Download or read book A Unified Account of the Properties of Demonstrative Pronouns in German written by Stefan Hinterwimmer and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Pronouns in Embedded Contexts at the Syntax Semantics Interface written by Pritty Patel-Grosz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-10-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents studies on pronouns in embedded contexts, and offers fundamental insights into this central area of research. Much of the recent research on pronouns has shown that embedded environments, such as clausal complements of attitude predicates, provide a window into the nature of pronouns. Pronouns in such environments not only exhibit familiar distinctions such as that between bound and referential pronouns; if they refer to the attitude holder, they also participate in a broader range of phenomena, e.g., distinguishing between a de se reading (involving a conscious self-directed belief) and a de re reading (involving an accidental belief about oneself). Topics covered include: the semantics of attitude reports that contain pronominal elements, the semantics of pronominal features and their connection to indexicality, new insights in the connection of pronominal typology and logophoricity or anti-logophoricity, and finally, the localization of embedded pronouns within a bigger picture involving the nature of perspective and the analysis of quasi-pronominal phenomena such as sequence of tense.

Download or read book The Impact of Pronominal Form on Interpretation written by Patrick Grosz and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-04-11 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interplay between the interpretation of pronouns (e.g. bound/referential) and their form (e.g. null/overt) is still ill-understood. This volume has a cross-linguistic orientation with in-depth investigations of more than 10 different languages. It unites researchers from the linguistic subfields of syntax, semantics, and psycholinguistics, thus furthering dialogue with the goal of shedding new light on the form/interpretation connection.

Download or read book Impact of the type of referring expression on the acquisition of word order variation written by Sauermann, Antje and published by Universitätsverlag Potsdam. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation examines the impact of the type of referring expression on the acquisition of word order variation in German-speaking preschoolers. A puzzle in the area of language acquisition concerns the production-comprehension asymmetry for non-canonical sentences like "Den Affen fängt die Kuh." (“The monkey, the cow chases.”), that is, preschoolers usually have difficulties in accurately understanding non-canonical sentences approximately until age six (e.g., Dittmar et al., 2008) although they produce non-canonical sentences already around age three (e.g., Poeppel & Wexler, 1993; Weissenborn, 1990). This dissertation investigated the production and comprehension of non-canonical sentences to address this issue. Three corpus analyses were conducted to investigate the impact of givenness, topic status and the type of referring expression on word order in the spontaneous speech of two- to four-year-olds and the child-directed speech produced by their mothers. The positioning of the direct object in ditransitive sentences was examined; in particular, sentences in which the direct object occurred before or after the indirect object in the sentence-medial positions and sentences in which it occurred in the sentence-initial position. The results reveal similar ordering patterns for children and adults. Word order variation was to a large extent predictable from the type of referring expression, especially with respect to the word order involving the sentence-medial positions. Information structure (e.g., topic status) had an additional impact only on word order variation that involved the sentence-initial position. Two comprehension experiments were conducted to investigate whether the type of referring expression and topic status influences the comprehension of non-canonical transitive sentences in four- and five-year-olds. In the first experiment, the topic status of the one of the sentential arguments was established via a preceding context sentence, and in the second experiment, the type of referring expression for the sentential arguments was additionally manipulated by using either a full lexical noun phrase (NP) or a personal pronoun. The results demonstrate that children’s comprehension of non-canonical sentences improved when the topic argument was realized as a personal pronoun and this improvement was independent of the grammatical role of the arguments. However, children’s comprehension was not improved when the topic argument was realized as a lexical NP. In sum, the results of both production and comprehension studies support the view that referring expressions may be seen as a sentence-level cue to word order and to the information status of the sentential arguments. The results highlight the important role of the type of referring expression on the acquisition of word order variation and indicate that the production-comprehension asymmetry is reduced when the type of referring expression is considered. --- Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation wurde der Einfluss des referierenden Ausdrucks auf den Erwerb von Wortstellungsvariationen bei deutschsprachigen Vorschulkindern untersucht. Eine zentrale Fragestellung im Spracherwerb betrifft die Asymmetrie zwischen Produktion und Verständnis. Diese Asymmetrie ist dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sechsjährige Kinder oft Schwierigkeiten haben, Sätze in der nicht-kanonischen Wortstellung, z.B. „Den Affen fängt die Kuh.“, zu verstehen (z.B., Dittmar et al., 2008), obwohl bereits Dreijährige nicht-kanonische Sätze produzieren können (z.B., Poeppel & Wexler, 1993; Weissenborn, 1990). Um diese Asymmetrie zu untersuchen wurde in der Dissertation die Produktion und das Verständnis von nicht-kanonischen Sätzen betrachtet. In drei Korpusstudien wurde der Einfluss von Vorerwähntheit, Topikstatus und Wahl des referierenden Ausdrucks auf die Wortstellung in der Spontansprache von Zwei- bis Vierjährigen und in der kind-gerichteten Sprache ihre Mütter analysiert. Es wurde die Position des direkten Objektes in ditransitiven Sätzen untersucht, d.h., Sätze in denen das direkte Objekt vor oder nach dem indirekten Objekt in den satzmedialen Positionen stand, und Sätze in denen es in der satzinitialen Position stand. Die Ergebnisse zeigen ähnlich Abfolgemuster in der Satzproduktion der Kindern und Erwachsenen. Die Position des direkten Objektes, vor allem in den satzmedialen Positionen, war zu einem großen Teil durch die Wahl des referierenden Ausdrucks vorhersagbar. Informationsstrukturelle Faktoren (z.B. Topikstatus) hingegen beeinflussten - unabhängig vom Einfluss des referierenden Ausdrucks - nur die Wortstellung in der satzinitialen Position. Zwei Verständnisexperimente wurden durchgeführt um den Einfluss des referierenden Ausdrucks und des Topikstatuses auf das Verständnis von nicht-kanonischen transitiven Sätzen zu untersuchen. Im ersten Experiment wurde der Topikstatus eines der beiden Satzargumente durch einen vorherigen Kontext modifiziert. Im zweiten Experiment wurde zusätzlich der referierende Ausdruck modifiziert, d.h. das Topik wurde entweder durch eine lexikalische Nominalphrase (NP) oder ein Personalpronomen realisiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass vier- und fünfjährige Kinder Sätze in der nichtkanonischen Wortstellung besser verstehen konnten, wenn das Topik als Personalpronomen realisiert wurde, unabhängig von der grammatischen Rolle des Topiks. Das Satzverständnis war jedoch nicht verbessert, wenn das Topik als lexikalische NP realisiert wurde. Zusammengefasst zeigen die Ergebnisse der Produktions- und Verständnisstudien, dass der referierende Ausdruck als Hinweis auf die Wortstellung und auf den Informationsstatus der Argumente des Satzes von den Kindern genutzt werden kann. Sie unterstreichen somit die Bedeutung der Wahl des referierenden Ausdrucks auf den Erwerb von Wortstellungsvariation und zeigen, dass die Asymmetrie zwischen Produktion und Verständnis an Bedeutung verliert, wenn der referierende Ausdruck einbezogen wird.

Download or read book Empirical Perspectives on Anaphora Resolution written by Anke Holler and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally, anaphor resolution focused on structural cues of the antecedent. Recently, the interaction between discourse factors and information structure affecting antecedent salience has been more thoroughly explored. This volume depicts selected peer-reviewed research papers that tackle issues in anaphor resolution from theoretical, empirical and experimental perspectives. These collected articles present a wide spectrum of cross-linguistic data (Dutch, German, Spanish, Turkish, Yurakaré) and also offer new results from L1 and L2 acquisition studies. Data interpretation span from typological to psycholinguistic viewpoints and are related to recent developments in linguistic theory. One data analysis puts the issue of anaphor resolution in a historical context. The experimental findings are complemented by reviews of the current literature on the role of discourse units. This volume gives a comprehensive overview of the state of discussion how the interaction between information structure and contextual discourse affects salience. That's why it will be welcomed by all linguists and psycholinguists who are theoretically and / or experimentally investigating several aspects of anaphor resolution.

Download or read book Language Acquisition at the Interfaces written by Jiyoung Choi and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-18 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of papers presented at the 12th Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition Conference held at the University of Nantes, France, in 2015. Language acquisition, a field of inquiry that has witnessed continuous growth during the past four decades, is central to building a detailed understanding of the human amazing capacity to develop language. The papers gathered here reflect the current research in the field of first, second and heritage language acquisition, addressing a variety of topics in syntax, semantics, phonology and their interfaces, from a wide range of languages such as Tashlhiyt Berber, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, European Portuguese, Heritage Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Heritage Sign Language, and Yudja. This volume will thus serve as a valuable reference guide to all scholars interested in (first/second/bilingual) language acquisition, multilingualism, heritage languages, sign language, language pathology and impairment, and experimental research in linguistics.

Download or read book Individual Differences in Anaphora Resolution written by Georgia Fotiadou and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Individual Differences in Anaphora Resolution: Language and cognitive effects explores anaphora resolution from different perspectives, and investigates various aspects of the phenomenon, as contributions include research protocols that combine old and new experimental methodologies as well as theoretical and empirical approaches. A central theme across volume contributions are the multiple linguistic and extralinguistic factors that constrain anaphora resolution, its processing and acquisition by a variety of populations (children and adults, monolinguals, bilinguals and second language learners) as well as the mechanisms underlying anaphora resolution. Anaphora resolution constitutes an ideal environment to test the interaction between domain-general cognitive systems and domain-specific linguistic sub-routines, since variability in referential preferences is not related to binding constraints (an integral part of syntax per se) but is closely tied to processing (functional constraints) modulated by the integration of discourse-filtered information.

Download or read book Perspective Taking in Language written by Carla Contemori and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-05-02 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Encoding and Navigating Linguistic Representations in Memory written by Claudia Felser and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2017-03-22 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Successful speaking and understanding requires mechanisms for reliably encoding structured linguistic representations in memory and for effectively accessing information in those representations later. Studying the time-course of real-time linguistic dependency formation provides a valuable tool for uncovering the cognitive and neural basis of these mechanisms. This volume draws together multiple perspectives on encoding and navigating structured linguistic representations, to highlight important empirical insights, and to identify key priorities for new research in this area.

Download or read book Rational Approaches in Language Science written by Matthew W. Crocker and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-03-25 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Micro change and Macro change in Diachronic Syntax written by Eric Mathieu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chapters in this volume address the process of syntactic change at different granularities. The language-particular component of a grammar is now usually assumed to be nothing more than the specification of the grammatical properties of a set of lexical items. Accordingly, grammar change must reduce to lexical change. And yet these micro-changes can cumulatively alter the typological character of a language (a macro-change). A central puzzle in diachronic syntax is how to relate macro-changes to micro-changes. Several chapters in this volume describe specific micro-changes: changes in the syntactic properties of a particular lexical item or class of lexical items. Other chapters explore links between micro-change and macro-change, using devices such as grammar competition at the individual and population level, recurring diachronic pathways, and links between acquisition biases and diachronic processes. This book is therefore a great companion to the recent literature on the micro- versus macro-approaches to parameters in synchronic syntax. One of its important contributions is the demonstration of how much we can learn about synchronic linguistics through the way languages change: the case studies included provide diachronic insight into many syntactic constructions that have been the target of extensive recent synchronic research, including tense, aspect, relative clauses, stylistic fronting, verb second, demonstratives, and negation. Languages discussed include several archaic and contemporary Romance and Germanic varieties, as well as Greek, Hungarian, and Chinese, among many others.

Download or read book The NP strategy for Expressing Reciprocity written by Elitzur A. Bar-Asher Siegal and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2020-03-15 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the syntax and semantics of a single linguistic phenomenon – the NP-strategy for expressing reciprocity – in synchronic, diachronic, and typological perspectives. It challenges the assumption common in the typological, syntactic, and semantic literature, namely that so-called reciprocal constructions encode symmetric relations. Instead, they are analyzed as constructions encoding unspecified relations. In effect, it provides a new proposal for the truth-conditional semantics of these constructions. More broadly, this book introduces new ways of bringing together historical linguistics and formal semantics, demonstrating how, on the one hand, the inclusion of historical data concerning the sources of reciprocal constructions enriches their synchronic analysis; and how, on the other hand, an analysis of the syntax and the semantics of these constructions serves as a key for understanding their historical origins.

Download or read book Principles and Prediction written by Mushira Eid and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1993-03-25 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume is divided into four sections: typology, syntax, discourse and phonology. Two of the typology papers study the structure and organization of category systems (Joseph Greenberg, Linda Schwartz); the third discusses language typology and universals from the perspective of language acquisition (Fred Eckman). The eight papers in the syntax section are of three types. Edith Moravcsik and James Tai discuss 'general' issues of linguistic theory/domain. Four papers (Mushira Eid, Michael Kac, Nancy Hedberg, Larry Hutchinson) address specific analyses and their implications from language-particular and theoretical perspectives. The papers by Deborah Dahl and Thomas Rindflesch relate theoretical concepts and analyses to natural language processing. In the section on discourse, the contributions by Anita Barry and Amy Sheldon deal with interpersonal conflict; George Yule discusses the selection between direct and indirect speech forms. Helga Delisle and Cynthia Clamons consider ways in which choices among, or variation in, some grammatical and semantic categories may be explainable on pragmatic and discourse grounds. The phonology papers are focused on two major themes: underspecification and borrowing. Four of the articles address the issue of underspecification in phonological representations (Daniel Dinnsen, Joseph Stemberger, Janet Bing, Gregory Iverson). In the other two papers questions of borrowing are discussed, in Nancy Stenson's contribution from a synchronic perspective, and in Gunter Schaarsmidt's paper from a historical one. The volume is completed by a subject index and a language index.

Download or read book Essays on Nominal Determination written by Henrik Høeg Müller and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07-09 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together scholars of diverse theoretical persuasions who all share an interest in capturing the role that nominal determination and reference assignment play in the complicated interplay between thought, language and communication. The articles can be divided roughly into five main areas of concern: the conceptual level of determination; the emergence and function of articles; their semantic contribution to nominal interpretation; the morphology and syntax of determiners; and the interplay and contrasts between articles, demonstratives and possessives. Thus, linguistic and philosophical issues in the subject field of nominal determination are addressed at all interface levels between morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This volume shows that different theoretical frameworks may be brought fruitfully together in the effort to formulate new analyses of well-known problems, but also to raise new questions and point to new areas which may prove interesting topics for future research both in functional and formal paradigms.

Download or read book Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts written by and published by . This book was released on 2006-10 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Information Structuring in Discourse written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection presents current work on discourse structuring from a theoretical as well as a processing perspective. The main objectives are the investigation of appropriate levels of analysis for discourse segmentation and criteria for the identification of basic discourse units.

Download or read book Nominal Determination written by Elisabeth Stark and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The following theoretical-empirical points on the DP are discussed: Article and its referential-anaphoric properties by Abraham (Determiners in Centering Theory); Bartra (On bare NPs in Old Spanish and Catalan); identification of all functional nominal categories by Stvan (Bare singular count nouns); Kupisch & Koops (Specificity and negation); Jäger (History of German indefinite determiners); typological comparison of the interaction of nominal and verbal determination by Abraham (Discourse-functional crystallization of the or­ig­inal demonstrative); Leiss (Covert (in)definiteness and aspect in Old Icelandic, Goth­ic, Old High German); Lohndal (Double definiteness during Old Norse); emergence of DP in ontogeny/phylogeny by Osawa (DP, TP and aspect in Old English and L1 acquisition); Bittner (Early functions of definites in L1 acquisition); Wood (Demonstratives and possessives emergent from Old English); Bauer ((in)defin­ite articles in Indo-European) and Stark (Variation in nominal indefiniteness in Romance).