Contrastive linguistics and micro-variation

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Poletto
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
General Problem ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Contrastive Linguistics ◽  
Typological Variation

This article deals with a very general problem, namely the origin of the well-known distinction between dialectal and typological variation. It is argued that the fact that the possible grammatical choices are more restricted within a dialectal domain is not due to a supposed principled difference in the parameters that rule variation. Rather, they are a function of the originally unitary lexicon dialects share. If language variation is essentially located in the functional items, and they are derived from the same lexicon, then they will share some core properties that make dialectal variation so restricted. I propose that the fact that the lexicon is similar can give us clues about the internal structure of syntactically complex elements which are represented by a single word, like quantifiers, wh-items, modal verbs, etc. Within a homogenous domain, structural complexity correlates with a higher number of lexical roots: the higher the number of the lexical roots found, the more complex internal structure the functional item will display.

Evolution of the form of spoken words

1999 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter F. MacNeilage ◽  
Barbara L. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Production System ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Status ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
Language Corpus

The basic internal structure of a word consists of an alternation between consonants and vowels. Words tend to begin with a consonant and end with a vowel. The fundamental evolutionary status of the consonant-vowel alternation is indicated by its presence in rhythmically organized pre-linguistic vocalizations of 7 month-old babbling infants. We have argued that the basic alternation results from a mandibular cyclicity ("The Frame") originally evolving for ingestive purposes. Here, we consider beginnings and endings of words. We conclude that preferences for consonantal beginnings and vocalic endings may be basic biomechanical consequences of the act of producing vocal episodes between resting states of the production system. Both the characteristic beginning-end asymmetry and some details of the choice of individual sounds in the non-preferred modes (vocalic beginnings and consonantal endings) are mirrored in babbling and early words. The presence of many of these properties in modern words, even though they are delivered in running speech, as well as in a proto-language corpus, indicates retention, for message purposes, of properties originally associated with the single word stage of language evolution.

Number/aspect interactions in the syntax of nominalizations: A Distributed approach

2010 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARTEMIS ALEXIADOU ◽  
GIANINA IORDĂCHIOAIA ◽  
ELENA SOARE
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Distributed Approach ◽  
Outer Aspect ◽  
Plural Marking ◽  
Internal Properties ◽  
Two Parameters

In this paper we focus on the ability of Argument Supporting Nominalizations (ASNs) to realize morphological plural. We think that this aspect of their behavior is instrumental in our understanding of their properties and their syntax within one language and across languages. Our factual investigation deals with Romanian, English, German and Spanish, as well as Polish and Bulgarian ASNs. We show that the interplay between the aspectual properties – either inner or outer aspect – and the nominal/verbal characteristics, as justifying the internal structure of ASNs, allows us to characterize the ability of ASNs to accept plural marking across languages. We further argue for a flexible syntactic theory that enables us to capture the mixed properties of ASNs. We provide evidence for two parameters of variation. The first parameter is whether ASNs involve a nominalizer or not. If a nominalizer is not included, ASNs lack nominal internal properties. If a nominalizer is included, the second parameter comes into play and allows for language variation with respect to the height of attachment of the nominalizer. Specifically, a nominalizer can attach to (and thus nominalize) distinct layers of syntactic structure (VP vs. AspectP).

The Special Issue of AI Magazine on Structured Knowledge Transfer

AI Magazine ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Shapiro ◽  
Hector Munoz-Avila ◽  
David Stracuzzi
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
General Problem ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Target Domain ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Source Domain ◽  
Structured Knowledge

This issue summarizes the state of the art in structured knowledge transfer, which is an emerging approach to the general problem of knowledge acquisition and reuse. Its goal is to capture, in a general form, the internal structure of the objects, relations, strategies, and processes used to solve tasks drawn from a source domain, and exploit that knowledge to improve performance in a target domain.

scholarly journals Application of S-1 Bifactor Model to Evaluate the Structural Validity of TMMS-24

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7427
Author(s):  
Daniel Ondé ◽  
Jesús M. Alvarado ◽  
Santiago Sastre ◽  
Carolina M. Azañedo
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Bifactor Model ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Hierarchical Relationship ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Sum Score ◽  
Specific Factors

(1) Background: Recent studies have shown that the internal structure of TMMS-24 can be conceptualized as a bifactor. However, these studies, based exclusively on the evaluation of the fit of the model, fail to show the existence of a general factor of strong emotional intelligence and have neglected the evaluation of the specific factors of attention, clarity and repair. The main goal of this work is to evaluate the degree of determination and reliability of the specific factors of TMMS-24 using a bifactor S-1 model. (2) Methods: We administered TMMS-24 to a sample of 384 students from middle and high schools (58.1% girls; mean age = 15.5; SD = 1.8). (3) Results: The specific TMMS-24 factors are better determined and present a higher internal consistency than the general factor. Furthermore, the bifactor S-1 model shows the existence of a hierarchical relationship between the attention factor and the clarity and repair factors. The S-1 bifactor model is the only one that was shown to be invariant as a function of the sex of the participants. (4) Conclusions: The S-1 bifactor model has proven to be a promising tool for capturing the structural complexity of TMMS-24. Its application indicates that it is not advisable to use the sum score of the items, since it would be contaminated by the attention factor. In addition, this score would not be invariant either, that is, comparisons by sex would be invalid.

scholarly journals A typological perspective on negation in Finnish dialects

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Miestamo
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Meeting Point ◽  
Developmental Trends ◽  
Typological Variation

This paper looks at negation in Finnish dialects from a typological perspective. The focus is on standard negation, i.e. the negation of declarative verbal main clauses. The dialectal variation that Finnish shows in its negative construction is examined in the light of current typological knowledge of the expression of negation. Developmental trends connected to the micro-typological variation are also discussed, Finnish dialects are compared with related and neighbouring languages, and relevant theoretical and methodological issues relating to the meeting point of typology and dialectology are addressed.

Stimulus Characteristics of Single-Word Tests of Children's Speech Sound Production

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby Macrae
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
American English ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Significance Testing ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
Word Position ◽  
Final Cluster ◽  
Children's Speech

Purpose This clinical focus article provides readers with a description of the stimulus characteristics of 12 popular tests of speech sound production. Method Using significance testing and descriptive analyses, stimulus items were compared in terms of the number of opportunities for production of all consonant singletons, clusters, and rhotic and nonrhotic vowels of Standard American English; phonetic/phonological and structural complexity; and the presence of bound morphemes. Results The tests varied widely in terms of the number of opportunities for production of consonant singletons, clusters, and rhotic and nonrhotic vowels. Most of the tests included only 1 opportunity, scored or unscored, to produce a majority of the consonant singletons in each word position. Only 3 of the tests included stimulus items with 3-element clusters. The majority contained limited opportunities to produce 3- or 4-syllable stimulus items. The tests provided sufficient opportunities for production of most vowels, although most did not score vowels. The tests differed significantly in the complexity of their stimulus items. Most, however, contained a negligible number of items that, with the addition of a bound morpheme, resulted in a word-final cluster. Conclusion Most of the tests elicit an inadequate sample with which to conduct a comprehensive phonological analysis.

Volitive Modalverben im Deutschen und im modernen Chinesisch

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Contrastive Linguistics ◽  
The University ◽  
Chinese Linguistics

Abstract This article deals with the semantic differences and similarities between the volitive modal verbs in German and modern Chinese. The research questions of the article are: How is the intentionality of volitive modal verbs located in modern Chinese? What are the differences in their location in German and in modern Chinese? The four Chinese modal verbs xiǎng 想, yào 要, kĕn 肯 and yuànyì 愿意 are contrasted with the German volitive modal verbs wollen and mögen by numerous examples from the CCL corpus (The Corpus of Center of Chinese Linguistics at the University of Peking) with a corresponding translation. In this way, it enables a deeper understanding of the volitive modal verbs in both languages. In this respect, the contribution can be helpful both for language teachers who teach Chinese as a foreign language and for researchers in the field of contrastive linguistics.

Language variation and change in the formation of Greek superlative constructions

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Dimitra Melissaropoulou ◽  
Christos Papanagiotou
Keyword(s):  
Language Variation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Conceptual Category ◽  
Theoretical Level ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Comparative Constructions ◽  
The One

Abstract This paper addresses variation and change in the realization of superlative constructions in the light of the evidence provided by Modern Greek dialectal variation as a window into the study of the organization of grammar. Dialectal data show that analyticity prevails in the realization of relative comparative constructions, while absolute ones seem to resist more persistently due to their high relevance with another morphological category, evaluative intensification. Our findings argue in favour of the strong interplay among all three processes, viewed as realizations of the conceptual category of gradation, accounted for in terms of a continuum. The proposed organization captures the strong interplay between intensification and absolute superlatives on the one hand, while relative and absolute superlative formations on the other. On a theoretical level, this account could contribute further to important issues such as the controversial status of comparison and evaluation in grammar, which may differ cross-linguistically, suggesting that a combined account of the three processes might prove more adequate.

Typology in variation: a probabilistic approach to be and n't in the Survey of English Dialects

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOAN BRESNAN ◽  
ASHWINI DEO ◽  
DEVYANI SHARMA
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Stochastic Learning ◽  
Single Speaker ◽  
Subject Agreement ◽  
Stable Variation ◽  
Typological Variation

Variation within grammars is a reflection of variation between grammars. Subject agreement and synthetic negation for the verb be show extraordinary local variation in the Survey of English Dialects (Orton et al., 1962–71). Extracting partial grammars of individuals, we confirm leveling patterns across person, number, and negation (Ihalainen, 1991; Cheshire, Edwards & Whittle, 1993; Cheshire, 1996). We find that individual variation bears striking structural resemblances to invariant dialect paradigms, and also reflects typologically observed markedness properties (Aissen, 1999). In the framework of Stochastic Optimality Theory (Boersma & Hayes, 2001), variable outputs of individual speakers are expected to be constrained by the same typological and markedness generalizations found crosslinguistically. The stochastic evaluation of candidate outputs in individual grammars reranks individual constraints by perturbing their ranking values, with the potential for stable variation between two near-identical rankings. The stochastic learning mechanism is sensitive to variable frequencies encountered in the linguistic environment, whether in geographical or social space. In addition to relating individual and group dialectal variation to typological variation (Kortmann, 1999; Anderwald, 2003), the findings suggest that an individual grammar is sensitively tuned to frequencies in the linguistic environment, leading to isolated loci of variability in the grammar rather than complete alternations of paradigms. A characteristic of linguistic variation that has emerged in distinct fields of enquiry is that variation within a single grammar bears a close resemblance to variation across grammars. Sociolinguistic studies, for instance, have long observed that ‘variation within the speech of a single speaker derives from the variation which exists between speakers’ (Bell, 1984: 151). In the present study, individual patterns of variation in subject–verb agreement with affirmative and negative be extracted from the Survey of English Dialects(SED, Orton et al., 1962–71) show striking structural resemblances to patterns of interdialectal, or categorical, variation.

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