scholarly journals Syntactic boundaries in the timing of trochaic speech

1976 ◽  
Vol 60 (S1) ◽  
pp. S27-S27
Author(s):  
William E. Cooper ◽  
Steven G. Lapointe ◽  
Jeanne M. Paccia
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Boundaries

scholarly journals Impaired Recognition of Metrical and Syntactic Boundaries in Children with Developmental Language Disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Richards ◽  
Usha Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Oral Language ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Prosodic Phrasing ◽  
Speech Rhythm ◽  
Developmental Language Disorders ◽  
Acoustic Stress ◽  
Acoustic Processing ◽  
Syntactic Boundaries ◽  
Stress Patterns

In oral language, syntactic structure is cued in part by phrasal metrical hierarchies of acoustic stress patterns. For example, many children’s texts use prosodic phrasing comprising tightly integrated hierarchies of metre and syntax to highlight the phonological and syntactic structure of language. Children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) are relatively insensitive to acoustic stress. Here, we disrupted the coincidence of metrical and syntactic boundaries as cued by stress patterns in children’s texts so that metrical and/or syntactic phrasing conflicted. We tested three groups of children: children with DLD, age-matched typically developing controls (AMC) and younger language-matched controls (YLC). Children with DLDs and younger, language-matched controls were poor at spotting both metrical and syntactic disruptions. The data are interpreted within a prosodic phrasing hypothesis of DLD based on impaired acoustic processing of speech rhythm.

Modular Clause Composition in Plautus

Mnemosyne ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Joseph Andrew Smith
Keyword(s):  
Narrow Range ◽  
Modular Units ◽  
Modular Method ◽  
Syntactic Boundaries

Abstract The iambic trimeters of Plautus are analyzed by syntactic boundaries and shown to be composed in a very narrow range of clause-measures using regular termini points in trimeters—line-end and the two caesuras. The five most frequently used syntactic measures account for half of trimeter composition. Plautus composed in modular units of syntax. This paper demonstrates: 1) the most frequent clause-type in Plautus’ trimeters is a trimeter in length, 2) the most frequent clause-type involving enjambment is exactly two trimeters in length, 3) certain clause-types appear with greater frequency in certain plays of Plautus, 4) clause-types can be shown to have distinctive, rhythmic cadences associated with each type. This modular method of clause composition must have been the product of its functional service to the playwright as he generated plays, to the actors who memorized them, and to the audience who heard discourse delivered in regular clause-packets.

Filling syntactic boundaries in spoken Brazilian Portuguese

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-112
Author(s):  
Fernando Tarallo ◽  
Mary A. Kato
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Exclusion ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Syntactic Boundaries ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTWe present results on the grammar of spoken Brazilian Portuguese, focusing on the syntactic boundaries of the main constituents of an utterance. The purpose of examining such sites is twofold: (1) to provide evidence as to the relationship (or mutual exclusion) between boundary and type of filler, and (2) to determine the relationship between boundary and frequency of filling. We find major differences both in the distribution of filling by syntactic adjuncts versus discourse elements and in the susceptibility of different syntactic boundaries to be filled. We discuss the lack of demographic conditioning on the rate of filling.

Seeing sentence boundaries

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Fenlon ◽  
Tanya Denmark ◽  
Ruth Campbell ◽  
Bencie Woll
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
British Sign Language ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Native Signers ◽  
Syntactic Boundaries ◽  
British Sign

Linguists have suggested that non-manual and manual markers are used in sign languages to indicate prosodic and syntactic boundaries. However, little is known about how native signers interpret non-manual and manual cues with respect to sentence boundaries. Six native signers of British Sign Language (BSL) were asked to mark sentence boundaries in two narratives: one presented in BSL and one in Swedish Sign Language (SSL). For comparative analysis, non-signers undertook the same tasks. Results indicated that both native signers and non-signers were able to use visual cues effectively in segmentation and that their decisions were not dependent on knowledge of the signed language. Signed narratives contain visible cues to their prosodic structure which are available to signers and non-signers alike.

scholarly journals An examination of prosody and second language sentence processing through pause insertion

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110187
Author(s):  
Lan Fang ◽  
Yiyang Xie ◽  
Keke Yu ◽  
Ruiming Wang ◽  
John W. Schwieter
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Syntactic Boundaries

Objectives: Research on second language (L2) sentence comprehension often has examined reliance on semantic and syntactic information but has left aside for the most part the role of prosodic cues. In the present study, we compare less- and more-proficient L2 learners’ integration of prosody and syntax structure during auditory L2 sentence comprehension. Design: Two group Chinese learners of L2 English learners (A2 and C1 levels) participated in an auditory comprehension task, which included sentences that had artificial pauses inserted either between or within syntactic boundaries. After hearing each sentence, learners were asked to judge the translation as ‘identical’ or ‘not identical’ on the keyboard. Data Analysis: We conducted t-tests and an analysis of variance to examine prosodic effects among the two learner groups. Findings: The results showed that both A2 and C1 learners were sensitive to pauses. However, the direction and magnitude of this sensitivity was significantly different for the two groups. A2 learners were faster to respond to auditory sentences in which a brief pause was placed within syntactic phrases. Contrarily, C1 learners responded faster when the brief pause was placed between syntactic phrases. Originality: Unique to the present study is the inclusion of the pause-insertion paradigm to examine the role of prosody in L2 auditory sentence processing. Implications: The results imply that the two groups of learners do not rely on prosodic and syntactic cues in the same manner when processing L2 sentences. We argue that the processing mechanisms involved in L2 sentence comprehension evolve hand-in-hand with L2 proficiency development. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research.

scholarly journals Relative Clause and Downstep in Japanese

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manami Hirayama ◽  
Hyun Kyung Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Single Domain ◽  
The Other ◽  
Syntactic Category ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Syntactic Boundaries

It has been proposed that Japanese downstep, in which the pitch register is lowered after an accented phrase, is sensitive to certain syntactic boundaries. In this paper, we investigate whether downstep is blocked at the relative clause boundary in a production experiment with ten speakers. The results suggest that it does not block downstep. On the other hand, there is a difference between adjectives and verbs when they are used attributively with a head noun: Downstep is observed robustly in the verb condition, whereas there is much inter-speaker variation in the adjective condition. Taken together with the results of past research, we propose that the different patterns found by syntactic category, in particular, adjectives, verbs, and nouns, may be explained by assuming speakers’ knowledge of the behavior of these categories that is activated when they pronounce the phrase. Nouns and verbs are readily available as a combined concept in Japanese and thus downstep is not blocked, whereas combinations of adjectives are not so readily available, and thus speakers may insert a boundary, breaking up a phrase that would otherwise constitute a single domain for downstep.

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