Agent prominence in symmetrical voice languages

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Riesberg ◽  
Beatrice Primus
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Reflexive Pronouns ◽  
Syntactic Prominence ◽  
Causative Construction ◽  
And Control ◽  
Symmetrical Voice

AbstractIt has been argued in the literature that morpho-syntactically agents are universally more prominent than patients. At first sight, this claim seems to be challenged by so called symmetrical voice languages because these languages show no preference for agents to be the privileged syntactic argument (PSA). They do thus not display an obvious syntactic prominence of agents. However, this paper will argue that even symmetrical voice languages show instances of agent prominence. These instances are not reflected in a default linking of agents to PSA function, but rather in a slightly more subtle manner: First, agents always function as binders to reflexive pronouns, regardless of position or grammatical function. Second, agent properties like volitionality, ability and control are reflected in verbal morphology, even in undergoer voice construction in which the agent is not the PSA. This is the case in potentive, stative, and causative construction.

Wandala

2020 ◽  
pp. 597-610
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Grammatical Relation

Wandala (Central Chadic) is spoken by about 45,000 people in Cameroon and northern Nigeria. The language has grammaticalized phonological means marking types of connections between the elements of the utterance, indicating an expected follow-up, a less expected follow-up, and the absence of a follow-up. The coding of some grammatical relations, such as subject and object, is distributed over a wide range of morphemes. Wandala has two tones. While in nouns both tones can be part of the underlying structure, the tones are not part of the underlying structure of verbs and carry only grammatical function. The language has a rich verbal morphology coding syntactic and semantic relations within the clause. Subject suffixes to the verb mark aspectual and modal functions different from those marked by subject pronouns preceding the verb. Inflectional markers on the verb indicate the grammatical relation of the noun phrase following the verb.

scholarly journals Causative in Sasak: A Mechanism of Valency Increase

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 491
Author(s):  
Nurul Azizah ◽  
Ketut Artawa ◽  
Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati ◽  
Made Sri Satyawati
Keyword(s):  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Causative Construction ◽  
And Control ◽  
Lexical Causative ◽  
Semantic Parameters

This study discusses the formation of causatives based on the criteria proposed by Dixon (2012). Pertain to the mechanism of valency increasing, it is found that causative construction in Sasak Kuto-Kute dialect covers two forms: morphological and lexical. Morphological causative involves the process of adding confix N -ang/in and affix -in to the non-causative base verb, whilst, the lexical causative uses the causative verb mate 'died/killed'. Furthermore, it was found that the formation of causative from intransitive verbs can be done by moving the original S to O position in the causative construction, which is morphologically marked on the verb, and also using different verbs with the same meaning to form the causative construction which is followed by the transfer of the original S to O position. For transitive verbs, the formation can be done through the use of affixes with the original A and original O both becoming O1 and O2. Last, the causative construction in the dialect semantically involves five semantic parameters, namely transparency, naturalness, intention, involvement, and control.

scholarly journals An EEG Analysis of Honorification in Japanese: Human Hierarchical Relationships Coded in Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shingo Tokimoto ◽  
Yayoi Miyaoka ◽  
Naoko Tokimoto
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Control

This study examines the neural substrate of the understanding of human relationships in verbal communication with Japanese honorific sentences as experimental materials. We manipulated two types of Japanese verbs specifically used to represent respect for others, i.e., exalted and humble verbs, which represent respect for the person in the subject and the person in the object, respectively. We visually presented appropriate and anomalous sentences containing the two types of verbs and analyzed the electroencephalogram elicited by the verbs. We observed significant parietal negativity at a latency of approximately 400 ms for anomalous verbs compared with appropriate verbs. This parietal negativity could be a manifestation of the pragmatic process used to integrate the linguistic forms with the human relationships represented in the sentences. The topographies of these event-related potentials (ERPs) corresponded well with those of ERPs for two second-person pronouns in Chinese (plain ni and respectful nin). This correspondence suggests that the pragmatic integration process in honorific expressions is cross-linguistically common in part. Furthermore, we assessed the source localization by means of independent component (IC) analysis and dipole fitting and observed a significant difference in ERP between the honorific and control sentences in the IC cluster centered in the precentral gyrus and in the cluster centered in the medial part of the occipital lobe, which corresponded well with the functional magnetic resonance imaging findings for Japanese honorification. We also found several significant differences in the time-frequency analyses for the medial occipital cluster. These significant differences in the medial occipital cluster suggested that the circuit of the theory of mind was involved in the processing of Japanese honorification. Our results suggest that pragmatic and syntactic processing are performed in parallel because the person to be respected must fulfill the grammatical function appropriate for the honorific verb.

The paradoxes of Mẽbengokre’s analytic causative

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Pablo Salanova
Keyword(s):  
Typical Case ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Causative Construction

Mẽbengokre exhibits a causative construction that is constructed as an applicative, introducing a low argument without displacing the external argument from its subject function. In the typical case, this causative could be seen as an instance of the so-called sociative causative, whereby the causee is accompanied in the action by the causer, rather than being simply induced to action by the causer. These causatives can be straightforwardly analysed as comitative applicatives. However, Mẽbengokre displays the peculiarity that causatives of most verbs that involve a change of state decidedly do not get a sociative interpretation. This chapter addresses the puzzle of how a true causative semantics can arise in such cases, claiming that the applicative morpheme in these causatives has a grammatical use not unlike that of subject-reintroducing ‘by’ in English passives, and that this grammatical function is tied with a null causative morpheme that attaches only to certain verbal stems.

scholarly journals The syntax of possessor prominence in Maithili

2019 ◽  
pp. 39-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogendra P. Yadava ◽  
Oliver Bond ◽  
Irina Nikolaeva ◽  
Sandy Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Syntactic Prominence

Maithili (Indo-Aryan; India; Nepal) has a complex agreement system in which many terms and non-terms, including subjects, objects, obliques, extra-clausal ‘deictic referents’, and, crucially, possessors within any of these can potentially control agreement on the verb. Agreement is partly determined by grammatical function and argument structure, but in many instances the functional prominence of the agreement controller—determined by focus and referential features, including respect—overrides syntactic prominence. This is particularly clear when possessors internal to an argument or adjunct can control agreement, even though viable alternatives appear to be available. The functional prominence of the internal possessor also appears to have a syntactic correlate: the possessor that controls agreement may be in a more prominent position within the phrase headed by the possessed nominal, and this is what enables it to participate in clause-level syntactic processes.

Control of Metal Alloy Oxidation with Electric Fields

1973 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 164-165
Author(s):  
R. R. Dils ◽  
P. S. Follansbee
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fields ◽  
Oxidation Process ◽  
Base Alloy ◽  
Oxide Surface ◽  
Platinum Electrodes ◽  
Insulating Layer ◽  
Iron Base Alloy ◽  
Alloy Oxidation ◽  
Aluminum Oxide Layer ◽  
And Control

Electric fields have been applied across oxides growing on a high temperature alloy and control of the oxidation of the material has been demonstrated. At present, three-fold increases in the oxidation rate have been measured in accelerating fields and the oxidation process has been completely stopped in a retarding field.The experiments have been conducted with an iron-base alloy, Pe 25Cr 5A1 0.1Y, although, in principle, any alloy capable of forming an adherent aluminum oxide layer during oxidation can be used. A specimen is polished and oxidized to produce a thin, uniform insulating layer on one surface. Three platinum electrodes are sputtered on the oxide surface and the specimen is reoxidized.

Evidence for a Blood Ganglion Barrier in the Superior Cervical Ganglion of the Rat

1982 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 204-204
Author(s):  
D. M. DePace
Keyword(s):  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Superior Cervical Ganglion ◽  
Peripheral Nerves ◽  
Time Schedule ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Cervical Ganglion ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Cervical Ganglia ◽  
Capillary Circulation ◽  
And Control

The majority of blood vessels in the superior cervical ganglion possess a continuous endothelium with tight junctions. These same features have been associated with the blood brain barrier of the central nervous system and peripheral nerves. These vessels may perform a barrier function between the capillary circulation and the superior cervical ganglion. The permeability of the blood vessels in the superior cervical ganglion of the rat was tested by intravenous injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Three experimental groups of four animals each were given intravenous HRP (Sigma Type II) in a dosage of.08 to.15 mg/gm body weight in.5 ml of.85% saline. The animals were sacrificed at five, ten or 15 minutes following administration of the tracer. Superior cervical ganglia were quickly removed and fixed by immersion in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in Sorenson's.1M phosphate buffer, pH 7.4. Three control animals received,5ml of saline without HRP. These were sacrificed on the same time schedule. Tissues from experimental and control animals were reacted for peroxidase activity and then processed for routine transmission electron microscopy.

Effects of renovascular hypertension on rat adrenal zona glomerulosa

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 582-583
Author(s):  
G. Mazzocchi ◽  
P. Rebuffat ◽  
C. Robba ◽  
P. Vassanelli ◽  
G. G. Nussdorfer
Keyword(s):  
Renovascular Hypertension ◽  
Left Kidney ◽  
Renin Angiotensin System ◽  
Plasma Renin ◽  
Zona Glomerulosa ◽  
Ultrastructural Changes ◽  
Albino Rats ◽  
Left Renal Artery ◽  
Angiotensin System ◽  
And Control

It is well known that the rat adrenal zona glomerulosa steroidogenic activity is controlled by the renin-angiotensin system. The ultrastructural changes in the rat zona glomerulosa cells induced by renovascular hypertension were described previously, but as far as we are aware no correlated biochemical and morphometric investigations were performed.Twenty adult male albino rats were divided into 2 experimental groups. One group was subjected to restriction of blood flow to the left kidney by the application of a silver clip about the left renal artery. The other group was sham-operated and served as a control. Renovascular hypertension developed in about 10 days: sistolic blood pressure averaged 165 ± 6. 4 mmHg, whereas it was about 110 ± 3. 8 mmHg in the control animals. The hypertensive and control rats were sacrificed 20 days after the operation. The blood was collected and plasma renin activity was determined by radioimmunological methods. The aldosterone concentration was radioimmunologically assayed both in the plasma and in the homogenate of the left capsular adrenal gland.

X-Ray Replication of Submicrometer Linewidth Patterns

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 136-137
Author(s):  
Henry I. Smith ◽  
D.C. Flanders
Keyword(s):  
Electron Beam Lithography ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Electron Backscattering ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
Cross Sectional Profile ◽  
Carbon Foils ◽  
Sectional Profile ◽  
And Control ◽  
Soft Radiation

Scanning electron beam lithography has been used for a number of years to write submicrometer linewidth patterns in radiation sensitive films (resist films) on substrates. On semi-infinite substrates, electron backscattering severely limits the exposure latitude and control of cross-sectional profile for patterns having fundamental spatial frequencies below about 4000 Å(l),Recently, STEM'S have been used to write patterns with linewidths below 100 Å. To avoid the detrimental effects of electron backscattering however, the substrates had to be carbon foils about 100 Å thick (2,3). X-ray lithography using the very soft radiation in the range 10 - 50 Å avoids the problem of backscattering and thus permits one to replicate on semi-infinite substrates patterns with linewidths of the order of 1000 Å and less, and in addition provides means for controlling cross-sectional profiles. X-radiation in the range 4-10 Å on the other hand is appropriate for replicating patterns in the linewidth range above about 3000 Å, and thus is most appropriate for microelectronic applications (4 - 6).

Ultrastructural changes in sciatic nerve tissue: Effects of passive maternal smoking

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 650-651
Author(s):  
Amankwah K.S. ◽  
A.D. Weberg ◽  
R.C. Kaufmann
Keyword(s):  
Sciatic Nerve ◽  
Maternal Smoking ◽  
Ultrastructural Level ◽  
Uranyl Acetate ◽  
Nerve Tissue ◽  
Ultrastructural Changes ◽  
Cacodylate Buffer ◽  
And Control ◽  
Spontaneous Delivery

Previous research has revealed that passive (involuntary inhalation) tobacco smoking during gestation can have adverse effects upon the developing fetus. These prior investigations did not concentrate on changes in fetal morphology. This study was undertaken to delineate fetal neural abnormalities at the ultrastructural level in mice pups exposed in utero to passive maternal smoking.Pregnant study animals, housed in a special chamber, were subjected to cigarette smoke daily from conception until delivery. Blood tests for determination of carbon monoxide levels were run at 15-18 days gestation. Sciatic nerve tissue from experimental and control animals were obtained following spontaneous delivery and fixed in 2.5% gluteraldehyde in 0.1M cacodylate buffer pH 7.3. The samples were post-fixed in osmium ferrocyanide (1:1 mixture of 1.5% aqueous OSO4 and 2.5% K4 Fe(CN)6). Following dehydration, the tissues were infiltrated with and embedded in Spurr. Sections were stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate.

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