<div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">Hi David,</div>Jespersen got there first -- he called it prosiopesis.<div dir="auto">As for the initial "the fuck" construction you saw in a movie, there's a series called The Deuce that has this construction constantly. (Great show, by the way.) But it didn't sound like anything I'd heard, which left me 2 mulling possibilities:</div><div dir="auto">(1) There's an authentic dialect of NYC American English I don't know, or</div><div dir="auto">(2) The writers encountered the construction, "The fuck you are!", and over-generalized it in a questionable direction (dialectologically speaking).</div><div dir="auto">It would be cool if (1) was true, but I'd want to hear what those in the know have to say. </div><div dir="auto">Best,</div><div dir="auto">Jack</div><div dir="auto"><br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="auto">==============================<br>John W. Du Bois<br>Professor of Linguistics <br>University of California, Santa Barbara<br>Santa Barbara, California 93106<br>USA<br><a href="mailto:dubois@ucsb.edu">dubois@ucsb.edu</a></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 3:11 PM David Gil <<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Dear all,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">English
seems to have <span> </span>a rule
which, under particular
conditions, allows for the first syllable of an utterance to be
deleted.<span> </span>The first
example below is from a movie that
I saw last night, the next two are made up:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">(1) (What) The
fuck happened to you?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">(2) (Are) You
going home yet?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">(3) (I) Think
it's gonna rain</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And there's
also the formulaic "Wish you were here".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">My
questions:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1. Has
anybody written about this? Seems like it could be interesting<span> </span>for a number of reasons.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">2. Are there
similar phenomena in other languages? (Haven't seen anything
like it in the other
languages I happen to be familiar with.)<span>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Thanks,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">David</span></p>
<p>
</p>
<pre cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
Email: <a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
</pre>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
Lingtyp mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br>
<a href="https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a><br>
</blockquote></div>