Syntactic Change Research Articles

African American English intensifier dennamug: Using twitter to investigate syntactic change in low-frequency forms.

There are some linguistic forms that may be known to both speakers and linguists, but that occur naturally with such low frequency that traditional sociolinguistic methods do not allow for study. This study investigates one such phenomenon: the grammatical reanalysis of an intensifier in some forms of African American English-from a full phrase [than a mother(fucker)] to lexical word (represented here as dennamug)-using data gathered from twitter. This paper investigates the relationship between apparent lexicalization and deletion of the comparative morpheme on the preceding adjective. While state-of-the-art traditional corpora contain so few tokens they can be counted on one hand, twitter yields almost 300,000 tokens over a 10 year sample period. This paper uses web scraping of Twitter to gather all plausible orthographic representations of the intensifier, and uses logistic regression to analyze the extent to which markers of lexicalization and reanalysis are associated with a corresponding shift from comparative to bare morphology on the adjective the intensifier modifies, finding that, indeed, degree of apparent lexicalization is strongly associated with bare morphology, suggesting ongoing lexicalization and subsequent reanalysis at the phrase level. This digital approach reveals ongoing grammatical change, with the new intensifier associated with bare, note comparative, adjectives, and that there is seemingly stable variation correlated with the degree to which the intensifier has lexicalized. Orthographic representations of African American English on social media are shown to be a locus of identity construction and grammatical change.

Syntax of Mass Media Language in the Context of Historical Development of Turkish Literary Language

In the history of Ottoman and modern Turkish literary languages, all the characteristic literary language features of pre-national and national periods respectively (processed, ordered, selection of linguistic means, conscious regulation and codification, etc.) can be traced. The transition from the former to the latter at the beginning of the twentieth century occurred in the form of a linguistic revolution, leading to fundamental changes at different language levels. This still active process is aimed at forming a language norm and creating means that meet the characteristics of individual functional areas of the literary language. Changes in vocabulary are more obvious, better studied and currently focused on creating new, Turkicbased lexemes to replace foreign borrowings. Syntactic changes, no less significant, aim to develop statement structure to facilitate adequate construction and understanding, while maintaining the features of the Turkic system, but these processes are not studied sufficiently. Active formation of the Turkish literary language takes place during a period of rapid development of the media — a functional sphere which occupies a special position due to its wide social base. According to several researchers, the current media language is considered representative of literary languages. This necessitates studying the trends in syntactic structure changes of the Turkish sentence, in order to trace general trends in the development of syntax diachronically, help create a general up-to-date picture of the syntax of the modern literary language, on the basis of a comparative analysis, to determine the main patterns in the development of Turkic syntax, and while teaching Turkish — to concentrate on students’ active acquisition of the most commonly used syntactic means.

The Translation Techniques in Fouad Al-Takerli's "Al-Raji' Al-Ba'iid" in Catherine Cobham's Translation "The Long Way Back "

This study aims at distinguishing the translation techniques and analyzing the changes resulted from using those techniques in Fuad al-Takerli's “Al-Raji' Al-Ba'iid” translated by Catherin Cobham. Certain techniques may cause different kinds of changes whether syntactic like for example, changing a verb to a noun or semantic like changing a proper name to an attribute , while other techniques may not cause any change .It is a fact that some techniques may be used more frequently than others .The narrative text having unique linguistic characteristics must be translated using different styles and techniques .These techniques can be used as words and sentences to facilitate the difficulty of translating culturally specific problematic items. Usually a translator faces many difficulties in making accurate translation .This paper analyses the techniques of translation and determine their functions and the distinguished features in narrative in order to present accurate description to the resulted syntactic and semantic changes .In “The Long Way Back” , where all elements of narrative text are used , literal and free translation are adopted to keep the value of the original text . By employing certain techniques and procedures in the target language, a translator will attempt to shift the meanings using different linguistic devices in work recreation. This paper sheds light on the different techniques used in translating this kind of text which is composed of different styles .Through the study , it is concluded that most of translation techniques are used .Most of the resulting changes are semantic ,while the syntactic changes are merely changes in parts of speech .

The Atticist lexica as metalinguistic resource for morphosyntactic change in Post-Classical Greek

Abstract While ancient metalinguistic resources such as lexica and scholia are increasingly studied in the field of ancient scholarship (Montanari 2020), they are investigated less within the historical sociolinguistics of Ancient Greek. Analysing the Atticist lexica by Phrynichus, Moeris and Aelius Dionysius, this article illustrates the historically persistent connection between social perception of and diachronic change within Ancient Greek. Although the historical relevance of Atticist prescriptivism has been observed, the evidence that these social evaluations provide for Post-Classical Greek language change is rarely assessed systematically (except for objectionable ideological reasons). I demonstrate that the Atticist lexica display metalinguistic awareness of the major morphosyntactic changes characterizing Post-Classical Greek (pace Lee 2013:286): paradigmatic (e.g. analogical levelling in verbal system of endings, voice and augment), category changes, category renewal (e.g. dual, pronouns, periphrasis), syntactic change (category expansion of ἔμελλον and τυγχάνω) and case changes (e.g. from case to prepositions).

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.

The Syntactic and Semantic Changes Associated with the Use of Modulation in English-Arabic Translation

Modulation is a procedure categorized under oblique translation method. The present paper addresses the semantic and syntactic changes associated with the use of modulation in English-Arabic translation. It seeks to present all the ten types of modulation, devoting an example for each type, to elucidate the semantic and syntactic changes made on the modulated Arabic target text as compared to the literal Arabic translation. Based on the data used, the paper argues that both obligatory and optional modulations are employed in English-Arabic translation. Semantically, obligatory modulations are adopted when the literal meaning is not intended, when English and Arabic use different figurative words to express the same notion or when they use different symbols to indicate the same concept. Optional modulations are employed to serve stylistic purposes, keep the words collocate with one another, produce naturalness, adopt preferred structures and specify space or time. Syntactically, the English source text and the modulated Arabic target text are similar whenever Arabic starts with a noun and are different otherwise. Finally, the modulated Arabic target text and the literal Arabic translation are identical whenever they both either start with a noun or a verb and are different when they possess different structures.

Syntax/Semantics discrepancy in the grammaticalization of resultatives: Evidence from Karimata-Miyako Ryukyuan

I present clear evidence from Karimata-Miyako Ryukyuan that semantic change can precede a syntactic change in the process of grammaticalization. In this dialect, the morpheme ufu has an aspectual and a conjectural use, and the change proceeds from the former to the latter in accordance with the “scope-increase” (Tabor & Traugott 1998) hypothesis. While the aspectual use of ufu only takes accomplishment and activity verbs, carrying their resultative interpretations, the conjectural use is insensitive to the aspectual type of verbs and is also compatible with achievement and state verbs. In addition to evidential/modal meanings, ufu develops a tense-like meaning that refers to the past. In spite of those semantic developments, ufu occupies the same syntactic position as that of the aspectual use.

When covert modality sneaks into your grammar: wh-infinitives in American Norwegian

American Norwegian (AmNo), a moribund heritage variety of Norwegian spoken predominantly in the Upper Midwest of the US, licenses wh-infinitives (i.e. indirect questions), which are structures that are not acceptable in either standard Norwegian Bokmål or Norwegian dialects. Adopting a spanning-account of syntax (Blix, 2021; Julien, 2021; Svenonius, 2016), we propose that wh-elements in AmNo can encode covert modality (similar to what is found in English indirect questions). We discuss these results and their impact on our understanding of the nature of syntactic change and the interaction of spanning in combination with Aʹ-movement in heritage language syntax.

RETHINKING THE FUNCTIONAL EXPANSION OF QUASI-DOUBLE-VALENCY VERBS FROM THE CHANGE OF SYNTACTIC VALENCE -- AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS BASED ON THE CHANGE OF EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR AND COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

RETHINKING THE FUNCTIONAL EXPANSION OF QUASI-DOUBLE-VALENCY VERBS FROM THE CHANGE OF SYNTACTIC VALENCE -- AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS BASED ON THE CHANGE OF EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR AND COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

An improved test of the constant rate hypothesis: late Modern American English possessive have

Abstract The Constant Rate Hypothesis (CRH) predicts that a linguistic innovation should spread at identical rates of change in all grammatical contexts in which it is used (Kroch 1989. Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change. Language Variation and Change 1(3). 199–244). Weaknesses in previous tests of the CRH are identified. A new study is conducted that improves upon them. It utilizes a syntactic change in late Modern American English possessive have, which altered its realization in the grammar-theoretically related contexts negation, inversion, VP-adjunction and VP-ellipsis. Data sets are collected from the Corpus of Historical American English (Davies 2010. The corpus of historical American English: 400 million words, 1810-2009. http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/ (accessed 10 September 2016)) and analyzed with mixed-effects logistic regression models. The statistical analysis reveals that it is indeed plausible to assume that each of the contexts innovates the use of possessive have at the same speed. Implications of the findings for the CRH are discussed.

Pluralized Collectives in Young Avestan: A Morphosyntactic Explanation of the Replacement of the YAv. nom.-acc.pl.n. Endings and by -āiš, and -īš

This article studies Young Avestan forms in -āiš (formally instr.pl.m./n. of a-stems), (formally nom.-acc.pl.f. of ā-stems) and -īš (formally nom.pl.f. of ī-stems) that are used in contexts where neuter nom.-acc.pl. / collective forms in (a-stems) and (consonantstems) are expected. It is argued that these forms in -āiš, , and -īš are secondarily created pluralizations of original neuter collectives in reaction to the syntactic change according to which their original singular verbal concord is in Young Avestan times changed to plural verbal concord. The choice for forming these newly pluralized collectives with the endings -āiš, , and -īš lies in the fact that these are the plural variants of the singular endings (instr.sg.m./n. of a-stems), (nom.sg.f. of ā-stems) and (nom.sg.f. of ī-stems), respectively, which are formally identical to the collective neuter endings (a-stems) and (consonant-stems). The ‘collective plural’ forms in -āiš, , and -īš can thus be explained through a simple four-part analogy.

Language Change and Social Context in Mass and Social Media

Wardhaugh in Chaer and Agustina distinguishes two types of language change: internal and external change. Internal changes occur from within the language itself, such as phonological, morphological, or syntactic changes. External changes occur due to outside influences, such as borrowing or absorption of vocabulary, the addition of phonemes from other languages and so on. The purpose of this research is (1) to analyse the language change that can be found in mass media and social media. (2) to analyse the social context that can be found in mass media and social media. The method used in this research is the qualitative method. The data was taken from Padang Express newspaper and Facebook. From the analysis there are so many languages change that can be found in mass and social media. Many people change the language when they used it in mass and social media.

Syntactic change in Palaungic

Abstract The relative constructions in several Palaungic languages (Htanaw, Wa, Lawa, Rumai Palaung, Samlong Palaung, and Rucing Palaung), here shown to be participant nominalizations, display striking mutual similarities, while conspicuously diverging from the dominant relativization strategy within the Austroasiatic family. Instead of the common n [rel (s) v (o)] pattern, the Palaungic constructions examined exhibit the following structural features: (a) rel invariably precedes the verb complex directly; (b) internal constituent order is vs(o), with the exception of Htanaw. An unusual functional trait is additionally found in the three Palaung varieties: the construction only performs object relativization. By placing the findings in a diachronic perspective, we propose two new pathways of branch-internal syntactic change that may explain this unusual synchronic status. Among these, the lexical-to-clausal-nominalization pathway in particular offers a plausible alternative scenario to the earlier hypothesis that such verb-initial structures are inherited from Proto-Austroasiatic (Jenny 2020). Furthermore, a tentatively suggested etymological origin of the relativizer, pAA *pa ‘place’, provides an account of the narrow semantics in Palaung.

On the Configuration of More and Less Expressive Logic Programs

AbstractThe decoupling between the representation of a certain problem, that is, its knowledge model, and the reasoning side is one of main strong points of model-based artificial intelligence (AI). This allows, for example, to focus on improving the reasoning side by having advantages on the whole solving process. Further, it is also well known that many solvers are very sensitive to even syntactic changes in the input. In this paper, we focus on improving the reasoning side by taking advantages of such sensitivity. We consider two well-known model-based AI methodologies, SAT and ASP, define a number of syntactic features that may characterise their inputs, and use automated configuration tools to reformulate the input formula or program. Results of a wide experimental analysis involving SAT and ASP domains, taken from respective competitions, show the different advantages that can be obtained by using input reformulation and configuration.

Adding the microdimension to the study of language change in contact. Three case studies

Syntactic change in contact is generally explained as a result of cognitive, structural/typological, or sociolinguistic factors. However, the relative weight of these factors in shaping the outputs of contact is yet to be assessed. In this paper, we propose a microcontact approach to the study of change in contact, focusing on microsyntactic points of variation across multiple language pairs that are structurally very close. We show that this approach makes it possible to more accurately identify some of the factors that are involved in change. By considering three case studies centered on the syntax of subjects, objects, and indexicals, we show that the outputs of syntactic change in microcontact diverge from what is expected under otherwise solid generalizations (avoidance of indeterminacy, avoidance of silence, the Interface Hypothesis, a tendency towards simplification, and the general stability of the indexical domain) regarding change in contact. Microcontact offers a finer-grained point of observation, allowing us to go beyond broader typological assumptions and to focus on the link between structure and cognition. The results of our case studies demonstrate that the outputs of change in contact are an interplay between cognitive and structural factors (see also Muysken 2013 for additional processing considerations), and that the micro-variational dimension is crucial in drawing a precise picture of heritage language syntax.

A gradual type system for Elixir

Elixir is a functional programming language with dynamic typing. We propose a gradual type system that makes it possible to perform type-checking on a significant fragment of the language. An important feature of the type system is that it does not require any syntactic change to Elixir. Type information is provided by means of function signatures which are declared in terms of Elixir typespec directives. The proposed type system is based on subtyping and is backward compatible, as it allows the presence of untyped code fragments. We have a prototype implementation of the type-checker in Elixir itself and a formalization in Idris of the fragment considered.

ANF preserves dependent types up to extensional equality

AbstractMany programmers use dependently typed languages such as Coq to machine-verify high-assurance software. However, existing compilers for these languages provide no guarantees after compiling, nor when linking after compilation.Type-preserving compilerspreserve guarantees encoded in types and then use type checking to verify compiled code and ensure safe linking with external code. Unfortunately, standard compiler passes do not preserve the dependent typing of commonly used (intensional) type theories. This is because assumptions valid in simpler type systems no longer hold, and intensional dependent type systems are highly sensitive to syntactic changes, including compilation. We develop an A-normal form (ANF) translation with join-point optimization—a standard translation for making control flow explicit in functional languages—from the Extended Calculus of Constructions (ECC) with dependent elimination of booleans and natural numbers (a representative subset of Coq). Our dependently typed target language has equality reflection, allowing the type system to encode semantic equality of terms. This is key to proving type preservation and correctness of separate compilation for this translation. This is the first ANF translation for dependent types. Unlike related translations, it supports the universe hierarchy, and does not rely on parametricity or impredicativity.

«Անիսկական բառակազմություն» հասկացության ըմբռնումը լեզվաբանական գրականության մեջ (ֆրանսերենի նյութի հիման վրա) / The concept of " Improper derivation " in linguistic literature (according to the materials of the french language)

Conversion is a morphosyntactic phenomenon, with morphological and syntactic changes occurring simultaneously. Conversion as a way of forming new lexical units includes the process of selection and consolidation. Our study showed that if the selection is random, then fixing is a long process, while some of the neoplasms are considered occasionalisms. The formation of substantive epithets by adjectivization of a noun suggests connotative shifts and the appearance of additional stylistic coloring in the original linguistic units.

Analyticization in Brazilian Portuguese inflection and derivation

This work discusses the tendency of analyticization in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) using the following datasets with a synthetic-analytic alternation: a) verbal forms with simple future meaning; b) verbal forms with pluperfect meaning; c) parasynthetic verbs; d) directional verbs. By integrating these phenomena, we not only confirm the tendency of analyticization in BP, argued for in recent papers about loss of inflection in this language, but show that it affects derivational elements as well. Based on Huang’s (2015) proposal, we show that the analytic counterparts of the alternations examined can all be analyzed as a general preference for short, phase-internal movements in BP. As a result, the various syntactic changes BP goes through can also be analyzed through a typological perspective.

The issue of arbitrariness in syntactic reconstruction

AbstractPractitioners of syntactic reconstruction have not acknowledged that arbitrariness and iconicity influence syntactic change, and that they therefore need to be incorporated into methods of reconstruction. I argue that iconicity creates a directional tendency in syntactic change, privileging structures that are more iconic. I propose a method for incorporating this fact into methods of syntactic reconstruction. I demonstrate the application of this method on two pieces of reconstructed syntax: orientation serial verb constructions and left-peripheral topics. Both case studies are from Proto-Sogeram, the ancestor to ten languages of Papua New Guinea. A third, briefer case study concerns Proto-Carib.