Information structure and syntax in old Germanic and Romance languages

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Kristin Bech ◽  
Kristine Gunn Eide
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Romance Languages

scholarly journals Topicality and differential object marking

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Iemmolo
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Comparative Data ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
The Relationship

The present paper investigates the relationship between dislocation and differential object marking in some Romance languages. As in many languages that have a DOM system, it is usually also assumed that in Romance languages the phenomenon is regulated by the semantic features of the referents, such as animacy, definiteness, and specificity. In the languages under investigation, though, these features cannot explain the distribution and the emergence of DOM. After discussing the main theoretical approaches to the phenomenon, I will analyse DOM in four Romance languages. I will argue that DOM emerges in pragmatically and semantically marked contexts, namely with personal pronouns in dislocations. I will then show that in these languages the use of the DOM system is mainly motivated by the need to signal the markedness of these direct objects as a consequence of being used in (mainly left) dislocation as topics (cf. English “As for him, we didn’t see him”). Finally, the examination of comparative data from Persian and Amazonian languages lends further support to the advocated approach in terms of information structure

Perspective discursive et influence translinguistique

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Benazzo ◽  
Cecilia Andorno ◽  
Grazia Interlandi ◽  
Cédric Patin
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Information Unit ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Discourse Organization ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Selection Of

This paper aims to study perspective-taking in L2 discourse at the level of utterance information structure. Many studies have shown how principles of discourse organization partly reflect lexico-grammatical structures available in a given language, and how difficult it is to reorganize L1 discursive habits when acquiring an L2 in adulthood. In this study we compare how L2 learners of Romance languages (French, Italian), with either a Romance or a Germanic language as an L1, organize the information structure of utterances relating contrasting events. Native speakers of Germanic and Romance languages show systematic differences in the selection of the information unit — referential entities or predicate polarity — on which the contrast is highlighted (Dimroth et al. 2010) ; moreover, they differ in the lexical, prosodic and morpho-syntactic means used to achieve this goal. Our data show that L2 learners can adopt the target language perspective in the selection of the information unit to contrast, when the input offers clear evidence for it. However, their choice of linguistic means reveals both the influence of the L1 and the role of more general acquisitional principles, which are still active at the advanced level.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Diego Pescarini
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Syntactic Movement ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Many ◽  
Major Domain

This book focuses on the evolution of object clitics in the Romance languages (from now on, simply clitics). Cliticization is a major domain of research in the field of Romance linguistics. Furthermore, clitics raise many research questions that are of interest to general linguists working in any field of the discipline: phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, acquisition, pathology, etc. In fact, clitics offer clues or raise problems regarding a wealth of linguistic issues, including phonological domains, information structure, syntactic movement, and language impairments. Yet scholars are seldom aware of the many empirical facets of cliticization or have not fully considered the theoretical ramifications of the topic....

Existential and Locative Constructions in the Romance Languages

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delia Bentley
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Categorial Status ◽  
Contextual Domain ◽  
And Function

Existential and locative constructions form an interesting cluster of copular structures in Romance. They are clearly related, and yet there are theoretical reasons to keep them apart. In-depth analysis of the Romance languages lends empirical support to their differentiation. In semantic terms, existentials express propositions about existence or presence in an implicit contextual domain, whereas locatives express propositions about the location of an entity. In terms of information structure, existentials are typically all new or broad focus constructions. Locatives are normally characterized by focus on the location, although this can also be a presupposed topic. Romance existentials are formed with a copula and a postcopular phrase (the pivot). A wide range of variation is found in copula selection, copula-pivot agreement, expletive subjects, the presence and function of an etymologically locative precopular proform, and, finally, the categorial status of the pivot, which is normally a noun phrase, but can also be an adjective (Calabrian, Sicilian). As for Romance locatives, a distinction must be drawn between, on the one hand, a construction with canonical SV order and S-V agreement and, on the other hand, another construction, with VS order and, in some languages, lack of V-S agreement. This latter structure has been named inverse locative. Both existentials and locatives have a nonverbal predicate: the locative phrase in locatives and the postcopular noun or adjectival phrase in existentials. In locatives the predicate selects a thematic argument (i.e., an argument endowed with a thematic role), which serves as the syntactic subject, exception being made for inverse locatives in some languages. Contrastingly, in existentials, there is no thematic argument. In some languages the copula turns to the pivot for agreement, as this is the only overt noun phrase endowed with person and number features (Italian, Friulian, Romanian, etc.). In other languages this non-canonical agreement is not licensed (French, some Calabrian dialects, Brazilian Portuguese, etc.). In others still (Spanish, Sardinian, European Portuguese, Catalan, Gallo-Italian, etc.), it is only admitted with pivot classes that can be defined in terms of specificity. When the copula does not agree with the pivot, an expletive subject form may figure in precopular position. The cross-linguistic variation in copula-pivot agreement has been claimed to depend on language-specific constraints on subjecthood. Highly specific pivots are only admitted in contextualized existentials, which express a proposition about the presence of an individual or an entity in a given and salient context. These existentials are found in all the Romance languages and would seem to defy the semantico-pragmatic constraints on the pivot that are widely known as Definiteness Effects.

Syntactic and Prosodic Effects of Information Structure in Romance

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Poletto ◽  
Giuliano Bocci
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
The Right

The chapter presents a general overview of several phenomena related to information structure in the Romance languages and varieties spoken in Europe and takes into account the left and the right side of the clause as the locus where information structure is encoded. The first part presents an overview of the syntactic and phonological properties of constructions like Hanging Topics, Left Dislocation, and fronted foci and of their pragmatic import as well as of the properties of constructions which occur on the right side of the clause (i.e. Right Dislocation, Marginalization, word order alternations, and focus). In the second part a general overview of syntactic and prosodic accounts proposed in the literature is provided with special attention to the problems each type of account raises with respect to the empirical domain considered.

scholarly journals Assessing bilingual attainment: macrostructural planning in narratives

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Flecken
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Information Selection ◽  
Time Line ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Core Features

The present study addresses questions concerning bilinguals’ attainment in the two languages by investigating the extent to which early bilinguals manage to apply the information structure required in each language when producing a complex text. In re-narrating the content of a film, speakers have to break down the perceived series of dynamic situations and structure relevant information into units that are suited for linguistic expression. The analysis builds on typological studies of Germanic and Romance languages which investigate the role of grammaticized concepts in determining core features in information structure. It takes a global perspective in that it focuses on factors that determine information selection and information structure that hold in macrostructural terms for the text as a whole (factors driving information selection, the temporal frame used to locate events on the time line, and the means used in reference management). A first comparison focuses on Dutch and German monolingual native speakers and shows that despite overall typological similarities, there are subtle though systematic differences between the two languages in the aforementioned areas of information structure. The analyses of the bilinguals focus on their narratives in both languages, and compares the patterns found to those found in the monolingual narratives. Findings show that the method used provides insights into the individual bilingual’s attainment in the two languages and identifies either balanced levels of attainment, patterns showing higher degrees of conformity with one of the languages, as well as bilingual-specific patterns of performance.

THE RELEVANCE OF INFORMATION ORGANIZATION TO SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION STUDIES

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Carroll ◽  
Jorge Murcia-Serra ◽  
Marzena Watorek ◽  
Alessandra Bendiscioli
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Information Organization ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Unifying Principles ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Flow Of Information

The present cross-linguistic study deals with the relevance of principles of information organization in adult second language acquisition. It looks at typological features of information structure that allow speakers to organize and shape the flow of information when carrying out complex tasks, such as giving a description, and pinpoints factors that lead to the selection of linguistic form. At the focus of our attention are means used in reference introduction, such as existential and locational constructions, the morphosyntactic forms of expressions applied in reference maintenance, and word order. The cross-linguistic comparison shows that the options found in the expression of these functions in German, English, and Romance languages (French, Italian, and Spanish) follow distinct patterns in that the linguistic means used reflect unifying principles of a typological nature. These principles are perspective driven and are associated with patterns of grammaticization. Structures in language that reflect core principles in information organization may be difficult to acquire because learners have to recognize clusters of form-function relations that range over different domains. The nature of the analyses required is described for learners of German with English and Spanish as their source languages. The interlanguages (ILs) of these speakers show a high degree of compatibility with German in formal syntactic terms and are near native in many respects, but the levels at which the IL and target language diverge can be linked to fundamental principles of organization underlying information structure. Although the stage of acquisition is advanced, the languages still retain core principles in information structure typical of those found for English and Romance languages.

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