This article explores the relationship between theory and observation in scientific research, specifically in the field of linguistics. It discusses different perspectives on the role of observation and data in linguistic research, with a focus on generative syntax. The article emphasizes the importance of intuitive judgments and introspective data in this field, while also acknowledging the value of linguistic corpora and experimental methods. It concludes by presenting two papers that offer new perspectives on existing data in linguistics. The article is part of a collection of papers written to honor the 90th birthday of Mary A. Kato, a respected linguist. These papers cover various topics in linguistics, including language acquisition, syntax, semantics, and the use of judgment data in research. The authors present their findings based on extensive research and analysis of data from different sources, such as corpora and experimental studies. The papers provide valuable insights into the field of linguistics and highlight the significance of judgment data in linguistic research. [Extracted from the article]
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 sequence of elements is also compatible with R&D's proposal that the wh-phrase is in the Specifier of Foc, and Foc encodes the ! As a matter of fact, we had to assume that one morpheme, the declarative complementizer, is located in different syntactic positions and, at least in one case, it does not have the expected compositional import (examples (9)); moreover, we noticed that the interrogative complementizer, which by hypothesis corresponds to the ? R&D single out the special role of Foc in wh-questions by stipulating that "... a Foc head can only associate with wh-phrases if it is dominated by Int" (p. 58, discussion following [79]). Note that the anaphoric relation between Foc and the wh-phrase can be long-distance, as is the case in the extraction from a complement clause: (2) HT
I Subregular linguistics: bridging theoretical linguistics and formal grammar i (henceforth SL) argues that Subregular Linguistics (the application of very restricted subclasses of finite-state machinery to natural language) offers many profitable insights to theoretical linguistics, such as providing a unified view of phonology, morphology, and syntax, leveraging learnability considerations for informing the derivation of typological restrictions, and deriving island constraints from the computational nature of movement. 3.2 Restrictive formalisms and island phenomena SL's goal of seeking ever more restrictive metalanguages for the description of syntax ultimately stems from a research program introduced long ago, which is similarly intent on explaining away islands as syntactic phenomena. We believe that SL's goal is misguided - as is previous work in a similar vein discussed in Section 3.2 below - in that it assumes a kind of I native grammatical realism i : grammar formalisms are taken to be real in some cognitive sense, and to bear some deep relation to the psychology of language. 4 Conclusion The research program that SL builds on assumes that the ideal grammar formalism should impose restrictive expressiveness on the theory. [Extracted from the article]
Keywords: context; inheritance network; pseudogapping; question-under-discussion; VP ellipsis EN context inheritance network pseudogapping question-under-discussion VP ellipsis 457 494 38 09/06/22 20220901 NES 220901 1 Basic properties As illustrated in (1a) and (1b), gapping elides a finite verb in the non-initial conjunct of a coordinate structure while VPE (VP ellipsis) deletes a whole VP after an auxiliary. As we have seen in the analysis of VPE, the auxiliarihood of the head in the construction reflects the simple fact that VPE and pseudogapping are both sensitive to the presence of an auxiliary. (76) HT
a.
[[antecedent-VP]] = x[go.to(x.st)]
b.
[[antecedent-S]] = [go.to(k.st)]
ht The I pro i in the VPE clause in (75a) will refer to the VP meaning in (76a). Differing from an example where the VP complement is an overt one, in VPE sentences like (62), as noted earlier, the VP complement is realized as a covert I pro i expression. Ever since the pioneering work of [45], many have suggested that ellipsis involves a focus assignment to an expression and further that ellipsis resolution requires certain "parallelism" between the clause including the ellipsis and its antecedent clause (see, among others, [13]; [15]; [16]; [22]; [39]; [48]; [52]; [53]). [Extracted from the article]
*TEST interpretation, *GENERATIVE grammar, *DISCOURSE analysis, *NATIVE language, *PHILOSOPHY of language
Abstract
That is, we should find that for multiple wh-fronting questions and multiple sluicing, only pair-list answers are acceptable, while for single wh-fronting questions, either both answer types are acceptable, or only single-pair is. 3.2.3 Results and discussion Figure 2 shows the results of Experiment 1b: a violin plot of the acceptability ratings for single-pair/pair-list answers as potential responses to the three relevant constructions. Keywords: ellipsis; experimental syntax; Hungarian; multiple sluicing; multiple wh-questions EN ellipsis experimental syntax Hungarian multiple sluicing multiple wh-questions 401 423 23 09/06/22 20220901 NES 220901 1 Introduction An important theoretical claim in the ellipsis literature is that properties of non-elliptical sentences in a language should predict the properties of elliptical ones (i.a. HT
*LINGUISTIC typology, *GENERATIVE grammar, *CARTOGRAPHY, *ENGLISH language, *SPANISH language
Abstract
Adverbs and Functional Heads: a Cross-Linguistic perspective (Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and functional heads: A cross-linguistic perspective. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press)—one of the founding works of "Syntactic Cartography"—combines some of the developments in Syntactic Theory from the 1980s and 1990s with insightful contributions from Linguistic Typology. This paper has two interrelated goals. First, it aims to review the fundamental theses of Cinque's monography of 1999—which are far from controversial among scholars working in Cartography—; at the same time it provides conceptual support to them. Secondly, it aims to explore some methodological tools of Syntactic Cartography presented and discussed by Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and functional heads: A cross-linguistic perspective. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, namely the so-called precedence-and-transitivity tests—after a brief discussion on methodology used to recognise the functional categories, namely the criterion by Jackendoff, Ray. 1972. Semantic interpretation in generative grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press—and the use of the hierarchies as tools to detect intra and interlinguistic variation. With regard to this latter issue, the paper gathers data from Brazilian Portuguese, Canadian English and Colombian Spanish on verb raising. The discussion of the data not only favours Cinque, Guglielmo. 2017. On the status of functional categories (heads and phrases). Language and Linguistics 18(4). 521–576 recent updates of his theoretical approach to the cartography of the clause but also shows how Cartography offers a natural scenario for a methodological approach to both micro and macro-variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This predicts that extraction from EQs under rogative verbs should yield structural island effects, typically associated with stark unacceptability, whereas extraction from EQs under responsive verbs should yield no structural island effects and should obtain acceptable ratings. Applying this logic to EQs, we make the following predictions: If EQs under rogative verbs are necessarily analyzed as structural islands, extraction from EQs under rogative verbs should be consistently judged unacceptable and we expect to see large island effects. The preponderance of acceptable ratings in both EQ-island conditions suggests that neither EQ is a syntactic island in Spanish, contrary to the analysis in [60], where it was proposed that I ask i -EQs were syntactic islands and I know i -EQs were not. In the non-island conditions (10a), (10c), the embedded structure is a declarative clause, which does not give rise to island effects, whereas in the island conditions (10b), (10d), it is an EQ, expected to yield island effects. If, on the other hand, EQs under rogative verbs are not structural islands we either expect to see (i) no island effects at all, or (ii) smaller island effects characterized by inconsistent judgment distributions. [Extracted from the article]
*GENERATIVE grammar, *COMPARATIVE linguistics, *LANGUAGE policy, *SYNTAX (Grammar), *PHILOSOPHY of language
Abstract
If there is no adjunction to X', or D' specifically, the second construction cannot involve a Doubly-filled DP. 3.3.2 Option 2: complex Spec,DP In this option, the embedded DP and the indefinite article form a constituent inside the specifier of DP. As such, we could propose that the embedded DP is in Spec,DP, and the indefinite article is in D. Spec-head constellations are often employed to explain cases of adjacency (e.g., the Verb-Second constraint in the Germanic languages). To sum up thus far, I eyner i and I epes i are similar to the possessive pronoun in the second construction: these elements can precede the indefinite article, and they can be separated from it by other words. Focusing on the possessive pronoun, the latter and the indefinite article could form a doubly-filled DP (29a) where the pronoun is in Spec,DP and the article in D. Both of these elements could also form a complex specifier in Spec,DP (29b). Keywords: definiteness; DP-structure; possessives; Yiddish EN definiteness DP-structure possessives Yiddish 347 393 47 03/11/22 20220301 NES 220301 1 Introduction The interpretation of a possessive DP ( I John's book i ) depends on the definiteness of the possessor itself ( I John i ). [Extracted from the article]
In subordinate clauses, the finite verb also belongs to the verb cluster, so that the terms "verb cluster" and "verb construction" in that syntactic context refer to the same verbs. Keywords: Dutch; functional category; selectional restriction; semantic scope; verb construction EN Dutch functional category selectional restriction semantic scope verb construction 123 176 54 01/18/22 20220101 NES 220101 1 Introduction Dutch is known for its ability to combine a wide variety of verbs into complex verb constructions. Our corpus data (Table 15) show that perception and causative verbs are overwhelmingly used as nonfinite verbs in three-verb constructions (point estimate proportion for finite perception/causative verbs 0.04; 95% CI, 5 comparisons, finite I zien: i 0 I . i 04-0.30, which means that I zien i is somewhat more commonly finite than the other perception/causative verbs, according to our data). In particular, the tendency for a particular verb or a group of verbs to appear as finite or nonfinite verbs in a three-verb construction is of interest, which is captured by the proportion of finite versus nonfinite occurrences for this verb or verb group. A last verb that requires some extra discussion is I gaan. i As an aspectual marker, it differs from other external aspect verbs, in that it is frequently used as a finite verb with scope over internal aspect verbs, causative verbs and passive auxiliaries. [Extracted from the article]
Under the P» M model, the generalization is that the glottal stop can only be realized when the stem is monosyllabic (as well as other phonological factors, such as the presence of a lexical glottal stop in the stem and if the stem begins with a cluster or not). The prosodic word in Tlapanec can consist simply of a stem, a stem + an affix, or possibly stem + stem compounds. Recall that the alternation was between the allomorphs I gita i - and I gi - i , the former occurring with disyllabic stems, while the latter with monosyllabic stems; with the latter, the glottal stop is deleted before a stem-initial consonant cluster or when the stem contains a glottal stop. (44) HT
ht 4.4 Glottal stop of the 3 sg and 1 pl.in agentive prefixes Finally, we saw in Section 3.4 that the glottal stop is deleted with disyllabic stems (and when it precedes a consonant-cluster or when the stem already contains a glottal stop, regardless of the stem size). Lastly, the 3 sg agent prefix has a glottal stop when the stem is monosyllabic (3b) while this glottal stop is not found when the stem is disyllabic, as in (3a). [Extracted from the article]
I don't think that this is the only way to do linguistics, I don't think that it should have any particular priority, epistemologically or sociologically, over other ways to do linguistics, but I do think that it is an important approach and that we can learn much about FL/L by pursuing it. 3 On the "theoretical" in theoretical linguistics It will be clear from the discussion in the last section that I have a very different view of what theoretical linguistics is from that in GLU. I do have some quibbles about GLU's terminological proposal, that generative grammar is a "Natural Kinds Programme", mainly because I think the terminology is inexact. Haspelmath's 2021 target paper, I General linguistics must be based on universals (or nonconventional aspects of language) i (which I'll abbreviate here as GLU) seeks to address the question of how linguistics should deal with what he sees as a paradox at the heart of the enterprise, his General Linguistics Paradox in (1). [Extracted from the article]
Her general preference is for simplex items over complex representations: truthmakers over clauses specifying truth conditions, attitudinal and modal objects over possible-world predicates, attitudinal-and-modal-object predicates over orderings and divisions among possible worlds as attitudinal and modal bases. The clause in the complement of this head is a predicate over situations, in line with the standard view of clauses and propositional meanings. If the noun emerging through raising refers in the domain of special types of objects, then already the item in the specifier of the respective functional projection, the one that derives a complement clause by moving out of it, may be of this type: a predicate over attitudinal or modal objects. These data indicate that the complement clause effects maximization: there cannot be two beliefs that disinfectants cure from viruses, there cannot be two claims that the earth is concave - unless the noun is interpreted to refer to an event of claiming rather than to the content expressed by a clause, where only the latter is relevant for our discussion. [Extracted from the article]
This article argues that there is no narrow syntax, and that the language faculty merely consists of the semantic and phonological components, and linking between these and other systems. It follows as a logical consequence from the latest works of Chomsky (2007 et seq.) and Hauser et al. (2002) who argue that narrow syntax consists of as few features as possible, ideally only recursive embedding and mapping to the interfaces, and Nordström (2014) who shows that the language faculty cannot involve recursive embedding if one wants it to be able to handle discrete infinity, but must merely be a discrete combinatorial system. As such, it shares features with many other mental processes, such as tool making, and, this paper argues, should not be seen as a separate module. The discrete combinatorial processes, as argued here, take place in the semantic and phonological components, which are linked by an axonal pathway. The paper further shows that other potential features of narrow syntax, namely word order, agreement and case (Pinker and Jackendoff 2005; Chomsky 2000 et seq.) can also perfectly well be located within the semantic and phonological components, dispensing with so-called uninterpretable features and leading to the ultimate conclusion that there is no narrow syntax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*ELLIPSIS (Grammar), *GRAMMAR, *LINGUISTICS, *GENERATIVE grammar, *NATURAL languages
Abstract
Following an introduction to ellipsis and its consequences both for communication and for the theory of grammar, this paper addresses a number of issues which have been debated in the linguistic literature on ellipsis, namely structure, identity and licensing. This study brings to the readers' attention the effects which such conditions have for the study of ellipsis in different languages as well as their constraints within the generative framework. As case studies on the conditions and the characterisation of the linguistic strategy under scrutiny, this paper also summarises the main approaches to ellipsis in the studies embodied in this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Research on bilingual grammars from a formal perspective has often come under the guise of mainstream generative grammar. Since the inception of Chomsky's (1995 et seq.) Minimalist Program (MP), many scholars have adopted the notion of formal features representing abstract grammatical information that can be associated with lexical items. To model changes in bilingual grammars due to the acquisition of particular forms, the attrition of information by means of incomplete acquisition or the lack of usage throughout the course of the lifespan, or due to intense contact with another grammar, the mechanism known as feature reassembly (e.g. Lardiere 1998) - whereby abstract grammatical information in the form of formal features can be detached and reassigned to other lexical items - has enjoyed a great deal of success in the literature. In this article we argue that in spite of this success, the analysis of aspects of bilingual grammars can be improved upon by replacing the notion of feature reassembly with the satisfaction of constraints. Here we provide conceptual and empirical evidence arguing for the adoption of constraint satisfaction in place of the feature reassembly mechanism. Finally, in addition to constraint satisfaction we also make the case for adopting a parallel model of cognition and language for the bilingual mind, which is strongly supported by recent psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*CONSONANTS, *OPTIMALITY theory (Linguistics), *PHONOLOGY, *OPACITY (Linguistics), *GENERATIVE grammar
Abstract
Consonant cluster simplification in Tundra Nenets coexists with other consonantal alternations, such as fricative strengthening, lenition of stops, and a variety of NC-effects, which all apply within the same phrasal domain. These processes interact with each other, suggesting an opaque ordering within the same post-lexical domain and thus presenting a challenge not only for inherently parallel theories like classical Optimality Theory, but also for the cyclic derivational approaches such as Stratal OT. We analyze all instances of Tundra Nenets cluster simplification as coalescence and show that a variety of apparently opaque alternations accompanying cluster simplification can be seen as transparent on this account. We also argue that strengthening in consonant clusters is caused by an intermediate stage where coda obstruents lose their place and turn into a glottal stop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*GENERATIVE grammar, *BILINGUALISM, *GRAMMAR, *MINIMALIST theory (Communication), *CONSTRAINTS (Linguistics)
Abstract
Research on bilingual grammars from a formal perspective has often come under the guise of mainstream generative grammar. Since the inception of Chomsky's (1995 et seq.) Minimalist Program (MP), many scholars have adopted the notion of formal features representing abstract grammatical information that can be associated with lexical items. To model changes in bilingual grammars due to the acquisition of particular forms, the attrition of information by means of incomplete acquisition or the lack of usage throughout the course of the lifespan, or due to intense contact with another grammar, the mechanism known as feature reassembly (e.g. Lardiere 1998) - whereby abstract grammatical information in the form of formal features can be detached and reassigned to other lexical items - has enjoyed a great deal of success in the literature. In this article we argue that in spite of this success, the analysis of aspects of bilingual grammars can be improved upon by replacing the notion of feature reassembly with the satisfaction of constraints. Here we provide conceptual and empirical evidence arguing for the adoption of constraint satisfaction in place of the feature reassembly mechanism. Finally, in addition to constraint satisfaction we also make the case for adopting a parallel model of cognition and language for the bilingual mind, which is strongly supported by recent psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Gibson and Fedorenko (2013, The need for quantitative methods in syntax and semantics research, Language and Cognitive Processes 28(2), 88-124) have argued against the continued use of informally collected acceptability judgments as the primary methodology in theoretical syntax and semantics research. We provide further support for their position with data from Mandarin and Turkish-language judgment tasks which examined the acceptability of resumptive pronouns (RPs) in relative clauses. Based on previous studies which relied on informal judgments, we expected that RPs should be permitted in certain types of Mandarin relative clauses, but ungrammatical in comparable Turkish relative clauses. The results failed to replicate this contrast: RPs were more acceptable than expected in Turkish, and less acceptable than expected in Mandarin. Furthermore, the Mandarin Chinese experiment showed an unexpected gradient effect. We argue that these results challenge existing theoretical accounts, support the more widespread adoption of experimental tasks in theoretical linguistics and in second-language research, and consistently support the Filler-Gap Domain complexity ranking as proposed by Hawkins (2004, Efficiency and complexity in grammars, Oxford: Oxford University Press). We use the complexity ranking and its supporting evidence as a case study demonstrating that quantitative data, such as the evidence obtained from formal sentence judgment tasks, are indispensable in the defense or criticism of linguistic theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
In the present essay some of what have been the more influential conceptions of phonology are examined in the light of what I see as 'intrusions' into its domain, starting with a strand of orthographic influence. I am concerned with the extent to which various 'phonological' proposals might be described as 'graphophonological' rather than strictly phonological. This examination also reveals the interaction of the graphophonological impulse with the impact of other considerations that are not proper to synchronic phonology. Most pertinent here is the more familiarly controversial formulation as synchronic generalizations of what are substitutes for the diachronic regularities reflected in morphophonological alternations: what I call 'anachronic' phonology, associated, for the most part, with the conflation of morphophonology and phonology; another instance of 'pseudo-phonology'. Scrutinized here are particularly proposals concerning sound structure associated with the classical littera, with the ('taxonomic') phoneme, and with the morphophoneme (or 'systematic phoneme'). Finally, after an evaluation of an overtly graphophonological proposal, the orthographic rather than phonological value of 'CVCV' phonology is explored in relation to the inadequacies of the Linear B syllabary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The syntax of auxiliaries has given rise to much discussion in the generative literature (Akmajian and Wasow 1975; Emonds 1978; Akmajian et al. 1979; Pollock 1989; Chomsky 1993; Lasnik 1995b; Roberts 1998; Bjorkman 2011; Rouveret 2012). This paper explores the distribution of non-finite auxiliaries in Standard English, in particular the issue as to whether such auxiliaries raise for inflectional purposes or remain in their base positions and have their inflections lowered onto them. It is shown that auxiliary distribution is not determined by auxiliary type (passive, copular, progressive etc.) as the lowering accounts predict, but by the morphological form that the auxiliary takes. In particular, the auxiliaries be/been and being exhibit significantly different distributional properties across ellipsis, fronting and existential constructions in English that are difficult to capture under an affix lowering model, and lend themselves more easily to an auxiliary raising account. I therefore offer a syntactic account of auxiliary inflections which employs the theoretical uniformity of an Agree-based approach, with the empirical advantages that an auxiliary raising analysis affords. The auxiliary raising system that will be proposed essentially harkens back to Chomsky's (1993) and Lasnik's (1995b) approach to the auxiliary system, though with the utilisation of Bošković's (2007) notion of foot-driven movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*PREDICATE (Logic), *BANTU languages, *GENERATIVE grammar, *SEMANTICS, *HERMENEUTICS, *LANGUAGE research
Abstract
In generative grammar, locative inversion in Bantu languages is typically analyzed in terms of A-movement of the locative from a VP-internal position to the subject position. I present an alternative analysis, according to which the locative subject-DP is introduced above the νP/VP, in the specifier of a functional category whose head selects the νP/VP as its complement. I suggest that this category is Pr (for 'predication'), i.e., the same category that also introduces the subject argument of adjectival or nominal predicates in non-verbal predication constructions (see Bowers 1993, and especially Baker 2003a for Bantu). In locative inversion, Pr establishes a non-canonical predication relation between a νP/VP that expresses a state or event, and a DP that denotes the location of which this state/event is predicated as a property. My analysis is developed on the basis of a detailed discussion of 'semantic' locative inversion in the Bantu language Zulu (Buell 2007), a construction in which the inverted subject-DP is not formally marked as a locative, but receives its interpretation solely by virtue of the locative semantics of its head noun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The author comments on the paper "Abstractions and Idealisations: The Construction of Modern Linguistics," by Martin Stokhof and Michiel van Lambalgen in which they argue that generative linguistics of the Chomskyan type crucially works with idealizations. He identifies some basic concepts that are not clear in the paper such as the concept of natural as opposed to cultural and that of an object of study. He explains why he cannot view an approach to grammatical structure that makes no use of abstractions as effective. He argues that the appearance of failure or of increasing diversity of approaches must be due to the rhetoric and presentation style of generative grammar.
The author comments on the paper "Abstractions and Idealisations: The Construction of Modern Linguistics," by Martin Stokhof and Michiel van Lambalgen. It discusses the way modern linguistics constructs its proper objects, the scientific criteria for characterizing its success or failure and the role of naturalism. He argues that a broader view of modern linguistics calls for a reconsideration of the role of abstraction and idealization. Some aspects deemed essential for constituting the generativist approach including innateness hypothesis, explicit inaccessible rule view and distinction between competence and performance are proposed. He opposes the suggestion that physics make exclusive use of abstraction and that abstraction is the only useful research tool within a naturalist setting.
The author comments on the article "Abstractions and Idealisations: The Construction of Modern Linguistics," by Martin Stokhof and Michiel van Lambalgen which deals with the flawed assumptions of modern linguistics. He believes that some of the arguments in the article are based on an understanding of linguistics that is limited to generative grammar. He considers the justification of distinguishing between competence and performance. He argues further that idealizations can realized by specific algorithms and in the neural circuitry.
This paper discusses conceptual aspects of a Multiple Spell-Out theory of the syntax-phonology interface where a domain of spell-out is a prosodic domain. I claim that economy considerations, which have contributed to the development of syntactic and phonological studies of generative grammar, also contribute to the study of syntax-phonology mapping. I argue that computational efficiency should be formulated in an explicit manner so that it has empirical effects on the mapping. Specifically, I propose an efficiency condition, which makes the mapping computationally efficient by prohibiting a prosodic domain from being modified in the course of mapping. I show that the so-called restructuring of phonological phrases allegedly induced by syntactic branching not only violates the proposed condition but also has empirical problems, and that it should be analyzed purely phonologically, without considering syntactic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The article examines the paper "Parameters in Minimalist Theory: The Case of Scandinavian," by Anders Holmberg. The authors negate the notion that parameters in minimalist theory (PMT) make the case for a deep parameter. They cite agreement differences as the cause of a variation between Insular Scandinavian (ISc) and Mainland Scandinavian (MSc) languages in terms of unvalued number (uNr) and unvalued person number (uPn). They note the discussion of the logical problem of language acquisition in Holmberg's paper. They stress the significance of PMT to the debate on the nature of parameters.
The P&P theory of UG has come under heavy criticism, lately, from outside but also from inside generative grammar. The claim is that the search for 'deep parameters' underlying clusters of properties across languages has led nowhere, and should be given up. I have revisited a theory, now two decades old, which explained ten syntactic differences between Insular and Mainland Scandinavian as the effects of a single parametric difference (in a series of works by C. Platzack and A. Holmberg). The theory is shown to be fundamentally right, descriptively and theoretically. Later developments in generative theory only serve to sharpen the formulations, adding another layer of explanatory depth to the earlier theory. The conclusion is that there are parameters of the traditional kind. The problems encountered when the theory is tested on more distantly related languages is discussed on the basis of facts from Finnish. P&P theory is perfectly consistent with the minimalist approach to UG and variation when parameters are seen as points of under-specification in UG, and restrictions on variation are seen as, in part, third factor effects, in the sense of Chomsky (Linguistic Inquiry 36: 1-22, 2005). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The article examines the striking correlation of the directive infinitive with negation in Dutch. This correlation is interpreted in the light of recent findings on the form of the prohibitive in the languages of the world and is explained in terms of the negative-first principle and politeness. The validity of the two explanations is further investigated from a cross-linguistic perspective. The preference for preverbal negation is shown to be even stronger in prohibitive than in declarative sentences. The difference in politeness between positive imperative and prohibitive speech acts is argued to be reflected in a wide range of languages. On the whole, the article illustrates the fruitful, two-way interaction between the study of language usage and typology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This article addresses the question of control in Polish in the context of the current Movement vs. Agree debate and the nature of Obligatory Control (OC). More specifically, it aims to show that many phenomena which are allegedly inconvenient for the movement-based theory – such as control into infinitives introduced by a lexical complementiser and the controller's case independence of the semi-predicate or predicative adjective – can be dealt with without postulating a case-marked OC PRO. The controller's escape from a CP-infinitive is made possible by a small modification of the mechanics of the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC) and the ‘derivational window’. The optionality of case transmission and case independence in certain contexts is ascribed to the optional phase-status of infinitives, the clitic-like properties of the bare complementiser and the application of the default case mechanism to semi-predicates and adjectival predicates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
An underdescribed sound change in Germanic is the shift of initial kl and gl to tl and dl respectively. Though not widely known, KL > TL has occurred more than once in the history of Germanic. Relevant phonetic factors include coarticulation and perceptual similarity. A third structural factor in Germanic and elsewhere is a pre-existing TL gap. KL > TL gives rise to common TL clusters, though, under many phonological analyses, TL clusters are disfavored or marked. Typological comparison suggests that TL clusters are not marked, but that contrasts between KL and TL are disfavored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
In optimality theory (OT) the essence of both language learning in general (learnability) and language acquisition (the actual development children go through) entails the ranking of constraints from an initial state of the grammar to the language-specific ranking of the target grammar. This is the common denominator in all OT studies on language acquisition and learning. There are many unsettled issues, however. Are the constraints innate or do they emerge during acquisition (nature-nurture)? And if they emerge, where do they come from? What is the initial state? Does the (re)ranking of constraints only involve the demotion of markedness constraints, the promotion of faithfulness constraints, or can it be achieved by both the demotion and the promotion of constraints? Another issue is whether comprehension and production are mediated by the same grammar or whether there is one grammar for comprehension and another for production. This article reviews the current state of affairs in language acquisition studies in OT and ends with some critical remarks and speculations on how the field is likely to develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
In the field of language acquisition the term bootstrapping stands for the assumption that the child is genetically equipped with a specific program to get the process of language acquisition started. Originally set within the principles and parameters framework bootstrapping mechanism are considered as a linkage between properties of the specific language the child is exposed to and pre-existing linguistic knowledge provided by universal grammar. In a different view — primarily developed within the so-called prosodic bootstrapping account — bootstrapping mechanism direct the child's processing of the input thereby constraining the child's learning in a linguistically relevant way. Thus, the attendance to specific input cues provides the child with information to segment the input in linguistically relevant units which constitute restricted domains for more general learning mechanism like e.g., distributional learning. The paper will present a review of empirical findings that show that children are in fact equipped with highly sensitive and efficient mechanism to process their speech input which initially seem to be biased to prosodic information. It will be argued that further research within this framework has to deal with the reliability of the proposed relevant input cues despite crosslinguistic variation and with children's ability to overcome an initial reliance on single cues in favor of an integration of different sources of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*VOWELS, *OPTIMALITY theory (Linguistics), *GENERATIVE grammar, *LATIN language, *LANGUAGE & languages
Abstract
This paper focuses on opaque Latin vowel deletion and its relevance to the actual theoretical debate of dealing with opacity in OT. Besides derivational OT, three parallel OT approaches to deal with opacity in OT are discussed: Sympathy Theory (McCarthy 1999 and 2003), Comparative Markedness (McCarthy 2002) and OT with Candidate Chains (McCarthy 2007). It is argued that Sympathy Theory, for principled reasons, is unable to deal with opaque Latin vowel deletion. The main reason is that the opacity in this case crucially depends on the prosody and not on faithfulness. Comparative Markedness can account for opaque syncope by splitting up the constraints -σ and - in new (NParse-σ and NFT-BIN) and old (OPARSE-σ and OFT-BIN) constraints. However, the ranking necessary to deal with the cases of opaque deletion leads to incorrect outputs in cases of transparent deletion. Finally, OT with Candidate Chains will be shown to allow for a more restrictive and more principled account of opaque syncope than a serial, level OT approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
German Glide Formation converts /i/ to [j] before vowels, e.g. ‘Spain’, but the rule is consistently blocked in neologisms containing the suffix – esk, e.g. hippiesk [hrpiℇsk] / *[hrpjℇsk]. It is argued below that the underapplication of Glide Formation in such examples follows from a requirement that the stem in a derived word must be identical to the unaffixed base. The base in such examples will be shown to be a free-standing morpheme as opposed to a bound root. The analysis proposed will be shown to be supported in additional examples in which Glide Formation is blocked from applying to the [i] preceding the suffix – aner, but only if the suffix follows a free-standing morpheme, e.g. ‘adherent of Schumi (Michael Schumacher)’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This paper examines Differential R Marking (DRM) – i.e., the effects of animacy on the encoding of goals (R), as in ‘a linguist sent a book to the phonetician/to the town’ – from a crosslinguistic perspective. The phenomenon comprises three types, which are distinguished based on whether R can be marked in the same way as the transitive Patient or not (animate Rs usually allow this, while inanimate Rs usually surface as obliques). Even though DRM shares common features with Differential Object Marking (DOM), the two phenomena cannot be explained by the same functions. The findings of this article support the view that differences in object coding (comprising both DRM and DOM) are best explained by affectedness rather than ambiguity avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Two traditions devoted to the formulation and explanation of syntactic universals coexist in the field of linguistics. The surface universals tradition draws inductive generalizations pertaining to easily observable surface features in the world's languages. By and large it seeks to account for the universals that it uncovers by means of external, typically function-based, explanations. The deep universals tradition is part-and-parcel of most approaches to generative grammar. The central constructs of that theory, including the set of categories posited and the form of the principles at work, are ipso facto ‘deep universals’ provided by an innate Universal Grammar. Many generative grammarians take the position that deep universals are central to the explanation of surface universals, though there is good reason to be skeptical of such an idea. While most linguists would welcome a rapprochement between the two approaches to universals, a number of conceptual and empirical barriers stand in the way of its realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*BUNUN language, *DIALECTS, *OPTIMALITY theory (Linguistics), *GENERATIVE grammar, *PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Abstract
This article shows how syllabic and metrical constraints interact differently in two dialects of Bunun, despite their similarity in that both dialects exhibit modifications of vowel clusters in response to the O constraint. In Isbukun Bunun, foot forms are constrained both syllabically and moraically. Stress shifts from the unmarked penultimate syllable to final position under duress to satisfy both O and the requirement that heavy syllables must not stand in a prosodically weak position. In contrast, in Takituduh Bunun, metrical wellformedness is considered more important, so the preferred disyllabic foot forms are maintained at the cost of creating onsetless syllables. The analysis is formalized within Optimality Theory by ranking syllabic and metrical constraints differently in the two dialects. OT is advantageous in analyzing the data for two additional reasons: 1) the correlation between stress assignment in nonsuffixed and suffixed words in Isbukun can be directly captured by an output constraint, and 2) the metrical influence on syllabification in Takituduh can be readily handled by allowing syllabic and metrical constraints to interact in the same hierarchy. An implication of the Isbukun data for the properties of surface glides is that pre-peak glides can be moraic or not, depending on whether they follow a tautosyllabic consonant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The special issue of The Linguistic Review on The Role of Linguistics in Cognitive Science presents a variety of viewpoints that complement or contrast with the perspective offered in Foundations of Language (Jackendoff 2002a). The present article is a response to the special issue. It discusses what it would mean to integrate linguistics into cognitive science, then shows how the parallel architecture proposed in Foundations seeks to accomplish this goal by altering certain fundamental assumptions of generative grammar. It defends this approach against criticisms both from mainstream generative grammar and from a variety of broader attacks on the generative enterprise, and it reflects on the nature of Universal Grammar. It then shows how the parallel architecture applies directly to processing and defends this construal against various critiques. Finally, it contrasts views in the special issue with that of Foundations with respect to what is unique about language among cognitive capacities, and it conjectures about the course of the evolution of the language faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The article is a reply to those who commented on the target article "Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot," by Sam Featherston, which is in this issue of "Theoretical Linguistics." The author focuses on two points--the concept of well-formedness in syntactical research and on the value of types of judgments in linguistic analysis. Featherston's views on the constraining factors in grammatical constructions and the terms "grammaticality" and "acceptability" are discussed. Relative, categorical, and string-technical judgments are mentioned. Data quality in empirical research is also mentioned.
The article refers to "Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot," by Sam Featherston, and focuses on data quality in linguistic research. The commentary suggests that more emphasis on standards for syntactic well-formedness, observational adequacy, and descriptive adequacy will improve data assessment in theoretical grammar. Examples are given of "that-t effect," "nicht XP/XP nicht tags," subject and object extractions, constraints in the German language, and grammaticality in sentences that relates to ease of comprehension.
Den Dikken, Marcel, Bernstein, Judy B, Tortora, Christina, and Zanuttini, Raffaella
Subjects
*GENERATIVE grammar, *DATA quality, *LINGUISTIC analysis, *EMPIRICAL research, *STATISTICAL reliability, *THEORY-practice relationship, *CORPORA, *VARIATION in language
Abstract
The article refers to "Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot," by Sam Featherston, and to syntactic theory based on an individual's intuitive judgment. The commentary focuses on Featherston's view that a golden mean is needed in corpus-based research and linguistic analysis to improve data quality. The opposing argument is based on principles in Chomskian linguistics, the perspectives of the individual speaker and hearer in terms of I-language, and the E-language of the community of a native speaker. Empirical research methods in linguistics, the attitude of generative syntacticians, and the noise factor or language variation are mentioned.
This paper is intended to lay out for broader discussion some arguments for the importance of data in work in generative syntax. These are accepted by many linguists, but a significant number of others still seem reluctant to accept them. The basic claim is that it is no longer tenable for syntactic theories to be constructed on the evidence of a single person's judgements, and that real progress can only be made when syntacticians begin to think more carefully about the empirical basis of their work and apply the minimum standards we propose. We advance two groups of reasons for syntacticians to do this, negative and positive. The negative stick group concerns the inadequacy of current practice. We argue that linguists are producing unsatisfactory work with these methods. Data quality is a limiting factor: a theory can only ever be as good as its data base. The positive carrot group concerns the descriptive and theoretical advantages which become available with more empirically adequate data. We hope to tempt linguists to adopt new methods by showing them the insights which better data makes available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The article refers to "Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot," by Sam Featherston, and to the quality of data presented in cognitive and functional linguistics. The commentary focuses on the standard practice of using one person's intuition or judgment as data on which to base syntactic theories. The idea of replacing standard practice with controlled experiments and multiple informants is discussed. The binary model of well-formedness in psycholinguistic research, extraneous influences in grammaticality, and three ways of testing the acceptability of a sentence are mentioned.
The article refers to "Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot," by Sam Featherston, and to data quality in empirical research. The commentary criticizes Featherston's views on syntactic reasoning and focuses on the practice of generative linguists who use intuitive judgments to prove a syntactic hypothesis. The binary model of well-formedness and variations in the judgments of the study participants are mentioned. Linguistic extractions in English and German which make it difficult to contrast the two languages or make generalizations are also mentioned. Examples include the Weak Crossover effect.