Left Dislocation Research Articles

Waning and waxing

Abstract This paper provides a preliminary description of the comparative construction in Tujia1 (northern dialect; NT), an endangered ergative Tibeto-Burman (TB) language spoken in China, in the context of the typologically diverse ways in which comparative meaning is expressed. In mono-clauses in NT, comparative marking depends on the position of the standard (i.e., that which is compared to). The standard may be marked with an ablative marker, or a topic marker if it appears in sentence-initial position due to left dislocation; otherwise, the comparandum (i.e., that which is to be compared) is assigned an ergative marker. Ergative on the comparandum and ablative on the standard can both occur but this is not obligatory. We propose that the ablative is the primary comparative marker in NT. However, this construction is subject to variation: the ablative marker is being replaced by a topic marker on the standard or by an ergative marker on the comparandum. We analyze this as change in progress (partly as a result of language contact); specifically, we propose that an ergative marker on the comparandum is starting to function as a focus marker, and in which the comparative meaning is derived from reanalysis. On the other hand, the comparative meaning in constructions where the standard is marked with a topic marker is proposed to result from the functional extension of the topic structure to comparative constructions. Both ergative marking on the comparandum and topic marking on the standard are typologically rare. Thus, the analysis of comparison marking in Tujia contributes to the typological understanding of comparative constructions in general.

The D(emonstrative)-construction

This paper explores a newly identified contrastive topic configuration in Spanish. Coined by de Andrade (2018) for Galician and European Portuguese, the D(emonstrative)-construction features a left-dislocated topic and d(emonstrative)-pronoun resumptive. This study investigates whether the D-construction exists in Spanish, and if so, with which syntactic properties. We administered an acceptability judgment task on the D-construction, Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD), Hanging Topic Left Dislocation (HTLD) and Focus Fronting (FF) to Spanish speakers. The task tested the role of the left-dislocate, case connectivity, subject-verb inversion, embedding, recursivity, and sensitivity to island constraints. Simple instances of the D-construction received consistently high ratings, demonstrating that it exists in Spanish. There was individual variation regarding the role of the left-dislocate and case connectivity. The D-construction did not require subject-verb inversion, was non-recursive and demonstrated selective island sensitivity. Findings for CLLD, HTLD and FF were mostly in line with previous literature. The D-construction did not exactly pattern with CLLD, HTLD, nor FF; it is characterized by a unique set of syntactic properties. We propose that both left-dislocated elements are base-generated at Spec, TopP: the fronted DP is a hanging topic, and its resumptive d-pronoun is linked to a clitic within the main clause via an A'-chain.

Left dislocation in Dutch

Abstract Left Dislocation in Dutch is still poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear why speakers of Dutch use this construction and which factors influence its use. To obtain more insight in the function and use of Left Dislocation in Dutch, we elicited narratives from 30 adult speakers of Dutch and carried out an analysis of the use of Left Dislocation constructions in these narratives. Our analysis revealed that neither the introduction of new referents, nor the expression of a contrast between two referents, nor the marking of a shifted topic is able to explain all uses of Left Dislocation in these narratives. We speculate that the function of Left Dislocation in Dutch is to mark a referent as a potential topic for the further discourse.

Feature reassembly and L1 preemption: Acquiring CLLD in L2 Italian and L2 Romanian.

This study investigates feature acquisition and feature reassembly associated with Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD). The article compares the acquisition of CLLD in second language (L2) Italian to L2 Romanian to examine effects of first language (L1) transfer, construction frequency and the type of interface involved (external vs. internal interface) within the same syntactic construction. The results from an acceptability judgment task and a written elicitation task show that while English near-native speakers of Italian/Romanian acquired the L2 constraints on CLLD, which is [+anaphor] for Italian and [+specific] for Romanian, data from both Romanian L2 learners of Italian and Italian L2 learners of Romanian showed persistent L1 transfer effects. Target-like acquisition for these groups requires both grammatical expansion and retraction; Romanian CLLD requires the addition of an L1-unavailable [+specific] feature and the loss of a [+anaphor] feature, while Italian CLLD requires the addition of an L1-unavailable [+anaphor] and the loss of a [+specific] feature. The reported findings extend evidence in favour of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis to the syntax-discourse interface, as reassembly of interpretational features associated with CLLD proved more difficult than feature acquisition. While learners at the near-native levels were able to broaden the contexts that allow a clitic in the L2 (grammatical expansion), L1 preemption difficulties were attested as well. This was the case regardless of the frequency of the relevant construction in the input and the type of L2 feature that needed to be added/removed.

Hanging Topic Left Dislocations as extrasentential constituents: toward a paratactic account. Evidence from English and Spanish

Abstract The paper argues for a bisentential, paratactic account of Hanging Topic Left Dislocations wherein the syntactically unconnected hanging topic phrase is the remnant of an elliptical copulative sentence which is linearly juxtaposed to the second, host sentence. This proposal represents a natural extension of Ott’s system for Clitic Left Dislocations and predicative non-restrictive nominal appositives. By assuming that the hanging topic is structurally disconnected from the host sentence, the analysis constitutes a radical departure from integrated/monosentential approaches within cartography, which analyze hanging topics as intrasentential, albeit peripheral, constituents in the left spine of the clause. Using data from English and Spanish as well as from other linguistic varieties, the paratactic approach provides a principled account of various issues facing monosentential analyses of hanging topics, including anti-connectivity, coreference with the resumptive/epithetic correlate, comma intonation/pause potential, case, insensitivity to locality constraints, islandhood, and potential presence of interjections between hanging topic and host sentence, amongst others. The account is also successful in capturing orphaned topics, which are not linked to any constituent in the sentence they occur with, alongside ‘interrogative’ and hyperdetached hanging topics.

The syntactic flexibility of German and English idioms: Evidence from acceptability rating experiments

It is controversial which idioms can occur with which syntactic structures. For example, can Mary kicked the bucket (figurative meaning: ‘Mary died’) be passivized to The bucket was kicked by Mary? We present a series of experiments in which we test which structures are compatible with which idioms in German (for which there are few experimental data so far) and English, using acceptability judgments. For some of the tested structures – including German left dislocation, scrambling, and prefield fronting – it is particularly contested to what extent they are restricted by semantic factors and, as a consequence, to what extent they are compatible with idioms. In our data, these structures consistently showed similar limitations: they were fully compatible with one subset of our test idioms (those categorized as semantically compositional) and degraded with another (those categorized as non-compositional). Our findings only partly align with previously proposed hierarchies of structures with respect to their compatibility with idioms.

Microvariation in the Distribution of Resumptive Pronouns in the Left Dislocation Construction in Two Tyrolean Dialects of Northern Italy

In this paper we document a so-far neglected case of microvariation involving resumptive pronouns in the left-dislocation construction in Meranese, spoken in South Tyrol, and Mòcheno, spoken in the Fersina valley (Trentino). While in standard German resumptive elements in this construction belong to the class of D-pronouns, the two Tyrolean dialects considered in the paper exhibit, as resumptive pronouns, both (i) D-pronouns and (ii) pronominal usages of the distal demonstrative formed by the definite article (D) and sèll corresponding to ‘that one’. We show that in both languages D+sèll forms overlap with German D-pronouns in most contexts, whereas D-pronouns only superficially, but not functionally, correspond to German D-pronouns, and have undergone a weakening process. While the weakening process is in nuce in Meranese, it seems to be nearly completed in Mòcheno, where D-pronouns appear to have acquired a status close to that of subject clitics of Northern Italian varieties.

Expanding the English as an International Language paradigm from different native language perspectives

Abstract The present paper aims at expanding the English as an International Language (EIL) paradigm and providing new insights into the current status and role of EIL.1 The main focus of the study is on information structuring (IS) in dialogic speech events to show how IS affects the use of particular constructions, namely it-clefts, wh-cleft and topicalisation (left dislocation) which seem to show higher frequency in EIL than in standard English (Biber et al. 1998). For the purpose of this preliminary study, samples of spoken ELF data including private dialogues and academic discussions were selected from the VOICE (Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English) to investigate left-right asymmetries in EIL interactions, which is an area still lacking of attention with respect to lexical and other phrasal phenomena.

Orthosis Treatment for Patients with Congenital Hip Dislocation

Background: Congenital dislocation of the hip is currently a public health and socioeconomic problem. Delayed treatment impairs the functional prognosis of the affected hip and increases the need for surgical treatment. Aim: To evaluate the therapeutic results of the treatment by orthosis and the cost of the treatment. Material and Methods: This retroprospective descriptive study was carried out at the CHUAM of Antananarivo and the CRMM of Antsirabe on patients with congenital hip dislocation treated with braces; from January 2017 to August 2021. Results: Forty-eight cases were retained during this study. A female predominance was mentioned with a sex ratio of 0.45 and an average age of 7.8 ± 5.5 months at the beginning of the treatment. A left dislocation was observed in 27.1% of cases. Twenty-nine patients were treated with abduction pants. A recentered femoral head showing a good result was present in 37 patients. Five dislocations were observed at follow-up, and 5 residual subluxations. No cases of avascular necrosis of the femoral head have been reported. The total cost of orthosis treatment was on the average of 138.554,5 ± 51.678,8 Ariary. Conclusion: The age at the start of treatment and the duration of treatment influence the therapeutic outcome. The cost of orthosis treatment was affordable. If the treatment started earlier, the functional prognosis would be better.

Intervention effects in Catalan agrammatism

The goal of the present study is to test the agrammatic comprehension of clitic left dislocation and contrastive focus in Catalan, in order to evaluate the Generalised Minimality hypothesis of Grillo (2009). According to this hypothesis, the comprehension deficit observed in agrammatism is the result of the underspecification of scope-discourse features giving rise to generalised intervention effects. We conducted two sentence-picture matching tasks to assess the comprehension of clitic left dislocation and contrastive focus with nine and seven Broca’s aphasic subjects, respectively, as well as control participants. The results show that the comprehension of SVO sentences and object clitics was preserved, whereas the comprehension of object dislocations and object focalisations was compromised. These findings are consistent with the analysis of the deficit as an instance of generalised intervention effects. Yet, we also examined the prediction that a relevant syntactic feature mismatch between the subject and the object would suffice to block generalised minimality effects; in particular, the number features of subject and object were controlled for. The agrammatic subjects’ performance on mismatched sentences did not differ from their performance on sentences where the subject and the object were matched in number. These findings call the hypothesis into question and stress the need for future research.

Bikol clefts and topics and the Austronesian extraction restriction

Many Austronesian languages exhibit an extraction restriction whereby only one particular DP—the “pivot” argument, the choice of which is reflected by morphology on the verb—can be Ā-extracted. We show that such extraction restrictions can vary between different Ā-constructions in Bikol: local clefting is limited to the pivot, whereas topicalization can target pivots and non-pivot agents but not non-pivot themes of transitive verbs. Following the phase-theoretic, locality-based approach to such extraction asymmetries in related Austronesian languages, we propose that clefting and topicalization differ in the featural specifications of their probes, with clefting necessarily targeting the closest DP and topicalization simply seeking the closest topic constituent. Evidence for this approach comes from the behavior of long-distance clefting, which may target certain non-pivot arguments and involve gaps or resumptive pronouns. The inventory of different long-distance cleft types is explained by the possibility of embedded topicalization and hanging topic left dislocation feeding higher clefting. Our study strengthens the view that the classic Austronesian pivot-only extraction restriction is best characterized in terms of syntactic locality, rather than as a restriction on the grammatical function or morphological case of movement targets.

EMPHATIC CONSTRUCTIONS DISLOCAZIONE A DESTRA AND DISLOCAZIONE A SINISTRA IN COMEDIES OF THE 16th CENTURY TUSCAN AUTHORS

The modern Italian language of informal communication is characterized by a rather active use of emphatic syntactic means, in particular the constructions right dislocation (dislocazione a destra) and left dislocation (dislocazione a sinistra), which are considered innovative. But it is quite difficult to determine the real time of occurrence of these phenomena in the speech of Italian speakers: the number of reliable written samples of oral informal communication of the past is very small, and in the case of communication that took place several centuries ago, there are no such sources at all. Comedies are very valuable material for analysis, as comic theatre is closely connected with the phenomenon of «parlato recitato» - colloquial speech in stage performance, which uses a complex of linguistic means associated with informal oral discourse. So, it is possible to trace examples of relatively accurately reproduced verbal communication of past centuries in the texts of comedies. The presence of emphatic constructions allows us to confirm the hypothesis that the Italian language nowadays does not develop new constructions and structures, but rather undergoes a process of restandartization, in which phenomena that were considered characteristic of colloquial usage change their position and become normative.

Stability and Change in the C-Domain in American Swedish

This article introduces American Swedish (AmSw) into the discussion of the C-domain in heritage Scandinavian. The study is based on spontaneous speech data from the Swedish part of the Corpus of American Nordic Speech (CANS), compared to a baseline of homeland Swedish dialect speakers. We show that the C-domain in AmSw is primarily characterized by stability; this is evidenced by a relatively robust V2 syntax and left dislocation patterns that resemble the homeland baseline. However, we also show that AmSw diverges in some respects: there are some V2 violations and a stronger preference for SV clauses (subject-initial main clauses) at the expense of XVS clauses (non-subject-initial main clauses). These results are similar to previous findings from American Norwegian. We argue that the diverging patterns exhibited by AmSw speakers are not indicative of any fundamental change in their Swedish grammar. The occasional V2 violations are attributed to parallel activation of English and Swedish, and speakers sometimes failing to inhibit English, which is their dominant language. The increase of SV clauses is analyzed as a preference for the canonical word order of the dominant language, but within the limits of what the heritage grammar permits. The patterns in AmSw can be described as cases of attrition and cross-linguistic influence; however, we argue for a nuanced use of these terms.

Clinical report of hoding cricoarytenoid joint reduction with visual laryngoscope under intravenous anesthesia

Objective: To investigate the reduction effect of hoding cricoarytenoid joint reduction with visual laryngoscope under intravenous anesthesia. Methods: The therapeutic effects of 40 patients with arytenoid dislocation(AD)treated by closed reduction in the single center from January 2020 to September 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 21 males and 19 females, median age 48 years. The etiology, symptoms, preoperative evaluation methods, reduction mode, reduction times, and the recovery of arytenoid cartilage movement and sound after reduction were evaluated and analyzed. Results: All patients had obvious hoarseness and breath sound before treatment. Under stroboscopic laryngoscope or electronic nasopharyngoscope, different degrees of vocal cord movement disorder and poor glottic closure can be seen. There were 28 cases of left dislocation, 9 cases of right dislocation and 3 cases of bilateral dislocation. The etiology of dislocation of cricoarytenoid joint: 25 cases (62.5%) of tracheal intubation under general anesthesia were the most common causes, was as follows by laryngeal trauma, gastroscopy, cough, vomiting and so on. Among them, 28 cases of reduction were initially diagnosed in our department, and 12 cases were diagnosed later after failure of reduction treatment. Of the 40 patients, 6 underwent reduction 24 hours after dislocation; 18 cases from 3 days to 1 month; 7 cases from 1 to 3 months; 6 cases were reset in 3~6 months; Over 6 months in 3 cases. After one reduction, 10 cases (10/40, 25%) recovered normal pronunciation, 14 cases (14/40, 35%) recovered normal pronunciation after two reduction, 10 cases (10/40, 25%) recovered normal pronunciation after three times, 2 cases (2/40, 5%) recovered normal pronunciation after four times, and 1 case (2.5%) recovered normal pronunciation after five times. Thin slice CT scan of larynx and cricoarytenoid joint reconstruction showed the types of AD: subluxation in 37 cases (92.5%) and total dislocation in 3 cases; 28 cases of left dislocation, 9 cases of right dislocation and 3 cases of bilateral dislocation; 29 cases (72.5%) had posterior dislocation and 11 cases (27.5%) had anterior dislocation. All patients were treated by intravenous anesthesia with arytenoid cartilage clamped by cricoarytenoid joint reduction forceps under visual laryngoscope. The curative effect was evaluated by stroboscopic laryngoscope and/or voice analysis at 1-2 weeks after operation. The vocal cord movement returned to normal and the pronunciation was good in 37 cases (92.5%). Conclusions: Hoding cricoarytenoid joint reduction with the vision laryngoscope under intravenous anesthesia is easy to operate and the reduction effect is more stable. It is a effective method for AD.

Recurrence Of Anterior Shoulder Dislocation with Or Without Physiotherapy

Shoulder withdrawals are horrendous and can hinder everyday activities as well as help in sports. The greater part of shoulder separations (>95%) happen in the front course and are from time to time achieved by injury. Discontinuous separations can be avoided and social costs can be diminished with proper treatment. Objective: To evaluate the recurrence of anterior should dislocation with or without physiotherapy. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over 180 participants of recurrence of anterior shoulder dislocation according to inclusion exclusion criteria. Non probability purposive sampling was used to assemble data from Lahore. Data was collected by questionnaire Functional shoulder Instability. Data were collected from the Patients of the University of Lahore Teaching Hospital, Mansoora Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Mayo Hospital. Results: Out of total 180 participant’s, 140 were males and 40 were females. Mean age was 25.9 with a St. Deviation of 5.3 having maximum age of 35.00 and minimum age of 15.00. Injury mechanism among participants was seizure in 20 (11.1%), falls present in 46 (25.6%), sporting injury in 54 (30.0%), motor vehicle accident in 54 (30.0%) and in other is 6 (3.3%). 98 (54.4%) participants have previous instability of other shoulder and 82 (45.6%) don’t have previous instability of other shoulder. 74 (41.1%) participants have left dislocation side and 106 (58.9%) participants have right dislocation side. 28 (15.6%) participant’s undergoes physiotherapist treatment and 152 (84.4%) participant’s undergoes general physician treatment. Conclusions: Hence it was concluded that, recurrence of shoulder was occurred mostly in that participants’ which were undergoes general physician treatment.

Clitic left dislocation and inverse scope: Plain indefinites versus numerals

The syntax of Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) has been widely debated due to its mixed properties, which in some cases indicate movement (e.g. island sensitivity, certain connectivity effects) and in other cases base generation of the CLLD-ed phrase (wide scope, lack of weak crossover). In this paper we discuss scope facts with CLLD in Greek, revealing a contrast depending on the type of quantifier. We present experimental evidence that whereas CLLD-ed plain indefinites take wide scope, CLLD-ed numerals can get a low scope interpretation. We argue that the inverse scope interpretation with CLLD-ed numerals is only apparent, presenting, in fact, an instance of split scope between the degree quantifier and the existential operator. This analysis presents evidence in favor of a movement analysis for CLLD, thus patterning with the observation that binding reconstruction is possible. At the same time, the non-availability of scope reconstruction with CLLD is attributed to stricter locality constraints which have been discussed for quantifier raising as opposed to other types of movement and dependencies.

Syntactic Features of Left Dislocation Constructions in Post-Exilic Biblical Hebrew

Left dislocation constructions involve a constituent that precedes the matrix sentence and is resumed within the sentence by a coreferential resumptive element. Cross-linguistically, left dislocation constructions exhibit considerable syntactic variation, which can be described on the basis of (1) the grammatical features of the resumptive element, (2) the relationship of the left dislocated constituent to the resumptive element, especially with respect to case agreement, and (3) the relationship of the left dislocation construction to the broader syntactic context. In this essay we describe the syntactic features of left dislocation constructions in the biblical books traditionally and uncontroversially identified as post-exilic—Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and Esther. We identify ways in which trajectories of change in Biblical Hebrew can be identified in these constructions as well as syntactic features that are stable within the biblical corpus.

Why-questions and focus in Italian

Abstract In this study we argue that the appropriateness of an answer to a why-question, potentially bearing on multiple contrast classes, is mainly influenced by the focalized argument, which identifies the relevant reference set. The focalization structure, however, interacts in a non-trivial way with the thematic structure and its accessibility, suggesting a general (independent) prominence of the direct object (DO) over the indirect one (IO). In correlation to that, we also observed that DO appears more resistant to extraction compared to IO, while it seems felicitous in a post-IO focalized low position (light NP-shifting). These contrasts are obtained by running five distinct experiments in Italian targeting various dislocation configurations: Four forced choice tasks manipulating leftward dislocation (i) clefting versus (ii) fronting versus (iii) clitic left dislocation and (iv) postverbal reordering (canonical DO IO order vs. IO DO) in ditransitive predicates. Then (v) an acceptability judgment study was administered to assess the difficulty in figuring out a licensing context coherent with the argument ordering, provided in the why-question. To minimize the interacting factors, all sentences included null subjects and a context was provided for each experimental item in the forced choice tasks, introducing the relevant contrast classes.

Topicalization, Dislocation and Clitic Resumption

AbstractRomance languages make use of syntactic topicalization strategies to mark various kinds of topic constituents, typically under Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) or Clitic Right Dislocation (CLRD). Despite the great deal of attention that these phenomena have received in the last decades, different analyses have been proposed and several questions are still controversial. In this paper, I focus on the role and distribution of clitic resumption in Italian topicalization constructions with the aim of identifying the syntactic properties that correlate with the overt presence of the resumptive clitic. The apparent optionality of the clitic is subject to variation across Romance and reflects structural differences, showing that non‐resumed left dislocation actually corresponds to a structure other than CLLD. The ultimate goal of this analysis is thus to provide evidence in support of the movement analysis of CLLD, and against recent revivals of the base‐generation or adjunction approach, by arguing that left dislocation with and without clitic resumption corresponds to two distinct types of A'‐movement.

How large is the left periphery of Present-Day German? A unifying approach to multiply-filled-prefield configurations

AbstractIn this article, it is proposed that different types of apparent “non-V2” arrangements in Present-Day German matrix clauses which are generally treated independently are similar in nature and derivable by means of a limited number of syntactic operations that do not challenge or put into question the classical account of German as astructuralV2 language. The analysis reveals that an adequate formalization of all possible left-peripheral word orders must rest upon three basic assumptions: (i) V2 in Modern German main clauses can be neither movement to the head position whose specifier hosts a moved or base-generated XP nor (necessarily) movement to Force°, but can be generalized to raising of the Vfin to Fin°; (ii) German has a Split CP which is fundamentally similar,mutatis mutandis, to that of Romance languages; (iii) this language is subject to the bottleneck effect, which states that all movement into the CP passes through [Spec,FinP]. The theoretical approach pursued here attempts to account for left dislocation and other (frame-setting and non-frame-setting) topicalization phenomena by assuming that in German (differently from other Split-CP languages), XPs base-generated in the middle field move to their surface position by cyclical movement within the left periphery. This allows us to avoidad hocexplanations, as well as violations of the bottleneck effect.