Syntax meets discourse: Locative and deictic (directional) inversion in English

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-276
Author(s):  
Ana Ojea
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Functional Category ◽  
Computational Requirement ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Locative Inversion ◽  
Syntactic Derivation

AbstractThis paper offers a formal analysis of three constructions in English: locative inversion, central deictic inversion and directional inversion. These constructions constitute thetic statements with a locative intentional base which sets a scene that (re)introduces an entity in the discourse; syntactically, they display a non-canonical word order and have a number of unusual grammatical properties which make them particularly interesting to show how syntax connects, and adapts, to discourse. I propose that they all obtain from a language particular mechanism which involves a functional category LocP that adjusts the computational requirement to have a preverbal subject to the intentional need to have the subject post-verbally. As for the differences among them, they are approached in terms of the features that head LocP and the lexical properties of the verbs that head each of the structures. Ultimately, the paper also serves to discuss the role of certain informational features (the so-called core intentional features) in the syntactic derivation.

scholarly journals Italian education’s view of cinema: from suspicion to media education

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1(17)) ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Rosa Iannuzzi ◽  
Jorge Martínez Lucena ◽  
Cristina Rodríguez Luque
Keyword(s):  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Media Education ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Visual Education ◽  
Film Content ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Italian Education

From the outset, Italian education has been interested in the message of films and cinema’s power of persuasion. Prior to the advent of television, education viewed cinema with suspicion for the alleged damage it caused to the minds of young people. Later, it would view cinema as a means of fascist ideological propaganda. From the 1920s onwards, schools would use cinema as a teaching aid through the so-called “educational cinema”. Since 1960, schools have aimed to teach formal analysis and film content. On the threshold of the new millennium, the revolution in school autonomy obliged every educational institution to independently manage the financial resources allocated to them. This involved the arrival in schools of external experts who were entrusted with media education: they were supported by an internal tutor while the school coordinated the professionals who spe-cialized in cinema; meanwhile the subject teacher entered the Internet era with the innovation of the interactive whiteboard, assuming the role of multimedia author. Thus began the training of teachers within schools, who were registered on the national list of Visual Education Workers.

Four- to five-year-olds’ use of word order and prosody in focus marking in Dutch

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoju Chen ◽  
Barbara Höhle
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Limited Role ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Focus Marking

AbstractThis study investigated Dutch-speaking four- to five-year-olds’ use of word order and prosody in distinguishing focus types (broad focus, narrow focus, and contrastive narrow focus) via an interactive answer-reconstruction game. We have found an overall preference for the unmarked word order SVO and no evidence for the use of OVS to distinguish focus types. But the children used pitch and duration in the subject-nouns to distinguish focus types in SVO sentences. These findings show that Dutch-speaking four- to five-year-olds differ from their German- and Finnish-speaking peers, who show evidence of varying choice of word order to mark specific focus types, and use prosody to distinguish focus types in subject and object nouns in both SVO and OVS sentences. These comparisons suggest that typological differences in the relative importance between word order and prosody can lead to differences in children’s use of word order and prosody in unmarked and marked word orders. A more equal role of word order and prosody in the ambient language can stimulate more extensive use of prosody in the marked word order, whereas a more limited role of word order can restrict the use of prosody in the unmarked word order.

scholarly journals Where to place inaccessible subjects in Dutch: The role of definiteness and animacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-398
Author(s):  
Jorrig Vogels ◽  
Geertje Van Bergen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Syntactic Position ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Topical Information

AbstractCross-linguistically, both subjects and topical information tend to be placed at the beginning of a sentence. Subjects are generally highly topical, causing both tendencies to converge on the same word order. However, subjects that lack prototypical topic properties may give rise to an incongruence between the preference to start a sentence with the subject and the preference to start a sentence with the most accessible information. We present a corpus study in which we investigate in what syntactic position (preverbal or postverbal) such low-accessible subjects are typically found in Dutch natural language. We examine the effects of both discourse accessibility (definiteness) and inherent accessibility (animacy). Our results show that definiteness and animacy interact in determining subject position in Dutch. Non-referential (bare) subjects are less likely to occur in preverbal position than definite subjects, and this tendency is reinforced when the subject is inanimate. This suggests that these two properties that make the subject less accessible together can ‘gang up’ against the subject first preference. The results support a probabilistic multifactorial account of syntactic variation.

scholarly journals EARLY SYNTACTIC ACQUISITION IN A BALINESE SPEAKING CHILD

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Ni Luh Putu Sri Adnyani
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Natural Setting ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Phonetic Transcription ◽  
Spontaneous Interaction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Grammatical Functions

This article addresses the acquisition of syntax in a Balinese monolingual child at the age of 2;5 until 2;7. The data was collected in natural setting when the child involved in spontaneous interaction with adults. The speech produced by the child was segmented based on the utterances. The speech produced by the child was transcribed orthographically, along with the phonetic transcription. Besides, every utterance produced by the child accompanied by contextual description and explanation. The data was coded and glossed according to the parts of speech, and grammatical functions. The results show that at this stage, even though the child goes through early sentence or word combinations stage, the child still produces single-word utterances at the onset as well. The words belong to noun, verb, adjective, adverb and particle. Words combination produced can be classified into declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences. Initially, the child frequently omit subject. The fact that in colloquial adult’s conversation in Balinese omitting subject is acceptable may contribute to the subject omission. In two words combinations NP and VP occurred and in three or more words utterances S-P, S-P-O and S-P-C starting to be produced. In making questions kije‘where’, ape ‘what’, encen ‘which one’ and nyen ‘whose’ are used. In question, the child also applied rising intonation when question words are not applied. The child is also able to express tag question. In imperative sentences, the child is able to use command, request, and invitation. This study implies the role of adult’s input in children language acquisition as shown in subject omission and the flexible word order.   

scholarly journals Verb-Initial versus Subject-Initial Clauses in Greek: Eventuality Existentials versus Predication Clauses

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-322
Author(s):  
Yoryia Agouraki
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Order Property ◽  
Complementary Distribution ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Syntactic Derivation ◽  
Semantic Distinction

The paper aims to describe (a) the distribution, (b) the semantic interpretation and (c) the semantic and syntactic derivation of verb-initial versus subject-initial clauses in Greek. Concerning (a), it is argued that the verb-initial and the subject-initial word orders are in complementary distribution. A particular numeration can be assembled in only one way, i.e. as a verb-initial or as a subject-initial word order. The properties of the numeration that play a role in determining the word order for that numeration include the syntactic type of the predicate, the presence or not of non-arguments, the presence or not of sentential operators, and the mode of presenting information. Concerning (b), it is proposed that the semantic interpretation of verb-initial versus subject-initial clauses can be described as a clause-type distinction between eventuality existentials versus predication clauses. Concerning (c), it is proposed that this clause-type distinction has to do with how the subject and the predicate are put together semantically/syntactically. Namely, it is proposed that in eventuality existentials (the entity denoted by) the subject saturates/is selected by (the property denoted by) the predicate, while in predication clauses it is (the property denoted by) the predicate that saturates/is ‘selected’ by (the second-order property denoted by) the subject. For the proposed analysis to be right, (a) the clause-type distinction between eventuality existentials and predication clauses, (b) the complementary distribution of the two clause types and (c) the semantic/syntactic derivation for the two clause types must be part of UG. What cannot be part of UG is the syntactic manifestation of this semantic distinction across languages.

Processing transfer: Language-specific processing strategies as a source of interlanguage variation

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Simple Sentences

ABSTRACTA sentence interpretation experiment based on the functionalist Competition Model of speech processing (Bates & MacWhinney, 1982) was administered to three groups of university-age English L1, Japanese ESL, and Japanese L1 subjects (n = 12 per group) in an attempt to elicit evidence for (1) processing strategies characteristic of the Japanese and English L1 groups and, (2) transfer/influence of Japanese L1 strategies on the English sentence interpretations of the Japanese ESL group. Subjects selected the subject/actor of simple sentences incorporating word order, animacy, and stress cues in random converging and competing orders. The English L1 and ESL groups were tested on English sentences and the Japanese L1 group tested on Japanese sentences. The Japanese L1 interpretations were most heavily influenced by animacy cues, while the English L1 group showed a higher overall sensitivity to word order manipulations. The ESL group resembled the Japanese L1 group in reliance on animacy cues, with the exception of allowing inanimate nouns to act as subjects. While the ESL group showed greater sensitivity to word order effects than the Japanese L1 group, no “second-noun” strategy (i.e., systematically interpreting the NNV and VNN orders as left- and right-dislocated SOV and VOS orders) was evident.Although the findings were generally consistent with previous research, the presence of contrasting response patterns in the English L1 group suggests caution in attempting to typify languages on the basis of processing strategies drawn from probablistic tendencies evident in grouped data, and leaves open the role of such processing strategy typologies as a potential source of variation in inter-language.

Top-Down Processing and Visual Reorientation Illusions in a Virtual Reality Environment

2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
Charles M. Oman
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Line Length ◽  
Perceptual Cues ◽  
Virtual Reality Environment ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

The role of top-down processing on the horizontal-vertical line length illusion was examined by means of an ambiguous room with dual visual verticals. In one of the test conditions, the subjects were cued to one of the two verticals and were instructed to cognitively reassign the apparent vertical to the cued orientation. When they have mentally adjusted their perception, two lines in a plus sign configuration appeared and the subjects had to evaluate which line was longer. The results showed that the line length appeared longer when it was aligned with the direction of the vertical currently perceived by the subject. This study provides a demonstration that top-down processing influences lower level visual processing mechanisms. In another test condition, the subjects had all perceptual cues available and the influence was even stronger.

The future role of the psychiatrist in Europe – a UEMS perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
M. Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Future Role ◽  
Personal Opinion ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Many

SummaryThe author presents his personal opinion inviting to discussion on the possible future role of psychiatrists. His view is based upon the many contacts with psychiatrists all over Europe, academicians and everyday professionals, as well as the familiarity with the literature. The list of papers referred to is based upon (1) the general interest concerning the subject when representing ideas also worded elsewhere, (2) the accessibility to psychiatrists and mental health professionals in Germany, (3) being costless downloadable for non-subscribers and (4) for some geographic aspects (e.g. Belgium, Spain, Sweden) and the latest scientific issues, addressing some authors directly.

Alignment

2016 ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Pier Giuseppe Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Enactive Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Education Today ◽  
Current Context ◽  
The Subject

The subject of alignment is not new to the world of education. Today however, it has come to mean different things and to have a heuristic value in education according to research in different areas, not least for neuroscience, and to attention to skills and to the alternation framework.This paper, after looking at the classic references that already attributed an important role to alignment in education processes, looks at the strategic role of alignment in the current context, outlining the shared construction processes and focusing on some of the ways in which this is put into effect.Alignment is part of a participatory, enactive approach that gives a central role to the interaction between teaching and learning, avoiding the limits of behaviourism, which has a greater bias towards teaching, and cognitivism/constructivism, which focus their attention on learning and in any case, on that which separates a teacher preparing the environment and a student working in it.

TheOrvosi Hetilap (Hungarian Medical Journal)in the network of medical journals

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (22) ◽  
pp. 876-879
Author(s):  
András Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Scientific Journals ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Medical Journals ◽  
The Subject

The role of networks is swiftly increasing in the production and communication of scientific knowledge. Network aspects have, therefore, an ever growing importance in the analysis of the scientific enterprise, as well. The present paper demonstrates some techniques of studying the network of scientific journals on the subject of seeking the position of Orvosi Hetilap (Hungarian Medical Journal) in the international journal network. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(22), 876–879.

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