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During most of the 20th century, the classical Saussurean distinction between language usage and language structure remained untranscendable in much linguistic theory. The dominant view, propagated in particular by generative grammar, was that there are structural facts and usage facts, and that in principle the former are independent of, and can be described in complete isolation from, the latter. With the appearance of functional-cognitive approaches on the scene, this view has been challenged. The view of structure as usage-based has had two consequences that make time ripe for a focused study of the interaction between usage and structure. Within the generative camp it has inspired a more explicit and precise description of the status of usage. Within the functional-cognitive camp it has blurred the status of structure. Perhaps because functionalists and cognitivists have had to position themselves in relation to generative grammar, some have emphasized the role of usage facts to the extent that structure is largely ignored. Accounts of language usage, language acquisition and language change are impossible without an assumption about what it is that is being used, acquired, or subjected to change. And more moderate functionalists and cognitive functionalists recognize both structural facts and usage facts as genuine facts central to the understanding of language. Still, the linguistic literature that shares this position does not abound with explicit, precise characterizations of the relationship between usage and structure. The present volume brings together scholars from different theoretical positions to address theoretical and methodological aspects of the relation between language usage and structure. The contributors differ with respect to how they conceive of this relation and, more basically, with respect to how they conceive of linguistic structure. What they have in common, however, is that they recognize structure and usage as non-reducible linguistic phenomena and take seriously the challenge to describe the relation between them.
Structural linguistics. --- Language and languages --- Linguistic usage --- Usage, Linguistic --- Linguistics --- Usage. --- Grammars --- Cognitive Linguistics. --- Generative Linguistics.
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The present volume is an edited collection of original contributions which all deal with the issue of recursion in human language(s). All contributions originate as papers that were presented at a conference on the topic of recursion in human language organized by Dan Everett in March 22, 2007. For the purpose of this collection all articles underwent a double-blind peer-review process. The present chapters were written in the course of 2008. Although the 'recursive' nature of linguistic expressions, i.e. the apparent possibility of producing an infinite number of expressions with finite means, has been noted for a long time, no general agreement seems to exist concerning the empirical status as well as mathematical formalization of this 'characteristic' of human languages or of the grammars that lie behind these utterances that make up these languages. Renewed interest in this subject was sparked by recent claims that 'recursion' is perhaps the sole uniquely human and as such universal trait of human language (cf. Chomsky, Hauser and Fitch 2000). In this volume, the issue of recursion is tackled from a variety of angles. Some articles cover formal issues regarding the proper characterization or definition of recursion, while others focus on empirical issues by examining the kinds of structure in languages that suggest recursive mechanism in the grammar. Most articles discuss syntactic phenomena, but several involve morphology, the lexicon and phonology. In addition, we find discussions that involve evolutionary notions and language disorders, and the broader cognitive context of recursion.
Grammar, Comparative and general --- Syntax --- Phonology --- Grammar --- Linguistics --- Philology --- Generative Linguistics. --- Phonology, Prosody. --- Syntax.
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Within the current discussion on grammatical interfaces, the word-classes of adjective and adverb are of particular interest because they appear to be separated or joined in manifold ways at the level of word-class or syntax, with morphology playing a prominent role, especially in Romance. The volume provides typological and theoretical insights into the common or different usage of adjectives and adverbs in Romance. Diachronic change is discussed alongside with synchronic variation and the representation in grammar. The discussion turns out to be controversial, calling into question traditional assumptions such as the dogma of the invariability and the categorial status of the adverb.
Romance languages --- Morphology. --- Abjectives. --- Adverbials. --- Grammar, Comparative. --- Romance linguistics --- Theoretical linguistics --- Morphology --- Generative linguistics --- Syntax
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Within the current discussion on grammatical interfaces, the word-classes of adjective and adverb are of particular interest because they appear to be separated or joined in manifold ways at the level of word-class or syntax, with morphology playing a prominent role, especially in Romance. The volume provides typological and theoretical insights into the common or different usage of adjectives and adverbs in Romance. Diachronic change is discussed alongside with synchronic variation and the representation in grammar. The discussion turns out to be controversial, calling into question traditional assumptions such as the dogma of the invariability and the categorial status of the adverb.
Romance languages --- Morphology. --- Abjectives. --- Adverbials. --- Grammar, Comparative. --- Romance linguistics --- Theoretical linguistics --- Morphology --- Generative linguistics --- Syntax
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Within the current discussion on grammatical interfaces, the word-classes of adjective and adverb are of particular interest because they appear to be separated or joined in manifold ways at the level of word-class or syntax, with morphology playing a prominent role, especially in Romance. The volume provides typological and theoretical insights into the common or different usage of adjectives and adverbs in Romance. Diachronic change is discussed alongside with synchronic variation and the representation in grammar. The discussion turns out to be controversial, calling into question traditional assumptions such as the dogma of the invariability and the categorial status of the adverb.
Romance languages --- Romance linguistics --- Theoretical linguistics --- Morphology --- Generative linguistics --- Syntax --- Morphology. --- Abjectives. --- Adverbials. --- Grammar, Comparative.
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Covering linguistic research on empty categories over more than three decades, this monograph presents the result of an in-depth syntactic and focus-theoretical investigation of ellipsis in generative grammar. The phenomenon of ellipsis most generally refers to the omission of linguistic material, structure and sound. The central aim of this book is to explain on the basis of linguistic theorizing of how it is possible that we understand more than we actually hear. The answer developed throughout this book is that ellipsis is an interface phenomenon which can only be explained on the basis of the complex interaction between syntax, semantics and information structure. Scholars of grammar and cognitive scientists will profit from reading this book.
Grammar --- Focus (Linguistics) --- Generative grammar --- Grammar, Comparative and general --- Ellipsis --- Generative grammar. --- Ellipsis. --- Ellipsis (Language). --- Generative Linguistics.
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The aim of this book is to demonstrate that, in a representation-based model, the phonological organization of speech sounds within a word is reducible to the licensing properties of nuclei with respect to structurally defined complexities which pose varying demands on the licenser. It is assumed that the primitive licensing relation is that between a nucleus and its onset (O N). There are two main types of complexities concerning the onset position. Substantive complexity is an important aspect of phonological organisation at the melodic level, while the syllabic configurations in which the onset may be found are referred to under the heading of formal complexity.At the melodic level, complexity is defined in terms of the number of privative primes called elements. The asymmetries in the subsegmental representations of consonants and vowels are shown to play a pivotal role in understanding a number of phenomena, such as typological patterns, markedness effects, phonological processes, segmental inventories, and, what is most important, the model allows us to see a direct connection between phonological representations and processes. For example, the deletion of [g] in Welsh initial mutations is strictly related to the fact that the prime which crucially defines this object also happens to be the target of Soft Mutation.The complexity at the syllabic level is defined in terms of formal onset configurations called governing relations, of which some are easier to license than others. The formal complexity scale is not rerankable, and corresponds directly to the markedness of syllabic types. Since each formal configuration requires licensing from the following nucleus, syllable typology can be directly derived from the licensing strength of nuclei. The interaction between the higher prosodic organisation, for example, the level of the foot, and the syllabic level is also easily expressible in this model because higher prosody is built on nuclei. Therefore, prosody may tamper with the status of nuclei as licensers by deeming some of them as prosodically weaker than others, thus producing a non-rerankable scale of nuclear licensers (a " P). The inclusion of the empty nucleus as a possible licenser allows us to unify the scale of relatively marked contexts in segmental phenomena, and also to account for such problems as extrasyllabicity, complex clusters, super heavy rhymes, and other exceptional strings. The role of nuclei as licensers in unifying various levels of phonological representation from melody to word structure is unquestionable. There are other areas of phonological theory which can be expressed in this model. These include the role of nuclear strength scales in register switches, dialectal variation, historical development, language acquisition, and the interaction between phonology and morphology.
Grammar, Comparative and general --- Distinctive features (Linguistics) --- Componential analysis (Linguistics) --- Linguistics --- Phonology --- Phonology. --- Philology --- Grammar, Comparative and general Phonology --- Generative Linguistics. --- Linguistic Theories. --- Phonology, Prosody.
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This collection of papers focuses on the general theme of phonological strength, bringing together current work being undertaken in a variety of leading theoretical frameworks. Its aim is to show how referring directly to strength relations can facilitate explanation in different parts of the phonological grammar. The papers introduce illuminating data from a wide range of languages including English, Dutch, German, Greek, Japanese, Bambara, Yuhup, Nivkh, Sesotho and other Bantu systems, demonstrating how strength differences are central to the analysis of phonological patterning not only in well-documented cases of segmental asymmetry but also in other areas of description including language acquisition, pitch accent patterns and tonal phenomena. All of the contributors agree on the need for a phonological (as opposed to a phonetic) approach to the question of strength differences, and show how a strength-based analysis may proceed in various theoretical models including Dependency Phonology, Government Phonology, Strict CV Phonology and Optimality Theory. Many of the papers develop a structural account of their data, in which strength relations are understood to reflect asymmetric licensing relations holding between units in representations. The volume provides a snapshot of current thinking on the question of strength in phonology. The range of language data and theoretical contexts it explores give a clear indication that phonological strength acts as a common thread to unite a range of apparently unrelated patterns and processes.
Grammar, Comparative and general --- Mutation (Phonetics) --- Fortition (Phonetics) --- Lenition (Phonetics) --- Phonetics --- Phonology --- Phonology. --- Mutation --- Linguistics --- Philology --- Grammar, Comparative and general Phonology --- Generative Linguistics. --- Linguistic Theories.
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This volume explores and develops the framework of phases (so-called Phase Theory), first introduced in Chomsky (2000). The antecedents of such framework go back to the well-known notion of "cycle", which concerns broader notions, such as compositionality, locality, and economy conditions. Within generative grammar, this idea of the cycle took a concrete form in the fifties, with Chomsky, Halle, and Lukoff's (1955) pioneering work on stress, later on extended in Chomsky & Halle (1968), Halle & Vergnaud (1987), and further applied to morpho-phonology (Mascaró 1976 and Kiparski 1982), semantics (Jackendoff 1969), and syntax (Chomsky 1965, 1973). In recent years, several attempts have tried to refine and reformulate the cycle (Freidin 1999, Lasnik 2006, Uriagereka 2011). Such was the goal behind explorations on bounding nodes (Chomsky 1973) and barriers (Chomsky 1986), for which there is substantial empirical evidence showing how computation proceeds in a step-by-step fashion. Much work within minimalism has been devoted to investigate the nature of phases and their relevance for other areas of linguistic inquiry. Although it has been argued that phases have natural correlates at the interfaces, it is still unclear what the defining properties of these domains are, whether they can help us understand language acquisition, language variation, or language evolution. This book aims at addressing these questions, sharpening our understanding about phases and the nature of the Faculty of Language. Ángel J. Gallego (ed.), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 1. Cedric Boeckx, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats / Universitat de Barcelona2. Zeljko Bošković, University of Connecticut3. Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology4. Samuel D. Epstein, University of Michigan5. Wolfram Hinzen, Durham University6. Hisatsugu Kitahara, Keio University7. Julie Anne Legate, University of Pennsylvania8. Hiroki Narita, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study9. Miki Obata, Mie University10. Marc D. Richards, University of Frankfurt11. Ian G. Roberts, University of Cambridge12. Bridget Samuels, University of Southern California 13. Yosuke Sato, National University of Singapore14. T. Daniel Seely, Eastern Michigan University15. Juan Uriagereka, University of Maryland
Grammar, Comparative and general --- Generative grammar. --- Grammar, Generative --- Grammar, Transformational --- Grammar, Transformational generative --- Transformational generative grammar --- Transformational grammar --- Psycholinguistics --- Language and languages --- Syntax --- Syntax. --- Derivation --- Generative grammar --- Linguistics --- Philology --- Grammar, Comparative and general Syntax --- Generative Linguistics. --- Language Faculty. --- Phase Theory.
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Since the recent creation of a large-scale corpus of Italian Sign Language (LIS), a new research branch has been established to study the sociolinguistic variation characterizing this language in various linguistic domains. However, for nominal modification, the role of language-internal variation remains uncertain. This volume represents the first attempt to investigate sign order variability in this domain, examining what shapes the syntactic structure of LIS nominal expressions. In particular, three empirical studies are presented and discussed: the first two are corpus studies investigating the distribution and duration of nominal modifiers, while the third deals with the syntactic behavior of cardinal numerals, an unexplored area. In this enterprise, three different theoretical dimensions of inquiry are innovatively combined: linguistic typology, generative linguistics, and sociolinguistics. The research setup involves both quantitative and qualitative data. This mixed approach starts from corpus data to present the phenomenon, examine linguistic facts on a large scale, and draw questions from these, and then looks at elicited and judgment-based data to provide valid insights and refine the analysis. Crucially, the combination of different methods contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms driving nominal modification in LIS and its internal variation.
Italian Sign Language. --- Italian language. --- Romance languages --- Lingua gestuale italiana --- Lingua italiana dei segni --- Sign language --- Italy --- Languages. --- Italian Sign Language --- Italian language --- E-books --- Generative Linguistics. --- Linguistic Typology.
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