<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Good question, David!<div>Not a matter of phonetics or morphology, though. </div><div>Possibly a simple pragmatic phenomenon where predictable elements, especially topics, can be left unspoken. </div><div>Common in many languages. </div><div>Not considered “grammatical” in English, but maybe English is changing. <br><br><div dir="ltr">Randy</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On 2 Nov 2022, at 9:23 AM, Matthew Dryer <dryer@buffalo.edu> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thrasher in his dissertation discusses many examples that are not truncated questions:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#525960">(1.16) <i><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Gotta go now.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#525960">(1.17) <i><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">See you next Tuesday.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#525960">(1.18) <i><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Too bad about old Charlie.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#525960">(1.19) <i><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">No need to get upset about it</span></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Ian Maddieson <ianm@berkeley.edu><br>
<b>Date: </b>Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 8:11 PM<br>
<b>To: </b>David Gil <gil@shh.mpg.de><br>
<b>Cc: </b>lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org <lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [Lingtyp] query: 1st syllable deletion<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I’m struck by the fact that most of the English examples cited are truncated questions, where intonation<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">may signal the sentence type, so the V/S inversion is redundant. I can think of quite a few examples,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">such as “Going home?”, “Making a pie?”, “Raining again?”, even “Drink?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Ian <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">On Nov 1, 2022, at 03:58, David Gil <<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Nice examples, Cat. Though if the gist of these examples is to suggest that deletion can apply to two syllables and not just to one, then I would offer an possible alternative analysis whereby your two sentences
involve the deletion of a reduced monosyllable, applying to forms such as<br>
<br>
[zðæt] feel good, baby?<br>
[jə] have any luck?<br>
<br>
I look forward to reading the Gerken article mentioned by Adam, which seems to capture my intuitions that whatever is going on here is at least partly of a phonological nature.<br>
<br>
David<br>
<br>
On 01/11/2022 11:30, Cat Butz wrote:<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">To me, it feels more like a morphosyntactic thing rather than a phonological one. Consider e.g.<br>
<br>
(Does that) Feel good, baby?<br>
(Did you) Have any luck?<br>
<br>
---<br>
Cat Butz (she/they)<br>
HHU Düsseldorf, General Linguistics<br>
Institute of Language and Information<br>
<br>
Cat Butz (sie)<br>
HHU Düsseldorf, Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft<br>
Institut für Sprache und Information<br>
<br>
<br>
Am 2022-10-28 14:11, schrieb David Gil:<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Dear all,<br>
<br>
English seems to have a rule which, under particular conditions,<br>
allows for the first syllable of an utterance to be deleted. The<br>
first example below is from a movie that I saw last night, the next<br>
two are made up:<br>
<br>
(1) (What) The fuck happened to you?<br>
<br>
(2) (Are) You going home yet?<br>
<br>
(3) (I) Think it's gonna rain<br>
<br>
And there's also the formulaic "Wish you were here".<br>
<br>
My questions:<br>
<br>
1. Has anybody written about this? Seems like it could be interesting<br>
for a number of reasons.<br>
<br>
2. Are there similar phenomena in other languages? (Haven't seen<br>
anything like it in the other languages I happen to be familiar with.)<br>
<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<br>
David<br>
<br>
-- <br>
David Gil<br>
<br>
Senior Scientist (Associate)<br>
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution<br>
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology<br>
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">Email: gil@shh.mpg.de</a><br>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713<br>
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><br>
-- <br>
David Gil<br>
<br>
Senior Scientist (Associate)<br>
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution<br>
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology<br>
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">Email: gil@shh.mpg.de</a><br>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713<br>
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302<br>
<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Times;color:black">Ian Maddieson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Times;color:black">Department of Linguistics<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Times;color:black">University of New Mexico<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Times;color:black">MSC03-2130<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Times;color:black">Albuquerque NM 87131-0001<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Times;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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