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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]

A familiar argument goes as follows: natural languages have infinitely many sentences, finite representation of infinite sets requires recursion; therefore any adequate account of linguistic competence will require some kind of recursive device. The first part of this paper argues that this argument is not convincing. The second part argues that it was not the original reason recursive devices were introduced into generative linguistics. The real basis for the use of recursive devices stems from a deeper philosophical concern; a grammar that functions merely as a metalanguage would not be explanatorily adequate as it would merely push the problem of explaining linguistic competence back to another level. The paper traces this concern from Zellig Harris and Chomsky's early work in generative linguistics and presents some implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this note is to offer a critical review of the contrastive analysis hypothesis within the field of second language acquisition. The notions of interlanguage, universal grammar and mental grammar are discussed. Transfer is redefined as the output of underlying rules in the grammar of a second language. Through Jackendoff’s notion of a mental grammar we reconcile the contribution of structural and generative grammar to the understanding of the phenomenon of transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proof-theoretic models of grammar are based on the view that an explicit characterization of a language comes in the form of the recursive enumeration of strings in that language. That recursive enumeration is carried out by a procedure which strongly generates a set of structural descriptions Σ and weakly generates a set of strings S; a grammar is thus a function that pairs an element of Σ with elements of S. Structural descriptions are obtained by means of Context-Free phrase structure rules or via recursive combinatorics and structure is assumed to be uniform: binary branching trees all the way down. In this work we will analyse natural language constructions for which such a rigid conception of phrase structure is descriptively inadequate and propose a solution for the problem of phrase structure grammars assigning too much or too little structure to natural language strings: we propose that the grammar can oscillate between levels of computational complexity in local domains, which correspond to elementary trees in a lexicalised Tree Adjoining Grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point of this work is the notion of explanatory adequacy. After summarising and analysing the presentation that Chomsky gives of this notion in the first works of generative grammar, I consider the role that such notion has been playing in the construction of the theory of generative grammar and in the foundation of the Universal Grammar research program, focussing, in particular, on the last phase of generative grammar, that is, minimalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo / Radovi Filozofskog Fakulteta u Sarajevu is the property of Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

I provide a critical survey of the role that semantics took in the several models of generative grammar, since the 1950s until the Minimalist Program. I distinguish four different periods. In the first section, I focus on the role of formal semantics in generative grammar until the 1970s. In Section 2 I present the period of linguistic wars, when the role of semantics in linguistic theory became a crucial topic of debate. In Section 3 I focus on the formulation of conditions on transformations and Binding Theory in the 1970s and 1980s, while in the last Section I discuss the role of semantics in the minimalist approach. In this section, I also propose a semantically-based model of generative grammar, which fully endorses minimalism and Chomsky's later position concerning the primary role of the semantic interface in the Universal Grammar modelization (Strong Minimalist Thesis). In the Discussion, I point out some theoretical problems deriving from Chomsky's internalist interpretation of model-theoretic semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semantics in the Montagovian tradition combine two basic tenets. One tenet is that semantic value of a sentence is an intension, a function from points of evaluations into truth-values. The other tenet is that the semantic value of a composite expression is the result of applying the function denoted by one component to arguments denoted by the other components. Many philosophers object to intensional semantics on the grounds that intensionally equivalent sentences do not substitute salva veritate into attitude ascriptions. They propose instead that the semantic values of sentences must be structured propositions. In rejecting intensional semantics, philosophers who endorse structured propositions also usually reject functional compositionality. Undermining both tenets of the Montagovian programme. I defend a semantic theory that incorporates both structured propositions and functional compositionality. I argue that this semantic theory can preserve many explanatory benefits of Montague semantics. Finally, I show how treating composition functional application can resolve core problems internal to a theory of structured propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Movement plays an important role in generative grammar. This paper expounds characteristics and motivation of the development of generative grammar theory by analyzing and contrasting the movement pattern in different periods of generative grammar. From Move-α to the feature checking, and then to the matching of the probe and the target under agreement feature, a series of changes in movement pattern indicate that generative grammar is exploring the principled interpretation of the language from the perspective of biolinguistics, the explanation of the characteristics and general principles of the interface system, ultimately to the goal of going beyond the explanatory adequacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the difference between the production of grammatical determiners and lexical determiners in the production of adjective-noun phrases (NPs) in Danish. Models of sentence processing (Garrett in Psychology of learning and motivation, Academic press, New York, pp 133-177, 1975; Bock in J Mem Lang 26(2):119-137, 1987) suggest that the phonological encoding stage of grammatical items can only be specified once lexical items have been phonologically encoded. In their usage-based linguistic theory of the grammar-lexicon distinction, Boye and Harder (Lang 88(1):1-44, 2012) propose that this later encoding of grammatical elements is motivated by two specific features of grammatical elements. The first feature, dependence, is that grammatical items (morphemes, words, constructions) cannot be produced in isolation, but are always dependent on a lexical host item. This feature entails a more complex processing which might lead to longer reaction times when comparing the production of NPs with a grammatical determiner to a lexical one. Additionally, a more complex processing might lead to a lower accuracy rate for the grammatical condition relative to the lexical one. The second feature, low prominence, is that grammatical items code background information and therefore cannot convey the main point of a linguistic message. Less focus on grammatical elements might lead to a lower accuracy rate for the production of grammatical elements relative to lexical ones. Those predictions were tested in a task comparing the production of Danish grammatical determiners (indefinite articles) with the production of lexical ones (numerals, which are homonymous with the articles except for a stress difference) in similar contexts. Group-based analyses were performed in order to take inter-individual differences into account. The results show that the two features as proposed by Boye and Harder (2012) are only revealed for the fastest speakers group but not the slower ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the possibility of classifying traditional affixes as two groups, syntactic or lexical affixes, as proposed within Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). It is argued that the main challenge for the FDG approach to derivational morphology arises from properties which revolve around the semantic contribution of derivational affixes: i) the fact that derivational processes introduce unpredictable meaning components (semantic opacity), ii) the question of what constitutes lexical meaning vs. grammatical meaning, iii) the intrinsic polysemy of some affixes, and iv) affix competition. The authors conclude that FDG should treat lexical and grammatical affixes similarly, unless a clear distinction can be made in particular cases on clearly specified semantic principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central concern of generative grammar is the relationship between hierarchy and word order, traditionally understood as two dimensions of a single syntactic representation. A related concern is directionality in the grammar. Traditional approaches posit process-neutral grammars, embodying knowledge of language, put to use with infinite facility both for production and comprehension. This has crystallized in the view of Merge as the central property of syntax, perhaps its only novel feature. A growing number of approaches explore grammars with different directionalities, often with more direct connections to performance mechanisms. This paper describes a novel model of universal grammar as a one-directional, universal parser. Mismatch between word order and interpretation order is pervasive in comprehension; in the present model, word order is language-particular and interpretation order (i.e., hierarchy) is universal. These orders are not two dimensions of a unified abstract object (e.g., precedence and dominance in a single tree); rather, both are temporal sequences, and UG is an invariant real-time procedure (based on Knuth's stack-sorting algorithm) transforming word order into hierarchical order. This shift in perspective has several desirable consequences. It collapses linearization, displacement, and composition into a single performance process. The architecture provides a novel source of brackets (labeled unambiguously and without search), which are understood not as part-whole constituency relations, but as storage and retrieval routines in parsing. It also explains why neutral word order within single syntactic cycles avoids 213-like permutations. The model identifies cycles as extended projections of lexical heads, grounding the notion of phase. This is achieved with a universal processor, dispensing with parameters. The empirical focus is word order in noun phrases. This domain provides some of the clearest evidence for 213-avoidance as a cross-linguistic word order generalization. Importantly, recursive phrase structure "bottoms out" in noun phrases, which are typically a single cycle (though further cycles may be embedded, e.g., relative clauses). By contrast, a simple transitive clause plausibly involves two cycles (vP and CP), embedding further nominal cycles. In the present theory, recursion is fundamentally distinct from structure-building within a single cycle, and different word order restrictions might emerge in larger domains like clauses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human infants develop language remarkably rapidly and without overt instruction. We argue that the distinctive ontogenesis of child language arises from the interplay of three factors: domain-specific principles of language (Universal Grammar), external experience, and properties of non-linguistic domains of cognition including general learning mechanisms and principles of efficient computation. We review developmental evidence that children make use of hierarchically composed structures (‘Merge’) from the earliest stages and at all levels of linguistic organization. At the same time, longitudinal trajectories of development show sensitivity to the quantity of specific patterns in the input, which suggests the use of probabilistic processes as well as inductive learning mechanisms that are suitable for the psychological constraints on language acquisition. By considering the place of language in human biology and evolution, we propose an approach that integrates principles from Universal Grammar and constraints from other domains of cognition. We outline some initial results of this approach as well as challenges for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Generalized LR parsing algorithm for context-free grammars is notable for having a decent worst-case running time (cubic in the length of the input string, if implemented efficiently), as well as much better performance on 'good' grammars. This paper extends the Generalized LR algorithm to the case of 'grammars with left contexts' (M. Barash, A. Okhotin, 'An extension of context-free grammars with one-sided context specifications', Inform. Comput., 2014), which augment the context-free grammars with special operators for referring to the left context of the current substring, along with a conjunction operator (as in conjunctive grammars) for combining syntactical conditions. All usual components of the LR algorithm, such as the parsing table, shift and reduce actions, etc., are extended to handle the context operators. The resulting algorithm is applicable to any grammar with left contexts and has the same worst-case cubic-time performance as in the case of context-free grammars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will revisit the grammar of very early utterances that young children produce at around age 2 under the linguistic theory of the past 50 years. We will argue that very young children in the stage of two words and the telegraphic speech, who already know the head-complement relationship, the basic word order, the morphological properties regarding whether or not the language is agglutinative, have a specific system of 0-feature agreement then, and the detailed mechanism of the operation of Merge and Labeling proposed in the recent Minimalist thesis can be considered to be still under construction. Children are free to project unattested hypotheses based on their innately endowed knowledge, and in the course of language acquisition, there are intriguing cases where English-acquiring children fail to match their hypothesis to the input of the target language, thereby producing terroneous, scrambled sentences. We argue in this paper that the scrambled sentences that very young English-acquiring children produce (e.g., Powers 2000) can naturally be explained by assuming the child-specific system of 0-feature agreement, or the system whose spirit is consistent with AGR/TNS Omission Model (ATOM) (Schutze and Wexler 1996) for the child grammar, and Saito (2016) for the adult grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many variants of categorial grammar assume an underlying logic which is associative and linear. In relation to left extraction, the former property is challenged by island domains, which involve nonassociativity, and the latter property is challenged by parasitic gaps, which involve nonlinearity. We present a version of type logical grammar including 'structural inhibition' for nonassociativity and 'structural facilitation' for nonlinearity and we give an account of relativisation including islands and parasitic gaps and their interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the outcome of a Contrastive Analysis undertaken in order to account for some general principles governing the expression of time location in two apparently non cognate languages: English (Nigeria's official language) and ỤKWụANị, one of the indigenous languages of Nigeria. It focuses on the verb phrase component with temporal significance in signaling temporal sequences: temporal ordering previous, (past) simultaneous, (present) and subsequent (future) to given time reference. The linguistic framework adopted for analysis is Government and Binding (GB) Revised version of Transformational Generative Grammar which is premised on systems of principles of Universal Grammar. It explicates the possibilities and limits of rule interaction and functions in grammars. English syntactic strings and their ỤKWụANị translation equivalent provide the data for analysis. Aspects of grammatical convergence revealed in both languages show English Past signaled by {D1} and {li} in ỤKWụANị). Simultaneous and subsequent time marking in English is morphologically realized in relation to subject-verb concord whereas a T - marker "ne" is the simultaneity signal in ỤKWụANị. Subsequent time (Future) in English is M(AUX) "will"+ V and in Ukwuan M[VP] +V. It also shows that whereas in English, this is morphologically signaled, ỤKWụANị adds phonologically signal to the grammatical marker. Present and past tense structures in both languages are quite similar; resulting in significant congruent structures. Divergent as future time grammar may seem, our analysis also reveal quite similar patterns. There are indeed then meeting points for the two grammars in spite of geographical and cultural non contiguity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish has a restriction on palatal nasals and laterals in the coda so that they are normally realized as dental or alveolar coronals. In the onset position, the palatal point of articulation is retained, bello (be.[ʎ]o) 'beautiful-masc.', beldad (be[l].dad) 'beauty'; doña (do.[ʎ]a) 'Madam', don (do[n]) 'Mister'. Alternations such as these led phonologists to propose a rule of depalatalization that turns an underlying palatal nasal or lateral into a coronal (Contreras 1977; Harris 1983). More recently, within an optimality-theoretic framework and on the basis of loan word evidence, Lloret and Mascaró (2006) argue again in favor of an active process of depalatalization in the phonology of Modern Spanish. Taking the proposal of Lloret and Mascaró as its point of departure, this paper expands the discussion on depalatalization to consider diachronic data, the role of the underlying representation and the perception grammar, in particular regarding loanword phonology. Historical data support depalatalization as an active phenomenon in Old Spanish and Medieval Spanish; yet the morphophonological alternations cannot be considered active/productive synchronically. Unlike previous serial models of phonology, an OT framework allows for the incorporation of diachronic data into the analysis, through constraints, constraint re-ranking and Lexicon Optimization, thus explaining how the current situation came about and shedding light on apparent synchronic alternations. OT also provides a formalization of the role of the underlying representation in diachronic change and in synchronic loanword evidence, in connection with the perception grammar, thus providing support for depalatalization as an active phonotactic restriction in Spanish. [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 recent years linguists have gained new insight into human language capacities on the basis of results from linguistics and biology. The so-called BIOLINGUISTIC ENTERPRISE aims to fill in the explanatory gap between language and biology, on both theoretical and experimental grounds, hoping to reach a deeper understanding of language as a phenomenon rooted in biology. This research program is taking its first steps, and it has already given rise to new insights on the human language capacity, as well as to controversies, echoing debates that go back to the earlier days of generative grammar. The present discussion piece provides a high-level characterization of biolinguistics. It highlights the main articulation of this research program and points to recent studies linking language and biology. It also compares the BIOLINGUISTIC PROGRAM, as defined in Chomsky 2005 and Di Sciullo & Boeckx 2011, to the view of the human language faculty presented in Jackendoff 2002 and Culicover & Jackendoff 2005, and to the discussion in Jackendoff 2011.* [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design grammars enable the formal representation of a vocabulary and rules that describe how designs can be synthesized just as the grammar rules of a spoken language define how to formulate valid, i.e., grammatically correct, sentences. Design grammars have been successfully applied in numerous engineering disciplines and enable the automated synthesis of designs within a defined design language. Design grammar development, however, is challenging and lacks methodological support. In this paper, a novel method is presented that supports the development and application of design grammars using transition graphs. In these, nodes represent generated designs and edges represent grammar rules that transformone design into another. Rather than using a tree structure to represent the possible application of rules, transition graphs are automatically generated and used to help designers better understand the developed grammar. The grammar designer is given feedback on (a) the rules, and (b) rule application sequences. This feedback can be used to (a) improve the grammar, and (b) apply it more efficiently. Two case studies, a gearbox synthesis task and a sliding tile puzzle, demonstrate the method. The results show the feasibility of the method to support design grammar development and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A number of experiments with skilled adult readers have shown that a transposed-letter pseudoword (e.g., CHOLOCATE) is considerably more word-like than a control replacement-letter pseudoword (e.g., CHOTONATE). For instance, in lexical decision, response times are longer and less accurate for CHOLOCATE than for CHOTONATE (i.e., a transposed-letter effect). Method: Here, we examined how letter position coding is attained in individuals who excel in orthographic-lexical processing: competitive Scrabble players. To this end, we conducted a lexical decision experiment with two types of pseudowords (transposedletter vs. replacement-letter pseudowords). Results: Data showed that while the transposed-letter effect does occur in expert Scrabble players, the magnitude of the effect is dramatically smaller than in a control group of university students--in particular, for the accuracy data. Conclusions: The parameters responsible for the flexibility of letter position coding in models of visual word recognition must be modulated by the degree of expertise in orthographic-lexical processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues against the conclusion in Postal 1994 that there are no instances of parasitic gap licensing by the rightward displacement of a DP. The evidence presented in Postal 1994 allows us to conclude only that right node raising is able to target adjunction structures when a parasitic gap derivation is otherwise blocked. Three cases are then provided to support the argument that, in principle, both parasitic gap licensing and right node raising can target adjunction structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages often single out prominent positions for special consideration, allowing certain elements to appear only in those positions. Often material in the prominent position surfaces faithfully but neutralizes elsewhere ( preservation systems), but other systems involve the spreading or migration of features to the prominent position to comply with the positional restriction ( overwrite systems). The set of positions that behave as prominent for preservation seems to be a superset of the positions that behave as prominent for overwrite. This paper argues that this asymmetry stems from differences between positional faithfulness and positional licensing. Only positional licensing produces overwrite; it is argued here that it may target only the most prominent positions, while positional faithfulness, which produces preservation, may target all kinds of prominent positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates a kind of predicate ellipsis illustrated in copular clauses. Topics covered include two major approaches to predicate phrase ellipsis, the VP-ellipsis and the predicate ellipsis analysis, the argument that the predicate phrase ellipsis is an instance of VP-ellipsis whether the stranded verb be is finite or non-finite, and evidence for the VP-ellipsis analysis.

In this contribution, I offer a summary of my 2014 Ph.D. dissertation from the University of Patras on headedness in word formation and lexical semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lenguaje is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Highlights: [•] Poetic word order has a non-complex relationship to ordinary grammar. [•] Remnants from older stages in grammar can complicate the pattern. [•] The wish for special effects can also break the pattern. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This discussion note revolves around the early days of generative grammar, that is to say the late 1950s and the 1960s. A number of commentators have claimed that MIT linguists in this period formed an elitist in-group, talking only to each other by means of inaccessible 'underground' publications and thereby erecting a barrier between themselves and the outside world of linguistics. I attempt to refute such claims. We see that the early generativists used every means at their disposal at the time to diffuse their ideas: publishing single-authored books, journal articles, anthology chapters, and technical reports; aiding the writing of textbooks; giving conference talks; teaching at LSA (Linguistic Society of America) Institutes; and hosting numerous visitors to MIT. And in particular, there was no significant 'underground' literature to obstruct the acceptance of the new theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The syntax of Luganda NPs has not received enough attention, neither in academic papers nor in Luganda grammar books. This paper attempts to offer an in-depth study of Luganda NPs within the framework of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach. In a language with a rich concord system and where noun classes play a central role in the sentence, the study of NPs in Luganda is of paramount importance. In this paper, it is argued that NPs in Luganda are divided into two major types: overt and non-overt. The author posits that, with the exception of the reflexive infix, anaphors and R-expressions are subject to Principle A and Principle C of the binding theory respectively. The paper also argues that obligatory and optional control are common in Luganda and that PRO can be controlled or arbitrary. The author also maintains that Luganda is a pro-drop language and argues that there are three types of null subjects. Moved overt and non-overt NPs are discussed in depth as the author argues that only moved overt NPs leave traces behind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any approach to understanding morphological processing must begin with assumptions about the role of morphemes in linguistic representations. Contemporary linguistic theory proposes that such representations are centred on a syntactic organisation of morphemes, where a morpheme is an abstract syntactic unit that finds an interpretation in form and in meaning. From the linguist's perspective, then, morphological processing falls together with syntactic processing, and both involve the central exploitation of a grammar of morphemes. Recent computational work has challenged this perspective, proposing instead that morphological structure emerges from the acquisition of form/meaning connections. Here we show that these challenges to the role of morphemes in word and sentence processing rest on a misunderstanding of the morpheme within linguistic theory. Once we understand the notion of a morpheme and its explanatory role within linguistic theory, we can see that apparent challenges to the morpheme, rather than dispensing with the morpheme in the architecture of linguistic representations, always in fact presuppose a syntactic structure of morphemes as the unlearned input to language learning models. Since computational modelling is indispensable for work connecting theories of linguistic representation to theories of (morphological) processing, it is crucial that those constructing computational models appreciate why there is no escape from morphemes in morphological processing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Meaning is so intangible that one group of linguists, the structuralists, preferred not to deal with it or rely on it at all . It is a variable and not to be taken for granted. Nevertheless, many theories have been interested in the study of meaning. Because of the limited scope of this paper, the discussion will cover some of the well-known theories of meaning formulated in the last century. Mainly referential theory of meaning, non-referential theory of meaning and generative grammarian theory of meaning are discussed. Some assumptions, merits and limitations for each theory are also described. The researcher hopes that many people can benefit from this article since meaning is a complex concept and difficult to understand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article presents a group of lexical bundles identified in a corpus of research article introductions as the first step in the analysis of these expressions in the different sections of the research article. A one-million word corpus of research article introductions from various disciplines was compiled and the lexical bundles identified in it were classified grammatically and functionally. The findings of these analyses agreed with previous studies in the most frequent types of grammatical correlates for these bundles and the most frequent functions performed but showed several new qualities for these expressions (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, & Finegan, 1999; Biber & Conrad, 1999; Biber, Conrad, & Cortes, 2003, 2004). A further step in the analysis matched these lexical bundles to the moves and steps which are characteristic of research article introductions (Swales, 2004), discovering that a group of lexical bundles were exclusively linked to one move or step in a move while a second group occurred across several moves and steps. In addition, some of these expressions were used to trigger the steps that called for their use while others complemented other expressions and were used as comments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We explore the contribution of lexical and inflectional morphology features to dependency parsing of Arabic, a morphologically rich language with complex agreement patterns. Using controlled experiments, we contrast the contribution of different part-of-speech (POS) tag sets and morphological features in two input conditions: machine-predicted condition (in which POS tags and morphological feature values are automatically assigned), and gold condition (in which their true values are known). We find that more informative (fine-grained) tag sets are useful in the gold condition, but may be detrimental in the predicted condition, where they are outperformed by simpler but more accurately predicted tag sets. We identify a set of features (definiteness, person, number, gender, and undiacritized lemma) that improve parsing quality in the predicted condition, whereas other features are more useful in gold. We are the first to show that functional features for gender and number (e.g., "broken plurals"), and optionally the related rationality ("humanness") feature, are more helpful for parsing than form-based gender and number. We finally show that parsing quality in the predicted condition can dramatically improve by training in a combined gold+predicted condition. We experimented with two transition-based parsers, MaltParser and Easy-First Parser. Our findings are robust across parsers, models, and input conditions. This suggests that the contribution of the linguistic knowledge in the tag sets and features we identified goes beyond particular experimental settings, and may be informative for other parsers and morphologically rich languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical grammar of Italian was lacking a thorough synthesis until the publication of the present work. Salvi's and Renzi's ambitious grammar is entirely based on a modern generative model, and planned to cover systematically all sectors of mediaeval synchronic development of Italian. Regretfully, these aims have not been reached, largely as a consequence of the method applied in the descriptive framework, to a lesser extent also due to the loose grid of mediaeval attestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cet article cherche à préciser le schéma diglossique de description du français envisagé dans Zribi-Hertz (2011a), qui propose de représenter la compétence linguistique d'un francophone par deux grammaires internes en intersection, respectivement étiquetées Grammaire Standard et Grammaire Dialectale. Quel est le statut de la Grammaire Standard dans ce schéma ? S'agit-il bien d'une grammaire interne, au sens où l'entend la grammaire générative ? Ou seulement d'une grammaire externe incarnant une norme imposée aux locuteurs par des grammairiens ? L'hypothèse ici défendue est que les deux grammaires sécantes du schéma diglossique doivent bien être des grammaires internes, mais que la Grammaire Standard interne, régie en tant que telle par le Principe de Cohérence présidant à toute grammaire interne, est à distinguer de la Norme Académique fixée de façon institutionnelle sur la base d'écrits attestés produits par des auteurs divers, et qui échappe de ce fait au Principe de Cohérence. L'argumentation de cet article s'appuie sur une étude de cas: les syntagmes nominaux sans nom lexical (DPSN) en français hexagonal moderne, dont les propriétés attestées ne sont pas prédites par la grammaire énoncée par la Norme Académique. Il est soutenu, sur la base de productions attestées récentes recueillies sur internet, que la grammaire académique souffre d'incohérences qui la rendent inapprenable (non intériorisable), et que les francophones ont donc mis en place une grammaire interne cohérente qu'ils intègrent aussi bien à leur Grammaire Dialectale qu'à leur Grammaire Standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an approach to Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) generation that is based on the fact that the set of strings that an LFG grammar relates to a particular acyclic f-structure is a context-free language. We present an algorithm that produces for an arbitrary LFG grammar and an arbitrary acyclic input f-structure a context-free grammar describing exactly the set of strings that the given LFG grammar associates with that f-structure. The individual sentences are then available through a standard context-free generator operating on that grammar. The context-free grammar is constructed by specializing the context-free backbone of the LFG grammar for the given f-structure and serves as a compact representation of all generation results that the LFG grammar assigns to the input. This approach extends to other grammatical formalisms with explicit context-free backbones, such as PATR, and also to formalisms that permit a context-free skeleton to be extracted from richer specifications. It provides a general mathematical framework for understanding and improving the operation of a family of chart-based generation algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether hyphens that disambiguate phrasing in ambiguous sentences influence reading rate and reading comprehension for younger and older adults. Moreover, as working memory (WM) has been implicated in age-related changes in sentence comprehension for both auditory and written materials, we asked if it contributed to comprehension of our sentences with hyphenated and non-hyphenated ambiguous noun phrases (NPs), predicting that the hyphens would reduce WM load. Twenty younger ( M = 24 years) and 20 older ( M = 73 years) adults read sentences with either ambiguous or non-ambiguous NPs that were either hyphenated or not. Both reading times for the sentences and accuracy on Yes/No questions were measured. Results indicated that younger adults read sentences more rapidly than the older participants whether sentences were presented word-by-word or as complete sentences. Both younger and older adults read sentences with ambiguous hyphenated NPs faster than sentences with ambiguous non-hyphenated NPs. Yes/No question accuracy distinguished reading of the sentences with ambiguous hyphenated phrases from those with ambiguous non-hyphenated phrases for older, but not for younger adults. Regression analyses showed that age contributed to both accuracy and reading times on this task, whereas WM did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to evaluate the adequacy of two types of analysis of appositive constructions: the symmetric and asymmetric analysis. Grounded in contemporary generative grammar, it is shown that the symmetric analysis requires taking several assumptions about the nature of syntax. Thus, an asymmetric analysis is presented based on an underlying symmetric relation between both parts of the apposition. This proposal neutralizes the conceptual problems of a symmetric approach and, at the same time, permits to explain (i) the predicative nature of explicative appositions, (ii) its speaker-oriented character, (iii) the adjacency condition between both parts of appositive constructions, (iv) the presence of adverbs between both parts of the apposition, and (v) the difference on scope relations between quantifiers on both parts of the apposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To theoretically inclined linguists, the past half century has been a period of considerable significance: there is virtually perfect overlap with the period of the introduction (in the second half of the 1950s and 1960s) and subsequent growth and systematic development of "generative ", "Chomskian" linguistics. As is well-known, this framework is characterized by an emphasis on the discovery and formulation of universals: essentially it is the study of Universal Grammar, enhanced by the in-depth investigations of individual languages, and comparative research involving several languages. This study is closely linked to the demand that any generative theory should contribute to an explanation of the process of first language acquisition, one of whose most striking characteristics is the acquisition of a grammar based on excessively poor input. The difference is hypothesized to be bridged by an inborn language acquisition device, which itself is equated with Universal Grammar Against this background, this contribution provides a sketch of theoretical developments within the 50 year period, in the study, of generative phonology. Three well-known stages are addressed." that of the rule-based framework in the 1960s and 1970s, that of the combination of autosegmental phonology and Principles and Parameters theory in the 1980s, and finally, that of Optimality Theory in the 1990s, up until the present day. Each of these frameworks has a solidly, generative foundation, but the discussion specifically, addresses why, and how one theory, became the successor to the other, where arguments typically. revolve around issues concerning Universal Grammar and language acquisition. In order to facilitate the exposition, one constant of the discussion is the empirical material used as an illustration for each stage. This has been taken from Afrikaans, and concerns two phonological phenomena, shared with for instance Dutch, involving the feature [voice]: Final obstruent Devoicing (Auslautsverskerping) and obstruent Voice Assimilation (Stemassimilasie). These phenomena have been well-described for Afrikaans (in work by Wissing), one of the more interesting aspects of their coexistence being their interaction in words. In addition, however, theoretical developments, as they tend to do, resulted in new claims about further interacting phenomena, in this case claims about progressive devoicing, which - to different degrees and in different kinds- is also a property of the phonologies of both Dutch and Afrikaans, first discussed for the latter language in work by. Wissing and Du Plessis in the early. 1990s. Discussion of these decidedly, productive phenomena takes place against the theoretical claim that these processes must probably, be considered examples of "peripheral rules" (in the Principles and Parameters framework) or require a special treatment, possibly, an appeal to a combination of Optimality Theory and Cognitive Grammar (Van Rooy, in his 1999 dissertation) or to a special type of Optimality, constraint interaction (Zonneveld, in an extension to Afrikaans of proposals put forward previously, for Dutch). Hence, this principally, historical sketch also enables us to show that Afrikaans is a language of considerable theoretical-phonological interest, and increasingly, so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]