Il Y A ... Qui et C'est ... Qui

1986 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marcel Léard
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Features ◽  
Semantic Grammar ◽  
Grammatical Morphemes ◽  
Il Y A ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Semantic Compatibility ◽  
Semantic Properties

Il y a ... qui and c'est... qui: Syntax and compatibility between semantic operations In this paper, we show that il y a ... qui and c'est... qui have three meanings or values, that are suitable with only some operations of determination, modalization (like questions, negations) and with a number of syntactic categories and functions. Therefore, we use syntactic properties to point out semantic features, but we show, in return, that syntactic acceptability of sentences can be often explained by semantic compatibility between operations. That involves a basically semantic grammar. So we link syntactic and semantic properties, mainly the meaning of grammatical morphemes. In such a case, we consider that transformational hypotheses, which don't take into account these links, are not appropriate, and we propose a more realistic way (although theoretical) of doing syntax: syntax is also the compatibility between the meaning of morphemes.

The Tense, Mood, and Aspect System of Haitian Creole and the Problem of Transmission of Grammar in Creole Genesis

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Haitian Creole ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Semantic Properties

It is often assumed that creolization involves a break in the transmission of grammar. On the basis of data drawn from the TMA system of Haitian creole, as compared with those of its source languages — French, the superstratum language, and Fongbe, one of the substratum languages — this paper argues that creolization does not involve a break in transmission of grammar. The properties of the Haitian creole TMA system are shown to reflect in a systematic way those of its contributing languages. While the syntactic and the semantic properties of the TMA markers of the creole parallel those of Fongbe, the markers' phonological form appears to be derived from phonetic strings found in the superstratum language. This systematic division of properties is predicted by the hypothesis that relexification has played a major role in the formation of the creole. The fact that the lexical entries of the creole have phonological representations which are derived from phonetic strings found in the superstratum language is the visible signal that creolization involves the creation of a new language. The fact that the lexical entries of the creole show semantic and syntactic properties that parallel those of the languages of the substratum argues that there has been no break in the transmission of grammar in the formation of the creole.

Méthode D'analyse des Connecteurs du Français en Vue D'un Traitement Automatique

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-380
Author(s):  
Renata Kozlowska-Heuchin
Keyword(s):  
Automatic Processing ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
Semantic Type ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Semantic Types ◽  
Semantic Typology ◽  
Semantic Properties

The subject of this article is the analysis of clauses of aim, cause, consequence and condition in French in view to the automatic processing. Our theoretical framework is that of lexicon-grammar. This study differs from the usual grammatical analyses. Here, the complex sentence is studied on the model of the simple sentence, defined as an operator accompanied by its arguments. The conjunctive phrase is our starting point for this study, and it is then shown that the noun around which it is formed, is of predicative type and has the main clause and the subordinate as arguments. This is a predicate «of second order». Automatic processing requires extremely accurate notation of syntactic and semantic properties if ambiguity and polysemy are to be correctly handled. Those descriptions based on syntactico-semantic features are insufficient, which is why the concept of « class of objects » is brought in. There are as many types of relations as there are semantic types of predicate. This is the reason why a semantic typology of predicates is sketched out, integrating lexical, syntactic and semantic components. It is shown that each semantic type can have its own appropriate lexical means of expression and specific syntactic behaviour.

scholarly journals A Case of Constructional Polysemy in Latin

1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Michaelis
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Semantic Properties

In this paper, I will examine the syntactic and semantic properties of a Latin correlative construction, the so-called comparative conditional. I will investigate the extent to which this construction inherits its formal and interpretive features from constructions needed independently in the grammar. While the syntactic properties of the comparative conditional are highly motivated, the semantics of the construction is idiosyncratic: there is evidence to indicate that the construction is polysemous, having two related scalar interpretations.

Conciliating States and Locations: Towards a More Comprehensive and In- Depth Account of the Spanish Copula Estar

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma. Eugenia Mangialavori
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Integrative Analysis ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
Complementary Distribution ◽  
Spatial Domains ◽  
Structural Analogy ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Copular Clauses

AbstractThe case of estar may reveal how different proposals of study have failed to grasp grammatically relevant semantic features shared by its occurrences. The results of this study indicate that an integrative analysis of estar clauses would account not only for the consistent lexical properties observed - comprising (a)analogous lexical-syntactic structure predicting possible copular complements, (b)analogous selectional restrictions and (c)interpretative effects -, but also for the complementary distribution of two aspectually nontrivial verbal alternations (ser / estar and estar / haber). Our proposal lays on the standard syntactic structure of copular clauses - assumed to embrace locative clauses, against what traditional Spanish grammar suggests - in combination with (i) the structural analogy between estar’s alternative complements (APs and PPs) and (ii) the understanding of states as abstract spatial domains (be at). Thus, the eventual differences between clauses like ‘estoy triste’ and ‘estoy en casa’ could be accounted for by virtue of the semantic / syntactic properties of the lexical head selected.

scholarly journals Syntax and semantics of “thôi” and “ngừng”

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-118
Author(s):  
Pho Van Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Control ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Complement Clause ◽  
Semantic Properties

The paper gives a comparative analysis of the syntax and semantic features of “thôi” and “ngừng” – two Vietnamese egressive verbs where their aspectual value will moderately be focused. Accordingly, “thôi” and “ngừng” have several syntac-semantic properties in common, but also several differences. Both “thôi” and “ngừng” denote “not continue” or “not recur”; but unlike “thôi” which implies a termination, “ngừng” implies a possible resumption of the event in question. They both presuppose the event which has been in progress. However, “”thôi” can refer to an intention, but “ngừng” can’t. “Thôi” manifests the event of Activity or State (eventual types), but “ngừng” manifests the event of Activity or State or Accomplishment. They both can be followed in complement clause. In case of “thôi”, the complement clause refers to events [+dynamic] [+control] while “ngừng” requires events [+dynamic] [±control]. Both “thôi” and “ngừng” show some similarities but also differences. That is why foreigners have trouble learning Vietnamese.

Idioms and Phraseology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Teresa Espinal ◽  
Jaume Mateu
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Roles ◽  
External Structure ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Linguistic Units ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Interesting Behavior

Idioms, conceived as fixed multi-word expressions that conceptually encode non-compositional meaning, are linguistic units that raise a number of questions relevant in the study of language and mind (e.g., whether they are stored in the lexicon or in memory, whether they have internal or external syntax similar to other expressions of the language, whether their conventional use is parallel to their non-compositional meaning, whether they are processed in similar ways to regular compositional expressions of the language, etc.). Idioms show some similarities and differences with other sorts of formulaic expressions, the main types of idioms that have been characterized in the linguistic literature, and the dimensions on which idiomaticity lies. Syntactically, idioms manifest a set of syntactic properties, as well as a number of constraints that account for their internal and external structure. Semantically, idioms present an interesting behavior with respect to a set of semantic properties that account for their meaning (i.e., conventionality, compositionality, and transparency, as well as aspectuality, referentiality, thematic roles, etc.). The study of idioms has been approached from lexicographic and computational, as well as from psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic perspectives.

The Syntax and Semantics of Nonfinite Forms

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-328
Author(s):  
John J. Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Finite Clause ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses ◽  
Verb Categories ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Finite Verb

The syntactic and semantic properties of nonfinite verb categories can best be understood in relation to and distinction from the corresponding properties of finite verb categories. In order to explore these issues, it is necessary to provide a crosslinguistically valid characterization of finiteness. Finiteness is a prototypical notion, understood in relation to a language-specific finite verb prototype; nonfiniteness is therefore understood in terms of degrees of deviation from this prototype. The syntactic properties of nonfinite verb categories, so defined, can be considered from two perspectives: the functions of nonfinite clauses within superordinate clauses (e.g., argument and adjunct functions) and the internal structure of nonfinite verb phrases. Typical of the second aspect is that nonfinite phrases tend to be defective in one or another respect, relative to finite phrases, which may be understood in terms of lacking functional projections or features which are an obligatory part of finite phrases. This defectiveness relative to the finite prototype plays out also in the semantics; typically, certain aspects of the meaning of nonfinite phrases are not independently specified, but must be derived from semantic properties of a superordinate finite clause.

scholarly journals Obligational Constructions in New Indo-Aryan Languages of Western India

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Liudmila V. Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Western India ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Long Distance Agreement ◽  
Semantic Properties

Abstract The paper describes historical roots as well as syntactic and semantic properties of the three main obligational constructions in modern Hindi-Urdu, Punjabi, Rajasthani 1 and Gujarati2 These constructions differ from one another by the degree and by the type of obligation. The main syntactic properties of obligational constructions discussed in the paper are Agent marking and long distance agreement rules. It will be demonstrated that the increasing frequency of the Dative instead of the Instrumental Agent marking in constructions of obligation was part of the gradual destruction of the ‘passive syntax’ typical for the climactic stage of ergative development.

The imperative and pragmatics

1977 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Downes
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Pragmatic Theory ◽  
Single Level ◽  
Pragmatic Interpretation ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Semantic Properties

This article is a tentative exploration of the following question. In an account of the imperative construction in English, what should be accounted for in the syntax or semantics and what in the pragmatics?1 In the literature, we find descriptions of an imperative construction with certain specific syntactic properties. For example, there is a subjectless form and also a form with a second person pronominal subject and corresponding to both there are second person pro- nominal forms in reflexive and tag counterparts. Abstract underlying structures, in this case a you subject, which subsequently may be deleted by IMPERATIVE or EQUI, are postulated to explain these properties (Postal, 1964; Katz & Postal, 1964: 75; McCawley, 1968). My question is: if we postulate a general pragmatic theory, that is, a theory of the use of utterances in context (separate from but related to theories about the syntactic or semantic properties of sentences), how many of the properties of the imperative can be explained in such terms instead of in the syntax or semantics? My conclusion is that the proposed abstract structures are syntactically and semantically unmotivated and unnecessary for pragmatic interpretation. Each property that the abstract elements explain is better explained either as a non-arbitrary property of main clause infinitives when they are used to utter commands (non-arbitrary in that the facts could not be otherwise), or inherent properties of main clause infinitives in all their uses. In the former case at least, they are facts about men in situations, not about syntax. Thus, syntax and semantics require only a single level of representation and there is no imperative transformation.

Two Types of Functional Transfer in Language Contact

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Functional Alteration ◽  
Grammatical Functions

The aim of this article is to examine one kind of cross linguistic influence, or transfer, in language contact situations. This is “functional transfer”, defined as applying the grammatical functions of a morpheme from one language to a morpheme in another language that does not normally have these functions. With regard to language contact, most reported instances of this kind of transfer concern the creation of a new grammatical morpheme in an expanded pidgin or creole, resulting from the use of a lexical morpheme of the lexifier (here the recipient language, RL) with semantic and syntactic properties of a grammatical morpheme of the substrate language(s) (here the source language(s), SL).Another kind of functional transfer, however, results in an already existing grammatical morpheme in the RL being used with semantic properties, but not syntactic properties, of a grammatical morpheme in the SL that speakers perceive as equivalent. Thus, the two types of functional transfer differ in that the first entails morphological augmentation while the second involves functional alteration of an existing morpheme.Other differences between the two types of transfer are that certain constraints appear to apply to the first type but not to the second. In addition, the first type of transfer, as opposed to the second, does not commonly occur in the process of second language acquisition. Explanations proposed for these distinctions concern different strategies used for morphological expansion in the development of a contact language. Different contact languages can be placed along a continuum based on the prevalence and type of functional transfer.

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