scholarly journals The syntax of inner aspect in Hungarian

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
ÉVA KARDOS ◽  
IMOLA-ÁGNES FARKAS
Keyword(s):  
Case Assignment ◽  
Syntactic Representation ◽  
Inner Aspect ◽  
Aspectual Markers

This paper is concerned with the syntactic representation of inner aspect in Hungarian. We contribute to the extant research on inner aspectual markers by providing an analysis of entailed versus implied telicity as well as the (non)maximality effects with which telic predicates are associated. Although we focus on the grammar of Hungarian, we also draw parallels between typologically different languages like Finno-Ugric (e.g. Hungarian and Finnish) and Germanic (e.g. English) regarding their inner aspectual marking strategies, and the interaction of inner aspect and case assignment.

Syntactic representation of null arguments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Ruda
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Syntactic Representation ◽  
Independent Features ◽  
Argument Omission ◽  
Type Shifting

Focusing on definite-argument drop, this chapter puts forward the hypothesis that null arguments are minimally represented as [nPn] and maximally as a fully-fledged pronoun ([DP D [PersP Pers [NumP Num [nPn]]]] or [PersP Pers [NumP Num [nPn]]]). The (un)availability of such arguments in a language is a consequence of independent features of its grammar: the lexical specification of its nominalizing n heads (esp. their association with phonetic material) and the avaialbility of post-syntactic type-shifting operations (esp. ι‎). The working of this approach is illustrated mostly with data from English, Polish, and Kashubian. The two latter languages are argued here to differ from English with respect to the inflectional properties of their nouns, as well as with respect to the mechanisms of NP interpretation. The chapter discusses the predictions thehypothesis makes about the identity of null arguments with respect to cross-linguistic variation in the patterns of argument omission.

scholarly journals Recursion and the Definition of Universal Prosodic Categories

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng ◽  
Laura J. Downing
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Current Controversy ◽  
Syntactic Representation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Prosodic Categories ◽  
Phonological Phrase

It is widely agreed that prosodic constituents should mirror syntactic constituents (unless high-ranking prosodic constraints interfere). Because recursion is a feature of syntactic representations, one expects recursion in prosodic representations as well. However, it is of current controversy what kinds of syntactic representation motivate prosodic recursion. In this paper, the use of Phonological Phrase recursion is reviewed in several case studies, chosen because prosodic recursion mostly does not reflect syntactic recursion as defined in current syntactic theory. We provide reanalyses that do not appeal to prosodic recursion (unless syntactically motivated), showing that Phonological Phrase recursion is not necessary to capture the relevant generalizations. The more restrictive use of prosodic recursion we argue for has the following conceptual advantages. It allows for more consistent cross-linguistic generalizations about the syntax–prosody mapping so that prosodic representations more closely reflect syntactic ones. It allows the fundamental syntactic distinctions between clause (and other phases) and phrase to be reflected in the prosodic representation, and it allows cross-linguistic generalizations to be made about the prosodic domain of intonational processes, such as downstep and continuation rise.

scholarly journals COMPLETELY REDUCIBLE SETS

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (04) ◽  
pp. 915-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
DOMINIQUE PERRIN
Keyword(s):  
Closure Properties ◽  
Linear Representations ◽  
Complete Reducibility ◽  
The Family ◽  
Syntactic Representation ◽  
Completely Reducible ◽  
Rational Sets ◽  
Cyclic Sets

We study the family of rational sets of words, called completely reducible and which are such that the syntactic representation of their characteristic series is completely reducible. This family contains, by a result of Reutenauer, the submonoids generated by bifix codes and, by a result of Berstel and Reutenauer, the cyclic sets. We study the closure properties of this family. We prove a result on linear representations of monoids which gives a generalization of the result concerning the complete reducibility of the submonoid generated by a bifix code to sets called birecurrent. We also give a new proof of the result concerning cyclic sets.

Long distance Case assignment and intervention

Lingua ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 309-336
Author(s):  
Pauli Brattico
Keyword(s):  
Long Distance ◽  
Case Assignment

The role of case in A-bar extraction asymmetries

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Coon ◽  
Pedro Mateo Pedro ◽  
Omer Preminger
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Data ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Special Construction ◽  
Agent Focus ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Focus Questions

Many morphologically ergative languages display asymmetries in the extraction of core arguments: while absolutive arguments (transitive objects and intransitive subjects) extract freely, ergative arguments (transitive subjects) cannot. This falls under the label “syntactic ergativity” (see, e.g. Dixon 1972, 1994; Manning 1996; Polinsky to appear(b)). These extraction asymmetries are found in many languages of the Mayan family, where in order to extract transitive subjects (for focus, questions, or relativization), a special construction known as the “Agent Focus” (AF) must be used. These AF constructions have been described as syntactically and semantically transitive because they contain two non-oblique DP arguments, but morphologically intransitive because the verb appears with only a single agreement marker and takes an intransitive status suffix (Aissen 1999; Stiebels 2006). In this paper we offer a proposal for (i) why some morphologically ergative languages exhibit extraction asymmetries, while others do not; and (ii) how the AF construction in Q’anjob’al circumvents this problem. We adopt recent accounts which argue that ergative languages vary in the locus of absolutive case assignment (Aldridge 2004, 2008a; Legate 2002, 2008), and propose that this variation is present within the Mayan family. Based primarily on comparative data from Q’anjob’al and Chol, we argue that the inability to extract ergative arguments does not reflect a problem with properties of the ergative subject itself, but rather reflects locality properties of absolutive case assignment in the clause. We show how the AF morpheme -on circumvents this problem in Q’anjob’al by assigning case to internal arguments.

Review of May & Koster (1981): Levels of Syntactic Representation

1982 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 428-434
Author(s):  
Marie-Christine Poilpré ◽  
Michel Reynard
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Representation

Lardil “Case Stacking” and the Timing of Case Assignment

Syntax ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norvin Richards
Keyword(s):  
Case Assignment

Syntactic Dependencies as Memorized Sequences in the Brain

2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 241-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosef Grodzinsky
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Broca’S Region ◽  
Syntactic Representation ◽  
Syntactic Approach ◽  
Syntactic Relations ◽  
Syntactic Dependencies ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe prospects of a cognitive neuroscience of syntax are considered with respect to functional neuroanatomy of two seemingly independent systems: Working Memory and syntactic representation and processing. It is proposed that these two systems are more closely related than previously supposed. In particular, it is claimed that a sentence with anaphoric dependencies involves several Working Memories, each entrusted with a different linguistic function. Components of Working Memory reside in the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus, which is associated with Broca’s region. When lesioned, this area manifests comprehension disruptions in the ability to analyze intra-sentential dependencies, suggesting that Working Memory spans over syntactic computations. The unification of considerations regarding Working Memory with a purely syntactic approach to Broca’s regions leads to the conclusion that mechanisms that compute transformations—and no other syntactic relations—reside in this area.

Simple Monotransitive and Complex Dative Alternation Predicates in Spanish Monolingual Child Acquisition Data

Probus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Sánchez Calderón
Keyword(s):  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This work analyzes the acquisition of simple and complex constructions in Spanish monolingual children’s data. It examines the emergence and the role played by adult input in child production of simple monotransitive constructions when compared to two types of complex predicates that undergo dative alternation (DA), namely, a/para-datives and dative-clitic doubled (DCLD) structures. In order to shed light on these issues, we have analyzed data from Spanish monolingual children and from the adults that they interact with, as available in CHILDES (MacWhinney, Brian. 2000. The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk [Dataset], 3rd edn. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. http://childes.talkbank.org (accessed 20 October 2019)). The results show that there is an order in the onset of simple and complex predicate constructions, as reflected in the earlier emergence of monotransitives when compared to DA constructions. The latter also show a subsequent order of first occurrence, namely, DCLDs before a/para-datives. Thus, the degree of syntactic complexity seems to have played a role in the acquisition of simple and complex constructions, as measured by the number of Case assignment relations between the verb and its internal argument(s). Moreover, the differences in the Spanish monolingual children’s incidence of the three structures under analysis do not appear to be explained by the relative frequency of exposure in the adult input.

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