scholarly journals Structural and lexical factors in adjective placement in complex noun phrases across Romance languages

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Gulordava ◽  
Paola Merlo
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Lexical Factors

Verbless Predicative Clauses in the Romance Languages: Syntax, Semantics, Variation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin González-Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Yucatec Maya ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Haitian Creole ◽  
Small Clauses

Nonverbal or verbless utterances posit a great deal of challenge to any linguistic theory. Despite its frequency and productivity among many languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Finnish, Guaraní, Haitian Creole; Hdi, Hebrew, Hungarian, Irish, Korean, Mauritian Creole, Mina, Northern Kurdish, Romandalusí, Russian, Samoan, Turkish, Yucatec Maya, a.o., verbless clauses have received so far relatively little attention from most theoretical frameworks. The study of such clauses in general raises many interesting questions, since they appear to involve main clause structure without overt verbs. Some of the questions that arise when dealing with verbless constructions are the following: (a) are these clauses a projection of T(ense), or some other functional category, (b) do verbless clauses have an overt or null verbal head, (c) are verbless clauses small clauses, and (d) can verbless clauses be interpreted as propositions or statements that are either true or false. In mainstream generative grammar the predominant assumption has been that verbless clauses contain a functional projection that may be specified for tense (Tense Phrase) but need not occur necessarily with a verbal projection or a copula. This is strong evidence against the view that tense needs to co-occur with a verbal head—that is, tense may be universally projected but does not need to co-occur with a verbal head. This proposal departs from previous analyses where the category tense may be specified for categorial verbal or nominal features. Thus, in general, verbless clauses may be considered Tense Phrases (TPs) that dominate a nonverbal predicate. An example of verbless constructions in Romance languages are Predicative Noun Phrases (henceforth, PNPs). PNPs are nonverbal or verbless constructions that exhibit clausal properties.

Acoustic Correlates of Focus Marking in Czech and Polish

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-377
Author(s):  
Fatima Hamlaoui ◽  
Marzena Żygis ◽  
Jonas Engelmann ◽  
Michael Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Close Correlation ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Production Study ◽  
Focus Marking ◽  
Prosodic Focus ◽  
Germanic Languages

Languages vary in the type of contexts that affect prosodic prominence. This paper reports on a production study investigating how different types of foci influence prosody in Polish and Czech noun phrases. The results show that in both languages, focus and givenness are marked prosodically, with pitch and intensity as the main acoustic correlates. Like Germanic languages, Polish and Czech patterns show prosodic focus marking in a broad range of contexts and differ in this regard from other fixed-word-stress languages such as French. This suggests that (a) Polish and Czech are similar to Germanic languages and are unlike Romance languages in marking a variety of types of focus prosodically; (b) there is no close correlation between fixed word stress and lack of prosodic focus marking because Polish, which has fixed stress on the penult, shows prosodic focus marking for all types of focus; and (c) there is no straightforward relationship between flexible word order and whether focus and givenness are prosodically marked, contrary to earlier claims, because both Czech and Polish, with their relatively flexible word order, are more similar to English than Romance languages.

Passive Periphrases in the Romance Languages

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Ledgeway
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Semantic Role ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
General Preference ◽  
Formal Properties ◽  
Lexical Factors

Romance periphrastic passives are valency-reducing constructions, involving detransitivization of the clause which is variously manifested in: (a) the defocusing of the Agent through its suppression or demotion to an oblique adjunct; (b) the topicalization and subjectization of an affected non-Agent; and (c) the stativization of the predicate through the use of dedicated verb forms consisting of an auxiliary and nonfinite verb form (viz., participle) which mark the perfective-resultative aspect of the denoted event. Standard and nonstandard Romance varieties present a wealth of periphrastic passive constructions which exhibit a great deal of microvariation, both within individual varieties and across larger areal groupings, in the various formal dimensions of use, meaning, formation, and distribution of the periphrastic passive. These parameters of varation include, among other things, some quite remarkable degrees of diachronic, diatopic, diamesic, and diastratic variation in the distribution and frequency of individual passive periphrases; the choice of passive auxiliary which, in accordance with various syntactic, semantic, and lexical factors, can variously surface as be, become, stay, have, come, go, see, make, remain/stay, want; the distribution of the defocused Agent, especially in relation to a general preference for the so-called short passive, and variation, both diachronic and synchronic, in the formal marking of the defocused Agent both within and across individual Romance varieties; the range and availability of different arguments to undergo subjectization (Theme/Patient > Recipient/Benefactive); the availability and formal properties of the impersonal-passive which, to varying degrees, may enter into competition with a number of the available passive periphrases; the formal licensing conditions operative on participle agreement, in a number of cases linked to the choice of passive auxiliary and the semantic role of the subjectized argument; and the distribution and availability of formal distinctions in the participle to mark the active–passive opposition.

Phonologically conditioned allomorphy in the morphology of Surmiran (Rumantsch)

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Extended Sense ◽  
Phonological Rule

Alternations between allomorphs that are not directly related by phonological rule, but whose selection is governed by phonological properties of the environment, have attracted the sporadic attention of phonologists and morphologists. Such phenomena are commonly limited to rather small corners of a language's structure, however, and as a result have not been a major theoretical focus. This paper examines a set of alternations in Surmiran, a Swiss Rumantsch language, that have this character and that pervade the entire system of the language. It is shown that the alternations in question, best attested in the verbal system, are not conditioned by any coherent set of morphological properties (either straightforwardly or in the extended sense of ‘morphomes’ explored in other Romance languages by Maiden). These alternations are, however, straightforwardly aligned with the location of stress in words, and an analysis is proposed within the general framework of Optimality Theory to express this. The resulting system of phonologically conditioned allomorphy turns out to include the great majority of patterning which one might be tempted to treat as productive phonology, but which has been rendered opaque (and subsequently morphologized) as a result of the working of historical change.

THE STUDY OF COMPLEMENTARY COMPLEXES IN MODERN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

2019 ◽  
pp. 75-86
Author(s):  
O. Tuhai
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Status ◽  
Clausal Complementation ◽  
Communicative Approach ◽  
Clausal Complements ◽  
Form Feature

The article focuses on the basic theoretical approaches to the analysis of complementary complexes in modern grammar paradigms. The phenomenon of clausal complementation has been presented. Subordinate sentences are characterized as object clausal complements with the status of a core internal argument of the main predicate. Grammatical configuration and functioning of finite/infinitive complementary sentences in English have been revealed. Grammatical status of clauses under the study is postulated as object predication or the internal verbal complement in the function of an object. Grammatical indicators of finite sentences are analyzed considering specific that/wh- markers of complementation, semantics of matrix verbs as well as temporal tense-form feature in a verbal phrase. Grammatical configuration of infinitive sentences is denoted by to-/wh-markers and noun phrases in a certain case. Identifying criteria of verbal clausal complements have been distinguished. Morphology of the predicate, internal/external syntax of a complementary construction are grounded as leading features of their definition. Typology of verbal complementation in terms of transitivity, complement attachment to the perculia part of speech, functional communicative approach has been reviewed. General monotransitive, complex-transitive and ditransitive complementation has been outlined. When being attached to a particular language constituent a clause is determined as nominal, adjective or verbal complement. Due to communicative peculiarity finite subordinate clauses are positioned as content declarative, interrogative and exclamative.

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