Introducing Special Issues in Biolinguistics
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present (Impact: Studies in Language and Society)
<DOCINFO AUTHOR ""TITLE "Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present"SUBJECT "Impact 18"KEYWORDS ""SIZE HEIGHT "220"WIDTH "150"VOFFSET "4"> Germanic Standardizations Impact: Studies in language and society impact publishes monographs, collective volumes, and text books on topics in sociolinguistics. The scope of the series is broad, with special emphasis on areas such as language planning and language policies; language conflict and language death; language standards and language change; dialectology; diglossia; discourse studies; language and social identity (gender, ethnicity, class, ideology); and history and methods of sociolinguistics. General Editor Associate Editor Annick De Houwer Elizabeth Lanza University of Antwerp University of Oslo Advisory Board Ulrich Ammon William Labov Gerhard Mercator University University of Pennsylvania Jan Blommaert Joseph Lo Bianco Ghent University The Australian National University Paul Drew Peter Nelde University of York Catholic University Brussels Anna Escobar Dennis Preston University of Illinois at Urbana Michigan State University Guus Extra Jeanine Treffers-Daller Tilburg University University of the West of England Margarita Hidalgo Vic Webb San Diego State University University of Pretoria Richard A. Hudson University College London Volume 18 Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present Edited by Ana Deumert and Wim Vandenbussche Germanic Standardizations Past to Present Edited by Ana Deumert Monash University Wim Vandenbussche Vrije Universiteit Brussel/FWO-Vlaanderen John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/Philadelphia TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements 8 of American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Germanic standardizations : past to present / edited by Ana Deumert, Wim Vandenbussche. -
Towards a Multidominant Theory of Movement Lecture One: Introduction Kyle Johnson University College London University of Massachusetts at Amherst 20 June 2016
Towards a Multidominant Theory of Movement Lecture One: Introduction Kyle Johnson University College London University of Massachusetts at Amherst 20 June 2016 Movement has been used to model a variety of syntactic relations that, frankly, A. Diference in Semantic Displacement ofentimes look quite diferent. Here are some examples. a. Total Reconstruction: (1) a. ...að Mary kaupir ekki skó? (Icelandic) Mary kaupir ekki skó. ≡ ¬ Mary kaupir skó ...that Mary buys not shoes Head Movement b. Variable Binding: ! Which book Mary had read ≡ b. I asked which book Mary had read AMovement Tesetofpropositionssuchthat∃x Mary had read x, x a book. ! A guard stands before every bank ≡ c. A child seems to have lef.AMovement∀ ! x if x is a bank then a guard stands before x d. every bank adiferent guard stood before every bank. An argument that the semantic relationship between a moved verb and its under- ! lying position is diferent than a moved phrase and its underlying position can Quantifer Raising be made from their diferent behavior in ellipsis contexts. VP Ellipsis can leave behind an object DP or a verb in contexts where that DP or verb has moved out Why are we tempted to see each of these cases as special instances of the same of the VP. In English this is possible with a DP, in what goes by the name “pseu- relation? Perhaps because they (sort of) share these three properties. dogapping.” emantic isplacement (2)S D (5)Iknowwhatkindofriceshewilleatbutnotwhatkindofstarch she should. Some part of the meaning of the moved expression is applied to aposition diferent from where it is spoken. -
Prolegomena to a Future Science of Biolinguistics
Prolegomena to a Future Science of Biolinguistics W. Tecumseh Fitch This essay reviews some of the problems that face biolinguistics if it is to someday succeed in understanding human language from a biological and evolutionary viewpoint. Although numerous sociological problems impede progress at present, these are ultimately soluble. The greater challenges include delineating the computational mechanisms that underlie different aspects of language competence, as implemented in the brain, and under- standing the epigenetic processes by which they arise. The ultimate chal- lenge will be to develop a theory of meaning incorporating non-linguistic conceptual representations, as they exist in the mind of a dog or chimpan- zee, which requires extensions of information theory incorporating context- dependence and relevance. Each of these problems is daunting alone; to- gether they make understanding the biology of language one of the most challenging sets of problems in modern science. Keywords: biolinguistics; comparative method; computation; deep homo- logy; neurobiology of language 1. Introduction Prolegomena (from Greek, plural noun, singular prolegomenon) — a preliminary discourse, statement or essay prefixed to a book, etc. In the first years of the new millennium, the word ‘biolinguistics’ has rather suddenly come into use as an umbrella term for various biological approaches to the study of human language. At least three recent books have ‘biolinguistics’ in the title (Givón 2002, Jenkins 2000, 2004), the journal Biolinguistics was founded (www.biolinguistics.eu), and the first Laboratory of Biolinguistics (Riken Brain Science Institute, Japan) is producing its first generation of PhD students. Based simply on the divergent contents of the books mentioned above, this nascent field is broad in its interests and incorporates diverse viewpoints, both about what language is and how it should be studied. -
Authentic Language
! " " #$% " $&'( ')*&& + + ,'-* # . / 0 1 *# $& " * # " " " * 2 *3 " 4 *# 4 55 5 * " " * *6 " " 77 .'%%)8'9:&0 * 7 4 "; 7 * *6 *# 2 .* * 0* " *6 1 " " *6 *# " *3 " *# " " *# 2 " " *! "; 4* $&'( <==* "* = >?<"< <<'-:@-$ 6 A9(%9'(@-99-@( 6 A9(%9'(@-99-(- 6A'-&&:9$' ! '&@9' Authentic Language Övdalsk, metapragmatic exchange and the margins of Sweden’s linguistic market David Karlander Centre for Research on Bilingualism Stockholm University Doctoral dissertation, 2017 Centre for Research on Bilingualism Stockholm University Copyright © David Budyński Karlander Printed and bound by Universitetsservice AB, Stockholm Correspondence: SE 106 91 Stockholm www.biling.su.se ISBN 978-91-7649-946-7 ISSN 1400-5921 Acknowledgements It would not have been possible to complete this work without the support and encouragement from a number of people. I owe them all my humble thanks. -
Distributed Morphological Mechanisms of Smith Island Weren't Leveling
University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 13 2007 Issue 1 Proceedings of the 30th Annual Penn Article 23 Linguistics Colloquium 2007 Distributed morphological mechanisms of Smith Island weren't leveling Jeffrey K. Parrott Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl Recommended Citation Parrott, Jeffrey K. (2007) "Distributed morphological mechanisms of Smith Island weren't leveling," University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 13 : Iss. 1 , Article 23. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol13/iss1/23 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol13/iss1/23 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Distributed morphological mechanisms of Smith Island weren't leveling This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol13/iss1/23 Distributed Morphological Mechanisms of Smith Island Weren't Leveling Jeffrey K. Parrott* 1 Introduction A growing body of research (e.g. Adger and Smith 2005, Adger to appear) attempts to bridge the gap between Minimalist theories of syntax (Chomsky 1995, 2000) and the empirical study of Labovian variation and change in progress (e.g. Labov 1994; for overviews see Chambers, Trudgill, and Schil ling-Estes 2002). In this paper, I discuss how variation might be addressed within the theoretical framework of Distributed Morphology (DM) (Halle and Marantz 1993, Embick and Noyer to appear, and related work). The pa per examines the case of weren't leveling, a pattern of morphosyntactic variation and change currently in progress on Smith Island, Maryland. This case provides an empirical argument that significant mechanisms of varia tion should be located in the inventory and feature structure of DM's Vo cabulary and the interaction between Vocabulary Items and operations in the morphological component. -
Kingdom of Sweden
Johan Maltesson A Visitor´s Factbook on the KINGDOM OF SWEDEN © Johan Maltesson Johan Maltesson A Visitor’s Factbook to the Kingdom of Sweden Helsingborg, Sweden 2017 Preface This little publication is a condensed facts guide to Sweden, foremost intended for visitors to Sweden, as well as for persons who are merely interested in learning more about this fascinating, multifacetted and sadly all too unknown country. This book’s main focus is thus on things that might interest a visitor. Included are: Basic facts about Sweden Society and politics Culture, sports and religion Languages Science and education Media Transportation Nature and geography, including an extensive taxonomic list of Swedish terrestrial vertebrate animals An overview of Sweden’s history Lists of Swedish monarchs, prime ministers and persons of interest The most common Swedish given names and surnames A small dictionary of common words and phrases, including a small pronounciation guide Brief individual overviews of all of the 21 administrative counties of Sweden … and more... Wishing You a pleasant journey! Some notes... National and county population numbers are as of December 31 2016. Political parties and government are as of April 2017. New elections are to be held in September 2018. City population number are as of December 31 2015, and denotes contiguous urban areas – without regard to administra- tive division. Sports teams listed are those participating in the highest league of their respective sport – for soccer as of the 2017 season and for ice hockey and handball as of the 2016-2017 season. The ”most common names” listed are as of December 31 2016. -
Do Learners' Word Order Preferences Reflect Hierarchical Language Structure?
Do learners’ word order preferences reflect hierarchical language structure? Alexander Martin ([email protected]) Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh 3 Charles St, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK Klaus Abels ([email protected]) Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London WC1N 1PF, UK David Adger ([email protected]) School of Language, Linguistics and Film, Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK Jennifer Culbertson ([email protected]) Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh 3 Charles St, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK Abstract chical structure for the noun phrase: [Dem [Num [Adj [N]]1 (Adger, 2003; Cinque, 2005; Abels & Neeleman, 2012). In Previous research has argued that learners infer word order pat- this hierarchy, which can be interpreted as reflecting seman- terns when learning a new language based on knowledge about underlying structure, rather than linear order (Culbertson & tic or conceptual structure, the adjective forms a constituent Adger, 2014). Specifically, learners prefer typologically com- with the noun to the exclusion of the numeral and demon- mon noun phrase word order patterns that transparently reflect strative; that sub-constituent combines with a numeral, and how elements like nouns, adjectives, numerals, and demon- stratives combine hierarchically. We test whether this result the resulting unit combines with a demonstrative to make a still holds after removing a potentially confounding strategy larger constituent. The structure provides a straightforward present in the original study design. We find that when learn- explanation for why, in most languages, adjectives are placed ers are taught a naturalistic “foreign” language, a clear prefer- ence for noun phrase word order is replicated but for a subset linearly closest to the noun, while demonstratives are furthest of modifier types originally tested. -
Notes for Contributors
JOURNALOFLINGUISTICS notes for contributors The Journal of Linguistics has as its goal to publish articles that make a clear contribution to the journal of the linguistics association of great britain current debate in all branches of theoretical linguistics. The journal also provides an excellent editors survey of recent linguistics publications, with around thirty book reviews in each volume and Professor Kersti Börjars Dr S.J. Hannahs regular review articles on major works marking important theoretical advances. University of Manchester Newcastle University Full Instructions for Contributors are available at https://www.cambridge.org/lin Professor Helen de Hoop Dr Hans van de Koot Radboud University University College London the linguistics association of great britain book review editor The Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB) is the leading professional association for academic linguists in Great Britain, and welcomes new members. Its scope includes all branches Dr Melanie Green of linguistics – formal or functional, theoretical or descriptive, synchronic or diachronic, social University of Sussex or psychological (or neither), concerned with one language or many. Its members individually favour a wide range of different theories of language structure, and all theoretical persuasions are welcome. To learn more, please see http://www.lagb.org.uk. editorial board Adam Albright MIT D. Robert Ladd Edinburgh The LAGB's main activities are: Jonathan David Bobaljik Connecticut Louise McNally Pompeu Fabra • Publication of the Journal of Linguistics. Robert D. Borsley Essex Stefan Müller Humboldt Ronnie Cann Edinburgh Ad Neeleman UCL • An annual conference, which includes invited overseas speakers of renown, a workshop, a language tutorial, various specialist sessions and a summer school, as well as papers Billy Clark Middlesex Gillian Ramchand Tromsø reflecting a wide range of views and approaches. -
Causal Interrogative Variation in Multicultural and Traditional Varieties of London English
Causal Interrogative Variation in Multicultural and Traditional Varieties of London English James Brookes, David Hall, Jenny Cheshire and David Adger Queen Mary, University of London October 2017 Queen Mary’s OPAL #36 Occasional Papers Advancing Linguistics Causal Interrogative Variation in Multicultural and Traditional Varieties of London English James Brookes, David Hall, Jenny Cheshire and David Adger Queen Mary University of London 1 Introduction The grammar of English has several interrogative expressions that serve to question an eventuality’s reason or purpose, termed “causal interrogatives”.1 Alongside the basic why, as in 1a, we also find two other well-established variants—the discon- tinuous what. for, as in 1b, and how come, as in 1c. (1) a. Why are you looking at me like that? (Ryan; Sulema_Ryan_Kirsty; LIC)2 b. What you look at me like that for? (Chris; Chris_Kim; LIC) c. How come no one don’t look here? (Roshan; Roshan_Robert_Kevin_2; MLEC) These three variants exist alongside each other in most, if not all, dialects and varieties of English.3 Yet in one specific variety Multicultural London English 1In using “cause”/“causal” as a hypernym for both “reason” and “purpose”, we follow Huddle- ston and Pullum (2002); for discussion, see below. Why can also be used as a relative, discussed below, but this usage is less basic; here we use “interrogative” as a fairly loose term that includes the relative case. 2The examples given here (and elsewhere, unless otherwise stated) are drawn from the two main corpora we make use of in this paper: LIC = Linguistic Innovators, MLEC = Multicultural London English. -
Vocalisations: Evidence from Germanic Gary Taylor-Raebel A
Vocalisations: Evidence from Germanic Gary Taylor-Raebel A thesis submitted for the degree of doctor of philosophy Department of Language and Linguistics University of Essex October 2016 Abstract A vocalisation may be described as a historical linguistic change where a sound which is formerly consonantal within a language becomes pronounced as a vowel. Although vocalisations have occurred sporadically in many languages they are particularly prevalent in the history of Germanic languages and have affected sounds from all places of articulation. This study will address two main questions. The first is why vocalisations happen so regularly in Germanic languages in comparison with other language families. The second is what exactly happens in the vocalisation process. For the first question there will be a discussion of the concept of ‘drift’ where related languages undergo similar changes independently and this will therefore describe the features of the earliest Germanic languages which have been the basis for later changes. The second question will include a comprehensive presentation of vocalisations which have occurred in Germanic languages with a description of underlying features in each of the sounds which have vocalised. When considering phonological changes a degree of phonetic information must necessarily be included which may be irrelevant synchronically, but forms the basis of the change diachronically. A phonological representation of vocalisations must therefore address how best to display the phonological information whilst allowing for the inclusion of relevant diachronic phonetic information. Vocalisations involve a small articulatory change, but using a model which describes vowels and consonants with separate terminology would conceal the subtleness of change in a vocalisation. -
Alexander Martin [ˌʔæləɡˈze͜͠əndɚ ˈmɑɻʈ ̚ʔn̩] // [Alɛksɑ̃dɛχ Maχˈtæ̃]
Alexander Martin [ˌʔæləɡˈze͜͠əndɚ ˈmɑɻʈ ̚ʔn̩] // [alɛksɑ̃dɛχ maχˈtæ̃] Laboratoire de linguistique formelle Université de Paris 5 rue Thomas Mann 75013 Paris, France [email protected] www.lscp.net/persons/martin/ Positions held 2020– Postdoctoral researcher Project: Formal models of social meaning and identity construction through language (PI: Heather Burnett) Laboratoire de linguistique formelle Université de Paris 2017–2020 Postdoctoral researcher Project: Connecting cognitive biases and typological universals in syntax (PI: Jennifer Culbertson) Centre for Language Evolution The University of Edinburgh Education 2017 PhD in Cognitive science “Biases in phonological processing & learning” École Normale Supérieure – PSL Research University 2014 Master’s of Cognitive science, mention très bien (rank 1st/52) Focus: Experimental linguistics “An investigation into the functional load of phonological features and perceptual correlates” EHESS · ENS · Université Paris Descartes 2012 Bachelor’s of Language sciences, mention très bien Focus: Theoretical & descriptive linguistics Université Paris Diderot 2012 Bachelor’s of Applied modern languages, mention très bien Focus: English & German, Civilization studies Université Paris Diderot Additional training 2015 LSA Linguistic Summer Institute Sociophonetics, Comp. approaches to sound change, Speakers and listeners in sound change University of Chicago Summary of research I take a multi-faceted approach to study how constraints on human cognition shape the world’s languages. Specif- ically, I use rigourously designed laboratory experiments to test predictions made by linguistic theory (and backed up by corpus analyses). Much of my experimental work uses the artificial language learning paradigm (ALL) and I am part of a European network of scientists testing the limits and subtleties of this task. I am particularly in- terested in how constraints on learning affect language change and I have used computational simulations to study the evolution of phenomena over time (based on data obtained from ALL experiments). -
Ratification
READY FOR RATIFICATION Vol. 1 Early compliance of non-States Parties with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages A Handbook with twenty proposed instruments of ratification Volume 1: Regional or Minority Languages in non-States Parties Compliance of National Legislation with the ECRML Ewa Chylinski Mahulena Hofmannová (eds.) Proposals for Instruments of Ratification READY FOR RATIFICATION Vol. 1 Imprint Preface Publisher: European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) For a number of years, the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) and the Council of Europe co-operated on the © ECMI 2011 publication of a handbook series on various minority issues. The topical areas were legal provisions for the protection and promotion of minority rights under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), Editors: Ewa Chylinski/Mahulena Hofmannová power sharing arrangements and examples of good practice in minority governance. The present Handbook concerns the other Council of Europe convention dealing with minorities: the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). The ECRML represents the European legal frame of reference for the The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility protection and promotion of languages used by persons belonging to traditional minorities. of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the ECMI. Regrettably, the importance of the ECRML is not reflected by the number of ratifications. While the FCNM has 39 States Parties, the ECRML has so far been ratified by 25 member States of the Council of Europe and signed by Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation a further eight member States.