Referring to arbitrary entities with placeholders

A speaker/writer uses a placeholder (PH) to fill in the syntactic slot of a target word when she has no immediate access to the word or prefers to avoid explicitly mentioning it for contextual reasons. In the present article, I point out a hitherto understudied usage of PHs: a speaker/writer who does not have in mind a specific target form may use a PH to refer to an arbitrary entity (e.g. person, object, action, event, proposition). I substantiate this claim by analysing a variety of original data on Japanese wh-derived PHs. Further evidence for this claim comes from a cross-linguistic survey of wh-derived PHs in Korean and demonstrative-derived PHs in Romanian and Bulgarian. I show that the arbitrary-referential function is observed in PHs in all these languages, regardless of their origins (i.e. wh word, demonstrative) and their categories (i.e. nominal, verbal).

Correlations between Case and the D-system and the interpretability of Case

A correlation between articles and Case has long been noted based on diachronic evidence. Beyond articles, evidence supports that this correlation extends further to clitics and the determiner system (the D-system) at large. The D-system in turn supports referential functions in grammar and is closely correlated to Person. The aim of the present article is to link support for these facts to the broader foundational question and independent recent theories of the function of Case as governing referential meaning in grammar at the level of clauses. This link is supported by specific evidence from the use of Accusative and Partitive clitics in Romance, which play the same roles strong Accusative vs. weak Partitive Case play in Finnish, which lacks articles, and similar patterns in languages such as Turkish, Russian, and Latin. Case therefore arguably determines the referential function of (pro-) nominals as part of event structures, whether synthetically or else analytically via the left periphery of the NP. This explains the historical links between Case and the D-system, which we further argue evidence from Greek has been incorrectly argued to contravene.

O referencji innych

On the Reference of inni The study focuses on the adjective inny [other] which appears in sentences in a noun position, yet with the noun absent, e.g. Nie porównuj się do innych; Inni dołączą do nas po 18 [literally in English: Do not compare yourself to others; Others will join as after 6 p.m.]. The analysis focuses on plural (masculine and non-masculine) forms of the adjective, which is related to the assumption that single and plural forms of the expression in question are differentiated functionally. The aim of the analysis is to determine the specificity of the unit as an exponent of reference. The main research issues concerned with the analyzed adjective include an attempt to refute the hypothesis of its substantivization, as well as answering the question whether the unit in its analyzed index (referential) function exhibits features of dictum. The solutions suggested in the study require further investigation, including addressing analyses of referential exponents of synonymous expressions.

Breaking the News: Max Jacob’s Le Cornet à dés (1917)

The recurring pastiches of journalistic writing in Max Jacob’s seminal collection are more complex than they initially appear—critical, not merely of this discourse’s supposed objectivity, but of the assumption that the transmission of valid, valuable news is ever really sought in the first place. The indiscretions of sensationalist, and even fallacious news items appear far less surprising when we acknowledge, along with Jacob, that the esthetic pleasure orienting poetic expression – which is dependent, precisely, on a certain distortion of truthful communication – is what the public expects from its news sources as well, if unconsciously. By identifying the texts in this collection that reference topics and discursive tropes of Belle Époque journalism (and its often indistinguishable sibling, le roman feuilleton), we find that the poet simultaneously draws on the “attractive force” of such writing, drawing his reader into its intrigue, while continually disrupting any stable referential function, through linguistic play. While Jacob is hardly an engaged artist, by laying bare the ultimately unsatisfying quick fix of headline news, reconstituting the latter as an objet d’art, he reminds us of an important truth after all: the most rewarding esthetic experiences are at once more transparent – fiction acknowledged as such – and more resistant to understanding.

立法语言中“主谓结构+的”的指代功能分析

This article discusses the usage of “VP + De” of “subject-predicate structure + De”, and analyzes its referential function. Besides transferred referent agent, patient, dative, and “the person or object which has possessive relationship with the object referred by subject”, “subject-predicate structure + De” in legislative language may transferred refer to the valence of certain valent nouns in VP. That relates to the written language nature of legislative language, which amounts of nominal verbs are used in legislative language.

Code Switching Analysis on You-Tube Channel #NebengBoy by Boy William

This study is entitled "Code-Switching Analysis on YouTube Channel "#NebengBoy by Boy William”. The aim of the study is to analyze the type and the function of code-switching on the Boy William YouTube Channel. The data is collected from the YouTube Channel of Boy William which is taken from Maudy Ayunda and Sandra Dewi episodes. The method and technique of collecting data is the documentation method, and the analysis is done by the qualitative method. The theory that is used to analyze the types and functions of code-switching is Apple & Muysken's theory (2015). Three types of code-switching are found namely tag switching, intra-sentential switching, and inter-sentential switching, and their six functions, namely referential function, directive function, expressive function, phatic function, metalinguistic function, and poetic function. Nonetheless, the metalinguistic function is not found in the analyzed data.

URBANISTIC NOMINATION IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN LANGUAGE PROCESSES THE: FUNCTIONAL-SEMANTIC AND LINGUOCULTURAL ASPECTS

The article deals with the modern Ukrainian urbanistic nomination as a constituent of active language processes. From the standpoint of general linguistics functional and semantic nature of urbanonym, its place and role in different discourses, the sociolinguistic phenomenon of renaming (on the example of Kyiv urbanonymy) are examined. In the context of ideas of reference analysis and semantics of syntax an urbanonym is characterized as a unit of an identifying type of meaning (as opposed to units of a predicate type of meaning), to which a close connection between a denotatum and a name, as well as the use in an utterance with the referential function is peculiar. It is shown that the functioning of an urbanistic nomination in oral discourse is determined, first of all, by the pragmatic factor, the speaker’s knowledge of the relationship between the denotatum and its name, his cultural background and experience of living in a certain urban space and by the need for orientation in it. In written speech, the urbanistic nomination is presented in reference and informational, media, historical-topographic, and fiction discourses, in which it has various functions, in particular, the function of identifying an individual or legal entity in juridical texts and other texts of a documentary type. The active sociolinguistic processes in which the urbanonyms are involved find an imprint in modern fiction discourse in the creation of non-standard syntactic constructions and the use of unofficial urbanistic nominations within the frame of language game. The practice of renaming is analyzed in the aspect of reference analysis, in connection with which two types of linguocultural situations are distinguished, due to the correlation between the transformation of the urban object (denotatum) and the change of name. It is shown that in the modern Ukrainian practice of renaming, there is a steady tendency towards the introduction of an additional predicate semantic component into the meaning of an urbanonym. It is concluded that the current functioning of the urbanonym is subordinated to the mechanisms that operate in the different discursive practices.

Using depiction for efficient communication in LIS (Italian Sign Language)

abstract Meanings communicated with depictions constitute an integral part of how speakers and signers actually use language (Clark, 2016). Recent studies have argued that, in sign languages, depicting strategy like constructed action (CA), in which a signer enacts the referent, is used for referential purposes in narratives. Here, we tested the referential function of CA in a more controlled experimental setting and outside narrative context. Given the iconic properties of CA we hypothesized that this strategy could be used for efficient information transmission. Thus, we asked if use of CA increased with the increase in the information required to be communicated. Twenty-three deaf signers of LIS described unconnected images, which varied in the amount of information represented, to another player in a director–matcher game. Results revealed that participants used CA to communicate core information about the images and also increased the use of CA as images became informatively denser. The findings show that iconic features of CA can be used for referential function in addition to its depictive function outside narrative context and to achieve communicative efficiency.

Linguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects of Silence: A Structural Model of Communication

Introduction. This work examines the role of silence along the lines of the theoretical considerations suggested by L. Wittgenstein and M. Heidegger. It also focuses on the role of communicative silence in each of the six functions of language in the structural model of communication put forward by Roman Jacobson. Other important types of functions are considered.Methodology and sources. Firstly, various philosophical and linguistic approaches towards the definition of silence are studied. Non-communicative silence, being outside the language domain, is differentiated from silence as part of communication, which is treated as a zero speech act in its own right. Finally, the paper analyzes the roles of communicative silence in the communicative model developed by Jacobson. Aesthetic function of silence is given special attention to. The poststructuralist view of silence is discussed.Results and discussion. Silence, acting as a linguistic sign, could convey information in the referential function; it could express emotions and personal experiences while performing the emotive function. As far as the conative function is concerned, silence serves to exert direct pressure on the addressee. Regarding the phatic function, silence acts as a means of establishing or discontinuing communication. Poetic silence focuses on the message for its own sake and manifests itself in repeating elements, such as syntactic pauses of various lengths and in differing contexts. Aesthetic function of silence is studied in a broader sense and involves the implementation of the motif of silence or “quietness” in a work of art. Silence becomes an important tool to study the acoustic, rhythmical potential of prosaic and poetic texts. With regard to silence in the metalinguistic function, it focuses primarily on the code of communication, i. e. on the language and its structure. The view of silence in psychoanalytical practice is also taken into account.Conclusion. The study of the phenomenon of silence allows to see a different number of functions it performs in situations when the speaker is either in a particular opposition to the speaker; or the situation is associated with a sense of respect, grief, humility. Silence could also accompany a number of emotive states, and perform a major role in prosaic and poetic texts when it stands out against the sounds that the main character hears around him allowing texts to bring out its acoustic properties. Psycho-analytical perspective allows to reveal more functions of silence.