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The Tanzanian Bantu language Rangi exhibits a comparatively and typologically unusual word order alternation in the future tense. Whilst declarative main clauses exhibit post-verbal auxiliary placement, the auxiliary appears pre-verbally in wh-questions, sentential negation, relative clauses, cleft constructions and subordinate clauses. This paper examines this alternation from the perspective of Dynamic Syntax ( Cann et al., 2005; Kempson et al., 2001 ). Dynamic Syntax (DS) is a parsing-oriented framework which aims to capture the way in which meaning is established incrementally as a result of lexical input encountered in context. The paper presents a unified analysis of this construction found in Rangi, locating it within the wider workings of the language. It shows that this seemingly idiosyncratic constituent order is in fact predictable on the basis of a general constraint operative in the DS framework which prohibits the co-occurrence of more than one unfixed node, thereby also confirming the claim of Dynamic Syntax to constitute a grammar framework rather than merely a parsing device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

So-called psychological verbs such as Italian temere 'fear', preoccupare 'worry', and piacere 'like' denote a particular state that involves an Experiencer and a second role taker that causes, initiates or is related to the psychological state. They present an extremely varied argument structure across languages that arranges these two roles in apparently inverted hierarchies and assigns them different grammatical functions (subject, direct, indirect and prepositional objects). This paper aims to provide a descriptively adequate taxonomy of psych-verbs in Latin in a comparative perspective with Italian. We individuate seven classes of psych-verbs and show that they distribute across the transitive, unergative, unaccusative pattern with the possibility of externalising either argument, therefore creating three "direct" and three "inverted" classes. The seventh class is impersonal, with no external argument. We show that the diachronic variation and apparent idiosyncrasies displayed by some verbs can be explained by the proposal that the seven classes are potentially available to all psych-roots. For this reason, psych-verbs present a high degree of vulnerability in language contact and change which results in intra-language optionality and diachronic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The domain of emphasis spread in Urban Jordanian Arabic is the morpheme. • Leftward spreading is almost unbounded within the morpheme, but rightward spreading is relatively more constrained. • Emphasis spread is equally applicable to both monosyllabic and polysyllabic monomorphemic words. • Morpheme boundaries are opaque to emphasis spread. Abstract This paper investigated the domain of emphasis spreading in Urban Jordanian Arabic. Emphasis spreading was examined in two types of words: polysyllabic monomorphemic and polymorphemic. F1 raising, F2 lowering, and F3 raising in the vowels preceding and following the emphatic sound were used as the acoustic correlates of emphasis spreading in the participants' speech who were ten native speakers of Urban Jordanian Arabic. The findings showed that emphasis is a morphophonemic process in that the domain of emphasis spread in Urban Jordanian Arabic is the morpheme rather than the syllable or the word. Second, the study showed that emphasis spreading applies leftward and rightward in all environments but with some significant differences. Morpheme boundaries were found opaque to emphasis spreading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • I present a reply to Kim (2018), which is a critique of Lin (2017a). • I show that Kim has misunderstood the main point of Lin (2017a). • I dissolve Kim's objections and dispel the methodological confusions in UG embedded in his arguments. Abstract Kim (2018) argues that the method adopted in universal grammar (UG) is the same as that employed in the empirical sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology, and that my rejection of UG in Lin (2017a) amounts to a rejection of these sciences. In this reply I show that Kim has misunderstood the main point of my original paper, which is that UG is crucially different from typical scientific theories in that it does not consider causal factors. I further show that once this misunderstanding is cleared his objections can be dissolved smoothly, that the fatal problem with UG will become more evident, and that the methodological confusions embedded in Kim's arguments will be dispelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper argues that the notion of emphasis has to be part of the grammar of German. It is demonstrated that in German, Ā-movement to the left periphery of a declarative clause is associated with a conventional implicature which encodes the emphatic interpretation of the moved item. The appropriate notion of emphasis is characterized and it is shown how it differs from a coarse concept of contrast. The paper also studies some IP-internal constructions whose elements’ interpretation has been assumed to be related to emphasis/contrast. It is argued that for the description of these phenomena, the standard notion of focus is adequate. The paper concludes that the syntactic marking of emphasis is a characteristic feature of Ā-movement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we argue that variation in subject-verb agreement in Belfast English and Appalachian English bears on a number of issues that are relevant to current syntactic theory, including clause structure and subject positions, case, the syntax of negative polarity items and negative concord and the structure of the DP. We show that while the nature of the subject plays a role in determining subject-verb agreement in the two varieties (in different ways), subject position is the overt structural manifestation of the differing properties of the subject, independent of which properties are relevant in the variety in question. Our proposal on subject positions, which goes beyond what proposed for Belfast English, is able to capture clusters of properties not discussed by Henry, and thus more fully accounts for the range of micro-parametric variation we find. This paper thus provides support for a configurational approach to subject-verb agreement. [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]

Abstract: This paper extends a previous claim that auxiliary selection in the present perfect of monadic verbs reflects a pattern grounded in lexico-aspectual properties of individual verbs though mediated through their syntax. A novel argument in support of this conclusion is made, based on the cross-contextual typology of auxiliaries, showing that the cross-linguistic distribution of auxiliaries in the present perfect cannot be understood in isolation of other constructions requiring an auxiliary. In particular, it is argued that two sets of constraints restrict the mapping from lexico-aspectual features to a particular auxiliary (have or be). One set restricts the mapping from lexical-aspectual features to argument structure at the lexicon-syntax interface, the other restricts the mapping from argument structure to the marked member of the auxiliary pair (have). The analysis succeeds in predicting exactly 15 possible languages or patterns of auxiliary selection with monadic verbs, a variety of which are discussed throughout the paper. While the fundamental syntactic distinction made by the Unaccusative Hypothesis is confirmed by the formal analysis, it is argued that the present perfect imposes restrictions of its own on the argumental status of any verb entering the construction, on a par with constructions such as passives and resultatives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that Nepali is neither a fully ergative language nor a simple split-ergative language conditioned by tense/aspect, because the language shows a more complex case-marking pattern than previously described. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that Nepali is a split-ergative language conditioned by the semantic nature of NPs. In the domain of inanimate NPs, the language is ergative; elsewhere, it resists classification as ergative or accusative. This finding is of typological significance in that it provides a good example for a rare split between inanimate NPs and animate NPs. Moreover, the paper argues that Nepali shows split intransitivity in terms of case marking, and it offers a semantic account of the split in terms of the interaction of two semantic factors, agentivity and telicity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper takes the view that loanword adaptation results from attempts to match the non-native percept of the L2 input, within the confines of the L1 grammar. Neither a purely perceptual nor a purely grammatical account can explain the facts. The L1 grammar includes constraints specific to mimicking foreign inputs. Where not all aspects can be replicated, the grammar prioritizes. In the Cantonese vowel data examined here, tone (the reflex of English stress) and consonants are more carefully replicated than vowel quality, and vowel length is even less important than vowel quality. The paper examines acoustic and psycholinguistic data on L2 vowel perception, and looks closely at the adaptation of English [æ] and [▪] in English loans into Cantonese, which lacks both these vowels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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]

French questions come into two brands: a movement version and an in-situ alternative. In this context, the present paper argues for a flexible one-to-one mapping between form and interpretation: fronting of the nominal typically correlates with one reading, while the in-situ nominal may, but need not, correlate with another. The contention is nevertheless that there is no such thing as optional WH-movement in French: the EPP/D feature associated with [+WH] in C is always strong; what varies is the placement of the noun. In the dialect/register reviewed in this study, the default interpretation associated with the in-situ position is non-specific while the raising of the noun favours a specific interpretation. Moreover, it is argued that pragmatically, in this variant of French, in-situ fronted-questions are adequate in a prominent context whereas their WH-in-situ counterparts are only felicitous in a non-prominent context. One assumption on which the proposal is based is that single WH-constructions in French are instances of split-DP constructions: a bare operator is separated from its associated semantic nominal restriction in the course of the derivation. Finally, it will be shown that the semantic and discourse properties of in-situ/stranded nominals in the variety of the language examined in this paper follow from the fact they are semantically incorporated. They denote, not an argument, but a property, crucially without scope of their own. Coupled with the assumption that French WH in-situ constructions are split-constructions, the fact that in-situ WH-nominals are semantically incorporated explains the intervention effects exhibited by such constructions. The existential quantifier is provided by the verb. Thus, the existential quantifier will necessarily take scope under all other scopal elements present in the sentence, including negation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights and accounts for some interesting properties of the superlative construction in Modern Standard Arabic that have not been addressed by previous research on Arabic. One property that is focused on in this paper is the interaction between number and definiteness in this construction. It is shown that superlative adjectives have properties that are different from those of the abstract adjectives, and similar to those of quantifiers and nouns. Superlatives are similar to nouns and quantifiers in that they can host clitics, modify or quantify over noun phrases, and that these noun phrases should always be assigned the genitive case. Given these similarities, it is argued that the superlative construction behaves like a Construct State (CS), which is a nominal construction in Arabic that roughly corresponds to the English genitive construction. On a par with other elements that can head the CS (i.e., numerals, quantifiers, and nouns), the superlative adjective has nominal head properties and is the head of the superlative construction. However, it is shown that there is number ambiguity in the superlative construction that is not present in regular CS constructions, with a noun or a quantifier head. Number ambiguity shows in this construction only when the noun phrase modified by the superlative adjective is definite and plural. In this case, the superlative construction can be either singular or plural. This paper attributes this ambiguity to the quantificational nature of superlative adjectives and its interaction with definiteness within the superlative construction. Superlatives in Arabic, thus, are established as quantifiers, and the superlative construction as a Quantifier Phrase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Adjuncts may occur (by ‘adjunct preposing’) before a wh-interrogative clause which is a main clause, but not before one which is subordinate; for example: (i) Tomorrow what shall we do? (ii) I told you (*tomorrow) what we shall do. Why should the possibility of adjunct preposing vary between main and subordinate clauses? The pre-theoretical answer is obvious: the wh-word has the extra function in a subordinate clause of signalling the start of a subordinate clause, so like any other subordinator it must be the first element in its clause. Less obvious is how to capture this insight in a formal grammar, and the paper will show that this challenge favours flexible word-based grammars over the more familiar kind which assign a uniform clause structure. The paper considers and rejects a number of examples of the latter approach, especially that of Rizzi [Rizzi, L. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In: Haegeman, L. (Ed.), Elements of Syntax. A Handbook in Generative Grammer. Klewer, Dordrecht, pp. 281–337]. The proposed solution is based on enriched dependency structure (Word Grammar) which makes head-hood ambiguous in certain constructions. In particular, the head of a wh-interrogative may be its finite verb when it is a main clause but must be the wh-element when it is subordinate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper aims to illustrate how we might proceed to attain repeatability and falsifiability in generative grammar, on the basis of discussion of concrete empirical materials in Japanese, such as bound variable anaphora, quantifier scope, and reconstruction effects. After critically examining and improving on the major empirical arguments for the standard view of the phrase structure of Japanese, I propose that a certain type of bound variable anaphora is based on a formal relation, Formal Dependency (FD), between two argument positions. The structural condition on FD and its interpretive consequence proposed here not only enable us to account for the fluctuation and instability of speakers'' judgments but also lead us to predict a number of hitherto unnoticed correlations with regard to the (un)availability of a bound variable construal. The paper attains a significantly higher level of repeatability than before, states explicitly how its proposal can be falsified, and stresses the critical importance of making a rigorous attempt to articulate how every theoretical concept is related to the rest of the theory as well as to the native speaker''s linguistic intuitions so as to be able to make definite predictions and ensure the falsifiability of our hypotheses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper offers a refutation of Chomsky's Universal Grammar (UG) from a novel perspective. It comprises a central part, clarifications and comparisons. The central part starts with an examination of Chomsky's research method and then argues that the method is seriously flawed and that it cannot lead to the discovery of any innate universals of language. In the clarifications part, a number of questions that could be raised concerning the central part of the refutation are presented and answered. The answers to these questions help to make clearer why UG is deeply problematic, and thus consolidate the central part of the refutation. The comparisons part discusses some representative critiques of UG by other scholars, shows their inadequacies, and thus further highlights the value of the present critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphological switch-reference systems have been described as complex structural phenomena with specific marking for chain-medial cataphoric referential continuity (SS) and discontinuity (DS). This paper attempt to place these synchronic structural systems in two explanatory contexts: First, the functional context of discourse structure and the management of nominal reference, with special attention given to the universal functions of zero, independent pronouns, anaphoric pronouns, pronominal agreement, conjunctions and non-finite verbal structures. And second, the diachronic processes via which complex synchronic switch-reference systems arise gradually from their simple building blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates juxtaposed possessives (JPs) in Mandarin Chinese (MC) such as ta baba ‘her/his father’, where a personal pronoun ta ‘(s)he’ is juxtaposed with a kinship noun baba ‘father’ and the two bear a kinship relationship. I assume that a DP is projected in Mandarin nominal expressions and pronouns are Ds while bare proper names are DPs. On this basis, I argue that in JPs, the kinship term is a head taking a pro complement, projecting a Kin(ship)P projection. This KinP is then combined with a D head (a personal pronoun), which agrees in phi-specification with pro. This analysis predicts the absence of proper names and the unacceptability of non-bare pronouns and kinship terms in JPs. In addition, it captures the semantic properties of JPs: directly referential with the pronoun functioning as the anchor of the speech act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I bring together discussion of two types of meaning that have informed and driven Blakemore's work: procedural meaning and expressive meaning, and I consider how application of Blakemore's influential ideas can further our understanding of pronouns in English. I revisit existing procedural accounts of pronouns, and explore the nature of the procedures that they propose. I argue that if we treat procedural meaning as operating at a sub-personal level, then we gain insight not only into how pronouns function in communication, but also into the nature of procedural meaning itself. The cognitive processes triggered by pronouns reveal the speaker's sub-personal categorization of the intended referents. Often this will guide the hearer in reference resolution, but in certain cases the procedures contribute to other inferential processes. I focus on examples where the pronouns lead to expressive effects, and consider what this tells us, more generally, about the nature of pronouns, procedures and expressive meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lin (2017) aims to provide a refutation of universal grammar on methodological grounds, claiming that the method itself makes it impossible to discover any innate linguistic universals. In this paper, I show that this claim is overstated and that upon closer inspection, it merely points out the inductive nature of the empirical sciences. Assuming that the empirical sciences are not invalidated on methodological grounds by Lin's arguments, neither is the search for universal grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the long-standing assumption that (External or Internal) Merge is a necessary condition for theta-role assignment is challenged. It is argued, then, that a theory of thematic assignment which allows for long-distance theta-role assignment under conditions of locality and activity is empirically preferable when it comes to some complex interactions between se and causative constructions in Buenos Aires Spanish. It is also shown that recent arguments against long-distance theta-role assignment do not hold in a theory as the one defended here, which conceives of theta-roles as regulated by conditions generally available in the realm of A-dependencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It has been argued that comparative and superlative quantifiers (such as “more than” and “at least”) fail to yield scalar implicatures in unembedded declarative contexts (Krifka, 1999; Fox and Hackl, 2006). However, recent experimental work has shown that such implicatures are available, and that these are constrained by considerations of granularity or numeral salience (Cummins et al., 2012). That is, “more than n” triggers a pragmatic upper-bound, the value of which depends on the numeral n. However, Cummins et al. further show that this effect is weakened by prior mention of the numeral n, a finding that they interpret in terms of priming effects. In this paper I discuss a recent theoretical proposal that accommodates these findings by arguing for a model of numerical quantifier usage based on multiple constraint satisfaction. This approach provides a means of accounting for the influence of contextual factors on the speaker's choice of utterance. It also makes predictions as to how a rational hearer should use context in their interpretation of utterances. Here I explore how this can yield the diversity of interpretations exhibited by participants in Cummins et al. (2012). More generally I consider how such an account predicts that a hearer will infer context on the basis of an utterance, and examine how this offers a potential explanation for the previously observed failure of implicature in the domain of modified numerals. I discuss the implications of this for experimental semantic and pragmatic methodologies, with particular reference to the numeral domain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of main clause word order patterns in Hawaiian, a Polynesian language typically described as VSO. I provide evidence that Hawaiian is syntactically comparable to Niuean, including with respect to (pseudo)-incorporation in VOS word order. Given these similarities, and also considering properties of the Hawaiian TAM system, I argue that Hawaiian can be analyzed in a principled way in terms of Massam''s (2001) VP-remnant movement analysis of Niuean. However, adopting the VP-remnant movement approach raises several empirical and theoretical complications concerning the formation of the VP-remnant prior to VP-raising. While remnant formation has been linked to case in Niuean, Hawaiian differs from Niuean with respect to case marking pattern; further, the case-based account of remnant formation does not account for V-S-CP word order in either language. Instead of linking remnant formation to case, and upon adoption of a true incorporation account of VOS, I characterize remnant formation as a shape conservation effect, such that subjects precede non-subjects. I formalize the shape conservation analysis in terms of relativized cyclic linearization, also comparing Hawaiian remnant formation to Scandinavian object shift, thereby allowing a unified analysis of VP-remnant movement for Hawaiian and Niuean. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses the syntax of distributivity in Singapore English, a contact variety of English with extensive Chinese substrate influence. The analysis adapts the framework of Beghelli and Stowell (1997), focusing on the DistP projection in the functional spine. Novel data are presented and it is shown that also in Singapore English is polysemous, being realised as two homophonous but semantically distinct lexical items, which function as an additive adverb, as is the case in standard varieties of English, or as a distributivity operator. The environments in which also appears are similar, but not identical, to that of dou in Chinese: universal quantification, discontinuous even-focus constructions and free choice constructions. It is argued that also is an overt realisation of the Dist head, which bears an EPP feature that triggers movement of its various associates to its specifier, resulting in strict preverbal word order configurations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper provides an analysis of the syntax clitics across languages, showing that the variation found in Romance and Greek cannot be considered from a unified viewpoint. In particular, we argue that three independent syntactic proposals in the literature conspire to do justice to the crosslinguistic behavior of clitics. These are: a defragmented analysis of clitics, the D-split hypothesis of determiners, and the feature movement of clitics for purposes of obviating minimality effects. More specifically, we provide novel evidence for a defragmented analysis of clitics that claims that clitics come in two different flavors either as phi-markers or as determiners. We show that the defragmented analysis alone cannot explain the different semantics of determiner clitics that trigger familiarity in Greek but specificity in Romance. Thus, building on Rizzi''s split-CP idea (1997), we assume that the DP is split into two layers, DP1 and DP2 (see Alexiadou et al., 2007 for an overview). The highest layer, DP1, encodes familiarity and affectedness and is the locus for all Greek clitics and possessive dative clitics in Romance, while DP2 encodes specificity where only the direct object clitics in Romance are realized. Last but not least, minimality effects show that, despite their heterogeneous nature, all types of clitics function as formal features for the purposes of obviating Minimal Link Constraint (MLC) violations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a multidominance analysis for appositional constructions. It is argued that appositions are related to their anchors in two ways. First, these two elements are coordinated. Second, the apposition functions as the predicate of the anchor. The predication relation is argued to have the structure of a full copular CP, parenthetically related to the anchor. In this secondary clause, the anchor is represented by a (silent) pronoun, while the apposition functions simultaneously as the predicate of the copular CP and as the second conjunct to the anchor. This analysis is used to explain the case marking patterns on appositions in several languages. It is proposed that both the coordinative structure and the predicative structure assign a case feature to the apposition. Which of these features is spelled out is decided by language-specific rules in PF, also depending on the semantic type of the apposition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper argues for four main points that characterize attributive constructions in German: German attributive constructions, i.e. APs, participial constructions and relative clauses, share a common morphosyntactic structure. The traditional (mostly semantic) term ‘attribute’ can thus be given a common morphosyntactic definition. Secondly, the syntactic structure of attributive structures is quintessentially sentential, i.e. it comprises complex structures which constitute binding domains, shows phase properties, etc. Thirdly, given that attributive structures parallel other sentential structures, many operations well-known from other sentence types in German are replicated in the attributive domain as well, most notably information structure-related scrambling. Last, but not least, the analysis of attributive structures supports the assumption that phasal structures cross-classify in a system of so-called referential types (RT): RTs define types of structures which, as far as morphosyntactic appearances go, can differ dramatically both within a single language and across different languages. Yet RTs can serve as a valid tertium comparationis that allows us to make interesting comparisons and connections both within individual languages and cross-linguistically. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite a strong commitment to the aim of explaining how children attain the knowledge of their mother tongue, it is far from obvious that generative grammarians have really achieved this ambitious goal. This paper offers an interpretation of this circumstance by critically examining Principles and Parameters Theory from a developmentalist point of view. Some proposals are also offered in order to incorporate into the research agenda of Generative Grammar the understanding of how children really develop as grammatical experts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates phonological recursion by means of early accent placement (stress shift), which marks the initial boundary of a phonological phrase. The question is whether or not this early pitch accent placement can be applied recursively to phonological phrases that are embedded in larger phonological phrases. This was investigated in a map task experiment, with various Dutch phonological phrases as landmarks drawn on the map. The target phrases consisted of a noun modified by either one adjective, of the type aardrijkskùndig genóotschap‘geographical society’, or by two adjectives, of the type Amsterdàms aardrijkskùndig genóotschap, i.e. syntactically recursive noun phrases. An early pitch accent was realized on both the first and the second adjective in 30% of the spoken syntactically recursive phrases: e.g. Àmsterdams àardrijkskundig genóotschap. These prosodically recursive structures indicate that recursion may apply in phonology, as it does in syntax. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper proposes a dynamic account of Functional Discourse Grammar. While the overall organization of the static model is strictly hierarchical, the interaction between its constituent components in the generation of linguistic expressions is shown to be more intricate. We propose to supplement the hierarchical architecture of the model with two procedural rules (top-down and depth-first), which in conjunction with a rigid distinction between restriction and predication in underlying clause structures account for these intricacies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we argue that the Korean anaphor caki-casin, taken thus far to be a local anaphor, can be bound long-distance in certain cases as an exempt anaphor. We make this argument on the basis of an experimental study where the subjects were asked to judge the grammaticality of sentences with long-distance bound caki-casin and to choose between the strict and sloppy readings in contexts of ellipsis/proform. A majority of subjects accepted long-distance bound caki-casin and preferred strict readings, indicating that long-distance bound caki-casin is behaving as an exempt anaphor. Speakers who accepted sentences with long-distance bound caki-casin were sensitive to logophoric factors that are known to influence exempt binding. These results imply that the core vs. exempt binding distinction (Pollard and Sag, 1992, 1994; Reinhart and Reuland, 1993) exists even in languages like Korean with a rich inventory of anaphors—local and long-distance—suggesting that the core-exempt dichotomy is orthogonal to the local vs. long-distance property of anaphors (Cole et al., 2001; Huang and Liu, 2001). More generally, the results indicate that both grammar and the interfaces are involved in anaphor binding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Post-carlsonian analyses of existential bare plurals have basically followed three lines of investigation, analyzing existential bare plurals as names of kinds, weak indefinites or properties. I show that none of the existing proposals can explain the behavior of bare plurals in Romance languages. I argue that we need to combine a revised version of Diesing''s analysis of existential bare plurals with Steedman''s analysis of indefinites and with Chierchia''s neo-carlsonian analysis of kind-denoting bare plurals. The theoretical novelty of the paper is a denotational definition of Milsark''s distinction between weak and strong indefinites. Both types of indefinites denote entities, which nevertheless differ regarding their domain: weak indefinites, and in particular existential bare plurals, refer to sums, which are derived entities that relate to each other by the part-whole relation, whereas strong indefinites refer to primitive entities that belong to an unordered set. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Bahasa Indonesian (BI) presents an interesting puzzle for researchers who posit a single parameter to distinguish Western Malayo-Polynesian languages like Malagasy and Tagalog (M/T) from European languages like English, French, German and Italian (E/F/G/I). BI shares some properties with the M/T, others with E/F/G/I, and other properties seem to vary between the two language types. This paper proposes that there is a single parameter that distinguishes M/T from E/F/G/I. BI, however, chooses different values of the parameter depending on the syntactic domain. The VP domain has the E/F/G/I value of the parameter, the CP domain has the M/T value of the parameter, while the IP domain varies between the two settings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we analyze spontaneous and experimental data involving code-mixed DPs made up of English Determiners+Spanish Nouns (the casa “house”) and Spanish Determiners+English Nouns (la [the/feminine] house) from child English/Spanish simultaneous bilinguals and from L1 speakers of English, French and Spanish with different levels of proficiency in their respective L2s (Spanish in the case of L1 English and French; English in the case of L1 Spanish). We show that early child bilinguals and adult simultaneous bilinguals (production data) and L1 speakers of Spanish (experimental data) favor mixings where Spanish provides the functional category, the Determiner, over mixings where English does. We also show that when confronted with these mixed DPs adult L1 Spanish speakers and non-native speakers share a preference for the English D followed by a preference for the default gender marking in Spanish, the masculine (el [the/masculine] house). In the case of the L1 Spanish speakers, this preference is overridden by the “analogical criterion”, (la [the/feminine] house), which consists of assigning the gender of the Spanish translation equivalent (“casa” is feminine) to the English Noun. We provide a linguistic account of these preferences based on the intrinsic Gender feature of the Spanish Noun and the intrinsic Gender Agreement feature or the Spanish Determiner and argue that the cognitive mechanisms employed by the bilingual, the Spanish L1 speaker and the Spanish L2 speaker in spontaneous production and in the grammaticality judgments task make different use of these linguistic units. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents an overview of the diverse body of thought known as ‘emergentism’, as it is manifested in the study of language. It is suggested that a unifying theme of emergentist work is the rejection of inborn grammatical principles (Universal Grammar) in favor of more general mechanisms of cognition and learning. A variety of emergentist proposals are outlined and the general thrust of this work is compared to ideas that have recently been put forward within the Minimalist Program. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that vocatives are visible to syntactic computation. The investigation relates the behaviour of vocatives (forms of direct address) to the behaviour of exclamative expressions (forms of indirect address) and to the pragmatic markers for speech acts. The results support current proposals for a predicative structure at the pragmatics–syntax interface and point to further refinements of the theoretical framework. In particular, the parallel treatment of vP shells and Speech ActP shells is extended to the relation between Case and syntactic positions, yielding a distinction between two Cases in the pragmatic field: Exclamative Case for DPs of indirect address, and Vocative Case for DPs of direct address. In this framework, the syntactic and the pragmatic fields undergo similar operations for licensing DPs in argument positions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper argues for an alternative answer to Carstairs-McCarthy''s (1999) question “Why do all languages distinguish between NPs and sentences?” While agreeing on basic philosophical points with Carstairs-McCarthy, such as the lack of a distinction between truth and reference independent of grammar, I argue that the S/NP distinction is rooted in the basic communicative distinction between Topic and Comment. In the very earliest mental processes, long antedating language, binary structure can be found, with components that one can associate with the functions of identifying or locating an object and representing some information about it. When private thought went public, the earliest messages in any code with rudimentary syntax were of similar bipartite structure, with one part conveying information presumed to be already known to the hearer, and identifying the object that the message is about. The other part of the bipartite message conveyed information presumed to be new to the hearer. This bipartite structure, with its concomitant distinction between types of expression that could fulfil the respective roles, was so central to the main function of public language, namely communication, that it was never eroded away, and is the basis of the bipartite structure found universally in languages today. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper develops a model of temporal interpretation based on the following three theses. (i) Tenses, aspects and time adverbs (uniformly analyzed as covert/overt PPs) are spatiotemporal predicates projecting their time-denoting arguments into the syntax as Zeit-phrases (sections 1 and 2). (ii) The time intervals projected into the syntax as either covert arguments of tenses and aspects, or as overt arguments of temporal prepositions can, just as any DP, be restrictively modified and enter into anaphoric dependencies—where anaphora is construed as either covaluation or (semantic) binding. In simple tenses, covaluation between the external and internal arguments of Aspect yields perfective aspect, whereas semantic binding yields neutral aspect (sections 3 and 4). (iii) Temporal interpretation involves computing ordering relations and anaphoric dependencies between time intervals. Temporal computation is subject to economy conditions governing (the representations generated at) each step of a given temporal derivation (section 5). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Discourse connectives such as but and moreover, while obviously meaningful, are widely seen as not affecting the truth conditions of the utterances they occur in; instead, they indicate how the truth-conditional content is to be understood. One way of explaining this is to analyse them as encoding procedural meaning, whose function is to guide pragmatic inference rather than to form part of the communicated message (cf. Blakemore, 2002). In this paper, I defend the idea of procedural meaning and reply to the main objections that have been raised against it. I focus on discourse connectives, showing how a procedural analysis explains their non-truth-conditional contribution, and compare this approach with that of Bach (1999), on which some discourse connectives are seen as contributing to ‘what is said’ by an utterance. I also discuss cases of discourse connectives embedded in attitude contexts, where their behaviour has been seen as a major obstacle to a procedural account, and suggest how such examples can be accommodated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the placement and structural analysis of negation and adverbs in early English, focussing in particular on Early Middle English (EME). Although the clausal syntax of negation and adverbs in EME was complex and variable, we show that the variation was not unprincipled. The negator not and adverbs share certain distributional properties, but we identify two contexts in which the two types of elements behave differently. Adverbs exhibit a root/nonroot asymmetry with respect to the distribution of finite verbs whereas such an asymmetry is not found with the negator not. Furthermore, the placement of object NPs is more restrictive with the negator not than with adverbs. Contrary to claims made in the previous literature, we conclude that not cannot be analysed as an adverbial element in EME but already occupies NegP and that NegP in EME is generally situated low in the functional structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The main aim of this paper is to test the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model of code-switching with Welsh-English data, and to determine whether Welsh-English is a “classic case” of code-switching in that a matrix language can be clearly identified in bilingual clauses. The MLF model is currently one of the most influential in this field, and has been successfully applied to several other language pairs. Three principles associated with it, the Matrix Language Principle, the Asymmetry Principle and the Uniform Structure Principle, were tested on data collected from informal conversations by bilingual Welsh-English speakers located in north-west Wales. The results of the analyses suggest general support for the three principles and for labelling Welsh-English code-switching “classic”. These results are compared with those from other studies of classic and other kinds of code-switching. Finally, the implications for the MLF model are examined. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent studies on Bantu tone have benefited considerably from theoretical insights provided by Optimality Theory, particularly its sub-theory of alignment where it has been shown that morphologically assigned high tones in many accentual Bantu languages are aligned with morpho-phonological domains and that the surface distribution of these tones follows from the ranking of general constraints. This paper presents an analysis of similar high tone phenomena in the verbal system of Cindali and shows that the language has accentual features which are manifested through various distributional restrictions on high tones. It is argued that allomorphy in this language plays a significant role in the realization of high tones in penultimate and antepenultimate positions of tensed verbs. In Optimality Theoretic terms, this is shown to be accounted for through the interaction between universal constraints such as final foot high tone placement and allomorph-related constraints which are embedded within the “mini-grammars” of different tenses of the language. The analysis leads to the conclusion that although it is important in Optimality Theory to derive phonological properties of languages from universal constraints, there are still some grounds for recognizing morpheme-specific constraints. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the syntax of a class of Hungarian negative expressions (e.g. senki (‘no one’), semmi (‘nothing’)), proposing an analysis in the minimalist framework (Chomsky, 1995). It is argued that these expressions are negative universal quantifiers, and that they bear both an optional [+q] and an inherent [+neg] feature. The optional [+q] feature accounts for the fact that they behave like universal quantifiers in that they are optionally distributive and that they can occur either in a preverbal or a postverbal position. On the other hand, the inherent [+neg] feature is argued to be a syntactic feature: preverbal negative quantifiers check the feature in a high NegP at Spellout, while postverbal negative quantifiers check it after Spellout in NegP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The phase-based approach to grammatical derivation and one rooted in the Tree Adjoining Grammar (TAG) formalism share the idea that the derivation of a complex sentence is divided into separate derivations of local domains. These approaches differ, however, in their treatment of syntactic dependencies spanning across such local domains. Under the phase approach, operations in a higher domain can access the edge of a lower domain in accordance with the Phase Impenetrability Condition. In TAG, one local domain can be inserted within another under the adjoining operation. This difference has important consequences for how the locality properties of syntactic dependencies are explained. In this paper, I systematically compare the explanations for locality effects under phases and TAG. I explore the degree to which the explanations offered by these different approaches generalize across A- and A′-movement, across different structural contexts, and across the phenomena of displacement and agreement, and whether such generalization is empirically warranted in each case. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the current debates within Optimality Theory is whether sequences are derived serially (cyclically or in strata) or in a parallel fashion. In this paper we describe two different types of domain effects found in the phonology of pronominal clitics in Catalan (Barcelona variety), and demonstrate that any type of serial analysis runs into problems, while a parallel analysis is fairly straightforward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report an investigation into the that-trace effect, a phenomenon which, in part because it is poorly understood, has played a significant role in syntactic theory building in the generative tradition. In spite of this, the effect is standardly thought to be absent from German. Using the methodology of magnitude estimation of well-formedness, which permits the elicitation of judgement data with increased definition, we tested the German equivalents to the English structures in which the that-trace effect is uncontroversially present (e.g. Cowart, 1997). The results showed the effect to be robustly active in the grammar of German too, independent of matrix verb. We further tested for the same effect in topicalization structures, with positive results. We argue that these outcomes provide support for a model of grammaticality incorporating gradience, in which constraint violations are survivable, since constraint application and output selection are separate functions of linguistic processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the substantial literature dedicated to it, the status of French subject clitics is still an unresolved issue within morpho-syntactic theory. Two main analyses have been proposed and defended over the past three decades: one advocating that French subject clitics are syntactic arguments beating a theta-role and the other viewing such clitics as inflectional morphemes on the verb. This paper demonstrates that the empirical basis motivating the morphological analysis of French subject clitics is much narrower than has been assumed in the literature and shows that the implementation of such an analysis faces numerous theoretical and empirical difficulties. It concludes that the limited similarities between the behaviour of French subject clitics and that of morphemes should be treated as accidental rather than as decisive factors in favour of a morphological analysis. Under a derivational approach to grammar, the syntactic analysis appears to be the only viable one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an account of Right Node Raising (RNR) within the framework of Dynamic Syntax (DS). The problematic properties of this construction are shown to emerge naturally from a theory that defines natural language syntax as the direct reflection of how Logical Forms are built up in time as the words of a string are processed. Within this framework, all syntactic processes. including lexical actions, are defined in terms of how partial logical structures are updated. An asymmetric account of coordination is given using the concept of linked structures, whereby the (partial) analysis of a tree representing the propositional content of one clause forms the context within which another is constructed. This approach, together with the same mechanism that is used to analyze right dislocated expressions such as subject inversion in pro-drop languages, is shown to provide an analysis of Right Node Raising. under the additional assumption that the distinctive intonation pattern of the construction licenses the postulation of segmentally empty, pronominal-like elements. The identification of the content of these is established through the analysis of the right dislocated expression where crucially the update that this provides is sensitive to the properties of the second conjunct only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Optimality Theory, the phonological grammar of each language is a particular ranking of a set of constraints CoN [Prince and Smolensky, Optimality Theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. Unpublished manuscript, Rutgers University and University of Colorado, Boulder. Rutgers Optimality Archive (http://roa.rutgers.edu), ROA-537]. An understanding of universal grammar therefore requires an understanding of the nature of CoN. Several researchers have argued that CON is systematically structured; in particular, that formally similar constraints should be modeled as specific instantiations of a general schema, such as the Generalized Alignment schema [Yearbook of Morphology 1993 (1993) 79]. One advantage of a schema-based approach to CoN is that the formulation of each individual constraint is compositional, determined by the combination of the general schema (a function) with the specific phonological elements involved in each constraint (arguments of the function). This paper examines the formal structure of positional constraints—constraints that are relativized to certain phonological positions, such as stressed syllables or released consonants. Positional constraints are systematically related both to the general (non-positional) constraints on which they are based, and to other positional constraints for the same position. Therefore, these relationships should be formally captured with a compositional constraint schema. The focus here is on one particular set of positional constraints, the positional augmentation constraints (markedness constraints relativized to phonologically prominent positions). A compositional constraint schema is developed that is flexible enough to extend to the many different kinds of positions and constraints involved in positional augmentation, while still determining precisely how the formulation of each general constraint is to be modified in its positional counterpart. Implications of the approach for another set of positional constraints, the positional faithfulness constraints, are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]