Grammatical Constituents Research Articles

The segmentation of speech and its implications for the emergence of language structure

This paper reports a phenomenon supporting the hypothesis that the emergence of structure in the evolution of language was a staged process. To develop a grammatical structure it seems necessary to first have discrete constituents which can be the building blocks of a hierarchical system. By analysing observed speech we show that the development of a linear sequence of grammatical constituents has its own advantage, before a possible next stage when constituents are integrated into a hierarchical structure. A stream of speech sounds has to be segmented to allow for breathing. This segmentation has further developed in a certain way that makes it easier for the hearer to decode than if it were not segmented, or if it were segmented in an arbitrary manner. Well known tools from Information Theory are employed to analyse the ease of decoding speech. Segmentation depends on prosodic discontinuities, such as pauses and intonation marked by tone unit boundaries. These discontinuities usually mark groups of words with some syntactic cohesion, such as phrases and clauses. We show that in a modern corpus of spoken language observed segmentation facilitates the effective transfer of information, while lack of segmentation or arbitrary segmentation imposed on a stream of words makes decoding less efficient. This supports the hypothesis that the necessary constituents of a grammatical structure may have evolved as a consequence of developments favouring more efficient decoding of a linear stream of spoken words. The source material for this investigation is taken from the prosodically marked up Machine Readable Spoken English Corpus (MARSEC).

Les éléments linguistiques porteurs de sens dans la tradition grammaticale du sanskrit

abstract : This article deals with the changing ideas about meaning bearing elements in language from Pânini through Patanjali to Bhartrhari. For Pânini the grammatical constituents of words — verbal roots, nominal stems and suffixes — are the primary bearers of mening ; from their meanings the meanings of larger linguistic units such as words are derived. For Patanjali, on the other hand, the primary meaning bearing units are the words; grammatical constituents only have a derived meaning. For Bhartrhari in his Vâkyapadïya, finally, the primary meaning bearer is the sentence, from which the meanings of words and grammatical constituents are derived. This remarkable development is in need of an explanation, which may be obtained by comparison with other contemporary currents of thought, primarily Buddhist.

Language treatment approach for users of AAC: experimental single-subject investigation

This study sought to determine if a language intervention treatment program could promote the segmentation and combination of grammatical constituents in an individual who primarily communicated via single-symbol message strategies. A computerized adaptation of a reciprocal reading procedure was employed to highlight syntactic constituents through selective segmentation and promote their combination through conversational turn taking. To answer this question, evidence for a treatment effect was obtained using a multiple baseline across communicative contexts design. A 5-year-old child who primarily communicated via single-symbol message strategies was trained to segment syntactic constituents in two different discourse contexts (book reading and structured discourse). The data for this child indicated a positive effect of treatment in both discourse contexts, although the magnitude of the treatment effect was greater in the bookreading context than in the structured discourse context.

Mapping therapy: A treatment programme for agrammatism

Abstract Agrammatic aphasics demonstrate sensitivity to syntactic structure although they generally fail to make adequate use of structural information in producing and comprehending sentences. Under the ‘mapping hypothesis’ (cf. Schwartz et at. 1987), the agrammatic performance pattern is taken to reflect impaired mapping between grammatical constituents (subject, object) and thematic roles (agent, theme). We describe a treatment programme (‘mapping therapy’) directed at the remediation of mapping operations, and report results of a study designed to assess the effects of this intervention on comprehension and production. Eight chronic non-fluent aphasics were trained to identify the verb, agent, and patient/theme in sentences presented in a combined writtenspoken format. Three types of sentences were used: active transitives with action verbs (Type A); active transitives with experiential verbs (Type B), and non-canonical sentence types (e.g. passives) with action verbs (Type C). The first phase of trai...

Linguistic exploitation of syntactic databases: The use of the Nijmegen Linguistic Database program By Hans van Halteren and Theo van den HeuVEL (review)

BOOK NOTICES 869 also an appendix containing a glossary, references , and index. The book is poorly written and edited and somewhat difficult to understand. Examples are frequently unglossed, which may make the data difficult to understand unless one already knows the language. There are also minor problems with the content. For instance, the author asserts that 'there is ample reason to believe' that language parsing operates from left to right, 'considering that we write in that direction' (157 and also n. 53), without mentioning the existence ofwriting systems such as those of Arabic and Hebrew. There is also a statement that English has no Inversion rule of the type responsible for sentences like German Im Garten liegt eine Puppe 'In the garden lies a doll', overlooking examples such as Joseph E. Emonds' At none of the beaches are the lifeguards alert (A transformational approach to English syntax . New York: Academic Press, 1976, p. 28). 'Eurogrammar' is an odd term for Germanic and Romance, since it implies that all European languages belong to these two groups. As for the overall purpose, the author claims that translators, for example, will benefit from access to this type of work, and cites studies to support this claim. However, I can't imagine the wider audience profiting from the work, apart from the data. I expect it to be much more useful to theoretical syntacticians, including comparativists and typologists. The real strength of the book lies in the large quantity of data it presents, and it is valuable for this reason alone. [Carolyn Harford, Michigan State University.] Linguistic exploitation of syntactic databases : The use of the Nijmegen Linguistic Database program. By Hans van Halteren and Theo van den HeuVEL. (Language and computers : Studies in practical linguistics , 5.) Amsterdam & Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 1990. Pp. 207. Cloth $33.50. The Nijmegen Corpus is a body ofrecent British English prose approximately 140,000 words long. It is distinguished from other English corpora such as Brown and Lancaster-Oslo/Bergen by the fact that it has been given a full syntactic analysis in tree form. The incorporation ofthis corpus with detailed operational software constitutes the Nijmegen Linguistic Database (abbreviated LDB). This book is a detailed manual of instructions in the use of LDB for various kinds oflinguistic analysis made possible by the ability to specify all kinds of grammatical constituents for comparison, frequency counts, and other statistical operations. The book is divided into two sections, a 'Tutorial Part' of four chapters and a 'Reference Part' of two, plus a brief bibliography and full index. As the subtitles indicate, the Tutorial Part is a 'how-to' section, taking the reader step by step through various processes of using the LDB, and the Reference Part is a description of the powers of the software—what it can do when properly used. There is inevitably considerable overlap between the two parts, since various aspects of the programs are treated in each, though from different points of view. Presumably the authors' intent was for readers to work their way through the Tutorial Part, preferably with the LDB on a minicomputer, and to use the Reference Part to check on various functions and refresh their memories on how to use them. A demonstration diskette, furnished with the book, gives the user the option of watching an automatic demonstration or taking part in an interactive one. The syntactic analysis is in effect an immediate constituent structure, with some provision for discontinuous constituents but otherwise displaying surface structure. Every sentence (or 'utterance') is in the form of a tree, with the root node to the left and numbered branches indicating constituents ending in 'leaves', the ultimate words. In the case of long sentences, the display may be scrolled vertically and horizontally . Provision is made to focus on any node, which is highlighted on the screen and described in terms of its components. Two modes of viewing the structure are provided, the 'tree view' and the 'pattern view'. The latter gives the major components by function and category. Thus the pattern CAT = 'NP' FUN PREM' FUN = 'POM' describes a noun phrase containing a premodi- 870 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 68, NUMBER 4 (1992) fier and a postmodifier, as in...

Error Patterns in Auditory Comprehension of Adult Aphasics

The error patterns of normal and aphasic adults on a sentence comprehension test were studied. For position of error, both normals and the three aphasic groups performed consistently with the expected error distribution. Neither sentence half was experienced as more difficult to process. All groups, both aphasic and normal, demonstrated error patterns for grammatical class and for surface structure linguistic constituent which were consistent with the expected error distributions. Exceptions were noted for the normals on the verb class and for the Wernicke's aphasics on the NP and VP linguistic constituents. Rank orderings of error proportions were similar across groups for both grammatical form class and linguistic constituent. The general findings lend support to the notion that, for auditory comprehension of sentences, aphasic patients differ quantitatively from normal adult speakers, but behave qualitatively similar to them.

Transformational grammars of three agrammatic patients.

This paper presents a qualitative description of the speech of three Broca's aphasics who have different degrees of agrammatic disturbance. Included is a description of the grammatical constituents and operations underlying the patients' free speech. By a comparison of the similarities and differences in these three grammars, a hierarchial organization within phrase structure correlated to degree of severity has been proposed.

Automatic Detection of Constituent Boundaries in Spoken English

The F0 contours of texts spoken by several talkers were studied and successfully associated with boundaries of major grammatical constituents. For one talker, a significant F0 rise (usually preceded by an F0 fall) occurred at every syntactically predicted major constituent boundary, except NP-Verbal boundaries. Boundary positions were adjusted to account for the delay in F0 rise when constituents began with unstressed syllables. Falling (“Tune 1”) F0 contours and pauses clearly marked the boundaries of both embedded and matrix sentences in such spoken prose. Phonetically dictated pitch rises at the onsets of voicing [M. Haggard, S. Amber, and M. Callow, J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 47, 613–617 (1969)] had to be distinguished from rises due to constituent boundaries. A computer program was implemented to detect automatically the major constituent boundaries based on such F0 patterns. Results are reported, talker dependencies are discussed, and implications for speech recognition and perceptual modeling are outlined. [This research was supported in part by the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories.]

Two Aspect Markers in Mandarin

Introduction.l In this study I present the solution to a well-known problem of aspect markers in Mandarin. The problem involves several seeming irregularities in the formation of negative sentences and of the so-called A-not-A questions. Essentially, my solution of the problem consists of the identification of the morph -you (as in meiyou) and the aspect marker -le as suppletive alternants of the same morpheme. In the light of this identification, it will be seen that the relations among declarative, negative, and A-not-A sentences are both simple and regular. According to the theory of grammar2 which underlies the present study, the structural description (hereafter abbreviated SD) of a sentence is represented by a series of diagrams each of which is called a P-marker. Briefly, a P-marker consists of a tree graph3 whose nodes are labeled by a hierarchy of grammatical constituents; the top node is labeled S, i.e. sentence. A P-marker, then, is one of a series of statements about the relations among the postulated constituents of a sentence.

The Analysis of Grammatical Constituents

1. The principle of descriptive analysis of constructions on the basis of immediate constituents has been recognized by most descriptive linguists, and most of them have employed immediate constituents in analytical procedures, though in some instances not directly so. Linguists have also recognized that there are certain significant features about such constituent elements of constructions. Bloomfield formally treated some of these features and called them taxemes.' But not all the significant features of constructions were presented by Bloomfield, and not all the interrelationships of these features have been adequately handled. For example, Bloomfield's four taxemes are not of coordinate value in the description and classification of constituent units. There has been a further need of showing the parallelism of treatment for all constituent units, whether on a morphological or on a syntactic level. This matter was introduced by Pike,2 but was not developed systematically. It is true that the analytical description of constructions on the basis of immediate constituents frequently involves an overlapping of so-called morphological and syntactic levels, and that for some languages the morphology-syntax dichotomy may not be useful. Nevertheless, this does not justify rejecting a descriptive analysis which recognizes the sets of immediate constituents and attempts to describe constructions in terms of the significant features found in these units. A description of distributional characteristics following Harris' treatment3 is excellent but not adequate. In arriving at his functional units, Harris recognizes the principle of immediate constituents, at least in part; but the technique of analysis is based upon a principle of substitutability, which is only one of the principles which should be employed in determining sets of immediate constituents.