DOCSLIB.ORG

Expression and Interpretation of Negation: an OT Typology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Expression and Interpretation of Negation: an OT Typology [REVIEW ] Expression and Interpretation of Negation: An OT Typology By Henriëtte de Swart, Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 77, Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York, 2010, xvii+279pp. KIYOKO KATAOKA Kanagawa University* Keywords: bidirectional Optimality Theory, negative concord, double nega- tion, universality, markedness 1. Introduction The work aims to give a unified view of negation, polarity, and con- cord across different languages, dialects and diachronic stages of a lan- guage. The author takes her work as providing a general theory of human language and cognition to account for cross-linguistic variation in synchronic terms as well as diachronic terms. The basic view comes from the thesis by Dahl (1979) that negation is a universal category of natural language and also the thesis by de Swart (2009) that it is presumably a universal category of human cognition. Though cross-linguistic variation is a major topic, from both a synchronic (typology) and a diachronic (language change) perspective, the book inves- tigates mainly the negative indefinites (so-called n-words, which de Swart refers to as Neg-expressions) to draw the whole picture of Negative Concord (NC), where more than one Neg-expression leads to a single negation, and Double Negation (DN), where two Neg-expressions lead to a double nega- tion. Under the assumption that knowledge of first-order logic is part of human cognition, de Swart concentrates on how propositional negation in sentence structure is derived involving Neg-expressions, and tries to con- struct the same underlying mechanisms to exploit the relations between form * I am very grateful to Jennifer L. Smith for her generous support to this review work. Her careful comments and insightful suggestions helped me understand the con- tent more deeply. I could not have completed this project without the meaningful dis- cussions with her. I also thank the reviewer for the careful comments and suggestions, which were very helpful in finishing this article. Of course, any remaining errors are mine. English Linguistics 29: 1 (2012) 155–165 －155－ © 2012 by the English Linguistic Society of Japan 156 ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, VOL. 29, NO. 1 (2012) and meaning in different ways, which lead to differences on the surface. In this review, I first summarize the main claims of the book and then give a brief illustration of how the proposed system works as a useful tool of description and analysis. I then point out some problematic issues from the theoretical point of view, and discuss empirical issues making use of negative expressions in Japanese, which is my native language. 2. Main Claims and the Proposed System 2.1. Basic Assumptions The basic view of negation by de Swart is as follows (Chapter 1). (1) Negation as a universal category: Negation is a universal category of natural language (Dahl 1979, Chapter 3), and presumably of human cognition (de Swart 2009). The most significant observation to support this view is that all natural lan- guages have ways to express negation, i.e. something that corresponds to the first-order logical connective ¬, and that it is a universal feature of human cognition that speakers are able to conceptualize the meaning ¬p as well as p and express both affirmation and negation in their mother tongue. The primary basic assumption is the markedness of negation (Chapter 3). (2) Markedness of negation Negation is formally and interpretationally marked compared to affirmation. This general assumption is rooted in the observation that the expression of negation involves special grammatical means, whereas the expression of af- firmation does not, for instance, not and zero forms in English. There is an asymmetry between the expression of p and its negative counterpart ¬p in that negation is always overtly marked. 2.2. Bidirectional Optimality Theory as a Model of Grammar The theoretical framework adopted in this study is Optimality Theory (OT) (Chapter 2). Its base is a connectionist cognitive architecture ad- vocated in Smolensky and Legendre (2006); complex cognitive functions are computed by the brain network—mathematical models of neural com- putation—and, when the network achieves a state of maximal harmony—a maximized measure of well-formedness—, it has optimally satisfied the constraints. For language, a possible linguistic structure is evaluated by a set of well-formedness constraints, each of which defines one desirable as- pect of an ideal linguistic representation. Since no structure meets all the REVIEWS 157 constraints, a mechanism is needed to decide which constraints are the most important, such that the structures that optimally satisfy the constraints are well-formed or grammatical. In an ordinal OT grammar, a set of constraints that are ranked in a strict domination hierarchy define the preferred characteristics of linguistic representations. The constraints themselves are universal, but their rank- ing varies across languages and the language specific rankings must be learned. Grammatical knowledge of a particular language is knowledge of the constraint hierarchy, and use of the knowledge consists of determining which linguistic structures optimally satisfy the hierarchy. Thus the model of a grammar in OT is explicitly embedded in a broader cognitive architec- ture, and can capture the generalization that languages make use of the same underlying mechanisms, but are different in the relations between form and meaning, which is the key insight of the book. The particular model adopted is a bidirectional OT. The empirical phe- nomenon of negation is situated at the syntax-semantics interface, and thus optimization is needed in two directions (from meaning to form and from form to meaning); expressive optimization is needed for a theory of syntax, and interpretive optimization is needed for a theory of semantics, allowing the theory to work in two directions. Ordinal and strong bidirectional OT is used whenever possible, and extensions to stochastic OT (Boersma and Hayes 2001) or weak bidirectionality are adopted only when a strict and strong model cannot work as in intermediate cases (see 2.3.3). 2.3. Proposed System 2.3.1. Universally Ranked Constraints In addition to the markedness of negation, de Swart assumes that human speakers wish to distinguish between affirmative and negative statements in their language. The proposed system translates those assumptions into the model as two general constraints of faithfulness and markedness (Smolensky and Legendre (2006)), FNEG and *NEG (Chapter 3). (3) FNEG Be faithful to negation, i.e. reflect the nonaffirmative nature of the input in the output. (4) * NEG Avoid negation in the output. The desire to distinguish the two kinds of statement leads to the universal ranking FNEG >> *NEG . *NEG works as an economy constraint. Under strong evolutionary pressure, languages form optimal systems of communi- cation, which is reflected in Horn’s (1984) principle that natural languages respect the speaker’s division of pragmatic labor. According to this prin- 158 ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, VOL. 29, NO. 1 (2012) ciple, unmarked/simple meanings (affirmation) pair up with unmarked forms (zero), and marked/complex meanings (negation) with marked forms. Due to economy, the use of marked forms/meanings tends to be avoided or rela- tively infrequent. 2.3.2. Variation in Ranking (I): Sentential Negation The universal ranking FNEG >> *NEG requires negation to be overtly expressed in all languages, and thus accounts for Dahl’s (1979) typologi- cally based observation that negation is a universal category of natural lan- guage. This ranking, however, leaves a wide range of variation as to the means to express negation, and the integration of the negation marker in the grammar of a particular language, such as preverbal, postverbal, and dis- continuous negation. Concentrating on propositional negation in sentence structure, two constraints are added to govern the placement of negation. (5) NEG FIRST Negation precedes the finite verb. (6) FOCUS LAST New information comes last in the sentence. It is how the constraints in a higher rank are optimally satisfied that will decide which structure is the most well-formed. A higher ranking of NEG - FIRST leads to preverbal negation (Italian); a higher ranking of FOCUS LAST leads to postverbal negation (German). If both outrank *NEG and those two are not in competition, discontinuous negation emerges (written French, Tableau 8 in Chapter 3, 3.3.2). The typology can be interpreted in a synchronic as well as a diachronic perspective as the result of re-ranking the three constraints with respect to each other. Thus the three main phases of the Jespersen cycle (Chapter 1), which formulates the diachronic pattern of negation—a shift from preverbal to postverbal via a discontinuous stage—are also accounted for by the sys- tem. Even with intermediate stages, for instance, where a preverbal nega- tion is obligatory but a postverbal marker is optional, or where a postverbal negation is obligatory but a preverbal marker is optional, languages eventu- ally stabilize on an ordinal ranking. Since those processes are diachronic- ally unstable according to Haspelmath (1997), an extension toward stochas- tic OT is required to allow overlapping ranges of constraints in the rankings and to deal with the intermediate stages. 2.3.3. Variation in Ranking (II): Negative Indefinites In Chapters 4, 5 and 6, after illustrating the distributional phenomena of negative indefinites (called Neg-expressions) and how DN and NC readings ensue, de Swart provides the relevant constraints and their rankings to ac- REVIEWS 159 count for variations diachronically as well as synchronically. Her starting point is the claim by Dahl (1979) and Horn (1989) that all languages have, in addition to ways to express propositional negation, pronominal or adver- bial expressions negating the existence of individuals having a certain prop- erty. Following the idea by Jespersen (1917) that negation is frequently attracted to an argument, a constraint NEG ATTRACT is introduced. (7) NEG ATTRACT Realize (clausal) negation on an indefinite in argument or adjunct position.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Long and Short Adjunct Fronting in HPSG
    Long and Short Adjunct Fronting in HPSG Takafumi Maekawa Department of Language and Linguistics University of Essex Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar Linguistic Modelling Laboratory, Institute for Parallel Processing, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Held in Varna Stefan Muller¨ (Editor) 2006 CSLI Publications pages 212–227 http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/HPSG/2006 Maekawa, Takafumi. 2006. Long and Short Adjunct Fronting in HPSG. In Muller,¨ Stefan (Ed.), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Varna, 212–227. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to consider the proper treatment of short- and long-fronted adjuncts within HPSG. In the earlier HPSG analyses, a rigid link between linear order and constituent structure determines the linear position of such adjuncts in the sentence-initial position. This paper argues that there is a body of data which suggests that ad- junct fronting does not work as these approaches predict. It is then shown that linearisation-based HPSG can provide a fairly straightfor- ward account of the facts. 1 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to consider the proper treatment of short- and long-fronted adjuncts within HPSG. ∗ The following sentences are typical examples. (1) a. On Saturday , will Dana go to Spain? (Short-fronted adjunct) b. Yesterday I believe Kim left. (Long-fronted adjunct) In earlier HPSG analyses, a rigid link between linear order and constituent structure determines the linear position of such adverbials in the sen- tence-initial position. I will argue that there is a body of data which sug- gests that adjunct fronting does not work as these approaches predict.
    [Show full text]
  • Animacy and Alienability: a Reconsideration of English
    Running head: ANIMACY AND ALIENABILITY 1 Animacy and Alienability A Reconsideration of English Possession Jaimee Jones A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2016 ANIMACY AND ALIENABILITY 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University. ______________________________ Jaeshil Kim, Ph.D. Thesis Chair ______________________________ Paul Müller, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Jeffrey Ritchey, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Brenda Ayres, Ph.D. Honors Director ______________________________ Date ANIMACY AND ALIENABILITY 3 Abstract Current scholarship on English possessive constructions, the s-genitive and the of- construction, largely ignores the possessive relationships inherent in certain English compound nouns. Scholars agree that, in general, an animate possessor predicts the s- genitive while an inanimate possessor predicts the of-construction. However, the current literature rarely discusses noun compounds, such as the table leg, which also express possessive relationships. However, pragmatically and syntactically, a compound cannot be considered as a true possessive construction. Thus, this paper will examine why some compounds still display possessive semantics epiphenomenally. The noun compounds that imply possession seem to exhibit relationships prototypical of inalienable possession such as body part, part whole, and spatial relationships. Additionally, the juxtaposition of the possessor and possessum in the compound construction is reminiscent of inalienable possession in other languages. Therefore, this paper proposes that inalienability, a phenomenon not thought to be relevant in English, actually imbues noun compounds whose components exhibit an inalienable relationship with possessive semantics.
    [Show full text]
  • Acquaintance Inferences As Evidential Effects
    The acquaintance inference as an evidential effect Abstract. Predications containing a special restricted class of predicates, like English tasty, tend to trigger an inference when asserted, to the effect that the speaker has had a spe- cific kind of `direct contact' with the subject of predication. This `acquaintance inference' has typically been treated as a hard-coded default effect, derived from the nature of the predicate together with the commitments incurred by assertion. This paper reevaluates the nature of this inference by examining its behavior in `Standard' Tibetan, a language that grammatically encodes perceptual evidentiality. In Tibetan, the acquaintance inference trig- gers not as a default, but rather when, and only when, marked by a perceptual evidential. The acquaintance inference is thus a grammaticized evidential effect in Tibetan, and so it cannot be a default effect in general cross-linguistically. An account is provided of how the semantics of the predicate and the commitment to perceptual evidentiality derive the in- ference in Tibetan, and it is suggested that the inference ought to be seen as an evidential effect generally, even in evidential-less languages, which invoke evidential notions without grammaticizing them. 1 Introduction: the acquaintance inference A certain restricted class of predicates, like English tasty, exhibit a special sort of behavior when used in predicative assertions. In particular, they require as a robust default that the speaker of the assertion has had direct contact of a specific sort with the subject of predication, as in (1). (1) This food is tasty. ,! The speaker has tasted the food. ,! The speaker liked the food's taste.
    [Show full text]
  • Compositional and Lexical Semantics • Compositional Semantics: The
    Compositional and lexical semantics Compositional semantics: the construction • of meaning (generally expressed as logic) based on syntax. This lecture: – Semantics with FS grammars Lexical semantics: the meaning of • individual words. This lecture: – lexical semantic relations and WordNet – one technique for word sense disambiguation 1 Simple compositional semantics in feature structures Semantics is built up along with syntax • Subcategorization `slot' filling instantiates • syntax Formally equivalent to logical • representations (below: predicate calculus with no quantifiers) Alternative FS encodings possible • 2 Objective: obtain the following semantics for they like fish: pron(x) (like v(x; y) fish n(y)) ^ ^ Feature structure encoding: 2 PRED and 3 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 2 PRED 3 7 6 pron 7 6 ARG1 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 ARG1 1 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 5 7 6 7 6 7 6 2 3 7 6 PRED and 7 6 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 2 3 7 7 6 6 PRED like v 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 ARG1 6 ARG1 1 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 ARG2 6 6 ARG2 2 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 4 5 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 2 3 7 7 6 6 PRED fish n 7 7 6 6 ARG2 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 ARG 2 7 7 7 6 6 6 1 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 4 5 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 5 7 6 7 4 5 3 Noun entry 2 3 2 CAT noun 3 6 HEAD 7 6 7 6 6 AGR 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 5 7 6 7 6 COMP 7 6 filled 7 6 7 fish 6 7 6 SPR filled 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 INDEX 1 7 6 2 3 7 6 7 6 SEM 7 6 6 PRED fish n 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 ARG 1 7 7 6 6 1 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 5 7 4 5 Corresponds to fish(x) where the INDEX • points to the characteristic variable of the noun (that is x).
    [Show full text]
  • Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: a Case Study from Koro
    Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: A Case Study from Koro By Jessica Cleary-Kemp A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Associate Professor Lev D. Michael, Chair Assistant Professor Peter S. Jenks Professor William F. Hanks Summer 2015 © Copyright by Jessica Cleary-Kemp All Rights Reserved Abstract Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: A Case Study from Koro by Jessica Cleary-Kemp Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Associate Professor Lev D. Michael, Chair In this dissertation a methodology for identifying and analyzing serial verb constructions (SVCs) is developed, and its application is exemplified through an analysis of SVCs in Koro, an Oceanic language of Papua New Guinea. SVCs involve two main verbs that form a single predicate and share at least one of their arguments. In addition, they have shared values for tense, aspect, and mood, and they denote a single event. The unique syntactic and semantic properties of SVCs present a number of theoretical challenges, and thus they have invited great interest from syntacticians and typologists alike. But characterizing the nature of SVCs and making generalizations about the typology of serializing languages has proven difficult. There is still debate about both the surface properties of SVCs and their underlying syntactic structure. The current work addresses some of these issues by approaching serialization from two angles: the typological and the language-specific. On the typological front, it refines the definition of ‘SVC’ and develops a principled set of cross-linguistically applicable diagnostics.
    [Show full text]
  • Sentential Negation and Negative Concord
    Sentential Negation and Negative Concord Published by LOT phone: +31.30.2536006 Trans 10 fax: +31.30.2536000 3512 JK Utrecht email: [email protected] The Netherlands http://wwwlot.let.uu.nl/ Cover illustration: Kasimir Malevitch: Black Square. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. ISBN 90-76864-68-3 NUR 632 Copyright © 2004 by Hedde Zeijlstra. All rights reserved. Sentential Negation and Negative Concord ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Prof. Mr P.F. van der Heijden ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op woensdag 15 december 2004, te 10:00 uur door HEDZER HUGO ZEIJLSTRA geboren te Rotterdam Promotiecommissie: Promotores: Prof. Dr H.J. Bennis Prof. Dr J.A.G. Groenendijk Copromotor: Dr J.B. den Besten Leden: Dr L.C.J. Barbiers (Meertens Instituut, Amsterdam) Dr P.J.E. Dekker Prof. Dr A.C.J. Hulk Prof. Dr A. von Stechow (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen) Prof. Dr F.P. Weerman Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen Voor Petra Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................V 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................1 1.1 FOUR ISSUES IN THE STUDY OF NEGATION.......................................................1
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 Negation in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
    Chapter 1 Negation in a cross-linguistic perspective 0. Chapter summary This chapter introduces the empirical scope of our study on the expression and interpretation of negation in natural language. We start with some background notions on negation in logic and language, and continue with a discussion of more linguistic issues concerning negation at the syntax-semantics interface. We zoom in on cross- linguistic variation, both in a synchronic perspective (typology) and in a diachronic perspective (language change). Besides expressions of propositional negation, this book analyzes the form and interpretation of indefinites in the scope of negation. This raises the issue of negative polarity and its relation to negative concord. We present the main facts, criteria, and proposals developed in the literature on this topic. The chapter closes with an overview of the book. We use Optimality Theory to account for the syntax and semantics of negation in a cross-linguistic perspective. This theoretical framework is introduced in Chapter 2. 1 Negation in logic and language The main aim of this book is to provide an account of the patterns of negation we find in natural language. The expression and interpretation of negation in natural language has long fascinated philosophers, logicians, and linguists. Horn’s (1989) Natural history of negation opens with the following statement: “All human systems of communication contain a representation of negation. No animal communication system includes negative utterances, and consequently, none possesses a means for assigning truth value, for lying, for irony, or for coping with false or contradictory statements.” A bit further on the first page, Horn states: “Despite the simplicity of the one-place connective of propositional logic ( ¬p is true if and only if p is not true) and of the laws of inference in which it participate (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • The Syntax of Answers to Negative Yes/No-Questions in English Anders Holmberg Newcastle University
    The syntax of answers to negative yes/no-questions in English Anders Holmberg Newcastle University 1. Introduction This paper will argue that answers to polar questions or yes/no-questions (YNQs) in English are elliptical expressions with basically the structure (1), where IP is identical to the LF of the IP of the question, containing a polarity variable with two possible values, affirmative or negative, which is assigned a value by the focused polarity expression. (1) yes/no Foc [IP ...x... ] The crucial data come from answers to negative questions. English turns out to have a fairly complicated system, with variation depending on which negation is used. The meaning of the answer yes in (2) is straightforward, affirming that John is coming. (2) Q(uestion): Isn’t John coming, too? A(nswer): Yes. (‘John is coming.’) In (3) (for speakers who accept this question as well formed), 1 the meaning of yes alone is indeterminate, and it is therefore not a felicitous answer in this context. The longer version is fine, affirming that John is coming. (3) Q: Isn’t John coming, either? A: a. #Yes. b. Yes, he is. In (4), there is variation regarding the interpretation of yes. Depending on the context it can be a confirmation of the negation in the question, meaning ‘John is not coming’. In other contexts it will be an infelicitous answer, as in (3). (4) Q: Is John not coming? A: a. Yes. (‘John is not coming.’) b. #Yes. In all three cases the (bare) answer no is unambiguous, meaning that John is not coming.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Sensitivity to Telicity: the Role of the Count/Mass Distinction in Event Individuation
    W O R K I N G P A P E R S I N L I N G U I S T I C S The notes and articles in this series are progress reports on work being carried on by students and faculty in the Department. Because these papers are not finished products, readers are asked not to cite from them without noting their preliminary nature. The authors welcome any comments and suggestions that readers might offer. Volume 41(4) 2010 (April) DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA HONOLULU 96822 An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution WORKING PAPERS IN LINGUISTICS: UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA, VOL. 41(4) DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS FACULTY 2010 Victoria B. Anderson Byron W. Bender (Emeritus) Benjamin Bergen Derek Bickerton (Emeritus) Robert A. Blust Robert L. Cheng (Adjunct) Kenneth W. Cook (Adjunct) Kamil Deen Patricia J. Donegan (Co-Graduate Chair) Katie K. Drager Emanuel J. Drechsel (Adjunct) Michael L. Forman (Emeritus) George W. Grace (Emeritus) John H. Haig (Adjunct) Roderick A. Jacobs (Emeritus) Paul Lassettre P. Gregory Lee Patricia A. Lee Howard P. McKaughan (Emeritus) William O’Grady (Chair) Yuko Otsuka Ann Marie Peters (Emeritus, Co-Graduate Chair) Kenneth L. Rehg Lawrence A. Reid (Emeritus) Amy J. Schafer Albert J. Schütz, (Emeritus, Editor) Ho Min Sohn (Adjunct) Nicholas Thieberger Laurence C. Thompson (Emeritus) ii EARLY SENSITIVITY TO TELICITY: THE ROLE OF THE COUNT/MASS DISTINCTION IN EVENT INDIVIDUATION YUKIE HARA1 This paper presents evidence that English-speaking children are sensitive to telicity based on the count/mass distinction of the object noun in verb phrases such as eat an apple (telic) vs.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Aspect Marking and Modality in Child Vietnamese
    1 Aspect Marking and Modality in Child Vietnamese Jennie Tran and Kamil Deen University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa This paper examines the acquisition of aspect morphology in the naturalistic speech of a Vietnamese child, aged 1;9. It shows that while the omission of aspect markers is the predominant error, errors of commission are somewhat more frequent than expected (~20%). Errors of commission are thought to be exceedingly rare in child speech (<4%, Sano & Hyams, 1994), and thus it appears as if these errors in child Vietnamese are more common than in other languages. They occur exclusively with perfective markers in modal contexts, i.e., perfective markers occur with non-perfective, but modal interpretation. We propose, following Hyams (2002), that these errors are permitted by the child’s grammar since perfective features license mood. Additional evidence from the corpus shows that all the perfective-marked verbs in modal context are eventive verbs. We thus further propose that the corollary to RIs in Vietnamese is perfective verbs in modal contexts. 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND There has been considerable debate regarding the acquisition of tense and aspect by young children. Studies on the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology have either attempted to make a general distinction between tense and aspect, or the more specific distinction between grammatical and lexical aspect, or they have centered their analyses around Vendler’s (1967) four-way classification of the inherent semantics of verbs: achievement, accomplishment, activity, and state. The majority of the studies have concluded that the use of tense and aspect inflectional morphology is initially restricted to certain semantic classes of verbs (Bronkard and Sinclair 1973, Antinucci and Miller 1976, Bloom et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Corpus Study of Tense, Aspect, and Modality in Diglossic Speech in Cairene Arabic
    CORPUS STUDY OF TENSE, ASPECT, AND MODALITY IN DIGLOSSIC SPEECH IN CAIRENE ARABIC BY OLA AHMED MOSHREF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Elabbas Benmamoun, Chair Professor Eyamba Bokamba Professor Rakesh M. Bhatt Assistant Professor Marina Terkourafi ABSTRACT Morpho-syntactic features of Modern Standard Arabic mix intricately with those of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic in ordinary speech. I study the lexical, phonological and syntactic features of verb phrase morphemes and constituents in different tenses, aspects, moods. A corpus of over 3000 phrases was collected from religious, political/economic and sports interviews on four Egyptian satellite TV channels. The computational analysis of the data shows that systematic and content morphemes from both varieties of Arabic combine in principled ways. Syntactic considerations play a critical role with regard to the frequency and direction of code-switching between the negative marker, subject, or complement on one hand and the verb on the other. Morph-syntactic constraints regulate different types of discourse but more formal topics may exhibit more mixing between Colloquial aspect or future markers and Standard verbs. ii To the One Arab Dream that will come true inshaa’ Allah! عربية أنا.. أميت دمها خري الدماء.. كما يقول أيب الشاعر العراقي: بدر شاكر السياب Arab I am.. My nation’s blood is the finest.. As my father says Iraqi Poet: Badr Shaker Elsayyab iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’m sincerely thankful to my advisor Prof. Elabbas Benmamoun, who during the six years of my study at UIUC was always kind, caring and supportive on the personal and academic levels.
    [Show full text]
  • Markedness in Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition
    Aug. 2006, Volume 3, No.8 (Serial No.21) US-China Education Review, ISSN1548-6613, USA Markedness in Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition JIANG Zhao-zi, SHAO Chang-zhong (Linyi Normal University, Linyi, Shandong 276005, P. R. China) Abstract: This paper focuses on the study of markedness theory in Universal Grammar (UG) and its implications in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), showing that the language learners should consciously compare and contrast the similarities and differences between his native language and target language, which will facilitate their learning. Key words: markedness; Universal Grammar; language learning 1. Introduction The term of “markedness” was first proposed by N.S.Trubetzkoy, a leading linguist in Prague School, in his book The Principles of Phonology. At first it was confined to phonetics: in a pair of opposite phonemes, one is characterized as marked, while the other one lacks such markedness. Now it has been widely applied to the researches on phonetics, grammars, semantics, pragmatics, psychological linguistics and applied injustices. The term markedness can be divided into three classes: formal markedness, distribution markedness and semantic markedness (WANG Ke-fei, 1991). 2. Theoretical Researches on Markedness The term “marked” has been defined in different ways. The most underlying one among the definitions is the notion that some linguistic features are “special” in relation to others, which are more “basic”. More technical definitions of “marked” can be found in different linguistics traditions. 2.1 Language-typology-based definition The identification of typological universals has been used to make claims about which features are marked and which one is unmarked.
    [Show full text]