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Journal articles on the topic 'Interface between syntax and semantic'
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1
Egg, Markus. "Anti-Ikonizität an der Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle." Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 25, no. 1 (January 1, 2006): 1–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/zfs.2006.001.
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AbstractThe syntax-semantics interface is iconic in that it maps syntactic asymmetries (in particular, unilateral c-command) onto semantic asymmetries (scope relations). But many modification structures seem to violate this iconicity: here the modifier has (optionally or obligatorily) semantic scope over only a part of the expression that it modifies syntactically.First I will show that some well-known cases of syntax-semantics mismatch are instances of this phenomenon. Then I will specify an extremely flexible syntax-semantics interface to handle the apparent anti-iconicity. This interface crucially relies on the expressive power of a suitable underspecification formalism.With the interface one can derive the semantic representations of the problematic examples from surface-oriented syntactic structures without giving up the iconicity between syntax and semantics.Apparent anti-iconicity eventually emerges as scope underspecification between a modifier and part of the expression that it modifies. The analysis is applied to German and Turkish data.
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Hamed Shoay Saleh Al-Mogarry. "Syntax Semantics Interface and Translation." Albaydha University Journal 4, no. 1 (April 19, 2022): 144–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.56807/buj.v4i1.239.
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تهدف هذه الدراسة الى دراسة نقطة الاتصال والتداخل بين علم النحو وعلم الدلالة في اللغتين العربية والانجليزية وبالأخص دراسة تطبيقات منهج النحو التوليدي التحويلي لتشومسكي ومنهج الوظائف الموضوعية لفيل مور في بعض الجمل الانجليزية كنص أصل وترجمتها الى اللغة العربية كنص هدف من خلال التحليل النحوي والدلالي. اوضحت الدراسة وجود اتصال وتداخل بين علم النحو وعلم الدلالة في كلتا اللغتين. واثبتت الدراسة ايضا امكانية استخدام منهج ثنائي في التحليل اللغوي ودراسة العلاقة بين أي لغتين. كما اشارت الدراسة بان التحليل المستند الى علم النحو والدلالة يمكن ان يشكل عاملا مساعدا للمترجم من الانجليزية الى العربية والعكس.
Abstract
This study attempts to investigate the interface between syntax and semantics in English and Arabic. It is to study the potential implications of Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) and thematic roles in translation from a linguistic point of view. It presents a theoretical background of TGG and thematic roles as the basis of the analysis applied on certain English sentences from three different texts along with their Arabic translations. Those sentences and their Arabic translations are analyzed syntactically according to Chomsky's TGG (1965) and semantically to Fillmore's thematic roles (1977). The results of the study show that there is some kind of interface within these languages in terms of syntax and semantics. This emphasizes the idea of linguistic universals by Chomsky. The application of co-analysis showed that those syntactic and semantic aspects can be relatively similar in English and Arabic particularly in terms of the type of the NPs in the deep and surface structures and semantic roles.
The study concludes that translation is a practical field where the feasibility and utility of linguistic theories and ideas can be tested, and integration and application of more than one approach in translation e.g. TGG analysis and semantic roles can help in producing more appropriate translations. However, it should be stated that syntax semantics interface and its overlapping can't be solely used in translation studies.
Key Words: Syntax- Semantics- Interface- Translation- analysis- implications.
3
Teimi, Cherif. "The Correspondence between Syntax and Semantics." International Journal of English Linguistics 6, no. 3 (May 26, 2016): 118. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v6n3p118.
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<p>The issue of Interfaces is central to linguistic studies. Modern linguistics, especially semantic studies, has given a special interest to this topic. However, up till very recently, the issue has been dealt with mainly from a syntactico-centric point of view. Throughout the development of linguistic theories, there has been a rooted idea in generative grammar that meaning is generated from syntactic structure. In fact, although we adopt the Conceptual Semantics framework, which considers meaning to be too rich and multidimensional to be encoded in purely syntactic mechanisms, we shall deal with the correspondence between syntax and semantics where these two components directly correlate with one another. In other words, we will deal with the topic from the angle where syntax bears <em>all</em> semantic relations.</p>
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Gehrke, Berit, and Louise McNally. "Idioms and the syntax/semantics interface of descriptive content vs. reference." Linguistics 57, no. 4 (July 26, 2019): 769–814. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ling-2019-0016.
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AbstractThe syntactic literature on idioms contains some proposals that are surprising from a compositional perspective. For example, there are proposals that, in the case of verb-object idioms, the verb combines directly with the noun inside its DP complement, and the determiner is introduced higher up in the syntactic structure, or is late-adjoined. This seems to violate compositionality insofar as it is generally assumed that the semantic role of the determiner is to convert a noun to the appropriate semantic type to serve as the argument to the function denoted by the verb. In this paper, we establish a connection between this line of analysis and lines of work in semantics that have developed outside of the domain of idioms, particularly work on incorporation and work that combines formal and distributional semantic modelling. This semantic work separates the composition of descriptive content from that of discourse referent introducing material; our proposal shows that this separation offers a particularly promising way to handle the compositional difficulties posed by idioms, including certain patterns of variation in intervening determiners and modifiers.
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Smeets, Liz. "The acquisition of object movement in Dutch: L1 transfer and near-native grammars at the syntax–discourse interface." Second Language Research 35, no. 4 (July 20, 2018): 479–504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267658318782357.
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This article investigates near-native grammars at the syntax–discourse interface by examining the second language (L2) acquisition of two different domains of object movement in Dutch, which exhibit syntax–discourse or syntax–semantics level properties. English and German near-native speakers of Dutch, where German but not English allows the same mapping strategies as Dutch in the phenomena under investigation, are tested on two felicity judgment tasks and a truth value judgment task. The results from the English participants show sensitivity to discourse information on the acceptability of non-canonical word orders, but only when the relevant discourse cues are sufficiently salient in the input. The acquisition of semantic effects on object movement was native-like for a large subset of the participants. The German group performed on target in all experiments. The results are partially in line with previous studies reporting L2 convergence at the syntax–discourse interface, but suggest that input effects should also be taken into account. Furthermore, the differences between the first language (L1) English and the L1 German group suggests that non-target performance at the syntax–discourse interface is not caused by general bilingual difficulties in integrating discourse information into syntax. The article elaborates on factors that contribute to (in)complete acquisition at the syntax–discourse interface.
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THOMPSON, ELLEN. "Temporal dependency and the syntax of subjects." Journal of Linguistics 37, no. 2 (July 2001): 287–312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022226701008854.
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This article explores the interface between the syntactic and semantic representation of natural language with respect to the interpretation of time. The main claim of the paper is that the semantic relationship of temporal dependency requires syntactic locality at LF. Based on this claim, I explore the syntax and semantics of gerundive relative clauses. I argue that since gerundive relatives are temporally dependent on the tense of the main clause, they need to be local with a temporal element of the main clause at LF. I show that gerundive relatives receive different temporal interpretations depending on their syntactic position at LF. This analysis sheds light on the behavior of gerundive relatives in constructions involving coordination, existential there, scope of quantificational and cardinality adverbials, extraposition, presuppositionality effects and binding-theoretic reconstruction effects.
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Suzuki, Toshitaka N., David Wheatcroft, and Michael Griesser. "The syntax–semantics interface in animal vocal communication." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375, no. 1789 (November 18, 2019): 20180405. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0405.
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Syntax (rules for combining words or elements) and semantics (meaning of expressions) are two pivotal features of human language, and interaction between them allows us to generate a limitless number of meaningful expressions. While both features were traditionally thought to be unique to human language, research over the past four decades has revealed intriguing parallels in animal communication systems. Many birds and mammals produce specific calls with distinct meanings, and some species combine multiple meaningful calls into syntactically ordered sequences. However, it remains largely unclear whether, like phrases or sentences in human language, the meaning of these call sequences depends on both the meanings of the component calls and their syntactic order. Here, leveraging recently demonstrated examples of meaningful call combinations, we introduce a framework for exploring the interaction between syntax and semantics (i.e. the syntax-semantic interface) in animal vocal sequences. We outline methods to test the cognitive mechanisms underlying the production and perception of animal vocal sequences and suggest potential evolutionary scenarios for syntactic communication. We hope that this review will stimulate phenomenological studies on animal vocal sequences as well as experimental studies on the cognitive processes, which promise to provide further insights into the evolution of language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘What can animal communication teach us about human language?’
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Nikanne, Urpo. "Locative Case Adjuncts in Finnish: Notes on Syntactico-Semantic Interface." Nordic Journal of Linguistics 20, no. 2 (December 1997): 155–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0332586500004091.
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This paper discusses Finnish depictive and resultative secondary predicates. The analysis is based on a condition of licensing which can be seen as a version of the principle of Full Interpretation: “A well-formed syntactic structure is licensed only if it can be linked to a well-formed conceptual structure.” The suggested non-trivial theory of the interface between syntax and semantics allows us to avoid unnecessary complexity in syntax, such as small clause and PRO, in secondary predicate adjuncts.
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Khouja, Marta. "dom as a syntax-pragmatics interface marker." Differential objects and datives – a homogeneous class? 42, no. 1 (July 10, 2019): 56–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/li.00029.kho.
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Abstract Building on the display of dom in Catalan and focusing on the Balearic variety, this paper explores this phenomenon arguing for a discourse-driven marking, showing that the assumption that semantic hierarchies as crucial triggers for dom cannot be assumed anymore. We aim to present some ideas to address the correlation between prepositional markings and peripheral positions and to provide arguments for a syntax-pragmatics approach to dom in Clitic Dislocation. Our data shed light on the link between information structure – in particular, anaphoricity- and marked objects. This analysis would also account for other markers (i.e. de) available as a mechanism for signalling the same [+anaphoric] feature.
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Khalaf, Eman Al. "NPI licensing in Jordanian Arabic: An argument for downward entailment and syntax-semantics interface." Topics in Linguistics 18, no. 2 (December 20, 2017): 24–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/topling-2017-0008.
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AbstractRecent work shows that downward entailment (DE) cannot be the right semantic domain that licenses negative polarity items (NPIs). Zwarts (1995), Giannakidou (1998), among others, argue that NPIs are licensed in non-veridical domains, those that do not entail or presuppose the truth of the propositions they embed. In this paper, based on empirical facts, I argue that DE theory is the right analysis for Jordanian Arabic. I propose an analysis of NPI licensing in which three components of grammar interface: syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Semantics defines the class of NPI licensors, pragmatics forces quantificational closure of NPIs, and syntax executes the licensing via AGREE between a phasal head and the NPI. The analysis contributes to the debate on what components of grammar are responsible for NPI licensing and provides a new perspective on the interface between different components of grammar.
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Dor, Daniel. "From the autonomy of syntax to the autonomy of linguistic semantics." Pragmatics and Cognition 8, no. 2 (December 31, 2000): 325–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pc.8.2.03dor.
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Current research on the syntax-semantics interface demonstrates the dramatic extent to which syntactic structures constitute transparent reflections of well-defined semantic regularities. As this paper shows, the empirical results accumulated within this framework strongly suggest that a theoretical distinction should be made between two distinct levels of meaning representation: A level of conceptual meaning on the one hand, and a uniquely linguistic level of meaning — Linguistic Semantics — on the other. The semantic notions and regularities which turn out to determine major syntactic phenomena are best interpreted as belonging to the level of Linguistic Semantics, rather than to the level of conceptual meaning. This view helps characterize language as a unique and functional system — a cognitive system whose function is defined at the level of Linguistic Semantics. It explains the fact, most recently highlighted by Levinson (1997), that the expressive power of language, as a tool for the communication of meanings, is constrained in non-trivial ways.
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Yongzhong, Yang, and Yang Yunjue. "Sentences with Object-oriented Adverbials and the Syntax-Semantics Interface." Macrolinguistics 9, no. 14 (June 30, 2021): 33–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.26478/ja2021.9.14.2.
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SOOAs refer to the phenomenon that the state adjective in the adverbial position is semantically associated with the object. In this paper this fact will be accounted for by invoking the properties of a pre-syntactic level of semantic representation and its interplay with syntax proper. It will be argued that the object-oriented adverbial is not derived from the attributive; in effect, it is base-generated in the complement position. A model of projection of arguments that allows for this will be proposed. It will be shown that the other special properties of SOOAs follow from the way the verb’s object and complement are represented at the pre-syntactic level. In particular, it will be shown that the underlying structure must satisfy both the requirement of the syntactic system and the requirement of the semantic system. The presence of any symbol in a representation is conditional. The theta-roles of internal arguments are assigned by the predicate, which is locally constrained, whereas the theta-roles of external arguments are assigned by the maximal projection of the predicate, viz. VP. When an external argument occurs, there is an empty predicate position in the representation, for there is an asymmetry between the conceptual system and the syntactic system. Derivation involves Move-α and Generalized Transformation. Different use of derivation methods gives rise to various forms of constructions in Chinese. Similarly, different semantic orientations result from different distributions. The state adjective is base-generated in the position behind the object because its nature is to serve the function of the complement of the object. It co-occurs with the object in the embedded VP because they are closely related to each other in terms of semantics. There is no overt predicate between the object and the state adjective. The state adjective occurs in other positions, which is the result of movement. Movement falls into two types, viz. object movement and state adjective movement. Object movement is prior to state adjective movement. In order to satisfy the requirement of feature checking, the object moves to the position NP. Then the state adjective moves to the major predicate and merges with it so as to maintain its semantic association with the state adjective and to serve the function of the complement. It follows that the difference between Chinese SOOAs and English as well as German SOOAs lies in the distance of movement of state adjectives. In Chinese, there are causative markers, resultative markers, and manner markers that can license the state adjective in the landing sites and help to maintain its semantic association with the object while in English and German there are no such markers. As a consequence, the object in Chinese-type SOOAs does not move while the state adjective moves out of the embedded VP to the empty verb position where the manner marker is inserted. The major predicate moves to the same position and merges with the newly-formed syntactic object ADJ-MANN. Furthermore, Chinese-type SOOAs allow the state adjective to precede the major predicate as the manner marker can license the state adjective. In contrast, in English-type SOOAs, neither the state adjective nor the object moves. Moreover, English-type SOOAs do not allow the state adjective to come before the major predicate because there is no manner marker to license it.
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Adger, David, and Gillian Ramchand. "Predication and Equation." Linguistic Inquiry 34, no. 3 (July 2003): 325–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/002438903322247515.
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In this article, we argue that a structural distinction between predicational and equative copular clauses is illusory. All semantic predicational relationships are constructed asymmetrically via a syntactic predicational head; differences reduce to whether this head bears an event variable or not. This allows us to maintain a restrictive view of the syntax-semantics interface in the face of apparently recalcitrant data from Scottish Gaelic.
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Kraš, Tihana. "The lexicon-syntax interface in child L2 grammars of Italian." EUROSLA Yearbook 10 (August 4, 2010): 220–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.10.12kra.
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This paper investigates the knowledge of two unaccusative diagnostics in Italian, auxiliary selection and ne cliticisation, in child L2 grammars of L1 Croatian speakers. The two phenomena are not instantiated in Croatian. Following Sorace (2000), it is assumed in the paper that the lexical-semantic aspect of these phenomena is characterised by gradience that can be captured by the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. Findings are reported of an experimental study in which highly proficient child L2 learners and their monolingual peers rated the acceptability of two Italian auxiliaries and ne-cliticisation with different lexical-semantic classes of intransitives by using the Magnitude Estimation technique. The learners’ judgements largely converged on those of the native speakers, suggesting that the two phenomena had been acquired in the L2. Such findings support the hypothesis predicting complete L2 acquisition of properties pertaining to an interface between two domains within the language factory (the so-called internal interfaces), in this case syntax and the lexicon.
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Kučerová, Ivona. "On the role of person in the mapping of syntactic features onto their interpretable counterparts." Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 64, no. 4 (September 12, 2019): 649–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cnj.2019.22.
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AbstractPerson features play a role in narrow-syntax processes. However, a person feature is often characterized as [±participant], a characterization that suggests pragmatic or semantic features. Relatedly, person has been the subject of an ongoing debate in the literature: one family of approaches argues that 3rd person is an elsewhere case, while another argues that it is a valued interpretable feature. This article provides a programatic argument that this disagreement has a principled basis. I argue that the representation of the features we identify as person changes between narrow syntax and the syntax-semantics interface. The tests and empirical descriptions are incongruent because they target different modules of the grammar and in turn different grammatical objects. The article thus contributes to our understanding of the division of labour among the modules, with a special focus on the autonomous status of narrow syntax.
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González Orta, Marta María. "The syntax and semantics interface of present-day and Old English speech verbs : say and tell versus secgan and tellan." Journal of English Studies 3 (May 29, 2002): 81. http://dx.doi.org/10.18172/jes.70.
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The aim of this paper is to analyse the syntax-semantics interface of the Old English speech verbs secgan and tellan, and the Present-day English speech verbs say and tell, respectively, in order to show the differences in each language when linking their syntactic and semantic representations. In this analysis the concept of lexical template has been applied as a lexical representation which includes syntactic and semantic information within the same format and allows us to capture linguistic regularities. Moreover, taking into account the syntactic alternations of these verbs a comparison between them will be established in terms of the degree of semantic prototypicality that they show within their respective domains and with respect to their transitivity
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Gotsoulia, Voula. "Formalization of linking information in the FrameNet lexicon." Constructions and Frames 4, no. 2 (December 31, 2012): 103–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/cf.4.2.01got.
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The paper presents a novel approach to formalization of linking information in the FrameNet lexicon and to acquisition of a principled syntax-semantics interface, suitable for generalizing over combinatorial properties (valences) of predicators. Focusing on verbs that denote ‘notions’, it adopts an entailment-based view of the concept of semantic role, proposing representations of verbal arguments based on semantically primitive, grammatically relevant properties, entailed by the meaning of predicators (lexical entailments). Such generic meaning components abstract over various semantic relations which humans tend to express systematically through language. A limited set of prototypical role-like concepts can be used for modeling the linking properties of a wide range of verbs, in a well-ordered fashion. In a preliminary study, frame-semantic representations of a set of notion verbs are mapped onto lexical entailment representations, in a portion of the FrameNet corpora. From the annotated data set, associations of semantic and grammatical categories are extracted and are formally rendered in entailment-based classes called Lexicalization Types (L-Types). L-Types are specified in terms of combinations of entailed properties, encoding distinctive predicate-argument structure patterns. A small number of L-Types is shown to readily abstract over the valence patterns of verbs classified in a variety of FrameNet frames. The latter are not systematically connected for purposes of linking. Valence generalizations in the FrameNet lexicon are acquired through appropriate frame-to-frame relations forming the frame hierarchy. L-Types can be represented as abstract, non-lexicalized frames specifying linking constraints. Mappings between L-Types and more specific frames can be encoded by means of a new frame relation modeling the syntax-semantics interface. Such a relation would simplify the current picture of the frame hierarchy by essentially decoupling purely lexical semantic information from information pertaining to linking.
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Jin, Jing. "A revisit to the [Num-Cl-Modifier-de-N]/ [Modifier-de-Num-Cl‑N] variation in Mandarin Chinese." Language and Linguistics / 語言暨語言學 21, no. 2 (April 2, 2020): 213–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lali.00061.jin.
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Abstract This paper investigates the licensing condition of the [Num(eral)-Cl(assifier)-Mod(ifier)-de-N(oun)] / [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] variation in Mandarin Chinese. It is observed that this variation represents a complex interface phenomenon in the nominal domain, which is subject to the semantic condition concerning the i(ndividual)-level/s(tage)-level nature of the modifier contained on the one hand, and the discourse-related condition concerning contrastive topic (ct) on the other. Based on this, at the syntax-semantics interface level, this paper proposes a division of the syntactic domain of adnominal modification to account for the discrepancy between i‑level and s‑level modifiers in terms of their capability in forming [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] in the neutral context. In the meanwhile, at the syntax-discourse interface level, in light of the interface-induced analysis pursued by Neeleman & Van de Koot (2008) and Horvath (2010), it is claimed that the word order of [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] could be adopted as a linguistic device to encode ct within the nominal domain in Mandarin Chinese, in which case the ordering of [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] is licensed for the purpose of establishing a transparent mapping between syntactic configuration and information structure.
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Faure, Richard. "The Interaction between Presupposition and Focus: Classical Greek Wh-Exclamatives." Journal of Greek Linguistics 12, no. 2 (2012): 276–304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15699846-00000003.
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In this paper, we argue against the claim that exclamatives could be reducible to interrogatives in Classical Greek as sometimes claimed for English. Exclamatives are original in that they denote presupposed propositions and are headed by specific (wh-morpheme h-) and focused wh-items. They necessarily involve degrees. We try to make sense of all these features by showing that the exclamative speech act resides in the meeting of knowledge (presupposition, specificity) and unexpectedness (focus, extended scales) at the semantic/pragmatic/syntax interface.
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Schweiger, R., U. Altmann, M. Holena, B. Blobel, J. Dudeck, and T. Bürkle. "Transferring Data from One EPR to Another: Content – Syntax – Semantic." Methods of Information in Medicine 38, no. 04/05 (1999): 321–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1634409.
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AbstractWhen data are transmitted between electronic patient record (EPR) systems, we can distinguish several tasks. One task is the definition of structure and semantic content of the data in a message structure. Another task is the mapping of the sending EPR’s structure to this message structure. A third task is the mapping of the message structure to the receiving EPR’s structure. We describe an approach, which distinguishes clearly between these different tasks and activities. Using this approach we have implemented a data transfer procedure between a cancer registry application and a middleware for healthcare information systems. Our experience showed that the proposed systematic approach helped identify problems for data transfer in an early design phase. It also allowed us to limit modifications of the data exchange procedure to certain tasks or activities when one of the EPR applications was updated. In the end, we could even exchange the underlying message format without having to reimplement the complete interface.
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GRINSTEAD, John. "Interface Delay." Journal of Child Language 48, no. 5 (July 13, 2021): 888–906. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0305000921000477.
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AbstractInterface Delay is a theory of syntactic development, which attempts to explain an array of constructions that are slow to develop, which are characterized by being sensitive to discourse-pragmatic considerations of the type associated with the natural semantic class of definites. The theory claims that neither syntax itself, nor the discourse-pragmatic abilities related to executive function and theory of mind themselves are slow to develop. Rather, the claim is that the nexus or interface between the two cognitive domains is slow to develop. We review the development of subjects in child Spanish as an example of this delayed growth trajectory. Further, we review evidence that a delay in the development of tense causes concomitant delays in the seemingly unrelated phenomena of non-nominative case subject pronoun use and un-inverted wh- questions.
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Adger, David, and Gillian Ramchand. "Predication and equation." ZAS Papers in Linguistics 26 (January 1, 2001): 1–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.26.2001.136.
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English is one language where equative sentences and non-equative sentences have a similar surface syntax (but see Heggie 1988 and Moro 1997 for a discussion of more subtle differences). In this paper we address the fact that many other languages appear to use radically different morphological means which seem to map to intuitive differences in the type of predication expressed. We take one such language, Scottish Gaelic, and show that the real difference is not between equative and non-equative sentences, but is rather dependent on whether the predicational head in the structure proposed above is eventive or not.
We show that the aparently odd syntax of “equatives” in this language derives from the fact that they are constructed via a non-eventive Pred head. Since Pred heads cannot combine with non-predicative categories, such as saturated DPs, “equatives” are built up indirectly from a simple predicational structure with a semantically bleached predicate. This approach not only allows us to maintain a strict one-to-one syntax/semantics mapping for predicational syntax, but also for the syntax of DPs. The argument we develop here, then, suggests that the interface between the syntactic and semantic components is maximally economical— one could say perfect.
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Vlachos, Christos, and Michalis Chiou. "The syntax, semantics and pragmatics of ‘optional’ wh-in situ in Greek." Journal of Greek Linguistics 20, no. 1 (June 4, 2020): 102–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15699846-02001001.
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Abstract Building on the relevant literature, this paper provides an up-to-now missing overarching approach to ‘optional’ wh-in situ questions in Greek, by arguing that some properties of wh-in situ are computed at the interface between syntax and semantics, other properties relate to the syntax-pragmatics interface, and yet others are derived at the interface between PF and pragmatics. Wh-in situ is not semantically (hence, syntactically) equivalent to wh-fronting, with the latter being the default strategy of Greek on empirical grounds. Wh-in situ assumes distinct syntax and semantics, while its pragmatics is computed partly by the way it is associated to the discourse, and partly by intonation.
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Slabakova, Roumyana, Paula Kempchinsky, and Jason Rothman. "Clitic-doubled left dislocation and focus fronting in L2 Spanish: A case of successful acquisition at the syntax–discourse interface." Second Language Research 28, no. 3 (July 2012): 319–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267658312447612.
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This experimental study tests the Interface Hypothesis by looking into processes at the syntax–discourse interface, teasing apart acquisition of syntactic, semantic and discourse knowledge. Adopting López’s (2009) pragmatic features [±a(naphor)] and [±c(ontrast)], which in combination account for the constructions of dislocation and fronting, we tested clitic left dislocation and fronted focus in the comprehension of English native speakers learning Spanish. Furthermore, we tested knowledge of an additional semantic property: the relationship between the discourse anaphor and the antecedent in clitic left dislocation (CLLD). This relationship is free: it can be subset, superset, part/whole. Syntactic knowledge of clitics was a condition for inclusion in the main test. Our findings indicate that all learners are sensitive to the semantic constraints. While the near-native speakers display native-like discourse knowledge, the advanced speakers demonstrated some discourse knowledge, and intermediate learners did not display any discourse knowledge. The findings support as well as challenge the Interface Hypothesis.
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Guijarro-Fuentes, Pedro, and Theodoros Marinis. "Acquiring phenomena at the syntax/semantics interface in L2 Spanish." EUROSLA Yearbook 7 (August 10, 2007): 67–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.7.06gui.
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Recent second language (L2) acquisition research has proposed that purely syntactic features are easier to acquire and less vulnerable than ones involving the interfaces (Sorace, 2004; Serratrice et al. 2004). The present paper addresses this issue by investigating the acquisition of the Spanish personal preposition a in English L2 learners of Spanish. The distribution of a in direct object NPs relates to the specificity/definiteness of the NP, the animacy/agentivity of the subject, and verb semantics (Torrego 1998; Zagona 2002). 33 English L2 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels, and 14 Spanish controls participated in an acceptability judgement task. The results showed significant differences between native speakers and L2 learners of all proficiency levels, who performed at chance, and support the claim that L2 learners have difficulties acquiring structures involving the syntax/semantics interface. However, the advanced learners showed sensitivity to the least complex condition providing evidence that interface phenomena may be acquirable.
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Teomiro, Ismael. "Reflexivity and adjustment strategies at the interfaces." Nordlyd 37 (October 27, 2011): 119. http://dx.doi.org/10.7557/12.2026.
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<p>I argue in this work that Reinhart & Reuland’s (1993) conditions A and B hold for Spanish. I provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that this language makes use of both <strong>SE </strong>and <strong>SELF</strong>-anaphors. Inherent reflexive verbs undergo an internal argument reduction operation in the lexicon. However, the syntax always requires two arguments. Therefore certain clitics, which are SE-anaphors, are inserted in these derivations. This is a last-resort mechanism that makes an adjustment between the valence of the lexical entry of the verb and the requirements of the syntax in order for the derivation to converge at the C-I interface. These clitics are syntactic arguments. Nevertheless, they are not interpreted as semantic arguments since they violate the <em>double chain condition, </em>which forces nominal elements to share both a tense and thematic features with the verb and the tense heads. Non- inherent reflexive verbs require the presence of a SELF-anaphor, which is formed out of a SE-anaphor along with a protector SELF element. Therefore, both syntactic elements are interpreted as two distinguishable semantic elements at C-I despite the fact that there is binding between them both. The interpretation of both syntactic elements as just one semantic element is a pragmatic epiphenomenon.</p>
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im Walde, Sabine Schulte. "Experiments on the Automatic Induction of German Semantic Verb Classes." Computational Linguistics 32, no. 2 (June 2006): 159–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/coli.2006.32.2.159.
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This article presents clustering experiments on German verbs: A statistical grammar model for German serves as the source for a distributional verb description at the lexical syntax-semantics interface, and the unsupervised clustering algorithm k-means uses the empirical verb properties to perform an automatic induction of verb classes. Various evaluation measures are applied to compare the clustering results to gold standard German semantic verb classes under different criteria. The primary goals of the experiments are (1) to empirically utilize and investigate the well-established relationship between verb meaning and verb behavior within a cluster analysis and (2) to investigate the required technical parameters of a cluster analysis with respect to this specific linguistic task. The clustering methodology is developed on a small-scale verb set and then applied to a larger-scale verb set including 883 German verbs.
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Kučerová, Ivona. "ɸ-Features at the Syntax-Semantics Interface: Evidence from Nominal Inflection." Linguistic Inquiry 49, no. 4 (October 2018): 813–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00290.
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I argue for a novel model of feature valuation in the CI interface and explore under what circumstances a syntactic feature is semantically interpretable. As the groundwork for the investigation, I propose an explicit Distributed Morphology model of Italian nouns of profession. The data provide evidence that the morphology accesses the narrow-syntax representation at two different temporal points within a phase: the earlier point (Spell-Out) returns a morphological realization faithful to feature values present in narrow syntax, while the later point (Transfer) allows for a narrow-syntax representation to be enriched by the CI component. Thus, there is no syntactic distinction between interpretable and uninterpretable features: a syntactic feature appears to be interpretable only if it has been licensed by the CI interface.
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ONO, NAOYUKI. "INSTRUMENTS: A CASE STUDY OF THE INTERFACE BETWEEN SYNTAX AND LEXICAL SEMANTICS." ENGLISH LINGUISTICS 9 (1992): 196–222. http://dx.doi.org/10.9793/elsj1984.9.196.
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DESTRUEL, EMILIE, and BRYAN DONALDSON. "Second language acquisition of pragmatic inferences: Evidence from the Frenchc'est-cleft." Applied Psycholinguistics 38, no. 3 (November 21, 2016): 703–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0142716416000400.
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ABSTRACTThis paper examines the extent to which second language (L2) speakers of French acquire the semantic and pragmatic (or interpretive) properties associated with thec'est-cleft, specifically the exhaustive inference. This phenomenon is relevant to theories of language acquisition because it is situated at the interface of syntax and pragmatics. The results from a forced-choice task challenge the empirical adequacy of the interface hypothesis (Sorace, 2011, 2012; Sorace & Filiaci, 2006), which claims that external interfaces between a linguistic module and a cognitive module remain problematic even at the highest levels of L2 acquisition. The results from 40 L2 learners at three proficiency levels reveal development from nontargetlike to nativelike behavior. In particular, the high-proficiency group interprets thec'est-cleft, as well as canonical subject–verb–object sentences and sentences with exclusives (i.e.,seul(ement)“only”), in a statistically identical way to the French native speaker control group.
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Farese, Gian Marco. "“Know Your Coffee!” The Cultural Semantics of a Lexico-Syntactic Molecule of English." International Journal of English Linguistics 12, no. 4 (June 5, 2022): 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v12n4p11.
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This paper presents a cultural semantic analysis of the English syntactic construction ‘know your + noun’ made combining the analytical principles and methods of ethnosyntax (Wierzbicka, 1988, 2003, 2006a) with those of corpus-based discourse analysis (Baker, 2006; Partington et al., 2004). Three main points are made in the paper: (i) ‘know your n.’ constitutes an indissoluble lexico-syntactic molecule of English expressing its own specific meaning; (ii) this construction is both genre-specific and subject to intralinguistic variation; (iii) this construction is quintessentially Anglo, because it reflects Anglo cultural assumptions about personal autonomy informing certain speech practices in English discourse (Goddard & Wierzbicka, 2004; Wierzbicka, 2006b) and defies easy translation in other languages. The analysis is based on the findings of a corpus search in GLOWBE across varieties of English complemented by additional data from the web. The results provide a clear picture of the meaning of ‘know your n.’ and of where it situates within the broad range of know-constructions. Ultimately, the paper emphasises the contribution that corpus-based, empirical discourse analysis can make to the semantics and ethnography of syntax as well as to the study of the interface between syntax, semantics and culture.
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Tseng, Yu-Ching. "A Prototypical Model on Hakka Serial Verb Constructions." International Journal of English Linguistics 11, no. 2 (December 22, 2020): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v11n2p1.
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This research paper provides a meaning-based account to examining Hakka syntactic constructions that comprise multiple verbs in their scope. The investigation is based on an interdisciplinary approach from the interface of syntax and semantics. The paper is organized into two main parts. The first part of this paper claims that the prototypical construction of the serial verb construction is a syntactic configuration that contains two verbs in the same clause, indicating two interdependent subevents happening at close time intervals. In addition, the paper proposes that greater distance in structural and semantic interdependence between the two verbs forms a gradation deviating from the prototype. In this part, a prototype model, rather than a criterial attribute model, is adopted to define the Hakka serial verb construction (SVC). The second part of paper provides a typological study that classifies the Hakka SVCs into subtypes based on the syntactic structure and the semantic relationship of the component verbs. Syntactic tests are used to test the clausehood of the multi-verb constructions identified in this part.
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Boping Yuan. "Domain-wide or variable-dependent vulnerability of the semantics—syntax interface in L2 acquisition? Evidence from wh-words used as existential polarity words in L2 Chinese grammars." Second Language Research 26, no. 2 (April 2010): 219–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267658309349421.
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Most studies in the second language (L2) literature that deal with interface issues do so in holistic terms. On the one hand, researchers have suggested that interface relations between the syntax and other domains are particularly difficult for adult L2 learners. On the other, it has been argued that such relations can be established in a native-like way, even when no clear positive evidence is readily available in the input. In both cases researchers have treated the issue in a domain-wide fashion. However, the domain-wide approach is not supported by the study reported in this aricle, which examines the role of the semantics—syntax interface in the representation of wh-words as existential polarity words (EPWs) in the L2 Chinese grammars of English and Japanese speakers. The results suggest that the semantics—syntax interface can be established between the EPWs and some of their potential licensers in L2 Chinese grammars, but not others. This indicates that L2 learners’ success or failure in acquiring the interface is not domain-wide. A variable-dependent account is proposed for the results, arguing that success or failure in establishing interface relations in L2 grammars is likely to depend on a number of variables, including the categorial nature of individual elements involved in the interface relationship, the status of these elements in the target language speaker’s grammar, the input that learners are exposed to, and cross-linguistic influence.
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Zhang, Niina. "Proceedings of the Workshop on Syntax of Predication, Nov 2-3, 2001, ZAS-Berlin." ZAS Papers in Linguistics 26 (January 1, 2001): 254. http://dx.doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.26.2001.135.
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This volume presents working versions of presentations heard at and selected for the Workshop on Syntax of Predication, held at ZAS, Berlin, on November 2-3, 2001 (except the editor’s own paper).
Predication is a many-faceted topic which involves both syntax and semantics and the interface between them. This is reflected in the papers of the volume.
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Wechsler, Stephen. "The Role of the Lexicon in the Syntax–Semantics Interface." Annual Review of Linguistics 6, no. 1 (January 14, 2020): 67–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030349.
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Evidence from the study of verbal argument alternations suggests that the syntactic structure of an event-denoting clause often reflects the structure of the event it denotes, in the sense that parts of the clause refer to aspects of the event. The patterns of such mappings between clause structure and event structure tend to be crosslinguistically uniform. Proffered explanations for these phenomena fall into two distinct theoretical currents. Lexicalists explain these phenomena in terms of the inherent paradigmatic structure of the lexicon, which leads verbs with similar meanings to have similar valence structures. Constructionists see these phenomena as evidence that the syntax itself conveys meaning that composes with the meaning contributed by the verb. The roots of this theoretical split are traced to differing perspectives on polysemy, and a partial synthesis of the two perspectives is proposed.
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Lang, Ewald, and Ilse Zimmermann. "Nominalizations." ZAS Papers in Linguistics 27 (January 1, 2002): 145. http://dx.doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.27.2002.146.
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The present volume is a selection of the papers presented in workshops at ZAS in Berlin in November 2000 and at theUniversity of Tübingen in April 2001, devoted to synchronic and, diachronic aspects of various types of nominalizations. Nominalization has a long history in linguistic research. Its nature can only be captured by taking into account the interface between morphology, syntax and semantics on the one hand, and the interface between semantics and conceptual structure on the other.
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Lutzeier, Peter Rolf. "Double accusatives in German: An application of CRMS-theory." American Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Literatures 4, no. 1 (January 1992): 55–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1040820700000822.
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ABSTRACTThis article addresses a problem at the interface between morpho-syntax and semantics: How to treat “double-accusative” constructions in German. The solution is given in relational terms, which suits the framework of CRMS-theory*. With regard to the first type of “double accusative” constructions [sie lehrt ihn die deutsche sprache ‘she teaches him the German language’], the option of different case marking is explained by general principles of CRMS-theory. With regard to the second type [sie nennt ihn einen lügner ‘she calls him a liar’], the clue for its full understanding comes from the following observation: in addition to the accusative marking of both complements there is a strong semantic tie between the two. That is why traditional grammar rightly speaks of such forms as einen lügner as an “accusative of identification”. As this idea of identification is realized at the content level in my approach, I do not see any reason for establishing a special relation “predicative” for the second type.
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Li, Moying. "Multiple Occurrences of the Chinese Reflexive in a Clause: At the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface." Theory and Practice in Language Studies 12, no. 11 (November 3, 2022): 2436–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1211.26.
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Multiple occurrences of ziji in Mandarin Chinese pose a theoretical challenge which has not been met satisfactorily by previous analyses (see Huang & Liu, 2001; Huang et al., 2009). In this paper, we employ a parsing analysis of the co-reference relationship between zijis and their potential antecedents within the framework of Dynamic Syntax (Kempson et al., 2001; Cann et al., 2005). Since the perspective center for multiple zijis is determined only by looking at the context in line with the principle of relevance, ziji can be treated as a place-holder which can violate the locality condition. That is to say, the metavariable projected by ziji can only be provided via the pragmatic enrichment process: substitution. The perspective shifting for multiple zijis will cause semantic confusion in communication. We then conclude that multiple zijis can only take one and the same antecedent in communication context (see also Yang & Wu, 2015).
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Magnani, Marco. "Non-canonical case marking on subjects in Russian and Lithuanian." Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 1, no. 2 (December 31, 2019): 175–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/elt.00010.mag.
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Abstract In case-marking languages with nominative-accusative alignment the subject of a sentence is usually marked by nominative case. In some of these languages, however, the subject of a number of verbs is either consistently or alternately marked by another, non-nominative case. Such non-canonical case marking has often been approached in the linguistic literature as a phenomenon at the interface between syntax and semantics. Yet the predictions of this kind of approach seem more probabilistic than regular. This paper offers a new perspective to analyse the phenomenon, which encompasses the role of information structure in case marking. Drawing on Silverstein’s (1976) theory of differential subject marking and Dalrymple & Nikolaeva’s (2011) approach to differential object marking, it is argued that non-canonically case-marked subjects can be better analysed as instances of either non-topical subjects or subjects lacking one or more semantic features typical of topicality. The approach outlined in the paper is tested on a number of constructions in Russian and Lithuanian. It is shown how, in both languages, the analysed instances of non-canonically case-marked subjects exhibit a complex interplay among grammatical, semantic and discourse-pragmatic factors.
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Stump, Gregory T. "Morphosyntactic property sets at the interface of inflectional morphology, syntax and semantics." Morphology and its interfaces 37, no. 2 (December 31, 2014): 290–305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/li.37.2.07stu.
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The morphosyntactic property set associated with the syntactic node occupied by a word form is not invariably identical to the property set determining that word form’s inflection, as evidence from Bhojpuri, Turkish, Sanskrit and Hua shows. The difference between syntactic property sets and their corresponding morphological property sets may be represented as a property mapping relating two different kinds of paradigm: a lexeme L’s content paradigm specifies the range of property sets with which L may be associated in syntax ; its form paradigm specifies the (sometimes distinct) property sets that determine L’s inflectional realization. Thus, a language’s inflectional morphology doesn’t merely specify the realization of paradigm cells: it also specifies the sometimes nontrivial linkage of content with form at the interface of syntax and semantics with morphology.
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Stringer, David, Beatrix Burghardt, Hyun-Kyoung Seo, and Yi-Ting Wang. "Straight on through to Universal Grammar: Spatial modifiers in second language acquisition." Second Language Research 27, no. 3 (April 21, 2011): 289–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267658310384567.
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There has been considerable progress in second language (L2) research at the syntax—semantics interface addressing how syntax can inform phrasal semantics, in terms of interpretive correlates of word order (Slabakova, 2008). This article provides evidence of a flow of information ostensibly in the opposite direction, from meaning to grammar, at the interface between lexical semantics and syntax. It is argued that there is a functional hierarchy of modifiers in the domain of adpositions, which enables the linguistic elaboration of trajectories, but that not all languages lexicalize all types. This study examines whether L2 learners of English are able to overcome the poverty of the stimulus and recruit the relevant functional categories despite their absence in the first language (L1). Modifiers were taught to learners individually, but never in combination. A computer-animated narrative was designed in order to create felicitous contexts for combinations of modifiers, and preference and grammaticality judgment tasks were administered to 121 students from various L1 backgrounds, as well as 20 native speakers. Accuracy scores were remarkably targetlike on binary combinations of modifiers (1) across proficiency levels, (2) across L1s, and (3) across the two tasks, revealing that with the semantics of modifiers in place, the syntactic hierarchy is naturally manifested.
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Delfitto, Denis, and Gaetano Fiorin. "Person Features and Pronominal Anaphora." Linguistic Inquiry 42, no. 2 (April 2011): 193–224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00040.
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This article aims at clarifying the role of person at the interface between syntax and the interpretive systems. We argue that first person interpretations of third person pronouns (de se readings) stem from the option of leaving the referential index underspecified on the pronoun, thus accounting for the interplay of this phenomenon with the anaphoric usage of first person indexicals (pronoun shifting) and logophoric pronouns. The results include proposals on the connection between the semantics of first person and the syntax of the left periphery, a neo-Davidsonian treatment of the semantics of first person indexicals, and a novel view of pronominal anaphora according to which Higginbotham's (1983) asymmetric relation of linking involves a mechanism of θ-role inheritance tied to the semantics of first person.
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Bravo, Ana, Luis García, and Diego Gabriel Krivochen. "On Auxiliary Chains: Lexical and Functional Auxiliaries at the syntax-semantics interface." Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics 4, no. 2 (December 1, 2015): 71. http://dx.doi.org/10.7557/1.4.2.3612.
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The present paper is focused on the study of those relations that auxiliary verbs can establish among themselves when chained in a sequence. Regarding those sequences, which in Spanish can be considerably long, the literature has displayed primarily interest in formulating a set of principles that can predict possible relative orderings among auxiliaries. On the contrary, our paper delves into a less walked path: the description of relations established within an auxiliary chain. We will start from the traditional definition of auxiliary verb as a unit that modifies the ‘main’ or ‘lexical’ verb, and proceed to show that such a conception makes the wrong predictions when it comes to explain those internal relations, for it only accounts for a subset of the cases. This explanatory problem is common to both traditional and more formal models. In our opinion, the distinction between between <em>lexical </em>and <em>functional</em> auxiliaries that we propose in this work, in the context of a dynamic computational model that includes and derives this distinction, allows us to overcome these shortcomings of traditional analyses.
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Hannay, Mike, and Caroline Kroon. "Acts and the relationship between discourse and grammar." Functions of Language 12, no. 1 (March 22, 2005): 87–124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/fol.12.1.05han.
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In modelling the discourse–grammar interface, a central question concerns the status of discourse act as the minimal unit of discourse organization and its relation to units of grammatical structure. This paper seeks to clarify the notion of act by defining it as a strategic rather than a conceptual unit, and by setting out a classification of strategic acts. Illustration is then offered for the position that discourse acts are to a very considerable extent realized in English by intonation units and punctuation units. This is done by considering how punctuational variation and cases of intonation/syntax mismatch can be explained in terms of the specific discourse contribution of the units concerned. Although the correlation between discourse acts and intonation/punctuation units remains problematic, in that there may not be a 1 : 1 correspondence, it is still attractive — at least for English — to see the linguistic correlate of acts in intonation and punctuation units rather than in syntactic structures. The paper finishes by considering the implications for the formalizing of relations between discourse, semantics and syntax in Functional Discourse Grammar.
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Ticio, Emma. "Nominal ellipsis as a collaborative effort." Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics 5, no. 2 (December 1, 2016): 221. http://dx.doi.org/10.7557/1.5.2.3130.
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Following fundamental minimalist assumptions, this study aims to explain the distribution of nominal ellipsis (NE, henceforth) in Spanish as the result of last resort constraints at different components of the grammar. The current proposal is that NE in Spanish is a special case of trace deletion that results from the creation of an imperfect/defective/smaller copy, which must be interpreted as an anaphora (concretely, as a (definite) pronoun) at the semantic interface (hence, SEM) due to its ‘reduced’ size. Therefore, the structure created in narrow syntax will be interpreted as any other copy at the phonological interface (hence, PHON), where it is not pronounced, but it will be interpreted as a (definite) pronoun at SEM. This approach derives the partitive character of the NE construction and the impossibility of having NE with some Determiners and prenominal Adjectives as the result of an SEM clash between the presence of the anaphora and the meaning of the Determiner
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Laleko, Oksana, and Maria Polinsky. "Marking Topic or Marking Case: A Comparative Investigation of Heritage Japanese and Heritage Korean." Heritage Language Journal 10, no. 2 (September 30, 2013): 178–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.46538/hlj.10.2.3.
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In this paper, we examine the relationship between grammatical and discourse-related domains of linguistic organization in heritage speakers by comparing their knowledge of categories mediated at different structural levels: grammatical case marking, which is mediated within the structure of the clause, and the marking of information structure, grammatically mediated at the syntax-discourse interface. To this end, we examine the knowledge of case and topic particles in heritage speakers and L2 learners of Japanese and Korean as assessed through a series of rating tasks. We find that heritage speakers in both languages experience different degrees of difficulty with elements that belong to different linguistic modules: phenomena which involve semantic and discourse computation are found to be more difficult than phenomena governed primarily by structural syntactic constraints.
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Kanwit, Matthew, and Virginia Terán. "Ideas Buenas o Buenas Ideas: Phonological, Semantic, and Frequency Effects on Variable Adjective Ordering in Rioplatense Spanish." Languages 5, no. 4 (November 23, 2020): 65. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/languages5040065.
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Although linguistic research has often focused on one domain (e.g., as influenced by generative prioritization of the Autonomy of Syntax), critical findings have been uncovered by exploring the interaction of multiple domains (e.g., the link between morphological status and lateralization of /ɾ/; the syntactic–pragmatic interface’s constraints on subject expression). The position of adjectives relative to the nouns they modify is a good test case in this discussion because multiple areas of the grammar are implicated, including syntax, phonology, and semantics. Moreover, research on this structure has yielded small cells, which prevented the use of statistical tests to convey the relative importance of multiple factors. Consequently, our study used a controlled, 24-item contextualized preference task to assess the roles of semantics (i.e., adjective class), phonology (i.e., noun–adjective syllable length differences), and lexical frequency on variable adjective ordering for 100 speakers of rioplatense Argentinean Spanish. Mixed-effects regression revealed that each factor was significant, with shorter, high-frequency, evaluative adjectives most favoring pre-position. Individual adjective analysis confirmed the greater effect of lexical frequency than semantic class, with additional corpora analyses further elucidating these trends. The study adds to the growing body of research on the role of factors across linguistic domains, while arguing for the importance of the relative frequency of adjective–noun collocations and complementing recent research on lexical effects.
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Pinelli, Maria Cristina, Cecilia Poletto, and Cinzia Avesani. "Does prosody meet syntax? A case study on standard Italian cleft sentences and left peripheral focus." Linguistic Review 37, no. 2 (May 26, 2020): 309–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/tlr-2019-2045.
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AbstractIn this work we deal with two structures that have a very similar pragmatic function in Italian and have been claimed to have similar semantic and syntactic properties, namely clefts and left peripheral focus. Since Chomsky (1977. On wh-movement. In Peter W. Culicover, Thomas Wasow & Adrian Akmajian (eds.), Formal Syntax, 71–132. New York: Academic Press.) they have been both considered as instances of A’-movement and should therefore behave alike. Here we investigate their prosody and their syntax on the basis of three experimental studies and show that while the prosodic patterns found are indeed very similar, their syntax is less homogenous than expected if we apply general tests that have been traditionally used to distinguish A- from A’-movement. In particular, we will discuss three of these tests, namely parasitic gaps, weak crossover and anaphoric binding and show that the two constructions yield quite different results. We analyse the differences within the framework of featural relativized minimality originally proposed in Rizzi (2004. Locality and the left periphery. In Adriana Belletti (ed.), Structures and Beyond: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures 3, 223–251. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) and subsequent work. On this basis, we conclude that there is no one to one match between prosodic and syntactic properties, since we observe differences in the syntactic behaviour of the two constructions that do not surface in the prosodic patterns. Indirectly, this study sheds new light on the interface between prosody and syntax and is a confirmation of a modular theory of the components of grammar: some specific syntactic properties have no reflex in other components of grammar and can only be detected through purely syntactic tests.
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Buysse, Manon. "Clause linking in L2 English." EUROSLA Yearbook 15 (July 31, 2015): 41–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.15.02buy.
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The development of clause linkage in a second language has been studied extensively in the fields of applied linguistics and second language research. Several studies have focused on the development of specific types of complex structures, essentially based on the development of different classes of subordinate clauses distinguished by traditional grammar. The present contribution uses as a theoretical framework Role and Reference Grammar. RRG’s model of clause linkage proposes a different array of possible relations between combined clauses, adding the concept of cosubordination to the traditional dichotomy coordination/subordination, and pays attention to both predicate-based complexification within the clause and full clause combinations. RRG bases its classification of linkage types on the Interclausal Relations Hierarchy (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997), which unites syntactic and semantic aspects of clause complexification. The present article focuses on the syntax-semantics interface as realized within the Interclausal Relations Hierarchy, and on its impact on the acquisition of clause linkage structures by adolescent L2 learners of English. The corpus consists of oral narrative English interlanguage data elicited from 12- to 18-year-old Dutch-speaking secondary school pupils in Flanders (Belgium). Results show that RRG’s main principles of clause linkage are easily applicable to second language acquisition. The syntactic and semantic strength of a given juncture were found to often coincide in the data, as predicted, and any syntactic encoding of a semantic juncture which matches its semantic strength is likely to be acquired more easily and/or earlier than non-matching realizations. Although not all predictions made by RRG concerning structural variation were confirmed by our L2 English data, we conclude that RRG provides a fruitful, coherent and powerful framework for studying clause linkage and sentence complexification in spoken L2 learner discourse.
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Wu, Mingjun, Lawrence Jun Zhang, Di Wu, and Tongshun Wang. "Effects of the interface categories on the acquisition patterns of English reflexives among learners of English as a foreign language." International Journal of Bilingualism 24, no. 4 (September 16, 2019): 651–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367006919875513.
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Objectives: Binding properties are difficult for learners to fully acquire. This study explored English-as-a-foreign-language learners’ acquisition patterns of the three binding properties of English reflexives and the effectiveness of the Interface Hypothesis. Methodology: One hundred and twenty-two native speakers of Chinese, a language with different binding properties, participated in the study; they were categorized into low, intermediate and advanced groups according to an English proficiency test. They were read 32 stories of 2 to 5 sentences each and were required to provide a comment sentence instantiating the three binding properties; i.e. c-command, subject orientation and locality. Data and analysis: A mixed repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with group and individual results of the experimental task to ascertain whether there were significant differences across different binding properties and among the three proficiency groups. Findings: Results from a truth-value judgment task indicate that the within-groups difficulty order of the three distinct binding properties is that: (a) for the low-proficiency group, c-command was easier than locality and orientation; and (b) for the intermediate-proficiency and the high-proficiency groups, c-command was easier than locality which, in turn, was easier than orientation. Among the three proficiency-groups, four acquisition patterns were found, which standard Binding Theory and its extensions cannot adequately explain. Originality: This is the first study to provide a variable-dependent account. It is argued that success or failure in establishing interface relations in second language grammars is likely to depend on a number of variables, including the involvement of the syntax–lexicon interface, syntax–semantics interface and syntax–discourse interface. Implications: The research suggests that the acquisition of English reflexives is variable-dependent, but not domain-wide. Specifically, the relationship between the binder and anaphoric expression can be established between the anaphors and some of their potential antecedents in second language English grammars, but not others, lending support to the Interface Hypothesis.