scholarly journals New Empirical Approaches to Grammatical Variation and Change

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Sina Bosch ◽  
Ilaria De Cesare ◽  
Ulrike Demske ◽  
Claudia Felser
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Grammatical Variation ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Empirical Approaches

Research on grammatical variation and change has traditionally been based on diachronic and synchronic corpus analysis, but the growing importance of experimental approaches to the study of language has led many researchers to combine corpus study with experimentation to systematically examine linguistic variability and stability [...]

The history of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Neels
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Representation ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Time Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
Feeding Process ◽  
Discourse Frequency ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

This article is a corpus-based study on the grammaticalization of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to. It describes and seeks to explain the historical process whereby use(d) to, starting from the Middle English source construction use ‘be in the habit of’ + to + verb, grammaticalized into a habitual aspect marker with idiosyncratic morphosyntactic properties. A detailed corpus study is presented, based on four historical English corpora, which together cover a time period from 1410 to 2009. The results of the corpus analysis are interpreted within the theoretical framework of usage-based grammar, with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms that propelled the gradual grammaticalization of use(d) to on the semantic, morphological, syntactic and phonological dimensions. Among the underlying mechanisms and processes identified are semantic generalization via host-class expansion and habituation, pragmatic enrichment, analogy, chunking, loss of analyzability and internal structure, as well as phonological reduction through neuromotor automation. Supported by the quantitative empirical evidence from the corpus analysis and drawing on findings from usage-based research on language change, the present study depicts the grammaticalization of use(d) to as a self-feeding process driven by frequency effects, i.e. by the effects that the increasingly high discourse frequency of the use(d) to construction had on its cognitive representation.

Punctuation and syntactic structure in obwohl and weil clauses in nonstandard written German

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Schäfer ◽  
Ulrike Sayatz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Insight Into

In this paper, we analyze written sentences containing the German particles obwohl (“although”) and weil (“because”). In standard written German, these particles embed clauses in verb-last constituent order, which is characteristic of subordinated clauses. In spoken and – as we show – nonstandard written German, they embed clauses in verb-second constituent order, which is characteristic of independent sentences. Our usage-based approach to the syntax – graphemics interface includes a large-scale corpus analysis of the patterns of punctuation in the nonstandard variants that provides clues to the syntactic structure and degree of sentential independence of the nonstandard variants. Our corpus study confirms and refines hypotheses from existing theoretical approaches by clearly showing that writers mark obwohl clauses with verb-second order systematically as independent sentences, whereas weil clauses with verb-second order are much less strongly marked as independent. This work suggests that similar corpus studies could provide deeper insight into the interplay between syntax and graphemics.

Frequency and morphological irregularity are independent variables. Evidence from a corpus study of Spanish verbs

2014 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviana Fratini ◽  
Joana Acha ◽  
Itziar Laka
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Dual Mechanism ◽  
Morphological System

AbstractWe present the results of the first corpus analysis of Spanish verbs where the correlation between morphological irregularity and frequency was considered. In English, irregular verbs are more frequent than regular ones (Ullman, 1999 and Michel et al., 2011). We tested whether this frequency-irregularity relation observed in English would also hold in a more complex morphological system like Spanish. Results show that frequency and morphological irregularity do not correlate in Spanish. This pattern of results represents a challenge for the Dual-Mechanism model of morphology (Pinker and Prince 1988; Pinker and Ullman 2002), where all irregulars are argued to be stored whole in memory and are predicted to be more frequent than regulars.

scholarly journals Syllable Complexity and Morphological Synthesis: A Well-Motivated Positive Complexity Correlation Across Subdomains

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelece Easterday ◽  
Matthew Stave ◽  
Marc Allassonnière-Tang ◽  
Frank Seifart
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Significant Positive Correlation ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Morphological Complexity ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
The Relationship

Relationships between phonological and morphological complexity have long been proposed in the linguistic literature, with empirical investigations often seeking complexity trade-offs. Positive complexity correlations tend not to be viewed in terms of motivations. We argue that positive complexity correlations can be diachronically well-motivated, emerging from crosslinguistically prevalent processes of language change. We examine the correlation between syllable complexity and morphological synthesis, hypothesizing that the process of grammaticalization motivates a positive relationship between the two features. To test this, we conduct a typological survey of 95 diverse languages and a corpus study of 21 languages with substantive (predominantly >10,000 words) corpora from the DoReCo project. The first study establishes a significant positive correlation between syllable complexity, measured in terms of maximal syllable patterns, and the index of synthesis (morpheme/word ratio). The second study tests the hypothesis that the relationship between syllable complexity and synthesis holds at local (word-initial and word-final) levels and within noun and verb types, as predicted by a grammaticalization account. While the findings of the corpus study are limited in their statistical power, the observed tendencies are consistent with our predictions. This study contributes important findings to the complexity literature, as well as a novel method which incorporates broad typological sampling and deep corpus analysis.

scholarly journals Soziale Interaktion durch Synchronisation. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven / Social Interaction through Synchronisation. Interdisciplinary Perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 197-213
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Schmicking
Keyword(s):  
Human Interaction ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Soziale Interaktion ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Theories Of Mind ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Novel Approaches ◽  
Phenomenological View ◽  
Empirical Approaches

SummaryThis paper combines perspectives from different disciplines to open up an interdisciplinary view on basic processes of human interaction. Part I addresses problematic assumptions of dominating theories of mind and limits of phenomenological description. Part II presents findings from social psychological and neuroscientific experiments on sensomotor synchronization. These experiments were carried out at levels of experiencing, behavior/kinematics, organic functions, and neurophysiology. Novel approaches that study intercerebral processes in musicians who interact face-to-face are particularly relevant: parts of non-identical brains function like temporarily coupled units. Part III discusses methodological issues and presuppositions of these experimental approaches as well as of current theories of mind. The findings from social psychology and neuroscience can serve to explicate phenomenological concepts and to complement descriptions, in particular of prereflective intentionality. Vice versa, the phenomenological view helps to critically examine limits and assumptions of empirical approaches and philosophical theories of mind. The presented findings on sensomotor and intercerebral synchronization corroborate phenomenological views of direct intercorporeal intersubjectivity, which provide an alternative to accounts that rely on simulation, representation, and inferential processes.

CORPUS ANALYSIS OF COLLOCATIONS WITH HEALTH IN THE MEDIA TEXTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (15) ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
Olga Sivaieva
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Texts ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
Linguistic Means

The media is an influential tool in shaping public’s opinion about HEALTH and its basic components. As this topic has been of great importance lately, the corpus study of media texts with HEALTH can reveal verbal means of how this lemma is depicted by journalists as well as what urgent social concerns are connected with HEALTH and what issues reader are aware of. The research is aimed at studying collocations with HEALTH in The Guardian and The Mirror newspapers, focusing on the comparative analysis of them presented in the broadsheet and tabloid. Sketch Engine has been used to investigate the lemma HEALTH in both newspapers, which helps to disclose the linguistic means used to outline the concept HEALTH. The findings of the study prove that despite the use of modifiers and verbs with HEALTH common for both newspapers (e.g., mental, physical, public; improve, protect, affect), the Mirror presents a wider choice of collocations with HEALTH compared to The Guardian, whereas the lexeme HEALTH is more frequently used in the latter ‒ 2,367.84 per million as to 1,615.61 per million in the first one. Furthermore, the tabloid presents a larger range of health subjects while the broadsheet displays a narrower area of the topic with a more conservative point of view.

scholarly journals ¬Learning Island-insensitivity from the input: A corpus analysis of child- and youth-directed text in Norwegian

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Kush ◽  
Charlotte Sant ◽  
Sunniva Briså Strætkvern
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Embedded Questions ◽  
Reading Material

Norwegian allows filler-gap dependencies into relative clauses (RCs) and embedded questions (EQs) – domains that are usually considered islands. We conducted a corpus study on youth-directed reading material to assess what direct evidence Norwegian children receive for filler-gap dependencies into islands. Results suggest that the input contains examples of Filler-gap dependencies into both RCs and EQs, but such examples are significantly less frequent than long-distance filler-gap dependencies into non-island clauses. Moreover, evidence for island violations is characterized by the absence of forms that are, in principle, acceptable in the target grammar. Thus, although they encounter dependencies into islands, children must generalize beyond the fine-grained distributional characteristics of the input to acquire the full pattern of island-insensitivity in their target language. We conclude by considering how different learning models would fare on acquiring the target generalizations.

scholarly journals DOES PANDEMIC HAVE A SILVER LINING? A CONTRASTIVE CORPUS STUDY OF COLLOCATIONS WITH PANDEMIC IN MEDIA TEXTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (11(79)) ◽  
pp. 100-103
Author(s):  
Galyna Tsapro ◽  
Olha Sivaieva
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Media Texts ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Semantic Prosody ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
The Given ◽  
Silver Lining

The research is devoted to the contrastive corpus analysis of the semantic prosody of collocations with PANDEMIC in the broadsheet ‘The Guardian’ and the tabloid ‘The Mirror’. The corpora have been processed with the help of Sketch Engine and the collocations with PANDEMIC have been analysed. The study mostly concentrates on the verbs with PANDEMIC as subject and object as most representative in media texts. The dictionary definition of PANDEMIC interprets it as a word with negative semantic prosody. The discourse analysis of the data obtained proves that collocations containing this collocate have negative semantic colouring as well. The following verbs start, hit, lead, cause, force, mean, devastate, which are common for both newspapers, represent PANDEMIC as a metaphorical image of a disaster, and the verbs specific for ‘The Mirror’ – bring, abate, inflict, scupper, kill, give, show, go on – support the given picture. However, the verbs unique for ‘The Guardian’ – strike, affect, shine, reveal, create, take, turn, remain – mostly outline the starting point or describe problems people have to face during pandemic times. Still some verbs in ‘The Guardian’, for example exacerbate and stop, also contribute to the frightening portrayal of a supernatural power terrorising humans. Both newspapers sketch personal stories, describe problems in business, trading, travelling, but ‘The Guardian’ puts more emphasis on international affairs and governments’ decisions and responsibility.

“Historically Informed” Corpus Studies

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert O. Gjerdingen
Keyword(s):  
Art Music ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corpus Studies

Musicians can choose between various “historicist” or “presentist” ways of performing works from the past. Music scholars who study early music sometimes are forced to make similar choices. If one thinks of corpus studies in music as an objective form of counting the “elements of music,” the question of what constitutes an “element” can involve similar historicist/presentist dilemmas. The article examines three historically significant characteristics of European art music—three historicist features—that are not always recognized in presentist corpus studies. For an illustrative example, a comparison is made between how the cadenza doppia in a Bach toccata for organ might be represented in a corpus study as either a two-voice framework or a series of Roman numerals in the tradition of Allen McHose (1947). Because that type of cadence was a commonplace in Bach’s time and in Bach’s compositions, a corpus analysis should be able to detect its multiple occurrences as a core element of the music.

Examining the Effect of Oral Transmission on Folksongs

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-288
Author(s):  
Daniel Shanahan ◽  
Joshua Albrecht
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Folk Songs ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
Musical Genres ◽  
Over Time

Sociolinguists frequently examine the nature of gradual, internal shifts in languages and dialects over time, arguing for both cognitive and cultural factors, as well as those that might be somehow internal to the language itself. Similarly, musicologists have often argued that musical genres and even specific songs can be examined through gradual diachronic shifts, which seem to be especially accelerated in traditions that rely on oral transmission. For example, Spitzer (1994) examined the stemma of “Oh! Susanna” and noticed that it tended to become more pentatonicized at cadence points by dropping scale degree seven, and suggested that this might be true with folk songs in general. To test this, we employed both experimental and corpus-based paradigms. The experimental approach attempted to simulate oral transmission in a compressed timeframe by involving singers who heard and replicated short musical excerpts, and then would teach a colleague, who in turn passed it on to another participant. Similarly, we conducted a corpus analysis that examined the prevalence of descending stepwise endings in styles of music primarily transmitted orally compared with those transmitted primarily through notation. The experimental results suggest that cadence points in Western folk music are more likely to lose scale degree seven through the act of oral transmission, and the corpus study suggests that, although stylistic constraints play a large role in folk music, there might also be a relationship between transmission and physical affordances.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document