Head Noun Research Articles

Default is different: relations and representations in agreement processing

ABSTRACT Theories of agreement processing typically focus on the mechanisms by which comprehenders relate the morphological features of the agreement-controlling NP and those of the verb. However, agreement is fundamentally a syntactic relation. In this paper, I examine the processing of default agreement with clausal subjects (“[cp That the doctors studied hard] was reassuring”) vs. the processing of agreement with near-synonymous NPs (“[np The fact that the doctors studied hard] was reassuring”). In the NP subject case, there is a syntactic agreement dependency between the head noun fact and the verb was but not in the the CP case. I show that the agreement processing profile for CP subjects differs from those of NP subjects. This suggests that agreement configurations with similar morphology and semantics may be processed using different strategies when embedded in different syntactic structures.

Reanalysis of Gapless Relative Clause

This paper compares the two most common analyses of gapless relative clause such as Zhangsan tan gangqin de shengyin (literally, the sound of Zhangsans playing the piano) in Mandarin Chinese. Such construction is analyzed to hold either a noun-complement relation [1, 2] or a predicate-subject relation [3] between the Head noun and its gapless relative clause. This paper rather rejects both analyses by collecting and analyzing more data of gapless relative clause, regular relative clause and appositive clause, suggesting such gapless relative construction to be independently existent from the other two constructions.

Misretrieval but not misrepresentation: A feature misbinding account of post-interpretive effects in number attraction.

Attraction effects in comprehension have reliably shown a grammaticality asymmetry in which mismatching plural attractors confer facilitatory interference for ungrammatical verbs, but no processing cost for grammatical verbs. While this has favoured cue-based retrieval accounts of attraction phenomena in comprehension, Patson and Husband offered offline evidence suggesting that comprehenders systematically misrepresent number information in attraction phrases, leaving open the possibility for faulty noun phrase (NP) representations later in processing. The current study employs two self-paced reading discourse experiments to test for number attraction misrepresentations in real time. Specifically, the attraction phrases occurred as embedded direct object phrases, allowing for a direct test of the role of attractor noun number in head noun number misrepresentation (i.e., no number cue from verb). Although no online evidence for misrepresentation was found, a third single-sentence rapid serial visual presentation experiment showed error rates to offline probes corroborating the post-interpretive findings from Patson and Husband, suggesting that a search in memory for associative features may not employ the same processes as the formation of dependencies in discourse comprehension. The findings are discussed in the framework of feature misbinding in memory in line with recent post-interpretive accounts of offline comprehension errors.

Korean Pseudo-cleft Construction: Focusing on Two Types of Kes Categories in the Specificational Pseudo-cleft Construction

The purpose of this research is to investigate syntactic categories of kes in Korean specificational pseudo-cleft construction. To account for acceptability contrast of the kes phrase, Park&Kim (2016) and Park (2019) divide the kes into two syntactic categories in the construction: kes as a head noun of relative clause and kes as a complementizer. Park&Kim (ibid.) and Park (ibid.), however, are problematic theory-internally. This research points out problems with Park&Kim (ibid.) and Park (ibid.), including Kim (2016), Wee (2016), and Byun (2020), and makes the following proposals: (a) There are four types in the construction, (b) The kes is classified into two categories: a noun head of relative clause and a noun head denoting property, (c) The noun head of relative clause carries a universal feature.

THE OMISSION OF GRAMMATICAL COMPONENTS: ERRORS AND ITS EFFECTS ON STUDENT'S ACADEMIC WRITING QUALITY

Grammatical errors have been a major issue for decades. Some researchers have analyzed many types of grammatical errors made by foreign language students of English. This paper is one of the descriptions of grammatical errors derived and developed by the English Department of FKIP UMMY Solok in writing their theses. The students’ theses which had been allowed for joining the final comprehensive exam for getting the strata one degree at English Department of FKIP UMMY Solok were analyzed. Ideally, those theses were written by using correct grammar. However, there were still many errors in those theses. The errors found were respectively in form of omission, addition, misformation, and misordering types. This article focuses on the description of the omission of grammatical components written by the students and how it affects their theses quality. Admittedly, these grammatical errors make the theses quality are low and the ideas of the writing are difficult to be caught by the readers because some of the head nouns, subjects, verbs, direct objects, and other components of some sentences in those theses were omitted. It is suggested that the lectures on Grammar and Writing subjects as well as the students’ advisors on academic writings do intensive corrections towards students’ theses.

The Hieroglyphic Luwian genitive case

Abstract Descriptions of Hieroglyphic Luwian grammar assert that the genitive endings ‑as(a) and ‑asi are interchangeable; their distribution is said to be random rather than governed by any conditioning factor. However, recent studies have shown that the ending ‑asi is geographically and chronologically restricted in the corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian texts, which suggests that the distribution is not entirely random. In this paper, it is argued that in texts from the “‑asi area” - where texts containing both endings are found - the genitive endings are distributed in a non-random way. Genitives in ‑as(a) are dependent on neuter gender head nouns, whereas genitives in ‑asi are dependent on common gender head nouns. This means that, syntactically, Hieroglyphic Luwian genitives resemble genitival adjectives by agreeing with the gender of their head. Although several counterexamples exist, they are probably caused by translation errors, by language change in late Hieroglyphic Luwian, and possibly by the fact that -as(a) may reflect -asa as well as -as. Finally, a new account of the historical development of Luwian genitives is presented.

Definiteness without determiners in German

The paper investigates conditions for the bare occurrence of noun phrases in the topic position of specificational copula clauses in German. It is shown that this is a predicate position for non-referential NPs. Specificational clauses in German are special because of the unusual alignment of the predicative position with the topic position. I show that the condition for the bare occurrence of NPs in this position is that the head noun denotes a functional concept. According to the theory of concept types by Löbner (2011), nouns denoting functional concepts are relational and unique. I argue that relationality ensures the anchoring of bare NPs in the discourse via an anaphoric link to a bridging antecedent in the previous discourse and qualifies them to be a topic in the sense of discourse-familiarity. The uniqueness of such NPs is the key to understanding why they can occur bare without a definite article: they belong to the type of definite descriptions in which definiteness is based on uniqueness. The article in uniqueness- based DPs encodes uniqueness and indicates morphological case. Since NPs denoting functional concepts are already unique, and as complements of the copula are not assigned case, the article need not be realized.

Romance N Prep N constructions in visual word recognition

Abstract N Prep N constructions such as Sp. bicicleta de montaña ‘mountain bike’ are very productive and frequent in Romance languages. They commonly have been classified as syntagmatic compounds that show no orthographic union and exhibit an internal structure that resembles free syntactic structures, such as Sp. libro para niños ‘book for children’. There is no consensus on how to best distinguish lexical from syntactic N Prep N constructions. The present paper presents an explorative eye-tracking study on N Prep N constructions, varying both lexical type (lexical vs. syntactic) and preposition across three languages, French, Spanish and Portuguese. The task of the eye-tracking study was a reading aloud paradigm of the constructions in sentence context. Constructions were fixated on less when more frequent, independent of lexical status. There was also modest evidence that a higher construction frequency afforded shorter total fixation durations, but only for lower deciles of the response distribution. The (construction-initial) head noun also received fewer fixations as construction frequency increased, and also when the head noun was more frequent. The second fixation durations on the head noun also revealed an effect of lexical status, with syntactic constructions receiving shorter fixations at the 5th and 7th deciles. The probability of a fixation on the preposition decreased with preposition frequency, but first fixations on the preposition increased with preposition frequency. The prepositions of Portuguese, the language with the richest inventory of prepositions, received more fixations than the prepositions of French and Spanish. The observed pattern of results is consistent with models of lexical processing in which reading is guided by knowledge of both higher-level constructions and knowledge of key constituents such as the head noun and the preposition.

Deverbal and deadjectival nominalization in Dan: Not as different as one might think. A reply to Baker & Gondo (2020)

The paper (Baker & Gondo 2020) studies several issues in Dan morphosyntax: the formal differences between verbs, nouns and adjectives; two types of possessive constructions (with alienable and inalienable head nouns) and their syntactic structures; the derivation of nouns from verbs and adjectives; low and high nominalization; and possessive constructions with deverbal and deadjectival nouns. As it turns out, Baker & Gondo’s analyses are incorrect in some major points: the key formal differences between verbs, adjectives and nouns have been left unnoticed due to disregard for Dan tonal morphology, and for the same reason, the tonal marking of the high nominalization has also been ignored. Baker & Gondo’s syntactic analysis of the possessive construction with alienable nouns as analogous to the Saxon genitive (king’s house) cannot be accepted; in fact, it can be compared with the genitive construction seen in English the house of the king. Possessive constructions with deverbal and deadjectival nouns are not as radically opposed as one may think after reading Baker & Gondo’s paper; in fact, a noun derived from an intransitive verb can sometimes appear as an alienable noun with respect to its theme, and, conversely, a deadjectival noun can appear as a relational noun with respect to the modified noun.

Numeral Systems in Various Fula Lects

The paper presents the analysis of Fula numeral system. Fula is an Atlantic language, dispersed throughout a vast territory in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has over 20 differently-sized lects subdivided into three zones - Western, Central and Eastern. The research included collecting the language data on six major lects, two from each zone. Then this data was analyzed from the point of view of internal and external syntax of ordinal, cardinal, distributive and fraction numerals. The comparative analysis of Fula numeral system on inter-lect scale has never been reflected in earlier Fula studies. Apart from a unique collection of numeral data from all language zones of Fula, the paper presents comparative analysis of such data, including, but not limited to, phonetic and contact-induced variabilities. The sources of structural and lexical loans in the system are listed wherever possible, because the disperse nature of Fula lects means that the contact languages and the ensuing changes can be different for each lect. Special attention is paid to the numeral bases, which can be somatic, commercial of a combination of the two. The Fula numeral system has never been analyzed from this point of view, and the contact changes to it are of great linguistic interest. Also cardinal numerals in Fula can change their form depending on the personality parameter of head noun. This system is unique for Fula and, more specifically, to its numeral system, and is properly described for the first time. Some parts of the Fula numeral system, like distributive and fraction numerals for some lects, have been found underrepresented and poorly described, which leaves room for further research, both field one and typological.

영어 어순의 개념적 비대칭성

The purpose of this study is to reveal that there are cognitive factors as well as grammatical factors in determining English word order and to explain how human’s conceptualization affects the structures of a language. Through Figure-Ground organization, the conceptual asymmetry inherent in English sentences was examined, and the correlation between it and the word order is the following; in compound nouns, Ground precedence alignment can be seen. The verb which functions as a complement in the infinitival clause can be designated as “Figure”, whereas the verb which functions as a modifier can be designated as “Ground”. The more objective and intrinsic property of the adjective, the closer it is to the head noun. In the case of adverbs, the subject-oriented adverbs are located close to the conceptualizer, and the pure manner adverbs are located to the right of the verb.

The general noun-modifying clause construction beyond Eurasia

Abstract I aim to provide a typological investigation of the General Noun-modifying Clause Construction (NMCC) in languages other than those of Eurasia. I show that the five properties proposed by Matsumoto et al. as potentially correlating with the General NMCC are rather areal features which are falsified by the data of languages from Africa and Europe. The semantic interpretability condition and the syntactic licensing condition of the General Noun-modifying Clause Construction need reconsidering. Semantically, I argue that the interpretability of the General NMCC depends both on the semantics of the head noun and that of the modifying clause because they show close interaction with each other. Syntactically, I propose three general syntactic properties of the languages with the General NMCC, i.e. (1) no relative pronouns or relative pronouns in competition with a general clause marker, (2) complex subordinate locutions composed of the general clause marker(s) (and a head noun), and (3) unified verb forms in subordination.

An ERP Study on Attraction Effects in Advanced L2 Learners.

In English, the rule of agreement is quite simple: verbs must agree with their subject head nouns in terms of number features. Despite this simplicity, agreement processing is always interrupted when the subject phrase of the sentence “The key to the cabinets is on the table,” contains two nouns with a mismatch in number features commonly known as attraction effects. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine whether late advanced second language (L2) learners can acquire native-like sensitivity of attraction effects. The results revealed that L2 learners showed ERP patterns qualitatively similar to native English speakers: ungrammatical verbs following singular attractors elicited a P600 effect relative to their grammatical counterparts, whereas this positivity was replaced by an N400 effect when plural attractors intervened between the subject head nouns and the verbs. Of particular interest, given that, compared to native speakers, the amplitude of the P600 effect elicited by L2 learners was smaller, there was a quantitative difference between native speakers and L2 learners. We proposed that these two ERP components represented the two processing routes of agreement: the P600 effect indexed a full, combinatorial process, which parsed morphosyntactic features between agreement controllers and targets, whereas the N400 effect indexed a shallow, heuristic process, which evaluated lexical associations between agreeing elements. Moreover, similar to native speakers, advanced L2 learners showed an asymmetrical pattern of attraction effects, in that plural attractors were interfered with ungrammaticality at disagreeing verbs, but they did not cause any difficulties in processing grammatical sentences at agreeing verbs. The overall results suggested that compared to native processing, L2 processing of complex agreement with attractor interference was shallower and therefore late advanced L2 learners could not achieve native-like attraction effects.

RAF, DNA and CAPTCHA: English acronyms in German and Swedish translation

This study investigates acronyms in English originals and their translations into German and Swedish, comparing forms, functions and distributions across the languages. The material was collected from the Linnaeus English-German-Swedish corpus (LEGS) consisting of original and translated popular non-fiction. From a structural point of view, acronyms most often occur as independent noun heads (When IBM introduced […]) or as premodifiers in a noun phrase (PGP encryption). Due to morphosyntactic differences, English acronym premodifiers often merge into hyphenated compounds in German translations (UN-Klimakonvention), but less frequently so in Swedish. The study also discusses explicitation practices when introducing source-culture specific acronyms in the translations. German translators explain and elaborate more than Swedish translators and they do so in the German language. Swedish translators, however, use English to a greater extent, suggesting that Swedish readers are expected to have better knowledge of English than German readers.

СЪС ИЛИ БЕЗ ПРЕДЛОЗИ: КОЕ Е ВЯРНОТО / WITH OR WITHOUT PREPOSITIONS: WHICH IS TRUE

The article focuses on the competition between noun phrases in which the head noun is modified by either a relative adjective, noun qualitative modifier or a prepositional phrase. Several tests are proposed to distinguish between phrases with noun qualitative modifier and compounds consisting of two nouns. The type of the prepositions that occur in the prepositional phrases is characterised, and the conclusion is drown that the semantic dependency in the three competing structures is the same, although it is overtly expressed only through the prepositions. Keywords: noun qualitative modifier, syntactic alternations with prepositional phrases, identification of compounds, Bulgarian language

Le superlatif des adjectifs tough suivis d'un supin en roumain contemporain. Problèmes d'Accord et de position adnominale

In contemporary Romanian, adjectives of the tough class combined with a verbal supine are said to be invariable . This article uses corpus data to show that while this is on the whole true for adjectives in the plain form, it is not true for superlatives, which agree with the noun they refer to in more than 40 per cent of the cases . It is also shown that superlative tough adjectives occur much more often in prenominal position than do tough adjectives in the plain form . They are, however, more prone to appear after the head noun than superlatives in general . Superlatives of the type in question can also split around the noun they modify, as can other types of superlative constructions with a complement . The possibility for a tough adjective in the plain form to appear before the noun when followed by a supine complement is, however, a unique feature for this type of AP.

Asymmetric Underlying Mechanisms of Relation-Based and Property-Based Noun-Noun Conceptual Combination.

Conceptual combination is a fundamental human cognitive ability by which people can experience infinite thinking by artfully combining finite knowledge. For example, one can instantly combine “cactus” and “fish” together as “prickly fish” even if one has never previously heard of a “cactus fish.” Although two major combinatorial types—property and relational combinations—have been identified, the underlying processes of each remain elusive. This study investigates the asymmetric processing mechanisms underlying property and relational combinations by examining differential semantic activation during noun–noun conceptual combination. Across two experiments utilizing each combinatorial process as semantic priming and implementing a lexical decision task immediately after combination, we measure and compare the semantic activation patterns of intrinsic and extrinsic semantic features in these two combinatorial types. We found converging evidence that property and relational combinations involve asymmetric semantic information and entail distinct processing mechanisms. In property combination, the intrinsic feature in the modifier concept showed greater activation than the semantic feature of the same dimension in the head concept. In contrast, in relational combination, the extrinsic semantic feature in the head concept and the whole modifier concept showed similar levels of activation. Moreover, our findings also showed that these patterns of semantic activation occurred only when the combinatorial process was complete, indicating that accessing the same lexical-semantic information is not sufficient to observe asymmetric patterns. These findings demonstrate that property combination involves replacing a specific semantic feature of the head noun with that of the modifier noun, whereas relational combination involves completing the semantic feature of the head noun with the whole modifier concept. We discuss the implications of these findings, research limitations, and future research directions.

Red, black, and white hearts: ‘heart’, ‘liver’, and ‘lungs’ in typological and areal perspective

AbstractOn the basis of a sample of 424 languages or dialects, this article provides a typological-comparative investigation of designations for three major internal organs of the torso, the ‘heart’, the ‘liver’, and the ‘lungs’. While colexification patterns are relatively unconstrained, the data show a skewing in morphologically complex terms: ‘heart’ and ‘liver’ often serve as head nouns in complex terms for ‘lungs’, but the reverse is rare. Another recurrent phenomenon is that two of the organs –sometimes ‘heart’ and ‘lungs’, but more frequently ‘liver’ and ‘lungs’– share their head noun, and are distinguished from one another by modifiers that refer to their most salient characteristics, as in Azerbaijaniaɣ ǯiyær‘white ǯiyær’ = ‘lungs’ andgara-ǯiyær‘black-ǯiyær’ = ‘liver’. Having thus set the typological stage, I move on to discuss two different regions of the world in which such terms for ‘lungs’ and ‘liver’ have spread through language contact. This has happened in Eurasia, where the abovementioned pattern, which I call “explicitly dyadic”, was brought from Turkish to vernaculars of the Balkans and, most likely through Azerbaijani influence, to languages of the Southern Caucasus. Similar explicitly dyadic terms, but based on a head noun meaning ‘heart’, also occur in the Andes, where they appear to have spread from Quechuan to Barbacoan languages. The evidence not only shows that ‘liver’ and ‘lungs’ form a “semantic dyad” in which designations make use of “opposed characteristics” in different regions of the world, but also that such designations are salient and therefore prone to spread in language contact situations.

The two concurrent gender systems of Mba

Abstract This paper describes the gender system of the Ubangi language Mba, which can be characterized by the co-existence of two different classification systems. The ‘formal agreement’ system is tightly bound with the nominal deriflection system, while the ‘semantic agreement’ system, by contrast, emanates from a tripartite distinction in the language made between masculine humans, other animates, and inanimates. Whereas formal agreement is manifested on different elements that modify the head noun, the semantic agreement system operates in the pronominal domain, mostly outside the noun phrase.

Definiteness, Information Structure, and Indirect Modification in the Kunbarlang Noun Phrase

Kunbarlang shows considerable variation in the word order patterns of nominal expressions. This paper investigates these patterns, concentrating on the distribution of noun markers (articles) and on attributive modification. Based on examination of spontaneous discourse and elicitation, I identify two main contributions of the noun marker: definiteness and predicative reading of modifiers. Furthermore, the order of adjectives with respect to the head noun is shown to correlate with information-structural effects. Taken together, these facts strongly support a hierarchical structure analysis of the NP in Kunbarlang. In the second part of the paper, Kunbarlang data are compared to the typology of determiner spreading phenomena. Finally, I entertain the prospects of a more formal analysis of the data presented and indicate their theoretical and typological relevance, including expression of information structure below the clausal level, typology of adnominal elements, and architecture of attributive modification.