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The paper examines the syntax of two unaccusative verbs in Polish – ubyć.perf/ubywać.imperf 'to disappear, to decrease' and przybyć.perf/przybywać.imperf 'to arrive, to increase' – with a view to shedding light on the structure of existential unaccusatives. The two above-mentioned verbs appear in two distinct paradigms – the disappearance/motion verb and the existential one – both of which are taken to represent subtypes of existential structure. Existential verbs are treated here as monadic predicates with a single small clause complement, whose internal structure may vary, depending on the predicate. The two existential unaccusatives analysed in the paper may select two different types of small clause complement, which are different from the small clause selected by the existential być 'to be'. Thus, Polish seems to make use of three different small clause structures in existential clauses. The paper also provides evidence that in Polish, like in English, existential unaccusatives are structurally distinct from change of state unaccusatives, and thus in the two languages there is more than one way to be structurally unaccusative. The account bears on the analysis of the genitive of negation in Polish, especially the issue of its inapplicability to existential unaccusatives versus its presence with the existential być 'to be'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English alternative embedded passive (AEP), or "needs washed" construction, is a noncanonical morphosyntactic feature found in some American and British Englishes. It involves a matrix verb surfacing immediately before a participle. Previous research has described this construction as only licit with matrix need, want, and like; however, isolated examples of the AEP with additional matrix verbs have surfaced. These rarely attested instances raise questions regarding the basic description of the construction and how matrix verb availability is constrained, as well as whether the AEP is truly the same feature across AmE and BrE varieties. This paper utilizes a large-scale grammaticality judgement survey to obtain as exhaustive a set of AEP matrix verbs as possible. Results show that far more verbs can be used in the AEP than previously attested. Acceptance is constrained by lexical semantics, verbal syntax, and verb productivity. This alternative view of the AEP as a more generalized phenomenon nevertheless shows a strong link between AmE and BrE varieties, as the constraints are nearly identical across the nations. The findings illustrate how attention to rarely attested or non-attested data can inform morphosyntactic and dialectological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first introduces the standard recipe for deriving quantity implicatures in the neo-Gricean framework. Then, it compares this pragmatic stance with the grammatical view that argues that scalar implicatures should be generated via an operator in syntax. After showing how the grammatical view can derive canonical scalar implicatures, motivations for this view are discussed which include embedded implicatures, obligatory scalar implicatures concerning the Hurford Constraint, and Free Choice inferences. This paper finally examines basic tenets of the grammatical view and points out three potential problems for this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on structure building and mapping in Minimalist syntax makes explicit reference to workspaces; however, it is still an underexplored area. This paper is an attempt to (a) analyse the notion of 'workspace' as used in current Minimalist syntax and (b) provide a definition of 'syntactic workspace' that can help us capture interesting empirical phenomena. In doing this, we confront set-theoretic and graph-theoretic approaches to syntactic structure in terms of the operations that can affect syntactic objects and how their properties are related to the definition of workspace. We analyse the consequences of conceptualising 'syntax' as a set of operations that affect local regions of the workspace, defining directed graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The now archaic optative subjunctive was common in earlier forms of the German language. This paper examines two questions: Why is the optative subjunctive rarely used today? Which linguistic constructions are presently used in the contexts and functions that originally accompanied the optative subjunctive? The paper goes beyond previous studies on this subjunctive and its substitutes by explaining closely how its context, function and syntax in historical instances may have an impact on the constructions that have replaced it. Furthermore, this paper argues that pragmatic change, economy, analogy and especially expressiveness can explain such displacement by specific constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a discussion of some of the challenges in using statistical methods to investigate the morphology-syntax distinction cross-linguistically. The paper is structured around three problems related to the morphology-syntax distinction: (i) the boundary strength problem; (ii) the composition problem; (iii) the architectural problem. The boundary strength problem refers to the possibility that languages vary in terms of how distinct morphology and syntax are or the degree to which morphology is autonomous. The composition problem refers to the possibility that languages vary in terms of how they distinguish morphology and syntax: what types of properties distinguish the two systems. The architecture problem refers to the possibility that languages vary in terms of whether a global distinction between morphology and syntax is motivated at all and the possibility that languages might partition phenomena in different ways. This paper is concerned with providing an overarching review of the methodological problems involved in addressing these three issues. We illustrate the problems using three statistical methods: correlation matrices, random forests with different choices for the dependent variable, and hierarchical clustering with validation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German is a V2 language, i.e., a declarative clause has the finite verb in the position immediately after the first constituent. Traditionally, this order is derived by raising the verb to C and putting a single constituent into the so-called pre-field. Arguably, there are three options to fill the first position: (i) topicalization (A'-movement), (ii) formal movement, which raises the highest constituent in the ongoing derivation (A-movement), or (iii) merging a constituent which is only legitimate there (base-generation). Theoretically, any major constituent can occupy the pre-field. However, it has been observed that certain expressions cannot appear there. In its narrower focus, the paper argues that there are more pre-field-phobic expressions than standardly assumed, and that these expressions, although at first glance heterogeneous, fall into two classes. One can be defined structurally and is considered in the second part of this paper; the other class can be captured in terms of meaning and comprises a specific type of expressive adverbial (discussed in the first and main part). The paper's message in a broader sense is that syntax restricts the occurrence of expressive expressions. It is shown that the sentence-initial position in German does not allow material which is exclusively use-conditional in the sense of expressive meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4 Subregular linguistics for empirical analysis The previous two sections show that subregular linguistics is a much more empirical enterprise than is common for work rooted in formal grammar. Avcu & Rhodes discuss how formal grammar in general and subregular linguistics in particular enable researchers to connect the findings of theoretical linguistics to questions of psycho- and neurolinguistics, for example via artificial language learning experiments. In my target paper I Subregular linguistics: Bridging theoretical linguistics and formal grammar i I argued that theoretical linguistics and formal grammar, despite major differences in methodology, have a lot to offer to each other, and that the recently emerged subfield of I subregular linguistics i provides a conduit for knowledge transfer between the two. At the very heart of subregular linguistics as an empirical enterprise at the intersection of theoretical linguistics and formal grammar are two claims. A lot more could be said here about specific methodological points: why using the term I stipulative i (Chaves & Putnam p. 222) is a category mistake when talking about formal complexity results, how subregular linguistics engages with I-language and not E-language ([8]), how formal grammar has ways to quantify the trade-off between expressive adequacy and descriptive elegance ([38]), or why subregular linguistics would be an insightful enterprise even if some patterns may not be subregular at all. [Extracted from the article]

This paper highlights a small selection of cases where cross-linguistic insights have been important to big questions in the theory of semantics and the syntax/semantics interface. The selection includes (i) the role and representation of Speaker and Addressee in the grammar; (ii) mismatches between form and interpretation motivating high-placed silent operators for functional elements; and (iii) the explanation of semantic universals, including universals pertaining to inventories, in terms of learnability and the trade-off between informativeness and simplicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a pioneer paper, Featherston (Featherston, Sam. 2007. Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot. Theoretical Linguistics 33. 269–318) advocated the use of better controlled data in theoretical linguistics. Despite diverging on many aspects, most syntactic theories are now testing their hypotheses with more data than a few linguists' intuitions. I will examine the consequences of this empirical turn on two syntactic phenomena: long-distance dependencies (LDD) and ellipsis. In a series of recent experiments (Liu, Yingtong, Elodie Winckel, Anne Abeillé, Barbara Hemforth & Edward Gibson. 2022. Structural, functional and processing perspectives on linguistic islands effects. Annual Review of Linguistics 8. 495–525), most of the syntactic constraints ('island constraints') on LDD have shown less crosslinguistic variation and more cross-construction variation than previously thought. Corpus and experimental data have also shown elliptical clauses to be more flexible than expected under deletion-under-identity theories (Poppels, Till. 2022. Explaining ellipsis without identity. The Linguistic Review 39. 341–400). These are challenges for most syntactic theories, which call for taking discourse factors more seriously into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explain recent empirical findings on subjunctive II formation in the Bavarian dialects of Austria from both functional and formal perspectives. For this purpose, the explanatory power of the functional principles of natural morphology (NM) is compared with the formal framework of constructional morphology (CxM). It is argued that the two approaches complement each other. Thus, it is shown that the key concepts of NM (constructional iconicity, uniformity and transparency) can easily be adapted in terms of CxM. These adjustments are needed to explain the ongoing changes in subjunctive II formation in the Bavarian dialects of Austria. This is due to the well-documented shift towards the use of periphrastic constructions (with the täte- and würde-auxiliary) that are located at the interface between morphology and syntax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the norms of the contemporary Russian standard language, the covert first argument of the adverbial participle (AP) has to be co-referential with the first argument of its matrix verb. However, other co-reference choices are a frequent phenomenon, as numerous publications both descriptive (Rappaport 1984; Jokojama 1984) and prescriptive (Ickovič 1982; Glovinskaja 2000) testify. Since the reasons for these divergent co-reference choices have been insufficiently addressed so far, we conducted an experiment that tested the influence of linguistic and sociodemographic factors on the co-reference choices. The linguistic factors tested are sentence semantics, argument structure of the verb and linear syntactic order of adverbial participle and matrix clause. Since the adverbial participle has been subject to an intensive normativization process, we assume that the degree of the respondents' familiarity with prescriptive language rules and the degree of their exposition to texts reflecting these rules influence respondents' co-reference choices. Therefore, we also tested for sociodemographic factors reflecting these degrees, namely the status of Russian as primary or secondary language, age, gender and highest level of education attained. Our data suggest a contrast between actual language use, in which the co-referential ambiguity of APs is resolved by verb and sentence semantics and the syntactic position of the AP, and the normative rules of Russian grammaticography, which allow only for co-reference with the first argument of the matrix clause. Long-lasting exposure to highly normatized text registers show effect, as respondents with master's degree or even higher levels of education significantly prefer co-reference with the first argument of the matrix clause even in ambiguous contexts. The paper is structured as follows: The first section gives a survey of the divergent co-reference choices discussed in the literature and identifies linguistic factors hypothesized to influence a speaker's choice. Section 2 discusses possible sociolinguistic factors affecting the co-reference choice. How these two types of factors are considered in the design of our experiment as well as participant sampling is described in section 3. In section 4 we apply logistic regression to our data and discuss its results, to be followed by the conclusions in section 5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic expressions are very often indeterminate and have several possible readings. Syntactic indeterminacy may result from different underlying structures, from polysemous elements, or from so-called oscillation. Unlike the former two, oscillation cannot be reduced to one or more discrete interpretations in a given context, it is fundamentally non-resolvable. While oscillating structures do not hamper successful communication, they present a problem for linguistic analyses and categorizations. The relevant literature does not address oscillation systematically; if anything, it is treated in connection with problems of categorization. In this paper, oscillation is perceived as a phenomenon sui generis. We first give a definition of oscillation against the backdrop of other indeterminate structures and outline their relevance for a proper understanding of older and less formal varieties. Then we propose a tentative typology of oscillating structures and their potential triggers in selected Slavic languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates that narrow foci and wh-phrases, even in a language where they have (nearly-)identical surface distributions, do not have the same syntax – and, as such, are not a uniform category. Specifically, it shows that foci and wh-phrases in Georgian appear immediately preverbally but are derived differently. The evidence comes from standard syntactic tests and language-specific ones: I show that, in Georgian, neg-words can serve as a tool for determining the structural positions of other constituents, and foci and wh-phrases have different distributional properties with respect to neg-words. Based on this, I demonstrate that wh-phrases in Georgian undergo A-bar movement to the specifier of a dedicated projection, accompanied by verb raising. Preverbal foci remain in situ, while the material intervening between the narrow focus and the verb undergoes displacement. This demonstrates that what looks like unified preverbal placement of foci and wh-phrases corresponds to the outcomes of two independent syntactic processes. Additional support for this approach is provided by the analysis of the distribution of postverbal foci, also allowed in Georgian. The Georgian facts, I argue, support the hypothesis that syntactic/semantic notions (e.g., [+Q]) are encoded as syntactic features that drive movement. On the other hand, purely information-structural notions (e.g., semantically non-exhaustive focus) are not encoded syntactically, and, as such, cannot trigger syntactic movement – but can impose their own syntax-prosody mapping requirements onto the syntactic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphological productivity represents an essential property for human language and, as such, it lies at the core of any thorough word-formation theory. Studies in productivity have traditionally focused on areas of high profitability, that is, on the quantification and ranking of processes which show the capacity for lexical creation (e. g. ‑able, ‑ness, ‑ity). In other cases, however, morphological processes can no longer be used productively, or they can be used minimally (e. g. ‑th, ‑hood). These processes have received considerably less attention in the literature, partly due to their complex theoretical definition, partly due to their difficult practical assessment. In view of the shortage of specific research, this paper revolves around the current status of the nominalizing suffix ‑ment, which enjoyed a high profitability index between the 12th and 17th centuries, and is today taken to embody marginal productivity in synchronic terms. The suffix is explored in the light of lexicographic and corpus data for an inspection of its role in nominalizations with the meaning action/process, specifically concerning recent coinages that suggest some degree of morphological activity. This up-to-date picture of ‑ment shows that it is risky to present it as unproductive, and it leads to the consideration of related notions like the availability-unavailability divide or the measurement of low productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most significant results in syntax has been a deep empirical and, to some degree, theoretical understanding of the argument/adjunct distinction, which underlies a range of superficially disparate phenomena. Therefore, any phenomenon that seems to challenge the argument/adjunct distinction merits careful examination. This paper investigates just such a phenomenon: proleptic PPs. Previous claims about the argument/adjunct status of proleptic PPs are contradictory and mostly unsubstantiated. The paper subjects proleptic PPs to argument/adjunct diagnostics and shows that they unambiguously pattern as arguments: they cannot iterate, survive do so–replacement, or be stranded under vP-pseudoclefting; reconstruct for Condition C under vP-preposing; and are L-selected. They also pattern as arguments on a novel argument/adjunct diagnostic developed here, selectional switch: if adding XP to a structure changes the selectional interactions between a head Y and some ZP ≠ XP, then XP is an argument. Finally, the paper considers counterarguments to the view it defends, showing that they are unsuccessful or irrelevant. Thus, even XPs whose argument/adjunct status initially seems murky can turn out on closer scrutiny to pattern unambiguously as one or the other, supporting the traditional but not uncontested view that the argument/adjunct distinction runs deep, and suggesting that it may be categorical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The literature to date features two very different approaches to the study of syntax, the formal or structure-based approach and the functional or semantics-based approach, both of which have advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the "ngp1 + vgp + ngp2 + ngp3" construction in English by identifying the relationship between the clausal elements in terms of clause types. The theoretical support is Systemic Functional Linguistics which is semantics-based and which regards form/structure as the realization of meaning/semantics. Specifically, the paper discusses the issue by keeping in mind questions such as "What kind of process is it?", "How many participants can/must be involved in the process?", and "What roles can/must those participants play?". By analyzing three pairs of clauses that share the same "ngp1 + vgp + ngp2 + ngp3" structure, it is found that the clause types SVOO, SOVA, SVOC, and SVO all exhibit the same "ngp1 + vgp + ngp2 + ngp3" structure. The identification of the clause types is conducted by examining the Process in the Transitivity system of the clause. The implication of the present study is that a functional-syntactic analysis should start from meaning and consider how the meaning is realized and that although syntactic analysis at the level of form is necessary, the focus of a good functional-syntactic analysis should be based on semantic analysis at the level of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the behaviors of tag questions in Chinese and proposes a unifying analysis involving empty CP/DP pro-forms and predication. It is found that there are universally two types of Tag questions – (i) the invariable type and (ii) the (modal) verbal type, which correspond to the question-types in Chinese syntax. Previous research by Culivocer (1992. English tag questions in Universal Grammar. Lingua 88. 193–226) analyzed English tag questions as a pro-IP structure that is bound by a previous sentence. However, in Chinese, two types of tag questions include both A-not-A form and particle form. Furthermore, both the two kinds of tag questions display syntactic predication between the tag and an empty subject pro. An abbreviated "yes-no question" is attached to empty CP/DP constituents in these constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the linguistic functions of the syncretic particle ʕaad in Jordanian Arabic. It particularly examines the repetitive, evidential, and evaluative functions of ʕaad, and attempts to make some speculations on the source from which this particle could have been originated. Moreover, it explores the syntactic function of each ʕaad, arguing that one ʕaad is an utterance-oriented repetitive particle, while the other two are mood particles, with one expressing evidential mood but the other evaluative mood. It will also be shown that the three particles are syntactically functional heads encoding different grammatical and pragmatic meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the nexus of coordination and referential dependencies, focusing on sentences such as 'Max and Lucie talked about him', in which it is hardly possible for Max and him to be co-valued. Previous accounts claim that such referential dependencies are in fact possible on a collective reading. It will be demonstrated here, however, that informants consistently judge the co-valued reading in such cases to be either strongly marginal or unavailable, regardless of whether a collective or distributive reading obtains. It is claimed that the manner in which referential dependencies interact with coordinate structures can be addressed insightfully in terms of 'predicate-valent' structures (as opposed to 'predicate-argument structures'). A constraint in this regard will be proposed: the 'Conjunct Referential Dependency Constraint' (CRDC). The CRDC is couched in a Dependency Grammar (DG) approach to syntax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject matter of this paper is the external and internal syntax of adjectival compounds based on -ble adjectives in English (e.g. vaccine-preventable, machine-readable, drug-susceptible) and passive potential adjectives in Polish (e.g. łatwopalny 'combustible', lekkostrawny 'lit. easily digestible, light', szybkozmywalny 'quickly-washable'), with special attention paid to whether the syntactic behaviour exhibited by -ble and -ny/-alny adjectives is also present in compounds headed by them. Drawing on analysis put forth by Oltra-Massuet (2013), the present research departs from Oltra-Massuet's account in that certain ble adjectives which show irregular morphology (e.g. visible, tolerable) are interpreted as high (eventive) -ble adjectives. It is shown that while synthetic -ble compounds in English inherit the syntactic features of their heads, passive potential adjectives in Polish often lose the ability to project the external argument upon being merged with a modifier to form a compound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper provides a syntactic account of the observation that plurals of non-count nouns (i.e., collective and mass nouns) in Jordanian Arabic (JA) may express different readings, namely a counting reading and paucity in quantity. We propose that availability of such readings or lack thereof depend crucially on whether or not Division Phrase (DivP) (Borer, 2005) projects in narrow syntax. When DivP projects over nP, a counting reading is available for the plural of singulatives. On the other hand, when DivP does not project, no counting reading is available, and alternatively a small-quantity reading is held. This implies that pluralization in JA is subject to the availability of functional projections that form the relevant DP, hence supplying evidence against the lexical hypothesis of plural formation. As for paucity in quantity, we argue that it is a product of (or a subtype of) the well-known paucal plural (cf. Ojeda 1992; Mathieu 2013). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If so, not only the reflexive possessive I swój i "self's" encodes the antecedent/dependent relation; it is dedicated as a spell-out form of this relation only when the antecedent is nominative (so linked to the position of [spec, TP] in syntax (see (9): I Jan i SB 1 sb vs. I swoje i SB 1 sb "self's"). Yet as soon as the antecedent of the dependent is not marked for nominative, the pronominal possessive assumes the role of the correct PF-relevant spell-out form for a local antecedent/dependent relationship (as in (9): I Marii i SB 2,DAT sb vs. I jej i SB 2 sb "her") and (20): I Jana i SB 1 sb vs. I jego i SB 1 sb "his" and I Piotra i SB 2 sb vs. I jego i SB 2 sb "his"). In (i-ii) the verb (T) agrees with a nominative object, while its sub-constituent is bound by a dative antecedent: (i) Henni thykir bródr sinn/*hennar leidinlegar. she SB DAT sb thinks brother SB NOM sb self's/her boring "She finds her brother boring". I shall focus on two issues in this brief commentary paper: the OVS orders available in Slavic and unavailable in typical SVO languages and consequences of object scrambling for the phenomenon of QR in OV and T3 languages. [Extracted from the article]

This paper revisits the issue of verb raising in two closely related languages, namely Angolan Portuguese (AP) and Mozambican Portuguese (MP). Cinque's (cartographic) hierarchy of adverbs is used to examine microvariation in these two varieties of Portuguese. The empirical data, gathered through experiments on acceptability rating tasks (to detect the position of the V(erb) in relation to adverbs) and cloze tests (to diagnose the adverbial classes which can be recovered by the elliptical VP), have been collected among university students in Luanda and Maputo, the capitals of Angola and Mozambique, respectively. The cutting points within the functional hierarchy where the V goes, be it mandatorily or optionally, are different in the two languages. In AP, the verb must raise past the frustrative aspect adverb (em vão/à toa 'in vain'), while in MP the verb must raise to the left of the singular completive adverb (tudo 'everything'). The main verb cannot raise past the AspTerminative adverb (já não/não mais 'no longer') in MP. In AP, it can optionally raise over the highest projection in the inflectional domain. Such a difference may explain the recovery of high adverbs in VP-ellipsis structures, only possible in AP. The corollary of the inter-linguistic study developed for Comparative Syntax is the adequacy of the cartographic démarche when it comes to establishment of strict boundaries in the study of microvariation among closely related grammars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper on rhythm is an adaptation of the semiotic research on rhythm in versified language presented as one of the seven types of poetic iconicity in Chapter 5 of The Communicative Mind: A Linguistic Exploration of Conceptual Integration and Meaning Construction (L. Brandt 2013) entitled "Effects of poetic enunciation: Seven types of iconicity". Defined by the linebreak, poetic language use engenders distinctive interpretive affordances, some of which manifest themselves as emphatically iconic sign relations contributing to the expressive whole of a text. In "Effects of poetic enunciation", I explore syntactic, semantic, phonetic, rhythmic and rhetorical aspects of the phenomenon of semiotic iconicity, and its counterpart aniconicity, in language characterized by an intentionally (line)broken syntax and contribute a systematic account of the different types of semiotic iconicity relations, understood as figural or diagrammatic similarity relations – or, conversely, potent dissimilarity relations, i.e. aniconicity – between expressive means and semantic content. Rhythmic iconicity is the fifth type of iconicity in this typology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that DP in Hail Arabic is dominated by a C-domain, with C-layers, adducing empirical evidence from C-particles that interact with DP-internal material, ʔektɪn marking Topic and zad marking Contrastive Focus. Analyzing Construct State phenomenon, it is shown that ʔektɪn exclusively marks the possessum N. The possessor DP is marked without a C-particle. The mechanism of topicalizing the possessor DP is via co-indexation with a clitic φ-agreeing with the possessor DP, spelled out on the possessum N, where the possessum N functions as Lexical Strategy. Lexical Strategy though is not an option to topicalize the possessum N; the possessor DP cannot host a clitic that φ-agrees with the possessum N. Merger of ʔektɪn is thus motivated on morphological grounds. HA syntax instantiates a C-layer above DP, materialized by ʔektɪn which φ-agrees with the possessum N, what I term Functional Strategy. Further, a C-layer encoding Contrastive Focus headed by C-particle zad and a C-layer headed by the Shifting Topic C-particle ʕad, both of which mark by movement of the CS-internal constituent, merge above DP and co-occur with ʔektɪn. Within the backbones of the Cartographic approach, this phenomenon provides evidence that the DP architecture in HA is ripe for Split-DP analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents an account of the peculiar properties of Negative Interrogatives (NI). In uttering Don't you speak Italian?, the speakers is biased towards the underlying positive proposition, expects a positive answer, and seeks a confirmation of that expectation from the hearer. What's more, NI involves uncertainty with respect to p, a novel observation that we bring to the fore by comparison with epistemic modals. Using a framework by which speech-acts are derived by the two operators Speaker and Other representing sources of information, the high negative is assigned to the Other projection, the positive proposition being left under the responsibility of the Speaker. Thus, the NI is motivated by evidence contradicting the speaker's belief, which is expressed by the negation that is attributed to another source and that therefore has full referential force. Because the questions is addressed by the Speaker in spite of evidence that ¬ p ${\neg}p$ , NI displays uncertainty as to p and gives rise to a confirmation request. With direct mapping from syntax to semantics and pragmatics, the parsimonious account thus explains the morphosyntactic and interpretative properties of Negative Interrogatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue against a purely semantic account of the Unique Path Constraint (Goldberg, Adele. 1991. It can't go down the chimney up: Paths and the English resultative. In Proceedings of the seventeenth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 368–378.), i.e., the constraint that there can only be one result state in a single clause, and in favor of a syntactic restriction regarding event structure. We propose, following Mateu, Jaume & Víctor Acedo-Matellán. 2012. The manner/result complementarity revisited: A syntactic approach. In M. Cristina Cuervo & Yves Roberge (eds.), The end of argument structure? Syntax and semantics, 209–228. New York: Academic Press, that structurally there can only be one result predicate per clause since the little v head selects for one result predicate as its complement. In order to make our claim, we provide novel data that violate the Unique Path Constraint defined as a semantic constraint. Further, we analyze examples that at first blush pose a problem for the present account as they appear to involve two result phrases, e.g., shot him dead off the horse. We argue, however, that the second result phrase is not syntactically a result, but rather constitutes a case of what Acedo-Matellán, Víctor, Josep Ausensi, Josep Maria Fontana & Cristina Real-Puigdollers. forthcoming. Old Spanish resultatives as low depictives. In Chad L. Howe, Timothy Gupton, Margaret Renwick & Pilar Chamorro (eds.), Open romance linguistics 1. Selected papers from the 49th linguistic symposium on romance languages. Berlin: Language Science Press have called low depictives, which join the syntactic derivation through a low applicative head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses diachronic changes which result from metaphorical extension. Its aim is to assess whether such semantic shifts may lead to further semantic and syntactic differentiation between the verb senses and whether they can be described as shifts away or towards prototypical transitivity (cf. Hopper & Thompson 1980). It focusses on changes the verb derail underwent in the 19th and 20th centuries. In a corpus-based analysis, it utilises CART trees and a random forest to determine which syntactic and semantic properties differentiate literal and metaphorical uses of derail. Results reveal a syntactic shift from transitive to intransitive in the older literal construction which hardly affects the younger metaphorical one. This indicates that differentiation can be an epiphenomenon of semantic shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let T3 be the word order distribution of T3 languages, [S[VO]] the word order distribution of [S[VO]] languages and I Sl i the word order distribution of Slavic languages. The target article explores typological properties of Slavic languages which are often, according to the authors, mistakenly classified as SVO languages. We first quantify the similarity of Slavic language with respect to [S[VO]] and unfixed word order languages in terms of the Kullback-Leibler divergence and confirm that Slavic languages show closer similarity to unfixed word orders. The first hypothesis compares the distributions of word orders in Slavic, [S[VO]] languages and varieties labelled as unfixed word order/T3, such as stages of Latin and Ancient Greek (see also [11], [12]). [Extracted from the article]

I provide an extended review of the monograph, focusing on issues that are connected with the experiencer puzzle. The insights presented in the book are presented chapter by chapter. The approach developed in the monograph is briefly summarized and critically evaluated as innovative and important, targeted at specialists in the generative syntax. Some drawbacks are highlighted. The theory presented in the monograph is inspiring and invites further questions and answers to be validated in cross-linguistic perspective. The analysis is well informed and constitutes an important synthesis of reflexivization patterns and their account in the generative tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the publication of The verb "be" in Ancient Greek by Charles Kahn, people have put a lot of emphasis and invested too much labor in all kinds of historico-philological analyses in order to resolve philosophical questions regarding the concept of existence in Greek thought. Useful as these analyses might be, they cannot provide us with conclusive answers to the specific philosophical questions under scrutiny, and, perhaps, it is time for us to abandon the overwhelming optimist motivating the pioneers behind these attempts. I use the Sophist as a case study. I conclude that whether the Form of Being represents existence or predication cannot be settled on speculation regarding the syntax of the verb εἶναι; absolute εἶναι need not be existential in meaning, and complemented εἶναι may be existential in meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Unlike previous studies which generally seem to focus more on Hausa metaphorical expressions, this study investigates a wide range of uses of ίdὸ 'eye' in its constructional metonymy patterns in the language by exploring corpus data that contain over 300 eye-related expressions. We observe that some constructional metonymies maintain a set of fixed words and syntax in activating conceptual shifts and producing eye metonymies while others have semi-fixed patterns and produce the same metonymies. Lexical items like tsόkάlế, kὰn, ὰ, dὰ, and bὰsίrὰ among others are constant constituents in the constructional metonymies in which they appear. In the metonymic chaining, the basic mapping of eye metonymies occurs via the part for part relation under E-metonymies and the sub- for supercategory relation under C-metonymies. We also observe that E→E→C coding has the highest chained metonymic structure in the creation of the eye metonymies. Both attributive and predicative colligates motivate metonymic senses in the language. Finally, our analysis reveals that the eye is metonymically conceptualized and semantically extended to various target domains and produces metonymic conceptualizations that make the eye stand for vision, desire, envy, control, attention, perception, person, meeting, brain, intelligence, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picaresque fiction, or the so-called tale of roguery, focuses mainly on the adventures of a male protagonist. Although women characters rarely take the lead, they mark significant transitions in the narrative syntax. Mothers, wives, and lovers reject stereotypical role models and are invested with the potential of initiating the picaro to his life stages. This study will concentrate on the wife as a catalyst of semiotic value beyond her appointed role, exploring a corpus of four works published between 1554 and 1626: Lazarillo de Tormes, The Unfortunate Traveller, Guzmán de Alfarache, and El Buscón. In these narratives, wives oppose their fate of pure Objects in a conjugal contract, and become Subjects, Antagonists or Destinators, assertive "actants" (Greimas) in the semiotic grammar of narrative. My purpose is to re-evaluate, in deep-structure narrative terms, the significance of women characters in the largely male-centred, misogynist picaresque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analyzing an understudied type of comparative, namely, subcomparatives with surface-phrasal standards of comparison, this article offers an answer to three long-debated questions regarding the internal structure and semantic composition of comparative constructions in opposition to traditional assumptions and reductionist analyses. First I offer syntactic tests evidencing the non-clausal status of the standard in these subcomparatives in Basque, Spanish and English. Second, regarding the question of the linkage type between the compared elements (either a dependence relation or a coordination relation), I present previous and novel syntactic evidence showing that phrasal subcomparatives invariably behave like common phrasal coordinates. Therefore, I defend an architecture of these comparatives involving a phrasal coordinate structure and offer a transparent mapping between the surface syntax and semantic interpretation of these constructions. Third, subcomparatives involve the obligatory omission of a measure modifier from the standard. This process known as comparative subdeletion cannot be explained as the result of wh-movement within a clause, given the non-clausal status of the standard. Alternatively, comparative subdeletion is defined not as an ad hoc deletion rule but rather as the result of an obligatory deletion operation independently attested in common coordinate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although often used as diagnostic tools in discourse studies, irregular wh-questions in English, which take the form of what/how about ... ? and what/how if ... ?, have not received sufficient attention in terms of their semantic and syntactic properties. This article investigates irregular wh-questions from semantic and syntactic perspectives. Semantically, there is a topic-comment relationship between the wh-word and the rest of the sentence. Syntactically, an irregular wh-question neither displays an explicit matrix subject-predicate structure nor involves a fronted auxiliary. This article pursues three objectives. First, a descriptive overview of irregular wh-questions is provided, which shows that the complement of about in irregular wh-questions can belong to various syntactic categories. Second, the topic-comment structure of irregular wh-questions is compared with that of the topic-comment structure in declarative sentences, which reveals some semantic properties of irregular wh-questions. Third, a formal account of irregular wh-questions is formulated in the framework of Dynamic Syntax, which captures the interaction of the semantic and syntactic properties of the components of an irregular wh-question. Additionally, the present dynamic account of irregular wh-questions is contrasted with an existing dynamic account of the hanging topic construction in English, which highlights some merits of the current account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Fragment questions (henceforth FQs) in Mandarin Chinese usually end up with the particle ne. In the literature (e.g. Wei 2013, 2016, 2018), Chinese ne is construed as functioning similarly to Koeran particle -yo and Chinese FQs are analyzed as a fronting-ellipsis phenomenon. Within the framework of Dynamic Syntax (Kempson et al. 2001; Cann et al. 2005), a parsing-based account of Chinese FQs is proposed, showing that (i) ne in Chinese FQs will trigger the REGENERATION process to re-use a macro of actions stored in the previous context; (ii) Semantically, Chinese FQs are often employed as queries about another relatively separate event in connection with the previous one; pragmatically, FQs shows speakers' interest towards additional information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines a little-known case of grammaticalized distributivity in the Romance branch, as found in tenth to fifteenth century texts produced in the Iberian Peninsula. Analysis of a newly compiled, hand-annotated corpus demonstrates that, in Old Ibero-Romance, the reduplication of an adnominal cardinal numeral on the internal argument of the verb mandates a distributive reading at the sentential level. The distributive construction is characterized as 'double-object'-like structure occurring only in expressions of dynamic and static possession. Whilst a cross-categorial operation originating in the DP edge triggers pluralization of the event itself, an applicative treatment of the clausal syntax not only captures the 'double-object'-like structure of the construction, but the nature of the distributive relation itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers L2 French and L3 English ultimate attainment among L1 Moroccan Arabic adult learners. It contrasts the acquisition of two types of wh-questions: discourse-linked and non-discourse-linked questions in root and embedded forms. The results of two acceptability judgment tasks indicate that the advanced learners in L2 French and L3 English are nativelike on d-linked wh-questions but less accurate on non-discourse-linked interrogatives. They successfully unlearn resumption as an L1 strategy to form discourse-linked questions. Therefore, contra the prediction of the Interface Hypothesis, discourse-linking is acquirable though it is a property of the syntax-discourse interface. It does not pose more learning difficulty than quantification (formal wh-feature) of narrow syntax. The study indicates that embedding and thereby the processing cognitive load are the deterministic variables, not the language domain of constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normally, translated texts are avoided in research into the syntax of older stages of a language in order to avoid erroneous analyses of potential influences from the source language. However, autochthonous texts, too, sometimes raise doubts as to their representativeness for a given stage of the language. The current article aims to see how much independent Middle Low German syntax can be found in two different psalm translations. This serves to ascertain whether translated texts may be valuable in research on Middle Low German syntax after all, particularly as they may contain features that are underrepresented in other genres. It is shown that translated texts can indeed be used to cross-check statements about syntactic features of Middle Low German. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extraction of a PP from an NP in German is possible only if the head noun and the governing verb together form a natural predicate. We show that this corresponds to collocational frequency of the verb-noun combinations in corpora, based on the metric of ΔP. From this we conclude that frequency should be conceived of as a language-external grammatical building block that can directly interact with language-internal grammatical building blocks (like triggers for movement and economy constraints blocking movement) in excitatory and inhibitory ways. Integrating frequency directly into the syntax is not an option in most current grammatical theories. However, things are different in Gradient Harmonic Grammar, a version of Optimality Theory where linguistic objects of various kinds can be assigned strength in the form of numerical values (weights). We show that by combining a Minimalist approach to syntactic derivations with a Gradient Harmonic Grammar approach of constraint evaluation, the role of frequency in licensing extraction from PP in German can be integrated straightforwardly, the only additional prerequisite being that (verb-noun) dependencies qualify as linguistic objects that can be assigned strength (based on their frequency). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The languages which do not have modal verbs, or have fewer modal verb forms, are decribed as compensating with mood devices, particles and adverbial modality; however, the epistemic force associated with verbal modality is not considered by Abraham to have equivalence in adverbial types of modality (p. 78). A third means of expressing modality is again mentioned as covert modality which refers only to root modality (p. 73). This description presupposes a restricted language range, of course, limited mainly to the grammatical patterns of German modality, though Abraham concedes that some languages may express modality using other means such as adverbs and grammatical aspect (referring in particular to Slavic languages). Chapter 6 is titled "The syntax of modal verbs in German, Dutch, and English", and covers topics such as syntactic reflexes of the root-epistemic distinction in German and Dutch, deontic modal verbs with full verb status and as finite auxiliaries, the event structure of deontic modals, the volatility of the aspect-modality relation, the deeper interaction between aspect or I Aktionsart i and modality, modal interpretation by phrase, and the main criteria determining the properties of modal verbs. [Extracted from the article]

This research article offers empirical evidence from Standard Arabic (SA) that an existing structural case assigned on an element by one head can be overridden by a new structural case assigned by a different head as long as the element (or one of its copies) has not become part of any previous transfer domain defined by the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC) (see Chomsky, Noam. 2000. Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In Roger Martin, David Michaels & Juan Uriagereka (eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik, 89–155. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). Our main evidence comes from the patterns of case assignment of the overt complementizer ʔinna in SA. ʔinna can only assign case to elements that otherwise bear default case, including a topical object or a topical subject as well as elements that are assigned case by T0 such as a contrastively focused subject. On the other hand, ʔinna never assigns case to a contrastively focused object (that is located in CP) which is argued to be base generated in its thematic position within the transfer domain of v*P. These facts are taken together as evidence that a structural case assigned to elements within a phase is temporary (as it can be overridden) until the transfer takes place. We attribute this to the workings of a transfer principle labelled as The Case-Chain Uniformity Principle (CCUP) that demands that a non-trivial chain (i.e., a discontinuous entity) be only assigned one case value in the interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the vast literature which has accrued on the fine structure of the Romance left periphery, there exists no diachronic account of the emergence of the considerable microvariation between Romance varieties today. Focussing in particular on the syntax of French and Venetan varieties, this article suggests that certain northern Romance varieties have diverged maximally from an Early Medieval Romance norm in which each left-peripheral Head attracts a wide variety of suitable Goals for movement, unlike the 'innovative' Romance grammars which emerge in the post-medieval period where the suitable class of Goals becomes restricted along categorial or information-structural grounds. The account predicts that the most 'conservative' Modern Romance grammars allow widespread argument fronting via movement, whereas their most 'innovative' counterparts show heavy restrictions on such operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the Qu-est-ce que questions in (1) which, as their translations indicate, are mono-clausal despite their bi-clausal form, French has yes/no questions such as (2) in which the est-ce que sequence shows up again. (1) a. Où est-ce qu'il est parti? 'Where is ce that he is gone?' = Where did he go? b. Qu'est-ce qu'il fait? 'Que is ce that he does ?' = What is he doing? (2) a. Est-ce qu'il est parti? 'Is ce that he is gone?' = Has he gone? b. Est-ce qu'il fait beau? 'Is ce that it is nice?' = Is the weather nice? (2) are also 'ordinary' polar questions. Since French seems to be unique in the Romance domain in accepting the Qu-questions in (1) and the polar questions in (2) it is tempting to suggest that a proper analysis of the former should also shed light on the latter. This article will verify whether this a priori desirable generalisation is valid. As a first step, it will look at the analysis of Est-ce que as an interrogative head ESK merged in the CP domain suggested by Cheng and Rooryck (2000. Licensing WH-in situ. Syntax 3.1. April 2000, 3–19.) which expresses it in its strongest possible form: Est-ce que yes/no questions like (2) would seem to only differ from their Qu-counterparts in missing the Qu-element. The article will show that their ESK proposal should be challenged empirically and theoretically in sections 2, 3 and 4. It will investigate Est-ce que polar questions and related constructions in detail in section 5 and will show in 6 that they do indeed share one crucial property with qu'est-ce que questions, although the generalisation it arrives at in section 7 substantially differs from Cheng & Rooryck's proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]