scholarly journals Systemic polyfunctionality and morphology–syntax interdependencies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farrell Ackerman ◽  
Olivier Bonami
Keyword(s):  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Morphological Organization ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
One To One ◽  
Inheritance Hierarchy ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
Function Relation

The chapter examines classes of grammatical markers that can serve more than one function, polyfunctional markers, spoiling the one-to-one form and function relation which is what morphology tends to do. There are areas of the grammar more prone to this behaviour suggesting that there may be at work principles of morphological organization that lie orthogonally to sign-based principles such as Transparency. The distributions attested in Tundra Nenets provide a fertile ground for exploration because they combine polyfunctionality with cumulative exponence, where a single paradigm indexes two sets of features. Recasting Blevins’ (2016) abstractive analysis as a default inheritance hierarchy the analysis is guided by insights from Paradigm Function Morphology and Sign Based Construction Grammar, and treats polyfunctionality as the realization of a unifying morphomic feature that abstracts away what is common between different morphosyntactic configurations.

Framing constructicography

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans C. Boas ◽  
Benjamin Lyngfelt ◽  
Tiago Timponi Torrent
Keyword(s):  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Frame Semantics ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
And Function ◽  
Computational Resources

Abstract Constructicography can be defined as a blend between Construction Grammar and Practical Lexicography, which aims at developing constructicons: repositories of form and function pairings in a language. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of this emerging field by (i) tracking the origins of both Frame Semantics and Construction Grammar and the repercussions of their intertwined developments to Computational Lexicography and Constructicography; (ii) comparing the impacts of the different degrees of interconnection between constructicons and framenets and (iii) discussing the possible applications of these resources. Also, we argue that Constructicography, while obviously building on the accumulated knowledge compiled by numerous Construction Grammar approaches to language, also contributes to its mother theory, since the effort to build coherent formalized computational resources forces constructionist analysis to go beyond describing families of constructions into the enterprise of describing a coherent construction grammar of a language.

The alignment of form and function

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunstan Brown ◽  
Carole Tiberius ◽  
Greville G. Corbett
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Frequency Information ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Frequent Form ◽  
Single Function ◽  
The One ◽  
Default Rules ◽  
And Function

This paper analyses constraints on inflectional syncretism and inflectional allomorphy using frequency information. Syncretism arises where one form is associated with more than one function, whereas inflectional allomorphy occurs where there is more than one inflectional class, and a single function is associated with two or more forms. If high frequency is associated with more differentiation on both sides, we expect, on the one hand, that a frequent function will have a high number of forms and, on the other, that a frequent form will have a high number of functions. Our study focuses on Russian nominals, in particular nouns, which exhibit both syncretism and inflectional allomorphy. We find that there is a relationship between frequency and differentiation, but that it is not exceptionless, and that the exceptions can be understood in terms of the use of referrals as default rules.

scholarly journals Search for the Relation of Form and Function Using the ForFun Database

2018 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Marie Mikulová ◽  
Eduard Bejček ◽  
Eva Hajičová ◽  
Jarmila Panevová
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Theoretical Linguistics ◽  
And Function ◽  
Annotated Corpora ◽  
Function Relation

Abstract The aim of the contribution is to introduce a database of linguistic forms and their functions built with the use of the multi-layer annotated corpora of Czech, the Prague Dependency Treebanks. The purpose of the Prague Database of Forms and Functions (ForFun) is to help the linguists to study the form-function relation, which we assume to be one of the principal tasks of both theoretical linguistics and natural language processing. We demonstrate possibilities of the exploitation of the ForFun database. This article is largely based on a paper presented at the 16th International Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories in Prague (Bejček et al., 2017).

ԿՈՒՐԱՐԱՔՍՅԱՆ ՄԻՋԱԳԵՏՔԻ ԲՐՈՆԶ-ԵՐԿԱԹԵԴԱՐՅԱՆ ՈՒՍԱԳՈՏԻՆԵՐԸ

2021 ◽  
pp. 226-246
Author(s):  
Benik Vardanyan
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The Social ◽  
Military Uniform ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
Armenian Highland ◽  
The Military

An object type characterized as a shoulder strap was found in archaeological sites of the Armenian Highland and the South Caucasus. They served as a strap from which weapons (blade or sword) were mounted. Their purpose was to ensure quick accessibility to the weapon during combats. In ancient societies, shoulder straps symbolized the privileged status of the military aristocracy. The emergence and depiction of the straps on the inventory coincide with a transformation in the social landscape on the one hand and with the early state formation processes on the other hand. Social changes led to the formation of a militarized class of the privileged who, as part of their military uniform, possessed also the shoulder strap. This is evidenced by the multiple images of warrior-predecessors in the form of statuettes-standards and sculptures of the Bronze and Iron Age, as well as on bronze and clay vessels, which show the development of the form and function of the lash.

Frames for clause combining

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bracha Nir
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Expository Text ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Personal Opinion ◽  
Discourse Patterns ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
Clause Combining ◽  
Qualitative Analyses

The present study joins recent endeavors within Construction Grammar to recognize constructions that are beyond clauses and sentences and function as schematic frames for the organization of discourse. Specifically, it deals with two particular instances of what is termed a discourse pattern, the conventionalized combination of genre and text-type: a personal experience narrative and an expository discussion of a personal opinion on an abstract topic. The paper discusses findings from various studies that characterize usage of lexical and clause-level constructions in the course of producing texts based on the two discourse patterns, and contrasts these findings with quantitative and qualitative analyses of clause combining in the same texts. The study relies on a corpus of 40 texts collected from Hebrew speaker-writers, who each produced a narrative and an expository text following a semi-structured elicitation controlling for the components of field, tenor, and mode. The distributional and functional findings of the study suggest that discourse patterns, like other constructions, occupy a cline of idiomacity/schematicity. In its conclusion, the study considers the tangential and intersecting points between Construction Grammar, on the one hand, and discourse analysis, on the other.

scholarly journals Marriage quandaries in Central Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-146
Author(s):  
Juliette Cleuziou ◽  
Julie McBrien
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
Relational Practice ◽  
Single Term ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function

Abstract Many Central Asians speak of marriage as important and self-evident despite the fact that marriage in practice across the region presents a more complicated story. There is not only an extensive array of practices indicated by the single term marriage and a wide variety of things accomplishes by its conclusion and duration, but many non-marital sets of relations in Central Asia similarly realise what marriage does. This may lead one to question whether there is any sense in trying to pin marriage down at all. Yet, this tension — the flexibility of marriage in form and function, and its overlap with nonmarriage on the one hand, and its abiding importance and, at times, self-evidentiary nature, on the other — we suggest, lies at the heart of marriage-as-practice in Central Asia. Following recent turns in kinship studies, and long-standing feminist traditions, this paper envisages marriage as a relational practice of legitimization rather than pinning it down as a particular content. We argue that by focusing on the act of getting married in particular, its particular efficacy, as well as the disputes, questions, and conflicts that sometime arise as a result – in short, the quandaries of getting married – we get not only at this tensional nature of marriage, but at the everyday concerns and major societal issues wrapped up in marriage in Central Asia.

scholarly journals The Hebrew dative: Usage patterns as discourse profile constructions

Linguistics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1073-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elitzur Dattner
Keyword(s):  
Reference Point ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Usage Pattern ◽  
Statistical Tools ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The World ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
And Function

Abstract The dative in Hebrew poses a problem for a unified characterization as no single criterion seems to guides its interpretation. The present paper approaches this problem from a usage-based perspective, suggesting a multifactorial account of dative functions in Hebrew. Analyzing a corpus of Hebrew dative clauses with multivariate statistical tools I reveal the usage patterns associated with each dative function, showing that traditional descriptions of dative functions are not reflected in usage. Working within a Usage-Based perspective, in which the meaning of a word is its use in language, I argue that Hebrew has only four distinct dative usage patterns, termed Discourse Profile Constructions: conventional correspondences between a multifactorial usage pattern and a unified conceptualization of the world. The four Discourse Profile Constructions are: (i) the Extended Transitive Discourse Profile Construction, (ii) the Human Endpoint Discourse Profile Construction, (iii) the Extended Intransitive Discourse Profile Construction, and (iv), the Evaluative Reference point Discourse Profile Construction. By revealing such correspondences between usage patterns and conceptualizations, the present paper (i) broadens the Construction Grammar notion of Argument Structure Construction, and (ii), suggests an innovative account for the notion of usage as a factor in the conventional pairing between form and function.

The Riverrun of Rewriting Scripture: From Textual Cannibalism to Scriptural Completion

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 475-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Klostergaard Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract To retain the concept of rewritten Bible as a scholarly category it is not only crucial to slightly change the name of the notion by re-designating it “rewritten Scripture” but also to accord the term the status of a cross-cultural third-order concept. This will allow research to detach the notion from its somewhat current “parochial” nature intrinsically linked as it is to the study of Second Temple Jewish literature. Rewritten Scripture should be conceived of as an excessive form of intertextuality that signifies the relationship existing between scriptural predecessor and rewritten piece with respect to the question of authority. Apart from advancing the theoretical discussion of the nomenclature, the essay takes a fresh look at a moot point that has loomed large in previous debates, whether rewritten Scripture strives to replace its scriptural predecessor or aims to complement it in an irenic fashion. The acknowledgement of some aspectualism grants legitimacy to both viewpoints, when they are rightfully understood within their proper perspectives. Finally, the article engages in typological considerations that will allow us to distinguish between three continua defined by respectively content, form, and function. Each constitutes a continuum on its own that advantageously may be segmented by several caesuras, which will allow us to differentiate between irenic scriptural completion at the one end of the spectrum and scriptural cannibalism at the other end of the spectrum. The fact that two works belonging to the category diverge on one continuum does not imply a corresponding divergence at other continua.

A note on Chomsky on form and function

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick J. Newmeyer
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Direct Influence ◽  
Systematic Relationship ◽  
Linguistic Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
Meaning And Function

It has become commonplace in the anti-generative literature to portray Chomsky as denying that any systematic relationship exists between linguistic form on the one hand and meaning and function on the other and, in particular, that the latter might exert any direct influence on the former. The purpose of this note is to challenge such portrayals by making reference to some of Chomsky's relevant published statements over the past three and one half decades.

Teaching Technical Writing: Rethinking our Approach

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick D. Casper
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
College Level ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Actual Experience ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function

Several recent journal articles, especially the one by Charles Sides [1], have questioned the form and function of technical communication. Based on actual experience with three organizations in Oregon, this writer proposes a need to rethink what we teach our technical writing students and how we go about designing assignments that“… simulate the reality of a work environment” [2]. This article will explore the types of technical writing skills which are increasingly in demand and then will offer several strategies for teaching these skills at the college level.

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