[Lingtyp] query: 1st syllable deletion

[Adam Schembri]

I was wondering if this is generalising across what are actually different phenomena. 

(1) The first might be construction specific. I mean, I can say '(What) the fuck is going on?'. Maybe '(What) the hell is going on?', but I'm not sure. '(What) in god's name is going on?' sounds very unlikely to me. 
(2) Isn't this variable auxiliary reduction/expression?
(3) Isn't this variable subject pronoun expression? There's quite a bit of research on this in variationist sociolinguistics and the factors that condition it across different languages (I have done work on this for Auslan, the majority sign language of Australia's deaf community, where it's very common). The factors that condition it are not going to be the same factors as in (1) and (2).

Adam

On 01/11/2022, 09:00, "Lingtyp on behalf of contact at jocelynaznar.eu" <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org on behalf of contact at jocelynaznar.eu> wrote:

    Hi David,

    just some questions for clarifying the query, but do you think this is 
    valid only when:
    - the 1st syllabe is a whole word?
    - when all the other information removed can be inferred from the situation?

    Also, would you qualify those are elipsis? or do you have another 
    interpretation in mind?

    Best,
    Jocelyn

    Le 28/10/2022 à 14:11, David Gil a écrit :
    > Dear all,
    > 
    > English seems to have a rule which, under particular conditions, allows 
    > for the first syllable of an utterance to be deleted.The first example 
    > below is from a movie that I saw last night, the next two are made up:
    > 
    > (1) (What) The fuck happened to you?
    > 
    > (2) (Are) You going home yet?
    > 
    > (3) (I) Think it's gonna rain
    > 
    > And there's also the formulaic "Wish you were here".
    > 
    > My questions:
    > 
    > 1. Has anybody written about this? Seems like it could be interestingfor 
    > a number of reasons.
    > 
    > 2. Are there similar phenomena in other languages? (Haven't seen 
    > anything like it in the other languages I happen to be familiar with.)
    > 
    > Thanks,
    > 
    > David
    > 
    > -- 
    > David Gil
    > 
    > Senior Scientist (Associate)
    > Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
    > Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
    > Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
    > 
    > Email:gil at shh.mpg.de
    > Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
    > Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
    > 
    > 
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