Locative Inversion, PP Topicalization, and Weak Crossover in English

Journal of Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s0022226721000414 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

BENJAMIN BRUENING

Keyword(s):

Judgment Task ◽

Choice Task ◽

Mechanical Turk ◽

Amazon Mechanical Turk ◽

Variable Binding ◽

Weak Crossover ◽

The Subject ◽

Forced Choice Task ◽

Locative Inversion ◽

Acceptability Judgment

The literature on locative inversion in English currently disputes whether locative inversion differs from PP topicalization in permitting a quantifier in the fronted PP to bind a pronoun in the subject. In order to resolve this dispute, this paper runs two experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk, one an acceptability judgment task and the other a forced-choice task. Both find that PP topicalization does not differ from locative inversion: both permit variable binding. Locative inversion also does not differ from a minimally different sentence with the overt expletive there. These findings remove an argument against the null expletive analysis of English locative inversion, and they also show that weak crossover is not uniformly triggered by A-bar movement.

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A compositional approach to conjunct agreement in Turkish

Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America ◽

10.3765/plsa.v3i1.4298 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 17

Author(s):

Yilmaz Koylu

Keyword(s):

Native Speaker ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Choice Task ◽

Full Agreement ◽

Compositional Approach ◽

Closest Conjunct Agreement ◽

Forced Choice Task ◽

Verbal Agreement ◽

Two Stages ◽

Acceptability Judgment

This article presents novel empirical evidence on verbal agreement patterns observed in conjunction phrases (CPs) in Turkish. To account for the discrepancies observed in native speaker preferences in agreement paradigms in CPs, two experimental tasks were carried out: namely an acceptability judgment task and a forced choice task. Based on the results, it is proposed that there is compositional conjunct agreement in Turkish that takes place in two stages. The agreement relationship is first established between the Agreement head and the coordinated phrase in the syntax. Then, the PF spells out the features of either the coordinated phrase, or the features of the linearly closest conjunct inside the coordinated phrase. I argue that Full Agreement (FA) results from the Spec-head agreement with the CP, whereby the features of both conjuncts are resolved and inherited to the CP (Johannessen 1996). In Closest Conjunct Agreement (CCA), on the other hand, the agreeing head has asymmetric access to one of the prominent conjuncts or its features (Bošković 2009; Johannessen 1998; Munn 1993, 1999; Benmamoun 1992). Thus, in CCA in Turkish, the agreement is with the linearly closest conjunct and the features of that conjunct appear on the verb.

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Crosslinguistic Interference in Simultaneous Acquisition of Turkish and Italian

Open Linguistics ◽

10.1515/opli-2020-0031 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 512-531

Author(s):

Anna Lia Proietti Ergün

Keyword(s):

Judgment Task ◽

High Variability ◽

Control Group ◽

Simultaneous Acquisition ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Unaccusative Verbs ◽

The Subject ◽

Appropriate Sentences ◽

Linguistic Property ◽

Acceptability Judgment

AbstractThis study compared the acceptability judgment task (AJT) and translation task (TT) in 10 simultaneous Turkish–Italian bilinguals with age-matched Turkish and Italian monolinguals as a control group. The position of subjects occurring with unaccusative verbs was investigated as the linguistic property. The results of the AJT in Turkish revealed no significant difference between the groups. However, in the Italian AJT, high variability was found in the younger bilinguals. Only bilinguals could participate in the TT. The participants, while translating into Turkish, always produced pragmatically appropriate sentences. In the case of translation to Italian, a significant effect correlated with the position of the subject in the Turkish stimulus was found.

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Agreement attraction in Serbian

The Mental Lexicon ◽

10.1075/ml.11.2.04ris ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 242-276 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bojana Ristic ◽

Nicola Molinaro ◽

Simona Mancini

Keyword(s):

Reaction Times ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Forced Choice ◽

Choice Task ◽

Frequency Pattern ◽

Gothic Architecture ◽

Forced Choice Task ◽

Attraction Effects ◽

Accuracy Data ◽

Morphological Markedness

Asymmetric number attraction effects have been typically explained via a privative markedness account: plural nouns are more marked than singular ones and thus stronger attractors. However, this account does not explain results from tripartite systems, in which a third number value is available, like paucal. Here we tested whether attraction effects can be driven by specific markedness sub-components, such as frequency/naturalness of use, using Serbian, in which participles can agree with masculine subjects in singular, plural and paucal. We first conducted a naturalness judgment task, finding the following naturalness/frequency pattern: singular,plural<paucal. In a subsequent forced-choice task, we presented participants with preambles containing a singular, a plural or a paucal headnoun (the castle[Sg] /two castles[Pauc] /the castles[Pl]) modified by singular/plural/paucal attractors (with the window[Sg] /with two windows[Pauc] /with the windows[Pl]). Three options were provided to complete the sentence (resembles[Sg] /resemble[Pauc] /resemble[Pl] gothic architecture).Both accuracy and reaction times (RTs) were collected. Accuracy data reflected the naturalness/frequency pattern, with paucal being the strongest attractor, and plural and singular attracting equally. However, reaction times showed a difference between singular and plural, suggesting co-influence of both frequency/naturalness and morphological markedness. We emphasize the necessity of re-defining markedness and testing attraction through different markedness sub-components (i.e. frequency/naturalness) to explain attraction cross-linguistically.

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Double Object Constructions Disguised as Prepositional Datives

Linguistic Inquiry ◽

10.1162/ling.2010.41.2.287 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 287-305 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Benjamin Bruening

Keyword(s):

Recent Work ◽

Linear Order ◽

Double Object ◽

Variable Binding ◽

Weak Crossover ◽

Double Object Construction ◽

Object Construction ◽

Scope Interactions ◽

The Right ◽

Locative Inversion

Recent work by Bresnan and colleagues (Bresnan 2007, Bresnan et al. 2007, Bresnan and Nikitina 2007) has argued that double object and prepositional dative constructions are essentially identical, the choice between them being conditioned by various factors. I argue against this conclusion, showing that the grammar clearly distinguishes double object from prepositional dative constructions. Under certain circumstances, the first object of a double object construction can shift to the right, with the preposition to appearing, but the grammar still distinguishes this from a prepositional dative construction that looks identical on the surface. The phenomena that I investigate are scope interactions with quantifiers and locative inversion. In addition, the rightward reordering operations investigated here indicate that constraints on variable binding, including weak crossover, must be formulated in terms of linear order rather than hierarchy.

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Long distance binding option for the Mandarin Chinese reflexive taziji

10.31234/osf.io/4zd68 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Yuhang Xu ◽

Jeffrey Runner

Keyword(s):

Experimental Evidence ◽

Mandarin Chinese ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Choice Task ◽

Long Distance ◽

Clausal Structure ◽

Embedded Clause ◽

Local Binding ◽

Acceptability Judgment

Contradicting prevailing claims in the literature, we report experimental evidence showing that the Chinese reflexive taziji has both local and long-distance binding options. We per-formed a series of formal judgment experiments manipulating the gender feature of the potential antecedents such that they matched or mismatched the anaphor’s gender using a bi-clausal structure with an argument reflexive in the embedded clause (e.g., Name1-says-Name2-Verb-taziji). Participants were asked to choose the antecedent of the anaphor (antecedent choice task) and also to judge the acceptability of the sentence (acceptability judgment task). Results showed that the reflexive taziji had both long-distance and local binding options, although the local binding option was preferred. Also, the pattern was replicated for the original examples taken from a widely used Chinese syntax textbook (Huang et al. 2009), contra the judgments reported there. We discuss the implications of this study from both theoretical and methodological perspectives.

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Assessing the Link Between Perception and Production in Cantonese Tone Acquisition

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2018_jslhr-s-17-0430 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 1243-1257 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Peggy Pik Ki Mok ◽

Holly Sze Ho Fung ◽

Vivian Guo Li

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

General Principle ◽

Choice Task ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Tone Pair ◽

Tone Production ◽

Monosyllabic Words ◽

Early Production ◽

Forced Choice Task ◽

Production Accuracy

Purpose Previous studies showed early production precedes late perception in Cantonese tone acquisition, contrary to the general principle that perception precedes production in child language. How tone production and perception are linked in 1st language acquisition remains largely unknown. Our study revisited the acquisition of tone in Cantonese-speaking children, exploring the possible link between production and perception in 1st language acquisition. Method One hundred eleven Cantonese-speaking children aged between 2;0 and 6;0 (years;months) and 10 adolescent reference speakers participated in tone production and perception experiments. Production materials with 30 monosyllabic words were transcribed in filtered and unfiltered conditions by 2 native judges. Perception accuracy was based on a 2-alternative forced-choice task with pictures covering all possible tone pair contrasts. Results Children's accuracy of production and perception of all the 6 Cantonese tones was still not adultlike by age 6;0. Both production and perception accuracies matured with age. A weak positive link was found between the 2 accuracies. Mother's native language contributed to children's production accuracy. Conclusions Our findings show that production and perception abilities are associated in tone acquisition. Further study is needed to explore factors affecting production accuracy in children. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7960826

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