Spelling patterns of plural marking and learning trajectories in French taught as a foreign language

Although French plural spelling has been studied extensively, the complexity of factors affecting the learning of French plural spelling are not yet fully explained, namely on the level of adjectival and verbal plural. This study investigates spelling profiles of French plural markers of 228 multilingual grade 5 pupils with French taught as a foreign language. Three analyses on the learner performances of plural spelling in nouns, verbs and pre- and postnominal attributive adjectives were conducted (1) to detect the pupils’ spelling profiles of plural marking on the basis of the performances in the pretest, (2) to test the profiles against two psycholinguistic theories, and (3) to evaluate the impact of the training on each spelling profile in the posttest. The first analysis confirms the existing literature that pupils’ learning of French plural is not random but ordered and emphasizes the role of the position for adjectives (pre- or postnominal) on correct plural spelling. The second analysis reveals the theoretical difficulties of predicting spelling of adjectival and verbal plural. The third analysis shows that strong and poor spellers both benefit from a morphosyntactic training and provides transparency and traceability of the learning trajectories. Together, the descriptive analyses reveal clear patterns of intra-individual spelling profiles. They point to a need for further research in those areas that have empirically provided the most inconsistent results to date and that are not supported by the theories: verbs and adjectives.

Phonological restrictions on nominal pluralization in Sign Language of the Netherlands: evidence from corpus and elicited data

This study focuses on nominal pluralization in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT). The aim is to offer a comprehensive description of nominal pluralization processes in the language, based on both corpus data and elicited data, taking into account potential phonological restrictions. The results reveal that NGT nouns can undergo several pluralization processes, the main ones being simple reduplication (i.e., repeating the noun sign at one location) and sideward reduplication (i.e., repeating the noun sign while moving the hand sideward). The choice of pluralization process depends on phonological properties of the base noun: (i) nouns that are body-anchored or involve a complex movement undergo simple reduplication; (ii) nouns articulated at the lateral side of the signing space undergo sideward reduplication; (iii) nouns articulated on the midsagittal plane can undergo both simple and sideward reduplication. Strikingly, the data show considerable variation, and all types of nouns can be zero-marked, that is, plural marking on the noun is not obligatory. The results further suggest that all nouns can undergo at least one type of reduplication. Thus, while phonological properties of the base noun influence the type of reduplication, they do not block reduplication altogether. Plural reduplication in NGT is therefore less constrained than has been reported for other sign languages, where certain noun types cannot undergo reduplication. This shows that reduplication – despite being iconically motivated – is subject to language-specific grammatical constraints.

Phonological restrictions on nominal pluralization in Sign Language of the Netherlands: evidence from corpus and elicited data

This study focuses on nominal pluralization in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT). The aim is to offer a comprehensive description of nominal pluralization processes in the language, based on both corpus data and elicited data, taking into account potential phonological restrictions. The results reveal that NGT nouns can undergo several pluralization processes, the main ones being simple reduplication (i.e., repeating the noun sign at one location) and sideward reduplication (i.e., repeating the noun sign while moving the hand sideward). The choice of pluralization process depends on phonological properties of the base noun: (i) nouns that are body-anchored or involve a complex movement undergo simple reduplication; (ii) nouns articulated at the lateral side of the signing space undergo sideward reduplication; (iii) nouns articulated on the midsagittal plane can undergo both simple and sideward reduplication. Strikingly, the data show considerable variation, and all types of nouns can be zero-marked, that is, plural marking on the noun is not obligatory. The results further suggest that all nouns can undergo at least one type of reduplication. Thus, while phonological properties of the base noun influence the type of reduplication, they do not block reduplication altogether. Plural reduplication in NGT is therefore less constrained than has been reported for other sign languages, where certain noun types cannot undergo reduplication. This shows that reduplication – despite being iconically motivated – is subject to language-specific grammatical constraints.

Multiple functions of the inclusive: examining synchronic variation in light of diachronic shift in South-Central Trans-Himalayan

A few languages of the South-Central branch of Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman/Sino-Tibetan) display diachronic shifts of the inclusive to become innovative markers of 1sg or 2sg. Such shifts are rarely reported in the cross-linguistic literature. In conjunction with phylogenetic-comparative evidence on cases of actual diachronic shift, we offer a synchronic usage-based analysis of the inclusive in one particular language, Anal Naga. In this language, usage frequencies suggest that a shift of the inclusive is underway: apart from the frequent generic usage, the inclusive now commonly has a humbling, empathy-seeking first person (1sg/excl) reference. In contrast, forms that combine inclusive and plural marking pattern more like a prototypical inclusive, i.e., with regular reference to the local speech act participants of speaker and addressee(s). The optional plural marking is the most important factor to determine the reference pattern of the inclusive. Other factors (irrealis setting; lexeme semantics) only play a marginal role; person form (bound indexes or free pronouns) and syntactic role are not indicative.

Paradigmatic consequences of the suffixing preference

As one of the most robust typological findings, the suffixing preference captures the empirical observation that grammatical categories are more likely to be coded by suffixes than by prefixes. The goal of this contribution is to explore the effects that this asymmetry may have on the inflectional paradigms of the languages of the world. Three empirical issues are addressed: do languages with either possessive prefixes or suffixes and languages with both possessive prefixes and suffixes differ in their suffix-to-prefix ratio? Do prefixes and suffixes differ in the number of cases that they code? Do prefixes and suffixes differ in their probability of explicit singular in addition to plural marking? The answer to all three questions is in the affirmative. These effects are understood in terms of a response to an inherent disadvantage of prefixes. Morphological systems reduce the processing difficulty incurred by prefixes by assigning them fewer tasks (i.e. number of cases), by limiting their occurrence in highly competitive contexts (i.e. inconsistent possessive-affix coding) and by creating prefix paradigms, which are conceived of as protective structures in which the individual members strengthen one another. The general claim these three effects lead up to is that morphological systems develop “repair strategies” which reduce the processing cost involved in using inherently disadvantaged units. These repair strategies shape morphological structure.

Japanese -tati and generalized associative plurals

This chapter presents descriptive generalizations of plural marking in Japanese with the morpheme -tati and proposes an account for its distributional and interpretive properties that are puzzling in many ways. The semantic peculiarities of -tati plurals, such as their tendency to be definite and the lack of generic and kind interpretations, result from the use of -tati as an associative plural marker. When -tati attaches to an individual-denoting expression, it denotes a plurality that consists of the referent of the expression and entities associated with. It is argued that -tati maintains this associative meaning even when it combines with a common noun. The extended notion of associativity allows X-tati, where X is a common noun, to include non-Xs in its denotation as long as such entities are closely associated with X, yielding similative plurals. This potential heterogeneity can solve most, if not all, of the puzzles posed by -tati plurals.

Non-inflectional plural in yucatec maya

This chapter examines the morphosyntactic properties of optional, non-inflectional plural marking in Yucatec Maya. Evidence is presented that suggests that the non-inflectional plural in Yucatec Maya adjoins to the Determiner Phrase rather than heading the Number Phrase as in better-known languages. Plural marking cannot occur inside of compounds, derivational morphology, or on a prenominal adjective. Additionally, it can adjoin to the second linear noun of a conjoined noun phrase and modify either or both of the conjuncts. The results of a sentence production experiment with speakers of Yucatec Maya are summarized and provide additional support for the Determiner Phrase–adjoined hypothesis. The Yucatec Maya facts are discussed in the wider context of cross-linguistic variation in the typology of plural marking and the implications for linguistic theory and models of language processing.

Number and the Mass–Count Distinction

This chapter reviews the connections between number marking (specifically, singular and plural marking) and the mass–count distinction. It explores how different semantic theories of number marking interact with various ontological theories of the mass–count distinction. It also discusses a growing tension within the mass–count literature. On one hand, there are many semantic and syntactic similarities between mass nouns and plurals, which suggests that the two subcategories might have many features in common. On the other hand, verbal, auxiliary, and determiner agreement patterns suggest that mass nouns share certain syntactic properties with singular count nouns. Yet, singular count nouns and plural count nouns hardly share any properties in common, both in terms of their syntactic distribution and their semantic implications. The chapter discusses two potential resolutions to this growing tension.

Number in Sign Languages

In sign languages, just as in many spoken languages, number can be marked on nouns, pronouns, and verbs, and quantifiers are used to specify quantity within noun phrases. The chapter does not address the expression of grammatical number in one specific sign language, but rather describes patterns found in various sign languages, focusing on modality-independent and modality-specific properties of number marking. As for the former, nominal and verbal plurals are commonly realized by reduplication. As for number-marking strategies specific to visual–spatial languages, it is found that sign languages employ the two hands (e.g. lexical plurality), the signing space in front of the signer's body (e.g. plural marking on predicates), and specific reduplication types that are not attested in spoken languages (e.g. sideward reduplication of certain nouns). In addition, the choice of pluralization strategy is determined by modality-specific phonological features, and we are thus dealing with phonologically conditioned allomorphy.

Countability and Number Without Number Inflection

This chapter explores the mass–count distinction in Haitian Creole, where all nouns, including those meaning ‘mud’ or ‘remorse’, are combinable with cardinals and plural marking. It is argued that the English/Haitian contrast lies in the distribution of covert classifiers—freer in Haitian than in English—rather than in the relevance/irrelevance of the mass–count distinction. This distinction is arguably grounded in both syntax and the lexicon. A subclass of nouns (e.g. liv ‘book’) require 3pl pronominalization when bare, do not combine with small-amount markers, are strictly entity-denoting: they are assumed to merge with a lexically induced classifier. Stuff-denoting nouns (labou ‘mud’, remò ‘remorse’) are ambivalent with respect to pronominalization (3sg/3pl), combine with small-amount markers, and may denote continuous stuff or discontinuous units of stuff. It is assumed that while all lexical roots must combine with a classifier feature to trigger discontinuous readings, this feature may occur in n° (triggering entity denotations) or in Cl° (triggering unit-of-stuff-denotations).