[Lingtyp] query: 1st syllable deletion

[Adam Schembri]

Actually, I just found this:

Gerken, L. (1991). The metrical basis for children’s subjectless sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 30(4):431–451.

Gerken claimed that  that the first syllable in an intonational phrase, if unstressed, can be deleted in English.

Adam

On 01/11/2022, 09:10, "Lingtyp on behalf of gil at shh.mpg.de" <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org on behalf of gil at shh.mpg.de> wrote:

    Hi Jocelyn,

    I would guess that the answer to your first two questions is 
    affirmative, but these are some of the issues that I was hoping to 
    clarify through this query.

    As to whether these qualify as ellipsis, well I guess they satisfy most 
    definitions of ellipsis.  But they feel somewhat different ...

    Best,

    David


    On 01/11/2022 10:59, Jocelyn Aznar 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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    >
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    -- 
    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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