scholarly journals Differences between externally and internally headed relative clause constructions

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Chung ◽  
Jong-Bok Kim
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Central Interest ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Internally Headed Relative Clause ◽  
Internal Head

In terms of truth conditional meanings, there is no clear difference between (Korean) IHRCs (internally head relative) and EHRCs (externally headed relative). In the analysis of IHRCs, of central interest are thus (a) how we can analyze the constructions in syntax and (b) how we can associate the internal head of the IHRC clause with the matrix predicate so that the head can function as its semantic argument, and (c) what makes the differences between the two constructions. This paper is an attempt to provide answers to such recurring questions within the framework of HPSG.

Japanese embedded questions are nominal: Evidence from quantificational variability effect

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-156
Author(s):  
Satoshi Tomioka
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
Embedded Questions ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Concealed Questions ◽  
Interrogative Sentence ◽  
Internally Headed Relative Clause ◽  
Numeral Classifier ◽  
Quantificational Variability

AbstractThe exhaustivity of an embedded interrogative sentence can be altered by the presence of an adverb in the matrix clause. This phenomenon, known as Quantificational Variability Effect (QVE), manifests itself in a peculiar way in Japanese. A QVE-inducing adverb can take the form of a numeral classifier that agrees with the embedded Wh-phrase. While a QVE-inducing numeral classifier appears to be associated with an embedded wh-phrase, it is not clear how such an association can be established. I argue that Japanese embedded questions are implicitly nominalized in the fashion similar to the internally-headed relative clause construction, and that the nominalized embedded questions are treated as concealed questions. The proposed analysis gives a very simple account for the puzzling QVE construction, as the floated quantifier structure with a concealed-question-denoting NP is commonplace. The paper examines a variety of phenomena, such as doubly headed relative clause structure and selectional restrictions on QVE, which support the nominal structure of Japanese embedded questions.

English Speakers’ Comprehension of Embedded Relative Clauses in L2 Japanese

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 841
Author(s):  
Shinichi Shoji
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Type A ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Type B ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Accuracy Rates

This study investigated native English speakers’ comprehension of Japanese sentences in which relative clauses are embedded. Specifically, this study contrasted between (a) short-before-long sentences with center-embedded relative clauses and (b) long-before-short sentences with non-center-embedded relative clauses. Sentence-type (a) indicates a sentence that includes a short phrase before a long phrase and includes a relative clause that is embedded in the middle of the sentence, e.g., Onna-ga Ken-ga kiratteiru giin-o hometa ‘The woman praised the senator who Ken hated’. Sentence-type (b) indicates a sentence with a long phrase before a short phrase and includes a relative clause that is embedded peripherally, e.g., Ken-ga kiratteiru onna-ga giin-o hometa ‘The woman who Ken hated praised the senator’. Experiment 1 revealed that native English speakers, who are learners of Japanese, comprehended the type (b) sentences with long-before-short phrases and with non-center-embedded relative clauses more accurately than the type (a) sentences with short-before-long phrases with center-embedded relative clauses. The results indicate that the preference for the non-center-embedded clauses to center-embedded clauses is universal across languages, while the preference for short-before-long phrases is language-specific. However, Experiment 2 indicated that the different accuracy rates in comprehensions of (a) and (b) disappeared when the matrix subjects are marked by the topic-morpheme wa. The outcome indicated that the topic phrases are immediately interpreted as a part of main clauses.

Infinitival relative clauses in spoken discourse

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christer Geisler
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
British English ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
The Matrix

ABSTRACTThis article concerns infinitival relative clauses, such as Mary is the person to ask, and their distribution in spoken English. It analyzes the correlation between the function of the antecedent in the relative clause and the function of the whole postmodified NP (the relative complex) in the matrix clause. On the basis of a quantitative analysis of a corpus of spoken British English, I show that the grammatical function of the antecedent in the infinitival relative clause depends on the function of the antecedent in the matrix clause. I argue that the distribution of antecedent functions in the matrix clause can be explained in terms of thematic properties and information structure of the clauses in which the infinitival relatives occur. A key notion is that speakers center their discourse around information that they assume to be important for the communicative event.

Imagism's metaphors - a test case

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Crisp
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Donald Davidson ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Extreme Form ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Image Schema ◽  
Aesthetic Affect ◽  
The Way

Imagism is centered on the image metaphor, and so is a valuable resource for studying this kind of metaphor. Image metaphor raises questions for any theory that sees metaphor as something conceptual. Such theories entail the rejection of truth-conditional semantics and are thus rejected by proponents of truth conditionalism, such as Donald Davidson. Imagism embodies an extreme form of image metaphor that avoids generating any clear propositional entailments. The problem it poses for conceptual theories of metaphor is thus considerable. The solution lies in the concept of the image schema as the basis of propositional reasoning. Image metaphor can be seen as displaying the matrix out of which conceptual metaphor proper itself develops. Image metaphor shows that matrix to be bound up with the nature of aesthetic affect. It thus points the way to a view of poetry that does justice to its aesthetic passion without opposing it in some absolute way to the rationality of logic and science.

scholarly journals Effects of semantic and syntactic complexities and aspectual class on past tense production

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 149-175
Author(s):  
Ayumi Matsuo
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Complement Clause ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Topic Time ◽  
Simple Sentences

This paper reports results from a series of experiments that investigated whether semantic and/or syntactic complexity influences young Dutch children’s production of past tense forms. The constructions used in the three experiments were (i) simple sentences (the Simple Sentence Experiment), (ii) complex sentences with CP complements (the Complement Clause Experiment) and (iii) complex sentences with relative clauses (the Relative Clause Experiment). The stimuli involved both atelic and telic predicates. The goal of this paper is to address the following questions. Q1. Does semantic complexity regarding temporal anchoring influence the types of errors that children make in the experiments? For example, do children make certain types of errors when a past tense has to be anchored to the Utterance Time (UT), as compared to when it has to be anchored to the matrix topic time (TT)? Q2. Do different syntactic positions influence children’s performance on past-tense production? Do children perform better in the Simple Sentence Experiment compared to complex sentences involving two finite clauses (the Complement Clause Experiment and the Relative Clause Experiment)? In complex sentence trials, do children perform differently when the CPs are complements vs. when the CPs are adjunct clauses? (Lebeaux 1990, 2000) Q3. Do Dutch children make more errors with certain types of predicate (such as atelic predicates)? Alternatively, do children produce a certain type of error with a certain type of predicates (such as producing a perfect aspect with punctual predicates)? Bronckart and Sinclair (1973), for example, found that until the age of 6, French children showed a tendency to use passé composé with perfective events and simple present with imperfective events; we will investigate whether or not the equivalent of this is observed in Dutch.  

scholarly journals An HPSG analysis of the non-integrated wh-relative clauses in German

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Holler
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Abstract Entity ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses

In this article, the so-called wh-relative clause construction is investigated. The German wh-relative clauses are syntactically relevant as they show both, root clause and subordinate clause properties. They matter semantically because they are introduced by a wh-anaphor that has to be resolved by an appropriate abstract entity of the matrix clause. Additionally, the wh-relative clause construction is discourse-functionally peculiar since it evokes coherence. Besides these interesting empirical characteristics, whrelatives raise important theoretical questions. It is argued that the standard HPSG theory has to be extended to account for non-restrictive relative clauses in general, and to cope with the particular properties of the wh-relative construction.

Discourse particles in Chinese–Japanese code switching: Constrained by the Matrix Language Frame?

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Hai-Rong Meng ◽  
Takeshi Nakamoto
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Conditional Information ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Discourse Interface

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the grammatical constraints on discourse particles in Chinese–Japanese intra-sentential code switching in light of the general framework of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model augmented by the 4-M model. Design/methodology/approach: This study retrieves data collected for three years from three Chinese–Japanese bilingual children aged between 2;1 and 5;0. Data and analysis: The database consists of nearly 300 hours of spontaneous conversations that are audio-recorded from the families of the three bilingual children, as well as diary entries. It shows that a large number of code switching utterances involve discourse particles. Findings/conclusions: Qualitative analyses of the data indicate that discourse particles are generally constrained by the MLF, yet they do not fit into any category of the 4-M model. Morphologically bound, discourse particles represent the information structure of a sentence (as in the Japanese topic marker - wa) or encode constraints on the inferential processes (as in the Japanese complementizer - kara) rather than truth-conditional information. They manifest some idiosyncrasy at the interface of syntax and pragmatics, and set up the MLF at a discourse level. Thus, the MLF model is extended from a merely syntactic level to the syntax–discourse interface. Originality: The present work has contributed empirical evidence from a hitherto undocumented language pair of Chinese and Japanese, and made theoretical explorations on the linguistic constraints of discourse particles. Significance/implications: On one hand, it is work that provides support for the robust nature of universality of the MLF constraints on code switching. On the other hand, discourse particles exhibit typological features that need further theoretical exploration in order to make a more comprehensive account for the grammatical constraints on Chinese–Japanese code switching.

Free Choice-Free Relative Clauses of the Type “Indiferent + Wh-” in Romanian

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-222
Author(s):  
Mihaela Gheorghe
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Additive Particle

Free Choice-Free Relative Clauses of the Type “Indiferent + Wh-” in Romanian. The hypothesis of this paper is that the inventory of the free choice items in Romanian can be extended by including, along with the indefinites and the wh- compounds with ori-, a complex structure consisting of the adverb indiferent (‘regardless’) plus a wh-item. Based on syntactic tests, the paper suggests a line of interpretation according to which two patterns of relative clauses are possible with indiferent followed by a wh-item: (i) a headed relative clause licenced by a PP (de) which is syntactically required by the adverb indiferent, and (ii) a pattern in which the preposition de is covert, and the adverb functions as a quantifier that takes scope over the relative node; the clause is adjoined to the matrix together with the adverbial. We are dealing, therefore, with a free relative endowed with the free choice semantics of the adverb. In contexts of this type, the adverb indiferent seems to act like an additive particle to the wh-items, in a semantically similar way in which the prefix ori- contributes to the meaning of the complex free choice wh-words in Romanian. This hypothesis is also supported by the fact that the group formed by indiferent + wh-items is also occurrent in constructions with the ellipsis of the VP in the relative clause, a fact that strengthens the parallelism with the free choice items available in Romanian.

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