Syntactic Perspective Research Articles

Undergraduate writing errors in English in a generative syntactic perspective

It is widely believed that language learning, like any other human learning, involves the tendency to make of errors. (See Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982) Learner errors are an indication of the cognitive processes they make use of in analyzing, interpreting, and reorganizing the input they receive from the target language. Hence, learner errors are considered an integral part of language learning/acquisition. Consequently, error analysis (EA) emerged with the understanding that learner errors provide useful insights into the underlying processes of second language (L2) acquisition. From this stance, the present study examines 30 writing samples of a group of undergraduates of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Ruhuna, focusing on the morpho-syntactic errors made by them. The objective of the study is to find out the types of morpho-syntactic errors made by the university undergraduates in their classroom work and assignments and to provide a Generative Syntactic explanation for them. The preference for morpho-syntactic errors over other error types is due to the fact that, by far, most of the L2 learner errors fall into this category. The selection of the Generative Syntactic approach is determined by the dearth of error analysis studies that have used this particular approach. Data analysis is done by using 10 syntactic rules and explanations in different modules of the Government and Binding (GB) theory. It is revealed that most of the errors are related to the predicates and argument structure relations, movement in embedded “Wh” questions, pronoun reference, clausal complementation, and adjacency violations. The least number of errors are related to adverb use, person-number agreement (phi-feature agreement), coordination, verbs with clausal complements, and in the use of ‘that’ complementizer.

European Formalism and Empiriocriticism: Formalism within the International Empiriocritical Movement

Abstract This paper argues that Russian Formalism is to be considered a constitutive part of the international empiriocritical movement—Ernst Mach (1838—1916) and Richard Avenarius’s (1843—1896). The conceptual parallelism between Empiriocriticism and Formalism is striking indeed. Thus, the cornerstones of the empiriocritical approach—the concept of series [Reihe] and the concept of elements [Elemente], understood as sensations [Empfindungen]—are plainly recognizable within formalist theories: the notion of ‘series’ (for example, the notion of ‘literary series’ or ‘poetic series’, leading to the famous concept of ‘literariness’, literaturnost’) and the very formalist idea of a necessarily perceptible character of aesthetic form are only two, most famous, examples of this astonishing affinity. Here are some of the most striking convergences between Empiriocriticism and Formalism: the relativity of any knowledge; continuity between knowledge and perception; the pragmatic dominant; the leitmotif of ‘the Unsalvageable Ego’. Besides, the paper seeks to situate Russian Formalism within European Aesthetic German-speaking Formalism. This kind of formalism formulates some basic oppositions correlated to different types of forming being associated with specific means and specific formal devices to affect them. In this context, particular morphological features result in producing particular feelings conceived in the spatial or syntactic perspective. From its German-speaking analogue, Russian Formalism has inherited this relational and spatial definition of feelings and, largely speaking, of emotionality within art. Indeed, both formalisms treat emotion as a ‘non-subjective’, ‘kinetic’, ‘syntactic’ phenomenon located on the surface of aesthetic objects.

SEMANTIC AND STRUCTURAL PERSPECTIVES OF MORPHOLOGICAL REDUCTION AND INCREASE

This study aims at exploring some morphological processes by which linguistic items can be reduced or increased in order to respond to some semantic and structural functions. This phenomenon is plausible in almost all human languages such as English and Arabic. Reduction and increase of morphological items serve variety of functions that range from structural precision to syntactic and semantic functions. This study is important as it attempts to present comparative and contrastive perspectives of English and Arabic instances of morphological reduction or increase. Some morphological aspects of both English and Arabic will be tackled. In addition to the analysis of the English morphological processes some verses of the Holly Qur'an will be taken as data for analysis. Moreover, some samples of other languages will be outlined to confirm the presence of this phenomenon in other human languages. To process this study a historical qualitative approach will be followed through an intensive survey and review of some related studies and samples of morphological reduction and increase. The study will include the objectives of the study, its methodology, results, summary and recommendations for further studies. Keywords: Semantic Perspectives, Syntactic Perspective, Morphological Reduction, Morphological Increase, Harmony, Precision, Pidgins, Creoles, Language Varieties, Number, Gender, Case.

통사적 시각에서 본 스웨덴어 어순

스웨덴어 어순은 문장 내 통사적인 관계를 표시하기 위해 사용된다는 것이 중요한 특징이다. 어순, 특히 주어와 동사의 순서가 문장에서 매우 중요한 통사적 기능을 하기 때문에 다른 언어와 비교하여 어순이 상당 히 고정되어 있다. 본 논문의 주요 목적은 많은 스웨덴어 학습자들이 어 려움을 겪고 있는 어순의 규칙과 기능을 고찰하는 것으로 특히 어순의 통사적 기능을 조명한다. 기본 어순이 주어(S)-(서술)동사(V)-목적어(O)인 스웨덴어는 어순으로 문장성분 주어와 목적어를 구별한다. 어순은 문장성분뿐만 아니라 문장 유형을 구별하는 기능을 한다. 평서문과 의문사 의문문의 경우 동사는 항상 두 번째에 위치하는 반면 명령문과 예/아니오 의문문에선 동사가 문장 맨 앞에 온다. 스웨덴어 어순은 문장의 종속관계, 주절/종속절을 구 별하는데도 중요한 역할을 한다. 주어가 아닌 다른 문장성분으로 시작 될 경우 주절은 동사(V)-주어(S) 순의 도치문이 되지만 종속절은 항상 주어(S)-동사(V) 순의 정치문의 형태를 지닌다. 또한 주절에서는 문장부 사어가 동사 뒤에 위치하지만 종속절에서는 동사 앞에 위치한다. 스웨덴어 어순은 의미가 없는 문장성분이라도 반드시 문장에 존재해야 한다 는 소위 자리지킴이 원칙과 깊은 관련이 있다. 순전히 문장의 성립을 위 해 문장에서 자리를 지키는 기능을 하는 주요 문장성분으로는 주어와 동사가 있다.

Die Partikeln schon und noch in der linearen Abfolge mit Temporaladverbien

The particles schon and noch in German add an aspectual reading to events in different assertions. While schon tends to a perfective reading of an event, an imperfective reading appears with noch, hence both particles have a similar function on the event modification. Overtly, they are located unrestricted in the middle field of a German clause and can freely change their position towards temporal adverbs such as heute, jetzt, bald etc. It seems that syntax does not have an impact to order schon heute or heute schon. This variation is of main interest of the paper: Is there a linear restriction of adverbs and schon/noch, and does a change in the output cause a reinterpretation? The paper presents main assumptions on the word order of aspectual particles and temporal adverbs from the semantic and the syntactic perspective. An experimental study on prosodic factors will complete the overview and its preferences for the linearization of the sequences in question. The result is that common categorical grammar is not able to account for all possible outcomes with respect to contextual preferences. Therefore, a more flexible grammar concept is needed to build a usage-based concept on word order variation for these functional elements.

Anaphora in Biblical Hebrew: A Generative Perspective

Anaphora, that is, backwards-referring relations, are well-known in language and include such common items as a variety of pro-forms (it, that, myself, each other) and even adverbs (so). Lesser studied are forward-referring relations, i.e., cataphora. Biblical Hebrew utilises a variety of anaphoric relations, though it lacks a true reflexive anaphor. This study will introduce the investigation of anaphora from a generative syntactic perspective, then proceed to a survey of the features of Biblical Hebrew anaphora, and finally conclude with a discussion of anaphoric complexities that require future attention.

Errors in English Essay Writing from a Syntactic Perspective

This study discuses errors in English essay writing from syntactic perspective. Syntactic theory was used to analyze data while the data of this study were English essay writing written by university students. The method of this study was qualitative study which was divided into three namely data collecting method, data analysis method, and presentation of data analysis. Data of this study were collected using simak method. It meant monitoring the language used which was in the form of written text. Then there are two techniques used to collect data namely documentation and noted technique. Descriptive analytic was used to analyze data using syntactic theory. Informal method was used to present the result of data analysis in the form of sentences. There were two results of this study. Firstly, it showed that there were nineteen words, thirteen phrases, and thirteen clauses were found as errors in university students’ English essay writing. Secondly, university students need to master English grammar to minimize syntactic errors in English essay writing. Keywords: syntactic errors, syntactic perspective, word, phrase, clause

현대중국어 겸양용법 ‘讓’자문에 대한 小考

The purpose of this paper is to examine the syntatic, semantic, and pragmatic characteristics of the ‘Rang(让)’ construction used as a politeness marker. From a syntactic perspective, the ‘Rang(让)’ construction consists of ‘讓+我+VP’, ‘讓+我们+VP’. It is generally used in positive form. From a semantic point of view, the ‘Rang(讓)’ construction used for humility is the speaker’s intention to realize VP in the form of asking for the other’s permission. ‘讓+我+VP’ can represent the speaker

STUDYING THE LANGUAGE PECULIARITIES OF RUSSIAN ADJECTIVES WITH REGARD TO THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF STUDENTS IN THE IRANIAN AUDIENCE

The article compares adjectives in Russian and Persian. Adjectives are considered primarily from a morphological point of view, and only then are analyzed from a lexico-semantic, syntactic and word-formative perspectives. Adjectives in the Russian language, unlike adjectives in Persian, have morphological properties such as case, number, gender, ending, brevity / completeness, etc. The absence of such morphological features in the Persian language complicates the process of studying parts of speech, and adjectives in particular. Therefore, in the first part of the article, more attention is paid to the morphological features of parts of speech in Persian. Then the adjectives are considered. Further, the features of adjectives in Persian and Russian are analyzed, opinions of both Iranian and Russian linguists are given. The article aims to answer a number of basic questions related to the peculiarities of adjectives in Russian and Persian. The conclusion contains the findings of the study.

The Use of the Concept of “Language Variation” As a Stylistic Device in Pygmalion: Toward A Socio-Stylistic Approach

In this paper, the author supports the claim that there is an inevitable relationship between language and social class to which a speaker (character) belongs. The paper claims that a literary language is a manifestation of the verbal practices done by real speakers in real communicative situations. The paper illustrates that Bernard Shaw in Pygmalion used the concept of “language variation” as a stylistic device to reveal some significant social aspects of Eliza Doolittle, the main character of the play. Drawing on Basil Bernstein’s distinction between elaborated code and restricted code, the paper compares between Eliza as a low -class illiterate speaker and the same Eliza after having intensive linguistic training by Prof. Higgins. The analysis is based on some selected extracts of Eliza’s speech in different conversational scenes in the play. The paper hypothizes that literary discourse, mainly dialogues, can be treated as an ordinary language used in real conversational situations. The analysis was conducted from phonological, syntactic, pragmatic and sociolinguistic perspectives.

Basque question particles

AbstractIn this paper, we focus on the syntax of question particles in Basque and provide an account that draws new parallels between the syntactic behavior of discourse particles in Basque and some recent findings that have been reported for the German language, perhaps the most studied language of all when it comes to discourse particles. In particular, after having argued for a syntactic perspective on discourse particles for German, we deal with Basque particles in bothwh-questions and polar questions. Forwh-questions, we provide evidence for the claim that the particleoteoccupies an IP/TP-internal particle position and, when attaching to awh-element, can serve to form emphatic questions of the type that have also been observed in German. In the context of polar questions, we demonstrate that there are two distinct positions for discourse particles in central and eastern dialects of Basque: one inside the IP/TP-domain and one in the left periphery of the clause. Again, we indicate relevant cross-linguistic parallels, thereby dealing with Basque discourse particles from the perspective of a cross-linguistic syntax of particle elements.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Classification of stroke disease using machine learning algorithms

This paper presents a prototype to classify stroke that combines text mining tools and machine learning algorithms. Machine learning can be portrayed as a significant tracker in areas like surveillance, medicine, data management with the aid of suitably trained machine learning algorithms. Data mining techniques applied in this work give an overall review about the tracking of information with respect to semantic as well as syntactic perspectives. The proposed idea is to mine patients’ symptoms from the case sheets and train the system with the acquired data. In the data collection phase, the case sheets of 507 patients were collected from Sugam Multispecialty Hospital, Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India. Next, the case sheets were mined using tagging and maximum entropy methodologies, and the proposed stemmer extracts the common and unique set of attributes to classify the strokes. Then, the processed data were fed into various machine learning algorithms such as artificial neural networks, support vector machine, boosting and bagging and random forests. Among these algorithms, artificial neural networks trained with a stochastic gradient descent algorithm outperformed the other algorithms with a higher classification accuracy of 95% and a smaller standard deviation of 14.69.

О закрытых морфологических системах

The article deals with the analysis of ‘closed’ morphological systems, containing oppositional and contrastive elements. The category of case in the Slavic languages represents the systems of this kind. An attempt is made to shed light on the meaning of the case category in the Russian language. We argue that neither its semantic nor syntactic explanation are taken as being the only criterion of truth. The formal analysis of this category reveals that there is no relationship of noun case forms and that the structuring of pronoun and noun paradigms is different. Case government through prepositions, widely spread in many languages, also fails to explain case distinctions either from only semantic or syntactic perspective. The distribution of words into parts of speech in various languages still remains the only undoubted and common function for all inflectional case paradigms. We view ‘closed’ derivational and inflectional morphological systems as a fundamental condition in this respect; the character of there structure is of little importance; however, formal and unambiguous description can only be applied to the rigidly structured systems.

Properties of Syntactic Focus in Some Free Word Order Languages

This study proposes that a certain type of focus involving exhaustive interpretation triggers syntactic movement and further examines its semantico-pragmatic factors across free word order languages such as Hungarian, Korean, Japanese, and Russian. Given that the focus item, which is interpreted as exhaustive, occupies dislocated positions in the four languages, the focus is claimed to bear a strong feature [+exhaustive] in numeration and to undergo syntactic movement in order to have the feature checked off before Spell-out. Under this claim, the syntactic movement is naturally linked with the focus interpretation, avoiding the violation of Inclusiveness Principle. Furthermore, the current study discusses parametric differences in realizing exhaustive focus from the syntactic perspective.

Aristotelian diagrams for semantic and syntactic consequence

Several authors have recently studied Aristotelian diagrams for various metatheoretical notions from logic, such as tautology, satisfiability, and the Aristotelian relations themselves. However, all these metalogical Aristotelian diagrams focus on the semantic (model-theoretical) perspective on logical consequence, thus ignoring the complementary, and equally important, syntactic (proof-theoretical) perspective. In this paper, I propose an explanation for this discrepancy, by arguing that the metalogical square of opposition for semantic consequence exhibits a natural analogy to the well-known square of opposition for the categorical statements from syllogistics, but that this analogy breaks down once we move from semantic to syntactic consequence. I then show that despite this difficulty, one can indeed construct metalogical Aristotelian diagrams from a syntactic perspective, which have their own, equally elegant characterization in terms of the categorical statements. Finally, I construct several metalogical Aristotelian diagrams that incorporate both semantic and syntactic consequence (and their interaction), and study how they are influenced by the underlying logical system’s soundness and/or completeness. All of this provides further support for the methodological/heuristic perspective on Aristotelian diagrams, which holds that the main use of these diagrams lies in facilitating analogies and comparisons between prima facie unrelated domains of investigation.

Investigando a estrutura morfossintática das formações em des-x-ar: um enfoque no fenômeno da parassíntese

Este trabalho revisita a formação de verbos parassintéticos em des-X-ar no português brasileiro, a partir de uma perspectiva sintática (HALLE e MARANTZ, 1993). A parassíntese se caracteriza pela anexação simultânea de um sufixo e um prefixo a uma base, sendo que a ausência de algum desses elementos torna a construção agramatical (SAID ALI, 1966, CAMARA Jr., 1975; KEHDI, 2005; BASÍLIO, 2009). Trata-se de um processo interessante, pois parece desafiar a hipótese da ramificação binária. Descritivamente, propomos três padrões para as formações em des-X-ar: verbos não parassintéticos (desrespeitar); parcialmente parassintéticos (despentear) e totalmente parassintéticos (desossar). Na implementação da proposta desenvolvemos uma estrutura sintática estritamente binária, em que o prefixo des- pode aparecer em duas diferentes posições estruturais. Uma delas inclui a anexação do prefixo diretamente à raiz, o que tem como consequência o fato de o próprio prefixo integrar o processo de verbalização, entrando na estrutura antes do categorizador. Tal estrutura explica dados como desossar, por exemplo, em que, na ausência do prefixo, a formação se torna agramatical. Nessas estruturas, o prefixo em questão projeta seu rótulo na estrutura sintática. A segunda posição, por sua vez, é estruturalmente mais alta do que o núcleo categorizador e explica dados como despentear ou desrespeitar, por exemplo, em que, mesmo na ausência do prefixo, a formação é gramaticalmente possível. Nesses casos, o prefixo des- é considerado um adjunto, não alterando as propriedades formais da estrutura. Por fim, em ambas as estruturas, propomos que o argumento interno é inserido através do categorizador verbal.

연령이 언어수행에 미치는 영향 : 통사적 관점에서

연령이 언어수행에 미치는 영향 : 통사적 관점에서

Kontrastywne badanie właściwości semantyczno-składniowych czasowników w perspektywie leksykograficznej

The authors present several assumptions and problems arising from the implementation of the research project, the subject of which is the comparative analysis of grammatical explicative patterns of propositional structures encoded in the meaning of verbs which belong to the two classes: verba cogitandi and verba sentiendi in the contemporary Slavonic languages: Bulgarian, Polish and Russian. Based on the theory of syntax by Stanislaw Karolak (1984; 2002), the authors have created integrated syntactic dictionaries of verbs of these classes in the three languages as a foundation of their contrastive research. The article presents the main problems dealt with the research project which pertain to the phenomenon of polysemy from the syntactic perspective, the segmentation of dictionary entries, the syntactic interpretation of internal temporality, the realization of diathesis, as well as the admissibility of various degrees of the compression of propositional argument.

영어의 구조차이가 제2언어 습득에 미치는 영향

This study deals with the effect of structural differences in English on L2 learns` language performance. It first reviews the syntactic properties of Negative Polarity Items of English and Korean and also discusses the responses produced by the participants in English simple and bi-clausal structures. English and Korean differ in terms of the licensing conditions on NPIs. The former requires that any-type NPIs be c-commanded by a negative, the latter requires that amwu-type NPIs be licensed by a negative in the same clause. Long distance licensing is permissible in English, while local licensing is required in Korean. The different licensing conditions are interesting. Therefore, this needs to be studied through some experiments. In this paper, I attempted to investigate the acquisition of English NPIs from a syntactic perspective.

A Comparative Study of a Multi-Dimension/Multi-Feature Approach Between Chinese Debate and Speech

This study compares and analyzes Chinese debate and speech from the perspective of registers, which makes itself significant since it fills the gaps in the field. This paper is based on a self-built corpus and refers in Biber’s Multi-dimension/Multi-feature Approach. The quantitative statistical results show that there are 44 significant differences among the 65 linguistic features of debate and speech registers, and that these feature differences, from the macroscopic view, can be summarized into 8 different dimensions, which, to be specific, are known respectively as Multi-directional Interaction VS Single-directional Communication, Demonstrative VS Narrative, Intense Confrontation VS Deliberate Storytelling, Centralized Focuses VS Dispersing Contents, Precise Expressions VS Diverse Methods of Expressions, Informative VS Affective, Specialized VS Universal, along with Literate Style VS Oral Style. Why there are these linguistic features and dimensional differences between the two registers is also explained. It could be fair to say that this study makes a breakthrough on the basis of Biber’s research which mainly put its focus on linguistic features at the lexical, syntactic perspectives. And that is to advance comparing linguistic features between debate and speech registers to perspectives of phonetics and speeds. Yet it has its deficiency for failing to conduct factor analysis in the process of dimension induction due to the limited volume of text corpus.