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This paper explores what cultural cognition of 'marriage' is metaphorically conceptualized in Indonesian expressions. This paper has two questions. Firstly, what cultural cognitions of 'marriage' are encoded in the use of metaphorical expressions in Indonesian? Secondly, how such cultural cognition of 'marriage' is metaphorically conceptualized in Indonesian expressions? The analysis and discussion of this exploration basically follow (i) the principles of embodiment in Cognitive Linguistics and (ii) the logic of cultural conceptualization in Cultural Linguistics. Both serve as the primary bases to analyze the problem of the study. The paper is expected to contribute to the present linguistic study in two-fold benefits. Firstly, it presents the discussion of the cultural cognitions of marriage represented in Indonesian metaphorical expressions. Secondly, it discusses the methodological issues of (i) how to understand the relation between culture and language and (ii) how to uncover any cultural representations in linguistic metaphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article intends to conduct a corpus-based study on the correlation between technicality and two typical ideational metaphors in English texts, i.e., nominalization which is typical experiential metaphor and verbalization which is typical logical metaphor. A general distribution pattern of the typical ideational metaphors within the contexts of genre and discipline was investigated in the BNC. Based on this general pattern, the use of typical ideational metaphors was investigated, both in the academic papers of natural sciences and social sciences written by Chinese users of English as a foreign language (EFL) and those by native English users. The first investigation based on the BNC shows that typical ideational metaphors are not only genre sensitive but also discipline sensitive, and the technicality of text is determined by the use of verbalizations rather than by that of nominalizations. The second investigation based on the research papers shows that native English users write more technical English than EFL Chinese users, and among the four groups of research papers, the EFL Chinese science papers are farther from the native English science papers than the EFL Chinese linguistic papers from the native English linguistic papers in technicality. This research is of implication to the discipline-based English training of the non-native English learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether V + V combinations in Jordanian Arabic (JA) and English could be classified as either serial verb constructions (SVCs) or V + V compounds. Through applying the cross-linguistic criteria of SVC, which have been established in the relevant literature, it seems that V + V combinations in JA and what have been considered as V + V compounds in English satisfy all the criteria of SVC. The analysis shows that the criteria found in the literature to identify compounds and SVCs show a great deal of overlap, especially with regard to the fact that both types of construction are inseparable. We argue that the criteria discussed in this paper and in much of the literature to identify SVCs are necessary, but insufficient, conditions for SVC-hood. Alternatively, we propose that as far as JA and English are concerned, SVC and V + V compounds may exist on a continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a detailed description of the relationship between linguistic diversity and biological diversity (biodiversity henceforth). For the sake of ease of the presentation the paper has been organized into sections. Each section begins with a question. In Section 2 that follows the Introduction, diversity and its various types have been described. The third section deals with attitude, in general, toward diversity. Section 4 compares linguistic diversity with biodiversity, while Section 5 compares the pace of extinction between language and living organism. Sections 6 and 7 discuss linguistic diversity across the world and in India, respectively. Linguistic landscape in India has been discussed with reference to diversity in language and script and features of Indian multilingualism. The next three Sections 8–10 attempt to answer the questions, such as – why linguistic diversity occurs, how is it assessed and how languages are lost? Consequences of language loss and concern for language revitalization have been discussed in the last two Sections 11 and 12 of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a cross-linguistic perspective, Citko and Gracanin-Yuksek (2013) argue that three approaches should be available for the coordinated wh -question (CWH): the mono-clausal approach, the bulk sharing approach, and the non-bulk sharing approach. This paper aims to reveal the nature of the CWH in Japanese, which has not received much attention in the literature, and argues that none of those approaches capture properties of CWHs in Japanese. Alternatively, a backward ellipsis approach is investigated and it is shown that the backward ellipsis approach overcomes the problems which the other approaches face. One of the arguments for the backward ellipsis approach is crucially based on the generalization that case particles cannot be stranded via scrambling. This paper also suggests that this generalization is captured in terms of labeling, adopting Saito's (2014) proposal that the function of Case in Japanese is to make a phrase invisible for labeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence from Hocąk (Siouan) that Baker's (2014) analysis cannot account for all cases of pseudo noun incorporation (PNI). Baker (2014) argues that PNI is best analyzed as complex predicate formation derived via head movement of the object NP's head noun into the verb. Baker contends that the resulting structure cannot be linearized at PF if any material intervenes between the two copies of the noun, and thus that this movement must be string-vacuous. Here, I present data from Hocąk PNI that are problematic for Baker's theory. First, I show that internal arguments that are not base-generated in a position linearly adjacent to the verb can nonetheless be incorporated. Second, NP-internal modifiers can surface between the incorporated noun and the verb, which is also not compatible with Baker's theory. Instead, this paper demonstrates that Massam's (2001) analysis of PNI in Niuean (Oceanic) is able to account for the Hocąk data. Massam proposes that PNIed objects are NPs that are base-generated in object position. Thus, while Baker's head movement theory may be the right analysis for PNI in other languages, I argue that the data from Hocąk demonstrate that it cannot be the only possible mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the cognitive linguistics tradition, polysemy has often been viewed as a function of underlying entries in semantic memory: word forms have distinct, albeit related, lexical entries, which thereby give rise to polysemous word senses in language use (e.g., Evans, 2004; Tyler and Evans, 2001, 2003 ). In this paper, I seek to broaden out the study of polysemy within this tradition by tackling it from three slightly different angles. I argue that polysemy can also arise from the non-linguistic knowledge to which words facilitate access. This phenomenon I refer to as conceptual polysemy . I illustrate this with an analysis of the lexical item book . Moreover, polysemy also arises from distinct, albeit related, conventionalised sense-units associated with the same linguistic form: the phenomenon I refer to as lexical polysemy . I illustrate with an analysis of the polysemy exhibited by the form in . And finally, semantic relatedness can be discerned as arising from different word forms which, at least on first blush, appear to share a common semantic representation. This phenomenon I refer to as inter-lexical polysemy . I illustrate with a case study involving an analysis of the prepositional forms in and on . In presenting my account of these three types of polysemous phenomena, I introduce a contemporary account of lexical representation: the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models, or LCCM Theory for short ( Evans, 2006, 2009, 2010b, 2013 ). This provides a common theoretical architecture which facilitates a joined-up account of these specific phenomena, and of polysemy more generally. Finally, the paper introduces a new construct within the theory—the notion of a meaning spectrum —which facilitates analysis of aspects of lexical and inter-lexical polysemy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Corrective uses of adversative markers like but, as in John isn’t going to Paris, but to Berlin, have proved rather difficult to capture in a unified theory of adversative markers, whereas corrective uses of additive markers, as in John is going to Berlin, and not to Paris, have been almost entirely ignored in theoretical semantics and pragmatics. These uses are taken under closer consideration in this paper, with special focus on the phenomenon I will refer to as (a)symmetric correction. I propose the following generalisation. Adversative markers are asymmetric in their corrective uses (e.g. the English but). That is, the first conjunct of but must be negated, while the second is positive. If the order of the negative and the positive conjunct is reversed, the corrective reading is not available for but, though it can be recovered if but is replaced by and or left out altogether. In contrast, additive markers are symmetric in this function. If a language standardly employs an additive marker to express correction (e.g. the Russian a), the order of the negative and the positive conjunct does not affect its corrective interpretation. The present paper develops a unified account of the semantics of but which accommodates its corrective uses and explains the above mentioned asymmetry. The proposed solution has non-trivial consequences for a general theory of additivity and adversativity, in particular, for the ongoing debate which function of but is the most basic, ‘denial of expectation’ or ‘formal contrast’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper tries to contribute to the semantical characterisation of adversative conjunctions and to the explanation of their distribution with respect to other conjunctions. The starting point is the view that all conjunctions including adversative ones can be characterised as special cases of additive marking and that the distributional pattern follows by simple blocking in which the more specific additive marker blocks a less specific one. While this seems to work, the account of adversative conjunctions like but that results in an additive analysis runs into serious problems. The paper tries to do better by developing an alternative account of adversativity in which but-clauses primarily have the function of marking the rhetorical relation of objection: they mark the fact that the speaker is objecting to a proposal that is contextually given. The paper shows how such an account could still explain the distributional facts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A wide-spread view is that the distribution of too falls apart in just two cases: either too can appear and then it must appear or it is not allowed to appear and then it is forbidden. In the first case, the context supplies a proper antecedent for too, in the second case it does not. The paper argues that there are also optional uses and cases where there is a proper antecedent, but too is better avoided. The paper discusses the problems these observations pose to existing theories about the production and interpretation of additive particles like too and suggests some solutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we offer a panoramic overview of the development of Andean Spanish and Andean Linguistics, from a theoretical point of view of language contact and universal grammar. We discuss how the notion of Andean Spanish came into existence, the issues under debate, and the consequences of different theoretical positions. We also introduce the contents of the papers included in this special issue, and highlight their key points, framing them in the context of the research on universal grammar. The following five areas are covered: (1) the convergence of Quechua and Aymara, (2) the impact of bilingualism on intonation, (3) the sharing of suffixes in contact situations, (4) the modification of the present perfect tense in Spanish in contact with Quechua, and (5) the properties of the Quechua case system from the point of view of contact varieties. Finally, we provide some remarks on bilingual education, and some suggestions for further directions for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper argues for and develops an ergative analysis of Tagalog. Determining whether a language is ergative or accusative is the result of examining the case marking alignment in transitive and intransitive clause types. However, identifying transitive and intransitive clauses has traditionally not been a straightforward task in work on Tagalog, which has been argued to possess two basic transitive clause types. Specifically, there is a long-standing controversy in Austronesian linguistics over whether the so-called ‘actor focus’ clause type is transitive or an antipassive. In this paper, I show that ‘actor focus’ clauses do in fact pattern with antipassives in uncontroversially ergative languages. This allows for the conclusion that Tagalog is an ergative language. In the analysis I propose, transitive v in ergative clauses values structural absolutive case with the object DP and assigns inherent ergative case to the external argument in its specifier. In intransitive (including antipassive) clauses, v is intransitive and accordingly has no case features to assign or value. The highest DP in vP values absolutive case with T, and the object in an antipassive is dependent on the lexical verb for inherent case. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Ourself and themself are not merely non-standard variants of ourselves/themselves. • These forms instead reflect productive expressive choices. • Other mixed number self pronouns are also attested. • Number morphologies can be combined creatively for expressive purposes. • Language users deploy signals and meanings to meet their communicative goals. Previous scholarly work on the pronouns ourself and themself describes them as variants of ourselves and themselves. In this paper, attested tokens of ourself and themself are examined, and the contexts in which they appear are analyzed. This analysis shows that these forms, and even some less frequent examples of other mixed-number self pronouns, occur where this combination of singular and plural morphology fits the communicative context. While prescriptive pressures limit their frequency, the existence of these data falsifies the claim that number morphology in self pronouns is grammatically constrained. Instead, the data show that the distribution of ourself and themself reflect expressive choices that speakers (and writers) make to facilitate communication, and provide support for a view of grammatical categories, even those commonly regarded as syntactically or semantically determined, as independent bearers of meaning. Speakers' creativity in the use of these forms reveals the nature of the linguistic system, as well as its structure as a set of signals and meanings deployed by language users to meet their communicative goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper argues that phonological similarity is evaluated over contrastive, phonological features. Evidence for this position is provided through analyses of consonant harmony processes. Typological studies of consonant harmony () have shown that similarity plays a role in consonant harmony patterning with only highly similar segments interacting as targets and triggers. In this paper, two types of cases provide evidence that the relevant properties determining interacting segments are contrastive phonological representations. In one type of case (e.g. Bumo Izon), segments that appear to share a phonetic class with participating segments fail to participate in harmony. In the second type of case (e.g. Dholuo and Anywa), consonant harmony patterns differ between languages with similar phonetic inventories. A pair of segments in one language participates in harmony, and is thus evaluated as similar by the grammar. In another language, a phonetically identical pair fails to participate in harmony. In these cases, neither phonetic properties nor the model of phonological similarity proposed in can account for the differences between languages. I propose that the underlying, phonological specifications differ from language to language accounting for the differences in the similarity evaluation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the cross-linguistic effects of animacy on overt Agent marking on the basis of a 200-language sample. It is shown that animacy-driven Differential Agent Marking (DAM), with different case markers for animate and inanimate Agents, is typologically rather uncommon. In order to account for this type of DAM and its scarcity, it is argued that a related phenomenon needs to be taken into consideration: in a considerable number of languages, inanimates cannot be construed as the Agent of a transitive clause. In this paper, both animacy-driven DAM and this restriction against inanimate Agents are explained using the notion of unexpectedness. Inanimates are unexpected to occur as Agents because they are not readily associated with Agent semantics. Because of this unexpectedness, inanimate Agents can either be avoided, or they can receive special case marking (i.e. DAM). Since the first strategy is preferred, this explains why animacy-driven DAM is not very common. Finally, it is argued that the results of this study are also relevant from a broader theoretical perspective. They reveal both symmetries and asymmetries between the Agent role and the Object role, and they point out a number of problems with the Silverstein hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The locative alternation has been analyzed in a variety of linguistic frameworks over the past four decades. This paper discusses various analyses of the locative alternation in Construction Grammar, comparing Goldberg''s (1995) with Iwata''s (2008) lexical-constructional account. Following Iwata''s detailed analysis, this paper shows that constructions of different degrees of abstraction are necessary to account for the full range of argument realizations of verbs in the locative altnernation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper shows that despite evidence of structural convergence between some of the Austronesian and non-Austronesian (Papuan) languages of Island Melanesia, statistical methods can detect two independent genealogical signals derived from linguistic structural features. Earlier work by the author and others has presented a maximum parsimony analysis which gave evidence for a genealogical connection between the non-Austronesian languages of island Melanesia. Using the same data set, this paper demonstrates for the non-statistician the application of more sophisticated statistical techniques—including Bayesian methods of phylogenetic inference, and shows that the evidence for common ancestry is if anything stronger than originally supposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the literature on gender assignment, some scholars claim that semantic assignment rules always win, others that there is no type-wise ranking (i.e., ranking according to whether the rules are semantic, morphological or phonological) at all. This discussion necessitates a further look at semantic assignment rules that have nothing to do with the semantic core for gender. Such non-core rules are referred to as “crazy” here. Evidence for non-core rules is presented, and the paper presents criteria for distinguishing between plausible and implausible such rules. Some rules that have been proposed in the literature clearly fall short of the criteria. Other ‘crazy’ rules fare better. The paper also presents a scenario for the origin of crazy rules and discusses what they tell us about gender and about the nature of linguistic generalisations, which can be quite “local”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the linguistic literature Hungarian infinitival clauses are claimed to project a full CP with all the left peripheral projections of a finite clause present, and the very same restrictions on the order of these constituents. However, in certain infinitival structures pointed out in the present paper the order of typical left peripheral phrases fails to obey the expected restrictions. Moreover, matrix constituents can mingle with constituents of the infinitival clause which may lead one to suppose a mono-clausal structure. This paper presents data that support a bi-clausal rather than a mono-clausal approach to restructuring. Adopting Hinterhölzl's (1999, 2006) bi-clausal approach to restructuring and his scope-based analysis of scrambling, an analysis will be proposed that captures the seemingly contradictory properties of the relevant infinitives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article examines a range of data concerning noun incorporation in Inuktitut. A number of facts are known in the linguistic literature of Inuit languages but are often not addressed in noun incorporation analyses. Possessor stranding is not permitted in noun incorporation, with the exception of a subclass of incorporating verbs which describe location and direction. Names are readily incorporated, a fact which poses a problem for analyses claiming that incorporated nominals are predicates. New empirical evidence about noun incorporation in Inuktitut is also introduced. This includes the fact that noun incorporation verbs can sometimes be optionally transitive, as well as the fact that passive morphemes may be added to the incorporated noun plus verb sequences. Throughout the paper it is shown that all the facts are accounted for by a Root Movement analysis. The nominal is incorporated not because it is a nominal but because it is a root and there is no verbal root element in this construction. Another concern discussed is the translation of elements within complex words, using English glosses. The paper concludes that more empirical research is required on languages which display noun incorporation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes an account of the syntactic basis for determining the relationship between event structure and ‘time-structure’ in simple tenses. In general, event telicity corresponds to temporal boundedness. But there are cases of mismatch, as in (1) and (2): (1) John broke glasses (for an hour); (2) They gave up for a while. It is argued that such cases arise vP-externally in (Viewpoint) Aspect, and concern the mapping from Event-time to Reference-time. The present paper proposes an account of the syntactic relations that underlie the temporal relationship between Reference Time and Event Time, with the goal of explaining (a) the basis for event/ET homomorphism, (b) the typical cases of ET/RT temporal homomorphism, and (c) the circumstances that allow non-homomorphism. Temporal relations are constructed derivationally, starting with event structure. Event structure itself is defined in lexico-syntactic structure, and is not altered in derivations. It is homomorphic with Event-time. Event-time can appear to be altered via partitive antecedence relations with RT. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Earlier literature on Bantu languages claimed that interrogative WH constructions in Bantu languages involve no WH movement (see Bokamba, 1976; Kimenyi, 1980). Using data from Ikalanga (an understudied Bantu language spoken in Botswana), this paper challenges this view and argues that although this language has WH in situ, WH constructions with left edge and right edge WH phrases prefixed with ndi-involve movement. Three island tests (the NP island test, the WH island test and the Adjunct island test) are used as movement diagnostics. Further evidence that WH phrases prefixed with ndi-involve movement comes from morphological facts. Once it is established that these WH constructions involve movement, the seemingly unusual position occupied by right edge WH phrases (including subject WH phrases) is explained in a principled and straight forward way; that is, Ikalanga is (at least partially) a discourse configurational language and thus the discourse properties of the language induce movement of a remnant TopP to a high position stranding the WH phrase. This discovery situates Ikalanga in the same language typology as languages like Hungarian, for example. The analysis adopted in this paper lends support to the much discussed remnant movement analysis (see among others Müller, 1998; Epstein, 2001; Mahajan, 1997, 2000; Culicover and Rochement, 1997), showing that remnant movement is a phenomenon permitted by universal principles of grammar. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper re-examines two types of constructions that have featured in the discussion of possessor ascension in Bantu: one type – an applicative construction – is associated with alienable possession, and the other – non-applicative – is associated with inalienable possession. The study shows that the former expresses affectedness, and that the possessor reading arises only by construal; whereas the latter expresses a part–whole relationship. The paper argues that the two constructions differ in more significant ways than has previously been acknowledged; and that their distinct derivations cannot be captured by traditional possessor ascension (PA) analyses. The putative “alienable” possessor constructions belong to the class of (benefactive) applicative constructions and should be analyzed as such. The paper proposes that the so-called “inalienable” possessor constructions can best be accounted for by positing the existence of “enlarged arguments” wherein the possessum functions as a nominal predicate which more narrowly pinpoints the locus of the action described by the verb. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The focus of this paper is the clausal coordinating connective nà in Akan, roughly corresponding to English and. Nà makes a conjunction of sentences optimally relevant when it has cognitive effects over and above the cognitive effects due to each of its conjuncts taken individually. Specifically the use of nà tells the interlocutor to look out for certain kinds of inferential relations between the conjuncts. These inferential relations, which become crucial in aiding the interlocutor to arrive at the intended interpretation of the utterance as a whole, could be temporal, causal, parallel, contrastive, and also the second conjunct can be interpreted as an explanatory comment on the information represented in the first conjunct. This paper is an attempt to account for what is semantically encoded as the meaning of nà. More significantly, it explores the pragmatics that influences the specific inferential relations between conjuncts. Specifically it examines the ways in which the logical form of an Akan conjunction of sentences is likely to be strengthened through context-dependent inference. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A limited number of predicates show a suppletive form instead of the so-called short-form negation construction in Korean (al- ‘know’→ molu- ‘not know’, *an(i)/mos al-; iss- ‘exist’ →eps- ‘not exist’, *an(i)/mos iss-). Distribution of the negator, licensing of negative polarity items, and scope interactions with respect to quantifiers show that short-form negation is syntactic. The suppletive negations behave just like short-form negation cases, without the responsible negator. This paper is concerned with these suppletive negation cases and provides a Distributed Morphology analysis, identifying shortcomings of lexicalist approaches. The particular analysis for the suppletive negation in Korean is morphological fusion of the negator and the predicates under consideration in the postsyntactic morphological component. This treatment explains the same syntactic and semantic behaviors for suppletive negation and short-form negation. Also, this account allows syntactic structure and operations (overt and covert) to be uniform regardless of the predicate chosen in a negative clause for the syntactic representation and derivation. One theoretical consequence is that morphology does not derive syntax, but interprets it. Toward the end of the paper, some special behaviors and properties of the verb ‘know’ are provided from Korean and several other languages, suggesting a functional feature related to ‘know’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, I discuss the relevance of the decomposition of CP for the syntax of adverbial clauses. I will show that conjunctions introducing adverbial clauses, such as if, while and since, may select a reduced CP, in which case such clauses lack main clause phenomena (MCP), or the conjunctions may select a full fledged CP, in which case the adverbial clauses are compatible with MCP. In the second part of the paper, I will argue that complements of factive predicates can also be shown to instantiate the reduced structures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes that the head-internal relative clause (HIRC) in Japanese materializes in several significantly distinct typological variants, and that these typological variations reflect different ways that syntactic and semantic mechanisms are employed to protect HIRCs from the Condition C effects that could disengage the relationship between the clause-internal lexical semantic head and whatever occurs in the external head position taking the lexical semantic head as its antecedent. Thus, with the most representative type of HIRCs in Japanese referred to in this paper as Standard HIRCs, the clause-internal semantic head is identified as referential NP, the external head as pro, and the HIRC itself as nonrestrictive relative, which as is well known is impervious to Condition C. Some other HIRC variant types in Japanese are compared with HIRCs in Yuman languages and with those in Korean to elucidate the nature of significant similarities between them in terms of the grammatical apparatus employed for the HIRC formation. The analysis of HIRCs presented here provides, it is hoped, a significantly deeper account than heretofore available of the kinds of constraints that govern the formation of HIRCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues against analyzing grammatical category as a morphological epiphenomenon irrelevant for syntax. Using evidence from English and Greek it refutes the account in Barner and Bale [Lingua 112 (2002), 771], whereby coinages are derivations of the free syntactic insertion of roots in nominal and verbal environments, and presents evidence suggesting they are products of recta-linguistic processes. Rehearsing the discussion in Chomsky's Remarks on Nominalization [Readings in English Transformational Grammar (1970) 184], the paper goes on to show that seeking to syntactically derive nouns and verbs from roots stumbles upon the idiosyncratic differences many noun-verb pairs display between them. Towards this, it foregrounds the role of non-zero derivational morphology in Greek and Hungarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The special issue of the "Lingua," periodical in June 2005 continues the 'taking up the gauntlet' series. The goal of this series is to promote the development of linguistic theories which are more global in character by having authors look at a common set of issues with different perspectives and different theoretical tools. With respect to other collections of linguistic work, the series is an attempt to move from a selection of papers with a common topic to a selection of papers with a common problem. This move involves a significant shift in perspective, as papers which share a topic can easily propose very different accounts that do not really establish a dialogue because they are different.

Topic-comment structures are an important ingredient of the grammars of languages that are not normally thought of as topic-prominent or discourse-configurational. This paper presents an integrated topic-comment approach to a subtype of specificational pseudo-clefts and three constructions generally grouped under the rubric of relative clause constructions: ‘subject contact relatives’ in dialects of English, ‘V2 relatives’ in Dutch and German, and extraposed relative clauses. All are argued to have a syntactic structure in which the first clause is the topic, occupying the specifier position of a TopP whose head takes the second clause, the comment, as its complement. The restrictive or specificational relationship between the second clause and the focus of the first clause, common to all the constructions discussed under the rubric of topic-comment structures in this paper, is shown to be the interpretive reflex of the fact that the second clause is introduced as the complement of the abstract head ‘Top0&rsquo, and is thereby earmarked as a comment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Korean bare -ko coordinate structures (BKCSs), post-verbal morphemes arc typically interpreted in a symmetric fashion. This has led some linguists, e.g. Yoon [Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics, vol. 5, Hanshinmwunhwasa, Seoul, 1993. p. 436; Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics. vol. 7, Hanshinmwunhwasa, Seoul, 1997, p. 3] and Yoon [Korean Journal of Linguistics 21.4 1996) 1105], to conclude that the conjunct size is a VP or a verbal constituent and post-verbal morphemes project in syntax as phrasal suffixes. This paper, however, observes that BKCSs may produce an asymmetric interpretation for pre-final affixes such as tense and aspect morphemes, though not for final affixes like mood morphemes. Based on this observation, this paper claims that BKCSs with asymmetric interpretations are to be analyzed as instances of coordination of functional categories (AspP, TP or possibly CP coordination depending on the formal status of -ko) in which phonetically null functional elements are postulated in non-final conjuncts. This larger scale coordination analysis gains further support first, from the fact that non-final conjuncts in BKCSs may contain elements that are licensed by a VP external functional category, and, second, from the fact that post-verbal morphemes can be sporadically recovered in BKCSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduced the papers featured on each of the three families of Caucasian languages, namely South Caucasian or Kartvelian, North West Caucasian of West Caucasian and North East Caucasian or Nakh-Daghestanian. Emphasis is given on the more general motivations for the publication of the papers. Some of the advantages linguistics as a whole can hope to gain for more detailed acquaintance with the Caucasian languages is outlined. It is generally agreed that the three language families do not form a genetic or genealogical unit, and while some specialists are convinced by the arguments for grouping North West and North East Caucasian into a single North Caucasian family, those who seek more distant linguistic affiliations for Kartvelian and for the putative North Caucasian families do so in different directions. Reasons are given for treating the language families together.

This paper re-examines the wh-copying phenomenon that is attested in a number of languages including German, Frisian, Afrikaans, and Romani, in the context of Chomsky''s (Chomsky, N., 1998. Minimalist inquiries: the framework. MIT Occasional Papers in Linguistics 15. MITWPL, Cambridge, MA) phase-based approach to syntactic derivation. Wh-copying is traditionally thought to provide strong evidence for the successive-cyclic nature of wh-movement. Besides the more general problem of how intermediate movement steps are formally triggered, however, the wh-copying phenomenon raises the questions of what grammatical condition or conditions should permit (or possibly, force) the phonetic realisation of intermediate wh-copies, why the spelling-out of locally uninterpretable copies of a wh-operator does not cause the derivation to crash at the phase level, and to what extent their presence poses a problem for the principle of Full Interpretation and for Kayne''s (Kayne, R., 1994. The Antisymmetry of Syntax. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) Linear Correspondence Axiom. It is shown that an analysis of wh-copying in terms of the discontinuous spelling-out of a wh-expression''s ‘operator’ and ‘core’ parts, in conjunction with a convergence-based view of phases, not only helps provide answers to the above questions, but also accounts for some otherwise difficult-to-explain restrictions on wh-copying. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explores the interactional uses of the oath-expression waḷḷāhi 'by God' in Egyptian Arabic. Based on everyday conversational data (Arabic CALLHOME), and drawing on conversation-analytic and interactional linguistics methods, the analysis shows that waḷḷāhi rarely introduces a solemn act of swearing; rather, it is conventionally used as a marker expressing or inviting the expression of commitment and certainty. waḷḷāhi can occur in turn-initial and utterance-final position, where it frames or modifies the current speaker's contribution, or as a freestanding response token. In epistemically divergent contexts, waḷḷāhi serves to resist the other party's assumptions or claims about a certain state of affairs by asserting commitment to a different state of affairs, or by questioning the certainty of the prior speaker. Commitment indexed by turn-initial tokens is relativized to the speaker's potentially restricted access and rights to knowledge, and is therefore more reserved; utterance-final tokens do not invoke this subjective reference and serve to express absolute commitment. In epistemically congruent and affiliative contexts, waḷḷāhi undergoes indexical reanalysis and is interpreted as an index of involvement, earnestness, and interest. The analysis aligns with a widely observed path of semantic and pragmatic development of discourse markers whereby markers come to assume more specific relational functions as they extend to new contexts of use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of segmental distribution and patterns with reference to the gemination processes in Sanskrit and Assamese within an Optimality theoretic model ( Prince and Smolensky, 1993 ). Segmental properties inherent in a segment and cross-linguistic well formedness conditions play a significant role in triggering gemination. The underlying liquids and approximants /j/, /r/, /l/, and /w/ trigger gemination of the preceding obstruents in Assamese. However, what has been conspicuously observed in synchronic Assamese grammar is that, in the surface forms, /j/ gets dropped in gemination and a process of metathesis occurs in the form of an insertion of a vowel before the geminates. The process is analyzed in an Optimality theoretic model and I have proposed the ranking *CCG>>MAX C>> Linearity to represent the phenomenon. However, we need one more markedness constraint *V[back, round]glides to address the issue of obstruent geminates followed by approximant ‘w’. In such cases ‘w’ gets dropped in the surface form, and we do not get any process of metathesis operating here. Actually, what happens is a consequence of the fact that metathesis is not possible because Assamese does not allow / ɔw / or /Vu/ diphthongs. Hence, I propose that the constraints *V[back, round]glides, *Cw are higher ranked over [Max Round>>Max W] and Linearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider optional /r/ drop as attested in colloquial Georgian. Three distinct simplification patterns are attested in colloquial speech: (a) No /r/ drop. We argue that there are three main factors blocking /r/ drop in #C1rC2: the OCP, faithfulness to word-initial coronal obstruents and homonymy; (b) Optional /r/ drop. We argue that optional /r/ drop occurs in contexts where there is little overlap between C1 and C2. Hence /r/ drop does not create any retrieval problems for C1 and it applies optionally; (c) Assimilation applies after /r/ drop takes place. The patterns and direction of assimilation are determined by the strongest percept, in this case by glottals, which have a strong release. The analysis of #C1rC2 simplification demonstrates that in colloquial Georgian /r/ is the consonant undergoing deletion and C1 is the segment undergoing assimilation in the majority of cases. Both processes, /r/ drop and assimilation can only apply where there is minimal deviation from the input, not threatening C1 retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the Sephardic diaspora in the Ottoman Empire, Judeo-Spanish has been in contact with different languages, both romance and others. The lexical borrowings from these languages are a characteristic element of Judeo-Spanish, especially the Hebraisms of the classical period (until the beginning of the 19th century) and the Gallicisms of the modern period (from the middle of the 19th century onward). The results of these language contacts have seldom been analyzed from a syntactical point of view, a fact that reflects the general lack of detailed studies about Judeo-Spanish syntax. The aim of this paper is to summarize the results of language contacts that can be observed in the concessive and concessive conditional clauses in modern Judeo-Spanish texts, published between 1880 and 1930. First, we see an increase and a diversification of the concessive conjunctions due to the contacts with Western European languages, especially Italian. Second, a linguistic innovation in the concessive conditional clauses reflects the fundamental changes in the language contacts of Judeo-Spanish between the 18th century and the modern period, as well as the modernization of Judeo-Spanish that characterizes its transformation during the last decades of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores changes of verb valency by means of noun-incorporation. We claim that noun-incorporation in English manifests itself in verbs formed by compression and backformation, such as to baby-sit, to head-hunt, to whistle-blow , and denominal verbs formed by transmutation, for example to doctor, to nest, to knife . Analysis of more than 6500 contexts with English incorporation complexes taken from corpora has shown that noun-incorporation in English leads to simple or complex change of valency. Semantically a sentence with noun-incorporation can be either complicated, due to extra connotations and metaphorical meanings of incorporation complexes, or simplified, due to reduction of semantic valency and morphosyntactic reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My aim in this paper is to reassess the conceptual–procedural distinction as drawn in relevance theory in the light of almost thirty years of research. In Section 1 , I make some comparisons between approaches to semantics based on a conceptual–procedural distinction and those based on a distinction between truth conditions and conditions for appropriate use. In Section 2 , I present a brief history of the conceptual–procedural distinction as drawn in relevance theory. In Section 3 , I consider the nature of procedural encoding and discuss whether it is best seen as semantic or pragmatic. In Section 4 , I outline some parallels and differences between procedural and use-conditional accounts of interjections. In Section 5 , I discuss the implications of the conceptual–procedural distinction for lexical pragmatics and consider some recent proposals about how it might be extended. In Section 6 , I reassess the conceptual–procedural distinction in the light of current evolutionary approaches to cognition and point out some future directions for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similes achieve poetic effects in virtue of the fact that they communicate explicit comparisons. This has been described as the ‘standard view’ of how similes are understood within relevance theory ( Wałaszewska, 2013 ), although it has only recently been developed at length ( Gargani, 2014 , Cf. O’Donoghue, 2009 ). In this paper I defend the standard view of similes as poetic comparisons, and argue that whatever like in similes encodes, it is the same as like in formally equivalent non-poetic comparisons. On my account, the assumption that metaphors and similes are understood in broadly the same way is false, but the content of similes which corresponds to the ad hoc concept communicated as part of the explicature by a metaphor (where applicable) can be captured in terms of a notion of comparison-relevant content. I end by comparing this account with an alternative proposal to explain simile within relevance theory by Wałaszewska (2013) . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larson (1989) noted that rightward movement of a DP past a clausal adjunct can necessitate a parasitic gap inside that clausal adjunct. This paper argues that rightward DP-movement beyond certain adjunct clauses is movement beyond typical Heavy-NP Shift that is licensed by the need to bind the parasitic gap. I show that this correctly predicts a number of observations concerning the exceptional nature of the rightward movement involved. In particular, parasitic gaps are able to license rightward movement that is potentially unbounded and successive-cyclic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Spanish, several constituents have their unmarked position after the sentence's main verb (direct objects, locative adjuncts, depictives, etc.). The linearity of linguistic expressions implies that if two such postverbal constituents appear in a given sentence they must be ordered in a certain way. The present paper examines information focus and syntactic weight as possible factors in postverbal constituent order. Based on data from two experimental studies it will be shown that (i) these factors indeed play a role in postverbal constituent order in Spanish and that (ii) postverbal constituent order is characterized at the same time by optionality and preferences (e.g., although a direct object (dO) and a depictive (DEP) can be ordered as DEP-dO or dO-DEP, the order dO-DEP is clearly preferred over DEP-dO). To account for the optionality and preferences, the data will be modeled in a (simplified) Stochastic Optimality Theory grammar without assuming a basic constituent order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In normal everyday speech, speakers occasionally become disfluent, mis-speak, and then correct their utterances mid-sentence. While these errors and repairs seem to be a natural case of language performance, language competence also plays an intimate role in shaping their ultimate form. Drawing on and extending insights from Levelt (1983, 1989) , this paper argues that self-repairs are a species of right node raising. I demonstrate that self-repairs share many of the properties of right node raising constructions, with the resumption behaving like the shared material of right node raising. I also suggest that self-repairs may illuminate the current theoretical bind seen in the analysis of right node raising by supporting recent proposals that favor a sparse representation for right node raising constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polysemy seems to be a relatively neglected phenomenon within philosophy of language as well as in many quarters in linguistic semantics. Not all variations in a word's contribution to truth-conditional contents are to be thought as expressions of the phenomenon of polysemy, but it can be argued that many are. Polysemous terms are said to contribute senses or aspects to truth-conditional contents. In this paper, I will make use of the notion of aspect to argue that some apparently wild variations in an utterance's truth conditions are instead quite systematic. In particular, I will focus on Travis’ much debated green leaves case and explain it in terms of the polysemy of the noun; and in particular, in terms of the as-it-is and the as-it-looks aspects associated with kind words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The paper argues that sentential negativity is a graded notion. [•] The argument is based on a new experimental tool to diagnose negativity. [•] This experimental tool involves the formation of tag questions. [•] Both semantic and syntactic factors influence the negativity of a sentence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] In this paper we describe the nominalization, denominal derivation and antipassive constructions in the Japhug Rgyalrong language. [•] The antipassive in Japhug derives from the intransitive denominal derivation of an action nominal. [•] The grammaticalization path action nominalization+denominal derivation is a common way of creating valency-changing derivations crosslinguistically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper looks at the way some discourse relations interact with the dimension of quantity implicatures. We focus on the relation of contrast as marked by the connective but to argue that it is preferable to assume that the way contrast is established does not take quantity implicatures into consideration. We explore the consequences of this for a set of theories of but which we refer to as being inferential. We demonstrate that the inference used in the interpretation of but is properly captured by the notion of argumentative goal in a multi-layered semantics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper studies the similarities between corrections expressed by plain juxtaposition of utterances (John didn’t praise Bill. He praised Mary.) and elaborations (John praised a student. He praised Mary.) and develops a unified pragmatic account of how these discourse relations are inferred. The inference results from a combination of the exhaustivity implicatures of the individual utterances on the assumption that the discourse topic, which determines the quantification domain of exhaustivity, remains constant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reconciles conflicting evidence on the nature of adjectival passives. Some evidence suggests that externalization of an internal argument in adjectival passives is a lexical operation not involving syntactic movement, while other evidence suggests that adjectival passive participles project an internal argument in the syntax. It is proposed that a subject may be base generated in a predicate-external non-theta position termed ‘PrP’ when it binds a null anaphor (PRO) in a theta position. Verbal participles are formed external to PrP while adjectival participles are formed internal to PrP. The possibility of externalization of an internal argument, whether by binding or movement, is modulated by the passive morphology in the same way in both cases. According to this analysis, adjectival passives project an internal argument (PRO) which is bound by a subject base generated in PrP, deriving externalization without movement in a manner compatible with the presence of internal syntactic structure in adjectival passives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses the semantics of the connective but. Two trends of analyses are compared: ones based on a notion of formal contrast and others that are inferential. First, the formal contrast approaches are evaluated with respect to a certain number of problematic examples. I argue that they encounter insurmountable issues, and that an inferential account is needed. However, the way the inference required in those latter accounts is drawn needs to be defined in a restricted way. I propose to use the probabilistic interpretation of the notion of argumentation to carry this out. It is argued that to be interpreted, but needs an argumentative goal that is debated by its conjuncts. In the absence of an explicit goal or one that can be deduced by world-knowledge, the goal must be abduced from the content of the but conjuncts alone by taking their information structure into account. My proposal for but is then shown to interact with that of other particles: too, only and yet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]