222 research outputs found

    Recognition and Prediction for Implicit Contrastive Focus in Romanian

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    This paper is made up of two parts: \textbf{the first part} continues the theoretical investigations on Information Structure (IS), linguistic, and computational approaches suitable to provide solutions to the prosody prediction problem of Implicit Contrastive Focus (ICF) concept, introduced in our previous papers. ICF is meant to be the particular case but also the counterpart of the classical category of contrastive Focus at the finite clause level, as the second item in the Background-Focus pair of IS dimension. The classical contrastive Focus, which we called Explicit Contrastive Focus (ECF), is the intonationally F marked entity introduced by overt lexical contrastive markers. ICF labels the situations where contrastive intonational focusation occurs but without the lexical presence of the contrastive Focus markers! The only and main device to introduce the contrastive focusation on certain constituents is the syntactic dislocation from their specific positions in the Systemic Ordering (SO) of syntactic-semantic roles for the Romanian finite clause. The ICF problem means to obtain reliable algorithms and procedures on the Discourse-Prosody interface in order to accurately predict the contrastive Focus distribution within the Romanian ICF-type affirmative finite clause. \textbf{The second, applicative part} of the paper describes algorithms for solving the ICF problem for Romanian, trying to exploit the typically dislocated constituents in the finite clause and to predict their Prosodic Prominence (PP). Procedures for the development of intonational-prosodic patterns assigned to the ICF distribution by certain ICF estimation schemes are developed and tested for a balanced set of Romanian ICF-type affirmative finite clauses

    Focus in wh-questions : Evidence from Italian

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    This paper addresses two long-standing issues concerning focus: first, the question of whether the focal interpretation is directly read off the prosodic structure of a sentence, or it is rather mediated by a [focus] feature encoded in the syntactic representation; second, whether interrogativewh-phrases are inherently endowed with a [focus] feature. We provide evidence from two prosodic experiments on directwh-questions in Italian, showing that the Nuclear Pitch Accent (NPA) and main stress fall on the lexical verb, without a concomitant focal interpretation of the latter. Furthermore, we show that NPA assignment is sensitive to the derivational history of thewh-phrase under short-distance vs. long-distance extraction. We account for the observed NPA distribution in terms of a [focus] feature which is bundled with the [wh] in direct questions, and is specified on each phase head that hosts in its edge one link of thewh-chain. Thus, v degrees is specified for the feature bundle {wh, focus} and attracts the assignment of the NPA, which is then realized on the lexical verb. Our findings, thus, cast doubt on the direct association between prosodic prominence and a focal interpretation.Peer reviewe

    Regulating word order in modern Greek: verb initial and non-verb initial orders & the conceptual-intentional interface

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    I introduce the notions ‘configurational’, ‘discourse-configurational’, and the basics of the minimalist syntax, on the one hand, and notions relevant to information packaging, on the other hand (Chapter 1), in the following thee chapters I proceed to a detailed examination of the syntactic properties of verb-initial and non-verb initial orders, insisting on certain debated aspects. In particular, in Chapter 2, I compare the syntax of VSO and that of the ‘problematic’ VOS order; I show that what differentiates the two constructions is that the latter order is due to a flexible strategy in the narrow syntax that allows the object to pied-pipe alongside the verb to the TP domain. In Chapter 3, I discuss clitic doubling for which I put forward an alternative account involving feature copying that allows the same DP to occur in two positions in the structure at the same time. In this light, I further argue that clitic doubling is a parameterized version of A-movement. In Chapter 4, I deal with the properties of a range of constructions targeting the preverbal domain. I argue that the peculiar behaviour of CLLD is due to that it is the result of two operations, namely, A-movement in the form of clitic doubling and A-bar movement. I also show that non-focal LD is more productive than previously thought and that the construction involves mere A-bar movement. In the remaining two chapters I shift attention to issues related to the discourse-configurational nature of the language and information structure. After I discuss various models of integrating information structure into the minimalist grammar (Chapter 5), I argue that Information Structure can refer either to pragmatic articulations or more abstract logico-semantic strategies or both. Regarding the latter one, I show that Greek formally realizes via its word order two such strategies: a predicative and a non-predicative, the former surfacing as non-Verb initial orders and the latter one surfacing as verb-initial orders. In the second half of Chapter 6, I deal with the interpretive effects of doubling. In particular, I argue that doubling in Greek invariably marks a DP as a topic. I also show that non-focal left dislocated DPs in Greek are fronted ground material that serves as an anchor for the introduction of new information into the discourse. Chapter 7 summarizes the major contributions of the current thesis

    Focus at the syntax-semantics interface

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    This volume contains a significant part of the talks presented at the Workshop on "Focus at the Syntax-Semantics Interface", which took place on April 6th-7th, 2008 at the University of Stuttgart. The aim of the workshop was to address some major semantic and syntactic issues of focus theory: focus representation, compositionality, focus interpretation, syntactic marking, presuppositions, focus sensitivity as well as focus movement. In addition, related phenomena such as the semantics of discourse particles and the relation between discourse prominence and case marking were raised.Dieser Band beinhaltet Artikel basierend auf Vorträgen, die auf dem Workshop "Focus at the Syntax-Semantics Interface" (Universität Stuttgart, 6.-7. April 2008) gehalten wurden. Das Thema der Tagung waren Syntax und Semantik von Fokus (Informationsstruktur); behandelt wurden die Bereiche Fokusrepräsentation, Kompositionalität, Fokusinterpretation, syntaktische Markierung von Fokus und Hintergrund, Präsuppositionen, fokussensitive Ausdrücke und Diskurspartikeln, syntaktische Bewegung, sowie der Zusammenhang von Diskursprominenz und Kasusmarkierung

    The Processing of Emotional Sentences by Young and Older Adults: A Visual World Eye-movement Study

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    Carminati MN, Knoeferle P. The Processing of Emotional Sentences by Young and Older Adults: A Visual World Eye-movement Study. Presented at the Architectures and Mechanisms of Language and Processing (AMLaP), Riva del Garda, Italy

    On past participle agreement in transitive clauses in French

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    This paper provides a Minimalist analysis of past participle agreement in French in transitive clauses. Our account posits that the head v of vP in such structures carries an (accusativeassigning) structural case feature which may apply (with or without concomitant agreement) to case-mark a clause-mate object, the subject of a defective complement clause, or an intermediate copy of a preposed subject in spec-CP. In structures where a goal is extracted from vP (e.g. via wh-movement) v also carries an edge feature, and may also carry a specificity feature and a set of (number and gender) agreement features. We show how these assumptions account for agreement of a participle with a preposed specific clausemate object or defective-clause subject, and for the absence of agreement with an embedded object, with the complement of an impersonal verb, and with the subject of an embedded (finite or nonfinite) CP complement. We also argue that the absence of agreement marking (in expected contexts) on the participles faitmade and laissélet in infinitive structures is essentially viral in nature. Finally, we claim that obligatory participle agreement with reflexive and reciprocal objects arises because the derivation of reflexives involves A-movement and concomitant agreement

    Proceedings of the Second Central European Conference in Linguistics for postgraduate Students

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    Lexical and postlexical prominence in Tashlhiyt Berber and Moroccan Arabic

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    Tashlhiyt Berber (Afro-Asiatic, Berber) and Moroccan Arabic (Afro-Asiatic, Semitic), two languages spoken in Morocco, have been in contact for over 1200 years. The influence of Berber languages on the lexicon and the segmental-phonological structure of Moroccan Arabic is well-documented, whereas possible similarities in the prosodic-phonological domain have not yet been addressed in detail. This thesis brings together evidence from production and perception to bear on the question whether Tashlhiyt Berber and Moroccan Arabic also exhibit convergence in the domain of phonological prominence. Experimental results are interpreted as showing that neither language has lexical prominence asymmetries in the form of lexical stress. This lack of stress in Moroccan Arabic is unlike the undisputed presence of lexical stress in most other varieties of Arabic, which in turn suggests that this aspect of the phonology of Moroccan Arabic has resulted from contact with (Tashlhiyt) Berber. A further, theoretical contribution is made with respect to the possible correspondence between lexical and postlexical prominence structure from a typological point of view. One of the tenets of the Autosegmental Metrical approach to intonation analysis holds that prominence-marking intonational events (pitch accents) associate with lexically stressed syllables. Exactly how prominence marking is achieved in languages that lack lexical stress is little-understood, and this thesis' discussion of postlexical prominence in Tashlhiyt Berber and Moroccan Arabic provides new insights that bear on this topic. A first set of production experiments investigates, for both languages, if there are acoustic correlates to what some researchers have considered to be lexically stressed syllables. It is shown that neither language exhibits consistent acoustic enhancement of presumed stressed syllables relative to unstressed syllables. The second set of production experiments reports on the prosodic characteristics of question word interrogatives in both languages. It is shown that question words are the locus of postlexical prominence-marking events that however do not exhibit association to a sub-lexical phonological unit. A final perception experiment serves the goal of showing how native speakers of Tashlhiyt Berber and Moroccan Arabic deal with the encoding of a postlexical prominence contrast that is parasitic on a lexical prominence contrast. This is achieved by means of a 'stress deafness' experiment, the results of which show that speakers of neither language can reliably encode a lexically-specified prominence difference. Results from all three types of experiment thus converge in suggesting that lexical prominence asymmetries are not specified in the phonology of either language
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