Possessive Research Articles

A multilevel description of textbook linguistic complexity across disciplines: Leveraging NLP to support disciplinary literacy

Disciplinary Literacy as a pedagogy and research program aims to understand and teach the linguistic differences amongst disciplines. Limited studies have been done, however, on the differing linguistic complexity demands of disciplines. In this study, linguistic complexity is measured at the clause, phrase and lexical levels, across eight disciplines represented by a corpus of secondary school textbooks. Innovative natural language processing systems extract an unprecedented number of complexity measures, and discriminant function analysis describes features that best differentiate disciplinary writing. Results indicate disciplines vary along different clines of complexity. The first tends to discriminate humanities from science subjects, along features such as academic phraseology, possessive noun phrases, auxiliary verbs and clause dependents. Other clines show that subjects such as history and physics can be similarly complex in features such as their prepositional expansion of noun phrases. The paper concludes with detailed and specific pedagogical takeaways for teachers.

스페인어의 소유대명사와 명사구 생략

스페인어의 소유대명사와 명사구 생략

Pronominal Composita with Possessive Meaning in Bulgarian and Their Russian Equivalents

This article examines specifically Bulgarian pronominal composita with possessive meaning made up of a full possessive pronoun and the clitic si (e.g., moya si, svoya si). The analysis highlights the positioning of such composita in the system of possessive pronouns, establishes their types, and accounts for their rivalry with simple forms of possessive pronouns. The semantic input of the clitic si is discussed, and techniques are proposed for adequate translation of such structures into Russian. Of typological significance are their delimitation from double pronouns, as well as morphological treatment of si as a particle rather than a pronoun, which contributes to the study of the multifunctionality of Slavic clitics and their linear syntactic characteristics.

Whose Hamlet Mocks the Warm Clown?

Whose Hamlet Mocks the Warm Clown?

Possessivos de terceira pessoa no Flos Sanctorum e no português brasileiro contemporâneo

O estudo investiga a ocorrência de possessivos no Flos Sanctorum (século XIV) e no português brasileiro contemporâneo (PB), considerando a distribuição do pronome seu pré-nominal, na relação com outras estratégias de expressão da posse. Argumenta-se que a análise dessas estruturas é essencial para uma abordagem das propriedades inovadoras do PB, particularmente (i) a mudança do estatatuto do pronome seu; (ii) a implementação das formas dele(s)/ dela(s); a perda do pronome dativos de posse lhe(s); o uso generalizado do possessivo nulo nas construções envolvendo posse inalienável.

Possessors in switch-reference

Some languages with switch-reference use same-subject markers in structures where the internal possessor of one subject corefers with another subject, but the subjects do not corefer with each other. We analyse such patterns as a type of non-canonical switch-reference (Stirling 1993; de Sousa 2016) and show that languages differ in what types of possessive relations license same-subject marking. Languages that allow alienable possessive relations in switch-reference also allow inalienable relations to license same-subject marking, but not vice versa. In addition, alienable, but not inalienable possessive relations, must be morphosyntactically expressed when licensing same-subject marking. Adopting a modified version of Stirling’s (1993) approach, we derive these implicational relations from anaphoric conditions licensing non-canonical switch-reference.

Phonology, morphology and speech processing development in Greek-speaking children

ABSTRACTΑ psycholinguistic framework for speech processing was adopted to investigate the development of phonological and morphological skills in children learning Greek. It was investigated whether morphological items pose specific challenges in terms of speech processing. Two groups of typically developing children aged 3.0–3.5 years (N = 16) and 4.6–5.0 years (N = 22), respectively, were assessed longitudinally at three assessment points 6 months apart. A range of phonologically based and morphologically based experimental speech processing tasks was administered to address the research question, along with language comprehension and production assessments to ensure that the children were developmentally typical. Stimuli of minimal phonological difference and minimal morphological difference, respectively, were used. Phonologically based experimental stimuli were used to assess performance differences across properties such as voicing, manner and place of articulation, in addition to variation in phonotactic structure. Morphologically based experimental stimuli were used to assess the impact of characteristics such as verb tense and possessive pronouns. Stimuli were incorporated into tasks of real word and nonword auditory discrimination and repetition, to assess input and output processing. Items were matched across tasks so that comparisons could be made. On most of the matched tasks, there was no significant difference in performance accuracy between morphological and phonological conditions. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between domains. It is suggested that morphological items, compared to phonological items, do not pose specific challenges in terms of speech processing. The clinical implications of these findings for assessment and intervention are discussed.

Probing the interaction of language contact and internal innovation

The Bantu language Rangi is spoken at the northern borderlands of Tanzania, where Bantu, Cushitic and Nilotic languages meet. In many regards, Rangi exhibits the morphosyntax typically associated with East African Bantu: SVO word order, an extensive system of agreement and predominantly head-marking morphology. However, the language also exhibits a number of features which are unusual from a comparative and typological perspective, and which may have resulted from language contact. Four of these features are examined in detail in this paper: 1) Verb-auxiliary order found in the future tense, 2) clause-final negation, 3) a three-way distinction in verbal deictic markers, and 4) an inclusive/exclusive distinction in personal possessive pronouns. These features are assessed with reference to three criteria: syntactic structure, lexical/morphological form and geographic distribution. The examination shows that two of the unusual features result from a combination of internal and external factors, while the other two appear not to be related to external influence through contact. The results of the study show the complex interaction between internal and external factors in language change, and the importance of investigating potentially contact-induced change in detail to develop a more complex and fine-grained understanding of the morphosyntactic process of innovation involved.

Рефлексивность частного письма как разновидности эго-текстов

К числу актуальных проблем современной лингвистики принадлежит выяснение дифференциальных признаков эго-текстов (дневников, писем, мемуаров и т. п.) и изучение языковых средств объективации в этих текстах своего «Я». Целью данной работы было выяснить, как проявляется в текстах частных писем рефлексивность – один из существенных признаков эго-текстов. Материалом исследования стали опубликованные в разных изданиях письма русской интеллигенции ХІХ–ХХ вв. Показано, что рефлексивность является одной из основных категорий, присущих текстам частных писем, наряду с диалогичностью, с которой она соотносится по принципу взаимодополнения на оси коммуникации «адресант – адресат». Исследованный эпистолярий фиксирует разные типы рефлексии: личностную, коммуникативную, интеллектуальную, кооперативную, языковую. Рефлексивность проявляется в эпистолярном тексте такими языковыми средствами, как использование личных и притяжательных местоимений первого лица, местоимений себя, свой; включение в текст письма высказываний, реализующих речевой жанр самопрезентация; широкое употребление эмотивной лексики; воспроизведение средствами синтаксической стилистики некоторых свойств внутренней речи.

Llegaron en sus canoa: innovación gramatical en el español de la Amazonía peruana

This study investigates the cognitive and functional motivations behind the emergence of an innovative construction in Peruvian Amazonian Spanish. In this variety, the head of a noun phrase does not necessarilyagree in number with its modifier, when this is a possessive pronoun. Thus, noun phrases with number mismatch, such as sus canoa ‘their canoe,’ are common. A previous study found that the probabilitiesof using this innovative pattern increase when the pronoun makes anaphoric reference to multiple individuals. The present study examines exclusively contexts with multiple possessors to identify the parameters behind the alternation between concordant and discordant patterns. The variables that play a role are the gender of the speaker and the animacy of the possessor and the possessed. The use of the innovative pattern is slightly more frequent among women, and when the possessive pronoun refers to multiple entities high in animacy and the possessed noun to an entity low in animacy.

Lexical and Morphological Features of Translational Lithuanian

Summary In Lithuanian public and academic discourse, discussions about the influence of English have received considerable attention. Much has been written on the English borrowings in Lithuanian or various translation strategies applied at word, phrase or syntactic levels of language, whereas there have been only few attempts to investigate how Lithuanian translated from English differs from original language. This is why we found it interesting to investigate lexical an morphological features of translated Lithuanian applying the methods of corpus liguistics. For research purposes, we used a morphologically annotated comparable 4 mln. word corpus of original and translated fiction and popular science literature ORVELIT. It has been found that translations deviate in certain ways from original Lithuanian. Translated Lithuanian has: a lower lexical density, higher proportion of function words, shorter sentences, and higher proportion of list heads; translated fiction has a lower lexical variability and smaller proportion of low frequency words, whereas in popular science translations, these differences are less evident. Keyword analysis has shown content differences in originals and translations and the overuse of personal and possessive pronouns in popular science translations. The distribution of content and function words differs in originals and translations and in different registers. Translated Lithuanian has: more verbs (especially finite forms and adverbial participles), but less nouns and adjectives; fiction translations have less and popular science more adverbs than originals; there are more pronouns and prepositions in both popular science and fiction translations; depending on the register, there are higher or lower numbers of conjunctions, particles and interjections. Some of the differences may be explained by the English language interference as: the overuse of the optional 1st person pronoun in subject position, the overuse of optional preposition “su” with instrumental case, or the overuse of optional link verb in the complex predicate. In other words, the English influence is seen in transferring certain features obligatory for analytical language where omission would be a more natural choice in original Lithuanian. These findings in most cases agree with the previous research on translationese of other languages. It is hoped that the identified tendencies to over- or under-use certain lexical and morphological features as a result of English language interference might appear to be useful when editing and translating.

Possessive Construction in Uab Meto

This paper is a result of research which is aimed to uncover the structure and marking on the possessive construction in Uab Meto based on morpho-syntax point of view. The data collected for this research were classified into the primary data (observation) and the secondary data (the data that are obtained from texts). The technique employed to analyze the data was descriptive-analytic, and the approach applied was deductive-inductive. The result of the research shows that in Uab Meto, predicative possession is expressed through the verb muiɁ ‘have/has’. In some usages, muiɁ metathezised to muɁi. Possesive construction of Uab Meto is also applied topicalization strategy, and the last is using a verbal prefix ma-. This prefix ma- is a verbal prefix because it carries a verbal meaning, that is have/has. Furthermore, there are two attributive possessive constructions, namely juxtaposed construction. The possessor in juxtaposed constructions can be a noun or pronoun. The second attributive possessive is pronominal clitic to show the agreement with the possessors. Relating to the marking, there are only two ways, namely by juxtaposition and pertensive marker to mark the the possession. Uab Meto allows all pronouns to mark the attributive possessive relation. Without free pronoun as the possessor, a speaker Uab Meto will understand that it is a possessive noun phrase. Clitic in possession in is obligatory for inalienable possession in Uab Meto.

Grammatical class modulates the (left) inferior frontal gyrus within 100 milliseconds when syntactic context is predictive

The current study set out to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics of predictive processing during syntactic processing. To do so, we conducted an MEG experiment in which we contrasted MRI-constrained sources elicited by nouns and verbs when they were preceded by a predictive syntactic context (i.e., possessive pronouns for nouns, and personal pronouns for verbs) versus a non-predictive syntactic context (visually matched symbols). The results showed rapid (from ~80 ms onwards) noun-verb differences in the left and (to a lesser extent) right inferior frontal gyri (IFG), but only when those nouns and verbs were preceded by the syntactically predictive context (i.e. their corresponding pronoun). Furthermore, the contrast between possessive and personal pronouns that preceded the rapid noun-verb modulations in the (L)IFG also produced differences in source activation in various regions of the prefrontal cortex (the superior frontal and orbitofrontal cortex). We suggest the data show that syntactic unification manifests very early on during processing in the LIFG. The speed of such syntactic unification operations is hypothesized to be driven by predictive top-down activations stemming from a domain-general network in the prefrontal cortex.

Cross-linguistic Variation of Binding Possibilities and Parameterized DP Hypothesis Revisited

The former study approached the cross-linguistic variation of binding possibilities from the perspective of parameterized DP hypothesis. However, the parameterized DP hypothesis failed to explain some syntactic truth as regards the binding relation between possessive NP and pronoun. It has been examined in the present study that different languages have different means to form possessive structure and different mechanisms work in obligatory and optional binding. The c-commanding relation is the semantic basis for the optional binding between the possessive NP and the pronoun. For languages with possessive NP entering derivation after T, possessive NP fails to c-command pronoun and there will be no optional binding. For languages with possessive NP or morpheme entering derivation before T, possessive NP or morpheme succeeds to c-command pronoun and there is optional binding.

The Clitic [-ki] by Najdīs: Morphophonemic Divergence from Supralocal Norms

The study examines the clitic [-ki] as it occurs in the second person feminine singular object/ possessive pronoun suffix of stem final consonants in the speech of Saudis of Arabic Najdi dialect. The phonetic realization of this morphosyntactic marker in post-consonantal position as [-ki] does not accord with Najdi dialect nor with the supralocal variant. The analysis of the clitic [-ki] in Najdi Arabic is based on the occurrence of the form in the informal speech of young Saudi women and men in three peer groups in naturally occurring settings. The data reveals that subjects alternated between the realization of the post-consonantal second person feminine clitic as [-ki] and the vernacular form [-iʦ], whilst apparently resisting supralocalization pressures and diverging from supralocal norms. Men appeared to be the leaders in this direction of change. The research aims to stimulate further empirical investigation into the effects of morphophonemic divergence on sociolinguistic variation and language change as well as contributing to the area of language and gender.

CENTRAL DETERMINER IN ABSTRACTS JOURNAL

Central determiner is as the main component in constructing noun phrase element as subject, objects, and complement in writing compositions. Meanwhile, determiner affects the meaning of noun. This research investigates the constructions of central determiners in abstracts of Journal Al-Tahrir Volume 17 No.1 Tahun 2017 and the reasons in applying those determiners in that journal. In gaining related information, types of central determiners, three diagram and table bracket were used. Qualitative research and syntactical analysis was conducted to analyze the data. The research finding revealed that central determiners were used in sentences of the abstracts. The terms of central determiners in subject were constructed through 7 determiners such demonstrative article, personal pronoun, possessive pronoun, indefinite pronoun, demonstrative article, definite article, and indefinite article. Having the function of object, central determiners were defined in 5 terms namely possessive pronoun, indefinite pronoun, demonstrative article, definite and indefinite article. Then, they were also used in sentences of the abstracts as complement. Here, central determiners were defined in terms of reflective pronoun, personal pronoun, possessive pronoun, indefinite pronoun, interrogative pronoun, definite and indefinite article.

ФУНКЦИИ ЛИЧНЫХ МЕСТОИМЕНИЙ В ПРЕЗИДЕНТСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ ГРУЗИИ

The article analyzes the functions of personal and possessive pronouns in the presidential discourse of modern Georgia. The article considers the use of pronouns in presidential discourse, where it is one of the effective means of manipulating public opinion, as well as a significant feature of a politician, reflecting his worldview and ideology. The article attempts to show the specificity of personal and possessive pronouns on the material of modern Georgian-language political texts. In addition, attention is paid to the use of the personal pronoun of the 1st person with the verb of the 1st person. A detailed study of the speeches of the President of Georgia made it possible to draw a conclusion about the effectiveness of this grammatical combination, which contributes to the achievement of a special pragmatic effect and gives a certain expressiveness to the statement. The result of the analysis of the presidential discourse of Georgia was the identification of the most relevant functions of pronouns for this type of discourse: determination, status superiority demonstration, expressing unity.

Suggestive Potential of Language Units in Advertising Texts of International Women’s Glossy Fashion Magazines

We study the language means of logically unreasoned speech impact on the recipient in advertising texts. The relevance of the issue of speech exposure for modern philology is due to technological progress, changing formats of exhortatory communication, research interest in a number of problems of linguistic pragmatics, as well as the formation of a relatively young direction in Russian science - suggestive linguistics. The empirical material of the study is international women's glossy fashion magazines, which are in demand in the domestic media market: “Vogue”, “ELLE”, “Harper’s Bazaar”, “Marie Claire”, “Glamor”, “InStyle”, “Cosmopolitan”. It is shown that a hidden effect on the female target audience with the aim of encouraging buying is provided by a combination of linguistic units of word-formation, lexical, morphological and syntactic levels: some prefix morphemes, certain groups of onyms, terminological vocabulary, abstract nouns and nouns with a “wide-valued” meaning, evaluative adjectives, imperative verbs, personal and possessive pronouns, quantitative-nominal phrases, emotional and interrogative sentences. The distinguished linguistic units explicate certain communicative strategies, create various psychological effects, activate prevailing stereotypes and replace logical argumentation with positive associations.

IMPACT OF THE SYNTACTIC DEPENDENCIES IN THE SENTENCES ON THE QUALITY OF THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE TOXIC COMMENTS IN THE SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social networks often become a medium for threats, insults and other components of cyberbullying. A huge number of people are involved in online social networks, therefore, there is a need for automation of the  activities to protect users from anti-social behavior. One of the important tasks of such activity is the identification of  the toxic comments that contain threats, insults, obscene etc. The bag of words statistics and bag of symbols statistics are typical features for the toxic comments identification. The effect of syntactic dependencies in sentences on the quality of identification of the social network toxic comments is studied in the article. Syntactic dependences are relationships with proper nouns, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, etc. 20 syntactic features of sentences have been verified in the total. The article shows that 3 additional specific features significantly improve the quality of toxic comments identification. These three features are: the number of dependences with proper nouns in the singular, the number of dependences that contain bad words, and the number of dependences between personal pronouns and bad words. The experiments are based on data from kaggle- competition "Toxic Comment Classification Challenge". The original kaggle-task of categorizing the toxic comments was modified to the classification one with two alternatives: a neutral comment and a toxic comment. For our experiments, the original dataset with 159751 comments was reduced to 106590 comments due to problems with human-free extraction of the syntactic features. The toxic comment rate is 12.8% in the modified dataset. We use mean of the error rates for each types of misclassification as the metric of quality due to unbalanced dataset. A decision tree is used as a classifier. The decision trees were synthesized for two splitting rules: Gini index and entropy criterion.

Ідеалема «свій – чужий» у мовомисленні українського мігранта (на матеріалі роману А. Чапая «Понаїхали»)

The article presents linguocognitive analysis of contemporary prose work. The basis of the research methodology was the definition of three conceptual lines that represent the ideal of “one’s own – stranger” from the point of view of self-, mutual evaluation of characters. These lines are one of the varieties of textual stylistic paradigms, which are based on associative-figurative and semantic-stylistic principles (microgroups, subgroups), reflect the ideas and motives of the authorʼs language. The stylistic load of common vocabulary – names of persons by affinity, by national and ethnic origin, by occupation, by territorial origin, by color epithets is shown. The semantic-grammatical and stylistic changes in the verb “came down”, in the nouns “mother”, “orphan”, in personal and possessive pronouns are noted. Emphasis is placed on the barbarization, vulgarization of linguistic thinking of the generation of parents and children, on the linguistics of the polarization of family members by linguistic, temporal and spatial features. The concept of “Me and my world” is such a perspective from which the writer represents the migration of Ukrainians, not only in the world, but also within the internal spiritual, moral and psychological boundaries, as evidenced by the relevant metaphor in reasoning-generalizations The characters are put by the author in various natural-geographical, linguistic-cultural, economic conditions. But all migrant workers are caught by three associative-semantic lines of the ideal of “one’s own-stranger”, which are verbalized through characteristic nominative, nominally-evaluative complexes. Based on such a stylistic model A. Chapai focuses on the existence of modern Ukrainian, on the transformation of linguistic and cultural consciousness of the generation of “parents and children”.