Grammatical Constraints Research Articles

A processing-based account of subliminal wh-island effects

Wh-island effects are notorious for their cross-linguistic variation. However, experimental syntax studies observed super-additive wh-island effects in some languages which were previously argued to be immune to them. In four acceptability judgment experiments, we investigate the origin of super-additivity in acceptable wh-islands, so-called “subliminal island effects,” focusing on Hebrew. Our first experiment reveals a super-additive wh-island effect in Hebrew. However, we suggest that the super-additivity measure for wh-islands is contaminated by processing factors. Specifically, we propose that in this case, the decrease in acceptability reflects interference caused by the simultaneous maintenance of two dependencies, rather than grammatical islandhood. The following experiments demonstrate that super-additivity can be observed in binding structures, where it cannot be attributed to a violation of a grammatical constraint, but rather to processing costs related to interference for maintenance processes. We also show that when minimizing these costs, super-additivity does not emerge in Hebrew wh-islands. We conclude that processing costs underlie the apparent wh-island effect in Hebrew, and perhaps in additional languages, and that the super-additivity paradigm should be fine-tuned in order to avoid these confounds.

*NEG NEG

I argue that there is a grammatical (non-semantic) constraint in English that prohibits double negation, dubbed *NEG NEG. I adduce a range of structures to illustrate this constraint, and show that apparent counter-examples are not double negation.

Agreement attraction in native and nonnative speakers of German

ABSTRACTSecond language speakers often struggle to apply grammatical constraints such as subject–verb agreement. One hypothesis for this difficulty is that it results from problems suppressing syntactically unlicensed constituents in working memory. We investigated which properties of these constituents make them more likely to elicit errors: their grammatical distance to the subject head or their linear distance to the verb. We used double modifier constructions (e.g., the smell of the stables of the farmers), where the errors of native speakers are modulated by the linguistic relationships between the nouns in the subject phrase: second plural nouns, which are syntactically and semantically closer to the subject head, elicit more errors than third plural nouns, which are linearly closer to the verb (2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry). In order to dissociate between grammatical and linear distance, we compared embedded and coordinated modifiers, which were linearly identical but differed in grammatical distance. Using an attraction paradigm, we showed that German native speakers and proficient Russian speakers of German exhibited similar attraction rates and that their errors displayed a 2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry, which was more pronounced in embedded than in coordinated constructions. We suggest that both native and second language learners prioritize linguistic structure over linear distance in their agreement computations.

Alignment and locality in the typology of affixing language games

Abstract This paper contributes to the discussion around the (extra-)grammatical status of language games (or ludlings). We collected over 60 games which are based on the affixation of a dummy morpheme, which is infixed and iterated in most cases. While some are obviously reduplicative, closer investigation reveals that all the games involving iterativity function like reduplication. Our optimality-theoretic analysis concentrates on the explanation of shape, segmental content, placement and iterativity of the dummy affix and employs only constraints standardly assumed in the literature on reduplication. We show that no ludling-specific constraints or stipulations are necessary to account for this typology and make predictions on limitations that presumably apply to typological variation with regard to language games. Ludlings are thus variations of grammatical constraint rankings.

The PAS of Motion Constructions

This article discusses the syntactic realization and discourse status of LOCATIVE expressions in motion constructions from the standpoint of the Preferred Argument Structure model (PAS, Du Bois 1987, Du Bois et al 2003). PAS posits two grammatical constraints on core arguments: (1) avoid more than one core lexical argument per clause, and (2) avoid lexical As. Our study examines whether LOCATIVE expressions, usually considered oblique or peripheral adjuncts, abide by the universal tendencies unveiled by the PAS. The results show that, in terms of the PAS, the discourse behavior of intransitive motion constructions is analogous to that of transitive constructions, and that the co-ocurrence effects predicted by the PAS to apply only to A and O arguments do affect S and LOCATIVE expressions as well. This suggests that PAS tendencies are sensitive to semantic argument status, independently of he arguments' syntactic role and its morphological marking as direct vs. oblique. The data comes from three Uto-Aztecan languages (Yaqui, Guarijio, Nahuatl) and Spanish.

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions.

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self-paced reading experiments on the processing of in-situ wh-questions in Mandarin Chinese and French. Finally, we review the implications that our findings have for the specific theoretical linguistics questions that we originally aimed to address. We conclude with an overview of the general insights that can be gained from the role of structural hierarchy and grammatical constraints in processing and the existing limitations on the generalization of results.

Condition C in adult and child Thai

Thai is often identified as a language that violates condition C of the binding theory, a grammatical constraint that has been claimed to be innate (Crain 1991). We present the first-ever experimental investigation of condition C in adult and child Thai. We show that (as per previous claims) Thai adults ‘violate’ condition C when the bound nominal is bare. When modified by a classifier, however, Thai referential expressions must obey condition C, thus showing that Thai does indeed adhere to condition C. We then show that Thai children (aged four to six years) apply condition C to all nominals, irrespective of whether they include classifiers. This ubiquitous adherence to condition C suggests that Thai children initially assume that condition C applies to all referential expressions. The implications for the universality and innateness of condition C are discussed.

Sign-creation in the Seattle DeafBlind community

Abstract This article examines the social and interactional foundations of sign-creation among DeafBlind people in Seattle, Washington. Linguists studying signed languages have proposed models of sign-creation that involve the selection of an iconic gestural representation of the referent which is subjected to grammatical constraints and is thereby incorporated into the linguistic system. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork and more than 190 hours of video recordings of interaction and language use, I argue that a key interactional mechanism driving processes of sign-creation among DeafBlind people in Seattle is deictic integration. Deictic integration restricts the range of contextual values that the grammar can retrieve by coordinating systems of reference with patterns in activity. This process brings language into alignment with the world as it is perceived by the users of that language, making a range of potentially iconic relations available for selection in the creation of new signs.

The elasticity of verb meaning revisited

This paper investigates the source of systematic argument realization differences among two classes of manner verbs, hitting and wiping verbs. Its starting point is the hypothesis that argument realization patterns can largely be attributed to grammatical constraints on argument expression interacting with grammatically privileged properties of a verb's root. These properties include the root's ontological category and, as argued here, whether it encodes contact at a point or a region.

The division of labor in explanations of verb phrase ellipsis

In this paper, we will argue that, of the various grammatical and discourse constraints that affect acceptability in verb phrase ellipsis (VPE), only the structural parallelism constraint is unique to VPE. We outline (previously noted) systematic problems that arise for classical structural accounts of VPE resolution, and discuss efforts in recent research on VPE to reduce explanations of acceptability in VPE to general well-formedness constraints at the level of information structure (e.g. Kehler in Linguist Philos 23(6):533–575, 2000; Coherence, reference and the theory of grammar, CSLI Publications, Stanford, 2002; Proceedings of semantics and linguistic theory, vol 25, 2015; Kertz in Language 89(3):390–428, 2013). In two magnitude estimation experiments, we show that—in line with Kehler’s predictions—degradation due to structural mismatch is modulated by coherence relation. On the other hand, we consistently find residual structural mismatch effects, suggesting that the interpretation of VPE is sensitive to structural features of the VPE antecedent. We propose that a structural constraint licenses VPE, but that sentences violating this constraint can nevertheless be interpreted. The variability in acceptability is accounted for not by additional constraints on VPE in the grammar, but by the numerous general biases that affect sentence and discourse well-formedness, such as information structural constraints (as proposed by Kertz 2013), discourse coherence relations (Kehler 2000), sensitivity to Question Under Discussion structure (e.g. Ginzburg and Sag in English interrogative constructions, CSLI Publications, Stanford, 2000; Kehler 2015), and thematic role bias at the lexical level (e.g. McRae et al. in J Mem Lang 38:283–312, 1998). We test the prediction that thematic role bias (Experiment 3) and QUD structure (Experiment 4) will influence both elliptical and non-elliptical sentences alike, while structural mismatch continues to degrade elliptical sentences alone. Our proposal differs from existing proposals in cutting the explanatory pie in a different way with respect to how variations in acceptability are accounted for. We suggest that degradation can result from at least two distinct and separable sources: violating construction-specific grammatical constraints, or from complexity differences in interpretation related to very general discourse level information.

English Sentential Subject Extraposition: Toward a ‘How Far' and ‘Why' View

English sentential subject extraposition is a marked feature, but it is quite a systematic structure. This study aims to provide an extraposition occurrence environment and a plausible trigger for the extraposition of a sentential subject. To this end, we first identify a total of 414 examples of COCA corpus, and then discuss their predicates as well as sentential types. An adjectival predicate (52.2%) is frequently employed without a strict semantic restriction, whereas that-clause (55.8%) and to-infinitival clause (35.5%) are mostly extraposed at the sentence-final position. From this corpus data, we suggest that the extraposition occurs across no more than the first complement of a head verb if and only if the complement is not a clause. In addition, the extraposition is assumed to be triggered in order to maximize focus effect (i.e., degree of pitch increase) rather than its grammatical weight, information structure, or BNFC constraint. The essence of the extraposition can be interpreted without solely grounds of the complex syntactic constituents or the discourse-new/old structures. In other words, in order to achieve a speaker's desired result to put an emphasis on a main predicate, he or she employs the rise of pitch on the main predicate, thereby extraposing a sentential subject.

The compatibility condition for expressives revisited: A big data-based trend analysis

The main goal of this paper is to reevaluate the Compatibility Condition on the polarity/degree of emotional attitude for multiple expressive elements including slurs, epithets, anti-honorifics, intensifiers, and mitigators in Korean. The project provides new results obtained from a big data-based trend analysis including usages in Twitter, news articles, and blogs. Yoon (2015) investigated ethnic slurs that occur with other regular expressive elements, in order to examine the systematicity with which these expressive items interact with one another in determining emotional attitude. This prior analysis led to several important theoretical claims, but is limited in depending on intuition-based judgments and co-occurrence patterns in a relatively small corpus. For a general theory of compatibility of expressives, Korean is particularly important because its extensive use of expressives across lexical categories offers a perfect testing ground for examining dynamic interactions of various expressive items, and yet the findings are highly applicable to other languages. The present paper provides a follow-up study of Korean with more rigorous analysis of a larger data set that allows assessment of the validity of earlier claims. Two main issues are reexamined here: one concerns constraints on the Compatibility Condition and how to measure the degree of compatibility; and the second concerns how strict the compatibility condition of expressives is, and what happens if the condition is flouted. The new results from the big data-based trend analysis reveal which part of the prior theoretical analysis is valid in reality and which part requires revision.One implication of the current study is that, by specifying an Emotional Index for expressive items in the sentiment lexicon, the Compatibility Condition, as a grammatical constraint, predicts how multiple occurrences of compatible expressives can be used to strengthen a speaker's positive or negative emotion. Furthermore, we suggest a condition for rescuing by pragmatic effects as a secondary mode of pragmatic sanctioning in exceptional cases of co-occurrences of conflicting attitudinal components.

Looking forwards and backwards: The real-time processing of Strong and Weak Crossover.

We investigated the processing of pronouns in Strong and Weak Crossover constructions as a means of probing the extent to which the incremental parser can use syntactic information to guide antecedent retrieval. In Experiment 1 we show that the parser accesses a displaced wh-phrase as an antecedent for a pronoun when no grammatical constraints prohibit binding, but the parser ignores the same wh-phrase when it stands in a Strong Crossover relation to the pronoun. These results are consistent with two possibilities. First, the parser could apply Principle C at antecedent retrieval to exclude the wh-phrase on the basis of the c-command relation between its gap and the pronoun. Alternatively, retrieval might ignore any phrases that do not occupy an Argument position. Experiment 2 distinguished between these two possibilities by testing antecedent retrieval under Weak Crossover. In Weak Crossover binding of the pronoun is ruled out by the argument condition, but not Principle C. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that antecedent retrieval accesses matching wh-phrases in Weak Crossover configurations. On the basis of these findings we conclude that the parser can make rapid use of Principle C and c-command information to constrain retrieval. We discuss how our results support a view of antecedent retrieval that integrates inferences made over unseen syntactic structure into constraints on backward-looking processes like memory retrieval.

Examining the Functional Category in Chinese-English Code-Switching: Evidence from the Eye-Movements.

To investigate the grammatical constraints of code-switching (CS hereafter) under the disputes of the constraint-based account versus the constraint-free account, the effects of functional category on CS have long been investigated in the existing studies. Thus, the present study, by asking 47 participants to take part in an eye-movement experiment, examined the potential effects of functional category on Chinese-English CS. We found that differential switch costs at varying code-switched conditions as well as robust switch effects that last from the early to the late stage. The findings could tentatively give rise to the theoretical predictions of the minimalist program, a representative of the constraint-free account rather than the functional head constraint, a typical representative of the constraint-based account. Moreover, such switch effects might initiate from the early to the very late stage in terms of time-course of CS processing.

A Study on the Change by Generations in the Form of Grammar in Jeju Dialect -Focusing on Postposition-

The purpose of this study is to investigate the change by generations in the form of grammar focusing on postposition in Jeju dialect. The direction of change of tongues and the speed of change are not uniform. There are some elements that change faster than others and vice versa. In this study, it was examined of the usage pattern of each generation by focusing on postposition which is different from the standard language. According to the characteristics of postposition items, there are specific dialects in which younger generations use. ‘-(yi)young is used by 44%of 20s and 76% of 30s. -ne is used routinely in all ages from 20s to up to 70s and more. According to the characteristics of postposition items, there are specific dialects in which younger generations use. -ne is used routinely in all ages from 20s to up to 70s and more. -chuluk is used by more than 50% of 20s and 30s, and ‘-(yi)young is used by 44% of 20s and 76% of 30s. The younger the generation is, the simpler the dialects are. The dialect of Jeju corresponding to -cheolum(like) is -chuluk , -chalok and -cheolok . In the 70s or older, it appears in various forms such as -chalok, -cheolok -cheollok, -cheoleum , and it is same in the 50s and 60s. However, the dialect type is used as unification form -chuluk in 20s to 40s. The dialect of Jeju corresponding to -ggaji(to) in standard language is -ggajang, -ggaji, -ggeojang, -ggeoji in 50s to 70s and more, but -ggeoji is only used in 20s and 30s. Some dialects are not used at all in the younger generation. -le , -aulla and -gwang are examples of it. Also, the grammatical constraints on which postposition are chosen according to the following verbs do not appear in the younger generations. If the verb of gadda or malheoda is followed, the grammatical response of choosing -gala only appears somewhat in the 70s or more.

The light belongs to Yves Saint Laurent: luxury beauty brands in translation

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the issues related to the translation into Arabic of international advertising campaigns, with particular reference to the luxury goods market in the Arabian Gulf area. Data selected from a corpus comprising 43 English-Arabic luxury cosmetics brochures is analyzed using concepts from discourse analysis and stylistics. Our results point to a tendency towards explicitation, evident mainly in the addition of cohesive devices and the avoidance of sentence fragments, beyond what is dictated by the grammatical and stylistic constraints of Arabic. Our data reveals a general translation preference to evade creative language choices in favor of more direct and explicit advertising messages. We argue that, contrary to Hofstede’s predictions as regards culturally-determined advertising styles, the tendency for precise and explicit messages that emerges in our Arabic data is suggestive of a low-context communication style. This translation approach is at odds with the principles of luxury advertising, which emphasize implicitness, distance, and ambiguity and view language as an extension of the creative process involved in the production of the luxury item. By highlighting the vital role of translation in cross-cultural brand communications, our study underlines the connection between the fields of translation studies and marketing.

Multiword Constructions in the Grammar.

There is ample evidence that speakers' linguistic knowledge extends well beyond what can be described in terms of rules of compositional interpretation stated over combinations of single words. We explore a range of multiword constructions (MWCs) to get a handle both on the extent of the phenomenon and on the grammatical constraints that may govern it. We consider idioms of various sorts, collocations, compounds, light verbs, syntactic nuts, and assorted other constructions, as well as morphology. Our conclusion is that MWCs highlight the central role that grammar plays in licensing MWCs in the lexicon and the creation of novel MWCs, and they help to clarify how the lexicon articulates with the rest of the grammar.

Greedy Flipping for Constrained Word Deletion

In this paper we propose a simple yet efficient method for constrained word deletion to compress sentences, based on top-down greedy local flipping from multiple random initializations. The algorithm naturally integrates various grammatical constraints in the compression process, without using time-consuming integer linear programming solvers. Our formulation suits for any objective function involving arbitrary local score definition. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves nearly identical performance with explicit ILP formulation while being much more efficient.

The Many in Action and Thought: Towards a Poetics of the Collective in Narrative

Starting out with the observation that collective storytelling has only recently received sufficient narratological attention, this article outlines the pervasiveness of plural subjects in factual narratives and their comparative lack of salience in fictional texts. Discussing the collective on the levels of agency, mind, and narration, the article examines the alternation between plural and singular referents, using crowd scenes as illustrative example. It then turns to we-texts and the ambiguities of the first-person plural pronoun both on the plot and the narrational levels. The final section of the article compares factual and fictional collective narration, emphasizing how fictional we-narratives exceed familiar grammatical constraints in order to achieve particular semantic and narrative effects. The essay is a preliminary step in the development of a poetics of collective narrative, both factual and fictional.

The Relation between Working-memory Capacity and Island Effects

In this paper we report three experiments designed to test one of the premises of the WM-based processing analysis: that the strength of island effects should vary as a function of individual differences in WM capacity. Adopting the methodology that Sprouse, Wagers, and Phillips (2012a) use for L1 speakers, we tested forty Korean learners of English on four different island-effect types by employing the acceptability rating task and two different measures of WM capacity involving reading span and n- back. Applying several statistical analysis techniques we find no evidence of a statistically significant relation between WM capacity and island effects. These results indicate that island effects evident even for L2 learners are more likely to be attributed to grammatical constraints than to limited processing resources.