scholarly journals Clausal modifiers in noun phrases: A comparison of English and Norwegian based on the Oslo Multilingual Corpus

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Elsness
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Past Participle ◽  
Multilingual Corpus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
General Fact

The structure of the noun phrase has many common features in English and Norwegian. One feature shared by the two languages is that noun phrases often contain clausal postmodifiers. However, there are marked differences in the types of clauses occurring: Postmodifying clauses in Norwegian tend to be finite relative clauses, while in English there is much more variation, connected with the general fact that -ing clauses and past-participle clauses are common non-finite alternatives in that language, in addition to infinitive clauses. These all tend to be less explicit modifiers than relative clauses, in terms of both their semantic content and their syntactic structure. The study reported in this article confirms that Norwegian noun phrases are often characterised by a higher degree of explicitness than corresponding English ones. A major finding is a tendency for information which is expressed by clausal noun-phrase modifiers in English to be expressed by other means in Norwegian, sometimes outside the same noun phrase, which can often be seen as the extreme case of explicitness. The study is based on an investigation of corresponding noun phrases in the English-Norwegian Parallel Corpus (ENPC), part of the Oslo Multilingual Corpus. In an attempt to offset the impact of individual translators’ preferences, the Multiple-translation Corpus, consisting of ten different Norwegian translations of each of two English Original texts, is also examined.

scholarly journals Relativization Strategies of Sasak Ngeno Ngene Dialect in Lombok

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Nurachman Hanafi ◽  
Udin Udin ◽  
Eni Djuhaeni ◽  
Edy Syahrial
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
Coding Strategy ◽  
The Right

Relative clauses (RC), in whatever the languages, are essential for investigation especially on how noun phrases as nuclear and oblique relations are workable in Keenan & Comrie’s (1977) Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy. In this paper, Relativization Strategies of Sasak Ngeno-Ngene Dialect in Lombok is presented with the aims are (1) describing the ability of these relations in direct relativization, (2) analyzing the strategies used when indirect relativization occurs, and (3) formulating the right orderings of these relations in the hierarchy. The data on relativization strategies were taken by elicitations, an interview with some informants and documentation of the previous related studies. Then, a careful analysis was made with reference to common linguistic typological approach. The results of this study showed that: (1) gap strategy underlines direct relativization for S (subject) of SVO, O (object) of OVS and OBL of destination, (2) case-coding strategy is preferred by OBL of locative, and (3) passivization strategy is suitable for all indirect relativizations for O (object) of SVO and OBL of benefactive, recipient, and instrumental. The hierarchy of nuclear and oblique relations were formulated: S (SVO) > O (OVS) > OBL (DES > LOC) in direct relativization. Conversely, the hierarchy of O (SVO) > OBL (BEN > RECIP > INST) is shown in indirect relativization.

Typologizing nominal expressions: the noun phrase and beyond

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Louagie ◽  
Uta Reinöhl
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Structural Types ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article develops foundations for a new typology of nominal expressions. Despite the significant diversity attested in languages around the world, a view traditionally and sometimes still found holds that languages either have ‘classic’, rigidly structured noun phrases (NPs) or lack them. A simple dichotomy, however, does not adequately represent the significant language-internal and crosslinguistic diversity of forms and functions of nominal expressions. While many linguists may not in fact think in such binary terms, a comprehensive typology is still wanting. This article offers foundations towards such a typology, with a particular emphasis on language-internal diversity. This diversity within languages has received little attention in previous studies, even while it reveals much about the actual complexity in the nominal domain. Besides surveying structural types and their motivating factors across as well as within languages from around the world, this article approaches nominal expressions also from a variety of other perspectives to enrich our understanding of them. This includes approaching nominal expressions from the perspective of word class systems as well as diachronically. We round off the article by looking at the impact of orality-literacy dimensions and communicative modes.

The correspondence between sentence production and corpus frequencies in modifier attachment

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 879-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Desmet ◽  
Marc Brysbaert ◽  
Constantijn De Baecke
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguity ◽  
Attachment Preference ◽  
Attachment Sites ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Relative Clause Attachment

We examined the production of relative clauses in sentences with a complex noun phrase containing two possible attachment sites for the relative clause (e.g., “Someone shot the servant of the actress who was on the balcony.”). On the basis of two corpus analyses and two sentence continuation tasks, we conclude that much research about this specific syntactic ambiguity has used complex noun phrases that are quite uncommon. These noun phrases involve the relationship between two humans and, at least in Dutch, induce a different attachment preference from noun phrases referring to non-human entities. We provide evidence that the use of this type of complex noun phrase may have distorted the conclusions about the processes underlying relative clause attachment. In addition, it is shown that, notwithstanding some notable differences between sentence production in the continuation task and in coherent text writing, there seems to be a remarkable correspondence between the attachment patterns obtained with both modes of production.

Amharic Relatives and Possessives: Definiteness, Agreement, and the Linker

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel den Dikken
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Head Movement ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases

Ouhalla's (2004) valuable discussion of relativized and possessed noun phrases in Amharic leaves a number of questions open. Foremost among these is the placement of the linker element yä-. Starting from an analysis of relative clauses and possessors as predicates of their “heads,” this article develops a syntax of complex noun phrases in Amharic that explains the raison d'être and placement of yä-, and also accommodates facts about definiteness marking and agreement in the Amharic complex noun phrase that have hitherto largely escaped attention or analysis. The analysis emphasizes the role of Predicate Inversion and head movement in syntax, and it confirms and extends the minimalist Agree- and phase-based approach to syntactic relationships.

scholarly journals Internally-Headed Relative Clauses in Hakha Chin

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefon M Flego
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Embedded Clause

Hakha Chin, an underdocumented Tibeto-Burman language, is reported to have internally-headed relative clauses (IHRCs), a typologically rare syntactic structure in which the head noun phrase surfaces within the relative clause itself. The current study provides new data and novel observations which bear on several outstanding questions about IHRCs in this language: 1) Relativization of locative and instrumental adjuncts in IHRCs is avoided. 2) Conflicting stem allomorph requirements of negation and relativization of non-subjects give rise to optionality in stem choice when the two are brought together in an IHRC. 3) To relativize an indirect object, an IHRC is either avoided altogether, or the noun phrase is fronted to the absolute left-most position in the embedded clause. 4) Relativization of NPs with a human referent in an IHRC exhibit relativizer gender agreement, which has not been previously reported for this clause type in Hakha Chin.

scholarly journals Semantic relations underlie non-linear planning in complex noun phrases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENS ROESER ◽  
Mark Torrance ◽  
Thom Baguley
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Production System ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Surface Form ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Non Linear

When producing a noun phrase whether or not pre-planning extends beyond theinitial noun varies with the phrase’s syntactic structure. However it is not clear on whatbasis – conceptual or syntactic – the production system determines that pre-planning isnecessary. In two experiments (Ns= 32, 64) participants produced noun phrases inresponse to picture arrays. Surface form was held constant but scope of the initialdeterminer was manipulated by varying the contrastive functions of the first and thesecond noun (e.g., The man with the painting [but not the girl with the painting] vs. Theman with the painting [but not the man with the ball]). Evidence from eye movement data revealed a stronger tendency for early planning in the extended-scope condition. This is evidence that pre-planning requirements of structurally complex noun phrase are determined prior to the processing of syntax and lexis.

A Multilevel Functional Classification of Relative Clauses

1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edoardo Lombardi Vallauri
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Functional Classification ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Formal Features

Relative Clauses (RCs) have been described and classified according to many different criteria (Sect. 1). This article deals with the distinctions that can be observed within the variety of English RCs in terms of phonological shape, syntactic structure, semantic content, presuppositions and thematic structure of the utterance. A classification of RCs is proposed, which is based upon criteria of all different levels (Sect. 2). The aim is to provide a way to characterize as precisely as possible the functional features of any RC in correlation with its formal features. The classification is then applied to an analysis of the often stated equivalence between RCs and other kinds of linguistic constituents, leading to the recognition of the different types of RCs that are functionally equivalent to adjectives, participles, prepositional phrases and coordinated sentences (Sect. 3). A further application proposed is the comparison between the functional and formal features of English and Italian RCs (Sect. 4).

scholarly journals THE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF AWGNI NOUN PHRASES

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-122
Author(s):  
Berhanu Asaye Agajie
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Objective Data ◽  
Lexical Categories ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Labeling Algorithm

The objective of this study is to examine the syntactic structure of Awgni Noun Phrases. The assumption of Labeling Algorithm {XP, H} is holding on, and a descriptive research design was employed to explore the intended objective. Data for this research were enriched by interviewing 12 native speakers of Awgni specializing in the proposed language. Through expert samplings, 20 Noun Phrases were selected and illustrated. Results showed that the Noun Phrases in Awgni could be formed out of the head Nouns all along through other lexical categories reminiscent of the Noun Phrases, Adjective Phrases, Verb Phrases, Determiner Phrases, and Adverb Phrases.  These grammatical items were serving as dependents to the head Nouns. The head Nouns in Awgni are for all time right-headed. These heads are the only obligatory constituents, while the Phrasal categories are optional elements which could be either modifiers or complements to the head Nouns. In this regard, Labeling Algorithm explicitly chooses the contiguous Noun heads that are the label of the complete Syntactic Objects (SOs) anticipated for all Noun Phrase structures.

The interaction of notional number and morphophonology in subject–verb agreement: A role for working memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 890-900
Author(s):  
Heidi Lorimor ◽  
Carrie N Jackson ◽  
Janet G van Hell
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Subject Noun ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

Research shows that cross-linguistically, subject–verb agreement with complex noun phrases (e.g., The label on the bottles) is influenced by notional number and the presence of homophony in case, gender, or number morphology. Less well-understood is whether notional number and morphophonology interact during speech production, and whether the relative impact of these two factors is influenced by working memory capacity. Using an auditory sentence completion task, we investigated the impact of notional number and morphophonology on agreement with complex subject noun phrases in Dutch. Results revealed main effects of notional number and morphophonology. Critically, there was also an interaction between morphophonology and notional number because participants showed greater notional effects when the determiners were homophonous and morphophonologically ambiguous. Furthermore, participants with higher working memory scores made fewer agreement errors when the subject noun phrase contained homophonous determiners, and this effect was greater when the subject noun phrase was notionally singular. These findings support the hypothesis that cue-based retrieval plays a role in agreement production, and suggests that the ability to correctly assign subject–verb agreement—especially in the presence of homophonous determiners—is modulated by working memory capacity.

The relative verb forms of Cuwabo (Bantu P34) as contextually oriented participles

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-491
Author(s):  
Rozenn Guérois ◽  
Denis Creissels
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
The Subject ◽  
North Western

AbstractCuwabo (Bantu P34, Mozambique) illustrates a relativization strategy, also attested in some North-Western and Central Bantu languages, whose most salient characteristics are that: (a) the initial agreement slot of the verb form does not express agreement with the subject (as in independent clauses), but agreement with the head noun; (b) the initial agreement slot of the verb form does not express agreement in person and number-gender (or class), but only in number-gender; (c) when a noun phrase other than the subject is relativized, the noun phrase encoded as the subject in the corresponding independent clause occurs in post-verbal position and does not control any agreement mechanism. In this article, we show that, in spite of the similarity between the relative verb forms of Cuwabo and the corresponding independent verb forms, and the impossibility of isolating a morphological element analyzable as a participial formative, the relative verb forms of Cuwabo are participles, with the following two particularities: they exhibit full contextual orientation, and they assign a specific grammatical role to the initial subject, whose encoding in relative clauses coincides neither with that of subjects of independent verb forms, nor with that of adnominal possessors.

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