6

I often hear people saying that "I am" is the shortest sentence in the English language. I know that there are also discussions about sentences using the imperative mood such as "Go." that would be shorter, but my question is this:

Why would we (the people saying "I am" is a full sentence) not accept "I'm" as a complete sentence? Is there some unwritten rule about contractions that says "I'm" wouldn't be correct?

SimonT
  • 167

3 Answers3

9

In English, any clause has one mandatory stress slot: there must be at least one element that has stress (optionally more than one). That slot lies in the predicate of the clause, which must always be stressed. The subject (which stands outside the predicate) can receive stress, but does not necessarily have to, and even when it does receive stress, the predicate retains its stress.

Within the predicate, a verb that has one or more complements of a certain type (a generic object [i.e., one without an article], an adverbial phrase, a predicative expression, etc.) is unstressed (or at most secondarily stressed) unless it is emphasised for effect. In such a case, the predicate’s only stressed element(s) is/are the complement(s) that is/are considered most important.

Conversely, if the verb either does not have any compliments or has a non-generic object (i.e., an object with an article, a proper noun, etc.), it is stressed. Any following complements can also be stressed, but they do not have to be.

So for example (using the IPA character “ˈ” before a word to indicate stress, and the entirely ad hoc notation “ˣ” to specifically denote lack of stress):

He ˈran.
He ˣran ˈhome.
He ˈran a ˈmile.
He ˣran ˈfast.

As mentioned above, complements also include predicative expressions like subject and object complements—like what you have in ‘to be’ phrases. These follow the same rules (note that the distinction between generic and non-generic elements goes only for objects, not for predicative expressions):

He ˣis a ˈman.
He ˣis ˈgood.

Now very importantly: a stressed syllable cannot be syncopated. Only unstressed (or sometimes secondarily stressed) syllables can be syncopated away, leaving contractions in their wake. Of course, when you contract something, you are removing a syllable, and if that syllable is stressed, where would the stress go when you remove it? There has to be a stress somewhere.

As such, the following is possible:

He ˣis my ˈfather --> He’s my ˈfather.
I ˣcan ˈtell you ˈwhy --> I c’n ˈtell y’ ˈwhy.

– because the elements that are syncopated (is in the first, can and you in the second) are both unstressed. The following, however, is impossible, because here we’ve emphasised (= stressed) the verbs. Emphasising an element reduces other elements nearby to lose their stress entirely—it’s basically overriding the ‘natural’ assignment of stress—and the emphasised verbs end up being the only elements that carry any stress. If you syncopate those away, the stress would disappear entirely from the clause, which is not possible:

But he ˈis my ˣfather --> †But ˣhe’s my ˣfather.
I ˈcan tell you ˌwhy --> †I ˣc’n tell y’ ˣwhy.

Now recall that the predicate must be stressed. In a case like “I am” (with nothing more following the verb), where the verb has no complements at all, there is only one element that can be used to fill this stress slot: the verb itself, which is thus automatically stressed. And since the verb is stressed, it cannot be syncopated or contracted: that would remove the mandatory stress slot altogether, which is not an option.

Janus Bahs Jacquet
  • 32,382
  • 1
    That's an interesting answer. Can you add some sources? – TsSkTo Sep 13 '13 at 13:29
  • This is an interesting description of some elements of English stress patterns... though I'm not sure it actually accounts for why contractions are not used with ellipsis. – Neil Coffey Sep 13 '13 at 13:52
  • 1
    @TsSkTo normally when one or more sources are provided the answer's validity is improved. But in the case of Janus Bahs Jacquet, the sheer quality and the underlying sense of authority behind his detailed answer is such that I, for one, am left without any doubt that he knows what he is talking about. Now, whether his research and opinion is one I agree with, that is a separate issue. – Mari-Lou A Sep 13 '13 at 14:00
  • It's an interesting answer, but I think it does have the slight issue that contractions are used in stressed syllables for focus and topicalisation (e.g. "I'M doing it, not you"). So you would still expect e.g. "Who's doing it? I'M", but this turns out to be ungrammatical. – Neil Coffey Sep 13 '13 at 14:41
  • @Coffey, in your example, ‘doing’ loses its primary stress due to the emphatic stress on ‘I’. The non-emphasised version would have ‘doing’ it as the main stress in the predicate. The subject has (or can have) a stress unit of its own that does not really affect the predicate’s, and ‘am’ is indeed unstressed even if ‘I’ am stressed. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 13 '13 at 15:36
  • 1
    Note that "I'm doing it" means "I am doing it" and not "I am doing it," which is consistent with Janus's explanation. – Bradd Szonye Sep 18 '13 at 01:24
  • Can you suggest reference(s) where I can learn more about this (hopefully in a similarly lucid way :) ? // Also, are plural nouns, like “boys”, and words like “two boys” included in "generic objects" too? – HeWhoMustBeNamed Jan 31 '20 at 16:33
  • 1
    @MrReality Hm, good question. I’m not sure where I actually have this knowledge from – probably just scraped up from various fairly introductory linguistics books at the beginning of my academic trajectory. I don’t know of any sources that deal specifically with this, sorry. Generally speaking, unquantified nouns (i.e., with no articles, possessives or numerals) count as ‘generic’ for stress allocation purposes, so “He teaches boys” has an unstressed verb, but “He teaches two boys” as a stressed verb. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 31 '20 at 16:39
  • While this is a really good answer (which I've already upvoted), I do have several questions here; can you answer them? (a) How does your theory account for the uncontractability of the bolded verbs in: 1. "I'll bet you're as bright as you are good-looking" (interestingly, the second are behaves differently from the first are in this regard) 2. "A: Is it open?" "B: I think it is sometimes" (as it happens, contrary to "B: I think it's sometimes open") ... (b) According to your theory, "is" in the following sentence . . . – HeWhoMustBeNamed May 07 '20 at 17:36
  • [contd.] has primary stress: "Who's coming along? - John is!", right? If so, what stress would you assign to is here: "Is John coming? - He is!"? ... (c) 1. Is your answer in disagreement with this one, which offers a similar explanation, but whose point #2 contradicts what you've written in your third paragraph? (His comment in response to mine, seeking clarification from him in this regard, brings out the . . . – HeWhoMustBeNamed May 07 '20 at 17:37
  • [contd.] opposition even more clearly.) 2. The answerer there mentions his explanation is a simplification of the treatment provided in Chomsky & Halle's SPE (specifically the nuclear stress rule); so is your answer based on a reading of that, too, or is it based on some other reference(s) you believe more credible -- or something else? // I just want to mention (though I don't think it'd count as plagiarism or anything if I didn't) that the examples I've given are not of my own devising; they are from several different sources relating to this topic that I've encountered. – HeWhoMustBeNamed May 07 '20 at 17:37
  • @HeWhoMustBeNamed (a) Good question. Not sure about 1 (and I don’t entirely agree it’s not contractable), but I agree with Greg’s comment in the link that “sometimes” in 2 is outside the clause and doesn’t count. (b) I’d call that emphatic stress, which has its own rules. (c) No, no disagreement; I don’t think the answers contradict each other (except Greg’s comment, which isn’t quite clear to me). My answer isn’t based on any particular text, just bits and bobs from memory. There may be some cases that are explained better by Chomsky & Halle. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 07 '20 at 17:52
0

It’s because personal pronouns followed by contractions of the forms of be and have don’t occur in sentences on their own. For example, the answer to the question ‘Who’s going to the movie tonight?’ has to be I am and not I’m. Again, the answer to the question ‘Who’s seen this movie?’ has to be We have and not We’ve.

Barrie England
  • 140,205
  • Well, yes but why? – terdon Sep 13 '13 at 12:30
  • I would guess it's simply because they don't give enough information. – Barrie England Sep 13 '13 at 12:35
  • Surely if I'm here gives enough information, so should Here I'm. Why would one have less information than the other? – terdon Sep 13 '13 at 13:34
  • Why? Just 'coz that's the way it is...! – Neil Coffey Sep 13 '13 at 13:53
  • 1
    @NeilCoffey that's a patronising reply if ever I heard one. Terdon's question is perfectly appropriate. To claim that "I am" gives more information that "I'm" is begging the question, why. – Mari-Lou A Sep 13 '13 at 14:04
  • @terdon. I was thinking of the single syllable response I'm. Beyond that, I don't really know. Do you have any ideas? – Barrie England Sep 13 '13 at 14:04
  • None whatsoever, just opinions :). Actually, I think that Janus's answer is spot on. I can't think of any examples where I would contract a stressed word without a complement. – terdon Sep 13 '13 at 14:15
  • I would prefer saying, The answer to the question ‘Who’s going to the movie tonight?’ can only* be "I am". However, when a question beginning with an auxiliary demands a short answer, "Do you like going to the movies?" we can just as easily reply with a simple one word: "yes" or "no", as well as the oft dictated response, taught by language teachers the world over, "Yes, I do" or "No, I don't"*. An example of a contracted auxiliary verb without a complement. – Mari-Lou A Sep 13 '13 at 14:17
  • @Mari-LouA I actually am raising a serious point (though I admit in a slightly flippant way) -- Languages are complex systems, and as such, it isn't always possible (and often isn't a reasonable expectation to be able) to pinpoint a specific "reason" for an instance of language being the way it is. The question is a bit like asking "why" a Carbon atom has 6 protons in its nucleus. – Neil Coffey Sep 13 '13 at 14:35
  • The answer which nohat gave here http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/500/is-there-some-rule-against-ending-a-sentence-with-the-contraction-its?rq=1 draws on ‘The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language’ to give an answer similar to Janus’s. The key point seems to be that ‘there are certain grammatical contexts that require strong forms’. I realise that that only pushes the question further back – why do such contexts require strong forms? – Barrie England Sep 13 '13 at 14:40
  • 1
    @NeilCoffey because it has 6 neutrons, obviously :). – terdon Sep 13 '13 at 15:48
  • @Mari-LouA Just saw your comment here now—for the record, in “No, I don’t”, the auxiliary is not contracted. The negation not is contracted, but the auxiliary isn’t. Do doesn’t really contract at all, but if you take another auxiliary, like have, which does, you can tell the difference. If you answer “No, I’ve not”, you contract the auxiliary and instead stress the negation, so the predicate retains a stress slot; if you say “No, I haven’t”, you contract the negation and stress the auxiliary—still a stress slot there. Contracting both would give “No, I’ven’t”, which is not possible. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 04 '15 at 20:15
  • @Mari-LouA And don’t forget, the basic rule is that a stressed syllable can’t be syncopated. In “I’ve not”, the syncopated have is unstressed, and in “I haven’t”, the syncopated not is unstressed. (Minor correction: do does contract in certain contexts, like d’you for do you.) – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 04 '15 at 20:16
-1

It is hard to explain. The English language has a lot of little things that can be put in different places but that will mean the same thing. "I am" versus "I'm" is a perfect example of this. It is more of how you were raised on hearing "I am" you use "I am" not "I'm". You wouldn't say "The time is what?" you would say "What time is it?"

Redneck
  • 33
  • 2
    -1. This doesn’t really answer the question at all. Moreover, it is very hard to understand and doesn’t make any proper sense, really. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 13 '13 at 13:00
  • @JanusBahsJacquet, How is it hard to understand and not make proper sense? And, re: "This doesn't really answer the question at all", it makes the same (I believe, correct) point that Barrie England's answer makes; though both could have done with more explanation. – HeWhoMustBeNamed Jan 31 '20 at 16:43