Whiz deletion
In linguistics, whiz deletion is a form of ellipsis common in the English language in which a relative pronoun and a form of the verb “to be” are both deleted.
Examples
[edit]- Mark Twain, who is generally considered the greatest American humorist, was from Hannibal Missouri.
- The Crystal Palace, which had been built to house London's Great Exposition of 1851, was destroyed by fire in 1936.
- Whiz deletion is a form of ellipsis that is common in the English language.
Etymology
[edit]The term “whiz deletion” is a portmanteau pun stemming from the fact that several of the relative pronouns in English start with “wh-“ and from the is form of “to be.”[1]: 145
Significance in transformational grammar
[edit]Whiz deletion is analyzed by Langendoen as a transformational reduction of relative clauses[1]: 145–147 [2] that—together with another transformation, which moves adjectives in front of the noun phrases they modify—explains many occurrences of attributive adjectives. On this analysis, for example, whiz deletion transforms the sentence
- 1. Wiring that is faulty causes many fires.
into
- 2. *Wiring faulty causes many fires.
And then the fact that the deletion left behind a bare adjective (namely, faulty) triggers the adjective-preposing transformation, which produces the final (surface) form
- 3. Faulty wiring causes many fires.
Criticisms
[edit]The notion that the process of whiz deletion is the correct explanation for the surface structures in question has been disputed. Williams argues,[3] for instance, that it fails to address the difference between
- 4. The firm representing the defendant moved to have the case dismissed.
which whiz deletion would produce from
- 5. The firm that was [or is] representing the defendant moved to have the case dismissed.
and
- 6. The landlord owning the building will double the rent.
which would have to come from the non grammatical
- 7. *The landlord who is owning the building will double the rent.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Langendoen, D. Terence (1970). Essentials of English Grammar. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. ISBN 978-0030811500.
- ^ Perkins, Kyle (1971), "Whiz deletion and adjective‐preposing", Paper in Linguistics, 4 (3–4): 595–599, doi:10.1080/08351817109370279
- ^ Williams, Edwin S. (1975). "Small Clauses in English". In Kimball, John P. (ed.). Syntax and Semantics. Vol. 4. Brill. pp. 249–273. doi:10.1163/9789004368828_010. ISBN 978-90-04-36856-9.