• Contact

  • Newsletter

  • About us

  • Delivery options

  • Prospero Book Market Podcast

  • The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis

    The Syntax of Silence by Merchant, Jason;

    Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis

    Series: Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics; 1;

      • GET 10% OFF

      • The discount is only available for 'Alert of Favourite Topics' newsletter recipients.
      • Publisher's listprice GBP 60.00
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        28 665 Ft (27 300 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 10% (cc. 2 867 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 25 799 Ft (24 570 Ft + 5% VAT)

    28 665 Ft

    db

    Availability

    printed on demand

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher OUP Oxford
    • Date of Publication 16 August 2001

    • ISBN 9780199243730
    • Binding Hardback
    • No. of pages280 pages
    • Size 242x162x20 mm
    • Weight 556 g
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 17 figures
    • 0

    Categories

    Short description:

    The first book-length treatment of the most cross-linguistically widespread form of ellipsis: elliptical wh-questions, known as sluices. Drawing on data from thirty languages, Merchant shows that sluicing structures are crucial to answering the fundamental questions about the nature of ellipsis and its resolution. The author also carefully documents a number of original generalizations concerning form-identity effects and the complementizer system.

    More

    Long description:

    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.

    This is the most comprehensive study of Sluicing to date, and clears up one of its central mysteries: how do sluices evade standard island effects. Merchant brings together extensive comparative work with a careful examination of the syntax-semantics interface, and unveils a completely new typology of island effects. This brilliant work will be the touchstone for research on ellipsis and islands for years to come.

    More

    Table of Contents:

    Identity in Ellipsis: Focus and Isomorphism
    The Syntax of Sluicing
    Islands and Form-Identity
    Previous Accounts
    Deletio Redux
    Conclusion

    More
    0