Haitian Creole Syntax

1988 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Lefebvre ◽  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Major Category ◽  
Recent Proposal ◽  
Haitian Creole ◽  
Maximal Projection ◽  
Question Formation ◽  
A Minor

In this paper we examine several aspects of Haitian Creole syntax in light of the recent proposal that a determiner can be the head of a minor maximal projection. We argue that an incorporation of this proposal into the analysis of several aspects of Haitian Creole syntax, including clause structure, question formation, and relative-clause formation, can resolve several puzzling problems. In addition, the paper adds to the theory of minor heads in that it shows that such heads must be considered to inherit major category features from their complements.

Prepositional “where” in Southern Italian Dialects

2020 ◽  
pp. 114-132
Author(s):  
Nicola Munaro ◽  
Cecilia Poletto
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
Structural Configuration ◽  
Recent Proposal ◽  
Italian Dialects

This chapter investigates a phenomenon attested in some Southern Italian varieties, where a form identical to the wh-item meaning “where” can be used as a locative preposition. Since most of the dialects considered here only use P-where in cases of quasi-inalienable locative possession, this chapter adopts the recent proposal that the structural configuration of inalienable possession is to be interpreted as a RelatorP whose predicative head functions as the relator between the possessor, located in the specifier position, and the possessee, that is, the locative noun, sitting in the complement position. It also proposes that P-where exploits a sort of reduced relative in which the null classifier-like element PLACE located in the internal structure of the wh-item undergoes raising to the highest functional specifier; the reduced relative clause is taken to occupy the specifier of a bigger small clause, whose complement is represented by the RelatorP containing the actual lexical nouns.

scholarly journals When Structure Competes with Semantics: Reading Chinese Relative Clauses

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peiyun Zhou ◽  
Yun Yao ◽  
Kiel Christianson
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Role Reversal ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Reading Chinese ◽  
Semantic Plausibility ◽  
Object Relative

An ongoing debate in Chinese psycholinguistics is whether subject-relative clauses or object-relative clauses are more difficult to process. The current study asks what happens when structure and plausibility are pitted against each other in Chinese relative clause processing. Chinese relative clause structures and semantic plausibility were manipulated to create both plausible and implausible versions of subject- and object-relative clauses. This method has been used in other languages (e.g., English) to elicit thematic role reversal comprehension errors. Importantly, these errors—as well as online processing difficulties—are especially frequent in implausible versions of dispreferred (noncanoncial) structures. If one relative clause structure in Chinese is highly dispreferred, the structural factor and plausibility factor should interact additively. If, however, the structures are relatively equally difficult to process, then there should be only a main effect of plausibility. Sentence reading times as well as analyses on lexical interest areas revealed that Chinese readers used plausibility information almost exclusively when reading the sentences. Relative clause structure had no online effect and small but consistent offline effects. Taken together, the results support a slight preference in offline comprehension for Chinese subject-relative clauses, as well as a central role for semantic plausibility, which appears to be the dominant factor in online processing and a strong determinant of offline comprehension.

Verbless Predicative Clauses in the Romance Languages: Syntax, Semantics, Variation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin González-Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Yucatec Maya ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Haitian Creole ◽  
Small Clauses

Nonverbal or verbless utterances posit a great deal of challenge to any linguistic theory. Despite its frequency and productivity among many languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Finnish, Guaraní, Haitian Creole; Hdi, Hebrew, Hungarian, Irish, Korean, Mauritian Creole, Mina, Northern Kurdish, Romandalusí, Russian, Samoan, Turkish, Yucatec Maya, a.o., verbless clauses have received so far relatively little attention from most theoretical frameworks. The study of such clauses in general raises many interesting questions, since they appear to involve main clause structure without overt verbs. Some of the questions that arise when dealing with verbless constructions are the following: (a) are these clauses a projection of T(ense), or some other functional category, (b) do verbless clauses have an overt or null verbal head, (c) are verbless clauses small clauses, and (d) can verbless clauses be interpreted as propositions or statements that are either true or false. In mainstream generative grammar the predominant assumption has been that verbless clauses contain a functional projection that may be specified for tense (Tense Phrase) but need not occur necessarily with a verbal projection or a copula. This is strong evidence against the view that tense needs to co-occur with a verbal head—that is, tense may be universally projected but does not need to co-occur with a verbal head. This proposal departs from previous analyses where the category tense may be specified for categorial verbal or nominal features. Thus, in general, verbless clauses may be considered Tense Phrases (TPs) that dominate a nonverbal predicate. An example of verbless constructions in Romance languages are Predicative Noun Phrases (henceforth, PNPs). PNPs are nonverbal or verbless constructions that exhibit clausal properties.

Grammaticalization in Morphology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muriel Norde
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Item ◽  
Reverse Direction ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Major Category ◽  
Gradual Process ◽  
Grammatical Change ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Verb Meaning

Grammaticalization is traditionally defined as the gradual process whereby a lexical item becomes a grammatical item (primary grammaticalization), which may be followed by further formal and semantic reduction (secondary grammaticalization). It is a composite change that may affect both phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic-pragmatic properties of a morpheme, and it is found in all the world’s languages. On the level of morphology, grammaticalization has been shown to have various effects, ranging from the loss of inflection in primary grammaticalization to the development of bound morphemes or new inflectional classes in secondary grammaticalization. Well-known examples include the development of future auxiliaries from motion verbs (e.g., English to be going to), and the development of the Romance inflection future (e.g., French chanter-ai ‘I sing’, chanter-as ‘you sing’, etc., from a verb meaning ‘to have’). Although lexical-grammatical change is overwhelmingly unidirectional, shifts in the reverse direction, called degrammaticalization, have also been shown to occur. Like grammaticalization, degrammaticalization is a composite change, which is characterized by an increase in phonological and semantic substance as well as in morphosyntactic autonomy. Accordingly, the effects on morphology are different from those in grammaticalization. In primary degrammaticalization new inflections may be acquired (e.g., the Welsh verb nôl ‘to fetch,’ from an adposition meaning ‘after’), and erstwhile bound morphemes may become free morphemes (e.g., English ish). As such effects are also found in other types of changes, degrammaticalization needs to be clearly delineated from those. For example, a shift from a minor to a major category (e.g., English ifs and buts) or the lexicalization of bound affixes (isms), likewise result in new inflections, but these are instantaneous changes, not gradual ones.

Teaching invented languages to the undergraduate major

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Angela C. Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Original Source ◽  
Critical Reasoning ◽  
Undergraduate Major ◽  
Order Case ◽  
Source Materials

This chapter discusses how creating an invented language allows students to master critical reasoning skills and apply their linguistic knowledge to a creative language project by using the various strands of linguistic training they have received during their undergraduate years to produce their own invented language. The structure of the course, which includes weekly discussions and presentations, along with a grammar workshop that focuses on each of the elements needed to build the language, starting with phonetics and phonology and then continuing through various syntactic elements such as word order, case, and relative clause structure are detailed and discussed. Pedagogically, the course builds on four pillars: peer-to-peer learning, close and critical engagement with original source materials, problem-solving, and creative engagement with linguistic theory.

scholarly journals Relativization strategies in temporal adjunct clauses

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 65-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anikó Lipták
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Temporal Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Temporal Adverbial

This article takes a close look at the internal structure of temporal adverbial clauses in a number of unrelated languages, with a goal of uncovering the syntactic variation in these. The focus of discussion will be on temporal clauses that take the form offree relatives. It will be shown that there are minimally two different free relative strategies that can be found in temporal adverbial clauses: anordinary free relativestrategy with a gap in the position of a temporal modifier inside the relative clause and anIP-relativizationstrategy that involves relativization of the whole IP of the temporal clause. It will be shown that the latter strategy is awh-relativization strategy as well and it shows similarity to clausal relativization (sentences of the typeTom arrived, after which Susan left). The language in which the IP-relativization strategy will be isolated and fully analyzed is Hungarian. In this languagebefore/after-clauses (among some other temporal clauses) clearly exhibit a relative clause structure that is different from ordinary relatives. The evidence found in Hungarian will prove useful for the analysis of some temporal clauses in other languages as well. It will be shown that IP-relativization most probably underliesafter-clauses in German and Serbian, too. Further, a brief comparison of Hungarian temporal clauses to temporal clauses in other postpositional languages (Hindi and Basque) will suggest that the IP-relativization strategy inbefore/after-clauses can be thought of as a syntactic alternative tonominalization.

Relative clause structure, relative clause perception, and the change from SOV to SVO

Cognition ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Antinucci ◽  
Alessandro Duranti ◽  
Lucyna Gebert
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Clause Structure

scholarly journals ARGUMENT BAR MOVEMENT IN RELATIVE CLAUSES PRODUCED BY BIPA STUDENTS: AN ANALYSIS OF NOAM CHOMSKY’S GENERATIVE TRANSFORMATION

2022 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Arti Prihatini ◽  
Fauzan Fauzan ◽  
Fida Pangesti
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Theta Theory ◽  
The University

This study was intended to describe (1) the characteristics of the argument bar movement in relative clauses, (2) the characteristics of the relative clause structure, and (3) the suitability of the relative clause structure produced by BIPA students. This research was a qualitative descriptive case study. This research data were relative clauses sourced from BIPA students' speeches at the beginner and intermediate levels at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang. The data collection method used was the listening method with tapping, recording, note-taking, and hidden fishing techniques. Data analysis was carried out by identifying the predication-argument relationship with theta theory, identifying the deep structure and surface structure, analyzing movement objectives, movement traces, and movement consequences by utilizing the subjacency condition theory. The results showed that the characteristics of the argument bar movement in the relative clauses generated by 92% of BIPA students were in the form of short movements and did not exceed one bounding node. Based on the Indonesian language rules, most of the relative clauses produced by BIPA students were appropriate (75%). It shows that BIPA students have fully understood the relative clause structure.

scholarly journals Hearing Loss and Cognitive Effort in Older Adults' Report Accuracy for Verbal Materials

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (02) ◽  
pp. 147-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Stewart ◽  
Arthur Wingfield
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Hearing Acuity ◽  
Report Accuracy ◽  
Memory Resources

Background: In addition to declines in auditory acuity, adult aging is often also accompanied by reduced cognitive efficiency, most notably in working memory resources and a general slowing in a number of perceptual and cognitive domains. Effectiveness of speech comprehension by older adults reflects a balance between these declines and the relative preservation in healthy aging of linguistic knowledge and the procedural rules for its application. Purpose: To examine effects of hearing acuity in older adults on intelligibility functions for sentences that varied in two degrees of syntactic complexity, with their concomitant demands on older adults' working memory resources. Research Design: Stimuli consisted of monosyllabic words presented in isolation, and nine-word sentences that varied in syntactic complexity. Two sentence types were employed: sentences with a subject-relative clause structure, and more syntactically complex sentences in which meaning was expressed with an object-relative clause structure. The stimuli were presented initially below the level of audibility and then increased in loudness in 2 dB increments until the single-word stimuli and all nine words of the sentence stimuli could be correctly reported. Study Sample: Participants were 16 older adults with good hearing acuity for their ages, 16 age-matched adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and 16 young adults with age-normal hearing. Results: Along with confirming better report accuracy for the words of meaningful sentences than for words heard in isolation, performance curves for the sentence stimuli showed a significant effect of syntactic complexity. This took the form of older adults having poorer report accuracy at any given loudness level for sentences with greater syntactic complexity. This general effect of syntactic complexity on perceptual report accuracy was further exacerbated by age and hearing loss. Conclusions: Age-limited working memory resources are impacted both by the resource demands required for comprehension of syntactically complex sentences and by effortful listening attendant to hearing loss.

Discontinuous noun phrases and remnant-internal relativization in the diachrony of Portuguese

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Internal Position

This chapter investigates syntactic change regarding the availability of split noun phrases in relative clauses in the diachrony of Portuguese. In earlier stages of the language an element that is thematically dependent on the head noun (either as a complement or as a modifier) may not appear adjacent to it but in a relative clause internal position. In Contemporary European Portuguese, noun phrase discontinuity also arises in relative clauses, but only with the modifier/complement in the rightmost position. The word order with the modifier/complement at the left periphery of the relative clause is not allowed. The change is explained as being due to the loss of a left-peripheral position for contrastive focus within relative clauses (and possibly other types of subordinate clauses). Hence, the contraction of clause structure and the concomitant loss of movement are taken to constrain the possibilities of phrasal discontinuity found in earlier periods.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document