Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print)

Ellipsis in Ngwa-Igbo

Nneoma Fyne Ugorji Clifford University Department of English and Literary Studies, Owerrinta, Abia State, Nigeria. Abstract Ellipsis is the omission of redundant constituents in a construction. The word „ Ngwa‟ refers to the people, the geo-political area known as Ngwa land and the dialect of Igbo spoken by the indigenes of Ngwa land. The Ngwa people are found in Abia State in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Some of the objectives of this work are: to illustrate the ability of the remnant in an elliptical structure in the recovery and interpretation of the elided parts, and to show that Ellipsis enhances the economy of words. Data for this paper was obtained using the elicitation method of translating a set of elliptical constructions in the English language into Ngwa-Igbo by two competent native adult speakers of Ngwa-Igbo. Secondary data was collected from text books, and the internet which were acknowledged. The theoretical framework used for this paper is the X – Bar theory of phrasal analysis and the tree diagrams reflected this wherever it was necessary. Some of the findings are: that Ellipsis is a linguistic mechanism that is used to avoid the repetition of strings that have already been uttered in the previous part of a construction and that the name given to each of the type of Ellipsis, depends on what was elided in the fuller structures. This paper recommends the study of Ellipsis as a natural phenomenon in human languages. Keywords: Ellipsis, remnant, recoverability, X-bar, Ngwa-Igbo.

1.0 Introduction Theory are: to account for word order, to determine the configuration of the D – „Ngwa‟ refers to the dialect, the structure, to determine the direction of people and the geo – political area known as movement if there is any, to demonstrate Ngwa land. Ngwa people are found in Abia constraints in the movement of structural State of Nigeria. Seven of the seventeen constituents, to determine the structural Local Government Areas in the State, belong relationship between the head of a to the Ngwa people. These local Government construction and other members of the Areas are: Isiala Ngwa South, Isiala Ngwa construction such as: determiners, North, Obingwa, Osisioma, Aba North, Aba complements and adjuncts, to recognize South and Ugwunagbo. Ngwa is classified by intermediate categories like: (N¹, V¹, P¹, I¹), Wiliamson and Blench (2003, p. 31) as an which are larger than the terminal lexical Igboidlect under the new Benue – Congo categories; (N, V, P, A) but smaller than the language family. phrasal categories such as: (NP, VP, PP, IP) The framework adopted for the and so on. (cf. Ndimele 2004, p. 34).The tree analysis of data in this paper is the X-Bar diagrams in this paper will reflect this as Theory of structural representation. The required. notion of X – Bar Theory was first The quest for what is grammatical introduced into grammatical analysis by and acceptable in linguistics is a major force Chomsky (1970) in his article titled Remarks beneath the search into the acceptance of on Nominalization and was later expanded by elided structures with reference to the context Jackendoff (1977) in a monograph entitled X of speech. Lyons (1977, p. 589), refers to – Syntax. The major concerns of the X – Bar Ellipsis as “… grammatically incomplete, but

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Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print) contextually appropriate and interpretable have longer forms with the same meaning. sentence – fragments”. Here Lyons notes Hence, the need to make a distinction categorically that elided structures are between grammatical and contextual syntactically incomplete, but semantically completeness in elided and non-elided forms accepted structures with reference to the of identical constructions. context of speech. Lyons (1977, p. 589) Brown and Miller (1985, p. 151), observes further that “a conversation refer to ellipsis as “structures that are to a consisting entirely of grammatically greater or lesser degree either grammatically completed text – sentences would generally or semantically incomplete or both; be unacceptable as a text, and it is part of the grammatically incomplete insofar as language – competence of a speaker of the constituents have been elided; semantically language to use and accept such incomplete incomplete inasmuch as the sentence can structures in conversations”. Thus, in the only be understood with reference to their view of Lyons, ellipsis is a natural context”. In both cases, these sentence phenomenon. Lyons (1977, p. 589) to fragments as they refer to elided structures illustrate an instance of a conversation gives can only be fully understood by reference to the following expressions in the English some understood fuller forms where the language: items have been elided or reduced to pro- 1. „As soon as I can‟ forms. Here Brown and Miller describe He explained that this structure “…produced elided structures as grammatically and with the appropriate stress pattern and semantically incomplete structures that can intonation might occur in a text in reply to an only be understood with reference to context. utterance (intended and taken as a question) Brown and Miller (1985:151), add further such as; that, “the amount of grammatical and 2. When are you leaving? contextual interpretation necessary can be He argued that the grammatical structure of appreciated if we consider, for example (3) the context – dependent sentence fragment, below to be only understood as (4) only in „As soon as I can’, can be accounted for by the appropriate context. In other contexts, it describing it as an elliptical, appropriately might be understood as: (5) and (6) below: contextualized version of the utterance‟. „ I’m 3. „She wouldn‟t‟. leaving as soon as I can’. Thus, according to 4. „Mary wouldn‟t shut the door‟. Lyons (1977, p. 589) “ellipsis is one of the 5. Mary wouldn‟t feed the cat; or most obvious effects of contextualization in 6. Jane wouldn‟t give up smoking. the case of sentence fragments such as the Hence, ellipsis from their explanation one just illustrated above. could give rise to the generic reading of some Lyons (1989, p. 175) again argues fragmented structures except in the light of that elliptical structures are shorter forms of other preceding structures in the context. some longer version of the same sentence, Matthews (2007, p. 119) indicates that pro- and that elliptical structures can be forms can be used in elided structures to understood to refer to grammatically stand in place of full predicates. Matthews equivalent but perhaps stylistically distinct explains this by saying that in a structure forms as occurring in otherwise identical like: sentences. This here means that Ellipsis is a 7. “John did see them”. style found in some short expressions that Could be reduced to Nneoma Fyne Ugorji 117 CC BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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8.. „John did‟, with the pro – form did relation as „elliptical dependence‟ or identity replacing the entire predicate. This in other relations‟. Thus, from the examples above, (9 words means that in elliptical structures, – 12), the direct object of both the overtly stretches of utterances are reduced into just expressed and elided verbs are understood to one word recoverable with reference to the be the same which gives the required context of use. condition for ellipsis to hold. Kennedy From the internet, Kennedy (1994, p. schematized his argument as shown below: 4) asserts that “ellipsis involves the „reuse‟ of “Ellipsis between VPα and VP, VP linguistic material, material which is treated contained in an Argument Aα of VPα, is by other components of the grammar as licensed only if Aα is identical to the parallel identical to the original”. This is what he argument A of VP”. This means that the claims to be the nature of elliptical recoverability of an elided item is based on dependence. It is this aspect of Ellipsis that is dependent relations within the same linguistic responsible for the argument identity environment. constraint in Argument Contained Ellipsis. Another insight from the internet by Argument Contained Ellipsis as used here by Forgarty (2012, p.1) asserts that the use of Kennedy is Equivalent to a type of Ellipsis ellipsis is indicated by the use of “those little called VP Ellipsis. In his defence of the dot – dot – dots you often see in e – mail Argument Identity Constraint, Kennedy messages”. Forgarty (2012, p.1) goes further illustrates that when the subject of the non – to add that people use it all the time, and it elided VP is distinct from the subject of the seems like a way of making ones writing elided VP, the result is an ungrammatical more informal and conversational as if a sentence. He gives the examples below: person was pausing, and that one can use 9. If John plays well, Lou does [e] too. ellipsis in formal writing in making 10. Mary likes every song that Lou [e]. quotations. To show the use of dots in 11. A woman who promised to leave indicating ellipsis, Forgarty uses the quotes town did [e]. below: 12. * A woman who persuaded Horace to 13. “I cannot help it; reason has nothing leave town did [e]. to do with it; I love her against reason‟. (12) above is ungrammatical because the According to Forgarty, under a tight word subject of the non – elided VP, the woman is limit, the quotation above can be shortened distinct from the subject of the elided VP, to: Horace. This he argues “follows from a 14. „I cannot help it … I love her against fundamental property of Anaphoric reason‟. Relations; dependence or referential In his words “the middle part of the dependence, and that intuitively, the construction”… reason has nothing to do interpretation of an anaphoric element is with it”, seems redundant and taking it out determined by the composition of its does not change the meaning. Dot – dot – dot antecedent; hence an anaphoric element is and it is gone, which saves seven words.” He dependent on anything contained in its however adds that it is wrong to use an antecedent”. This means that in VP – Ellipsis ellipsis to make even a subtle change to the the elided verb phrase receives its meaning of a quotation. This perception of interpretation from the overt verb phrase. ellipsis is not what this paper is poised to do Kennedy (1994, p. 4), refers to this type of

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Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print) but it is worth mentioning that it is used in 16. “Even though he was on the lake all day, the presentation of written materials. This is Squiggly never caught a fish”. because points of ellipsis are mechanical Points of ellipsis, in association with question devices used to indicate: to indicate a falter in mark, exclamation mark, comma and dialog, the passage of time, an unfinished list, semicolon Forgarty adds that there should be or that a speaker has trailed off in the middle a gap between each of the different of a sentence or left something unsaid, or punctuation marks in a good writing exercise. fragmented speech accompanied by For examples: confusion, insecurity, distress or uncertainly. 17. “Where did he go …? Why did he go According to Forgarty the use of out again?” ellipsis points as a punctuation mark(...), 18. “Come! … . Don‟t say anything! contrasts with the dash (-), which is used for In (17), there is a gap between the points of more confident and decisive pauses. As a ellipsis and the question mark (?), while in warning, Forgarty (2012, p.3) stresses that (18) there is a gap between the exclamation one should not allow the sweet lure of points mark (!), the points of ellipsis and the full of ellipsis “ … to muddle one‟s ability to stop (.), which demonstrates a good writing write a complete sentence and that writers practice. who use ellipses to imply that they have more Martin (2012, p. 1), indicates that “… to say may not have anything in mind since ellipsis simply means “omission”. In the device seems a rather cheap one.” This punctuation, Martin adds that the use of the means that one has to be careful when dots of ellipsis means that something is reading a text with points of ellipsis. Forgarty missing from the sentence. For example: (“… also writes that in the use of points of ellipsis, and so on …”). An elliptical conversation, one must make sure in writing, typesetting, Martin further explains, that it is one where a and page designing that the ellipsis points do lot of key information is left out because the not end up on two different lines, but with a speakers know it already”. For example: space on each side of an ellipsis point that is, 19. „Have you got one?‟ – is elliptical. between the word before it and the word after Martin explains that in the utterance above, it because it typically stands in for a missing the speakers know what „one‟ refers to and word or a sentence. Forgarty in this respect that in grammar; one most times, in informal points out that if points of ellipsis come after conversation, tends to leave out words that a sentence, one should put the full stop (.), our hearers are sure to infer from the context put a space, before putting in the three of speech. He gives the following examples: ellipsis points and that this usually results in 20. – Got any money? („Have you, is four dots in a row. Hence, one has to be omitted). careful to observe this punctuational 21. – Must go (I). rule.Points of ellipsis, Forgarty adds, must be 22. – There is something but I don‟t what used to indicate a quotation that starts at the …(its) middle of a sentence for good writing habits. 23. – I‟ve brought the documents, as … For example: agreed (we). 15. Aadvark said, “… squiggly never caught (20-23) above, have a missing part in them a fish”. as indicated in the brackets. Forgarty argues that “perhaps the original From the Free Encyclopedia (2012, p. quotation was; 1), “Ellipsis is a word from Ancient Greek

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Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print) which means; omission, or falling short. It statement made by the other chat party”. refers to the intentional omission of a word, Bear, Forgarty and Martin have shown that a sentence or a whole section from an original good understanding of the use of points of text being quoted.” Wikipedia adds that, ellipsis is relevant even in the operations of a ellipsis when used at the beginning or end of computer. a sentence, can “inspire a feeling of Akindele (2012, p. 1),sees ellipsis as, melancholy or longing. As to its use in “the idea of omitting part of a sentence on the writing, this source points out that it is used assumption that an earlier sentence will make in reported speech to represent an intentional the meaning clear”. Akindele identifies three silence, perhaps indicating irritation, dismay, types of ellipsis namely: nominal, verbal and shock or disgust. In poetry it is used to clausal ellipsis. Akindele gives the following highlight sarcasm or make the reader think examples: about the last points in the poem. In 24. Sade bought some oranges and Seun newspaper reporting, it is used to indicate some guavas. (Verbal Ellipsis). that a quotation has been condensed for 25. Three members of staff went there space, brevity or reliance. In Mathematics, it and yet another three. (Nominal is used to mean “and so forth”. Thus, Ellipsis). Wikipedia illustrates the various functions of 26. I left my meal in the kitchen and the points of ellipsis which is required for someone came in and ate it up good reading and writing exercises. without saying a word to me. I wish I According to Bear (2012, p. 1), in could find out who. (Clausal computer interfaces and programming, Ellipses). ellipses are often used in an operating According to Akindele, in (24) above systems taskbars or web browser tabs to the verb bought has been elided, in (25) the indicate longer titles than will fit. In an noun members was elided, while in (26) who interface guideline, the use of points of replaces someone and the clause came in… ellipsis after the name of command implies was elided. With reference to Akindele‟s that the user will need to provide further assertion, ellipsis is a cohesive device that information such as: “Save As…”command, helps to unify a text by economy of words which shows that after being clicked will because it saves a writer from unnecessary require the user to enter a file name as repetition of words that already have an opposed to “Save” where the file will usually endophoric relation in a text. be saved under its existing name”. This Ellipsis in the Igbo language is called means that point of ellipse is used as a device ńsépúó̟ kwú which means deletion of an to direct a computer on what to do. Still on utterance. This implies that ellipsis is a computer operations, this source writes that purely syntactic process that involves the “an ellipsis character after a status message omission of a grammatically required word signifies that an operation may take some or phrase that can be inferred from its time, as in “Downloading updates …”. Bear immediate structural context. Hence, ellipsis also reports that in the internet there is what is a phenomenon of deletion in the surface is called “extended ellipses” which could structure of a language and this is the view have several dots of six to twelve points of upheld in this paper. Having seen the views ellipses used to indicate an awkward silence of some language scholars on what ellipsis is, or a „no comment response to a previous the next section of this paper will present the

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Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print) types of ellipsis in Ngwa-Igbo. the second and any subsequent clauses in a 1.1 Ellipsis in Ngwa – Igbo sequence related by coordination”. This In this part of the paper, we shall be means that redundant materials that are examining the various types of ellipsis in present in the immediate preceding clause in Ngwa-Igbo. The various types of ellipsis in a coordinate construction are not deleted. The human language depend on the individual gapped material usually has a finite verb. For perception of what is omitted in a example: construction. Below, is a discussion on: 27a. Úchè amáálá ńkwá ágbá Àdhá amáálá ófe‘ ésí Gapping, Stripping, VP- Ellipsis, Pseudo- Uche pr. know dance ICV, Adha pr. Know soup ICV gapping, Answer Ellipsis, Sluicing, N- Uche knows how to dance and Adha knows how to cook soup. Ellipsis, Comparative Ellipsis, and Null Complement Anaphora, as types of ellipsis in b. Úchè amáálá nkwa agba Àdhá [e] ófe‘ [e]. Ngwa-Igbo. Uche pr. knows suff dance ICV Adha [e] soup [e]. 1.1.1 Gapping ‘Uche knows how to dance, Adha soup’. Matthews (2007, p. 153), refers to Below are the tree diagrams for (27a -b) gapping as “… the deletion of a verb, with or represented as (27c-d): without other elements from the middle of c.

CP

SPEC-CI Cl

Comp TP

DP Tl

Uche Perf. VP

-lv tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP SPEC-Cl Cl

amaa N ICV Comp TP

nkwa agba θ DP Tl

Adha perf. VP

-lv tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP θ

amaa N ICV

ofe esi

Úchè amáálá ńkwá ágbá Àdhá amáálá ófe‘ ésí Fig.1: Diagram illustrating a non-gapped structure in Ngwa-Igbo.

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Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print) d.

CP

SPEC-CI Cl

Comp TP

DP Tl

Uche Perf. VP

-lv tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP SPEC-Cl Cl

amaa N ICV Comp TP

nkwa agba θ DP Tl

Adha perf. VP

θ tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP θ θ

θ N ICV

ofe θ

Úchè amáálá nkwa agba Àdhá [e] ófe‘ [e]. Fig.2: Diagram illustrating a gapped structure in Ngwa-Igbo.

In (27a) is the underlying structure by the verb which is the theta role assigner. from which (27b) is derived. In (27a) there are The arrow from the T (Tense node) lowers the two clauses: Úchè àmáálá ńkwà àgbá , „Uche –lv suffix to the verb for the complete knows how to dance‟ and Àdhá àmáalá ófé realisation of the verb àmáálá „knows‟ in its esi. „Adha knows how to cook soup‟. appropriate perfect tense in Ngwa. There is no conjoined without an overt coordinating elision of any constituent in (27c). In (27d), conjunction. In (27b), the verb phrase in the there is a deletion of the verb àmáalá „knows‟, second clause has been eliminated, leaving and the inherent complement verb esi „cook‟, only the subject nominal Àdhá and the object in the second clause. The condition which ófé in the predicate positions of the second enabled this is because the verbs in the clause. In the tree diagram for (27c-d), the coordinated construction are identical. arrow from the tsubj to DP (Determiner 1.1.2 Stripping Phrase)in consonance with the X-Bar Theory According to Matthews (2007, p. 348), shows that the subjects: Úchè and Àdhá in the stripping in linguistics is “… the reduction of coordinate sentence are internally generated a clause to a single unit by which it differs

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Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS) Http://www.jolls.com.ng Vol. 9. June 2019 ISSN : 2636-7149-6300 (online & print) from an earlier clause to which it is related by 2)are: coordination. Matthews gives this example in 30. If John plays well, Lou does [e] too. English: 31. Sterling will try the push after Maureen 28a. I sent a letter to her parents and I sent some has [e]. flowers to her parents. Examples from Ngwa – Igbo are: b. I sent a letter to her parents and <> some 32a. Àdhá ǹdì írī ńrí, Úchè ǹdì íri ńrí. flowers. Adha pr. be to eat food, Uchepr be to eat food. Here in stripping, one can see that the ‘Adha is eating food Uche is eating food. agent in the two clauses refers to a particular person. Hence the difference between gapping b. Àdhá ǹdì írī ńrí, Úchè ǹdì kwà. and stripping is that while gapping refers to Adha pr be to eat food, Uchepr be too. different subjects in the two coordinated Adha is eating and so is Uche. structures, that of stripping refers to the same agent carrying out different actions in the two (32a) above, is a coordinate construction but coordinated structures, hence the elision of the with no overt marking of the coordination. subject in the second clause since it can be However, it is obvious that the construction is recovered by reference to the preceding made up of two independent clauses: Àdhá ǹdì subject. This is demonstrated below in Ngwa: írī ńrí, „Adha is eating‟, and Úchè ǹdì ír i ńrí, 29a. Òbí ǹzụ̀tàarà yá ósè, Òbí ǹzụ̀tàarà yá ńnú. „Uche is eating‟. In (32b), in the second clause Obi pr. buy – suff – past he pepper Obi pr – buy past her salt. of the coordinate construction, the main verb ‘Obi bought her some pepper and Obi bought her some salt’. has been elided, leaving only the VP ǹdì íri ńrí is eating‟and the adverb kwa, „too‟. b. Òbí ǹzụ̀tàrà yá ósè[ e ] là ńnú. 1.1.4 Pseudo-gapping Obi pr. buy – suff- past her pepper elision and salt. This is a type of ellipsis that many ‘Obi bought her some pepper and some salt. linguists take to be a particular manifestation In (29a) there are two coordinated structures: of VP – Ellipsis. The major difference Òbí ǹzu ṭ̀ àarà yá ósè „Obi bought some pepper between VP – ellipsis and Pseudo-gapping is for her, and Òbí ǹzu ṭ̀ àarà yá ńnú . „Obi bought that Pseudo-gapping occurs in contrastive some salt for her‟ In (29b) above, the entire contexts of a singles verb. Carnie (2007, p. constituents of the second clause was elided 384) asserts that pseudo-gapping is a with the exception of its direct object “…variant of ellipsis that puzzlingly doesn‟t nnu, „salt‟. So the stripping was almost a delete the entire VP… but that the accusative total one. DP is left behind”. The accusative DP here 1.1.3 VP – Ellipsis refers to the object of the second clause. Kennedy, (1994, P. 2) argues that, “VP Carnie (2007, p. 384) argues that in regular VP – ellipsis is characterized by the apparent – ellipsis, the object disappears in those deletion of a full VP under identity with some contexts, unlike in pseudo-gapping. Carnie VP in the discourse”. An insight from gives the example below to drive home his Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia asserts that point. “this type of ellipsis is also known as Verb 33. Darin will eat a squid sandwich and Phrase ellipsis (VPE). The VP – ellipsis, elides Raiza will [e] a peanut butter one. a non – finite VP. The ellipsis must be An example of Pseudogapping in Ngwa-Igbo introduced by an auxiliary verb or by the is: particle to. Examples from Kennedy (1994, p. 34a. Úchè ǹchọ̀rọ̀ jí, mà Àdhá ǹchọ̀rọ̀ édè. Nneoma Fyne Ugorji 123 CC BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Uche pr want + past yam but Adha pr want + past cocoyam. Sluicing, “…an interrogative phrase appears Uche wants yam, but Adha wants cocoyam. stranded where one might have expected to find a complete constituent question”. In the b. Úchè ǹchọ̀rọ̀ jí,Àdhá [ e ] édè. words of Matthews (2007, p. 370), Sluicing is Uche pr. want + past yam Adha pr.[ e] cocoyam. used to refer to “… a term proposed for a ‘Uche wants yam, Adha cocoyam. syntactic process deleting all but a questioned In (34a), we have two structures: Úchè ǹcho ṛ̀ o ̣̀ element in a dependent interrogative”. Thus, in jí, „Uche wants yam‟ and Àdhá ǹcho ṛ̀ o ̣̀ édè , Sluicing, there is a deletion of some parts of an „Adha wants cocoyam‟, linked by the answer terminating in the part that re – echoes contrastive coordinator mà „but‟. In (34b) there the question. For example in Ngwa: is a deletion of the coordinator and the verb of 38a. Òléè m̀gbè J́ísosgà – àbíá? the second clause which leaves only the Q when Jesus will come. subject Àdhá and the object édè. in the second ‘When will Jesus come?’ clause. b. Ọ́gà – àbị́á, kámààmághi ḿ, m̀gbè ọ́bụ̄ [e]. 1.1.5 Answer Ellipsis He aux. pr. Come conj. Pr know NEG. When he it be [ e ]. This type of ellipsis involves question ‘He will come but I know not when it will be [ e ]’. – answer pairs. The question focuses on an 39a. Ọ̀ bụ́ gíri là Àdhá mmà èsí? unknown piece of information, often using an Pro be what that Adha know cook interrogative word like: who, which, what, What is it that Adha can cook? when, how, and so on. The corresponding b. Àdhá m̀mà hwé esí, kámà àmághi ḿhwé ọ́bụ[e]. answer provides the missing information and Adha pr know thing pr cook, but pr know not me thing pro cook in so doing, the redundant information that [e] appeared in the question, could be optionally Adha knows how to cook but I don’t know what [e]. elided. For example: In (38b) the verb part O ̣̀ gà – àbi ạ́̀ , „he will 35a. Who has been hiding the truth? come‟ which should have completed the b. Billy (has been hiding the truth.) answer part is deleted and in (39b), the verb 36a What have you been trying to cook? part Ó mà esí , ‘she knows how to cook‟ b. (I have been trying to cook) rice. which should also have completed the answer Examples in Ngwa-Igbo are: part is equally deleted. But these deleted parts 37a. Ònyé nsi là Ézè ǹzụ̀rụ̀ ígwè? are recoverable from the questions part of the Who pr say that Ezepr buy + past bicycle? conversation. Who said that Eze bought a bicycle? 1.1.7. N – Ellipsis b. Àdhá [ e ] This means Noun ellipsis. This occurs (37a) above is the question construction. (37b) when the noun and perhaps the accompanying represents the structure of ellipsis where every modifiers are omitted from a noun phrase. N – constituent of the answer has been elided, ellipsis often occurs in structures with cardinal leaving only the subject „Àdhá ’. The or ordinal numbers. (cf. Wikipedia (2012, p. realization of the elided section in the answer 5). .Examples are given below from Ngwa – would come from the information contained in Igbo. the question. 40a. Óché mbụ ádí ghī ḿmá, óchéǹkéàtó ádi ghi ḿmá. 1.1.6. Sluicing Chair first pr. be + NEG good, chair of three pr be +neg good. According to Chung (2012, p. 1),in The first chair is not good, and the third chair is not good.

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b. Ǹkèchí nnwere nthụ̀thu káriá [e] Àdhá [e] b. Óché mbụ là [e] ǹkeáto ádi ghi ḿmá. Nkechi NNP have + rv hair more [e]Adha [e] Chair first and ellipsis of three pr be + neg good. Nkechi has more hair than Adha. ‘The first and third chairs are not good. The above examples illustrate N – Ellipsis In (43a) the item that is in comparison is: with cardinal and ordinal numbers. In the deep nthụ̀thu „hair‟and it occurs in the two clauses in structure in (40a), the nouns in the two clauses the construction. With the application of are fully spelt out with their ordinal numbers. Comparative ellipsis nthụ̀thu ‘hair‟ is deleted In (40b) however, there is a merge of the two from the underlying construction resulting in nouns by the coordinating conjunction la the production of (43b) which is a less clumsy „and‟, followed by the elision of the subject construction and a more generally accepted óché„ chair‟ in the second construction. form. However, there is an elision of the verb phrase ádíghī ḿmá „is not good‟ in the first clause. 1.1.9. Null Complement Anaphora This resulted in the realisation of the In this type of Ellipsis, there is a construction: Óché mbụ̄ ̣̀ là [e] ǹke áto ádi ghi complete deletion of a complement, whereby ḿmá. „The first and third chairs are not good‟. the elided complement could be a finite clause, 1.1.8. Comparative Ellipsis an infinitive clause or a prepositional phrase This is also called comparative that has already occurred in the question. The deletion. It occurs in comparative clauses free encyclopedia (2012, p. 6), reports that: introduced by than in the English language. “The verbal predicates that can license Null The expression in the comparative clause is Complement Anaphora, form a limited set. elided that corresponds to the expression These include verbs like: know, approve, focused by a comparative morph such as more refuse and decide”. This means that not all or words with the suffix–er in the antecedent verbs can subcategorized for this kind of clause. Examples of Comparative ellipsis in ellipsis. Some examples in English are: the English language are: 44a. Do you know what happened? 41. Doris looks more satisfied than Dorean looks b. No, I don’t know (what happened). = finite clause [satisfied]. 45a. Do you approve of the plan? 42. William has more friends in many countries than b. No, I don’t approve (of the plan). =prepositional phrase you have [in many countries]. (cf.Wikipedia (2012, p. 6). In Comparative 46a. Have you decided to take the offer? Ellipsis, one must observe that the unelliptical b. Yes, I have (decided to take the offer). = infinitive clause versions of these sentences are unacceptable. 47a. They told Bill to help but he refused (to help). Hence, Comparative Ellipsis seems to be =infinitive clause. obligatory for structural acceptability in order Examples from Ngwa-Igbo are: to avoid the production and use of clumsy 48a. Ì kpébìélá íru ọ́rụ́ áhụ̀? constructions. An example in the Ngwa-Igbo Pro decide + perfpr work work that is: Have you decided to do the work? 43a. Nkechi nnwere nthuthu kariake Adha nnwere nthuthu. ̀ ̀ ́ ̣̀ ́ ́ ̀ ̀ ́ ̣̀ b. Ééé, ékpeébiaálá ḿ. Nkechi NNP have + rv hair more of Adha NNP have + rv hair Yes, pr. decide me ‘Nkechi has more hair than Adha has more hair. Yes, I have decided

(48a – b) is structurally represented below as (48c-d):

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c.

CP

SPEC-CI Cl

Comp TP

DP Tl

I Perf. VP

[+Q] -lv tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP  Cl

kpebie TP

Tl

Inf. VP

i tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP θ θ

ru N D

oru ahu

Fig. 3: Diagram representing an unnulled complement anaphora in Ngwa-Igbo d.

CP

SPEC-CI Cl

Comp TP

[+TAG+POS] DP Tl

θ Perf. VP

Ee -lv tsubj Vl

Vl CP

V DP Comp Cl

kpebie m θ θ TP

θ Tl

θ VP

θ Vl

θ CP

θ θ

Fig. 4: Diagram representing a nulled complement anaphora in Ngwa-Igbo

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In (48b) the elided part is: írụ o ṛ̀ u ̣̀ áhu ̣̀ „to do already been uttered in the previous part of a that work‟.the part that is already contained construction. in the question in (48a). From the tree The paper illustrates too that elliptical diagram in (48c), the arrow from the tsubj to structures could give rise to the generic the DP, shows that the subject is internally reading of some structures, but the context of generated by the verb, while the arrow from speech helps to resolve such instances of T (Tense node) to the verb lowers the prefix ambiguity. This paper has also shown that i- to form the infinitive írụ „to work‟. In ellipsis is a natural phenomenon in Ngwa – (28d), which is the response to (28c), there is Igbo as it is in all human languages; though a deletion of the anaphoric complement: írụ such structures are grammatically and o ṛ̀ u ̣̀ áhu „tọ̀ do that work‟. This resulted in the semantically incomplete. Their grammatical elliptical structure: Ééé, ékpeébiaálá ḿ. „Yes, I incompleteness is as a result of the fact that have decided instead of : Ééé, ékpeébiaálá ḿ írụ some constituents have been elided; and o ṛ̀ u ̣̀ áhu .̣̀ .„ Yes, I have decided to do that job‟ semantically incomplete in as much as the which is the full expression of the reduced sentences can only be understood with answer. reference to their context or reference to 2.0 Conclusion some other constituents in the discourse. This paper, started off by introducing The paper also showed that the name the dialect of study and its linguistic given to each of the type of ellipsis depends classification. Thereafter, a brief review of on what was elided in the fuller structures. some literature of what ellipsis is, was This paper also demonstrates the fact that presented. This paper, it is establishes that ellipsis involves a dependence relation that ellipsis refers to structures that are shorter holds between some elements within the forms of some longer versions of the same same linguistic environment. Thus, in ellipsis sentence that are grammatically equivalent recoverability of elided constituents is but perhaps stylistically distinct forms. This possible because of the antecedent and paper in line with the assertion of Lyons anaphoric relation that exist in elliptical (1977, p. 589) was able to establish the fact structures. The paper also showed that that there are contexts where structurally ellipsis enhances the economy of words and incomplete expressions are acceptable to both avoids clumsy constructions. The data from speaker and hearer and that the ability to Ngwa-Igbo have shown that ellipsis is a produce and accept such structures form part cohesive device which helps to bind elements of the native speakers competence in that, of a construction together by the dependence language or dialect as the case may be. relation of elided constituents on the non- In the review of literature on ellipsis, elided counterparts. Hence, in ellipsis there is it was found out that when elliptical a reuse of materials. From the data, it was structures are used in quotation, such found out that ellipsis occurred more in quotations should retain the original meaning coordinate constructions and in question and and that the use of points of ellipsis as a answer pairs. This paper is not exhaustive in punctuation mark, is of great relevance to the all that could be said about ellipsis in Ngwa- act of good writing. In all the examples Igbo, but it rather recommends for further presented in this paper, it was observed that research in the study of ellipsis in Ngwa-Igbo ellipsis is a linguistic mechanism that is used and other languages of the world. to avoid the repetition of strings that have Nneoma Fyne Ugorji 127 CC BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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References Akindele J.(2012). Cohesive devices .In: selected ESL academic papers. (http://nobleworld.biz/images/Akindele_AN3.pdf). Accessed, 21/8/2012. Bear, J. H. (2012). (http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/ellipsis.htm) Accessed, 10/8/2012. Brown, E. K. and Miller, J. E. (1985).Syntax. A linguistic introduction to sentence structure. Hutchinson & Co. publishers Ltd, London. Carnie, A(2007). Syntax: A generative introduction. Second edition. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, U. S. A. Chomsky, N. (1970). Remarks on nominalization In: R. A. Jacobs, and P. S. Rosenbaum (eds.) Readings in English transformational grammar. Massachusetts: Ginn and Co. Chung, S. (2012). Sluicing and the lexicon: The point of no return. (http://people.ucsc.edu/~schung/chung.sluicing.pdf). Accessed, 10/8/2012. Fogarty (2012).Dirty tips.(http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ellipsis.aspx). Accessed, 31 31/5/2012. Jackendoff, R. (1977). X-bar Syntax: A Study of phrase structure. Linguistic inquiry. Monograph No. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Pp. 38-46. Kennedy,C. (1994). Argument contained ellipsis. Argument contained ellipsis. (htt//home.uchicago.edu/ CKO/docs/ace.pdf) Lyons, J. 1977. Semantics 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lyons, J. (1989). Introduction to theoretical linguistics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Martin, W: 62%helpful (http://www.blurtit.com/q&60483.html). Accessed, 10/8/2012. Merchant J. 2008. Three types of Ellipsis (http://home.Uchicago.edu/merchant/pubs/merchant.3types.pdf) Matthews, P. H. 2007. Oxford concise dictionary of linguistics: Oxford University Press, Oxford. Ndimele, O. M. (2004). The principles and parameters of universal grammar. A government-binding approach. Owerri: African Educational Services. The Chicago Manual of Style.(1993). 14th Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Accessed, 10/8/2012. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis). Accessed, 20/2/2012. Williamson, K. (1989). Niger – Congo Overview. In: Bendor-Smanuel, J. (ed.) The Niger-Congo Languages: a classification and description of Africa’s largest language family. Lanham MD, New York & London: University Press of America, pp. 21-27.

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