A Circassian Puzzle for the Syntax/Semantics Interface
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Structural Expectations in Chinese Relative Clause Comprehension
StructuralExpectationsinChineseRelativeClause Comprehension ZhongChen,KyleGrove,andJohnHale CornellUniversity 1. Introduction Relative clauses (RC) are among the most well-studied constructions in the field of psycholinguis- tics. A wide variety of work explores a robust processing asymmetry such that subject relatives (SRs) are easier to process than object relatives (ORs). For example, English shows a subject advantage, as demonstrated by a number of studies involving different measures including: self-paced reading (King & Just, 1991), eye-tracking (Traxler, Morris & Seely, 2002), ERP (King & Kutas, 1995), fMRI (Just, Carpenter, Keller, Eddy & Thulborn, 1996); and PET (Stromswold, Caplan, Alpert & Rauch, 1996). A robust finding in the literature suggests that subject preference seems to be a universal processing phenomenon in RCs. Some pieces of evidence come from Dutch (Frazier, 1987), French (Frauenfelder, Segui & Mehler, 1980), German (Schriefers, Friederici & Kuhn,¨ 1995), Japanese (Miyamoto & Naka- mura, 2003) and Korean (Kwon, Polinsky & Kluender, 2006). In order to account for the universal processing pattern of RCs, several theories are proposed, such as: WORD ORDER (Bever, 1970; MacDonald & Christiansen, 2002), the ACCESSIBILITY HIER- ARCHY (Keenan & Comrie, 1977), EXPERIENCE/FREQUENCY-BASED ACCOUNTS (Mitchell, Cuetos, Corley & Brysbaert, 1995; Hale, 2001), STRUCTURE-BASED APPROACHES (O’Grady, 1997; Hawkins, 2004) and WORKING MEMORY (Gibson, 2000; Lewis & Vasishth, 2005). Chinese RCs are valuable in testing those theories and -
The Language Situation Among the Circassians of Jordan
Educational Research (ISSN: 2141-5161) Vol. 4(8) pp. 612-617, August, 2013 DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/er.2013.113 Available online@ http://www.interesjournals.org/ER Copyright © 2013 International Research Journals Full Length Research Paper The Language situation among the Circassians of Jordan Doa ʾa F. Al-Momani*1 and Siham M. Al-Momani *1Al Balqa' Applied University (Jordan) 2Department of Allied Medical Sciences, Al Balqa' Applied University (Jordan) *Corresponding Author`s E-mail: [email protected] Abstract In this paper, we examine the language situation among the Circassians of Jordan within the framework of previous theories on language maintenance and shift as proposed by Fishman. The study investigates factors influencing the sample responses toward importance and usefulness of the Arabic and Circassian languages. Convenience sample include 100 subject selected by five in group persons. Data collected by means of a questionnaire developed and used by previous investigators. Results indicate that Arabic is used by the respondents for various functions and Circasssian is used in very restricted social domains. Evidence is represented that the overwhelming majority of the Circassians agree that it is important for them to speak in both Arabic as a means of communication, and Circassian as an important symbol of their identity. These results indicate that the Circassians of Jordan are experiencing a process of language shift which appears to be in its initial position, as most of them appear to be less proficient in their language. They also indicate that the younger generation (forty years or below) of Circassians show a stronger tendency toward shifting their speech than the older generation (forty years or above). -
A Comparative Phonetic Study of the Circassian Languages Author(S
A comparative phonetic study of the Circassian languages Author(s): Ayla Applebaum and Matthew Gordon Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Languages of the Caucasus (2013), pp. 3-17 Editors: Chundra Cathcart, Shinae Kang, and Clare S. Sandy Please contact BLS regarding any further use of this work. BLS retains copyright for both print and screen forms of the publication. BLS may be contacted via http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/bls/. The Annual Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistics Society is published online via eLanguage, the Linguistic Society of America's digital publishing platform. A Comparative Phonetic Study of the Circassian Languages1 AYLA APPLEBAUM and MATTHEW GORDON University of California, Santa Barbara Introduction This paper presents results of a phonetic study of Circassian languages. Three phonetic properties were targeted for investigation: voice-onset time for stop consonants, spectral properties of the coronal fricatives, and formant values for vowels. Circassian is a branch of the Northwest Caucasian language family, which also includes Abhaz-Abaza and Ubykh. Circassian is divided into two dialectal subgroups: West Circassian (commonly known as Adyghe), and East Circassian (also known as Kabardian). The West Circassian subgroup includes Temirgoy, Abzekh, Hatkoy, Shapsugh, and Bzhedugh. East Circassian comprises Kabardian and Besleney. The Circassian languages are indigenous to the area between the Caspian and Black Seas but, since the Russian invasion of the Caucasus region in the middle of the 19th century, the majority of Circassians now live in diaspora communities, most prevalently in Turkey but also in smaller outposts throughout the Middle East and the United States. -
Counterfactual-Hando
Third International Conference on Iranian Linguistics 11th-13th September 2009, Paris, Sorbonne Nouvelle Arseniy Vydrin Institute of Linguistic Studies St.Petersburg, Russia [email protected] Counterfactual mood in Iron Ossetic Ossetic1 (Northeastern Iranian): Iron, Digor dialects. Spoken mostly in The Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, about 500000 native speakers. 1. Counterfactual meaning Counterfactual meaning can be defined as the meaning which is contrary to the actual state of affairs. Conditional constructions with irreal condition are the easiest way to express the counterfactual meaning. For example, Persian: (1) Agar tabar-rā az dast-aš na-geferte1 bud2-and if axe-OBL PREP hand-ENCL.3SG NEG-take.PLUPERF1,2-3PL hame-ye mā-rā tekke pāre karde1 bud2-and all-EZF we-OBL piece piece do.PLUPERF1,2-3PL ‘If they hadn’t taken the axe from him we would have been hacked to pieces’ (S. Hedāyat. Katja). Couterfactual is considered to be the core meaning of the semantic domain of irrealis [Plungian 2005]. However, as shown in [Lazard 1998; Van Linden and Verstraete 2008], very few languages have a narrow dedicated marker for expressing only counterfactuality. In most languages, counterfactual meaning is a part of the semantic repertoire of some other “broad” markers, primarily associated with the domain of possibility / probability or past (including, according to Lazard, such values as prospective, desiderative, debitive, inceptive, evidentiality, habitual, subjunctive and optative). Most of the Iranian languages: past habitual, imperfect or pluperfect markers. Among languages which possess a dedicated counterfactual marker Lazard cites Turkana (Nilotic), Ewondo (Bantu), Yoruba and classic Nahuatl. Van Linden and Verstraete add Chukchi (Chukotko-Kamchatkan), Hua (Trans–New Guinea), Ika (Chibchan-Paezan), Kolyma Yukaghir, Martuthunira (Pama-Nyungan) and Somali (Cushitic). -
Polancec, the Invariant Relativizer in Contemporary Non-Standard Croatian
Jurica Polančec (University of Zagreb) The invariant relativizer in contemporary non-standard Croatian In this talk, we will present the invariant relativizer in contemporary Croatian with an empha- sis on non-standard language. We will briefly introduce the Croatian invariant relativizer and its four forms (što, šta, kaj, ča). These four relativizers originate in separate Croatian dialects (što and šta in Štokavian, kaj in Kajkavian, and ča in Čakavian). Regardless of the dialect, the forms are functionally equivalent and have the same source in their respective dialects (the nom/acc case of the what pronoun). In contemporary language, they differ in their sociolinguistic status: only što is standard; što, šta and kaj are used in everyday informal Croatian, which is close to the standard, but fea- tures some non-codified elements and is often influenced by dialects (Langston & Peti-Stantić 2014: 30, cf. van Marle 1997: 13–17). The form kaj is geographically confined to Northern Croatia including the capital Zagreb. We will discuss in some detail the rise of the form kaj from the dialectal status. We will also show that the form što, when used in the standard, is typical of more formal and elaborate registers, in particular the language of literature. As for the other registers of standard Croatian, such as journalistic or scientific, the invariant relativizer often figures as a mere substitute for the relative pronoun (Kordić 1995: 164). Cases in which the invariant rela- tivizer is at the same time a feature of everyday informal language as well as of the rather for- mal written registers of standard language are quite unusual. -
BORE ASPECTS OP MODERN GREEK SYLTAX by Athanaaios Kakouriotis a Thesis Submitted Fox 1 the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Of
BORE ASPECTS OP MODERN GREEK SYLTAX by Athanaaios Kakouriotis A thesis submitted fox1 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 1979 ProQuest Number: 10731354 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731354 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 II Abstract The present thesis aims to describe some aspects of Mod Greek syntax.It contains an introduction and five chapters. The introduction states the purpose for writing this thesis and points out the fact that it is a data-oriented rather, chan a theory-^oriented work. Chapter one deals with the word order in Mod Greek. The main conclusion drawn from this chapter is that, given the re latively rich system of inflexions of Mod Greek,there is a freedom of word order in this language;an attempt is made to account for this phenomenon in terms of the thematic structure. of the sentence and PSP theory. The second chapter examines the clitics;special attention is paid to clitic objects and some problems concerning their syntactic relations .to the rest of the sentence are pointed out;the chapter ends with the tentative suggestion that cli tics might be taken care of by the morphologichi component of the grammar• Chapter three deals with complementation;this a vast area of study and-for this reason the analysis is confined to 'oti1, 'na* and'pu' complement clauses; Object Raising, Verb Raising and Extraposition are also discussed in this chapter. -
Labial Harmony in Kazakh: Descriptive and Theoretical Issues
LABIAL HARMONY IN KAZAKH: DESCRIPTIVE AND THEORETICAL ISSUES By ADAM G. MCCOLLUM A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2015 © 2015 Adam G. McCollum To Mara-Diana, who has been patient and exceedingly merciful during this process ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank my beautiful wife and rambunctious son, who make writing all of this worthwhile. Without their love and care, I would surely be wandering lost amidst some herd of yaks somewhere. In addition to their support, I’ve been so fortunate to have a group of inspiring, encouraging, and kind professors a balding young linguist could hope for. Caroline Wiltshire was instrumental in the formation of this idea from the very beginning, and throughout the process of research and writing she has been a diligent reader, wise mentor, and a wellspring of constructive suggestions and ideas. Brent Henderson was patient enough with me to introduce me to formal linguistics, and more than that, to offer counsel whenever the struggles of balancing family life with school were most challenging. Many thanks also go out to Ratree Wayland for helping me to understand something of phonetics, and for suggesting relevant reading along the way. Additionally, I’ve really appreciated and benefited from conversations with Todd Hughes, Bryan Gelles, Liz Bossley, Majid Al-Homidan, Marc Matthews, and Mohammed Al-Meqdad over the last couple of years. Many thanks also go out to the admissions committee and the entire Linguistics Department at UF for being willing to take a mighty risk on an old fogey like me. -
Botos László
CircassianWorld.com Gábor Bálint de Szentkatolna (1844-1913) and the Study of Kabardian Prof. Dr. László Marácz (University of Amsterdam, Eurasian National University, Astana) Gábor Bálint de Szentkatolna was one of the most talented Hungarian linguists of the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. He devoted his life to the study of the so-called ‘Turanian’ languages, i.e. the hypothesized language family of Uralic, Altaic and Dravidian languages. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the languages of the Caucasus were also considered to be scattered members of this language family. This Hungarian linguist wrote a number of grammars and dictionaries of these languages. Bálint de Szentkatolna also wrote a grammar and a dictionary of the Western Caucasian language, Kabardian, which he thought to be closely related to Hungarian. The Kabardian language is presently spoken by 443.000 persons in Russia, who live in the Kabardino- Balkaria and Karachai-Cherkessia native territories. The capital of these territories is Naltshik. The other speakers of Kabardian, more than one million of them, can be found in Turkey and in the Middle East. The fact that half of the Kabardian population has left its Northern Caucasian homeland is due to Russian colonial policy, starting in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Kabardian is generally considered to be a rather difficult language, and its sound system, especially, is rather complicated. The language counts 56 sounds, having only a few vowels. The set of consonants includes rare fricatives and affricatives, like the ejective ones displaying a clear phonemic distinction. -
Programa Saboloo
October 27 14 00 Symposium Opening (The Georgian National Academy of Sciences, 52 Rustaveli Ave., 5th floor, a conference hall) Opening address – President of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, Acad. T. Gamkrelidze D. Shashkin – Minister of Education and Science of Georgia A. Kvitashvili – Rector of Iv.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University L. Ezugbaia – Director of Arn. Chikobava Institute of Linguistics G. Gambashidze – President of Fund of Caucasus S. Pasov – Pro-rector of Karachay-Cherkessian State University Kh. Taov – Pro-rector of Kabardo-Balkarian State University A. Abregov – Head of the Chair of the Generel Linguistics of the Adyghe State University Ts. Baramidze – Full Professor at Iv. Javakhishvili State University I. Abdullaev – A senior research-worker of H.Tsadasa Institute of Language, Literature and Art A. Timaev – Head of the Chair of the Chechen language at Chechen State University S. Patiev – Docent of the Chair of the Ingush language at Ingush State Iniversity 15 00 Plenary Report G. Kvaratskhelia (Tbilisi) _ Like-Mindedness and Hereditariness in Science N. Machavariani (Tbilisi) _ Ketevan Lomtatidze's life and activity A. Arabuli, V. Shengelia (Tbilisi) _ Academician Ketevan Lomtatidze's contribution to studying the Abkhaz-Circassian and Kartvelian languages Address Speeches and Memories: M. Lordkipanidze, I. Asatiani, B. Outtier, R. Janashia, N. Andguladze, A. Chincharauli, T. Berozashvili, A. Arabuli, T. Ujukhu... 24 October 28 Sectional Meetings I Section 10 00 _ 11 30 Chairs : I. Abdullaev, G. Kvaratskhelia T. Uturgaidze (Tbilisi) _ On the Subject of the Mix of Models in Lingual Systems A. Khalidov (Grozny) _ About Ascertainment of Affinity of Ibero-Caucasian Languages (in support of M.E. -
A Case of Taboo-Motivated Lexical Replacement in the Indigenous
Trustees of Indiana University Anthropological Linguistics A Case of Taboo-Motivated Lexical Replacement in the Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus Author(s): Kevin Tuite and Wolfgang Schulze Source: Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Fall, 1998), pp. 363-383 Published by: The Trustees of Indiana University on behalf of Anthropological Linguistics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30028646 Accessed: 04/11/2009 13:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=tiu. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Trustees of Indiana University and Anthropological Linguistics are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropological Linguistics. -
Stress Chapter
Word stress in the languages of the Caucasus1 Lena Borise 1. Introduction Languages of the Caucasus exhibit impressive diversity when it comes to word stress. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the stress systems in North-West Caucasian (henceforth NWC), Nakh-Dagestanian (ND), and Kartvelian languages, as well as the larger Indo-European (IE) languages of the area, Ossetic and (Eastern) Armenian. For most of these languages, stress facts have only been partially described and analyzed, which raises the question about whether the available data can be used in more theoretically-oriented studies; cf. de Lacy (2014). Instrumental studies are not numerous either. Therefore, the current chapter relies mainly on impressionistic observations, and reflects the state of the art in the study of stress in these languages: there are still more questions than answers. The hope is that the present summary of the existing research can serve as a starting point for future investigations. This chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 describes languages that have free stress placement – i.e., languages in which stress placement is not predicted by phonological or morphological factors. Section 3 describes languages with fixed stress. These categories are not mutually exclusive, however. The classification of stress systems is best thought of as a continuum, with fixed stress and free stress languages as the two extremes, and most languages falling in the space between them. Many languages with fixed stress allow for exceptions based on certain phonological and/or morphological factors, so that often no firm line can be drawn between, e.g., languages with fixed stress that contain numerous morphologically conditioned exceptions (cf. -
'Undergoer Voice in Borneo: Penan, Punan, Kenyah and Kayan
Undergoer Voice in Borneo Penan, Punan, Kenyah and Kayan languages Antonia SORIENTE University of Naples “L’Orientale” Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology-Jakarta This paper describes the morphosyntactic characteristics of a few languages in Borneo, which belong to the North Borneo phylum. It is a typological sketch of how these languages express undergoer voice. It is based on data from Penan Benalui, Punan Tubu’, Punan Malinau in East Kalimantan Province, and from two Kenyah languages as well as secondary source data from Kayanic languages in East Kalimantan and in Sawarak (Malaysia). Another aim of this paper is to explore how the morphosyntactic features of North Borneo languages might shed light on the linguistic subgrouping of Borneo’s heterogeneous hunter-gatherer groups, broadly referred to as ‘Penan’ in Sarawak and ‘Punan’ in Kalimantan. 1. The North Borneo languages The island of Borneo is home to a great variety of languages and language groups. One of the main groups is the North Borneo phylum that is part of a still larger Greater North Borneo (GNB) subgroup (Blust 2010) that includes all languages of Borneo except the Barito languages of southeast Kalimantan (and Malagasy) (see Table 1). According to Blust (2010), this subgroup includes, in addition to Bornean languages, various languages outside Borneo, namely, Malayo-Chamic, Moken, Rejang, and Sundanese. The languages of this study belong to different subgroups within the North Borneo phylum. They include the North Sarawakan subgroup with (1) languages that are spoken by hunter-gatherers (Penan Benalui (a Western Penan dialect), Punan Tubu’, and Punan Malinau), and (2) languages that are spoken by agriculturalists, that is Òma Lóngh and Lebu’ Kulit Kenyah (belonging respectively to the Upper Pujungan and Wahau Kenyah subgroups in Ethnologue 2009) as well as the Kayan languages Uma’ Pu (Baram Kayan), Busang, Hwang Tring and Long Gleaat (Kayan Bahau).