Phrase Structure Research Articles

Optimality Theory and Syntactic Constraints in English and Arabic Prepositional Phrases: A Comparative Analysis

This research paper aimed to investigate the syntactic constraints that govern the use of prepositional phrases in English and Arabic, using Optimality Theory (OT) framework. A set of English and Arabic sentences containing prepositional phrases were collected and analyzed for constraint violations. This study compared the syntactic structures of prepositional phrases in both languages by examining the case marking, headedness, and subject-verb agreement requirements of OT. The findings indicated that although prepositional phrases are used similarly in Arabic and English, there are also structural variations between them. In particular, the study finds that Arabic prepositional phrases exhibit more markedness and complexity than English preposition phrases, due to the influence of case marking and agreement constraints in OT. The study contributes to our understanding of the syntactic structures of preposition phrases in both languages and highlights the importance of considering the role of syntactic constraints in language comparison studies.

A Survey on Syntactic Structure of Verb Phrase in Kipangwa

A Survey on Syntactic Structure of Verb Phrase in Kipangwa

Structural prediction during language comprehension revealed by electrophysiology: Evidence from Italian auxiliaries.

Prediction in language comprehension has become a key mechanism in recent psycholinguistic theory, with evidence from lexical prediction as a primary source. Less work has focused on whether comprehenders also make structural predictions above the lexical level. Previous research shows that processing is facilitated for syntactic structures which are predictable based on context; however, there is so far no direct evidence that speakers formulate structural predictions ahead of encountering input. We investigated whether subject noun animacy cues comprehenders to predict different verb phrase (VP) structures, with the incompatibility between a low animacy subject and an Agent interpretation of transitives/unergative VPs predicting a derived (passive/unaccusative) VP structure, using Italian auxiliaries. Native Italian speakers read sentences with subject nouns varying from high to low animacy followed by the auxiliary avereHAVE, which is compatible with underived VPs, or essereBE, which is compatible with derived VPs. The auxiliary avereHAVE elicited greater frontal negativity when preceded by a subject noun with lower animacy. The auxiliary essereBE elicited no differential ERP given subject animacy. We propose that this frontal negativity reflects violation of a structural prediction, with amplitude reflecting the strength of initial commitment or difficulty in revising a predicted structure. Differences between auxiliaries are proposed to follow from the more specific distribution of avereHAVE. We argue that this evidence unambiguously supports a predictive mechanism for phrase-level structure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Do so replacement and the argument/adjunct distinction in Merge-based syntax

This study provides a novel look at do so replacement within the framework of the Bare Phrase Structure theory. Unlike the previous view of do so as a monolithic VP anaphor, I argue that do so is better analyzed as do and so, separately substituting for a functional Voice head and VP, respectively. This argument is supported by the observation of VP adverbs, the locative/directional interpretation of PPs, and the analysis of voice mismatch. The study consequently presents a more refined model of VP than the previous X-bar theoretic model, as it fulfills the structural requirement between complements and adjuncts.

Syntax of Amharic ideophones

This study is on Amharic ideophones, a subject that has not been described well in the syntax of Amharic. The data used for the analysis are collected from natural settings of the Amharic-speaking community in Debre Birhan College of Teacher Education. The description shows that Amharic ideophones contradict some earlier generalizations made about the syntax of ideophones in such works which claim that ideophones do not fit in the grammar of other word classes in a language, and which states that ideophones do not enter any phrase structure, nor are they modified by other word classes. The description here shows that ideophones fit well into the grammar of the Amharic language. In contrast to such claims, they project different phrases such as noun phrases, which occur in subject and object positions and they can occur with or without a modifier. Their verb phrases appear with adverbial modifiers. Amharic ideophones can also be modifiers of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They form complex predicates with auxiliaries. Their noun phrases come in dative, ablative and locative case forms. Ideophones occur in all types of sentences, suggesting that their distribution is unrestricted.

جَماليَّاتُ التَّقديم والتَّأخير في سُورة "يُونُس": الجَارّ والمَجرُور أُنْموذجاً

This study examines the structure of the prepositional phrase in Surat Yunus (peace be upon him). It focuses, in particular, on the justification of fronting the prepositional phrase and attempts to introspect the aesthetics in that fronting. The study includes an introduction that focuses on the aim of the study, its methodology, and previous studies. The study also includes a preface that shows a presentation of Surat Yunus (peace be upon him) in terms of the most prominent ideas that it contained, the reason for its name, its consistency, and its relevance to the Surah before and after it. Moreover, the study contained two topics. The first topic sheds light on fronting and its aesthetics in terms of rhetoric and semantics, in addition to defining the concept of the prepositional phrase. The second topic is devoted to revealing the secrets of fronting the prepositional phrase before the topic and its comment in a nominal sentence, before transitive complementizers, and before some of the elements of the verbal sentence (e.g., subject of active sentences/ subject of passive sentences) and the object. The study concluded with the most important findings reached followed by a list of references.

Nominal Phrase Structure in Ikyaushi (M.402)

Nominal Phrase Structure in Ikyaushi (M.402)

Cyclic Expansion in Agree: Maximal Projections as Probes

When we couple the cyclic expansion of a probe’s domain assumed in Cyclic Agree (Rezac 2003, 2004, Béjar and Rezac 2009) with the lack of formal distinction between heads, intermediate projections, and phrases emphasized in Bare Phrase Structure (Chomsky 1995a,b), an interesting prediction arises. Maximal projections should be able to probe through the same mechanisms that allow intermediate projections to probe in familiar cases of Cyclic Agree. I argue that this prediction is borne out. I analyze agreeing adjunct C in Amahuaca (Panoan; Peru) as a maximal projection that probes its c-command domain in second-cycle Agree. This account derives C’s simultaneous sensitivity to DPs within its own clause and in the clause to which it adjoins. Therefore, I conclude that Amahuaca provides evidence that maximal projections can be probes. The account also yields insight into the syntax of switch-reference in Panoan and beyond.

Pseudo-partitives in English: an HPSG analysis

Pseudo-partitives are strings of the form [N1– of – N2] in which N1denotes a quantity or amount of whatever it is that N2denotes and in which N2is a bare nominal. Such strings come in two types, depending on whether the combination shares thenumbervalue of N1or N2. The first type can be analyzed along familiar lines, but the second one is a hard nut to crack. The article presents existing treatments, showing that they all involve departures from independently motivated principles. As an alternative we propose an analysis that is cast in the Typed Feature Structure notation of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar. It handles both types of pseudo-partitives, arguing that N1and the prepositionofare complement-selecting heads if thenumbervalue is shared with N1, while N1and the preposition are head-selecting functors if thenumbervalue is shared with N2. The switch from head to functor status is characteristic of grammaticalization and is shown to affect pseudo-partitives with a quantifier noun or a collection noun as N1, but not pseudo-partitives with a measure noun or collection noun. Examples and quantitative data are extracted from COCA.

Słownictwo fachowe nauk ścisłych i jego dydaktyzacja w aspekcie kontrastywnym polsko-niemieckim

The article describes selected branches of the terminology of mathematics, physics and chemistry in German and Polish and its didactization at the seminar in the second term of bachelor-studies of German at the University of Wrocław. It is concerned with several strategies of vocabulary learning in this area, like beginning with German-Polish similarities (and internationalisms) and continuing concentrating on German-Polish differences, control works in the class room and a questionnaire for the students as well. The most of the science terms were learned on the basis of the parallelism in the German-Polish word-formation-structures and phrasal structures (anyway the German-Polish differences found during the seminar were also concerned with the word-formation-structures of the science terms vs. their phrasal status). By the end of the semester, the total percentage of the marks in the group was good. The most problems of the participants were connected with the German compounds and derivatives. During the last unit the students were to introduce a presentation prepared by themselves on the favourite parts of the material. All of them have performed in an enthusiastic mode.

Active Processes in Modern Russian: Possibilities of Ecological and Linguistic Study

The article considers possibility of applying the ecological-and-linguistic approach to the study of active processes that characterize the current state of the Russian language, text production, including electronic communication. The specificity of the ecological approach in linguistics, its distinction from the orthological approach, as well as the structural analysis of linguistic units are displayed, visible active processes that dominate in phonetics, vocabulary, graphic encoding and text creation are registered. The authors consider the usefulness of the ecological approach in linguistics, its distinction from the orthological approach, as well as the structural analysis of linguistic units. The analysis made provision for defining language democratization as the major trend, which is noted in word functioning, changes in phrase and sentence structures; numerous borrowings of words and parts of words from the English language support the globalization trend. There is a tendency in strengthening the subjective aspect of the text content in public communication that is marked by the shift towards evaluative-expressive-emotional colloquial speech style. The opposing trend is text intellectualization, it appeals to background knowledge of the reader, the use of abbreviated forms in information coding. The authors conclude that a long-term ecological monitoring of these trends and the use of the ecological-and-linguistic approach to classification of linguistic phenomena are required.

Reduced neural tracking of speech linguistic structures in children.

The adult brain can efficiently track both lower-level (i.e., syllable) and higher-level (i.e., phrase) linguistic structures to comprehend speech. When children actively or passively listened to speech, we found robust neural tracking of syllabic structure but marginally significant tracking of phrasal structure.

Semantic Negation on Verbal Clauses with Verbs of Imminence in Saudi Arabic Varieties

Negation in languages is a phenomenon, which receives researchers' attention for a long period. Negation occurs on different type of clauses by which it shows to have morphological and syntactic changes over the structure of words, phrases and sentences. Verbs of imminenceare used sometimes to denote negation in verbal clauses in Arabic. ka:d is one of those verbs which carries the negation of the clause without using any negative particles. Saudi dialects use the verb baʁa to perform the same function. This paper discusses baʁa in verbal clauses illustrating its syntactic and semantic impact on the structure of the clauses. It requires the imperfective form of the verb to follow. Negating a clause, with the only negative particles ma: and/or la:, does not carry the negative sense because it is delivered through the use of baʁa. Thus, the negation of verbs of imminence does not require the presence of any negative particles. Otherwise, the positive meaning is delivered.

On the distribution of scope ambiguities in Polish

Polish, an SVO language with relatively free constituent order, has a scope extending mechanism of quantifier raising that shows remarkable similarities to quantifier raising in English. The paper shows experimentally that SVO and OVS structures in Polish are scopally ambiguous. Furthermore, ditransitive structures are scopally rigid when the indirect object precedes the direct object but ambiguous when the direct object precedes the indirect object (Łęska 2019), a fact which we show to hold independently of whether the indirect object is realized as a DP or a PP. The phrase structure of ditransitive VPs in Polish mirrors the geometry that Janke & Neeleman (2012) proposed for English ditransitives, though the category of the indirect object again plays no role. Pulling these findings together, we adapt Bruening’s (2001) analysis of scope freezing in English to our own analysis of Polish.Our findings contradict the idea that free word order languages lack quantifier raising and/or reconstruction for scope. The results are, however, fully compatible with multifactorial approaches to word order and scope.

On the structure of Welsh noun phrases

Welsh noun phrases have had much less attention than Welsh clauses, and there are unresolved issues about the nature of possessors, attributive adjectives, and the definite article and agreement clitics. There is evidence, especially from agreement, that possessors are complements, evidence that attributive adjectives are adjoined to a preceding [LEX+] nominal constituent, and evidence that the definite article and agreement clitics are specifiers. The last of these positions makes it fairly simple to capture the relation between the definite article and agreement clitics and possessors. It is not difficult to formalize these ideas within HPSG.

Syntactic Rules and Research Ethics: A Critical Exposition

It is quite worrisome that syntactic norms and values, which ideally guide the arrangement of words, phrases, clauses and other lexical categories, are not strictly upheld and followed by many researchers and even research bodies. That implies violating some basics of research ethics. This study rises to make a critical exposition of syntactic rules in research ethics, which are often violated. Relying on observation and secondary data, the study demonstrates that poor knowledge and negligence of syntactic rules largely accounts for the violation of syntactic rules in research works by researchers and many concerned research bodies. It shows that unacceptable grammatical structures have grave implications for the overall given research work. Also, phrase structure rules correlate with interpretative rules, just as syntax and semantics also correlate. The study concludes that since language is rule-governed, the violation of syntactic rules in research work implies the violation of language rules and research ethics. The study is anchored on the syntactic theory of Universal Grammar, which explains how standard syntactic rules and research ethics are universal, and must be followed in order to have acceptable and correct sentences and research.

20 years of the Grammar Matrix: cross-linguistic hypothesis testing of increasingly complex interactions

The Grammar Matrix project is a meta-grammar engineering framework expressed in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) and Minimal Recursion Semantics (MRS). It automates grammar implementation and is thus a tool and a resource for linguistic hypothesis testing at scale. In this paper, we summarize how the Grammar Matrix grew in the last decade and describe how new additions to the system have made it possible to study interactions between analyses, both monolingually and cross-linguistically, at new levels of complexity.

The Syntactic Structure of an Introductory PP in Standard Arabic: A Non-Transformational Approach

The paper discusses the structure of a particular prepositional phrase (PP) that is commonly used in Standard Arabic, especially in formal contexts. This PP is used when a speaker wants to start an utterance with an expression that denotes a general observation or impression without referring to its source. It can be described as ‘an introductory PP’. It consists of the preposition min and its complement like the PP min al-mutawaqqaʕ which expresses a meaning similar to ‘it is expected that ...’. Syntactically, the occurrence of this introductory PP, compared with other PPs, is distinct in that it is restricted to three structural patterns. Although the use of this PP is common, its structure is still not studied thoroughly in the literature. Hence, the paper aims to contribute to the current linguistic research by exploring the structure of this introductory PP. The paper offers both a data-based description and a non-transformational analysis of the relevant linguistic properties of this PP and the constructions in which it occurs. The theoretical framework that is used here is Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar.

SCTB-V2: the 2nd version of the Chinese treebank in the scientific domain

Word segmentation, part-of-speech (POS) tagging, and syntactic parsing are three fundamental Chinese analysis tasks for Chinese language processing, which are also crucial for various downstream tasks such as machine translation and information extraction. To achieve high accuracy for these tasks, treebanks that contain sentences manually annotated with word segmentation, part-of-speech tags, and phrase structures are essential. Although there are large-scale Chinese treebanks in the news domain, such treebanks are unavailable in the scientific domain. This significantly limits the performance of Chinese language processing for scientific text. To address this problem, we annotate the 2nd version of the Chinese treebank in the scientific domain (SCTB-V2). SCTB-V2 contains 12,175 sentences annotated with word segmentation, part-of-speech tags, and phrase structures. We conducted Chinese analyses and machine translation experiments on SCTB-V2. The results show the effectiveness of SCTB-V2. We release this treebank to promote scientific Chinese language processing research http://nlp.ist.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp/EN/index.php?A%20Chinese%20Treebank%20 in%20Scientific%20Domain%20%28SCTB%29 .

The Study of Noun Phrase Structure of English Names for Menus in Selected Restaurants and Cafes in Padang Chinese Town, Indonesia

This paper discusses the phrase structure construction of English in the names of foods and drinks on the list of menus sold by some modern restaurants and cafes. The phrase structure analysis is based on Burton's (2013) and Collins's (2000) theories. The function of the head in structure and types of phrases are determined by applying the deletion technique. The research data were collected from lists of menus used in nine Restaurants and cafes in Pondok, a Chinese Town of Padang City. There are 209 food and drink names in the form of noun phrases. The NPs can be categorized into 31 types, ranging from simple to complex constructions. The most common type is Noun + Noun and Adjective + Noun. The NPs are used more for food names than that for drinks'. It is probably due to the wider variety of cooking styles and food ingredients than drinks. A wide variety of NPs used for the menus' names in the observed restaurants indicates the owners' sufficient knowledge of the English language.