Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:37:32.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Noun ellipsis in English: adjectival modifiers and the role of context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2011

CHRISTINE GÜNTHER
CHRISTINE GÜNTHER*
Affiliation:
Institut für Deutsche Sprache, R5, 6-13, D-68161 Mannheim, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article analyses adjectival modification in elliptical NPs based on a corpus analysis. It illustrates the fact that descriptive adjectives can be used without nominal heads in English. Whereas in spoken language adjectives denoting more inherent properties feature prominently when the referents are present in the text-external world, no particular types of adjectives appear in written language. In terms of the latter, two major types of linguistic contexts are identified which do not require the use of a nominal head. It is argued that a conception of ‘contrast’ as a ‘non-identity’ condition cannot account for the variation between one-replacement and noun ellipsis since it holds for both phenomena. Similarly, partitivity is argued not to be a relevant requirement for the use of adjectives without nouns.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 15 , Issue 2: The structure of the noun phrase in English: synchronic and diachronic explorations , July 2011 , pp. 279 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexiadou, Artemis & Gengel, Kirsten. Forthcoming. NP ellipsis without focus movement/projections: The role of classifiers. Proceedings of Interface Based Approaches to Information Structure.Google Scholar
Bouchard, Denis. 2002. Adjectives, number and interfaces: Why languages vary. Amsterdam: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, Deborah. 1985. The structure and function of one-anaphora in English. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W. 1982. Where have all the adjectives gone? And other essays in semantics and syntax. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eguren, Luis. 2010. Contrastive focus and nominal ellipsis in Spanish. Lingua 120 (22), 435–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gengel, Kirsten. 2007. Focus and ellipsis. PhD dissertation, University of Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia & Stavrou, Melita. 1999. Nominalization and ellipsis in the Greek DP. Linguistic Review 16 (44), 295–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, Michael & Hasan, Ruqaiya. 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Huddleston, Rodney & Pullum, Geoffrey et al. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Michael Allan. 1993. Sardinian syntax. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Llombart-Huesca, Amalia. 2002. Anaphoric one and NP-ellipsis. Studia Linguistica 56 (1), 59–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobeck, Anne. 1995. Ellipsis: Functional heads, licensing and identification. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molnár, Valéria. 2006. On different kinds of contrast. In Molnár, Valéria & Winkler, Susanne (eds.), The architecture of focus, 197–233. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molnár, Valéria & Winkler, Susanne. 2010. Edges and gaps: Contrast at the interfaces. Lingua 120 (6), 1392–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ntelitheos, Dimitris. 2004. The syntax of elliptical and discontinuous nominals. MA dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Payne, John & Huddleston, Rodney. 2002. Nouns and noun phrases. In Huddleston & Pullum et al., 323–523.Google Scholar
Repp, Sophie. 2010. Defining ‘contrast’ as an information structural notion in grammar. Lingua 120 (6), 1333–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rijkhoff, Jan. 2002. The noun phrase. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rijkhoff, Jan. 2008. Descriptive and discourse-referential modifiers in a layered model of the noun phrase. Linguistics 46 (4): 789–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sleeman, Petra. 1996. Licensing empty nouns in French. PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Stirling, Lesley & Huddleston, Rodney. 2002. Deixis and anaphora. In Huddleston & Pullum et al., 1449–566.Google Scholar
Valois, Daniel & Royle, Phaedra. 2009. Partitivity, atomization, and noun-drop: A longitudinal study of French child language. Language Acquisition 16 (2), 82–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar