Stripping (linguistics)

Stripping (= bare argument ellipsis) is an ellipsis mechanism that elides everything from a clause except one constituent. It occurs exclusively in the non-initial conjuncts of coordinate structures. One prominent analysis of stripping sees it as a particular manifestation of the gapping mechanism, the difference between stripping and gapping lies merely with the number of remnants left behind by ellipsis: gapping leaves two (and sometimes more) constituents behind, whereas stripping leaves just one. Stripping occurs in many languages and is a frequent occurrence in colloquial conversation. As with many other ellipsis mechanisms, stripping challenges theories of syntax in part because the elided material often fails to qualify as a constituent in a straightforward manner.

The following examples illustrate standard cases of stripping. The elided material is indicated using smaller font size and subscripts.

Note the appearance of the additive particle too in these examples. Stripping is often marked by also, as well, or too. Notice also the appearance of the coordinator and or or. The coordinator's appearance marks coordination. Each time, the elided material appears in the non-initial conjunct of the coordinate structure. A trait that stripping shares with gapping is illustrated with the following examples:

Like gapping, stripping allows the object form of the pronoun (= disjunctive pronoun) to function as the subject in the stripped clause. A second trait that stripping shares with gapping is shown with the following examples:

Like the gapped verbs, the stripped verbs in these examples do not match their antecedents in the area of verbal inflection. The fact that gapping and stripping are alike in these respects does indeed suggest that they are one and the same ellipsis mechanism.

A particularly frequent type of stripping is not-stripping. The remnant in the stripped clause is introduced by not and the entire sentence functions to correct a mistaken assumption in the preceding context. More often than not, the coordinator is omitted:

A noteworthy aspect of not-stripping is the position of not. In the full versions of these sentences (i.e. without stripping), not cannot appear in the positions shown. When stripping occurs, the not must immediately precede the one remnant. Given this observation, one might conclude that stripping does not really involve ellipsis at all, but rather something else is going on. This conclusion is undermined by further facts. One of these facts is that the behavior of not is the same in cases of not-gapping:

...
Wikipedia