11.1880, Qs: "Be" Omission/Newscasts, Correction Re:Scarab

[The LINGUIST Network]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-11-1880. Thu Sep 7 2000. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 11.1880, Qs: "Be" Omission/Newscasts, Correction Re:Scarab

Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar, Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry, Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            Andrew Carnie, U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Andrew Carnie: U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Associate Editors:  Ljuba Veselinova, Stockholm U. <ljuba at linguistlist.org>
		    Scott Fults, E. Michigan U. <scott at linguistlist.org>
		    Jody Huellmantel, Wayne State U. <jody at linguistlist.org>
		    Karen Milligan, Wayne State U. <karen at linguistlist.org>

Assistant Editors:  Lydia Grebenyova, E. Michigan U. <lydia at linguistlist.org>
		    Naomi Ogasawara, E. Michigan U. <naomi at linguistlist.org>
		    James Yuells, Wayne State U. <james at linguistlist.org>

Software development: John Remmers, E. Michigan U. <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
                      Sudheendra Adiga, Wayne State U. <sudhi at linguistlist.org>
                      Qian Liao, E. Michigan U. <qian at linguistlist.org>

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded jointly by Eastern Michigan University,
Wayne State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.


Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karen at linguistlist.org>
 ==========================================================================

We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
then  strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list.   This policy was
instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Thu, 7 Sep 2000 14:42:59 -0400 (EDT)
From:  cschutze at MIT.EDU (Carson T Schutze)
Subject:  'be' omission in (American?) English newscaster-speak

2)
Date:  Tue, 05 Sep 2000 18:14:58 -0400
From:  Natalie Schilling-Estes <ns3 at gusun.georgetown.edu>
Subject:  correction re: scarab (issue 11.1867)

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 7 Sep 2000 14:42:59 -0400 (EDT)
From:  cschutze at MIT.EDU (Carson T Schutze)
Subject:  'be' omission in (American?) English newscaster-speak

Does anyone know of systematic work on the apparently increasing phenomenon
whereby in television newscasts, finite 'be' gets omitted from matrix clauses?
I hear this on CNN a lot--a news item can begin with a "sentence" like

"President Clinton speaking today at a gathering of milkshake protestors."

Both syntactically and prosodically this seems to be an independent
declarative sentence and not an NP.  I think this can happen with copular as
well as auxiliary 'be', e.g.,

"President Clinton expected to speak...".

It is obviously reminiscent of newspaper "Headlinese" discussed by Stowell,
but not purely the same, e.g., you don't get determiner drop or changes in
tense interpretations, as far as I can recall.
I will post a summary if warranted.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carson T. Schutze              Department of Linguistics, UCLA
Email: cschutze at ucla.edu       Box 951543, Los Angeles CA  90095-1543  U.S.A.


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Tue, 05 Sep 2000 18:14:58 -0400
From:  Natalie Schilling-Estes <ns3 at gusun.georgetown.edu>
Subject:  correction re: scarab (issue 11.1867)

I recently posted a message (11.1867) asking for help in identifying
some characters that may or may not be "writing" that appear on the
bottom of a large scarab-shaped piece of jewelry.  I inadvertently
gave the wrong URL for viewing these characters.  The correct address
is:

www.roughdraft.com/natsite/scarab.html

Sorry for the mistake,
Natalie Schilling-Estes
Linguistics Dept.
Georgetown University

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-11-1880