The change of Frisian infinitives

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 17-29
Author(s):  
Myrthe Bergstra
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Flexible Structure ◽  
The Difference

Abstract This paper discusses the two types of infinitives in Frisian: infinitives ending in -E (e.g. rinne “walk”) and infinitives ending in -EN (e.g. rinnen “walk”). It shows that their distribution can be accounted for by their different underlying syntactic structure: the -E infinitive has a fully verbal structure whereas the -EN infinitive has a flexible structure which always involves a DP. Moreover, I argue that the fact that the difference between the two forms is disappearing can be explained both by Dutch influence and by the fact that the structure of the infinitives already showed much overlap.

scholarly journals Reactivation of unaccusative and unergative verbs in Mandarin

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-252
Author(s):  
Yowyu Lin
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Lexical Priming ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Single Argument ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Limited Support ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Intransitives can be classified into two subclasses: unaccusative verbs and unergative verbs. According to the Unaccusative Hypothesis, the difference between unaccusatives and unergatives lies in where the single argument is generated in the underlying syntactic structure. Subjects of unaccusative verbs are base-generated in the object position and moved to the subject positions. Subjects of unergative verbs, however, are external and thus are not resulted from arguments moving from the object position. If the Unaccusative Hypothesis is correct, a trace is left at the original place for unaccusative verbs when movement occurs but no trace for unergative verbs. Friedmann et al. (2008) used the cross-modal lexical priming paradigm to examine the Unaccusative Hypothesis but their results could only lend limited support for the Unaccusative Hypothesis. Since the argument of Mandarin unaccusative verbs can occur preverbally and postverbally, it offers us a balanced testing ground to re-examine reactivation during sentence comprehension. Results of the current study lend support for the Unaccusative Hypothesis. When the argument occurred preverbally, a V-shaped line was observed. An inverted V-shaped line was observed when the argument occurred postverbally. For unergative verbs, the line showed a decay of reactivation.

scholarly journals L’identification des arguments et la hiérarchisation des marges : critères formels et critères conceptuels

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Michele Prandi
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Relevance Criteria ◽  
Conceptual Distinction ◽  
Conceptual Relations ◽  
The Difference

The distinction between arguments and margins within a simple nuclear sentence is sharp at conceptual level in that it is grounded in explicit relevance criteria: arguments are saturated referential noun phrases that are essential for the integrity of the process; different layers of margins enrich different kinds of processes according to different consistency requirements. If one observes the syntactic structure of linguistic expressions, on the other hand, the same distinction seems to shade into a sort of continuum owing to two orders of factors. First, there is a cleavage between the model sentence, whose main function should be the expression of the process, and the utterances actually documented in texts and corpora, whose structure is shaped by the incommensurate function to adapt the structure of the process to the communicative dynamism of a text. Moreover, within the model sentence itself, the coding regime of arguments and the coding regime of margins shadow into one another: some margins are coded, like arguments, through formal grammatical relations, while some arguments are coded, like margins, directly as conceptual relations through a set of forms of expression motivated by their conceptual content.In spite of these obstacles, the conceptual distinction between arguments and margins and the hierarchy of margins can be identified at the level of model sentence thanks to adequate and differentiated criteria. These criteria are formal where the difference of coding regime draws a sharp formal distinction between arguments and margins, and conceptual and textual where the structure of the forms of expression neutralises the distinction. Conceptual and textual criteria also make the identification of a clear hierarchy of margins possible.

Does English really have case?

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Abstract Case ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

Does English have morphological case (as opposed to abstract Case)? Evidence is presented which suggests that it may be a completely case-less language like Chinese, contrary to the widely held view that the distinct pronoun forms and the ‘genitive’ 's involve morphological case. The existence of case in English has recently been accepted almost without question, but the question at least deserves serious discussion as it is easy to find alternative analyses. According to the analysis offered here, I and me are both personal pronouns whereas my, mine and 's are possessive pronouns; and the difference between I and me, like the one between my and mine, is handled by a very specific and local lexical rule which is sensitive to the syntactic structure but does not involve case.

Differences in prosodic phrasing in marking syntax vs. focus: Data from Yanbian Korean

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-150
Author(s):  
Sun-Ah Jun ◽  
Xiannu Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Dual Function ◽  
Prosodic Phrasing ◽  
Northeastern Part ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Word Prosody ◽  
Prosodic Boundary

Abstract In studying the effect of syntax and focus on prosodic phrasing, the main issue of investigation has been to explain and predict the location of a prosodic boundary, and not much attention has been given to the nature of prosodic phrasing. In this paper, we offer evidence from intonation patterns of utterances that prosodic phrasing can be formed differently phonologically and phonetically due to its function of marking syntactic structure vs. focus (prominence) in Yanbian Korean, a lexical pitch accent dialect of Korean spoken in the northeastern part of China, just above North Korea. We show that the location of a H tone in syntax-marking Accentual Phrase (AP) is determined by the type of syntactic head, noun or verb (a VP is marked by an AP-initial H while an NP is marked by an AP-final H), while prominence-marking accentual phrasing is cued by AP-initial H. The difference in prosodic phrasing due to its dual function in Yanbian Korean is compared with that of Seoul Korean, and a prediction is made on the possibility of finding such difference in other languages based on the prosodic typology proposed in (Jun, Sun-Ah. 2014b. Prosodic typology: by prominence type, word prosody, and macro-rhythm. In Sun-Ah Jun (ed.), Prosodic Typology II: The Phonology of Intonation and Phrasing. 520–539. Oxford: Oxford University Press).

scholarly journals Syntactic Structure Influences Speech-Gesture Synchronization

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Kei Kashiwadate ◽  
Tetsuya Yasuda ◽  
Koji Fujita ◽  
Sotaro Kita ◽  
Harumi Kobayashi
Keyword(s):  
Green Tea ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
The Difference ◽  
First Time

It is known that a phrase may have multiple meanings. Phrases such as “green tea cup” may be interpreted with two different meanings—a “green-colored tea cup” or a “cup of green tea.” Then how people know the exact meanings of apparently syntactically ambiguous linguistic expressions? We propose that gesture that accompanies speech may help disambiguate syntactically ambiguous structures. The present study investigated whether the difference in phrase structures influences the production of gestures. Participants produced gestures as they produced a Japanese four-word phrases. We examined all possible synchronization patterns of speech and gestures. We found, for the first time, gestures tended to synchronize with the chunks of words that form a constituent in syntactic structures. Our study suggests that gestures may play an important role in disambiguating syntactically ambiguous phrases. This could be a reason why humans have continuously used gestures even after they acquired a powerful tool of language and why today, they still produce language-redundant gestures.

scholarly journals ANALISIS KOMPARATIF ANTARA BAHASA JAMEE (ACEH) DAN BAHASA MINANGKABAU (BUKITTINGGI)

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
NFN Ramli ◽  
Novia Erwandi
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Data Selection ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Data Presentation ◽  
R Language ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Vocal System ◽  
Word Classification ◽  
The Difference

The problems in this study are the differences in phonology, lexical, morphology, and syntactic structure between Jamee (Aceh) and Minangkabau (Bukittinggi). The aim of this research is to know the difference of phonology, lexical, morphology, and syntactic structure between Jamee language and Minangkabau Bukittinggi language. The method used in this research was descriptive with qualitative approach. Data were collected by observation, interview, and documentation techniques. The data sources in this research were 5 speakers of Jamee language and 5 speakers of Minangkabau Bukittingi language. the data analysis procedures were data selection, data classification, and data presentation. The results of research in this article phonological differences, there were / ɛ / and / ɔ / in vocal system of Jamee, / a / while vocal system of Minangkabau Bukittinggi language and Jamee / ɣ / or / R / language consonant system, while Minangkabau Bukittinggi language / r /, then there were pronunciation differences include single vowels, double vowels, and consonants. These differences consist of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. For affixation, the difference lies in the insertion (infix) -al-, -ar- in Jamee and -am-, -um- in Minangkabau Bukittinggi. The suffixes (suffixes) -en, -ken in Jamee, -in the Minangkabau language of Bukittinggi, and the ends (confix) there were me-ken, me-en, ma-kan, ma-an in Minangkabau language Bukittinggi, except prefixes. The prefixes of the two languages have similarity. The differences was also seen from word classification in verbs, nouns, adjectives, numerelia, and adverbs. In terms of the type of word repetition there was no difference only in the form of words or basic words only, while the sentence structure of the two languages have in similarities.

Resolving conflicting cues in processing of ambiguous words: The role of case, word order, and animacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (8) ◽  
pp. 1173-1188
Author(s):  
Julia Edeleva ◽  
Anna Chrabaszcz ◽  
Valeriia Demareva
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
Order Constraints ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Reading Study

We report results from a self-paced silent-reading study and a self-paced reading-aloud study examining ambiguous forms (heteronyms) of Russian animate and inanimate nouns which are differentiated in speech through word stress, for example, uCHItelja.TEACHER.GEN/ACC.SG and uchiteLJA.TEACHERS.NOM.PL.1 During reading, the absence of the auditory cue (word stress) to word identification results in morphologically ambiguous forms since both words have the same inflectional marking, -ja. Because word inflection is a reliable cue to syntactic role assignment, the ambiguity affects the level of morphology and of syntactic structure. However, word order constraints and frequency advantage of the GEN over both the NOM and the ACC noun forms with the - a/-ja inflection should pre-empt two different syntactic parses (OVS vs. SVO) when the heteronym is sentence-initial. We inquired into whether the parser is aware of the multi-level ambiguity and whether selected conflicting cues (case, word order, animacy) can prime parallel access to several structural parses. We found that animate and inanimate nouns patterned differently. The difference was consistent across the experiments. Against the backdrop of classical sentence processing dichotomies, the emergent pattern fits with the serial interactive or the parallel modular parser hypothesis.

scholarly journals A Cognitive Study of Double-object Constructions in English and Chinese

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1128
Author(s):  
Yuanmei Li
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Cognitive Study

Double-object is a kind of syntactic structure which is common in English and Chinese. In the field of linguistics in China, the similarities and differences between English and Chinese double-object sentences have been discussed and debated. Based on the perspective of cognitive linguistics, this paper probes into the metaphor cognition, metonymy cognition and both of them  in the double-object constructions of English and Chinese, and points out that the double-object constructions in English and Chinese are similar in the above three aspects. However, there are also differences between English and Chinese double-object constructions, which are manifested in the following three aspects: the scope of double-object constructions, the conceptual patterns and the verbs that can enter the double-object constructions. By analyzing the similarities and differences between English and Chinese double-object constructions, it can be concluded that the syntactic structure of English and Chinese objects reflects the conceptual structures of human beings and the ways of cognition of the world, and even the sentence structure containing the same conceptual content will lead to the difference in meaning because of the different cognitive styles of events.

scholarly journals Textual Manifestation of the Phraseological Scheme “N1-6 + so + N1-6” in Publicistic and Artistic Discourses

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-28
Author(s):  
L. A. Zolotareva ◽  
N. T. Okatova
Keyword(s):  
Complex Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Structural Type ◽  
Component Composition ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Card Index ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Linguistic Units ◽  
The Russian Language

The article is devoted to identifying the functional features of the phrase scheme “N1-6 + so + N1-6” in the texts of the journalistic and artistic styles of the Russian language. Structural, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of linguistic units of this structural type are considered. Various approaches to the description of phraseological schemes of the Russian language are commented, but the authors propose to consider the combination of structural-semantic and functional-communicative approaches as the main one for this study. It is noted that in the Russian language the studied phraseological scheme is presented in two homonymous variants, which have the meaning of the highest degree of manifestation of the feature and the meaning of consent / acceptance. Arguments for highlighting these options, which are confirmed by the difference in semantics, component composition and grammatical variability of each phraseological scheme, are given. The authors pay special attention to identifying the contextual meanings of this syntactic structure. Such types of meaning of consent and acceptance are considered, such as forced / uncontrolled, indifferent consent / acceptance, conscious / controlled, etc. The relevance of the study is due to the emergence of new facts of phraseologization of syntactic units in speech and the application of complex analysis to the phraseological units under consideration. The material was the texts of the National Corpus of the Russian language, as well as the authors’ card index.

scholarly journals The Role of Prosody and Morphology in the Mapping of Information Structure onto Syntax

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Laura Colantoni ◽  
Liliana Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Agglutinative Languages ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

The mapping of information structure onto morphology or intonation varies greatly crosslinguistically. Agglutinative languages, like Inuktitut or Quechua, have a rich morphological layer onto which discourse-level features are mapped but a limited use of intonation. Instead, English or Spanish lack grammaticalized morphemes that convey discourse-level information but use intonation to a relatively large extent. We propose that the difference found in these two pairs of languages follows from a division of labor across language modules, such that two extreme values of the continuum of possible interactions across modules are available as well as combinations of morphological and intonational markers. At one extreme, in languages such as Inuktitut and Quechua, a rich set of morphemes with scope over constituents convey sentence-level and discourse-level distinctions, making the alignment of intonational patterns and information structure apparently redundant. At the other extreme, as in English and to some extent Spanish, a series of consistent alignments of PF and syntactic structure are required to distinguish sentence types and to determine the information value of a constituent. This results in a complementary distribution of morphology and intonation in these languages. In contact situations, overlap between patterns of module interaction are attested. Evidence from Quechua–Spanish and Inuktitut–English bilinguals supports a bidirectionality of crosslinguistic influence; intonational patterns emerge in non-intonational languages to distinguish sentence types, whereas morphemes or discourse particles emerge in intonational languages to mark discourse-level features.

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