20 juny, 2019
Autors:
Dària Serés, M.Teresa Espinal
Títol:
Russian definitional generic sentencesEditorial: Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 4(1). Ubiquity Press
Data de publicació: 14 de juny de 2019
Pàgines: 30 Més informació
Text completIn this article we analyse Russian definitional sentences, which are a type of generic sentence. We focus on the structure and meaning of canonical definitions, which express an identity/identification relation between two nominal concepts. In Russian such definitions are given in the form of a bi-nominative structure: NP1 – èto NP2 (‘NP1 is NP2’). We argue that definitional sentences are copular, and they are non-predicational, showing similarities to equative, identificational and specificational sentences. We also argue that (i) both NPs in definitional sentences are kind-referring, whereas èto is non-referential; (ii) a copula be maps a kind entity (the denotation of NP2) to itself (identity function); and (iii) the neuter element èto introduces a presentational function that maps the kind entity in postcopular position to a function that looks for another kind entity (the one corresponding to NP1) and composes a definitional generic sentence.
3 setembre, 2019
Autors:
M.Teresa Espinal i Susagna Tubau
Títol:
Response Systems: The Syntax and Semantics of Fragment Answers and Response ParticlesEditorial: Annual Review of Linguistics
Data de publicació: 20 de gener de 2019
Pàgines: 28 Més informació
Text complet
This article critically reviews the main research issues raised in the study of response systems in natural languages by addressing the syntax and semantics of fragment answers and yes/no response particles. Fragment answers include replies that do not have a sentential form, whereas response particles consist solely of an affirmative or a negative adverb. While the main research question in the syntax of fragments and response particles has been whether these contain more syntactic structure than what is actually pronounced, the key issues in the study of their semantics are question–answer congruence, the anaphoric potential of response particles, and the meaning of fragments in relation to positive and negative questions. In connection to these issues, this review suggests some interesting avenues for further research: (a) providing an analysis of particles other than yes/no, (b) choosing between echoic versus nonechoic forms as answers to polar questions, and (c) deciding whether some non-lexically-based or nonverbal responses are systematically used in combination with polar particles to express (dis)agreement.
12 setembre, 2019
Autors:
Joan Mascaró
Títol:
On the Lack of Evidence for Nonmyopic HarmonyEditorial: Linguistic Inquiry, vol.50(4). MIT Press
Data de publicació: Tardor de 2019
ISBN13: E-ISSN: 1530-9150
Més informació
One important property that has been attributed to unbounded spreading is myopia (spreading from T to U is independent of whether spreading can proceed into Z, where U is located between T and Z). Walker (Linguistic Inquiry 4.1, 2010) claims that metaphony in two Italo-Romance dialects, Grado and Central Veneto, does not obey myopia. My paper examines the evidence presented, as well as additional evidence. The evidence shows that in early 20th century Grado harmony is myopic, while in Central Veneto and the more recent variety of Grado there is no evidence in favor of non-myopic spreading. I conclude that the generalization that all attested unbounded spreading processes obey myopia still holds, and in particular that Romance metaphony is myopic. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the problem of the quality of linguistic data.
15 setembre, 2019
Autors:
Eulàlia Bonet, Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng, Laura J. Downing i Joan Mascaró
Títol:
(In)direct Reference in the Phonology-Syntax Interface under Phase Theory: A Response to "Modular PIC" (D'Alessandro and Scheer 2015)Editorial: Linguistic Inquiry, vol.50(4). MIT Press
Data de publicació: Tardor de 2019
ISBN13: E-ISSN: 1530-9150
Més informacióAlthough in many interface theories, the domains of phrasal phonological processes are defined in terms of prosodic constituents, D’Alessandro and Scheer (2015) argue that their proposed modification of phase theory, Modular PIC, renders prosodic constituents superfluous. Phrasal phonological domains can instead be defined directly in the syntax. In this response, we argue that Modular PIC does not provide a convincing new approach to the syntax-phonology interface, as it is both too powerful and too restrictive. We show that the analysis offered of raddoppiamento fonosintattico in Eastern Abruzzese does not justify the loss of restrictiveness Modular PIC brings to phase theory. We also show that Modular PIC is too restrictive to account for phenomena, from Bantu languages and others, that have received satisfactory analyses within interface theories that appeal to prosodic constituents. We conclude that Modular PIC does not successfully replace prosodic constituent approaches to the interface.
16 setembre, 2019
Autors:
Jingtao Zhu i Anna Gavarró
Títol:
Testing language acquisition models: null and overt topics in MandarinEditorial: Journal of Child Language, vol.46(4). Cambridge University Press
Data de publicació: Juliol 2019
Més informacióParameter setting is either precipitous (Gibson & Wexler, 1994) or it is gradual in response to input frequency (Yang, 2002, 2004). In this study, we compare these models against the empirical domain of subject and (direct) object drop in Mandarin. We conducted a corpus-based study of the speech of 47 Mandarin-speaking children aged 1;2–6;5, and their caregivers, from the CHILDES database. The results show that before age 1;8 all the children used null subjects and null objects in a target-like fashion, which reveals that the parameter that governs null topics is set from very early on, even if the presence of disambiguating evidence for [+Null Topic] patterns is low. Besides, children's ba constructions, which require an overt object, reliably included this object from the first occurrence although its frequency was scarce in the input. Our results indicate that the setting of certain parameters occurred early independently of the input.
