesi de yukardaki problemleri ortadan kaldırmak için uygulamalı olarak Ahzâb sûresindeki îcâz-ı hazif örneklerinin anlamsal boyutta etki ve katkısını ortaya koymaktır. Ayrıca Kur’ân’ın dilsel ve edebî yönüne ulaşmanın ve âyetleri doğru anlamanın en insicamlı yollarından birinin meânî ilmi kısmına vâkıf olmaktan geçtiğini göstermektir. Çalışmamız iki bölümden oluşmaktadır. Birinci bölümde; Arapça’da sıkça rastlanan hazif olgusu ele alınacaktır. Bu bölümde hazfin kavramı, önemi, sebepleri, şartları, belâgî amaçları ve çeşitleri hakkında bilgi verilecektir. İkinci bölümde ise makalenin asıl konusunu oluşturan îcâz-ı hazif çeşitlerinin Ahzâb sûresinde tespit edilen şevâhiti hakkında bilgi verilecektir. Îcâz-ı hazif şevâhiti, hazfin çeşidine göre kısımlandırılarak âyetin ilgili kısmı alınıp hazfin nerede ve nasıl meydana geldiği, hazfedilen unsurun ne olduğu ve bu hazfin anlama olan etkisi ve yansıması üzerinde durularak izah edilmeye çalışılacaktır. Dil bilimcilerin ısrarla üzerinde durdukları hazif olgusunun ele alındığı bu çalışma ile hazif olgusunun îcâzın bir gereği olduğu ve şevâhit olarak getirilen misaller ve yapılan tahlil ile de hazif olgusunun Kur’an-ı Kerimde çok bulunduğu ve îcâzında büyük bir öneme sahip olduğu okura gösterilmeye çalışılacaktır.

Aggressively non-D-linked construction and ellipsis: A Direct Interpretation approach

The so-called aggressively non-D-linked construction (ANDC) involvingwh-the-hellphrases likewhat the hellis of empirical and theoretical interest due to its complex morphosyntactic and semantic/pragmatic properties. This paper focuses on the construction in general as well as in ellipsis phenomena. We first explore its grammatical properties on the basis of attested corpus data and show that the construction can occur more widely in elliptical constructions than suggested by previous literature. We then suggest that the licensing conditions of the ANDC in ellipsis are not solely syntax-based but due to tight interactions among a variety of grammatical components such as morphosyntax, semantics, and discourse/pragmatics. We also argue that the authentic uses of the construction favor a Direct Interpretation (DI) approach that can account for its uses in a variety of environments.

ANALISIS MAJAS ELIPSIS DALAM AL-QUR’AN DAN FRASA BAHASA ARAB

Ellipsis is one of the phenomena of language structure that occurs to display a meaning by not mentioning all the pronunciation elements. The phenomenon of ellipsis occurs in many languages, including Arabic. In Arabic, even an ellipsis seems to contain several unique patterns, among others: there is a mandatory ellipsis, some are allowed to have ellipsis, and some are not allowed to have ellipsis. Departing from this problem, the writer considers it necessary to express thoughts about ellipsis in Arabic and will begin with Arabic phrases. By using the library research method, which is then processed using an inductive or deductive approach, it is hoped that it can produce conclusions about various ellipsis patterns in the Qur'an and Arabic phrases. In this study, it was also found that ellipsis on the Qur'an and Arabic phrases, in general, can be done if it does not cause ambiguity in meaning. Another value of the ellipsis is for the efficiency of word use, and more focus on the intended meaning.

Неместоименные вопросительные предложения с прямым порядком слов в английском языке

The research objective includes revealing structural and functional peculiarities of non-pronominal interrogative sentences with the direct word order. The study is conducted by the material of the Spoken English Corpus. The author shows how mechanisms of word order violation in interrogative sentences correlate with the syntactic ellipsis phenomenon, which constitutes scientific originality of the paper. The research findings are as follows: the author suggests a structural-semantic classification of non-pronominal interrogative constructions with the direct word order taking into account the rheme marking function of an interrogative sentence.

Study of Inter-subjectivity in Japanese Ellipsis Phenomenon from the Language form of the Subject

Study of Inter-subjectivity in Japanese Ellipsis Phenomenon from the Language form of the Subject

Remarks on Rule H

Fox (2000) argues that a single principle, Rule H, can account for (i) Strong Crossover, (ii) the ban on using co-binding to sneak around Condition B, and (iii) the Dahl paradigm. The focus of this paper is Fox’s analysis of the Dahl paradigm. Though elegant and appealing, the analysis faces both conceptual and empirical problems. On the conceptual side, the analysis assumes that a bound pronoun within an elided VP must be bound in a structurally parallel configuration to its counterpart in the antecedent VP. This requirement does not follow from independently-motivated constraints on VP ellipsis. On the empirical side, Roelofsen (2011) has turned up additional ellipsis phenomena that do not pattern as Fox’s analysis predicts. I will argue that a relatively minor modification to Fox’s analysis suffices to solve both the conceptual and empirical problems. Taking inspiration from Kehler & Büring (2008), I increase the domain of application of Rule H to include syntactic structures which underlie Focus Semantic Values, so that Rule H acts as a filter on Focus Semantic Values. The only relevant constraint on VP ellipsis is an independently-motivated Rooth-style contrast constraint.

ELLIPSIS PHENOMENON IN SENTENCES FOUND IN NOVEL SHERLOCK HOLMES


 Abstract
 Ellipsis is one of phenomenon in language use. Traditionally, ellipsis is the grammar means that avoids repetitions, abandons the old information, highlights key words and make the context connected tightly. The structure of the sentence that occur ellipsis phenomenon of course will have changed and quite different with the common grammatical sentence which used the rules but still have same meaning.cNovel Sherlock Holmes was chosen as the data source of this research because there are a lot of type ellipsis phenomenon found. It mainly aimed at investigating types of ellipsis phenomenon occurred in the novel completed by showing the structure of constituent that construct the sentences in tree diagram. The discussion is not only in Syntax view point, this research also tries to describe the function of the ellipsis, because actually ellipsis is not only used for the speaker’s economy but it can have many other function such can remove ambiguity, can convey non-expressible aspect of meaning, can establish discourse coherence and contribute to a positive rapport with the hearer. The data focused on the sentences that got from narration and dialogs that found in a fictional private detective novel. The method of collecting the data used direct observation method by reading the novel which contains 1059 pages, then collected the sentences which occur ellipsis, checked the structure of the sentences while choosing some sentences that represent various sentence structure of elliptical phenomenon and functions based on theory used. After the data collected, they analyzed by some theories. The types of ellipsis phenomenon analyzed using Kiss and Alexiadou (2015) collected theories, then the structure investigated by Brown (1991) theory, and the function analyzed by Hendricks & Spenader (2005) theory.
 Keywords: Ellipsis phenomenon, type, syntactic structure, function.

The present paper investigates the Hijazi Arabic (HA) morphosyntactic properties of the widely known linguistic phenomenon of sluicing from a generative perspective, taking into account the latest advancements of the Minimalist Approach (Chomsky 1995, 2000, 2001). In this paper, sluicing is a linguistic phenomenon of deleting an entire TP clause, leaving only a wh-remnant. Adopting the Structural PF-Deletion approach, we

The present paper investigates the Hijazi Arabic (HA) morphosyntactic properties of the widely known linguistic phenomenon of sluicing from a generative perspective, taking into account the latest advancements of the Minimalist Approach (Chomsky 1995, 2000, 2001). In this paper, sluicing is a linguistic phenomenon of deleting an entire TP clause, leaving only a wh-remnant. Adopting the Structural PF-Deletion approach, we argue that HA employs sluicing and that the ellipsis site contains a fully-fledged syntactic structure that must be deleted at the PF level after the movement of the remnant to a higher CP. On a par with previous crosslinguistic ellipsis studies, the current study shows that ellipsis is permitted if and only if there is a specific head carrying some specific morphosyntactic properties occurring in a local relation to the ellipsis site. This specific head, with its morphosyntactic properties, licenses for the ellipsis phenomenon to occur. The head properties trigger the whword to move from its base-generated position to the specifier position of this particular head, i.e., Spec CP, and then delete all other constituents included within the TP.

Filling Conversation Ellipsis for Better Social Dialog Understanding

The phenomenon of ellipsis is prevalent in social conversations. Ellipsis increases the difficulty of a series of downstream language understanding tasks, such as dialog act prediction and semantic role labeling. We propose to resolve ellipsis through automatic sentence completion to improve language understanding. However, automatic ellipsis completion can result in output which does not accurately reflect user intent. To address this issue, we propose a method which considers both the original utterance that has ellipsis and the automatically completed utterance in dialog act and semantic role labeling tasks. Specifically, we first complete user utterances to resolve ellipsis using an end-to-end pointer network model. We then train a prediction model using both utterances containing ellipsis and our automatically completed utterances. Finally, we combine the prediction results from these two utterances using a selection model that is guided by expert knowledge. Our approach improves dialog act prediction and semantic role labeling by 1.3% and 2.5% in F1 score respectively in social conversations. We also present an open-domain human-machine conversation dataset with manually completed user utterances and annotated semantic role labeling after manual completion.

A choice function approach to null arguments

Recently, null arguments have been treated as an ellipsis phenomenon, derived by PF-deletion or LF-copy under some kind of identity requirements. Focusing on Japanese null arguments, this paper argues that they are base-generated empty nominals which are interpreted via choice functions. The functional approach is supported by cases involving intermediate scope readings, missing antecedents, and implicational bridging. A less standard case of Japanese null arguments anteceded by QPs is also discussed and shown to be amenable to the choice functional analysis supplemented by a general requirement of structural parallelism.

Ellipsis of terms of address and reference in casual communication events in Vietnamese

Abstract There is a general view that pro-drop only occurs in languages with either a ‘rich’ inflectional system (Taraldsen 1978; Chomsky 1981; Jaeggli 1982; Suñer 1982), or in languages whose pronouns are agglutinating for case, number, or other nominal feature (Huang 1989; Neeleman & Szendrői 2005). The Vietnamese language fits neither of these categories. The explanation of the phenomenon of ellipsis of terms of address and reference (toa) in this paper is, therefore, not based on these morphological grounds. Rather, it is presented from a pragmatic perspective, which employs discourse analysis as its major methodology. The paper attempts to demonstrate the fact that although Vietnamese is not a pro-drop language in its traditional definition, ellipsis of toa in casual communication events among Vietnamese speakers is very common, and highly situational. In other words, these elliptic items in this case are referred to as references “in a form of situational (exophoric) presupposition” (Halliday & Hasan 1976: 145).

The `ha-` Support Rule in Korean

The aim of this paper is to describe the grammatical aspects of ‘ha-’ support rule in Korean. The main points can be summarized as followings. Firstly, ‘ha-’ support rule is applied to various environments, including verbal repetition construction, embedded conjunction, so-called long form negation, and some kinds of ‘ha-’ constructions. Secondly, ‘ha-’ support rule applies at the level of syntactic component as well as phonological component. Thirdly, the syntactic categorial properties of ‘ha-’ in ‘ha-’ support rule can be explained in terms of the types of projection, especially by the existence of non-projecting heads. Lastly, the preference condition is required to explain the interaction between ‘ha-’ support rule and ellipsis phenomena, which says that the movement operation is preferred to the ellipsis operation.

Free versus bound variables and the taxonomy of gaps

Potts (Nat Lang Linguist Theory 20:623–689, 2002a) et seq. presents an analysis of gap-containing supplements (primarily, as-parentheticals) where the gap is modelled as a variable over the semantic type of the constituent that the as-clause adjoins to (the anchor). This much allows the meaning of the gap to be resolved purely compositionally, by defining as as a function that allows the anchor to bind the gap variable. This article presents a class of as-clauses where Potts’s analysis seems to break down, in that the gap cannot be modelled as a variable over the semantic type of the anchor. I propose that these cases can be unified with those in Potts’s work, as well as a larger class of ellipsis phenomena, by assuming that, under certain conditions, surface gaps are composite entities, containing a bound variable and a free variable that are resolved independently of each other. The bound variable is bound by the anchor (just as in Potts’s account), and the free variable is resolved by anaphora to a salient discourse object.

Ellipsis phenomenon statistics

Ellipsis phenomenon statistics

Ellipsis phenomenon statistics

Ellipsis phenomenon statistics

Bound Nouns, Ellipsis or Pro-form?

This paper argues that an alleged ellipsis phenomenon in Standard Japanese (Saito, Lin and Murasugi 2008, Maeda and Takahashi 2013, inter alia), in fact, involves a pro-form in line with Bae (2012) and Saruwatari (2015). The pro-form analysis is superior in that it explains not only Standard Japanese cases, but also Nagasaki Japanese and Korean phenomena (Bae 2012, Saruwatari 2015). Further, extending the proposal in Kim (2011), I claim that kes in Korean, no in Standard Japanese, and to in Nagasaki Japanese can be best analyzed by movement from N to small n, which is induced by grammaticalization process. This movement option has more explanatory power than Saruwatri (2015) given that those bound nouns show typical characteristic of grammaticalization.

NP-ellipsis: a comparative syntax of Japanese and Okinawan

Every language manifests ellipsis phenomena, but the mechanisms underlying them are not uniform (see Johnson 2001; Lobeck 2006; Merchant 2006). Regarding ellipsis within DP, it has been argued in the literature that Japanese allows so-called N′-deletion (hereafter NP-deletion; Jackendoff 1971, 1977; Saito and Murasugi 1990; Saito et al. 2008; Watanabe 2010, among others). This article argues, with abundant empirical evidence, that what has been considered to be NP-deletion in Japanese is indeed better analyzed as an instance of pronominalization with a light noun, followed by haplology. In contrast, I argue that Okinawan, a Ryukyuan language, does allow NP-deletion (in addition to pronominalization). One of the strongest pieces of evidence is that NP-ellipsis in Japanese, unlike in Okinawan and English, cannot target a [+human] NP. The availability of NP-deletion in Okinawan is theoretically expected given its richer agreement syntax.

Information structure, topic predictability and gradients in Korean case ellipsis: A probabilistic account

Lee, Hanjung. 2015. Information structure, topic predictability and gradients in Korean case ellipsis: A probabilistic account. Linguistic Research 32(3), 749-771. This paper examines previous characterizations of the phenomenon of case ellipsis in Korean in terms of the information status of argument NPs and provides empirical evidence for a probability-based account. Previous information structural accounts of case ellipsis tended to place exclusive importance on information structure and make a categorical distinction between case-marked and unmarked NPs based on their information status. However, evidence from experimental and conversation data demonstrates that judgments on case ellipsis are not categorical but gradient and that the frequency of argument ellipsis and case ellipsis for topic subjects and objects is correlated with the degree of topic predictability. This evidence supports the conclusion that both the effect of information structure and the gradient acceptability of case ellipsis can be explained in terms of probabilistic properties associated with argument NPs. (Sungkyunkwan University)