Abstract: This study deals with the common words “last” and “next” appeared in news, revealing that the perfunctory treatment of “last” and “next” as pronouns, however, does not allow for a rigorous analysis of elliptical “last” and “next”. Results of experiments prove that the two post-determiners “last” and “next” also assume other functions including pronominal-like-ones. Also noteworthy are the findings that elliptical last/next almost always combine with “the”.
Key words: ellipsis; determiners; the null article; American news language
摘要：本文通过对新闻中常用词“Last”和“Next”进行了归纳分析，旨在揭示“Last”和“Next”除传统意义外，二者在省略层面也有相应的使用意义。研究结果表明，“Last”和“Next”除通常可作为代词使用外，也可作为省略词使用，并且做省略使用时，经常与“the”连用。
关键词：省略； 限定词； 零冠词；美国新闻语
This paper has examined some elliptical patterns involving two post-determiners, last and next, which sometimes assume other functions including pronominal-like ones. Interestingly enough, they still exhibit more lexical properties than a typical pronoun, given that both last and next often need to be accompanied by a central determiner. In analyzing the structure and functions of last and next in elliptical constructions, we see a sequencing and additive modifier in pre-nominal position being reinterpreted as the referential head.
