Parts, Axial Parts, and Next Parts in Kannada

Nouns meaning ‘place, region’ and ‘part’ are compounded in Kannada with a `bleached’ noun (a putative postposition) to form AxPart and Part readings. As in other languages, the AxPart or ‘region’ reading does not pluralize, does not permit adjectival modification, and allows for MeasureP modification (unlike the part reading). AxParts may also be formed out of nouns by the fusion of a dative marker or a genitive marker with the N; these case markers introduce the Place element. The dative case may be optionally overt (e.g. pakka-kke ‘side-dative,’ ‘to a side’), or covert (in AxParts like munde ‘front’). The genitive marker gives a sense of immediate adjacency that we designate the NextPart reading. Interestingly, the dative and genitive cases in Kannada also allow nouns to assume the function of predicative and attributive adjectives

The Syntax of Spatial Anaphora

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive Minimalist analysis of the apparent free variation between pronouns and anaphors in snake-sentences. Three sets of data provide the basis for the analysis: hitherto unobserved restrictions on quantifier-pronoun relationships, classical observations about the role of perspective or point of view (Cantrall 1974), and interpretive effects concerning the nature of the locative relationship (Kuno 1987). We propose an analysis of spatial prepositions in terms of Svenonius’ (2006) AxPartP. Spatial interpretations may be object-centered or observer-centered. We correlate these two interpretations with two distinct grammatical representations. The object-centered interpretation involves an Agree relation between AxPart and the complement of P, the observer-centered interpretation is the result of a binding relationship between AxPart and the Speaker, represented in MoodEvid P. An Agree relation requires the presence of the complex anaphor himself, whereas binding of AxPart by the Speaker is only compatible with the pronoun him

Semantic form as interface

The term interface had a remarkable career over the past several decades, motivated largely by its use in computer science. Although the concept of a "surface common to two areas" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 1980) is intuitively clear enough, the range of its application is not very sharp and well defined, a "common surface" is open to a wide range of interpretations

James Ensor, Paul Haesaerts and Cinéma Critique in 'Masques et Visages de James Ensor' (1952) and 'Moi, Ensor' (1972)

Late nineteenth-century artist James Ensor proved to be a beloved subject for Belgian filmmakers such as Charles Dekeukeleire, Henri Storck, André Cauvin, and Luc de Heusch, who contributed to a veritable boom of mid-century high-quality experimental art documentaries. Highly aware of the power of modern media himself, Ensor showed a great interest in film as well, and he often got involved in the production of documentaries on his artworks. Notwithstanding the significance of the cinematic explorations of his oeuvre, hitherto the interconnections between Ensor’s artistry and cinema have never been substantially investigated. Aiming to remedy this overlooked intersection of art and film, this article focuses on the representation of Ensor in the oeuvre of leading art historian-cum-filmmaker Paul Haesaerts. Following his concept of cinéma critique, Haesaerts’s exceptional 1952 film Masques et visages de James Ensor is a brilliant piece of art analysis. It self-consciously touches upon the ontological boundaries between Ensor’s visual arts and cinema as it wavers between stillness and movement, and between pictorial surface and cinematic space. Drawing on press articles, original archival research, and textual and film analysis, this article investigates how Haesaerts creates a specific cinematic syntax to analyze the formal elements of Ensor’s paintings. In addition, it takes Masques et visages de James Ensor as a starting point for discussions on broader themes concerning the Ensor scholarship, such as Ensor’s affinities with Belgian cinema; the convergence of Ensor’s pictorial strategies and cinematography; and the impact of experimental art documentaries on the reception of Ensor’s work by both filmmakers and art critics

Kretanje od – do u hrvatskome. Analiza polazišta, ciljeva i dvojnih čitanja dativa

This paper focuses on the Croatian P-elements od ‘from’ and do ‘up to’, which productively appear as both verbal prefixes (yielding either source- or goal-oriented motion verbs) and prepositions; in motion contexts these lexicalize TO (i.e., goals) or FROM (i.e., source paths). Furthermore, the pair allows for a very interesting alternation: a prefixed od-/do- motion verb is frequently followed by an od or do prepositional phrase. The resulting possible combinato-rial patterns are interesting with respect to their semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic properties. A careful look at the various possibilities opens the way for analysis of what seems to be a previously undescribed property of the Croatian spatial prepositionless dative: a possible dual reading, generally of the adlative/ablative type.Ovaj rad istražuje hrvatske ‘P-elemente’ od i do koji su vrlo česti i kao prefiksi (tvoreći glagole kretanja koji kodiraju polazište ili cilj) i kao prijedlozi. U kontekstima koji opisuju kretanje leksikaliziraju OD (polazište) ili DO (cilj). Nadalje, ovaj par dopušta vrlo zanimljivu alternaciju: prefigirani od-/do- glagoli kretanja često su popraćeni prijedložnim frazama koje započinju s od ili do. Rezultirajuće moguće strukture zanimljive su s obzirom na semantička, sintaktička i pragmatička svojstva. Pažljivo proučavanje raznih mogućnosti otvara put analizi onoga što je prethodno neopisano svojstvo hrvatskoga prostornog dativa bez prijedloga – mo-guće dvojno čitanje, uglavnom adlativno/ablativnoga tipa

The 'motionisation' of verbs: a contrastive study of thinking-for-speaking in English and Tunisian Arabic

This thesis investigates the idea that the grammatical system of a language influences aspects of thought patterns and communicative behaviour. It examines the linguistic conceptualisation of motion events in English and Tunisian Arabic (TA) in order to contribute to current debates in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and its associated field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The main research questions are whether in learning a typologically different language, the conceptualisation acquired through first languages (L1) interferes with the learning of the conceptualisation inherent in a second language (L2). In order to address these questions, I adopt three analytical frameworks: a grammatical framework based on Talmy’s (1985, 2000) binary distinction between verb-framed and satellite-framed languages, a discourse framework based on Berman and Slobin’s (1994) application of Talmy’s typology to verbal behaviour; and a ‘Whorfian’ framework based on Slobin’s (1987, 1996b) Thinking-for-Speaking’ (TfS) hypothesis. A fundamental claim of the TfS hypothesis is that the grammar of a language and the discourse preferences of its speakers play a fundamental role in shaping linguistic thinking. From this follows the prediction that L1-based conceptualisation resists change when a typologically different L2 is learnt in adulthood. A comparison of the TfS behaviours of speakers of L1-English (L1-Eng), L1-TA, and ‘advanced’ L2-English (L2-Eng) whose L1 is TA support this prediction. Based on the notion of ‘motionisation’ – a term I coin in order to describe a conceptual strategy L1 speakers of English use when TfS about events – I show that linguistic habits are not only decisive in how the same TfS content is expressed (e.g. run from the jar versus run out of the jar), but more importantly, it is decisive in situations where speakers are ‘forced’ to pick out different aspects of the same reality for TfS purposes. The findings reported here have implications for L2 English learners, in general, and, in particular, for learners of English whose L1 may be characterised as a verb-framed language