Disjunction in Kannada and Korean

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 197-218
Author(s):  
Youngjun Jang
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Existential Quantifier ◽  
Question Formation ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Abstract. This paper compares disjunction in Kannada and Korean and examines the morpho-syntactic properties of it in these languages, focusing on Kannada -oo/illa and Korean -na. Kannada and Korean are genealogically unrelated, but share SOV word order. It is thus expected that the disjunction head follow its complement. Indeed, Kannada -oo and Korean -na follow their comple-ments. What is truly intriguing is that it shows surprisingly parallel properties. For example, Kan-nada -oo and Korean -na not only yield disjunction but also invoke indirect question interpretation. That is, both of them are used as a disjunctive conjunct as well as a question marker. In this paper, we examine the parallels and differences between the disjunction in these languages and show that the conjunctive and disjunctive reading is expressed in different modes. Under the present analysis, we can readily explain the indirect question formation, wh-scope marking, and the dummy wh-phrases in the oo-complementation. We also show that the existential quantifier interpretation of wh-indefinites plus -oo can be accounted for, assuming -oo to be a wh-question marker. Unlike what Amritavalli (2003) predicts, wh-indefinites plus disjunctive morpheme yields universal quantifier interpretations in languages like English, Japanese, and Korean.

scholarly journals Errors in the Use of English Grammar

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Anju Giri
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Word Order ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Question Formation ◽  
Target Languages ◽  
Comprehensive Study

By systematically studying the errors committed by learners one can get a lot of hints about the learning strategies and mechanisms which they are employing in learning their target languages. Such hints have provided insights to the teachers, textbook writers, curriculum designers and many applied linguists and enable them to contribute to their fields. This article seeks to present a comprehensive study of grammatical errors committed by the bachelor level university students of Nepal learning English which followed the established stages of error analysis. It was found that the bachelor level students in Nepal did commit all sorts of grammatical errors in the use of the English language. For them, the error prone grammatical units were Sentence and Clause and the error prone grammatical categories were Conditionals, Mood, V-Form, Tense/Aspect, Main Verb, Subject-Verb Agreement, Question Formation, Auxiliary/Modal,Miscellaneous forms, 'So' Form, Determiner, Verb+Participle, Word Order, and Noun.Key words: Correct forms; Incorrect forms/mistakes; ErrorsJournal of NELTAVol. 15 No. 1-2 December 2010Page: 54-63Uploaded date: 4 May, 2011DOI: 10.3126/nelta.v15i1-2.4610

Prosodic differences between declaratives and interrogatives in infant-directed speech

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 968-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN GEFFEN ◽  
TOBEN H. MINTZ
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
American English ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Syntax Acquisition ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Maternal Speech

AbstractIn many languages, declaratives and interrogatives differ in word order properties, and in syntactic organization more broadly. Thus, in order to learn the distinct syntactic properties of the two sentence types, learners must first be able to distinguish them using non-syntactic information. Prosodic information is often assumed to be a useful basis for this type of discrimination, although no systematic studies of the prosodic cues available to infants have been reported. Analysis of maternal speech in three Standard American English-speaking mother–infant dyads found that polar interrogatives differed from declaratives on the patterning of pitch and duration on the final two syllables, butwh-questions did not. Thus, while prosody is unlikely to aid discrimination of declaratives fromwh-questions, infant-directed speech provides prosodic information that infants could use to distinguish declaratives and polar interrogatives. We discuss how learners could leverage this information to identify all question forms, in the context of syntax acquisition.

Arithmetic definability by formulas with two quantifiers

1992 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Shih Ping Tung
Keyword(s):  
Algebraic Number ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Algebraic Integer ◽  
Number Fields ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Existential Quantifier ◽  
Algebraic Number Fields ◽  
Integer Rings

AbstractWe give necessary conditions for a set to be definable by a formula with a universal quantifier and an existential quantifier over algebraic integer rings or algebraic number fields. From these necessary conditions we obtain some undefinability results. For example, N is not definable by such a formula over Z. This extends a previous result of R. M. Robinson.

Syntax

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Jochen Zeller
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Syntactic Properties

This chapter presents an overview of the most important syntactic properties of African languages and language families. It investigates the status of syntactic word categories (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, etc.) and examines the different word orders and word order alternations that are observed phrase-internally and at the level of the clause. Also discussed are syntactic constructions such as the passive, wh-questions, and relative clauses, as well as morphological phenomena that bear a close relation to syntax, such as case and agreement. Special attention is drawn to syntactic traits which are attested in African languages but which occur rarely, or not at all, outside Africa, such as the SVO–S-Aux-OV word order alternation (found in Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages as well as in Northern Khoisan), the construct state nominal (a characteristic of Afro-Asiatic languages), or logophoricity (a feature of subgroups of Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afro-Asiatic).

The partitive construction in Mandarin Chinese

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Jin
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
Parametric Variation ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Syntactic Derivation

This paper investigates the semantic and syntactic properties of [N(oun)+de+Q(uantifier)] in Mandarin Chinese. Based on a comparison with the quantitive construction [Q+N], the paper advocates that [N+de+Q] is the Chinese partitive construction. Adopting a clausal approach to the syntactic derivation of partitives, it is hypothesized that Chinese partitives are formed via applying Predicate Inversion to a small clause that features a BELONG-type possession relationship. The difference between Chinese partitives and English-type partitives in terms of the surface word order is a result of a parametric variation with respect to whether the remnant of Predication Inversion undergoes further raising or not.

Extension particles, etc.

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Dubois
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Existential Quantifier ◽  
Discourse Functions ◽  
Age Grading ◽  
Occurrence Patterns ◽  
Good Number

ABSTRACTThe study of the 2700 occurrences of phrase-terminal extension particles (e.g., tout ça ‘all that’, des affaires de même ‘things like that’) in two large corpora of Montréal French reveals that they are typically formed of some combination of a quantifier, a generic and a comparative, and that the particle is optionally prefaced by a connector (the conjunctions puis, et ‘and’, ou ‘or’). The 76 particle types (not counting minor variations) also include a good number of fixed forms (e.g., et cetera) often having an onomatopoeic aspect (e.g., patati patata). Extension particles can be characterized through prosodic, syntactic, and semantic criteria. The analysis bears on the sociodemographic conditioning of overall rates of particle use; of choices within the quantifier, generic, and comparative categories; and of preference for each of four major classes of particle: those containing a universal quantifier, those containing an existential quantifier, those consisting of just a generic and a comparative, and fixed forms. The discourse insertion of the four classes is also analyzed in terms of connector, type of discourse transition, the complexity of the term(s) semantically “extended” by the particle, and the discourse genre. The clearest result pertaining to overall rates of use is an age-grading effect, whereby speakers use fewer particles as they grow older. Within the components, women use more quantifiers than men, and both generics and comparatives are sharply stratified by social class and age. The reconstituted particles tend to favor certain co-occurrence patterns and avoid others more than could be predicted from the component distributions, consistent with a stylistic concord effect. As for the four classes of particle, it is the presence and nature of the connector that have the strongest effects, where puis contrasts with both ou and the null connector, while the complexity of the extended term distinguishes among the classes both by virtue of the number of terms and their syntactic complexity. As is predictable from functional considerations the sociodemographic factors do not contrast the two semantically most distinct classes, involving universal versus existential quantifiers. The linguistic validity of the four classes is confirmed by the fact that their quantitative conditioning is not predictable from the strong sociodemographic conditioning of their component elements, but rather reflects their differential suitability for various discourse functions.

scholarly journals Word order in heritage Russian: clause type and majority language matter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Zuban ◽  
Maria Martynova ◽  
Sabine Zerbian ◽  
Luka Szucsich ◽  
Natalia Gagarina
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
The Us ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Properties

AbstractHeritage speakers (HSs) are known to differ from monolingual speakers in various linguistic domains. The present study focuses on the syntactic properties of monolingual and heritage Russian. Using a corpus of semi-spontaneous spoken and written narratives produced by HSs of Russian residing in the US and Germany, we investigate HSs’ word order patterns and compare them to monolingual speakers of Russian from Saint Petersburg. Our results show that the majority language (ML) of HSs as well as the clause type contribute to observed differences in word order patterns between speaker groups. Specifically, HSs in Germany performed similarly to monolingual speakers of Russian while HSs in the US generally produced more SVO and less OVS orders than the speakers of the latter group. Furthermore, HSs in the US produced more SVO orders than both monolingual speakers and HSs in Germany in embedded clauses, but not in main clauses. The results of the study are discussed with the reference to the differences between main and embedded clauses as well as the differences between the MLs of the HSs.

The syntax of participial adjuncts in Eastern Bengali

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Van Der Wurff
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Binding Properties ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Syntactic Properties

In this article I will discuss the syntactic properties of participial adjuncts in Eastern Bengali. From a GB-point of view, these constructions are quite interesting, because they can contain a nominative which is apparently not assigned by AGR, and because they show a quite intricate pattern of possibilities for coreference and disjoint reference, with some seemingly arbitrary differences among the three types of adjuncts. In Section 2, I shall present the empirical data for these constructions. In Section 3 I will discuss the relevant general syntactic principles of Eastern Bengali, specifically those responsible for Case-assignment, word-order, pro-drop (including ergative verbs) and binding properties. In Section 4, I will show that the characteristics of the participial constructions, including the apparently haphazard binding properties, follow from the general syntactic principles of Eastern Bengali, if we assume one simple statement for each type of adjunct. No further construction-specific stipulations need be made. To the extent that the analysis I propose can be upheld, it will constitute indirect support for the GB-mechanisms that are crucially involved in it. Apart from various principles of configurationality and binding, I will make use of the idea that there is no abstract AGR, in these cases at least, and also of the analysis of pro-drop as a silent clitic phenomenon, proposed in Safir (1985). It is of course a fact that the principles of grammar I appeal to still need to be investigated more carefully, and may have to be modified on the basis of data not yet taken into account or accurately analyzed. However, as they stand, the relevant principles of GB-theory appear to be able to account for the Eastern Bengali facts I discuss here. Apart from these more theoretical concerns, this paper naturally has an important descriptive component too, which I hope will make it also interesting to linguists working in a different theoretical framework and may stimulate linguists specifically concerned with Bengali to explore further the intricascies of this area of Bengali grammer.

scholarly journals Kwantyfikacyjne i egzystencjalne wykładniki afirmacji na przykładzie języka serbskiego

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 103-119
Author(s):  
Marcin Grygiel
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Existential Quantifier ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
Metaphorical Extension ◽  
Logical Rules

Quantifiers and existentials as markers of affirmation in SerbianIn the paper I argue that quantifiers understood as numerical language expressions and the verb ‘to be’ are used to express and intensify affirmation in Serbian and other Slavic languages. I focus on two types of quantifiers: the universal quantifier, represented in Serbian by the lexeme svi and its derivatives, and the existential quantifier associated with the numeral jedan and the verb ‘to be’. Both types of quantifiers in analyzed contexts acquire secondary functions of affirmation markers. However, the scope of this type of affirmation marking is quite limited as very often the same words may be used in negative contexts. As a consequence, it is impossible to describe this function referring to any strict logical rules, but it is better to regard it as a metaphorical extension. Thus, the use of universal quantifier as a marker or intensifier of affirmation is believed to be best described as being based on the conceptual metaphor AFFIRMATION IS COMPLETENESS and the intensification of affirmation in the case of existential quantifier and the verb ‘to be’ relies on the metaphor AFFIRMATION IS EXISTENCE.

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