Variationist typology: Shared probabilistic constraints across (non-)null subject languages

Linguistics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena Torres Cacoullos ◽  
Catherine E. Travis
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Relationship ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Probabilistic Constraints ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Variation Patterns ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Key Parameter

Abstract A key parameter in received classifications of language types is the expression of pronominal subjects. Here we compare variation patterns in conversational data of English – considered a non-null-subject language – and Spanish – a well-studied null-subject language. English has a patently lower rate of expression (approximately 3% unexpressed 1sg and 3sg human subjects vs. 60% in Spanish). Despite the stark difference in rate of expression, the same probabilistic constraints are at work in the two languages. Contrary to popular belief, VP coordination is neither a discrete nor a distinguishing category of English. Instead, a shared constraint is linking with the preceding subject, a refinement of accessibility to include, alongside coreferentiality, measures of structural connectedness – both prosodic and syntactic. Other shared constraints on unexpressed subjects are coreferential subject priming (a tendency to repeat the form of the previous mention) and lexical aspect (reflecting the contribution of a temporal relationship to subject expression). Where the languages most differ is in the envelope of variation. In English, besides coreferential-subject verbs conjoined with a coordinating conjunction, unexpressed subjects are limited to prosodic initial-position in declarative main clauses, a restriction that is absent in Spanish. We propose that the locus of cross-language comparisons is the variable structure of each language, defined by the set of probabilistic constraints but also the delimitation of the variable context within which these are operative.

scholarly journals Categories and Frequency: Cognition Verbs in Spanish Subject Expression

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Travis ◽  
Rena Torres Cacoullos
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Variation Patterns ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression ◽  
Linguistic Categories ◽  
Analysis Of Variation ◽  
New Evidence

Are semantic classes of verbs genuine or do they merely mask idiosyncrasies of frequent verbs? Here, we examine the interplay between semantic classes and frequent verb-form combinations, providing new evidence from variation patterns in spontaneous speech that linguistic categories are centered on high frequency members to which other members are similar. We offer an account of the well-known favoring effect of cognition verbs on Spanish subject pronoun expression by considering the role of high-frequency verbs (e.g., creer ‘think’ and saber ‘know’) and particular expressions ((yo) creo ‘I think’, (yo) no sé ‘I don’t know’). Analysis of variation in nearly 3000 tokens of unexpressed and pronominal subjects in conversational data replicates well-established predictors, but highlights that the cognition verb effect is really one of 1sg cognition verbs. In addition, particular expressions stand out for their high frequency relative to their component parts (for (yo) creo, proportion of lexical type, and proportion of pronoun). Further analysis of 1sg verbs with frequent expressions as fixed effects reveals shared patterns with other cognition verbs, including an association with non-coreferential contexts. Thus, classes can be identified by variation constraints and contextual distributions that are shared among class members and are measurably different from those of the more general variable structure. Cognition verbs in variable Spanish subject expression form a class anchored in lexically particular constructions.

Predictive human pursuit and "orbital goal" of microstimulated smooth eye movements

1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 1358-1361 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. van Gelder ◽  
S. Lebedev ◽  
W. H. Tsui
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Common Point ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Moving Target ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Target Trajectory ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
Normal Human

1. Anticipatory saccades in smooth pursuit move the point of gaze from near the moving target to well ahead of it, interrupting accurate smooth pursuit. Their effects on the pursuit process were studied in 22 normal human subjects. We presented horizontal periodic target trajectories of 30 degrees amplitude and 30 degrees/s constant velocity or 0.4 Hz sinusoidal velocity in 40-s trials. Saccades and surrounding smooth eye movement (SEM) segments were marked and classified by computer. 2. Anticipatory saccades were often followed by slowed SEM that tended to intercept the target at the endpoint of its trajectory. This was seen in the distribution of projections of the initial 60 ms of postsaccadic SEM to the time of the trajectory endpoint. Magnitude of this SEM tended to follow a function of the time and location of the endpoint of the anticipatory saccade, decreasing as the anticipatory saccades landed closer to the trajectory endpoint. 3. The time and location of the target trajectory endpoint seemed to be the goal for this SEM. We believe this to demonstrate the predictive use of the period and amplitude of the trajectory in smooth pursuit, apart from the instantaneous velocity match of the target. 4. Gottlieb and coworkers in the frontal eye field and Ron and Robinson in the cerebellum produced SEMs in the monkey by microstimulation. At some sites in both structures, direction and velocity of the SEMs depended on the initial position of the eye in that the elicited SEMs appeared to be converging toward a common point, or "orbital goal", and the SEM velocity diminished as the gaze neared that goal.2+ Both our SEM after anticipatory saccades and microstimulated SEM in the monkey slowed as the initial position was brought closer to the inferred orbital goal. This similarity suggests that the goal-directed SEM sites in the monkey might be part of a mechanism for predictive pursuit.

The articulation of /ɹ/ in New Zealand English

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Heyne ◽  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Donald Derrick ◽  
Kieran Dorreen ◽  
Kevin Watson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
American English ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Allophonic Variation ◽  
Variation Patterns ◽  
Curvature Index ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
Speech Motor

This paper investigates the articulation of approximant /ɹ/ in New Zealand English (NZE), and tests whether the patterns documented for rhotic varieties of English hold in a non-rhotic dialect. Midsagittal ultrasound data for 62 speakers producing 13 tokens of /ɹ/ in various phonetic environments were categorized according to the taxonomy by Delattre & Freeman (1968), and semi-automatically traced and quantified using the AAA software (Articulate Instruments Ltd. 2012) and a Modified Curvature Index (MCI; Dawson, Tiede & Whalen 2016). Twenty-five NZE speakers produced tip-down /ɹ/ exclusively, 12 tip-up /ɹ/ exclusively, and 25 produced both, partially depending on context. Those speakers who produced both variants used the most tip-down /ɹ/ in front vowel contexts, the most tip-up /ɹ/ in back vowel contexts, and varying rates in low central vowel contexts. The NZE speakers produced tip-up /ɹ/ most often in word-initial position, followed by intervocalic, then coronal, and least often in velar contexts. The results indicate that the allophonic variation patterns of /ɹ/ in NZE are similar to those of American English (Mielke, Baker & Archangeli 2010, 2016). We show that MCI values can be used to facilitate /ɹ/ gesture classification; linear mixed-effects models fit on the MCI values of manually categorized tongue contours show significant differences between all but two of Delattre & Freeman's (1968) tongue types. Overall, the results support theories of modular speech motor control with articulation strategies evolving from local rather than global optimization processes, and a mechanical model of rhotic variation (see Stavness et al. 2012).

Organizing principles for single joint movements. III. Speed-insensitive strategy as a default

1990 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 625-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Gottlieb ◽  
D. M. Corcos ◽  
G. C. Agarwal ◽  
M. L. Latash
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Initial Slope ◽  
Range Of Movement ◽  
Stationary Target ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Inertial Torque ◽  
Maximal Speed ◽  
Speed Accuracy

1. Human subjects made discrete elbow flexions in a horizontal plane over different distances, from a stationary initial position to a visually defined stationary target 9 degrees wide. We measured joint angle, acceleration, and electromyograms (EMGs) from two agonist and two antagonist muscles. 2. Subjects made movements over four different distances following one of four different instructions. The first instructed the subject simply to choose a comfortable speed. The other three explicitly emphasized either speed, accuracy, or maintenance of the "same" speed over different distances. These instructions produced a wide range of movement velocities. 3. The initial rises of the acceleration (and therefore of the inertial torque), as well as the initial slope of the agonist EMG, were all invariant over changes in the target distance for any single instruction but were all sensitive to the given instruction. 4. Our results demonstrate that the speed-insensitive strategy is a standard or default pattern for performing movements that may be carried out for different instructions over a wide range of speeds. A uniform intensity of excitation pulse is not a byproduct of moving at maximal speed. Submaximal intensities are associated with submaximal speeds and are a selected feature of the pattern of movement control.

scholarly journals Role of structural priming in contact-induced change: Subject pronoun expression in L1 Turkish by Turkish-Dutch bilinguals

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hande Sodacı ◽  
Ad Backus ◽  
Gerrit Jan Kootstra
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Pronoun Use ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Null Pronoun ◽  
Cross Language

Subject pronoun expression has been extensively studied for effects of language contact, but it is fairly recent that these studies started including cross-language structural priming paradigms. The earlier studies on subject pronoun use in Turkish spoken by Turkish-Dutch bilinguals did not find any difference from monolingual speakers of Turkish but reported a few instances of unconventional use of subject pronouns, indicating the influence of Dutch on Turkish. This study aimed to determine whether structural priming may have a part in the unconventional variation observed in subject pronoun use in Turkish in contact with Dutch. Twenty-eight Turkish-Dutch bilinguals listened to short stories and responded to subsequently presented instructive sentences. These sentences were prime sentences, which contained either an overt or a null subject pronoun. Priming effects were investigated in monolingual and bilingual settings by presenting the stories in Turkish in the former and in Dutch in the latter. Results yielded a higher likelihood of using overt subject pronouns in the bilingual than in the monolingual setting following a prime sentence with an overt rather than a null pronoun. Our findings, which are based on a structure and a language that have not yet been studied much in relation to structural priming (i.e., subject pronoun use in Turkish), strengthen the empirical basis of how structural priming influences syntactic choices in language contact settings.

Organizing principles for single-joint movements. II. A speed-sensitive strategy

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Corcos ◽  
G. L. Gottlieb ◽  
G. C. Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Movement Time ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Joint Torque ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Movement Kinematics ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Organizing Principles

1. Normal human subjects made discrete flexions of the elbow over a fixed distance in the horizontal plane from a stationary initial position to a visually defined target. We measured joint angle, acceleration, and electromyograms (EMGs) from two agonist and two antagonist muscles. 2. Changes in movement speed were elicited either by explicit instruction to the subject or by adjusting the target width. Instructions always required accurately stopping in the target zone. 3. Peak inertial torques and accelerations, movement times, and integrated EMGs were all highly correlated with speed. We show that inertial torque can be used as a linking variable that is almost sufficient to explain all correlations between the task, the EMG, and movement kinematics. 4. When subjects perform tasks that require control of movement speed, they adjust the rate at which torque is developed by the muscles. This rate is modulated by the way in which the muscles are activated. The rate at which joint torque develops is correlated with the rate at which the agonist EMG rises as well as with integrated EMG. 5. The antagonist EMG shows two components. The latency of the first is 30-50 ms and independent of movement dynamics. The latency of the second component is proportional to movement time. The rate of rise and area of both components scale with torque. 6. We propose organizing principles for the control of single-joint movements in which tasks are performed by one of two strategies. These are called speed-insensitive and speed-sensitive strategies. 7. A model is proposed in which movements made under a speed-sensitive strategy are executed by controlling the intensity of an excitation pulse delivered to the motoneuron pool. The effect is to regulate the rate at which joint torque, and consequently acceleration, increases. 8. Movements of variable distance, speed, accuracy, and load are shown to be controlled by one of two consistent sets of rules for muscle activation. These rules apply to the control of both the agonist and antagonist muscles. Rules of activation lead to distinguishable patterns of EMG and torque development. All observable changes in movement kinematics are explained as deterministic consequences of these effects.

Different registers, different grammars? Subject expression in English conversation and narrative

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Travis ◽  
Amy M. Lindstrom
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Subject Expression ◽  
Human Specific

AbstractAs a so-called non-null subject language, it has been proposed that in English, unexpressed subjects occur only in registers that have specific grammatical properties. We test this hypothesis through a comparison of the conditioning of subject expression for third-person singular human specific subjects in English conversation and narrative. Despite a stark difference in the rates of nonexpression (4% in conversation vs. 22% in narratives), there is no evidence of different grammars across the registers—in both, outside of coreferential clauses conjoined with a coordinating conjunction, unexpressed subjects only occur in prosodic initial position in main clause declaratives. Within the variable context, in both registers, expression is sensitive to accessibility, priming, and temporal sequentiality. A register effect is, however, evident in the contextual distribution, with a larger proportion of the narrative tokens occurring in contexts propitious to unexpressed subjects, and it is this that accounts for the higher rate of nonexpression in this register.

Organizing principles for single-joint movements. I. A speed-insensitive strategy

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Gottlieb ◽  
D. M. Corcos ◽  
G. C. Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Movement Time ◽  
Muscle Length ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Inertial Load ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Human Movements ◽  
Inertial Torque ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Organizing Principles

1. Normal human subjects made discrete elbow flexions and extensions in the horizontal plane from a stationary initial position to visually defined targets at different distances with a constant inertial load or made flexions to a visually defined target with different inertial loads. We measured joint angle, acceleration, and electromyograms (EMGs) from two agonist and two antagonist muscles. 2. Subjects were instructed to move their limbs accurately but quickly to the targets. Movements of greater distances or lesser loads were performed at higher velocities. 3. Peak inertial torque, acceleration and velocity, movement time, and integrated, rectified EMG were all highly correlated with the task variables, distance and inertial load. We show that peak inertial torque can be used as a linking variable that is almost sufficient to explain all correlations between the tasks, the EMG, and movement kinematics. 4. The rate at which subjects initially developed torque to accelerate their movements was invariant over changes in the value of either task variable. The rising phase of the agonist EMG was also independent of the distance or load moved. 5. Two components were distinguished in the antagonist EMG. The first had a relatively constant latency and amplitude. It terminated on the onset of the second and larger component at a latency that was delayed as both distance and load increased. 6. The integrated, rectified antagonist EMG was proportional to inertial load and peak decelerating torque for changes in inertial load. When target distance varied, proportionality between peak decelerating torque and antagonist EMG could be found if correction was made for the effects of muscle length on the torque-EMG relationship. 7. We propose organizing principles for the control of single-joint human movements in which tasks are performed by one of two strategies. These are called speed-insensitive and speed-sensitive strategies. 8. A model is described in which movements made under a speed-insensitive strategy are executed by controlling the duration and the relative timing of amplitude invariant patterns of activation to the spinal motoneuron pools.

Learning a visuomotor transformation in a local area of work space produces directional biases in other areas

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 2535-2539 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Ghilardi ◽  
J. Gordon ◽  
C. Ghez
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Hand Position ◽  
Range Effect ◽  
Work Space ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
The Right ◽  
Screen Location

1. The dependence of directional biases in reaching movements on the initial position of the hand was studied in normal human subjects moving their unseen hand on a horizontal digitizing tablet to visual targets displayed on a vertical computer screen. 2. When initial hand positions were to the right of midline, movements were systematically biased clockwise. Biases were counterclockwise for starting points to the left. Biases were unaffected by the screen location of the starting and target positions. 3. Vision of the hand in relation to the target before movement, as well as practice with vision of the cursor during the movement, temporarily eliminated these biases. The spatial organization of the biases suggests that, without vision of the limb, the nervous system underestimates the distance of the hand from an axis or plane that includes its most common operating location. 4. To test the hypothesis that such an underestimate might represent an adaptation to a local area of work space or range effect, subjects were trained to reach accurately from right or left positions. After training, movements initiated from other locations, including ones that were previously error free, showed new biases that again represented underestimates of the distance of the initial hand position from the new trained location. 5. We conclude that hand path planning is dependent on learned representations of the location of the hand in the work space.

Muscle Activation Patterns During Two Types of Voluntary Single-Joint Movement

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1860-1867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald L. Gottlieb
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Silent Period ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Joint Movement ◽  
Flexor Muscle ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Muscle Torque ◽  
Muscle Activation Patterns ◽  
Emg Patterns

Gottlieb, Gerald L. Muscle activation patterns during two types of voluntary single-joint movement. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 1860–1867, 1998. We examined the systematic variations in the EMG patterns during two types of single joint elbow movements. These patterns may be interpreted as exhibiting rules by which the CNS controls movement parameters. Normal human subjects performed two series of fast elbow flexion movements of 20–100° in a horizontal plane manipulandum. The first series consisted of pointing movements (PMs) from an initial position to a target; the second series consisted of reversal movements (RMs) to the same targets with an immediate return to the starting position. Both series showed kinematic and electromyographic (EMG) patterns that followed our previously described speed-insensitive strategy for controlling movement distance. Kinematic patterns of PMs and RMs were identical to about the time of peak PM deceleration. Agonist EMG bursts were also initially the same, but RM bursts ended abruptly in a silent period, whereas PM bursts declined more gradually. Antagonist EMG bursts of RMs were later than those of PMs but were not larger, contrary to our prior expectation and despite the larger net extension torque during RMs. The increase in net RM extension-directed torque that takes the limb back to its initial position appears to be a consequence of reduced flexor muscle torque rather than increased extensor muscle torque. We propose that rules for movement control may be similar for different kinds of movements as long as they are functionally sufficient for the task. However, even in a single-joint movement paradigm, physics alone, that is, the knowledge of net muscle torque and limb kinematics, is not adequate to fully predict those rules or the muscle activation patterns they produce. These must be discovered by experiment. The simplest expression of such rules may not be in terms of torque or kinematic variables but rather explicitly in terms of muscle activation patterns.

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