Deriving four generalizations about nominals in three classifier languages

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-485
Author(s):  
Trang Phan ◽  
Tue Trinh ◽  
Hung Phan
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
Extended Projection

AbstractThis squib presents a set of facts concerning nominal structures in Bahnar, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. It proposes an account of these facts which reduces them to cross-linguistic differences with respect to the availability of particular syntactic configurations involving the bare noun and its extended projection. These differences, in turn, are derived from cross-linguistic variations with respect to the availability of items in the functional lexicon.

scholarly journals NP/DP Parameter and Classifier Languages: A Case of Magahi

2020 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050005
Author(s):  
CHANDAN KUMAR
Keyword(s):  
Functional Projection ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
Extended Projection

The paper presents the structural evidence for the existence of DP in the article-less language, Magahi. Article-less languages can be divided into two types: class languages and non-class languages. Most of the debate surrounding the treatment of article-less languages as DP/NP languages see only the binary distinction (article and non-article languages). In this paper, it is argued that the class-languages present richer structural evidences for the presence of the functional projection above NP. Along with presenting few structural evidences against the generalization presented by Bošković (2005), language-independent motivation for the functional projection like DP is also discussed. It is also argued that merit of the projection of the DP is also semantically justified. The argument that there can be various functional projections in the extended projection of NP weakens the strongest claim that article-less languages lack DP.

scholarly journals Language, thought, and real nouns

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barner ◽  
Shunji Inagaki ◽  
Peggy Li
Keyword(s):  
Count Noun ◽  
Mass Noun ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Lexical Statistics ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
The World ◽  
Quantity Judgment ◽  
Object Relative ◽  
Novel Words

We test the claim that acquiring a mass-count language, like English,causes speakers to think differently about entities in the world, relativeto speakers of classifier languages like Japanese. We use three tasks toassess this claim: object-substance rating, quantity judgment, and wordextension. Using the first two tasks, we present evidence that learningmass-count syntax has little effect on the interpretation of familiar nounsbetween Japanese and English, and that speakers of these languages do notdivide up referents differently along an individuation continuum, asclaimed in some previous reports (Gentner & Boroditsky, 2001). Instead, weargue that previous cross-linguistic differences (Imai & Gentner, 1997) areattributable to “lexical statistics” (Gleitman & Papafragou, 2005).Speakers of English are more likely to think that a novel ambiguousexpression like “the blicket” refers to a kind of object (relative tospeakers of Japanese) because speakers of English are likely to assume that“blicket” is a count noun rather than a mass noun, based on the relativefrequency of each kind of word in English. This is confirmed by testingMandarin-English bilinguals with a word extension task. We find thatbilinguals tested in English with mass-count ambiguous syntax extend novelwords like English monolinguals (and assume that a word like “blicket”refers to a kind of object). In contrast, bilinguals tested in Mandarin aresignificantly more likely to extend novel words by material. Thus, onlinelexical statistics, rather than non-linguistic thought, mediate cross-linguistic differences in word extension. We suggest that speakers ofMandarin, English, and Japanese draw on a universal set of lexicalmeanings, and that mass-count syntax allows speakers of English to selectamong these meanings.

Solving the Problem of Babel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Schotter
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
James Joyce ◽  
Illuminated Manuscripts ◽  
Finnegans Wake ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
Basic English

By situating James Joyce within a larger discourse about the problem of Babel, this chapter show how hieroglyphs were used to make arguments for the origin of linguistic differences. The journal transition—in which Joyce’s work was serialized—served as a clearinghouse for ideas about how a new linguistic unity might be forged: either through Joyce’s Wake-ese or through the philosopher C. K. Ogden’s universal language of Basic English. Fascinated by these theories of universal language and drawn to the anti-imperialist politics underlying them, Joyce in Ulysses andFinnegans Wake turns to visual and gestural languages—film, hieroglyphs, advertisements, and illuminated manuscripts—in an effort to subvert theories of ‘Aryan’ language and imagine a more inclusive origin for the world’s cultures. The commonality of writing and new media become in Joyce a political gesture: a way of insisting on the unity of all races and languages in a mythic past against Nazi claims for racial purity.

Of Nils and Nation: Selma Lagerlöf'sThe Wonderful Adventures of Nils

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJÖRN SUNDMARK
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
School System ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
State School ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
National Ideology ◽  
Selma Lagerlof

Recently past its centenary, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906–7), by Selma Lagerlöf, has remained an international children's classic, famous for its charm and magical elements. This article returns to read the book in its original contexts, and sets out to demonstrate that it was also published as a work of instruction, a work of geography, calculated to build character and nation. Arguing that it represents the vested interests of the state school system, and the national ideology of modern Sweden, the article analyses Nils's journey as the production of a Swedish ‘space’. With a focus on representations of power and nationhood in the text, it points to the way Lagerlöf takes stock of the nation's natural resources, characterises its inhabitants, draws upon legends and history, and ultimately constructs a ‘folkhem’, where social classes, ethnic groups and linguistic differences are all made to contribute to a sense of Swedish belonging and destiny.

EVALD – a Pioneer Application for Automated Essay Scoring in Czech

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-30
Author(s):  
Kateřina Rysová ◽  
Magdaléna Rysová ◽  
Michal Novák ◽  
Jiří Mírovský ◽  
Eva Hajičová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
Automated Essay Scoring ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Supervised Training ◽  
Language Data ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Essay Scoring

Abstract In the paper, we present EVALD applications (Evaluator of Discourse) for automated essay scoring. EVALD is the first tool of this type for Czech. It evaluates texts written by both native and non-native speakers of Czech. We describe first the history and the present in the automatic essay scoring, which is illustrated by examples of systems for other languages, mainly for English. Then we focus on the methodology of creating the EVALD applications and describe datasets used for testing as well as supervised training that EVALD builds on. Furthermore, we analyze in detail a sample of newly acquired language data – texts written by non-native speakers reaching the threshold level of the Czech language acquisition required e.g. for the permanent residence in the Czech Republic – and we focus on linguistic differences between the available text levels. We present the feature set used by EVALD and – based on the analysis – we extend it with new spelling features. Finally, we evaluate the overall performance of various variants of EVALD and provide the analysis of collected results.

Multiple object positions and how to diagnose them

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieven Danckaert
Keyword(s):  
Structure Analysis ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Multiple Object ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
Extended Projection ◽  
Modal Verb ◽  
Source Of Information

This chapter addresses the question of which syntactic environment constitutes the most reliable source of information on variable object placement in Latin. The relevance of this question is illustrated by showing that very different results are obtained when one compares the rate of VO in two different syntactic contexts, namely clauses with a single synthetic verb and clauses with a modal verb and a dependent infinitive. It is argued that the OV/VO alternation is best studied to clauses with more than one verb, as in such clauses, more object positions can be unambiguously identified. The final part of the chapter is devoted to the phrase structure analysis of clauses with the modals possum ‘be able’ and debeo ‘have to’. These structures are argued to constitute monoclausal domains, in which the modals are raising predicates that originate in functional heads in the extended projection of lexical verbs.

VISION

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica L. Bellon-Harn ◽  
Michael T. Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Culturally Competent ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Linguistic Differences

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has established knowledge and skills needed for culturally competent service delivery by speech-language pathologists. Among these are skills needed to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural and linguistic differences. The purpose of this article is to describe a model, VISION, to assist in development of cultural competence. This article includes a description of the components of VISION followed by vignettes to illustrate its application.

Literacy in African American communities. J. L. Harris, A. G. Kamhi, and K. E. Pollock (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2001. Pp. 310.

2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Temple Adger
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Deep Knowledge ◽  
Broad View ◽  
University Programs ◽  
African American Communities

The beauty of edited volumes is their potential to achieve synergism in bringing together diverse work on a significant topic – not just to create a coherent collection of research. Literacy in African American communities succeeds on all fronts. In presenting a broad view of literacy-related practices, the volume evokes a variable African American community that is invisible (or at least hazy) in many schools. Without deep knowledge of the linguistic, cultural, historical, and political contexts for literacy in the community, the schools and university programs that prepare professionals cannot hope to overcome the deficit perspective of cultural and linguistic differences that still drives assessment and instruction to a large degree.

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