BARRIE E. BARTLETT: A paradigm of problems for a historical study of ellipsis. Ellipsis, as a phenomenon of surface structure, poses at least two problems: recoverability and the theoretical status of what is recovered. If ellipsis is considered as the set of a set partitioning both occurring and non-occurring forms, it is possible to define the various ways in which ellipsis has been perceived in the history of ellipsis and to attribute theoretical status to the variety of interpretations. In short, ellipsis enters into paradigmatic relations that can be accounted for either in well-founded theoretical terms or on a ad-hoc basis; such an analysis provides a basis for the evaluation of so-called theories of ellipsis.