الفهرس 
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Abstract
This thesis is an attempt to shed some light on the complex phenomenon
of ellipsis in both English and Egyptian colloquial Arabic. Samples of spoken
discourse from English and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic are analytically and
descriptively compared. The principal goal of this study is two fold: first to point
out the differences and similarities of elliptical constructions in both languages,
second to investigate the corresponding discourse functions of these elliptical
constructions .In doing this, the mechanisms involved in the process of
interpreting ellipsis in stretches of spoken discourse will also be subject to
investigation. It should be emphasized that the distinctive syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic properties of elliptical utterances in both languages will also be
studied.
The general approach adopted in this study is not a formal sentential one,
where sentences are studied as the maximal unit of linguistic analysis in
isolation from the context, but is rather a ” functional and discourse oriented”
one in which discourse as well as situational contexts, language use, and other
discourse-pragmatic considerations are taken into account in linguistic analysis.
What is mostly emphasized in the present study is that ellipsis seems to be more
than a purely grammatical process and any attempt to define Ellipsis as a
syntactical phenomenon only is bound to be inadequate. The scope of ellipsis
seems to be vast since a greater number of elliptical utterances can only be
accounted for by recourse to the larger cognitive faculty.
The study is divided into four chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter
is an introductory chapter. The chapter introduces the phenomenon of ellipsis,
its definition and its history .It also deals with the procedures employed in the
study. It is also an attempt to delineate and delimit the characteristic features of
the phenomenon of ellipsis by contrasting it with other similar phenomena such as deletion, gapping repetition etc. It also excludes some linguistic phenomena
such as non-realization inferential gaps clipping that may overlap with the
concept of ellipsis. The chapter poses an essential question as to whether to deal
with ellipsis as a purely grammatical /structural equating it with
transformational deletion or to treat it within a functional and discourseoriented
framework where discoursal /linguistic as well as situational contexts ,
language use, and other pragmatic features are taken into consideration.