1,238 research outputs found

    PERFORMING ANAPHORA IN MODERN GREEK: A NEO-GRICEAN PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

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    The paper addresses the problem of interpreting anaphoric NPs in Modern Greek. It includes a proposal of a novel analysis based on the systematic interaction of the neo- Gricean pragmatic principles of communication, which provides a neat and elegant approach to NP-anaphora resolution. The findings of this study provide evidence for an account of NP-anaphora in terms of the division of labour between syntax and pragmatics and more accurately in terms of the systematic interaction of the neo-Gricean pragmatic principles

    Review Of The Syntactic Recoverability Of Null Arguments By Y. Roberge

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    Interpretation of Clitic, Strong and Null Pronouns in the Acquisition of European Portuguese

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    The goal of the present research was to investigate how the interpretation of clitic, strong and null pronouns by Portuguese preschool children is influenced by the grammatical status of those forms. In a first study, picture verification tasks were used in order to verify if the categorial status of object pronominal forms (clitic or strong) is intralinguistically relevant in European Portuguese (EP), especially in contexts of variation between non-reflexives and reflexives. According to the results, children did not have major difficulties with reflexive forms (anaphors), regardless of their clitic or strong status. In the interpretation of non-reflexive forms, their performance got close to the adults’ behavior with clitic pronouns, while it deviated with strong pronouns in prepositional contexts. Children overaccepted dispreferred coreferential readings when interpreting non-reflexive strong object pronouns in non-locative PPs. In a second study, truth value judgment tasks were applied with the intention of specifying if there is an interpretative asymmetry between null and overt pronominal subjects in indicative and subjunctive complement clauses. The results show that, in the indicative (with one or two intrasentential antecedents), children overaccepted the pragmatically inappropriate reading of coreference for overt strong subject pronouns, unlike adults. Children performed more adult-like with null subject pronouns in indicative clauses, when there is only one intrasentential antecedent (the matrix subject). However, they often accepted the dispreferred reading of disjoint reference with null pronominal subjects in the indicative, in the presence of two potential antecedents before the pronoun (the matrix subject and the matrix object). In the subjunctive (selected by volitional verbs or declarative verbs of order), children incorrectly assigned coreferential readings to both null and overt subject pronouns. Strong pronominal forms are argued to be licensed post-syntactically. The difficulties in the post-syntactic rejection of the dispreferred coreference when interpreting object and embedded subject strong pronouns (constrained by semantic and/or pragmatic factors) are based on processing problems at the interface level. Here, there is competition between convergent derivations and the comparison between those structures is costly for children’s limited working memory. In turn, clitic and null pronouns are licensed in syntax (making the establishment of the referential dependency of these forms to be more economical), since both are dependent on functional categories as inflection. However, there are some processing constraints in the interpretation of null pronominal subjects in indicative clauses, when the matrix object antecedent linearly intervenes in the referential dependency between the preferred matrix subject antecedent and the null embedded subject pronoun. In this case, children’s performance is guided by the linear proximity of the matrix object antecedent preceding the null pronoun. The subjunctive obviation (with both types of subject pronouns) is not completely acquired yet by children. Nevertheless, they show sensitivity to the contrast between the indicative and the subjunctive. The full mastery of obviation involves not only syntactic knowledge of the anaphoric nature of Tense (e.g. Meireles & Raposo, 1983) but also lexical and semantic knowledge of the matrix verbs, which takes some time to acquire. In the pronominal system, the more pronouns are syntactically licensed, the less problematic their acquisition becomes.O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar como a interpretação de pronomes clíticos, fortes e nulos por crianças portuguesas em idade pré-escolar é influenciada pelo estatuto gramatical dessas formas. Num primeiro estudo, foram utilizadas tarefas de verificação de imagens a fim de verificar se o estatuto categorial da forma pronominal em posição de complemento (clítico ou forte) é relevante intralinguisticamente em Português Europeu (PE), designadamente em contextos de variação entre não-reflexos e reflexos. De acordo com os resultados, as crianças não têm grandes dificuldades com formas reflexas (anáforas), independentemente do seu estatuto clítico ou forte. Na interpretação de formas não-reflexas, o seu desempenho aproximou-se do dos adultos com os pronomes clíticos mas desviou-se com os pronomes fortes em contextos preposicionais. As crianças sobreaceitaram leituras correferenciais não-preferidas ao interpretar pronomes fortes complemento não-reflexos em sintagmas preposicionais não-locativos. Num segundo estudo, foram aplicadas tarefas de juízo de valor de verdade com a intenção de especificar se há uma assimetria interpretativa entre sujeitos pronominais nulos e plenos em orações completivas com indicativo e conjuntivo. Os resultados mostram que, no indicativo (com um ou dois antecedentes intrafrásicos), as crianças sobreaceitaram a leitura pragmaticamente inadequada de correferência para pronomes sujeito plenos, ao contrário dos adultos. As crianças aproximaram-se do desempenho dos adultos com pronomes sujeito nulos em orações com indicativo, quando há um só antecedente intrafrásico (o sujeito matriz). Contudo, aceitaram frequentemente a leitura disjunta não-preferida com sujeitos pronominais nulos no indicativo, na presença de dois potenciais antecedentes na frase (o sujeito matriz e o objeto matriz). No conjuntivo (selecionado por verbos volitivos e declarativos de ordem), as crianças atribuíram incorretamente leituras correferenciais a ambas as formas de pronome sujeito (nulo e pleno). Argumentamos que as formas pronominais fortes são licenciadas pós-sintaticamente. As dificuldades na rejeição pós-sintática da correferência não-preferida ao interpretar pronomes fortes em posição de complemento e de sujeito encaixado (restringinda por fatores semânticos e/ou pragmáticos) são baseadas em problemas de processamento ao nível das interfaces. Aqui, há competição entre derivações convergentes e a comparação entre essas estruturas envolve custos para a limitada memória de trabalho das crianças. Por sua vez, os pronomes clíticos e nulos são licenciados na sintaxe (fazendo com que o estabelecimento da dependência referencial destas formas seja mais económica), pois ambos são dependentes de categorias funcionais como a flexão. No entanto, existem algumas restrições de processamento na interpretação dos sujeitos pronominais nulos em orações com indicativo, quando o antecedente objeto matriz intervém de forma linear na dependência referencial entre o antecedente sujeito matriz preferido e o pronome sujeito nulo encaixado. Neste caso, o desempenho das crianças é guiado pela proximidade linear do antecedente objeto matriz que precede o pronome nulo. A obviação conjuntiva (com ambos os tipos de pronome sujeito) não está ainda completamente adquirida pelas crianças. Todavia, mostram sensibilidade ao contraste entre o indicativo e o conjuntivo. O domínio completo da obviação envolve não só conhecimento sintático do caráter anafórico de Tempo (e.g. Meireles & Raposo, 1983) mas também conhecimento lexical e semântico dos verbos matriz, o que demora algum tempo a adquirir. No sistema pronominal, quanto mais os pronomes são sintaticamente licenciados, menos problemática se torna a sua aquisição

    Issues in the Acquisition of Binding and Control in High-Functioning Children with Autism

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    In this study, we test 12 high-functioning children with autism (HFA), aged 12-16, on a picture-selection task assessing comprehension of binding and compare their performance on this construction with that on an already conducted, similarly designed task, testing comprehension of obligatory control (Janke & Perovic, submitted). We compare the children’s performance on these two tasks to that of a younger gender- and verbal MA-matched typically developing (TD) group. No difference between the groups’ performance was found, with both performing at ceiling on the two tasks. By comparing comprehension of two constructions which share a number of syntactic properties, these results provide further corroboration for the claim in Janke and Perovic (submitted) and Perovic, Modyanova and Wexler (2013a) that certain syntactic dependencies in high-functioning individuals with autism are intact. This contribution is of clinical import, as it provides practitioners with a more precise profile of advanced grammatical abilities. The paper’s theoretical significance lies with its division between binding and control on the one hand and raising on the other. While binding and obligatory control pattern together in our sample, research using the same paradigm on a different sample of children, also high-functioning and with an age range of 10-16, show an impaired comprehension of raised structures relative to unraised structures and fillers (Perovic, Modyanova & Wexler, 2007). We hypothesise that the source of this difference lies with the extra degree of complexity in raising that is absent from binding and control: raising involves argument displacement

    A Movement Account of Long-Distance Reflexives

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    This thesis examines reflexive pronouns, such as Icelandic sig (Cf. Thráinsson 2007), which may be bound from outside of an infinitive clause (which I call MD "medium distance" binding) in addition to being bound locally. I propose that such reflexives are linked to their antecedents via sisterhood followed by movement: the reflexive and antecedent are first merged together as sisters, and the antecedent subsequently moves to receive its first theta-role, as schematized below: 1. He ordered Harold to shave he+sig This links the properties of bound simplex reflexives to the properties of movement. I argue that reflexives such as sig must be bound within the first finite clause because finite CP is a spell-out domain and its escape hatch is inaccessible to A-movement. Furthermore, I derive the subject-orientation of sig and other simplex reflexives from merge-over-move, combined with a numeration divided into phases including vP. Since the antecedent is moving into its first theta-role, and merge is preferable to move, the antecedent will end up in the highest position in the phase: that is, the subject. I then examine long-distance (LD) uses of sig as well as Chinese ziji, Japanese zibun, and Kannada tannu. I propose that in such cases the reflexive still has a double, which is not the antecedent but a null element, possibly an operator. It undergoes A' movement to a position in the left periphery of a finite clause, associated with point-of- view (with a divided left periphery as in Speas 2004)--and this operator is in turn associated with an antecedent either outside the finite clause, or outside the sentence entirely. This accounts for the observation that LD reflexives often must refer to POV holders (Sells 1987). Evidence for LD reflexives being mediated by an A' position comes from the interaction of binding with wh-movement in Kannada (Lidz 2008), and is one way of describing where blocking effects do and do not occur in Chinese (Anand 2006). Furthermore, in Japanese there are sometimes overt morphemes, potentially left- periphery heads, that indicate POV and can co-occur with the use of LD reflexives (Nishigauchi 2005, 2010)

    Reflexives and tree unification grammar

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    Pronoun processing in post-stroke aphasia:A meta-analytic review of individual data

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    Pronouns constitute a heterogeneous class of linguistic elements, allowing for expression of referential relationships. Pronouns have an important place in daily communication which speakers and listeners rely heavily on for. Aphasia literature has evidenced that pronoun processing is impaired in people with aphasia (PWA), although explanations underpinning pronoun impairments are mixed. To address this, through a systematic literature review, we identified 42 studies which examined pronoun processing (both production and comprehension) in 474 PWA across 16 different languages. An initial meta-analysis was conducted on the overall data with all PWA and pronoun conditions with an outcome measure indicating whether or not pronoun processing is individually impaired in PWA. Further meta-analytic models were built to compare certain conditions of particular interest (e.g. reflexives vs object pronouns, object vs subject wh-pronouns) in an attempt to further disentangle the explanations behind their difficulty in use. Outputs from our meta-analysis suggest that: (i) a form of pronoun impairment is consistently present in aphasia regardless of aphasia type, fluency or language spoken; (ii) pronoun variables show selectivity in their impairment, for instance, reflexives are better preserved over object pronouns, and the subject-advantage in who-pronouns is language-selective; and (iii) other important linguistic variables that largely predict pronoun impairments include aspects like argument position of subject/object phrases, case marking, cliticization, and the presence of relative clause constructions. These outputs are discussed in relation to neurolinguistic hypotheses that predict pronoun impairments in aphasia

    Interpretation of Turkish reflexive anaphors: subjecthood vs semantic role

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    The current study investigates what factors control the interpretation of Turkish third person reflexive anaphors kendi and kendisi. Our results indicate that, in certain contexts, kendi and kendisi behave alike, which is a novel finding. We show that both kendi and kendisi have a slight subject-orientation, and they are sensitive to semantic roles, being perceiver-oriented. Lastly, our results show that word order affects the interpretation of kendi and kendisi, and that they prefer salient preceding DPs. Based on our findings as a whole, we suggest that both kendi and kendisi show some pronominal properties, and we suggest that Kornfilt’s (2001) proposal that kendisi can function as a pronoun might be extended to kendi as well

    Da linguística gerativa à gramática categorial : sujeitos lexicais em infinitivos controlados

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    Orientadores: Marcelo Esteban Coniglio, Sonia Maria Lazzarini CyrinoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências HumanasResumo: A presente tese situa-se na interface da lógica e da linguística; o seu objeto de estudo são os pronomes lexicais em sentenças de controle em três línguas Românicas: Português, Italiano e Espanhol. Esse assunto tem recebido mais atenção na linguística gerativa, especialmente nos anos recentes, do que na gramática de cunho lógico. Talvez como consequência disso, há ainda muito a ser entendido sobre essas estruturas linguísticas e as suas propriedades lógicas. Essa tese tenta preencher as lacunas na literatura \--- ou, pelo menos, avançar nessa direção \--- colocando questões que não foram suficientemente exploradas até agora. Para tal efeito avançamos duas perguntas-chaves, uma linguística e a outra lógica. Elas são, respectivamente: Qual é o estatuto sintático dos pronomes lexicais em estruturas de controle? E: Quais são os mecanismos disponíveis, em uma gramática lógica livre de contração, para se reusar recursos semânticos? A tese divide-se, consequentemente, em duas partes: linguística gerativa e gramática categorial. Na Parte I revisamos algumas das principais teorias de controle gerativistas e a recente discussão acerca das cláusulas infinitivas com sujeito lexical. Na Parte II revisamos a literatura categorial, atendendo principalmente às propostas acerca das estruturas de controle e dos pronomes anafóricos. Em última instância, mostraremos que as propostas linguísticas e lógicas prévias precisam ser modificadas para se explicar o fenômeno linguístico em questão. Com efeito, nos capítulos finais de cada uma das partes avançamos propostas alternativas que, a nosso ver, resultam mais adequadas que as suas rivais. Mais específicamente, na Parte I avançamos uma proposta linguística na linha do cálculo de controle T/Agr de Landau. Na Parte II apresentamos duas propostas categoriais, uma na linha do cálculo categorial combinatório e a outra, na gramática lógica de tipos. Finalmente mostramos a implementação da última proposta em um analisador sintático e de demonstração categorialAbstract: The present thesis lies at the interface of logic and linguistics; its object of study are control sentences with overt pronouns in Romance languages (European and Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and Spanish). This is a topic that has received considerably more attention on the part of linguists, especially in recent years, than from logicians. Perhaps for this reason, much remains to be understood about these linguistic structures and their underlying logical properties. This thesis seeks to fill the lacunas in the literature \--- or at least take steps in this direction \--- by way of addressing a number of issues that have so far been under-explored. To this end we put forward two key questions, one linguistic and the other logical. These are, respectively: What is the syntactic status of the surface pronoun? And: What are the available mechanisms to reuse semantic resources in a contraction-free logical grammar? Accordingly, the thesis is divided into two parts: generative linguistics and categorial grammar. Part I starts by reviewing the recent discussion within the generative literature on infinitive clauses with overt subjects, paying detailed attention to the main accounts in the field. Part II does the same on the logical grammar front, addressing in particular the issues of control and of anaphoric pronouns. Ultimately, the leading accounts from both camps will be found wanting. The closing chapter of each of Part I and Part II will thus put forward alternative candidates, that we contend are more successful than their predecessors. More specifically, in Part I we offer a linguistic account along the lines of Landau's T/Agr theory of control. In Part II we present two alternative categorial accounts: one based on Combinatory Categorial Grammar, the other on Type-Logical Grammar. Each of these accounts offers an improved, more fine-grained perspective on control infinitives featuring overt pronominal subjects. Finally, we include an Appendix in which our type-logical proposal is implemented in a categorial parser/theorem-prover (categorial parser/theorem-prover)DoutoradoFilosofiaDoutora em Filosofia2013/08115-1, 2015/09699-2FAPESPCAPE
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