Scarica Abbreviated English in Headlines: Constraints and Shifts e più Dispense in PDF di Linguistica solo su Docsity!
ABBREVIATED LANGUAGE
The Grammar of Abbreviated English in Headlines, Instructions, and Diaries Tim Stowell Marschak Colloquium UCLA – November 2, 2007
1. Overview In this talk I identify certain structural constraints governing the application of the distinctive grammatical rules of a register of written English that I call Abbreviated English , i.e. the register of written English used in newspaper headlines (“Headlinese”), recipes and other kinds of instructions, diaries, and point-form notes. All but one of the salient rules of AE involve the omission of functional (so-called non-content) words:
(a) the omission of definite articles, indefinite articles , and possessive pronouns ;
POPE VISITS KREMLIN “ The Pope has visited the Kremlin”
BOY STARTED BLAZE, COUNTY SAYS
“ A boy started a/the blaze, the County has said/says” “ The Buckweed fire in the Agua Dulce and Santa Clarita areas was ignited by a youth playing with matches, sheriff’s officials say” “ A fire that charred more than 38,000 acres...was sparked by a boy playing with matches, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday”
BUSH HIRES WIFE AS SECRETARY
“Bush has hired his wife as a/his secretary”
(b) the omission of the auxiliary verb be , in its finite form
PUTIN IN BULGARIA THIS WEEK “Putin is in Bulgaria this week.”
RICE TO PRESIDE OVER MIDEAST PEACE TALKS
“Rice is to preside over Middle Eastern peace talks.”
(c) the omission of object pronouns (in instructions, including recipes)
Place flour and spices in bowl; stir thoroughly; mix with water. “Place the flour and the spices in a bowl, stir them thoroughly; mix them with water”
(d) the omission of first person subject pronouns in the past tense (in diaries) and third person subject pronouns in all tenses (in note-taking).
Went to office early; wrote memo to self; came home on bus. “I went to the office early; (I) wrote a memo to myself, and (I) came home on the bus” (def, indef. article omission, null subject pronoun)
(e) the omission of the coordinating conjunction and
WRITERS, STUDIOS INCH FORWARD
“The writers and the studios have inched forward”
STATE LAUNCHES CRACKDOWN ON FIRMS THAT FLOUT WAGE, TAX LAWS “The State has launched a crackdown on firms that flout wage and tax laws”
MONKS DEFY JUNTA, RESUME PROTESTS “Some/The monks have defied the junta and have resumed their protests”
The subtype of AE associated with newspaper headlines, commonly called Headlinese, has an additional distinctive feature that, at first glance, does not involve omission, but rather a semantic shift; this involves the use of the present tense to report events that have taken place in the recent past, and which are being reported as news. This too can be analyzed as an instance of simple omission, however, if one accepts the idea that the so-called present tense is not actually a tense, but rather represents the omission of a true past tense. I have represented the semantics of this usage in the idiomatic Standard English gloss beneath the example headlines in (a) and (e) by means of the present perfect, but the translation is not perfect, and the use of the present tense in Headlinese does not always have a past-tense interpretation, as we shall see.
There are assorted other differences between Headlinese and Standard English, involving distinctive choices of vocabulary (e.g. AE slain vs. SE killed ). For the most part I will ignore these, since they are largely isolated and idiosyncratic (many of them may have originally been functionally motivated to save space).
Languages vs. dialects and idiolects “A language is a dialect with an army” (or a state) Each speaker has his or her own idiolect; a dialect, like a language, is an abstraction over idiolectal differences.
Dialects vs. registers A dialect is associated with a geographically defined region, social class, or other natural grouping of people. Speakers of a dialect may be monolingual (speaking only that dialect).
A register is associated with a particular socially defined setting or context. Typically speakers of a given register are also fluent in other registers of the same dialect or language.
AE is a register of written English. It corresponds systematically to Standard English, differing from it chiefly by virtue of the features enumerated above (omission of function-words and the distinctive use of the present tense in Headlinese AE.)
2. A Functional account of Abbreviated English
(1) “Omit unnecessary words wherever possible.”
(2) “Delete any word whose meaning is recoverable, either from the grammar or from the context.”
Full recoverability is not necessary:
(3) a. _ ZOOKEEPER FINDS _ MISSING PENGUIN (a?, the?, his?)
b. _ MAN ORDERS _ WIFE TO SHOOT _ SISTER (his?, her?, *someone’s)
Full recoverability is not sufficient:
(4) a. *BUSH HAILS REDUCTION _ CASUALTIES _ IRAQ (of/in) b. *ADMINISTRATION SUBMITS NEW BUDGET _ CONGRESS (to) c. *QUEEN GIVES ANCHOVIES _ TRY (a) d. *PRISONER WHO _ TO BE EXECUTED GETS REPRIEVE (is) e. *COURT ORDERS PENTAGON _ RELEASE PAPERS (to)
f. *Place spaghetti in bowl. Sprinkle grated cheese over/on _.
Omission is sometimes optional and sometimes obligatory; precise, formal rules are needed:
(5) A Beverly Hills gardener has found a rare gold coin
a. _ BEVERLY HILLS GARDENER FINDS _ RARE GOLD COIN b. _ BEVERLY HILLS GARDENER FINDS A RARE GOLD COIN c. * A BEVERLY HILLS GARDENER FINDS _ RARE GOLD COIN
3. Headlinese Tense
With eventive verb phrases (verb phrases that describe events of a fixed duration), present tense allows for a recent-past tense construal. This reading is impossible when the present tense is used with stative predicates (describing enduring or temporary steady states), where it has a normal present tense interpretation.
(6) a. BOMB ATTACK KILLS LEBANESE PRESIDENT b. REPUBLICANS LOSE CONTROL OF CONGRESS c. UK MAN SAVAGELY BEATS DONKEY
(7) a. AUSTRALIA FACES DEBT WOES b. NIXON HAS MISSING TAPE c. FORMER CABINET MEMBER OWNS SHARES IN BANKRUPT COMPANY
When eventive verbs are used in the progressive aspect to refer to incomplete events in progress, or to express habitual dispositions or generic properties that are true of an extended period of time, they behave like stative predicates:
(8) a. CONGRESS (IS) ACTING AGAINST NATION’S INTEREST, BUSH ASSERTS b. IRANIAN REGIME VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW, US CLAIMS
This tracks a systematic difference between stative and eventive predicates throughout the system of tense interpretation of spoken Standard English, applying not only to the use of present tense but also to the use of past tense when it occurs in a subordinate clause embedded within a past-tense main clause. (A full explanation of these examples would take us too far afield.)
Precisely the same type of aspectual differences have been reported in the grammars of simple verb forms in certain foreign languages (such as Inuktitut (Eskimo) and various Creole languages (cf. Bohnmeyer & Swift 2004; Dechaine 1993), and also by the use of so-called root infinitives in the speech of young children, a connection noted by Hyams (to appear).
(9) Inuktitut:
a. Anijuq go.out-3sg. ‘He/she went out’
b. Pisuttuq Walk-3sg. ‘He/she is walking’
In the Headlinese register, past tense is interpreted similarly to a past-perfect , providing follow-up information about a familiar past-time event:
(10) a. ?IRA BOMB ATTACK KILLED VISITING DIPLOMAT (“old news” past) “It turns out that the IRA bomb attack killed a visiting diplomat” or “It turns out that it was an IRA bomb attack that killed the vis. diplomat”
b. BOY STARTED BLAZE, COUNTY SAYS (“old news” past) “A boy started a/the blaze, the County has said/says”
In complement clauses, the recent-past interpretation of present tense seems to disappear:
(11) a. WOMAN CLAIMS HUSBAND SHOOTS SON (present/habit) b. NIXON ADMITS SECRETARY ERASES TAPE (present/habit)
(12) a. MOTHER CLAIMS HUSBAND SHOT SON b. NIXON ADMITS SECRETARY ERASED TAPE
(22) a. WOMAN CLAIMS [HUSBAND SHOT SON AFTER/WHEN/BEFORE HE CALLED POLICE] (*CALLS)
b. WOMAN [CLAIMS HUSBAND SHOT SON] AFTER/WHEN/BEFORE HE CALLS POLICE
(23) Present Tense can be construed as “recent past” unless it is c-commanded by another tense.
IP ty IP IP ty DP Subject TP ty T VP ty VP AdvP ty VP PP ty V DP Object
VP
ty V VP ty DP Object VP ty v DP / PP 2nd Object / PP
4. Omission of Definite and Indefinite Articles
(24) a. Determiner omission on the matrix subject noun phrase (“DP”) is strongly preferred, and arguably obligatory in Headlinese AE.
b. Determiner omission on the direct object DP, though sometimes preferred, is optional.
c. Determiner omission on the direct object is impossible if the subject contains an overt article.
(25) a. _ ENCINO HOUSEWIFE DISAPPEARS b. ?? AN ENCINO HOUSEWIFE DISAPPEARS (human interest story) c. _ SIMI VALLEY BUSINESSMAN BITES _ DOG d. ?? A SIMI VALLEY BUSINESSMAN BITES A DOG (story)
(26) a. _ BEVERLY HILLS GARDENER FINDS (A) RARE GOLD COIN b. CHENEY SENDS (A) TOP AIDE TO BEIJING
(27) a. *A BEVERLY HILLS GARDENER FINDS _ RARE GOLD COIN b. *A SIMI VALLEY BUSINESSMAN BITES _ DOG
Determiner omission occurs freely in subordinate complement clauses:
(28) a. _ WITNESS CLAIMS _ BLACKWATER GUARD SHOT _ BABY b _ TIMES REPORTS NIXON ADMITTED _ SECRETARY ERASED _ TAPE c. CHENEY CLAIMS _ GUN DISCHARGED ACCIDENTALLY d. _ DAILY BRUIN ANNOUNCES IT WILL INTRODUCE _ NUDE CENTERFOLD
Only referential expressions can have their determiners omitted, thus distinguishing between true indefinites and predicate nominals, and between referential and nonreferential indefinites in idioms::
(29) a. ?CARTER CALLS REAGAN _ FOOL (a fool) b. *QUEEN GIVES ANCHOVIES _ TRY (a try) c. *POPE GIVES ROCK GROUP INVITATION _ MISS (a miss)
(30) a. CLINTON GOES FOR _ JOG ON _ GREAT WALL b. _ QUEEN TAKES _ SHOWER IN PUBLIC
(31) a. A DP may not contain a deleted article if it is preceded by a DP with an overt article. b. A DP may not contain a deleted article if it is c-commanded by a DP with an overt article
More Definiteness Effects:
(38) a. _ WOMAN CLAIMS A SOLDIER SHOT A BYSTANDER b. #_ WOMAN CLAIMS A SOLDIER SHOT _ BYSTANDER (Definiteness effect) c. _ WOMAN CLAIMS _ SOLDIER SHOT A BYSTANDER (No definiteness effect)
(39) a. CLINTON TELLS _ FARMER TO LEAVE _ WIFE ALONE b. CLINTON TELLS A FARMER TO LEAVE HIS WIFE ALONE c. ?CLINTON TELLS A FARMER TO LEAVE _ WIFE ALONE d. CLINTON TELLS _ FARMER TO LEAVE HIS WIFE ALONE
(40) a. QUEEN PUTS _ BLANKET ON _ POODLE b. *QUEEN PUTS A BLANKET ON _ POODLE c. QUEEN PUTS _ BLANKET ON A POODLE
Relative clauses conform to the c-command condition, assuming that the head DP is assumed to c- command DPs within the relative clause:
(41) a. JURY CONVICTS _ WOMAN WHO SHOT _ SOLDIER b. JURY CONVICTS _ WOMAN WHO SHOT A/THE SOLDIER c. *JURY CONVICTS A WOMAN WHO SHOT _ SOLDIER d. JURY CONVICTS A WOMAN WHO SHOT A/THE SOLDIER
(42) a. DOCTOR SAVES _ WOMAN WHO _ SOLDIER SHOT b. ?DOCTOR SAVES _ WOMAN WHO A SOLDIER SHOT c. *DOCTOR SAVES A WOMAN WHO _ SOLDIER SHOT d. DOCTOR SAVES A WOMAN WHO A SOLDIER SHOT
(44) a. _ WOMAN WHO SHOT _ SOLDIER GETS _ LIFE SENTENCE b. _ WOMAN WHO SHOT A SOLDIER GETS _ LIFE SENTENCE c. _ WOMAN WHO _ SOLDIER SHOT SUES _ ARMY d. *_ WOMAN WHO A SOLDIER SHOT SUES _ ARMY
(45) a. _ WOMAN WHO SHOOTS _ SOLDIER GETS ARRESTED b. _ WOMAN WHO SHOOTS A SOLDIER GETS ARRESTED c. _ WOMAN WHO _ SOLDIER SHOOTS DIES INSTANTLY d. ?_ WOMAN WHO A SOLDIER SHOOTS DIES INSTANTLY
5. Copula Omission (Null Copulas) In general this is possible with predicative uses of the copula but not with so-called identificational be:
(46) a. GORE _ IN CHINA NEXT WEEK FOR TALKS b. US _ TO SELL MISSILES TO TEHERAN FOR RELEASE OF HOSTAGES c. POPE _ FOUND SLEEPING WITH CALL GIRL d. * NIXON _ A CROOK
It is also possible in temporal adverbial clauses but impossible in relative clauses:
(47) a. STAR REPORTS ELVIS _ TO VISIT TORONTO IN 1999 b. CONGRESSMAN PLEADS INNOCENT AFTER DRUGS _ FOUND IN BRIEFCASE c.**CONGRESSMAN WHO _ FOUND WITH PROSTITUTE _ TO RESIGN d. *CONGRESSMAN WHO PROSTITUTE _ FOUND WITH _ TO RESIGN
The main cause of the problem with the relative clause examples is probably not the application of Wh-movement per se , since wh-complement clauses are somewhat better:
(48) a. ?POLICE KNOW WHO CONGRESSMAN _ FOUND WITH, SOURCES CLAIM b. ?POPE ASKS WHY SO MANY WOMEN _ LEAVING CHURCH
Although copula omission is possible (47a), it is in general disfavored in subordinate clauses, as Carson Schütze has pointed out to me. Copula omission is fully ungrammatical in clauses introduced by overt complementizers, as opposed to complementizer-less clauses, which can be S-lifted and behave like main clauses.
(49) a. PROSECUTOR HINTS VICTIM (IS) TO TESTIFY IN ASSAULT CASE b. PROSECUTOR HINTS THAT VICTIM *(IS) TO TESTIFY IN ASSAULT CASE
6. Null Subjects in S-Lifted CPs Though null subjects are, in general, a feature of Diary AE and not of Headlinese, it is nevertheless possible to have null subjects in preposed (S-Lifted) complement clauses, though not if the clausal complement remains in situ:
(50) a. WILL VISIT BEIJING, GORE ANNOUNCES b. ERASED 16 MINUTES OF TAPE, SECRETARY ADMITS c. *SECRETARY ADMITS ERASED 16 MINUTES OF TAPE
The finite verb in the preposed null-subject clause may not be a Headlinese present:
(50) d. * ERASES 16 MINUTES OF TAPE, SECRETARY ADMITS
