scholarly journals A syntactic-semantic optimality theoretic model on Hakka topic-comment construction

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 759-778
Author(s):  
Yu-Ching Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Optimization Model ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Theoretic Model ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Semantic Constraints

The purpose of this paper is to show how the basic Topic-Comment ordering pattern of the Hakka can be accounted for by the constraint-based optimality theory. Part of the linguistic data used in this paper is adopted from Xu (2002), while those examples presented to show syntactic tests are created by the author. These sentences have been further checked and confirmed by a native speaker of Hakka. This paper proposes an Optimality Theoretic (OT) model that takes into account both syntactic and semantic considerations. It shows that semantic information comes into play successively at different points of OT grammar. First, integrating semantic information into the schema of OT syntax works precisely to describe the Hakka topic-initial sentence pattern. The alignment constraints incorporate information about the semantically defined topic and comment constructions into the constraint design, which interacts with other markedness constraints to filter linguistic constructions during production. Second, semantic constraints are formed to further evaluate form-meaning pairs during the process of interpretation. In this aspect, semantic notions including contrastiveness and markedness are incorporated into the theoretical plan with the purpose of pairing syntactically well-formed sentences with appropriate meaning. The paper successfully presents an optimization model illustrating how syntax and semantics cooperate to pair meanings with linguistic constructions in forming linguistic expressions. 

A Synchronic Perspective on the Grammaticalisation of will in Hypothetical Predicates

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Ziegeler
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Semantic Constraints ◽  
Distributional Limits

Current works on grammaticalisation have discussed the tendency for older, lexically-based meanings to continue to adhere to the grammaticalising item in a situation described as 'retention' (Bybee & Pagliuca, 1987), and for these meanings to impose semantic constraints affecting the grammatical distribution of the item in some present-day environments. The present study will examine the restrictions on the use of the modal will (represented in its backshifted form would) in the hypothetical predicates of the verb wish, and, using a small sample of native-speaker informants, statistically-based suggestions will be proposed regarding the distributional limits on the grammaticalisation of the modal as a future auxiliary.

The time-course of morphosyntactic and semantic priming in late bilinguals: A study of German adjectives

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
SINA BOSCH ◽  
HELENA KRAUSE ◽  
ALINA LEMINEN
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Spatially Extended

How do late proficient bilinguals process morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic information in their non-native language (L2)? How is this information represented in the L2 mental lexicon? And what are the neural signatures of L2 morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic processing? We addressed these questions in one behavioral and two ERP priming experiments on inflected German adjectives testing a group of advanced late Russian learners of German in comparison to native speaker (L1) controls. While in the behavioral experiment, the L2 learners performed native-like, the ERP data revealed clear L1/L2 differences with respect to the temporal dynamics of grammatical processing. Specifically, our results show that L2 morphosyntactic processing yielded temporally and spatially extended brain responses relative to L1 processing, indicating that grammatical processing of inflected words in an L2 is more demanding and less automatic than in the L1. However, this group of advanced L2 learners showed native-like lexical-semantic processing.

Quantified Optimality and the Phonological Parsing of Korean Sov Sentences

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 25-54
Author(s):  
David J. Silva
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Complete Agreement ◽  
Rating Data ◽  
Variable Nature ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Phonological Phrase

Abstract. In an attempt to understand the variable nature of phonological phrasing in Korean, this study analyzes intuitional judgments of 53 native speakers of Korean who evaluated possible phonological phrasings of simple Subject-Object-Verb sentences: [S]-[OV], [SO]-[V], [SOV], and [S]-[O]-[V]. Analysis of the quantified rating data reveals a strong preference for a subject-predicate phrasing ([S]-[OV]) and a distinct dispreference for the phrasing in which the subject and object were grouped into a single phonological constituent ([SO]-[V]). These preferences are then analyzed in the context of a constraint-based theoretical framework; by extending the Optimality Theory (OT) notion of "ranking" to include not only constraints but also candidates, we corroborate the existence of preference patterns in native-speaker intuitions regarding the phrasing of [SOV]. These patterns are explained by referencing three putatively universal constraints that govern the phonological phrase formation: one that aligns phonological phrases with syntactic phrases, a second that requires phonological phrases to be binary branching, and a third that limits the weight of phonological phrases to five syllables. Although the quantitative data and the proposed OT account are not in complete agreement, the account put forward should encourage further research into a more comprehensive integration of variation studies and OT.

The Complexity of Learning in Optimality Theory and Its Implications for the Acquisition of Phonotactics

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 434-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Magri
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Additional Structure ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Solution Algorithms ◽  
Consistency Problem

The consistency problem models language learning as the problem of finding a grammar consistent with finite linguistic data. The subset problem refines that formulation, asking for a consistent grammar that generates a smallest language. This article reviews results concerning the tractability of the consistency problem within Optimality Theory (OT) and shows that the OT subset problem is instead intractable. The subset problem thus needs to be restricted to plausible typologies, and solution algorithms need to take advantage of the additional structure brought about by these typological restrictions. These implications are illustrated with a discussion of the choice between batch and errordriven models of the child’s acquisition of phonotactics.

Denominal Verbs in Morphology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Baeskow
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Structural Shape ◽  
Semantic Class ◽  
Semantic Constraints ◽  
Preliminary Classification

Denominal verbs are verbs formed from nouns by means of various word-formation processes such as derivation, conversion, or less common mechanisms like reduplication, change of pitch, or root and pattern. Because their well-formedness is determined by morphosyntactic, phonological, and semantic constraints, they have been analyzed from a variety of lexicalist and non-lexicalist perspectives, including Optimality Theory, Lexical Semantics, Cognitive Grammar, Onomasiology, and Neo-Construction Grammar. Independently of their structural shape, denominal verbs have in common that they denote events in which the referents of their base nouns (e.g., computer in the case of computerize) participate in a non-arbitrary way. While traditional labels like ‘ornative’, ‘privative’, ‘locative’, ‘instrumental’ and the like allow for a preliminary classification of denominal verbs, a more formal description has to account for at least three basic aspects, namely (1) competition among functionally similar word-formation patterns, (2) the polysemy of affixes, which precludes a neat one-to-one relation between derivatives displaying a particular affix and a particular semantic class, and (3) the relevance of generic knowledge and contextual information for the interpretation of (innovative) denominal verbs.

Inter-speaker variation, Optimality theory, and the prosody of clitic left-dislocations in Spanish

Probus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Feldhausen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Prosodic Boundaries ◽  
Left And Right

AbstractThis paper presents an empirical study on the prosody of clitic left-dislocations (CLLDs) in Spanish and offers new perspectives on how the phenomenon of inter-speaker variation in linguistic data can be integrated into formal grammatical theory. Results from a production experiment based on scripted speech show that CLLDs have an obligatory left and right boundary (typically a high edge tone at the intermediate phrase level), while other sentence-internal boundaries are subject to inter-speaker variation. The hypothesis presented here suggests that prosodic boundaries which mark information structural (IS) categories are more necessary than boundaries which satisfy alignment constraints; only the latter can show inter-speaker variation (

The Complexity of Ranking Hypotheses in Optimality Theory

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Riggle
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Classification Scheme ◽  
Complexity Measure ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Constraint Set ◽  
Learnability Theory ◽  
Concept Classes

Given a constraint set with k constraints in the framework of Optimality Theory (OT), what is its capacity as a classification scheme for linguistic data? One useful measure of this capacity is the size of the largest data set of which each subset is consistent with a different grammar hypothesis. This measure is known as the Vapnik-Chervonenkis dimension (VCD) and is a standard complexity measure for concept classes in computational learnability theory. In this work, I use the three-valued logic of Elementary Ranking Conditions to show that the VCD of Optimality Theory with k constraints is k-1. Analysis of OT in terms of the VCD establishes that the complexity of OT is a well-behaved function of k and that the ‘hardness’ of learning in OT is linear in k for a variety of frameworks that employ probabilistic definitions of learnability.

Optimalitätstheoretische Modellierung von Groß- und Kleinschreibung: eine Beispielanalyse englischer Texte um 1730

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Majana Grüter
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Semantic Constraints ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Automated Processes ◽  
Adequate Method

AbstractBased on the view that orthography is a means of reader orientation, this article examines the role of capitalization in a sample of English early modern texts. The format of optimality theory provides the instrument for an in-depth analysis of the use of capital letters, as well as an adequate method of describing the variation within the texts. The default criteria for capitals are of syntactic character, whereas semantic constraints prohibit majuscules. Several aspects of grammar and meaning play a part in the evaluation of different spellings, distinguishing between automated processes (lower ranked constraints) and claims of semantics and the lexicon (higher ranked constraints). This article exemplifies the analysis with a short excerpt from an 18

scholarly journals Kashmiri: A Phonological Sketch

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-41
Author(s):  
Мір Фарук Агамад ◽  
Гаснаїн Імтіаз ◽  
Хан Азизуддин
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Journal Article ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Government Printing ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Phonological Processes

Kashmiri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India and in some parts of Pakistan. Some phonological and morphological features of this language make it peculiar among Indo-Aryan languages. This write-up provides a phonological sketch of Kashmiri. The description of Vowels and Consonants is given in order to build a general idea of the phonological system of the language. The process of nasalization is phonemic in Kashmiri. The aim of this write-up is to describe and show all the phonological features of the language, particularly those that are uniquely found in this language. In addition, an attempt has been made to describe and explain the various phonological processes such as Palatalization, Epenthesis and Elision, which occur in Kashmiri. All such processes are described with appropriate examples and the data comprising of lexemes and sounds for examples is primary data used by the author who is a native speaker of the language. Given to the peculiar features of this language, the process of homonymy, which is homographic in nature, is described with appropriate examples.  References Bhaskararao, P., Hassan, S., Naikoo, I. A., Wani, N. H., T. A., & Ganai, P. A. (2009). A Phonetic Study of Kashmiri Palatalization. In M. e. Minegishi, Field Research, Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Informatics (pp. 1-17). Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Bhat, R. N. (2008). Palatalization : a note on Kashmiri morphophonology. Retrieved 11 14, 2018, from Academia: https://www.academia.edu/6383970/Palatalization_A_Note_on_ Kashmiri_Morphophonology Chomsky, N., & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row . Crowley, T. (1997). An introduction to historical linguistics. Oxford: oxford University Press. Fussman, G. (1972). Atlas linguistique des pariers Dardes et Kafirs. Paris: Ecole Francaise d'Etreme-Orient. Grierson, G. A. (1973). A standard manual of Kashmiri language (Vol. 2). Rohtak: Light and Life Publishers. Grierson, G. A. (1919). Linguistic Survey of India. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing. Kachru, B. B. (1969). Kashmiri and other Dardic languages. (T. A. Sebeok, Ed.) Current Trends in Linguistics, 5, 284-306. Kak, A. A. (2002). Languange maintenance and language shift in Srinagar. New delhi: Un­pub­lished Phd dissertation, University of Delhi. Kak, A. A., & O. F. (2009). Nasality of Kashmiri vowels in Optimality theory. Nepalese Linguistics, 4, 61-68. Koul, O. N. (1996). On the standardization of Kashmiri script. In S. I. Hasnain (Ed.), Standardization and Modernization: Dynamics of Language Planning (pp. 269-278). New Delhi: Bahri Publications. Koul, O. N., & Wali, K. (2006). Modern Kashmiri grammar. Springfield: Dunwoody Press. Ladefoged, P., & Maddieson, I. (1996). The sounds of the worls's languages. Oxford: Blackwell. Lawrence, W. R. (1895). The valley of Kashmir. Srinagar: Kesar Publishers. Leech, G. (1974). Semantics. Middlesex: Penguin Books. Mir, F. A. (2014). Acquisition of deixis among Kashmiri speaking children of 4-5 years of age. Department of Linguistics Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Aligarh: Unpublished M.Phil Thesis. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. (2018, 10 12). Census,2011. Retrieved 11 12, 2018, from censusindia: http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/C-16_25062018_NEW.pdf Pandey, P. (2018). Types of Phonological Processes. Retrieved from e-Pathshala: http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/linguistics/02.introduction_to_phonetics_and_phonology/21._types_of_phonological_processes-_i/et/7664_et_et_21.pdf. Shakil, M. (2012). Academia. Retrieved 11 15, 2018, from Languages of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir: a preliminary study: https://www.academia.edu/6485567/Languages_of_ Erstwhile_State_of_Jammu_Kashmir_A_Preliminary_Study_?auto=download Wheeler, M. W. (2005). Cluster reduction: Deletion or Coalescence? Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 4, 57-82. Retrieved 11 2018, from https://www.raco.cat/index.php/Catalan Journal/article/view/39481

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