Prepositions and eliiptical constructions

My project would be completed at the University of Stavanger within seven months. The research area is linguistics, and the specific research question centers on a syntactic phenomenon attested cross-linguistically. This is the third part of my larger pro ject investigating the possibility of preposition-omission in elliptical constructions in languages with and without preposition-stranding. This project began last year with an investigation of Polish (a non-preposition-stranding language), and is being p ursued at Stanford University. The current (second) phase is intended to yield factors influencing the possibility of preposition-omission in elliptical constructions in English (a preposition-stranding language) and an adequate analysis thereof. An Yggdr asil fellowship would help me explore another preposition-stranding language by collecting Norwegian data. The methodology of my project depends on the resources available at the University of Stavanger. In particular, the Reading Center owns an eye-track ing laboratory suitable for measuring processing difficulty accompanying comprehension of elliptical constructions. Because opportunities for collecting data this way are still rare, the University of Stavanger would be a valuable host. Further, this univ ersity has sustained cross-linguistic work in English and the Nordic languages by a dedicated group of scholars. The activities of this group would provide a suitable research environment for my project. The expected outcome of the project is a contributi on to theoretical linguistics offering finer insight into the mechanism of ellipsis across languages. The significance of the project lies in exploring an area of variability across languages which has not been explored. This is done in a controlled manne r, and by utilizing various modern data sources. At the same time as this project adds to our understanding of ellipsis cross-linguistically, it makes a specific contribution to the description of Norwegian syntax.