Language Production and Syntactic Choice: How Cognitive Economy Shapes Negation Preferences in Jordanian Arabic

The Evolution of a Coordinator From a Vocative Source: The Case of the Disjunctive <i>Ja</i>: In Jordanian Arabic

Variation in verbal negation in Jordanian Arabic: A corpus-based analysis

The uniform information density (UID) hypothesis, which posits that speakers behaving optimally tend to distribute information uniformly across a linguistic signal, has gained traction in psycholinguistics as an explanation for certain syntactic, morphological, and prosodic choices. In this work, we explore whether the UID hypothesis can be operationalized as an inductive bias for statistical language modeling. Specifically, we augment the canonical MLE objective for training language models with a regularizer that encodes UID. In experiments on ten languages spanning five language families, we find that using UID regularization consistently improves perplexity in language models, having a larger effect when training data is limited. Moreover, via an analysis of generated sequences, we find that UID-regularized language models have other desirable properties, e.g., they generate text that is more lexically diverse. Our results not only suggest that UID is a reasonable inductive bias for language modeling, but also provide an alternative validation of the UID hypothesis using modern-day NLP tools.

This study examines how the phonetic realisation of the phoneme /sˤ/ and its orthographic form ص is surfacing as the variant [s] in speaking and as س in writing in Ammani Arabic (AA), which is a variety of Jordanian Arabic (JA), and how this relates to language variation. We look at instances where certain Ammani Arabic speakers, particularly females, pronounce and write words containing /sˤ/ ص as [s] س, despite both /sˤ/ and /s/ being phonemes in JA in general and in AA in particular. We used a quantitative corpus-based approach, where we obtained written data from Facebook, and elicited spoken tokens and qualitative data through interviews. Our findings reveal that females in our two corpora [spoken and written] use and prefer [s] and س more than males, and our interviews revealed that female interviewees also prefer this pronunciation and writing. We suggest that the use of [s] س instead of [sˤ] ص by females can be seen as a direct index for femininity within their community of practice, and that this pronunciation/writing can indirectly index female gender in daily conversations and on social media websites, based on orders of indexicality (Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication 23. 193–229).

The verbal negation system of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) presents three forms: preverbal, double and postverbal negation, as can be seen in following examples: *MIC: [91] mas / Michael / eu não falo nesse sentido // (ii) *DOM: [101] cês nũ lêem isso mais não // (iii) *RUT: [220] participa não / minha filha //. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether there is any kind of prosodic-informational restriction to the distribution and use of the above mentioned negation forms in BP through the spontaneous speech corpus C-ORAL-BRASIL BRASIL (Raso & Mello, 2012). Through the analysis of data from C-ORAL-BRASIL, we propose that double and postverbal negation can only occur in illocutionary information units (COM, CMM, COB); whereas preverbal negation has free distribution, occurring in both illocutionary and non-illocutionary textual units. This indicates that non-canonical negation forms depend on illocutionary force in order to be fully realized.

The verbal negation system of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) presents three forms: preverbal, double and postverbal negation, as can be seen in the following examples: *MIC: [91] mas / Michael / eunãofalonessesentido // (ii) *DOM: [101] cêsnũlêemissomaisnão // (iii) *RUT: [220] participanão / minhafilha //. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is any kind of prosodic-informational restriction to the distribution and use of the above-mentioned negation forms in BP through the spontaneous speech corpus C-ORAL-BRASIL BRASIL (Raso& Mello, 2012). Through the analysis of the data collected from C-ORAL-BRASIL, we propose that double and postverbal negation can only occur in illocutionary information units (COM, CMM, COB), whereas preverbal negation has free distribution, occurring in both illocutionary and non-illocutionary textual units. This indicates that non-canonical negation forms depend on illocutionary force in order to be fully realized.

The Uniform Information Density (UID) hypothesis posits that speakers optimize the communicative properties of their utterances by avoiding spikes in information, thereby maintaining a relatively uniform information profile over time.This paper investigates the impact of UID principles on syntactic reduction, specifically focusing on the optional omission of the connector "that" in English subordinate clauses.Building upon previous research, we extend our investigation to a larger corpus of written English, utilize contemporary large language models (LLMs) and extend the informationuniformity principles by the notion of entropy, to estimate the UID manifestations in the usecase of syntactic reduction choices.

Is It Better to Give Than to Donate? Syntactic Flexibility in Language Production

In language, context is described as the information that is available to participants. For effective communication, participants need to share knowledge and they may use relevant elements that help interactants share common ground, such as a definite article, a definite relative clause or a post-nominal adjective. In certain contexts, a mismatch between the speaker’s target referent and the hearer’s interpretation occurs, which leads to "uncertain referring expressions” and causes distraction for the receiver. This study investigates the role of Givenness Hierarchy Theory in shaping referring expression (RE) choices in Jordanian Arabic (JA) and explains the potential confusion beyond using such REs. Also, the notion of tacit knowledge was employed to analyze the assumed shared knowledge in using such REs. Analysis of the naturally occurring discourse revealed that speakers used indefinite phrases for given referents, such as demonstratives and impersonal items, mitigating religious expressions, the dummy RE: ʃu: ismo, and how are you. The findings also showed that there is an ambiguity in using such expressions, which can be due to flouting the maxim of quantity. In addition, it was noticed that speakers tacitly know more than what they say. The findings contribute to understanding how cognitive principles influence RE selection and extend the applicability of Givenness Hierarchy to Arabic spoken language. The study also identifies potential areas for future research, including the impact of gender and broader cross-linguistic comparisons. Despite limitations in data size, this research highlights significant theoretical and practical implications for linguistic studies on referentiality.

This article investigates the historical emergence of postverbal negation in Welsh. Welsh undergoes a shift from preverbal negation (Middle Welsh ny(t)) to postverbal negation (Present-day Welsh ddim “not” < Middle Welsh dim “at all” < dim “thing, anything”) (Jespersen’s Cycle). In Middle Welsh, ddim occupies a late clausal position, but it later undergoes a syntactic reanalysis which moves it to an earlier immediately post-subject position. It also shifts in status from a weak negative polarity item, appearing in interrogative, conditional and negative clauses, to a purely negative particle. The article argues that, when ddim begins to occupy an earlier clausal position around 1600, it becomes phonologically less salient, and subsequently loses its emphatic sense in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Finally, the article considers the loss of the preverbal negative marker ni(d) in spoken Welsh, and whether this can best be understood as a push chain (ddim makes ni(d) unnecessary) or as a pull chain (ni(d) is phonologically weak and needs reinforcing by ddim). It concludes that push-chain explanations are most probable for the earlier part of the development up to 1750, with pull-chain explanations being more convincing thereafter.

Korean has two types of negation, Pre-verbal negation and Post-verbal negation. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the stages of acquisition corresponding to these two types of negation. One type of negation is acquired before the other; I attempt to explain why.

From a conversation-analytic perspective, this article analyzes three types of verbal negation in Korean, which shape requests for confirmation (RfCs) into distinctive interactional resources. The pre-verbal negation (an) RfC emerges in the context where the recipient is prompted to see the “fittedness” of its confirmable as referencing an “allusive” aspect of his/her situated domain, inferentially formulated by the questioner as a “negative event.” The post-verbal negation (ci anh) renders the RfC a vehicle for making mitigated assertions, seeking the recipient’s agreement in acquiescence to the questioner’s “problematizing” stance. The use of post-nominalization negation (nun-ke ani) RfC exhibits the questioner’s “conjecturing” stance, displaying norm-based deontic orientations treating the noted event at hand as deviant or counter-expectational. The target of the confirmable is formulated an “entity” assessable by the recipient as an externally-positioned co-member/evaluator. Cross-linguistic implications of the findings are discussed, in relation to English tag questions and negative interrogatives.

조재현. 2018. 전화 대화에 나타난 한국어 장형 부정 ‘-지 않-’의 스탠스와 주관성 분석. 국제한국어교육 4(2), 81-106. 본 연구는 실제 전화 대화상에서 쓰인 한국어의 장형 부정 표현인 ‘-지 않-’이 드러내는 스탠스와 주관성(subjectivity)을 코퍼스 분석을 통해 살펴본 연구이다. 한국어의 장형과 단형 부정 표현은 전통적으로 통사론의 영역에서 다루 어져 왔는데 주로 그 둘 간의 교체가능성과 이들 각각이 가지는 부정의 범위가 논의의 초점이 되어 왔다. 최근에는 구어의 영역에서 이들 표현의 상호작용적 기능을 밝히고자 하는 연구가 활발하게 진행되어 왔는 데, 기존 연구의 성과에 기여하기 위해 본 연구는 ‘-지 않-’의 기능적, 상호작용적 특성을 아래와 같은 방법을 통해 조명해 보았다. 주관성의 표출과 관련하여 ‘-지 않-’과 빈번하게 함께 쓰이는 주어와 술어의 유형이 있는지, 자연스러운 전화 대화에서 장형 부정 표현이 특정한 스탠 스를 나타내는 수사적 용법으로 쓰이는 사용상의 패턴이 있는지, ‘-지 않-’과 높은 빈도로 함께 쓰이는 특정한 어미 표현이 있는지, 그리고 마지막으로 이들 표현이 대화 상의 어느 위치에 자주 나타나는지에 대한 분석이 이루어졌다. (캘리포니아주립대학교, 로스엔젤레스)Jaehyun Jo. 2018. The Stance and Subjectivity in the Use of the Korean Post-Verbal Negation -ci anh- in the Telephone Conversation. International Journal of Korean Language Education 4(2), 81-106. This corpus-based study demonstrates the results of analyses of the Korean negative structure ‘-ci anh-’ in terms of its subjectivity and stances in naturally occurring telephone conversations. The Korean post-verbal negation ‘-ci anh-’ and pre-verbal negation ‘an’ have been studied in syntax and semantics for its interchangeability and the scope of each negation type. Contributing to more recent studies that attempt to find the interactional functions of these negatives in spoken discourse, this study examines the functional and interactional characteristics of ‘-ci anh-’ structure appearing in the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) Call-Friend Korean corpus of 100 telephone calls. In the analyses, the utterances were coded with following information: (1) what subject and predicate types appear with ‘-ci anh-’ in relation to how its subjectivity is established; (2) whether each of ‘-ci anh-’ tokens is a simple negative or a rhetorical question (or statement) that shows the speaker’s specific stance; (3) also with what kind of ending combinations and in which position of one’s turn the post-verbal negation was deployed. (University of California, Los Angeles)

Rapid sintering of steel in nitrogen using induction heating

The uniform information density (UID) hypothesis posits a preference among language users for utterances structured such that information is distributed uniformly across a signal. While its implications on language production have been well explored, the hypothesis potentially makes predictions about language comprehension and linguistic acceptability as well. Further, it is unclear how uniformity in a linguistic signal-or lack thereof-should be measured, and over which linguistic unit, e.g., the sentence or language level, this uniformity should hold. Here we investigate these facets of the UID hypothesis using reading time and acceptability data. While our reading time results are generally consistent with previous work, they are also consistent with a weakly super-linear effect of surprisal, which would be compatible with UID's predictions. For acceptability judgments, we find clearer evidence that non-uniformity in information density is predictive of lower acceptability. We then explore multiple operationalizations of UID, motivated by different interpretations of the original hypothesis, and analyze the scope over which the pressure towards uniformity is exerted. The explanatory power of a subset of the proposed operationalizations suggests that the strongest trend may be a regression towards a mean surprisal across the language, rather than the phrase, sentence, or document-a finding that supports a typical interpretation of UID, namely that it is the byproduct of language users maximizing the use of a (hypothetical) communication channel. 1