Suspension points: retrieval of elided information with Greimas’ isotopies and Mark Johnson’s image schemas

Abstract

Ellipsis, or suspension points, are linguistic signs commonly used to omit information in texts. The research on the possibility of retrieving such information through linguistic theories is uncommon. Therefore, this article proposes, on the one hand, a double analysis, from structural and cognitive semantics, of two poems by Barba Jacob that contain ellipses, in order to explain how omitted information can be recovered; and, on the other hand, to provide an effective criterion to distinguish the uses in which there is elision from those that do not have it. I draw from these two perspectives the following analytic devices: isotopies, devised by Greimas (1966) and later developed by François Rastier (1976); and the image-schemas, devised by Mark Johnson and later expanded upon by various researchers. As will be seen, both perspectives allow for systematic and effective retrieval.