scholarly journals Iconicity in argument structure

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marloes Oomen
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
First Person ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
Psych Verb

Abstract A long tradition of psych-verb research in spoken languages has demonstrated that they constitute a class of their own, both semantically and syntactically. This study presents a description and analysis of psych-verbs in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) in order to investigate whether this verb type displays comparable peculiarities in sign languages. The study is primarily based on data from the Corpus NGT (Crasborn et al. 2008). Firstly, the data indicate that all psych-verbs in NGT select a subject Experiencer. Secondly, it is shown that there is an iconic property of psych-verbs in NGT that lays bare a conceptual link between psychological states and locative relations: body-anchoring. The location singled out by the place of articulation of a psych-verb is associated with the metaphoric location of an emotion, or a type of behavior associated with the expression of an emotion. It is furthermore argued that the body as a whole iconically represents the container of a psychological state. The body is analyzed as a possessive determiner that may receive a first person specification as a consequence of body-anchoring. The data support such an analysis, as they suggest that sentences without an overt Experiencer yield a default first person interpretation. Thus, it is claimed that iconicity affects sentence structure and as such should be incorporated into the formal grammar system. Given that body-anchoring is the source of the effects mentioned above, it may be hypothesized that psych-verbs in NGT do not constitute a class of its own, but rather belong to a larger class of iconically motivated body-anchored verbs that share the properties mentioned above.

Seeming to Seem

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Intentional Stance ◽  
First Person ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Higher Order Theory ◽  
The Third Person

Dennett’s account of consciousness starts from third-person considerations. I argue this is wise, since beginning with first-person access precludes accommodating the third-person access we have to others’ mental states. But Dennett’s first-person operationalism, which seeks to save the first person in third-person, operationalist terms, denies the occurrence of folk-psychological states that one doesn’t believe oneself to be in, and so the occurrence of folk-psychological states that aren’t conscious. This conflicts with Dennett’s intentional-stance approach to the mental, on which we discern others’ mental states independently of those states’ being conscious. We can avoid this conflict with a higher-order theory of consciousness, which saves the spirit of Dennett’s approach, but enables us to distinguish conscious folk-psychological states from nonconscious ones. The intentional stance by itself can’t do this, since it can’t discern a higher-order awareness of a psychological state. But we can supplement the intentional stance with the higher-order theoretical apparatus.

Argument structure and the role of the body and space in Kenyan Sign Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 38-72
Author(s):  
Hope E. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Verb Agreement

Abstract This paper investigates how systematically a young macro-community sign language, Kenyan Sign Language, uses two different means to communicate about events: (i) word order, and (ii) verb agreement using spatial co-reference. The study finds that KSL signers rely primarily on word order and using the body as a referent, rather than verb agreement, when representing transitive events. Yet, by looking separately at how KSL signers use the sub-components of verb agreement, a pattern emerges that indicates a possible path toward ‘canonical verb agreement’. These sub-components are evaluated using Meir’s stages/types of grammaticalization of verb agreement (Meir 2011, 2016), and compared with other young and emerging sign languages.

scholarly journals Competing iconicities in the structure of languages

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irit Meir ◽  
Carol Padden ◽  
Mark Aronoff ◽  
Wendy Sandler
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
The Body ◽  
First Person ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Physical Body ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe paper examines the role that iconicity plays in the structuring of grammars. Two main points are argued for: (a) Grammar does not necessarily suppress iconicity; rather, iconicity and grammar can enjoy a congenial relation in that iconicity can play an active role in the structuring of grammars. (b) Iconicity is not monolithic. There are different types of iconicity and languages take advantage of the possibilities afforded by them. We examine the interaction between iconicity and grammar by focusing on the ways in which sign languages employ the physical body of the signer as a rich iconic resource for encoding a variety of grammatical notions. We show that the body can play three different roles in iconic forms in sign languages: it can be used as a naming device where body parts represent body parts; it can represent the subject argument of verbal signs, and it can stand for first person. These strategies interact and sometimes compete in the languages under study. Each language resolves these competitions differently, which results in different grammars and grammatical structures. The investigation of the ways in which grammar and iconicity interact in these languages provides insight into the nature of both systems.

scholarly journals Not all object experiencers are the same: The role of se and the argument structure of Serbian psych verbs anticausatives

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
Peđa Kovačević
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Standard Approach ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Number Of Authors ◽  
Psych Verb

The goal of this paper is to account for the observation that some Serbian object experiencer anticausatives take instrumental NPs as expressions of the causer participant whereas others take od(‘from’)- PPs. Following a number of authors (Alexiadou et al. 2013, Doron 2014, Anagnostopoulou & Samioti 2014, a. o.), I assume that differences in the licensing of expressions introducing event participants point in the direction of structural differences in terms of presence/absence of certain layers of verbal structure. The observed difference is accounted for by assuming that instrumental NPs are syntactically licensed by VoiceP while od(‘from’)-PPs are rejected by VoiceP owing to a semantic clash. Consequently, full VoiceP structure is present with psych verb anticausatives that license instrumental NPs and absent with psych verb anticauatives that license od(‘from’)-PPs. The analysis presented in the paper has implications for the syntactic and semantic status of SE as well. It is suggested that Chierchia’s (2004) reflexive approach to anticausatives can be extended to psych verb anticausatives which license instrumental NPs whereas the standard approach (Schäfer & Vivanco 2016) should be retained for typical anticausatives with inanimate internal arguments and object experiencers that license od (‘from’)-PPs. Such a “middle-ground” solution follows from the syntactic structures I propose for these two different sets of psych verb anticausatives.

Niuean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Noun Incorporation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Theta Role ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure

This book presents a detailed descriptive and theoretical examination of predicate-argument structure in Niuean, a Polynesian language within the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, spoken mainly on the Pacific island of Niue and in New Zealand. Niuean has VSO word order and an ergative case-marking system, both of which raise questions for a subject-predicate view of sentence structure. Working within a broadly Minimalist framework, this volume develops an analysis in which syntactic arguments are not merged locally to their thematic sources, but instead are merged high, above an inverted extended predicate which serves syntactically as the Niuean verb, later undergoing movement into the left periphery of the clause. The thematically lowest argument merges as an absolutive inner subject, with higher arguments merging as applicatives. The proposal relates Niuean word order and ergativity to its isolating morphology, by equating the absence of inflection with the absence of IP in Niuean, which impacts many aspects of its grammar. As well as developing a novel analysis of clause and argument structure, word order, ergative case, and theta role assignment, the volume argues for an expanded understanding of subjecthood. Throughout the volume, many other topics are also treated, such as noun incorporation, word formation, the parallel internal structure of predicates and arguments, null arguments, displacement typology, the role of determiners, and the structure of the left periphery.

scholarly journals Datives with psych nouns and adjectives in Basque

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 647-696
Author(s):  
Beatriz Fernández ◽  
Fernando Zúñiga ◽  
Ane Berro
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Formal Expression ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Psychological Verbs

Abstract This paper explores the formal expression of two Basque dative argument types in combination with psych nouns and adjectives, in intransitive and transitive clauses: (i) those that express the experiencer, and (ii) those that express the stimulus of the psychological state denoted by the psych noun and adjective. In the intransitive structure involving a dative experiencer (DatExpIS), the stimulus is in the absolutive case, and the intransitive copula izan ‘be’ shows both dative and absolutive agreement. This construction basically corresponds to those built upon the piacere type of psychological verbs typified in (Belletti, Adriana & Luigi Rizzi. 1988. Psych-verbs and θ-theory. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6. 291–352) three-way classification of Italian psych verbs. In the intransitive structure involving a dative stimulus (DatStimIS), the experiencer is marked by absolutive case, and the same intransitive copula shows both absolutive and dative agreement (with the latter corresponding to the dative stimulus and not to the experiencer). We show that the behavior of the dative argument in the two constructions is just the opposite of each other regarding a number of morphosyntactic tests, including agreement, constituency, hierarchy and selection. Additionally, we explore two parallel transitive constructions that involve either a dative experiencer and an ergative stimulus (DatExpTS) or a dative stimulus and an ergative experiencer (DatStimTS), which employ the transitive copula *edun ‘have’. Considering these configurations, we propose an extended and more fine-grained typology of psych predicates.

Locomotory Diseases Influence on Body Equilibrium and Balance

2014 ◽  
Vol 555 ◽  
pp. 652-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbu Cristian Braun ◽  
Ileana Constanta Rosca
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Force Plate ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Method ◽  
First Person ◽  
Mass Center ◽  
Stability Problems ◽  
Research Stage

The paper describes a new method of body equilibrium evaluation applied for different human subjects, the principal aim being to demonstrate to what extent any locomotory diseases could influence the body stability and equilibrium. The research refers to identify some persons with different locomotory diseases and to find both the influence on equilibrium and stability and if possible to improve them. Our research stage, synthesized in this paper, explains the body equilibrium evaluation in orthostatic posture done for different subjects, aged between 20 and 40 years. A number of 10 relevant persons were considered to be evaluated, 2 of them having some locomotory diseases. The first person presents any neuro-motor stability problems in case of long standing case. The other person has both Achilles tendons torn and operated. All subjects were tested in orthostatic posture, in 3 distinct positions, using a Kistler force plate. The experiments referred to the body mass center (COM) displacement in sagittal and lateral planes, representing an interesting characteristic for its equilibrium. It was shown that the person with diseases affecting stability presented a loss of equilibrium when standing for 10-20 seconds, i.e. higher COM displacements in both planes reported to the other tested subjects.

scholarly journals Rapid assessment and simulation study of the physiological and psychological state of coal miners

2021 ◽  
Vol 245 ◽  
pp. 01060
Author(s):  
Jin Gang ◽  
Zhang JinSuo ◽  
Huang YiXin
Keyword(s):  
Physiological State ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Index System ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Psychological Status ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Rapid Evaluation ◽  
Coal Miners ◽  
Psychological States

In order to achieve a rapid evaluation of the physiological and psychological state of miners and to solve the problem of how to prevent human-caused accidents underground. Based on the existing literature and expert interviews, a rapid evaluation index system consisting of 2 aspects of physiological state and psychological state, 11 indicators such as body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate is established, and the index weights are determined by using AHP hierarchical analysis. Based on the weights, the physiological and psychological status of coal miners is classified into four levels: excellent, good, medium, and poor. Evaluation criteria also is established. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model of coal miners’ physiological and psychological states is constructed, and the subordination suitable for the evaluation of coal miners’ physiological and psychological states is given. Degree function. Using MATLAB2016a to randomly simulate 1000 sets of index data and perform evaluation and analysis, the results found that the proportions of evaluation as excellent and good are 36% and 35%, respectively; the proportions of neutral and poor are 16% and 13%, respectively. The evaluation of the physiological and psychological states of five coal miners in a coal mine in Shaanxi Province, with all results above “good”, is verified to be consistent with reality. Through simulation analysis and example verification, it is shown that the model is reasonable and applicable to the group of coal miners, and is expected to provide theoretical support for the development of subsequent rapid assessment software systems.

scholarly journals Thinking about the body as subject

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Morgan
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
First Person

AbstractThe notion of immunity to error through misidentification (IEM) has played a central role in discussions of first-person thought. It seems like a way of making precise the idea of thinking about oneself ‘as subject’. Asking whether bodily first-person judgments (e.g. ‘My legs are crossed’) can be IEM is a way of asking whether one can think about oneself simultaneously as a subject and as a bodily thing. The majority view is that one cannot. I rebut that view, arguing that on all the notions of IEM that have so far been successfully defined, bodily first-person judgments can be IEM.

scholarly journals Unpacking Non-Dualistic Design: The Soma Design Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Kristina Höök ◽  
Steve Benford ◽  
Paul Tennent ◽  
Vasiliki Tsaknaki ◽  
Miquel Alfaras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Creative Process ◽  
The Body ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
First Person ◽  
Embodied Interaction ◽  
Analytical Work ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Design Workshop ◽  
Design Case ◽  
Design Stance

We report on a somaesthetic design workshop and the subsequent analytical work aiming to demystify what is entailed in a non-dualistic design stance on embodied interaction and why a first-person engagement is crucial to its unfoldings. However, as we will uncover through a detailed account of our process, these first-person engagements are deeply entangled with second- and third-person perspectives, sometimes even overlapping. The analysis furthermore reveals some strategies for bridging the body-mind divide by attending to our inner universe and dissolving or traversing dichotomies between inside and outside ; individual and social ; body and technology . By detailing the creative process, we show how soma design becomes a process of designing with and through kinesthetic experience, in turn letting us confront several dualisms that run like fault lines through HCI’s engagement with embodied interaction.

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