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More about Syntax of Silence

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Book synopsis

A primary goal of contemporary theoretical linguistics is to develop a theory of the correspondence between sound (or gesture) and meaning. This sound-meaning correspondence breaks down completely in the case of ellipsis, and yet various forms of ellipsis are pervasive in natural language: words and phrases which should be in the linguistic signal go missing. How this should be possible is the focus of Jason Merchant's investigation. He focuses on the form of ellipsis known as sluicing, a common feature of interrogative clauses, such as in 'Sally's out hunting - guess what!'; and 'Someone called, but I can't tell you who'. It is the most frequently found cross-linguistic form of ellipsis. Dr Merchant studies the phenomenon across twenty-four languages, and attempts to explain it in linguistic and behavioural terms.

Book details

Book category Books in English Language linguistics Semantics, discourse analysis, etc

• Full title: Syntax of Silence
• Subtitle: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis
• Author: Jason Merchant
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardback
• Number of pages: 280
• EAN: 9780199243730
• ISBN: 0199243735
• ID: 04530001
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Weight: 556 g
• Dimensions: 242 × 162 × 20 mm
• Date of publishing: 01. June 2001

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