The term “ellipsis”, which is used both in literary criticism and in music, is derived from the Greek word ellipsis, which translates as “loss” or “omission”.
The definition of “ellipsis” in literary criticism
If in speech a deliberate loss of one or another member of a sentence (subject, predicate, etc.) is observed, then we are dealing with the so-called ellipsis. Why is this being done and is the meaning of the whole proposal changing due to the absence of one of its members? Ellipsis is a stylistic device that occurs in both written and oral types of speech. This is done with the aim of giving expressiveness, expression, sometimes intrigue, etc. to this proposal.
Ellipsis and impersonal sentences. What is the difference?
However, the omission of one of the members in a sentence is not always a syntactic figure (stylistic device). For example, incomplete sentences characteristic of everyday spoken language, in which one of the main members of the sentence is omitted, in most cases are not an ellipse. "When exactly?" - you ask. The thing is that in incomplete sentences, although there is a lack of one of its main members, however this was done unintentionally. And when an ellipsis (stylistic figure) is present in the text, this omission pursues a definite goal or serves to enhance the effect, but without distorting the general thought. By the way, in contrast to simple impersonal sentences, in the case of an ellipse not only the main, but also the secondary members of the sentence are omitted.
Ellipsis in the literature
This figure of speech in literary works, whether it be prose or poetry, is used by the authors in order to make readers independently think up a deliberately missed phrase or a single word. This technique contributes to the involvement of the reader, albeit after the fact, in the creative process of creating this work.
Ellipsis examples
Here are some examples of this stylistic figure:
- “ To her he tells one thing, and to us - a completely different one . ” In this sentence, the predicate is omitted (the main term of the sentence denoting the action of the subject), but the meaning of what was said is completely clear to us.
- “... Big tousled bear, Tatyana ah! and he was roaring ... ” In this case, Pushkin used the ellipsis stylistic figure of speech to enhance the effect. This is used quite often in literature, especially in the poetic genre. Here, not only one of the members of the sentence is omitted, but also is replaced by the interjection “ah,” which is also an ellipse.
- “... Take a walk at the wedding, because - the last one! ”In these lines belonging to Twardowski, the word“ what ”is missing.
- “ Her life was longer than mine.” And here we see the omission of a secondary member of the sentence, an additional sentence expressed by a noun in the nominative case .
By the way, if an ellipsis is in Russian the omission of one of the words that make up a sentence, then in English and in some other languages it is called the ellipsis.
Ellipticity
A concept that is directly related to this term is called “ellipticity”. This is a very interesting stylistic device. It is based on an ellipse. This is a syntactic figure (this was already mentioned above), which is expressed in the omission of words and phrases in the sentence, and even sentences in the text. In conversation, omissions occur because the interlocutors know the details of the topic around which the dialogue is being conducted, or they became known during the conversation from previous remarks. Sometimes, along with the omissions of words in speech, that is, the “swallowing” of words, the interlocutors use gestures, meaningful looks, shrugs, etc. This technique is also used in the theater. Here whole phrases are deliberately kept silent, and the viewer needs to connect his wit to understand what is hidden behind the silence of the actors.
Types of Ellipsis
The omission of words, or the so-called “silence,” can be of various types.
- Indirect . This type of ellipsis is found in those works when, without naming a particular subject, the conversation is conducted around it, and everyone knows what it is about. This technique is often used in dramatic works, for example, in plays, etc.
- Situational . In this case, an ellipsis is not just the loss of a particular word or phrase, but its compensation by non-verbal means of communication - gestures or interjections, exclamations: Ay-ah, oh-oh, ah-ah, etc.
- Psychological . Here, the silence can be regarded as a hint or omission, a secret, etc. In the case when there are not two, but several people, some of them may assume that they want to deliberately hide something from them, and this can lead to unwanted results. On the other hand, the psychological aspect of this figure of speech is that two or more people very close to each other can speak in half phrases, “swallow” sentences, and they will perfectly understand each other even without words. This is facilitated by their spiritual intimacy.
Other varieties of ellipsis
From the point of view of word formation, an ellipsis is substantive, for example, a free kick → a free kick (the main word is omitted, the definition remains) and adjective - a garden scarecrow → a scarecrow (here, on the contrary, the definition is omitted).
Types of ellipsis
In linguistics, there are many types of ellipsis. At the same time, linguists consider this technique an unproductive method of compressive word formation. The fact that in this sentence there is an ellipsis can be learned from the context. The following is a list of types of ellipsis in sentences.
- Stripping.
- Gapping.
- Pseudo-grapping.
- Slousing.
- Ellipse is a noun phrase.
- Ellipsis of the verb group.
- Comparative ellipsis.
- Ellipsis when answering a question.
- Zero anaphora supplement, etc.
Ellipsis in music
As already noted above, this term is used both in linguistics and in music. In both cases, an ellipsis is approximately the same meaning. And if in literary criticism it means the omission of a particular word, phrase or sentence in order to enhance the effect of what was said, then in music this term means replacing the expected chord with some other that is not a functional consequence of the first chord. In addition to this definition, one can give another. According to it, the elliptical revolution, which can be either intra-tonal or modular in music, can also be described as a skipping of one of the links of harmony or the expected chord.
As already noted, ellipses in harmony are intra-tonal and modulating. What does this mean? We consider each separately.
- The intra-tonal ellipsis is made up of chords that, by their sequence, contradict the logic of this kind of fret.
- The modulating ellipse is otherwise called melodic-harmonic modulation. It occurs as a result of the collision of several unstable chords. Often they are dissonant and are in different tones, but are connected seamlessly by current voice science, which, however, does not have obvious functional connections.
Four types of collision of these dissonant chords are conditionally distinguished (those who are familiar with musical literacy will understand what is at stake):
- SS (they are found in Liszt Ferenc, for example, in the work “Joy and sorrow”).
- DD (“the great deaf” —L.V. Beethoven, for example, liked to use this technique in his work “Sonata No. 2”).
- SD.
- DS (E. Grieg - “Fresh as Spring”).
By the way, elliptic modulation, as a rule, is sudden, because unrelated tonality interacts in it. In addition to the ecliptic, in music there are other types of modulation, and they are characteristic of the developing parts of musical forms.