436 Chapter 13 Anaphora
5. Ellipsis and gapping
In keeping with the fact that there is widespread use of null pronouns, almost
any material can be dropped from a clause that is nearly identical to the clause
that precedes it. First, all of the material in a verb phrase can be omitted if iden-
tical to the verb phrase in the preceding clause. This is illustrated in (89) and
(90)
(89) Pa' guru a-berri' pesse dha' mored se dhari Kamal, Dayat keya.
Mr teacher AV-give money to student REL from Kamal Dayat too
‘The teacher gave money to the student from Kamal, and Dayat did too.’
(90) Tono e-pokol kana' rowa, Lukman keya.
Tono OV-hit child that Lukman too
‘Tono was hit by that child, and Lukman was too.’
In (89), an actor voice VP aberri' pesse dha' mored se dhair Kamal ‘gave mon-
ey to the student from Kamal’ is missing from the second of the conjoined
clauses under identity with the VP of the first clause. In (90) it is the object
voice VP epokol kana' rowa ‘hit by that guy’ that is understood to be the VP of
the second conjunct.
Verbs can be gapped in the second of two conjuncts, leaving behind the
remainder of the VP, as in (91-93).
(91) Bapa' maca koran, Ebu' buku.
father AV.read newspaper mother book
‘Father read a newspaper, and Mother a book.’
(92) Hanina entar dha' Borobudur, Sinap dha' Prambanan.
Hanina go to Borobudur Sinap to Prambanan
‘Hanina went to Borobudur, and Sinap to Prambanan.’
(93) Wati ma-becce' sapedha motor bi' obing, Abu motor bi' tokol.
Wati AV.CS-fix motorcycle with screwdriver Abu car with hammer
‘Wati fixed the motorcycle with a screwdriver, and Abu (fixed) the car
with a hammer.’
In (91), the verb maca ‘read’ has been gapped in the second clause, in (92) en-
tar ‘go’, and in (93) mabecce ‘fix’.
Finally, any parts of a VP that repeat information from the previous
clause may be omitted.