scholarly journals A Morphosyntactic Analysis of Isamal Ergatives: Movement in Ergative Structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Rodney Jubilado
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Morphosyntactic Analysis

Isamal is an Austronesian language spoken by around 8,000 indigenous people of Samal Island, Mindanao, Philippines. Fieldwork has shown that every speaker of Isamal is bilingual in Cebuano, the most dominant language in the island with a population of 104,123 according to Philippine Census (2015). This paper deals with the morphosyntax of Isamal ergatives, and analysis is made using the Minimalist Program with focus on the movement of elements in the structure. Verb morphology is given a description to lend a hand in the analytical scrutiny of the projections of the lexical information encoded in the argument and thematic structures of the verbs. Like all ergatives, Isamal ergatives have only one argument, that is, the theme-DP. There are three primary syntactic structures that are analyzed in this paper, namely, VP, TP, and CP. With the employment of the Minimalist Program for analysis, movement in the ergative structures shows that verbs, arguments and adjuncts can move.

scholarly journals Comparative Ergative and Accusative Structures in Three Philippine Languages

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Rodney Jubilado
Keyword(s):  
The Philippines ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Structural Relations ◽  
Structural Configurations ◽  
Syntactic Relations ◽  
Local Assignment

Cebuano, Filipino, and Isamal are classified as Austronesian languages that are spoken in the Philippines. This paper deals with the comparative ergative and accusative structures of the aforementioned languages with focus on the syntactic relations and processes. The varieties of these languages are the ones used in Samal Island, Davao, Philippines. Aimed at the structural configurations, the verb phrase (VP) and the tense phrase (TP) are analytically scrutinized as the cartographic projections of the lexical information encoded in the argument structures and the thematic structures of the verbs. With the employment of the Minimalist Program in the analysis, the computation includes the movement, checking of features, and assignment of theta roles within the structures of the three languages. Findings include the (1) similarity of structural relations and processes in the VP and the TP of the three languages, (2) movement of the verb from the VP to the TP, and (3) merger of the verb complements occur in the VP that ensures the local assignment of theta roles and the checking of cases.

scholarly journals To See a World in a Grain of Sand: Review of Legate (2014)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Hsin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Causative Constructions ◽  
Linguistic Understanding ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Seminal Article

Voice and v is an investigation of the syntax of an understudied Western Austronesian language, Acehnese, with a particular interest in its implications for the theory of verb phrase structure under the framework of the Minimalist Program. Since Pylkkänen's seminal article, the idea that the functional projection of verb phrases involves two distinct layers—a higher one (that is, Voice) that is responsible for introducing the external thematic role and Case-licensing the internal argument, and a lower one (that is, v) that is responsible for introducing causative semantics and verbalizing the root—has been advanced in a series of works under the Minimalist Program. This book presents novel evidence for this hypothesis based on an in-depth analysis of Acehnese passive, object voice, and causative constructions. Building on the empirical observations from Acehnese, the book makes further explorations of the syntactic typology of passives and causatives, on which the Acehnese data shed light. It contributes not only to the description and analysis of an understudied language, but also to the cross-linguistic understanding of the different flavors of Voice and the architecture of verb phrase structures.

Grammatical relation probability: How usage patterns shape analogy

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther L. Brown ◽  
Javier Rivas
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Language Production ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Grammatical Relation ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Context Dependent

AbstractIt has been argued speakers' knowledge of the probabilities of certain phones, words, and syntactic structures affects language production (Bell, Brenier, Gregory, Girand, & Jurafsky, 2009; Tily, Gahl, Arnon, Snider, Kothari, & Bresnan, 2009). This study provides evidence for effects of grammatical relation probabilities by identifying significant effects on verb morphology in the Spanish presentative [haber ‘there (be)’+ NP] construction stemming from nouns with varying proportion of use in subject function. In addition to this novel type of probability (grammatical relation), we present calculations that are not context-dependent but cumulative, reflecting speakers' overall experience with these nouns in the grammar. We conduct variationist analyses on corpora of spoken Puerto Rican Spanish. Our results reveal that nouns with a high probability of subject function promote the analogical leveling of haber by increasing the likelihood of reanalysis of the object as subject of the construction. We interpret these results as suggesting speakers possess lexicalized knowledge of grammatical relation usage patterns.

scholarly journals Teoria gerativa: contexto histórico e perspectivas

2018 ◽  
pp. 21-35
Author(s):  
Gisely Gonçalves De Castro
Keyword(s):  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Syntactic Structures

Este artigo fornece um percurso histórico do empreendimento gerativo, desde o seu surgimento até os desenvolvimentos recentes do Programa Minimalista. O artigo objetiva prover um levantamento compreensivo do campo da Teoria Gerativa e explorar perspectivas para pesquisas futuras. Os fundamentos no qual o presente trabalho se apoia compreendem os textos precursores das diferentes abordagens gerativas: Syntactic Structures (CHOMSKY, 1957), Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (CHOMSKY, 1965), Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar (JACKENDOFF, 1972), Lectures on Government and Binding (CHOMSKY, 1981) e Minimalist Program (CHOMSKY, 1995). Ao final do percurso, indicam-se três perspectivas para as pesquisas de base gerativa: a cooperação interdisciplinar para o estudo da FL, a redução da aparente complexidade da GU e a compreensão dos sistemas que interagem com a linguagem.

scholarly journals O glossário malaio do cavaleiro Pigafetta

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-133
Author(s):  
Luís Filipe F. R. Thomaz
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
The Third ◽  
Strait Of Magellan ◽  
The Strait Of Magellan ◽  
The Many

Of the many texts that narrate the first circumvention of the globe, it is, in fact, Antonio Pigafetta’s that is the most complete, rigorous, and reliable. Among its peculiarities is the inclusion of small glossaries for four different languages from tribes the travellers met. One is comprised of only eight words, from indigenous people of Brazil in the región of Guanabara; another, somewhat more developed, is from the “Patagonian Giants”, neighbouring the Strait of Magellan; the third is an Austronesian language of the natives of Cebu, in what is now the Philippines; and, finally, there is an extensive glossary of 426 Malay terms used throughout Insulindia, or present-day South-East Asea, as a lingua franca or trading language. The following is a detailed notation for the Malayan glossary.

Lexical Category and Alignment in Austronesian

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Type Systems ◽  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Austronesian Language

Philippine-type languages are often cited as exemplifying a cross-linguistically unique voice system, in which verb morphology can select not only an agent or patient, but also locative, instrumental and other adjunct type relations as the nominative argument. In this paper, we examine three approaches to this typologically remarkable system: the ergative analysis, the case agreement analysis and the nominalization analysis, arguing for the latter based on strong parallels between verbal and nominal predication from the root level to the clause level. The morphologically symmetric nature of Philippine-type languages is argued to stem from their nominal roots. The historical development of verbal roots leads to a more fixed argument structure in which canonical ergative languages develop. Mamuju, an Austronesian language of West Sulawesi, Indonesia, is offered as an example of a classically ergative language, in contrast to Philippine-type systems.

scholarly journals Ambel

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Laura Arnold
Keyword(s):  
New Guinea ◽  
Tourist Industry ◽  
The South ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
West Papua ◽  
The Government

Ambel (ISO 639-3: wgo) is an Austronesian language spoken by approximately 1600 people on the island of Waigeo in the Raja Ampat archipelago (West Papua province, Indonesia). Within Austronesian, Ambel belongs to the South Halmahera-West New Guinea (SHWNG) subbranch (see Blust 1978); within SHWNG, Ambel is classified as a Raja Ampat–South Halmahera language (RASH; Remijsen 2001:32–37; Kamholz 2014). Other languages spoken in Raja Ampat include Maˈya, Matbat, Biga, Batta, and several closely-related varieties on Salawati island (all RASH); Biak (a non-RASH SHWNG language); and varieties of Malay, in particular Papuan Malay. While historically Maˈya and Biak were used as lingua francas throughout the archipelago, these days Malay is the dominant language. The spread of Malay in recent decades has been facilitated by improvements in telecommunications and infrastructure in the region; the government-backed immigration of Indonesians from the overcrowded western islands of the nation to the more sparsely populated Papua; and a rapidly growing tourist industry throughout Raja Ampat.

scholarly journals The Status of Sì in Yoruba

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
Olabode Abimbola
Keyword(s):  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Status ◽  
Syntactic Function ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Computational Systems ◽  
Yoruba Language

This paper examines the syntax of sentential conjunction in the Yoruba language with the view of ascertaining the actual syntactic function of sì on which opinions have been polarized in the syntax of Yoruba grammar. This paper argues that the Yoruba language has a sentential/clausal conjunction element but its structural position is not the between the two clauses. The researcher conducted a series of structured interviews and also consulted existing works targeting the sì in compound clauses so as to generate the data for the research. The research adopts the Minimalist Program (MP) as its theoretical tool for the analyses presented in the article. MP views syntactic derivations as resulting from computational systems whose operations are based on operation Select and operation Merge. Syntactic structures are built in a par-wise fashion from bottom to top by putting two items together at a time. The research shows that there are three different sì in Yoruba occurring in seemingly similar environment but they are performing different syntactic functions. One sì denotes “emphasis” as a preverbal element; the second one denotes “consecutiveness of action” while the third one performs the function of sentential/clausal conjunction, an overt realization of the in the second clause. The overtly marked sentential/clausal conjunction also has a variant, which is an abstract realization between the two conjoined clauses.

scholarly journals To See a World in a Grain of Sand: Review of Legate (2014)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Hsin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Causative Constructions ◽  
Linguistic Understanding ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Seminal Article

Voice and v is an investigation of the syntax of an understudied Western Austronesian language, Acehnese, with a particular interest in its implications for the theory of verb phrase structure under the framework of the Minimalist Program. Since Pylkkänen's seminal article, the idea that the functional projection of verb phrases involves two distinct layers—a higher one (that is, Voice) that is responsible for introducing the external thematic role and Case-licensing the internal argument, and a lower one (that is, v) that is responsible for introducing causative semantics and verbalizing the root—has been advanced in a series of works under the Minimalist Program. This book presents novel evidence for this hypothesis based on an in-depth analysis of Acehnese passive, object voice, and causative constructions. Building on the empirical observations from Acehnese, the book makes further explorations of the syntactic typology of passives and causatives, on which the Acehnese data shed light. It contributes not only to the description and analysis of an understudied language, but also to the cross-linguistic understanding of the different flavors of Voice and the architecture of verb phrase structures.

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