Across-the-board Research Articles

A unified approach to parasitic gap and across‐the‐board constructions: Evidence based on Mandarin Chinese

AbstractDespite the lack of consensus on English facts, this study demonstrates that both parasitic gap (PG) and across‐the‐board (ATB) constructions in Mandarin Chinese exhibit paralle effects in variable binding reconstruction, while also displaying asymmetries in gap licensing categories. I argue that these patterns in Mandarin Chinese align with the sideward movement approach, supporting a version of the unified approach to deriving both constructions. Specifically, the gaps in question are filled by variables, consistent with both constructions being derived via sideward movement. The observed asymmetries lend support to the view that the licensing of ATB gaps is more permissive than that of PGs, as additional conditions (such as the Parallelsim Requirement) on coordinate structures can license sideward movement in ATB sentences.

The Syntactic Derivation of Verb Gapping in Mandarin Chinese

The study discusses the syntactic derivation mechanism of verb gapping in Mandarin Chinese, which exists in the second conjunct of the construction. First, the paper introduces Mandarin Chinese lacks the canonical English-like verb gapping construction based on previous studies, in that verb gapping in Chinese is allowed only in non-generic VPs, may not be paired with an antecedent in the adjacent conjunct, and could appear in a subordinate construction. Second, different from the widely discussed across-the-board (ATB) movement or the VP-ellipsis analysis in the canonical English verb gapping construction, or the verb raising or verb ellipsis in the Chinese verb gapping structure, this study adopts that verb gaps in Mandarin Chinese are actually multiple fragments of the construction. The object-NP in the target gapping clause is proposed to undergo focalization, within the sentential (IP)-internal domain. Following the VP-internal subject hypothesis, the subject-NP then moves from Spec-vP to Spec-IP, motivated by EPP-feature for left peripheries. The remnant constituent vP is hypothesized with deletion at the PF-interface, giving rise to the surface “Subject-NP + Object-NP” order. If the direction of the assumption is acceptable, the proposal of focalization in the sentence-internal domain once again empirically confirms the ‘parallelism’/‘identity’ between multiple fragment clauses in the gapping construction in Mandarin Chinese.

THE SYNTAX OF TWO TYPES OF GAPPING IN SPANISH*

AbstractThis paper argues that gapping in Spanish is not a single phenomenon and can be derived from different source structures. The first type of gapping in Spanish involves clausal coordination and is thus derived through TP‐deletion, whereas the second type contains low coordination below TP, which allows it to be derived by either vP‐deletion or Across‐The‐Board (ATB) verb movement whose availability depends on the subject‐verb agreement patterns found in gapping. This approach also extends to cases where the conjuncts in gapping display various non‐canonical word orders, which also fall under two types of gapping and can be analyzed using the same mechanisms as those applicable to SVO‐conjuncts.

Gapping in Modern Standard Arabic: An Agree-Based Analysis

This paper investigates the phenomenon of Gapping in coordination structures in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). It proposes an analysis based on Chomsky's (2005, 2008) Feature-Inheritance model of Agree (FI, henceforth). The analysis diverges from other works on coordination such as Deletion (e.g., Hankamer,1979; Wilder, 1994), Low VP Coordination and VP-Ellipsis (e.g., Toosarvandani, 2013), and Low vP Coordination followed by an Across-the-Board (ATB) movement (Johnson, 2009); instead, it analyzes coordination in MSA as a binary relation where every coordinated conjunct is a full CP, and the conjunction is the head of a ConjP. The analysis uses semantic as well as syntactic explanation for Gapping in MSA, thus rendering the need for a distinct structure for coordination unnecessary.

Rethinking electric vehicle subsidies, rediscovering energy efficiency

Existing regulations regarding fuel energy intensity (MJ/km, litres/100 km, or its inverse, miles per gallon) of light-duty vehicles (LDVs: cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks) for 2025 or 2030 either fall short of the longterm technical potential, or contain numerous loopholes that undermine their effectiveness. At the same time, governments are subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) while the market share of SUVs and pickup trucks grows. This paper reviews the feasible fuel and/or electricity energy intensity of LDVs, and argues that the severity of impending anthropogenic global warming merits a strong policy approach that (i) prescribes significant improvements in the energy intensity of non-electric LDVs and plugin hybrid EVs (PHEVs) when running on fuel, (ii) is independent of the number of electric vehicles sold, and (iii) is accompanied by an overall limit on fleet-average CO2 emissions that applies to all manufacturers irrespective of the average size and mass of vehicles sold. Subsidies for EVs should be scaled back or eliminated, relying instead in the near term on deep across-the–board improvements in the fuel efficiency of LDVs that will have beneficial spillover effects on the eventual energy intensity of EVs and mineral requirements following a delayed market scale-up.

External Remerge and linearization in ATB, RNR and PG constructions

We claim that across-the-board (ATB) and right node raising (RNR) constructions in English should be analyzed in a uniform way, but neither of them can be on a par with parasitic gap (PG) constructions. To support this claim, we demonstrate that only the former two can license additive coordination (AC) and interwoven dependency (ID). We then offer a novel derivational analysis of the (un)availability of AC and ID in the three constructions. Specifically, we propose that cross-clausal conjunction via External Remerge (ER) constructs parallel coordinate structure in ATB and RNR while illegitimate linear ordering in the resulting multidominance structure is constrained by PF constraints; by contrast, ER does not yield the same kind of coordinate structure for PGs since subordination is required for the PG construction. (Dongguk University·Sogang University)

Resumption and case: A new take on Modern Standard Arabic

Over the past few years, there has been renewed interest in the treatment of resumption in HPSG: despite areas of convergence, e.g. the recognition of resumptive dependencies as dependencies, as motivated by Across-the-Board (ATB) extraction, there is no unified theory to date, with differences pertaining, e.g., to the exact formulation of amalgamation (Ginzburg and Sag, 2000), or the place of island constraints in grammar. While Borsley (2010) and Alotaibi and Borsley (2013) relegate the difference in locality of gap and resumptive dependencies to the performance system, Crysmann (2012, 2016) captures insensitivity to strong islands as part of the grammar. Harmonising existing proposals becomes even more acute, if we consider the cross-linguistic similarity of the phenomenon, in particular, if we compare languages like Hausa and Arabic, which both feature island insensitivity to some degree, as well as bound pronominal resumptive objects and zero pronominal resumptive subjects, to name just a few of the parallels. In this paper, I shall reexamine resumption (and extraction) in Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth: MSA) and propose a reanalysis that improves on Alotaibi and Borsley (2013) in several areas: first, I shall argue that controlling the distribution of gaps and resumptives by means of case is not only empirically under-motivated but also leads to counter-intuitive constraint specifications in the majority of cases. Second, I shall show that the case-based account of Alotaibi and Borsley (2013) can be straightforwardly supplanted with the weight-based account I proposed in Crysmann (2016): in doing this, one does not only get a better alignment of case assignment constraints with overtly observable manifestations of case, but such an account is also general enough to scale from case languages, such as MSA, to languages without case, such as Hausa, or many Arabic vernaculars. Finally, I shall address case in ATB extraction and propose a refinement of the Coordination Constraint of Pollard and Sag (1994) that accounts for exactly the kind of mismatch observed in mixed gap/resumptive ATB extraction

Obesity Prevention Policies in U.S. States and Localities: Lessons from the Field

Obesity is a complex problem requiring large-scale, population-based solutions. Public policy strategies have been identified as critical tools in obesity prevention efforts as they can benefit all who are exposed rather than simply changing individual behaviors one at a time. This paper reviews the peer-reviewed scientific U.S.-based literature published between January 2012 and March 2013 to examine the influence of state laws and local policies on changes to school and other environments, individual activity and nutrition-related behaviors, and obesity and weight outcomes. Virtually all recent studies have focused on policies directed at the school environment and, across-the board, the evidence was mixed. Most studies were cross-sectional, focused on policy implementation in schools and other settings rather than impacts on individual behaviors or obesity. Opportunities exist for impact studies focusing on a broader spectrum of policies as well as for continued policy actions at all levels of government.

Economic reforms, business groups and changing pattern of distribution of profitability across corporate firms in India: a semi-parametric analysis

This article applies the semi-parametric method to analyse the effects of economic reforms and some other factors on changes in the distribution of profitability of corporate firms in India. Comparing the two post-reform years (1994 and 2010) with the pre-reform year (1990), we observe a rightward shift in the distribution of profitability implying an across-the board increases in profitability of all firms after reforms. Two factors that explain the change are changes in interaction between capital structure and business group-affiliation, and changes in other firm characteristics such as size, age, growth opportunities and market share, which played the major role in explaining the changes in distribution of profitability of firms measured in terms of Tobin's q as well as Return On Assets (ROA). Two firm characteristics, namely size and market share, played a major role in explaining the changes in distribution of profitability of firms measured in terms of ROA but not in terms of Tobin's q. Our most im...

The syntax ofsameand ATB constructions

AbstractThis paper presents a new approach to Across-the-Board (ATB) constructions without resorting to ATB movement. I first examine the syntactic properties ofsameconstructions such asThe same man Mary helped and John ruined, and propose a derivation for the constructions. I claim that the relational nominal that contains the adjectivesameis base-generated in the first conjunct, and moves out of the co-ordinate complex. The raised relational nominal binds a silent form in the second conjunct. This analysis ofsameconstructions is then extended to ATB constructions. The two types of constructions share syntactic and semantic properties. I argue that the overt extracted element of ATB constructions has a movement chain relation with the gap in the first conjunct alone. The silent argument in the second conjunct never moves out of the conjunct. Various types of non-identity readings of ATB constructions are also explained. This research shows that coordinate constructions do not introduce any special type of movement to the computation system.

Multiple dependencies and the role of the grammar in real-time comprehension

Wh-dependencies are known to be formed rapidly in real-time comprehension. The parser posits the location of gap sites in advance of the bottom-up evidence for missing constituents, and must therefore have a means of deciding when and where to project dependencies. Previous studies have observed that the parser avoids building ungrammatical wh-dependencies, for example, by restricting the search for gap sites from island domains. This paper tests the stronger claim that constraints are not merely respected, but that grammatical knowledge actively prompts the construction of some representations in advance of the input. Three self-paced reading experiments examined patterns of wh-dependency formation in multiple-dependency constructions: obligatory across-the-board (ATB) extraction from coordinated verb phrases, and from optional parasitic gaps in post-verbal adjunct clauses. The key finding is that comprehenders immediately enforce the requirement for extraction from coordinates, and hence actively search for multiple gap sites within a coordinate VP; but they do not search for post-verbal parasitic gaps. This difference cannot be attributed to relative differences in acceptability, as comprehenders rated both of these multiple-gap constructions equally highly, nor can it be explained by general parsing incentives to develop maximal incremental interpretations of partial strings. More plausibly, the difference reflects the deployment of detailed grammatical knowledge in a parser that is motivated to satisfy structural licensing requirements in real time.

On Asymmetries Between Parasitic Gap and Across‐the‐board Constructions

Assuming that parasitic gaps (PGs) and across‐the‐board (ATB) gaps are derived through sideward movement (Nunes 1995, 2001; Hornstein 2001), this paper aims at explaining why ATB constructions are in general more permissive than PG constructions (Postal 1993). We argue that sideward movement is licensed only by Last Resort in PG constructions but is licensed by either Last Resort or the Parallelism Constraint in ATB constructions. The additional legibility condition that coordinate structures have to satisfy ends up permitting instances of sideward movement that would otherwise be impossible.

Across‐the‐board Movement and LF

This paper investigates the status of across‐the‐board (ATB) dependencies in Logical Form (LF), taking the standard ATB movement analysis as the point of departure. It is argued that, although both overt and covert wh‐movement are subject to the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC), only overt ATB movement can save possible CSC violations. This observation implies that there are no LF ATB dependencies at all—an unexpected result under the ATB movement analysis of the ATB construction. The conclusion is further supported by facts of Quantifier Raising and scope, as well as head movement. The paper then examines other approaches to the ATB construction, and argues that the null‐operator analysis is able to capture the lack of LF ATB dependencies in a more principled way than alternative analyses. The paper also provides evidence for the existence of QR and LF wh‐movement in English and examines the status of VP‐coordination. It is argued that VP‐level coordination is not possible in nonperiphrastic constructions.

Earnings and Welfare after Downsizing: Central Bank Employees in Ecuador

This article measures the earnings and welfare losses experienced by displaced employees of the Central Bank of Ecuador. It links these losses to individual characteristics such as gender, education, seniority, and salary in the public sector. Data are from a survey of displaced employees that included subjective evaluations of well-being in addition to information on activity and earnings. The welfare losses of separated employees are not highly correlated with their earnings losses, partly because some of them (especially women) withdrew from the labor force after separation. Earnings and welfare losses also vary depending on the nature of displacement, which was voluntary for roughly half the employees and involuntary for the rest. Overall, the losses were larger for employees with less education and more seniority, but not necessarily larger for employees with higher salaries. However, compensation for displacement was based on a rule of thumb that involved only salary and seniority and was applied across-the board. For those employees who left voluntarily, the resulting compensation package was, on average, about 20 percent higher than the welfare loss. The article derives the implications of these findings for the design of assistance programs for displaced workers and, more specifically, for the tailoring of compensation packages to their individual characteristics.

On the parallelism between sentence-formation and text-formation with special reference to coordinate structures

Abstract In this paper, we will demonstrate the following three points: 1. (1) that the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC) proposed by Ross (1967/1986) is untenable as a syntactic constraint and should be replaced by a functional constraint based on the claim of Kuno (1976), and that the restrictions on Across-The-Board (ATB) extractions should also be reconsidered from a semantic point of view (a questionnaire was carried out and the results were subjected to statistical methods to support the present claims); 2. (2) that coordinate structures within relative clauses form a kind of semantic closure (to be illustrated by way of simple schemata) describing a fixed theme, which is the antecedent; 3. (3) and that the notion of theme/rheme, which is often considered to be a part of the exclusive domain of discourse and text analysis, is projected down to the sentence-level to regulate the relation of the antecedent with the rest of a relative.

The Elements of Crashworthiness: Scope and Actuality

An across-the board survey of several aspects of crashworthiness is attempted, being in part an update and an improvement to the balance of an early monograph on the subject of The crashworthiness of vehicles of which the writer was co-author (1). Attention is given to perceiving this subject as three interconnected disciplines—materials engineering and design, combustion and fire, and medical engineering or biomechanics—but only after discussing some general guiding principles and the engineer's responsibility for the vehicles he or she produces. The latter subjects, together with short separate sections on head injury, fire fundamentals with broad allusions to vehicle fire situations and studies of kinetic energy absorption systems, comprise Part 1 of the paper. Part 2 reviews some types of collision concentrating on those involving road vehicles but with some attention to the other main types identified. Some useful and provocative conclusions are finally drawn. The author has tried to provide a useful list of references, the needs of students and non-specialists being kept in mind throughout.

THE ATB THEORY OF PARASITIC GAPS

I would like to explore some considerations that suggest that all parasitic gaps arise as a consequence of the principle of across-the-board (ATB) rule application. This proposal was first hinted at in ROSS (1967); it was adopted for Dutch by Huybregts and van Riemsdijk (1984), but rejected by them for English, which they assume to have 'Chomsky style' parasitic gaps along the lines of Chomsky (1982, 1986). I want to show that there is an ATB theory which accounts for the basic properties of all parasitic gaps. An account similar to the present one in several respects, but independently arrived at, is that of Haik (1985). In the course of outlining my ideas I will point out comparisons with hers. The principle differences between her proposals and mine are that in her view, parasitic gaps are not traces in s-structure, whereas they are in mine, arising as any ATB gap arises; and in her view, the coordination that licences the parasitic gaps arises through a restructuring of s-structure (to derive LF) whereas in mine parasitic gaps are licenced by s-structure coordination like all ATB gaps. Consider the following typical parasitic gap (pg):

The Primary Mental Health Project (PMHP): evaluation of current program effectiveness.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Primary Mental Project (PMHP), a program for early detection and prevention of school adjustment problems. Pre- and postprogram assessments were done with 215 primary-grade children seen in PMHP, usig teacher ratings of problem behaviors and competencies, and child-aide ratings of problems. School mental health professionals judged educational and behavioral changes in project children during the year. Significant across-the board improvements were found on all criterion measures. Modest intercorrelations among criterion change estimates suggested that the observed changes were due to program, rather than halo, effects. PMHP children also improved significantly more than matched, retrospective controls.