Focus on Russian Scope: An Experimental Investigation of the Relationship between Quantifier Scope, Prosody, and Information Structure

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Tatiana Luchkina
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Quantifier Scope ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scope Reading ◽  
The Relationship

An experimental investigation of quantifier scope in Russian SVO and OVS sentences, in which the factors of word order, prosody, information structure, and indefinite form are manipulated, shows that native Russian speakers have a preference for surface scope under neutral prosody, though this preference is more pronounced with odin ‘one’ indefinites than with dva ‘two’ indefinites. Furthermore, contrastive focus on the fronted object QP in OVS order is found to facilitate the inverse scope reading, but contrastive focus on the subject in SVO order is not. These findings have implications for the syntactic analysis of noncanonical word order in Russian ( Bailyn 2011 , Slioussar 2013 ) and support the link between contrastive focus and scope reconstruction in Russian ( Ionin 2003 , Neeleman and Titov 2009 ).

scholarly journals El foco, la estructura informativa y ser focalizador en el español cibaeño

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Gupton
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Dominican Spanish ◽  
Information Focus

In this manuscript, I examine information focus and contrastive focus in Cibaeño Dominican Spanish (CDS), in an attempt to test the predictions of Zubizarreta (1998) as well as claims of rigid word order (e.g. Cameron, 1993; Toribio, 2000). Analysis of the experimental results from 34 monolingual CDS speakers suggests that CDS does not behave according to Zubizarreta's proposal, nor does it have rigid word order. Additionally, the preference for in situ contrastive-corrective focus bears a potential for information-structure-related ambiguities. I suggest that the ser focalizador structure, which is exhaustive in CDS, is made available to resolve such cases of ambiguity. Novel ser focalizador data informs a revised syntactic analysis of the structure based on Toribio (1993).

scholarly journals Subject case alternation in negated existential, locative, and possessive clauses in Latvian

Kalbotyra ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 43-64
Author(s):  
Andra Kalnača ◽  
Ilze Lokmane
Keyword(s):  
Full Article ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Semantic Type ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Nominative Case ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Adverbial Modifiers ◽  
Strict Rule ◽  
Negative Form

[full article and abstract in English] The goal of this article is to analyse the alternation between the genitive and nominative cases in Latvian. As the alternation between genitive and nominative cases is possible in all clauses in which the verb būt ‘to be’ is used as an independent verb, this article examines existential, locative, and also possessive clauses, while also demonstrating that distinguishing these clause types is problematic for Latvian utilising the criteria given in the linguistic literature. Clauses containing the negative form of būt ‘to be’, i.e. nebūt, form the foundation of those selected for this study, as only in these sentences the genitive/nominative alternation can be seen for the subject in Latvian. There are only fragmentary descriptions of existential clauses as a unique semantic type, primarily in connection with the function of the verb būt ‘to be’ and the problems associated with distinguishing its independent and auxiliary meanings. Word order in existential, locative, and possessive clauses has, until now, been examined in connection with typical clause expanders – adverbial modifiers and the dative of possession as well as the information structure of the clause. At the same time, case choice for objects in negative existential clauses has traditionally been one of the most studied themes regarding language standardisation. In order to determine which factors affect the choice of either the genitive or nominative case, a corpus study was done analysing 979 examples: 882 with a genitive subject and 97 with a nominative subject. It was found that a connection exists between the definiteness of the subject, word order, and case choice; however, this manifests only as a tendency rather than as a strict rule.

scholarly journals Sõnajärg, infostruktuur ja objekti kääne eesti keeles

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ogren
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Relevant Parameter ◽  
Order Information ◽  
Boundedness Criterion ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
The Relationship

Objekti kääne eesti keeles oleneb eelkõige tegevuse ja objekti piiritle- (ma)tusest, kuid da-infinitiiviga konstruktsioonides leidub palju varieerumist objekti käändes, mida ei ole võimalik seletada piiritletuse mõiste abil. Suur osa sellest varieerumisest on seotud sõnajärjega: da-infinitiivile järgnev objekti on pigem totaalne, infinitiivile eelnev objekt on pigem partsiaalne. Artiklis vaadeldakse seoseid sõnajärje ja objekti käände vahel neljas sagedases da-infinitiiviga konstruktsioonis. Kuna eesti keele sõnajärg sõltub suuresti infostruktuurist, uuritakse, kas ja kuivõrd on sõnajärjega seotud varieerumine seletatav infostruktuuriliste parameetrite abil. Jõutakse järeldusele, et objekti käände varieerumist ei mõjuta mitte infostruktuur, vaid sõnajärg ise. Artikli lõpuosas arutletakse selle üle, miks võiks sõnajärg üldse mõjutada objekti käänet ning miks selle mõju piirdub infiniitsete konstruktsioonidega.Abstract. David Ogren: Word order, information structure and object case in Estonian. While object case in Estonian depends primarily on the boundedness of the action and the object nominal, numerous constructions with da-infinitive verb forms exhibit object case variation that cannot be explained by the boundedness criterion. A considerable amount of this variation is related to word order: VO word order in the da-infinitive phrase favors the use of the total object, OV word order favors the partial object. The article examines the relationship between word order and object case in four common da-infinitive constructions. As word order in Estonian is heavily dependent on information structure, the article also investigates whether the relationship between word order and object case can be explained by information-structural features, and finds that the relevant parameter is in fact not information structure, but rather word order itself. The article closes with a discussion of the possible explanations for the relationship between word order and object case and for why this relationship is found only in non-finite constructions.Keywords: object case, da-infinitive, information structure, word order, variation, analogy

scholarly journals The secret life of focus exponents, and what it tells us about fronted verbal projections

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kordula De Kuthy ◽  
W. Detmar Meurers
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Natural Explanation ◽  
Complex Word ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definiteness Effect ◽  
Focus Projection

The paper investigates a complex word order phenomenon in German and the interaction of syntax and information structure it exemplifies: the occurrence of subjects as part of a fronted non-finite constituent and particularly the so-called definiteness effect excluding (many) definite subjects from this position. We explore the connection between focus projection and the partial fronting cases and show that it is the subject of those verbs which allow their subject to be the focus exponent that can be included as part of a fronted verbal constituent. In combination with the observation by Webelhuth (1990) that fronted verbal constituents need to be focused, this provides a natural explanation of the definiteness effect in terms of the information structure requirements in these sentences. Interestingly, the generally ignored exceptions to the definiteness effect are predicted by our analysis; we show that they involve definite noun phrases which can bear focus, which allows them to be part of a fronted verbal constituent. Finally, building on the integrated grammatical architecture provided in De Kuthy (2002), we formulate an HPSG theory which captures the interaction of constraints from syntax, information structure and intonation.

scholarly journals Löytyä-verbin konstruktioiden yhteydessä esiintyvä subjektin sijanvaihtelu

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-39
Author(s):  
Rodolfo Basile ◽  
Ilmari Ivaska
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Random Variable ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Case Alternation ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Subject Number ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Semantic Variables ◽  
The Relationship

Abstrakti. Artikkeli tarkastelee löytyä-verbin konstruktioiden nominatiivi- ja partitiivisubjektin vaihtelua. Aineistona on korpuksista poimittu 779 havainnon satunnaisotos, jota tarkastellaan sekä kvantitatiivisesti tilastollisin menetelmin että kvalitatiivisesta näkökulmasta. Tutkimus pyrkii selvittämään, mitkä muuttujat vaikuttavat löytyä-verbin sisältävien lauseiden subjektien sijanvalintaan. Valikoidut muuttujat ovat subjektin luku, subjektin jaollisuus, subjektin sanaluokka, sanajärjestys, aikamuoto, subjektin ja verbin välinen kongruenssi sekä subjektin lemma, joka toimii satunnaismuuttujana. Regressioanalyysin keinoin subjektin sijanvalintaa ennustetaan mainittujen muuttujien ja niiden välisten vuorovaikutussuhteiden avulla. Laadullisessa analyysissa käsitellään myös näiden morfosyntaktisten ja semanttisten seikkojen vaikutusta lauseen eksistentiaalisuuden sekä subjektin kvantiteetin ja definiittisyyden tulkintaan. Abstract. Rodolfo Basile, Ilmari Ivaska: Subject case alternation in constructions containing the Finnish verb löytyä. This article examines the nominative-partitive subject alternation occurring with constructions containing the Finnish verb löytyä. The material used is taken from corpora and consists of a random sample of 779 observations, analyzed both quantitatively by means of statistical methods, and from a qualitative point of view. The research aims at investigating which variables influence the case alternation of subjects of constructions containing the verb löytyä. The chosen variables are subject number, subject divisibility, subject part of speech, word order, tense, agreement and subject lemma, the only random variable. With the help of regression analysis, the subject case is predicted on the basis of said variables and of interactions between them. The qualitative analysis will also discuss the relationship these morphosyntactic and semantic variables have with the existential interpretations of the clause as well as with the subject quantity and definiteness. Kokkuvõte. Rodolfo Basile, Ilmari Ivaska: Subjekti käändevaheldus löytyä-verbiga konstruktsioonides. Artiklis uuritakse nominatiivi- ja partitiivikujulise subjekti vaheldumist soome keele löytyä-verbi sisaldavates konstruktsioonides. 779 vaatlust sisaldavat korpustest pärinevat juhuvalimit analüüsitakse nii kvantitatiivsete kui ka kvalitatiivsete meetoditega. Uurimuse eesmärk on välja selgitada, millised tegurid löytyä-verbi sisaldavate konstruktsioonide subjekti käändevalikut mõjutavad. Käsitletavad tegurid on subjekti arv, loendatavus, sõnaliik, konstruktsiooni sõnajärg, ajavorm ning subjekti ja verbi ühildumine. Juhusliku muutujana kaasatakse ka subjekti lemma. Regressioonanalüüsi abil ennustatakse subjekti käändevalikut mainitud tegurite ja nendevaheliste koosmõjude kaudu. Kvalitatiivse analüüsi käigus arutletakse ka selle üle, milline on nimetatud morfosüntaktiliste ja semantiliste tegurite mõju lause eksistentsiaalsele tõlgendusele ning subjekti kvantiteedile ja definiitsusele.

Fronting, dislocation, and the syntactic role of discourse-related features

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Cruschina
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Syntactic Features

This paper focuses on the syntactic role of the features related to discourse and information structure. It is argued that information-structure notions are encoded in syntax as syntactic features projecting their own phrase structure, and are fundamental in accounting for cross-linguistic variation. The word order alternations and syntactic operations which are strictly dependent on the discourse/informational properties of the sentence, as well as the different grammatical properties characterizing different information-structure categories, can all be related to the syntactic role of discourse-related features, the functional projections with which they are associated, and the type of movement that these features trigger. Under this view, this paper offers an analysis of fronting and dislocation phenomena in Romance, which entails that variation with respect to these processes is correlated to the activation and to the attraction properties of the functional projections encoding information-structure distinctions. Keywords: discourse-related features; information structure; functional projections; topic; informational focus; contrastive focus; Romance; Sicilian

scholarly journals Chapter 4. Communicative syntactic analysis

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-166
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Reference Information ◽  
Text Types ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Direct Correspondence

The goal of communicative analysis is to transform the Subject-Predicate-Objects-Adverbials structure of individual sentences into a metalinguistic information structure. In the latter, two basic data types are identified, objects and attributes. Attributes are linked to a single object or establish connections between a number of objects (in which case they can be also called predicates). An attribute together with its object(s) forms a proposition. In the information structure, objects can be related to one another either directly or via attributes. Attributes are also interrelated by temporal, causal, and other links. There is no direct correspondence between the constituents of the Subject-Predicate-Objects-Adverbials structure and the information structure components, e.g. the subject of a sentence does not necessarily become an object in the information structure, etc. The analysis of successive sentences requires to keep track of objects and attributes, which brings in the problem of reference. Information on space and time should also be accounted for and represented in the overall structure. As no restrictions are imposed on the type of the analyzed texts, the chapter summarizes the distinctive features of various text types. However, they prove to be insufficient for the type identification. The situation is further complicated by their intricate combinations (narration can alternate with description, persuasion can enter into narration, etc.). This chapter is a pilot study of quite a number of issues central for natural language processing but as yet lacking attention and satisfactory solution.

scholarly journals The Interaction of Input and UG in the Acquisition of Verb Movement in a Dialect of Norwegian

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.61 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit R. Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Early Production ◽  
The Subject

In this paper it is argued that a principle of information structure provided by Universal Grammar (UG) may interact with input in the acquisition of word order. In a study which investigates three children from the age of approximately 1;9 to 3 acquiring a Northern dialect of Norwegian, it has previously been shown that word order patterns in certain types of wh-questions which are sensitive to subtle distinctions in the information value of the subject (given vs. new) are acquired extremely early (Westergaard 2003a). This paper presents a study of the same children’s topicalization constructions, and it is shown that, although these patterns of information structure do not appear in the input, the children nevertheless show traces of these patterns in the non-target forms that they occasionally produce. Thus, in their very early production of topicalization constructions the children seem to be guided by a word order principle based on information structure, which could be taken as support for this as a word order preferred by UG.

When subjects behave like objects

2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knud Lambrecht
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Theoretical Issue ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Semantic Roles ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Behavioral Features ◽  
Structure Category ◽  
Distinctive Property ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

This paper is concerned with the cross-linguistic expression of a universal information-structure category called the ‘thetic’ or ‘sentence-focus’ (SF) category. The SF category differs from the unmarked ‘predicate-focus’ (PF) or ‘categorical’ category by the absence of a topic-comment relation between the subject and the predicate and it differs from the marked ‘argument-focus’ (AF) category by the absence of a focus-presupposition relation between an argument and an open proposition. The theoretical issue explored here is the question of the relationship between the form and the function of SF constructions, i.e. the question of motivation in grammar. I argue that the form of SF constructions is motivated by the need to distinguish them minimally from corresponding PF constructions. The form and interpretation of a given SF sentence is thus determined not only by the syntagmatic relations among its constituents but also by the paradigmatic relation between the SF sentence as a whole and the corresponding PF sentence, i.e. in terms of a systemic opposition. Since the distinctive property of SF sentences is the absence of a topic-comment relation between the subject and the predicate, SF marking entails the marking of the subject as a non-topic. I show that across languages this non-topic marking of SF subjects tends to be done via those morphosyntactic, prosodic, or behavioral features which are normally associated with the focal objects of PF constructions. The analysis confirms the necessity to treat the pragmatic relations topic and focus on a par with the grammatical relations subject and object and the semantic roles agent and patient. In seeking to explain the form-function fit in SF constructions in terms of the structuralist notion of paradigmatic opposition the analysis challenges both functional and formal generative approaches to grammar.

Specificational sentences and the influence of information structure on (anti-)connectivity effects

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN LAHOUSSE
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Copular Sentences ◽  
Specificational Sentences

This paper argues that the difference between connectivity and anti-connectivity effects in specificational copular sentences is heavily influenced by semantics and information structure. It shows that anti-connectivity effects with respect to binding disappear when the influence of information structure is neutralized, whereas anti-connectivity effects with respect to scope result from the semantics of specificational sentences. These data lead to the conclusion that anti-connectivity effects cannot be used as evidence against a syntax-based approach to specificational sentences and binding, that the analysis of specificational sentences should include both a syntactic and a semantic device, and that the syntactic analysis of specificational sentences should rely crucially on their information structure. I present and adopt Heycock & Kroch's (2002) analysis for specificational sentences, in which connectivity effects result from the assembling of ground and focus. The fact that connectivity effects are also exhibited by verb–object–subject word order in French and Spanish, which is marked for the ground-focus partition, is presented as an important piece of independent evidence in favor of this analysis.

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