Explaining ellipsis without identity

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20344134
AutoresTill Poppels (0000-0003-3404-774X, Université Paris Cité , Paris , France, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen39
Número3
Páginas341-400
Fecha de publicación2022-09-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Linguistic Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0167-6318 • E-ISSN: 1613-3676
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/tlr-2022-2091
OpenAlexW4285490384
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas66

Ellipsis is a pervasive phenomenon across the world’s languages, and it is easy to see why: it allows speakers to omit certain parts of their utterances while nonetheless conveying their full meaning, which contributes to making linguistic communication highly efficient. While there is broad consensus that elliptical utterances depend on the context in some way, the nature of this dependency remains controversial. In this paper, I re-evaluate the merits of two classes of ellipsis theories: identity theories, which posit that material can be elided only if it is identical to a linguistic antecedent; and referential theories, which assume that ellipsis is enabled by the same underlying mechanism that governs other forms of discourse reference. I argue that both empirical and theoretical considerations favor referential theories in this comparison, and in doing so I outline new adequacy criteria for linguistic theories aimed at explaining the nature of the linguistic and non-linguistic context and how it interfaces with context-dependent linguistic devices

Epistemology · Linguistic analysis · Linguistic context · Linguistics · Phenomenon · Theoretical linguistics · Computer Science · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence