Lexeme derivation and multi-word predicates in Hungarian

This paper focuses on predicate formation operations which affect the value and determination of lexical properties associated with Hungarian phrasal periphrastic predicates and, hence, on lexeme-formation (Aronoff 1994). Recent work, following the word and paradigm morphological models of  Robins (1959), Matthews (1972), among others, has argued that periphrasis or multi-word expression is often best viewed as a type of morphological exponence, i.e., as the product of morphological rather than syntactic operations, contra many current theoretical proposals.  In line with this morphological perspective, I argue that, as in inflection, periphrasis is a type of morphological exponence for lexeme-formation.  In support of this claim I explore lexeme-formation for several sorts of phrasal predicates in Hungarian (Ackerman (1987), Komlósy (1992), Kiefer-Ladányi (2000), among others), in particular causative formation, causal predicate formation, so-called reiterated activity formation expressed by reduplicated preverbs, and the interaction of these operations with category changing derivation. The general background for the analysis will be the Realization-based Lexicalist Hypothesis (Blevins 2001) and realizational approaches to morphology (Stump 2001) which are compatible with theories subscribing to representational modularity (Jackendoff 1997; 2002)

Lexical databases for computational analyses: A linguistic perspective

Large typological databases have permitted new ways of studying cross-linguistic morphological variation. Recently, computational modelers with typological interests have begun to turn to broad multilingual text databases. In this paper, we will focus particularly on the UniMorph database, a collection of morphological paradigms, mostly gathered automatically from the crowd-sourced multi-lingual dictionary Wiktionary. It was designed to make the large quantity of data contained in Wiktionary available for NLP researchers by standardizing the data and putting it into a form that is easy to access. For typological studies, however, the requirements for a linguistically informed view of morphological variation are quite different. They involve using a morphological database as a scientific instrument to both formulate and test hypotheses about the nature and organization of language systems. The requirements are, accordingly, much higher. In this paper, we survey some of the methodological challenges and pitfalls involved in using corpora for typological research, and we end with a proposal for best practices and directions for further research

Systemic Polyfunctionality and Morphology-syntax Interdependencies

International audienceno abstrac

Valence and the Semantics of Causativization

Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session Dedicated to the Contributions of Charles J. Fillmore (1994

Can Agent Cheap Talk Mitigate Agency Problems in the Presence of a Noisy Performance Measure? An Experimental Test in a Single- and Multi-Period Setting

Given traditional agency theory assumptions and unobservable effort in a single-period setting, a moral hazard arises in which the agent is expected to shirk and provide the minimal possible effort after contracting with the principal. Traditional solutions to this agency problem include paying the agent a financial incentive tied to some noisy measure of performance or allowing the agent to develop a reputation over multiple periods. As the noisiness of the performance-measure increases, however, these traditional solutions become increasingly costly and ineffective. In many single- and multi-period agency settings in the firm, however, the agent can communicate a promised level of effort to the principal prior to contracting. We document that this pre-contract communication, which is non-enforceable and therefore considered cheap talk by traditional economic theory, can be highly effective in mitigating the moral hazard problem in agency theory. In a repeating single-period experimental setting where production is observable but is a very noisy indicator of effort, communication of a promised level of effort results in higher pay for the agent, higher effort, and higher expected profit for the principal than the control group. When the principal and agent interact over multiple periods, reputation building is ineffective, but cheap talk continues to yield superior outcomes. These results are consistent with recent economic theory incorporating social norms such as the norm of promise-keeping