Syntactic Scope Research Articles

Prosody drives Paraguayan Guaraní suffix order

In Paraguayan Guaraní (Tupian, ISO 639-3: gug), suffix order is determined by several factors, including syntactic scope, morphotactic restrictions, free variation, and prosody.Paraguayan Guaraní suffixes form two syntactic classes: predicate-level suffixes and clause-level suffixes. Both syntactic classes include stressable and stressless suffixes. Predicate-level suffixes typically precede clause-level suffixes. However, stressable suffixes always precede stressless ones. Furthermore, within both groups (stressable or stressless), the order of suffixes is largely free.I propose that stressable suffixes are independently prosodified phonological words and stressless suffixes are non-prosodified. I analyze the Paraguayan Guaraní suffix order as an interaction of mirroring between the order of suffixes and the order of syntactic operations, on the one hand, and prosodic subcategorization and demands on phonological well-formedness, on the other. Thus, I document and analyze an unusual agglutinating system, whose highly non-prototypical prosodified and freely-ordered suffixes challenge the notion of a phonological word, contributing to ongoing research on phonological and syntactic domains as well as the interfaces of phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Machine coding of policy texts with the Institutional Grammar

AbstractThe Institutional Grammar (IG) is used to analyse the syntactic structure of statements constituting institutions (e.g., policies, regulations, and norms) that indicate behavioural constraints and parameterize features of institutionally governed domains. Policy and administration scholars have made considerable progress in methodologically developing the IG, offering increasingly clear guidelines for IG‐based coding, identifying unique considerations for applying the IG to different types of institutions, and expanding its syntactic scope. However, while validated as a robust institutional analysis approach, the resource and time commitment associated with its application has precipitated concerns over whether the IG might ever enjoy widespread use. Needed now in the methodological development of the IG are reliable and accessible (i.e., open source) approaches that reduce the costs associated with its application. We propose an automated approach leveraging computational text analysis and natural language processing. We then present results from an evaluation in the context of food system regulations.

The challenge of polygrammaticalization for linguistic theory

Abstract Transcategorial morphemes share the common ability to be used synchronically across different syntactic categories (synchronic grammaticalization). This paper first shows that transcategoriality is a general property of linguistic systems, variously exploited by languages, then addresses the theoretical questions raised by these morphemes. A new model accounting for this transcategorial functioning, named “fractal grammar”, is proposed and illustrated by various examples. The analysis for this particular functioning relates the polysemy of these morphemes to their syntactic flexibility in a dynamic way: the variation of the syntactic scope of the morpheme (“fractal functioning”) is triggered by its environment and produces its polysemy (variation of the semantic scope). Fractal grammar is thus defined by two basic mechanisms: the construal of a common image-schema (“scale invariance”), accounting for the unity of the morpheme, and the activation of “scale (or level) properties”, accounting for the semantic and syntactic variations. A typological sketch of transcategoriality is then sketched, in relation to the strategies used by linguistic systems for the distribution of grammatical information. Three types of transcategorial strategies are distinguished: “oriented”, “generic”, and “functional” transcategoriality. The status of linguistic categories is then discussed in the light of the analysis of these particular morphemes.

Prosodic focus in English vs. French: A scope account

We compare the use of prosodic prominence in English and French to convey focus. While previous studies have found these languages, and Germanic vs. Romance more generally, to differ in their use of prominence to encode focus (e.g., Ladd 1990; 1996; 2008; Lambrecht 1994; Cruttenden 1997; 2006), exactly what underlies the difference remains an open question. We investigate two possibilities: The difference between the languages could be due to a difference in their phonology, restricting the circumstances in which material can be prosodically reduced, as proposed in Féry (2014). Alternatively, there could be syntactic, semantic, and/or pragmatic differences concerning when prominence can be used to encode focus. We compare these hypotheses in a production study which varied the type of focus context (corrective, contrastive, parallelism) to establish the contextual conditions on when a shift in prosodic prominence can occur. The results confirm earlier claims that French uses prosodic prominence to encode focus in corrections, but fails to prosodically encode other types of focus, in contrast to English. We further find that French and English encode focus with very similar acoustic means. Our results show that both languages have the phonological/phonetic means to encode focus using prominence shifts, but differ with respect to the semantic and pragmatic circumstances in which they use them. We propose that these semantic/pragmatic differences between English and French are a result of differences in the syntactic scope possibilities of the focus operator involved in prosodic focus marking.

Grammatical fear morphemes in Ese Ejja

Abstract Grammatical morphemes dedicated to emotions have been little described so far, except for surprise, which may be instantiated in a mirative category. It has even been suggested that an equivalent grammatical encoding for other basic emotions does not seem to occur crosslinguistically. This paper examines three grammatical morphemes in the Amazonian language Ese Ejja (Takanan), namely the apprehensive, the avertive and the timitive, and argues that all three morphemes express fear or its milder version apprehension, i.e. an emotion triggered by an undesirable, (highly) possible event. The morphemes essentially diverge in their syntactic scope (main verb, subordinated verb, or NP), their perspective (that of the speaker or the subject), and the possible absence vs. obligatory presence of a precautionary situation, i.e. the precautions taken to avoid the (consequences of the) feared event. After describing these features in Ese Ejja, the article outlines a crosslinguistic framework for the study of these categories.

Positive polarity predicates

AbstractThis paper presents Dutch and English predicates that behave as positive polarity items and provides a partial, semantically-grounded classification of this group of PPIs. The items are studied from the perspective of anti-licensing behavior (by negation, either locally or long-distance, in questions, and by weakly negative quantifiers such aslittleandfew). Predicates, unlike quantifiers, do not have wide scope readings (which allow quantificational PPIs such assomebodyto appear in the syntactic scope of negation). Using a mixture of corpus data and introspective judgments, we show that anti-licensing among PPIs is not uniform (mirroring earlier results on NPIs which likewise show considerable variation). Rescuing contexts are likewise shown to differ among PPIs. Some of the PPI predicates show complex interaction with illocutionary force (especially mandative force), and others with differences between presupposed and asserted propositions. High degree predicates, finally, point toward the existence of connections between the marking of degree and positive polarity. PPI status is argued to be the result of a complex interaction between the effects of negation and other nonveridical operators, and other semantic factors, which differ among subclasses of PPIs. Anti-licensing by weak negation correlates fairly well with anti-licensing by long-distance negation, a finding which is (partly) in line with a recent proposal by Spector (2014, Global positive polarity items and obligatory exhaustivity.Semantics and Pragmatics7(11). 1–61) concerning global PPIs. However, we find there to be more variation among the PPIs studied here than the classification of Spector (2014) or any binary classification stipulates.

Attitudinal nominalizer(s) in Chinese: Evidence of recursive grammaticalization and pragmaticization

This paper examines the life-cycle of versatile nominalizers in Chinese, with special attention to how they develop into attitudinal stance markers. Based on cross-dialectal and diachronic data, we first identify a wide range of extended uses of nominalization constructions within the Sinitic language family, among them relativizing and subordinating uses, then trace how these dependent nominalization constructions are reanalyzed as independent finite structures. Our analysis reveals a series of semantic and syntactic scope expansions that paves the way for nominalization constructions to be extended from referential uses to attitudinal uses. Our findings highlight the robustness of an (inter)subjectification process whereby nominalizers often combine with other particles at the right periphery to form complex sentence final mood particles, which have valuable implications for cartographic studies in diachronic syntax and also for diachronic pragmatics studies that focus on the interface between grammar and discourse—not only for Chinese, but for other languages with attitudinal nominalizers as well.

Sentential negation in South African Sign Language: A case study

As with other sign languages, South African Sign Language (SASL) expresses negation using both manual and non-manual features. In this case study, naturalistic data provided by two native signers of SASL are analysed to show the syntactic relationship between these two sets of features. Using a Principles and Parameters approach and Government and Binding Theory, we investigate the syntactic scope of negation in our SASL data. We observe that side-to-side headshake, as a non-manual feature, appears to be the chief clausal negator in SASL, with a clause-final manual negative particle, NOT, playing a secondary role. We describe the negative headshake as a featural affix which is base-generated in the head of NegP and triggers V-to-Neg raising. The negative particle NOT appears to be base-generated in the Specifier of NegP. Suggestions for further syntactic research on SASL are provided.

Syntax and operational semantics of a probabilistic programming language with scopes

Dzhafarov and Kujala (2015) have introduced a contextual probability theory called Contextuality-by-Default (C-b-D) which is based on three principles. The first of these principles states that each random variable should be automatically labelled by all conditions under which it is recorded. The aim of this article is to relate this principle to block structured computer programming languages where variables are declared local to a construct called a “scope”. Scopes are syntactic constructs which correspond to the notion of condition used by C-b-D. In this way a variable declared in two scopes can be safely overloaded meaning that they can have the same label but preserve two distinct identities without the need to label each variable in each condition as advocated by C-b-D. By means of examples, the notion of a probabilistic program, or P-program, is introduced which is based on scopes. The semantics of P-programs will be illustrated using the well known relational database language SQL which provides an efficient and understandable operational semantics. A core issue addressed is how to construct a single probabilistic model from the various interim probability distributions returned by each syntactic scope. For this purpose, a probabilistic variant of the natural join operator of relational algebra is used to “glue” together interim distributions into a single distribution. More generally, this article attempts to connect contextuality with probabilistic programming by means of relational database theory.

Negation Markers in Kalmyk

Focusing on changes to the system of negation in Kalmyk, this paper will discuss the diachronic development of the expression of negation and will examine the results of grammaticalization process in negation system on synchronous level with special attention to innovations occur in colloquial speech. The goal of this paper is to report on a corpus-based study comparing the syntactic form, scope and pragmatic use of negative markers in Kalmyk. I will try to describe patterns of pragmatic language use of negative affixes or full negative copulas in written and spoken Kalmyk and to find explanations to both synchronic variation and to changes in a diachronic perspective.The paper deals with semantic, pragmatic, and morphosyntactic properties of all these negative markers, however, it focuses on the competition of two main markers of sentential negation and its contracted variants in Kalmyk used both in nominal clauses and in declarative sentences. I argue that there is new cycle of development in Kalmyk and the process of specialization goes through ambiguity of new negative marker to the pragmatic and semantic differentiation depending on the scope of negation and the information structure of sentence.

Why indefinites can escape scope islands

One of the big questions about indefinites is why they can escape scope islands (Fodor and Sag, in Linguist Philos 5:355–398, 1982). In the recent approach of Brasoveanu and Farkas (Linguist Philos 34(1):1–55, 2011) scopal relations with syntactically dominating quantifiers are hard wired into the semantic definition of the existential quantifier, which immediately explains why the semantic scope of indefinites may exceed their syntactic scope. In this paper, I argue for the revival of an alternative approach which places the explanatory burden on the idea that indefinites are essentially referential expressions, similar to definites, and not plain existential quantifiers. I propose one fully explicit variant of such theories and argue that it comes with a number of conceptual and empirical advantages over competing theories.

The distribution of ?? in John Chrysostom's homilies Adversus Iudaeos

This article analyses the distribution of the modal enclitic άν in the homilies Adversus Iudaeos by John Chrysostom. The main question is whether άν has narrow syntactic scope (i.e. belongs to the verb syntactically) or wide syntactic scope (i.e. belongs to the clause syntactically). I argue that the clues provided by its distribution (mainly its tendency towards P2 position) seem to point in the direction of the wide scope analysis.

Donkey anaphora: the view from sign language (ASL and LSF)

There are two main approaches to the problem of donkey anaphora (e.g. If John owns a donkey, he beats it). Proponents of dynamic approaches take the pronoun to be a logical variable, but they revise the semantics of quantifiers so as to allow them to bind variables that are not within their syntactic scope. Older dynamic approaches took this measure to apply solely to existential quantifiers; recent dynamic approaches have extended it to all quantifiers. By contrast, proponents of E-type analyses take the pronoun to have the semantics of a definite description (with it ≈ the donkey, or the donkey that John owns). While competing accounts make very different claims about the patterns of coindexation that are found in the syntax, these are not morphologically realized in spoken languages. But they are in sign language, namely through locus assignment and pointing. We make two main claims on the basis of ASL and LSF data. First, sign language data favor dynamic over E-type theories: in those cases in which the two approaches make conflicting predictions about possible patterns of coindexation, dynamic analyses are at an advantage. Second, among dynamic theories, sign language data favor recent ones because the very same formal mechanism is used irrespective of the indefinite or non-indefinite nature of the antecedent. Going beyond this debate, we argue that dynamic theories should allow pronouns to be bound across negative expressions, as long as the pronoun is presupposed to have a non-empty denotation. Finally, an appendix displays and explains subtle differences between overt sign language pronouns and all other pronouns in examples involving ‘disjunctive antecedents’, and suggests that counterparts of sign language loci might be found in spoken language.

From a manner adverb to a discourse particle: The case of yahari, yappari and yappa

Abstract Numerous studies have been done in various theoretical frameworks on the Japanese adverb yahari, but very few considered its morphophonologcal variants, yappari, and yappa as objects of serious investigation both synchronically and diachronically. Through the analyses of corpora, this study delineates semantic and functional changes of these variants. Yahari was first attested as a clause-internal manner adverb, meaning ‘being still’, then developed a sentential modal adverbial usage, ‘as expected, after all, at any rate’. Yappari was also a manner adverbial first, and through a sentential modal, it also developed discourse particle functions. Yappa was attested much later for more subjective and pragmatic functions. The developmental order of these three as yahari > yappari > yappa has bearing on issues in grammaticalization. First, the paper argues that the yahari case lends support to Traugott’s (1995) proposal that the adverbial cline, “Clause-internal Adverbial > Sentence Adverbial > Discourse Particle” should be added to the inventory of grammaticalization because of its similar developmental path. Second, this study also shows that the yahari case is an instantiation of intersubjectification (Traugott 2003). Third, it demonstrates that the yahari case counters the generally held parameter of “syntactic scope decrease” (Givon 1971, Lehmann 1995 [1982]), and instead exhibits “syntactic scope increase”.

Persian object clitics and the syntax-morphology interface

This paper presents a descriptive overview and formal analysis of the use of pronominal clitics for realizing various types of arguments in Persian, with particular emphasis on object clitics in the verbal domain. We argue that pronominal clitics behave more like suffixes than independent syntactic elements; in cases where they take syntactic scope over an NP or a PP, they must be phrasal affixes. We propose an HPSG analysis to account for the morphosyntactic aspects of verbal suffixation of object clitics, possessive clitics, preverbal object clitics, and clitic doubling constructions. Finally, we explore extensions of the analysis to periphrastic verb forms, and we compare our proposals for Persian to previous HPSG work on clitic phenomena in other languages.

Verbal morphology in Murrinh-Patha: evidence for templates

If questions concerning affix ordering are among the central ones in morphological theory, then languages with templatic morphology appear to provide the least interesting answer, since in these languages affix order must be simply stipulated in the form of arbitrary position classes. For this reason, much recent research into templatic morphology has attempted to show that affix order in such languages is in fact governed by underlying semantic or syntactic principles. The most fully articulated position in this respect is that of Rice (Morpheme order and semantic scope, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000), who provides a comprehensive analysis of morpheme order across the Athapaskan languages and argues that it is largely determined by universal principles of semantic (and syntactic) scope. If these principles of word formation are truly universal, we should expect to find evidence for them in all similarly ‘templatic’ systems, including the head-marking languages of Australia. In this context, I discuss the order of verbal affixes in Murrinh-Patha and show that these data cannot be adequately accounted for by syntactic or semantic accounts of affix ordering, but rather provide strong support for the existence of templatic organization in morphological systems.

Mallando nos Complementos directos: un ornitorrinco na sintaxe do galego

A gramática galega debe estimular a autenticidade da lingua e, en consecuencia, a súa sintaxe non pode reproducir punto por punto a do español. A sintaxe é a compoñente máis importante da gramática e por tanto tamén desde o ámbito sintáctico se debe procurar un galego vivo e fértil, con estruturas de seu, con usos diferenciados do español e, en definitiva, un galego de calidade. Neste sentido, os complementos directos con preposición do tipo de Comer no caldo constitúen un trazo diferencial co español que debe ser reintroducido nas nosas preferencias estilísticas.

Quantification et scalarité : le fonctionnement de tant/autant (que)

By analysing a corpus of occurrences of quantifying scalar markers (au) tant (... que), and the different meaning effects produced according to their syntactic scope, this contribution aims at showing that the concept of scalarity deserves to be considered, beside that of quantification, as a relevant methodological tool.

(Inter)subjectification, Japanese syntax and syntactic scope increase

This paper investigates the correlation between semantic-pragmatic change of (inter)subjectification and its syntactic effects. It points out that the diachronic change of subjectification > intersubjectification (Traugott 2003) finds its synchronic counterpart in the rigid predicate order of Japanese. Furthermore, paying closer attention to a layered model in Japanese traditional linguistics, it claims that Japanese episodes of (inter)subjectification display core to peripheral positional shifts of grammaticalized items. In contrast, the opposite directionality is exhibited with the case of possible desubjectification (imperative > conditional). Putting these issues all together, the paper questions syntactic scope decrease as a parameter of grammaticalization, and supports instead structural scope increase, as in “C-command scope increase” (Tabor and Traugott 1998), “raising/upwards movement” (Roberts and Roussou 2003) and “syntactic impoverishment” (Company forthcoming a, b). Aside from this specific focus, this paper is also an attempt to synthesize the rich tradition of Japanese linguistic studies on subjectivity with their Western counterparts.

Some Facts About Quantification and Negation One Simply Cannot Deny: A Reply to Gennari and MacDonald

Research on language acquisition has recently focused on the interaction between quantifiers and negation. One generalization presented in the literature is the so called Observation of Isomorphism, the observation that children's semantic scope coincides with syntactic scope (see Musolino (1998)). The most recent con tribution to the debate on scope resolution is due to Gennari and MacDonald (2005/2006) (G&M henceforth). Their proposal attempts to derive the Observa tion of Isomorphism from the distributional properties of the input to which chil dren are exposed. The article presented here evaluates the proposal by G&M. First, we review the existing findings on children's interpretation of negative quantified sentences. The findings show that the generalization presented by Musolino (1998) is incor rect, thereby calling into question any attempt to derive that generalization. Sec ond, we highlight children's ability to go beyond the input, an issue that must be addressed by G&M if they want to derive any generalization about child language from the properties of the input.