Sluicing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sluicing also means extracting metals or gems in placer mining operations using a sluice box
In syntax, sluicing designates a multi-clausal grammatical structure in which one of the arguments of the lower clause is only present as semi-elided wh-phrase. Examples of sluicing in English include:
- Phoebe wants to eat something, but she doesn't know what e.
- Jon doesn't like the lentils, but he doesn't know why e.
Sluicing was one of the many structures identified by John Robert Ross in his 1967 dissertation, Constraints on Variables in Syntax. Sluicing is problematic in the field of syntax, as the elided content seems to form a non-constituent. Now, Dr. Jason Merchant's work based on his doctoral thesis, "The syntax of silence: Sluicing, islands, and the theory of ellipsis" (2001 Oxford) is the most comprehensive treatise on sluicing and ellipsis.
 |
This syntax-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
