Topics in Syntax and Semantics: The Syntax, Semantics and Processing of Ellipsis

Catalog description

Ellipsis' is the phenomenon whereby a short expression is understood as a longer paraphrase. An example: "Lindsay can ski that course, but Bode can't". The second part is understood as "And Bode can't ski that course". How are such cases handled by the grammar (is there 'silent linguistic material interpreted by the semantics')? And how do language users process these? These questions have been debated for decades, and because ellipsis constructions interact with many other phenomena, the analysis of this domain is central in grammatical and processing theory. This seminar examines this with respect to several constructions and theories.