scholarly journals Contact-induced changes in cliticization and word order: the Cimbrian dialect of Luserna as a case study

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Kolmer
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Local Varieties ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Sentence Form ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
The One ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Mapping Information

AbstractWhich properties of a cliticization system can be borrowed relatively easily and which ones are harder to adapt due to external influence? This article examines the contact situation of the Cimbrian dialect spoken in Luserna as a starting point for a discussion of this question. It presents new data on a German variety which has been exposed to intensive contact with Italian and its local varieties over several generations. The article shows that certain peculiarities of the Cimbrian cliticization system result on the one hand from word order changes and on the other hand from the imitation and integration of the model language’s strategies for mapping information structure onto sentence form.

Changing the Topic

Mnemosyne ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rutger J. Allan
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
The Other ◽  
Coherent System ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Flexible System ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
The One ◽  
Topic Constructions

AbstractIn Ancient Greek, topics can be expressed as intra-clausal constituents but they can also precede or follow the main clause as extra-clausal constituents. Together, these various topic expressions constitute a coherent system of complementary pragmatic functions. For a comprehensive account of topic organization, therefore, a limited focus on the clause proper is insufficient. In this paper, I will argue that it is possible to distinguish five different structural positions in which topic constituents may appear in Ancient Greek. These are: (i)Theme, (ii)clause-initial, (iii)postverbal in Setting, (iv)postverbal in main clauseand (v)Tail.Each of these positions in the sentence is associated with a specific pragmatic function: Resumed Topic, Contrastive/New Topic, Given Topic or clarification of Given Topic. In linguistic theory, topic and focus are often seen as independent aspects of information structure instead of complementary functions. It is, therefore, attractive to posit two separate sets of constructional templates: on the one hand, a topic set comprising the aforementioned topic constructions and, on the other hand, a focus set containing two (narrow and broad) focus-constructions. This results in a flexible system in which the word order of each sentence is determined by a combination of a focus construction plus one or more topic constructions.

An eighteenth-century medical–meteorological society in the Netherlands: an investigation of early organization, instrumentation and quantification. Part 1

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
HUIB J. ZUIDERVAART
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Meteorological Parameters ◽  
Academic Science ◽  
Mathematical Apparatus ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The One ◽  
Scientific Infrastructure ◽  
Theoretical Insight

In many areas the eighteenth century was a starting point for the quantification of science. It was a period in which the mania for collecting led to the first attempts in systematization and classification. This penchant for collecting was not limited to natural history specimens or curiosities. Due in part to the development of mathematical and physical instruments, which became more widely available, scholars were confronted with the informative value of numbers. On the one hand, sequences of measurements appeared to be the key to the advancement of scientific knowledge, yet on the other hand the mathematical apparatus to deal with these data was still largely lacking. As a result of this the first meteorological networks organized in the eighteenth century all became bogged down in the large amount of information that was collected but could not be processed properly. This development is illustrated in a case study of an early Dutch meteorological society, the Natuur- en Geneeskundige Correspondentie Sociëteit (1779–1802). What were the factors that triggered this interest in the weather in the Netherlands? What were the goals and expectations of the contributors? What were their methodological strategies? Which instruments were used to measure which meteorological parameters? How was the stream of numbers generated by these measurements organized, collected and interpreted? An analysis of this process reveals that limits on the advancement of meteorology were not only imposed by instrumentation and organization. The financing, the scientific infrastructure of the old eighteenth-century Dutch Republic and the lack of a proper theoretical insight were also crucial factors that eventually frustrated the breakthrough of meteorology as an academic science in the Netherlands. This breakthrough was only achieved in the second half of the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals Sets, lies, and analogy: a new methodological take

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Terzian
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Semantic Paradoxes ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Uniform Solution ◽  
The One ◽  
Graham Priest

Abstract The starting point of this paper is a claim defended most famously by Graham Priest: that given certain observed similarities between the set-theoretic and the semantic paradoxes, we should be looking for a ‘uniform solution’ to the members of both families. Despite its indisputable surface attractiveness, I argue that this claim hinges on a problematic reasoning move. This is seen most clearly, I suggest, when the claim and its underlying assumptions are examined by the lights of a novel, quite general and, I contend, promising take on inter-theoretic analogy. The ensuing discussion is intended to serve as both a possible case study and a first step towards the broader aim of the paper: namely, to initiate a wider conversation on the methodology of paradox-solving on the one hand, and the use of inter-theoretic analogies on the other.

scholarly journals DPSIR Model Applied to the Remediation of Contaminated Sites. A Case Study: Mar Piccolo of Taranto

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 5080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Labianca ◽  
Sabino De Gisi ◽  
Francesco Todaro ◽  
Michele Notarnicola
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Logical Scheme ◽  
Marine Litter ◽  
Heterogeneous Information ◽  
Mar Piccolo Of Taranto ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The One

The study critically analyses the complex situation of the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (South of Italy), considered one of the most polluted marine ecosystems in Europe. In order to investigate possible cause–effect relationships, useful to plan appropriate planning responses or remediation technologies to be adopted, the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) model was applied. Methodologically, about 100 references have been considered, whose information was organized according to the logical scheme of the DPSIR. The results showed how the Mar Piccolo is the final receptor of pollutants coming from all industrial and agricultural activities, especially due to its natural hydrogeological network conformation. The anthropic activity represents a critical impact on the ecosystem due to the subsequent marine litter. The mobility of contaminants from sediments to the water column showed the potential risk related to the bioaccumulation of organisms from different trophic levels, posing a threat of unacceptable magnitude to human safety. The paper concludes by discussing the actions currently implemented by the authorities in response to the anthropogenic impacts as well as the need for new ones concerning both plans, programs, and remediation interventions. The case study shows how the DPSIR is a useful framework to organize extensive and heterogeneous information about a complex environmental system, such as the one investigated. This preliminary organization of the available data can represent the starting point for the development of a DPSIR-based Environmental Decision Support System (EDSS) with robust cause–effect relationships.

Polarity Questions with Fronted Foci in the Spanish of the Basque Country

2019 ◽  
pp. 159-180
Author(s):  
Aritz Irurtzun
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Focus Position ◽  
Directive Speech Acts ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Directive Speech

In the Spanish variety spoken in the Basque Country, a set of directive speech acts is performed with absolute questions with an OV(S) word order such as Una sidra me pones? “will you serve me a cider?” This essay analyzes the structure, interpretation, and possible origin of these constructions, examining how their structure has a “split focus” whereby the left-dislocated element is really focal but rather than being “the focus” of the sentence it stands in a split-focus construction with the polarity of the absolute question (e.g., “[one cider]F -[polarity]F?”). A possible catalyst for the emergence of these structures is the language-contact situation in the Basque Country: Basque is an OV language with a dedicated focus position at the left periphery, and I suggest that transfer of the information structure strategies of Basque into Spanish may be a crucial factor for the emergence of this type of constructions.

The Significance of Emphasis in Latina Case Study from Caesar's Bellum Gallicum

1992 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mollie ◽  
John Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Bellum Gallicum ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
The One

As a contribution to the study of ‘Latin in use’, we focus in this article on the ways a writer indicates what s/he wants to emphasize within the sentence; the specific linguistic signs s/he uses to that end; and the range of effects that these may have for an alert reader. We have used, on the one hand, recent developments in the study of narrative, discourse and general linguistics and, on the other, the work of earlier pioneers in the field of word order in Latin.

What are and what aren’t complex nominal expressions in flexible word order languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-79
Author(s):  
Uta Reinöhl
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Derivational Morphology ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
The One ◽  
Question Form ◽  
Australian Languages

AbstractThis paper tackles the challenge of how to identify multi-word (or “complex”) nominal expressions in flexible word order languages including certain Australian languages and Vedic Sanskrit. In these languages, a weak or absent noun/adjective distinction in conjunction with flexible word order make it often hard to distinguish between complex nominal expressions, on the one hand, and cases where the nominals in question form independent expressions, on the other hand. Based on a discourse-based understanding of what it means to form a nominal expression, this paper surveys various cases where we are not dealing with multi-word nominal expressions. This involves, in particular, periphery-related phenomena such as use of nominals as free topics or afterthoughts, as well as various kinds of predicative uses. In the absence of clear morpho-syntactic evidence, all kinds of linguistic evidence are relied upon, including, in particular, information structure and prosody, but also derivational morphology and lexical semantics. In this way, it becomes frequently possible to distinguish between what are and what aren’t complex nominal expressions in these languages.

scholarly journals To Touch and Be Touched

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saara Hacklin
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Museum Of Contemporary Art ◽  
The One ◽  
Conceptual Core ◽  
Multisensory Experience

In my article, I will present as a case study the collection exhibition shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in 2016.[1] The starting point for the exhibition was the metaphor of touch. As a concept, touch is ambivalent: it is more intimate than sight, which has been the traditional metaphor for knowledge in Western thinking. Yet touching is also about grasping or understanding, as in it we are taking hold of something. Our curatorial team, Eija Aarnio, Arja Miller, and myself, was interested in touch early on, because with it the distance to the observed is lost: when touching something we, too, are being touched. To be clear, we did not want to create an exhibition where spectators are actually able to touch. Instead, we were looking at the collections of the museum and searching for artworks that would “touch” us—works that were able get under our skin. While forming the conceptual core of the exhibition, our curatorial team recognized a tension in the way in which “touchy issues,” affects and emotions, are perceived in our society. On the one hand, we were interested in emotions and affects raised by the artworks. We wanted to focus on the immersive dimension of the art that seems to escape verbalization, a dimension that makes use of the multisensory experience and addresses the viewer in a direct manner. On the other hand, we also became aware of how society in general has been taken over by an emotional surge. If previously feelings and emotions were not meant to be shown in public, today they have become commonplace. What was emotional and affective seems no longer to be private, but shared and public.[2] In fact, strong emotions seem to be a prerequisite for success, be it a matter of reality television or politics. This is also connected to the search for extreme emotions and experiences, an aspect we felt needed to be included in the exhibition—not the least because in museums’ competition for audiences, the experience-laden works are often seen as an answer.

A revisit to the [Num-Cl-Modifier-de-N]/ [Modifier-de-Num-Cl‑N] variation in Mandarin Chinese

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-253
Author(s):  
Jing Jin
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Related Condition ◽  
Neutral Context ◽  
Semantic Condition ◽  
Contrastive Topic ◽  
The One ◽  
Discourse Interface

Abstract This paper investigates the licensing condition of the [Num(eral)-Cl(assifier)-Mod(ifier)-de-N(oun)] / [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] variation in Mandarin Chinese. It is observed that this variation represents a complex interface phenomenon in the nominal domain, which is subject to the semantic condition concerning the i(ndividual)-level/​s(tage)-level nature of the modifier contained on the one hand, and the discourse-related condition concerning contrastive topic (ct) on the other. Based on this, at the syntax-semantics interface level, this paper proposes a division of the syntactic domain of adnominal modification to account for the discrepancy between i‑level and s‑level modifiers in terms of their capability in forming [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] in the neutral context. In the meanwhile, at the syntax-discourse interface level, in light of the interface-induced analysis pursued by Neeleman & Van de Koot (2008) and Horvath (2010), it is claimed that the word order of [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] could be adopted as a linguistic device to encode ct within the nominal domain in Mandarin Chinese, in which case the ordering of [Mod-de-Num-Cl‑N] is licensed for the purpose of establishing a transparent mapping between syntactic configuration and information structure.

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