The Mapping of Thematic Roles to Grammatical Functions in Mandarin BA Construction Denoting Causation: From the Perspective of Lexical Mapping Theory

NP1 in the position of the subject of the mandarin BA construction denoting causation is usually occupied by patientlike roles and NP2 immediately following BA is usually occupied by agentlike roles. The causative relation between NP1 and NP2, with the former being the Cause, and the latter the Affectee, derives from the word BA, which triggers in the lexicon the morpholexical operation of causativization when it unites with the predicate. The operation involves either assignment of causative roles Cause and Affectee to the existent thematic roles or insertion of a new role Cause to the thematic structure, with the prominence of Cause or the thematic role assigned Cause always being over the other roles. Having undergone this morpholexical operation, the thematic structure correctly maps to and generates the grammatical functional structure according to the general principles and conditions stipulated by the Lexical Mapping Theory (LMT). The result of this research shows that even for a construction as unique as the mandarin BA construction denoting causation compared with any other languages, LMT is still well applicable in explaining its role-function mapping.

Passive constructions in Setswana

The paper analyses passive constructions in Setswana from morpho-syntactic view point, showing that the suffixation of a passive morpheme to the verb reduces the argument structure of the verb. Previous studies carried out in Setswana verbal suffixes have confined their investigations to these morphemes as elements of morphology but have failed to observe that these affixes overlap into syntax. Chebanne (1996) observes that in Setswana, verbal extensions can combine with a single verbal base but fail to observe the overlap into syntax. Further, the studies do not give any insight in the features that Setswana shares with other Bantu languages. The passive construction in Setswana, like in other Bantu languages, is a bit complex in the sense that the verbal extension –iw brings into effect the dropping of the subject, and the object becomes the grammatical subject, thus rendering the transitive verb, such as, apaya ‘cook’ intransitive. Conversely, other derivational suffixes, such as applicative and causative, increase the verb’s arguments by two. For instance, the suffixation of the verbal suffix –el suggests an entity carrying out the action and somebody benefiting. The paper also compares passive with other verbal extensions such as neuter, applicative, causatives and reciprocals. It shows that while the passive occurs with most verbs and other verbal extensions, such as, applicative or causative suffixes, the neuter is rigid in occurring with other verbal extensions. The paper also appeals to Lexical Mapping Theory, whose role is to constrain mapping relations between thematic roles, such as an agent or patient and the corresponding grammatical functions, such as the subject, patient and oblique that have been subcategorized for by predicates

Hjelmslev, la sémiotique et l’École de Paris

An initial appraisal of the contribution of Hjelmslevian theory to the structuring of French semiotics was made during an interview with A-J. Greimas in 1986. Thirty years later, this article draws a more complete picture of Louis Hjelmslev’s contribution to the semiotics of the School of Paris. Starting with a lexical mapping of Hjelmslev’s legacy, we focus on the definition of semiotics. According to the Prolégomènes of Hjelmslev, the first volume of the Dictionary of Greimas and Courtés gives the definition of semiotics as a “hierarchy of relationships.” A historical investigation reveals, however, a lack of certainty about which exact place should be given to participative oppositions. Considering both the early writings of the Danish author as well as the developments in tensive theory, an alternative definition seems essential. In the hierarchy of relationships (particular and qualitative), this definition incorporates other modes of meaning, specifically the participative network of relationships. According to Hjelmslev’s categorization of cases, such integration reconciles logical and pre-logical orientations. Ultimately, this definition is the closest to the logic of hypertexual writing, to language and being.

Differences in phonetic-to-lexical perceptual mapping of L1 and L2 regional accents

This study investigates how second language (L2) listeners match an unexpected accented form to their stored form of a word. The phonetic-to-lexical mapping for L2 as compared to L1 regional varieties was examined with early and late Italian-L2 speakers who were all L1-Australian English speakers. AXB discrimination and lexical decision tasks were conducted in both languages, using unfamiliar regional accents that minimize (near-merge) consonant contrasts maintained in their own L1-L2 accents. Results reveal that in the L2, early bilinguals’ recognition of accented variants depended on their discrimination capacity. Late bilinguals, for whom the accented variants were not represented in their L2 lexicon, instead mapped standard and accented exemplars to the same lexical representations (i.e., dual mapping: Samuel & Larraza, 2015). By comparison, both groups showed the same broad accommodation to L1 accented variants. Results suggest qualitatively different yet similarly effective phonetic-to-lexical mapping strategies both for L2 versus L1 regional accents.

Word Learning in 6-Month-Olds: Fast Encoding–Weak Retention

There has been general consensus that initial word learning during early infancy is a slow and time-consuming process that requires very frequent exposure, whereas later in development, infants are able to quickly learn a novel word for a novel meaning. From the perspective of memory maturation, this shift in behavioral development might represent a shift from slow procedural to fast declarative memory formation. Alternatively, it might be caused by the maturation of specific brain structures within the declarative memory system that may support lexical mapping from the very first. Here, we used the neurophysiological method of ERPs to watch the brain activity of 6-month-old infants, when repeatedly presented with object–word pairs in a cross-modal learning paradigm. We report first evidence that infants as young as 6 months are able to associate objects and words after only very few exposures. A memory test 1 day later showed that infants did not fully forget this newly acquired knowledge, although the ERP effects indicated it to be less stable than immediately after encoding. The combined results suggest that already at 6 months the encoding process of word learning is based on fast declarative memory formation, but limitations in the consolidation of declarative memory diminish the long lasting effect in lexical-semantic memory at that age.

Optimality-Theoretic Lexical Mapping Theory

Locative inversion verbs seem to share the same argument structure and grammatical function assignment (i.e., ) cross-linguistically. This article discusses the nature of argument-function linking in LFG and demonstrates how the Lexical Mapping Theory (LMT) rendered in Optimality-Theoretic (OT) terms, where argument-function linking is governed by universal violable constraints that consistently favor the unmarked function, accounts for locative inversion straightforwardly. Within this OT-LMT, locative inversion is due to a universal morphosyntactic constraint, and language variation in locative inversion is due to the difference in its relative ranking. This account also offers a potential explanation for the markedness of the locative inversion construction.

Optimality-Theoretic Lexical Mapping Theory

Locative inversion verbs seem to share the same argument structure and grammatical function assignment (i.e., ) cross-linguistically. This article discusses the nature of argument-function linking in LFG and demonstrates how the Lexical Mapping Theory (LMT) rendered in Optimality-Theoretic (OT) terms, where argument-function linking is governed by universal violable constraints that consistently favor the unmarked function, accounts for locative inversion straightforwardly. Within this OT-LMT, locative inversion is due to a universal morphosyntactic constraint, and language variation in locative inversion is due to the difference in its relative ranking. This account also offers a potential explanation for the markedness of the locative inversion construction.