The Role of Mutual Information and Bayesian Probability in Sentence Processing: The Case of Dangling Topic Construction in Chinese

This study intends to clarify syntactic problems concerning dangling topic construction in Mandarin Chinese by using probabilistic approaches. The relationship between the topic and the rest of the construction is often analyzed syntactically in studies of topic construction in Mandarin Chinese. However, dangling topic construction, wherein the topic in the construction seems to dangle, is not clarified by the syntactic approaches. Accordingly, previous studies had to implicitly make use of other approaches (such as pragmatics or semantic-pragmatics) to advance their arguments. The difficulty is that the concepts of pragmatics used in these studies are very vague and subjective. In order to tackle this problem, this paper explicitly computes the relation in dangling topic construction in Chinese using pointwise mutual information and Bayesian models. We also collected experiential data using human ratings of the acceptance degree for a set of dangling topic constructions. The result demonstrates that the pointwise mutual information and Bayesian model are well predicative of the data on the human rating of these dangling topic constructions. This approach is likely to shed more light on the notion of topic construction and to help in understanding how Chinese speakers comprehend and process sentences and come to understand their meaning. More importantly, this study creates a novel, effective and practical computational approach to sentence processing, syntactic analysis and pragmatics studies.

Active Gap Filling and Island Constraint in Processing the Mandarin “Gap-Type” Topic Structure

There is a long-standing debate concerning whether Mandarin topic constructions are movement-derived and form a filler-gap dependency like the English-type topicalization. This ERP study explores this issue by testing whether island constraints, a diagnostic for movement, are actively observed during online processing of the Mandarin “gap-type” topic construction, an understudied area in Mandarin sentence processing research. Following the paradigm of Traxler and Pickering's 1996 study, we manipulated islandhood (relative clause island conditions vs. no island conditions) and plausibility, or whether the topic is a plausible object of the potential subcategorizing verb based on animacy fit (i.e., “greet a teacher” vs. “greet a file”) in a 2 × 2 design. We predict that any plausibility effect obtained for the non-island conditions would disappear for the island conditions if the parser observes the island constraint and avoids positing gaps inside an island. we observed a P600-previously found for animacy violations-for the non-island conditions but not for the island conditions. Additionally, we found a positive-going component occurring from 588 to 792 ms at the fronto-central site for the island condition at the potential gap site. While this novel ERP's interpretation is yet to be determined, it is unlikely to indicate any plausibility effect. Our findings suggest that the parser is sensitive to island constraints in online processing of the Mandarin “gap-type” topic structure, and lend support to the movement analysis for Mandarin topicalization.

Building Topics in Guiziga: A Cartographic Perspective

This article attempts to provide a description of topic constructions in the Guiziga language within the cartographic framework. Data for this work were collected using both the primary and secondary source. The analyses reveal that this language does not select topicalizers as it is the case in other Chadic languages (Bebey 2015 and 2018). It also demonstrates that the topicalized constituents undergo an upward movement to land in the Spec,Top, while it leaves an empty trace in the original position. The language tolerates multiple Topic Phrases (TopP) in the sentence left periphery. Also, it is demonstrated that the subject –NP involves the apparition of the presumptive pronoun given the prominence of the latter. At the semantic level, the article indicates that topics in Guiziga are revelations about old information, rather than simple old information.

Transfer and unlearning of topic prominence by Chinese learners of English

Chinese allows both gapped and gapless topic constructions without their usage being restricted to specific contexts, while English only allows gapped topic constructions which are used in certain contexts. In other words, Chinese uses ‘topic prominence’, whereas English does not. The contrast between English and Chinese topic constructions poses a learnability problem for Chinese learners of English. This paper uses an empirical study investigating first language (L1) transfer in the case of Chinese learners of English and the extent to which they are able to unlearn topic prominence as they progress in second language (L2) English. Results of an acceptability judgment test indicate that Chinese learners of English initially transfer Chinese topic prominence into their English, then gradually unlearn Chinese topic prominence as their English proficiency improves, and finally unlearn Chinese topic prominence successfully. The results support the Full Transfer Theory (Schwartz, Bonnie & Rex Sprouse. 1996. L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research 12. 40–72) and the Variational Learning Model (Yang, Charles. 2004. Universal Grammar, statistics or both? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8. 451–456), but contradict the proposal that the topic prominence can never be transferred but may be unlearned from the beginning in Chinese speakers’ acquisition of English (Zheng, Chao. 2001. Nominal Constructions Beyond IP and Their Initial Restructuring in L2 Acquisition. Guangzhou: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Ph.D. dissertation). In addition, the type of topic constructions that is used and whether or not a comma is added after the topic have an effect on learners’ transfer and unlearning of topic prominence. It is proposed that the specification of Agr(eement) and T(ense) as well as the presence of expletive subjects in English input can trigger the unlearning of topic prominence for Chinese learners of English.

Towards A Comprehensive Model For Interpreting Word Order In Classical Biblical Hebrew

In this paper we examine the function of fronting constructions in verbal clauses in Classical Biblical Hebrew, i.e. constructions that involve the placement of a clause constituent before the verb. We present a model that accommodates the vast majority of cases of fronting in a sample corpus of 1 Samuel. A key feature of our model is the recognition that fronting constructions include both categorical sentences, which make a predication about a base of predication, and also thetic sentences, which present a unitary situation. We classify fronting constructions into three types: (i) narrow constituent focus constructions, (ii) selecting topic constructions, (iii) thetic constructions. An innovative idea that is developed in the paper is that constructions (i) and (iii), although exhibiting different configurations of information structure, nevertheless share various functional properties on the level of discourse organization. On account of these shared properties, we argue that thetic constructions (iii) can be regarded as functional extensions of narrow focus constructions (i). Recognition of these various types of fronting and their interrelationship contributes to a better understanding of the phenomenon.

On so-called “gapless” constructions in Japanese

It has been claimed (Inoue, Kazuko. 1976. Henkei Bunpō to Nihongo. [Transformation grammar and Japanese]. Tokyo: Taishūkan.; Kuno, Susumu. 1973. The structure of the Japanese language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.; Saito, Mamoru. 1985. Some asymmetries in Japanese and their theoretical consequences. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.) that Japanese “gapless” topic constructions and relative clauses are derived by base-generation. Evidence in favor of the base-generation analysis comes from the observation that there does exist any derivational source of the “gapless” construction. Contrary to this widely accepted view, this paper argues that the Japanese “gapless” construction is derived in terms of movement enforced by labeling. Under the proposed analysis, obligatory raising of a phrase to the topic/relative head position, which is required by labeling, accounts for the fact that there does not seem to exist any derivational source of the “gapless” construction at first sight. It is shown that our movement analysis is supported by island, reconstruction, and parasitic gap facts. If our analysis is on the right track, it gives further support for the Free Merge coupled with a labeling algorithm approach (Chomsky, Noam. 2013. Problems of projection. Lingua 130. 33–49. and Chomsky, Noam. 2015. Problems of projection: Extensions. In Elisa Di Domenico, Cornelia Hamann & Simona Matteini (eds.), Structures, strategies, and beyond: Studies in honor of Adriana Belletti, 1–16. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.).

Composite utterances in a signed language: Topic constructions and perspective-taking in ASL

Composite utterances are utterances that are built from multiple signs of multiple types, meaning that in any conversational “move” speech, gestures, eye-gaze, intonation patterns, physical stance, etc. all participate in the utterance, and the meaning derived from it is constructed by the composite of these participant types. likewise considers utterances as multimodal ensembles. The present study investigates how the notion of composite utterance plays out in a signed language such as ASL. Articulated in the same modality as are gestures, the distinction between language and gesture has seemed less clear, leading some to ask whether signers even gesture at all and some to suggest that gestures and formal signed language are substantively different systems. On the other hand, others have posited a continuity approach to gesture and signed language especially in light of grammaticalization studies. Here I examine topic-comment constructions and perspectivized clauses in ASL through the lens of Enfield’s composite utterances proposal, looking at component parts and how they function to ground elements in the discourse and guide the interlocutor through the textual structure. I use Enfield’s conventional versus non-conventional type categories in examining lexical and prosodic elements in topic and perspective-taking constructions.