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.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
`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.' Kyle Johnson, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
`This book is a clearly written, very interesting exploration of sluicing. The author presents a number of well argued, novel ideas, and sheds new light on our understanding of a phenomenon linguists have been studying for quite a while. The author has done an excellent job in also providing a thorough overview of previous approaches, and in explaining how his analysis builds on and/or diverges from them. This is definitely a very important contribution to the field.' Anne Lobeck, English Department, Western Washington University
`This book is a clearly written, very interesting exploration of sluicing. The author presents a number of well argued, novel ideas, and sheds new light on our understanding of a phenomenon linguists have been studying for quite a while. The author has done an excellent job in also providing a thorough overview of previous approaches, and in explaining how his analysis builds on and/or diverges from them. This is definitely a very important contribution to the field.' Anne Lobeck, English Department, Western Washington University
About the Author
Jason Merchant is Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University. He obtained his doctorate in 1999 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where in 1998 he received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. His research interests are syntactic theory (ellipsis, islands, and resumptives), formal semantics, the syntax-semantics interface, Germanic languages, Greek, and language typology.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
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This review is from: The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, 2) (Hardcover)
Although the original paperback print run of this book has sold out, the book is still available in paperback directly from the publisher, Oxford University Press, through their "print on demand" ordering, for $39, I think. No need to pay for the hardcover library edition.
1 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
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Bestest book in the whole wide world!,
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This review is from: The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics) (Paperback)
Not being a linguist, I couldn't get past the first page. But I did appreciate the use of Alex and Ben as the names in the examples. Woo-hoo!
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