An overview of theories of the syntax-phonology interface

This article is intended as a critical survey of the phonological theories of the syntax-phonology interface. These theories can be divided into two main groups, according to the role they attribute to syntactic representations in creating phonological domains. On the one hand there is the Direct Reference Theory, which claims that phonological operations are directly sensitive to syntactic information, in terms of relations of c-command or m-command (i.e., government) holding between the elements participating in phonological processes. On the other, there is the Prosodic Hierarchy Theory of Prosodic Phonology, which defends the view that syntactic and phonological representations are not isomorphic and that there is a distinct level of representation called Prosodic Structure which contains a hierarchically organized set of prosodic constituents. These constituents are built from syntactic structure by a finite set of parameterized algorithms, and phonological processes refer to prosodic constituents rather than to syntactic constituents. Elordieta (1997, 1999) proposes that certain phonological phenomena may be specified to apply in the domains or constituents formed by functional and lexical heads related by feature checking. Seidl's (2001) Minimal Indirect Reference Theory claims that syntactic relationships such as theta-domains determine phonological constituency at the phrasal level. Another important, more recent view is the one that maintains that spellout domains (that is, all the material included in a syntactic phase except for the head of the phase and elements in the specifier of that phase) are interpreted as phonological constituents in PF

An overview of theories of the syntax-phonology interface

This article is intended as a critical survey of the phonological theories of the syntax-phonology interface. These theories can be divided into two main groups, according to the role they attribute to syntactic representations in creating phonological domains. On the one hand there is the Direct Reference Theory, which claims that phonological operations are directly sensitive to syntactic information, in terms of relations of c-command or m-command (i.e., government) holding between the elements participating in phonological processes. On the other, there is the Prosodic Hierarchy Theory of Prosodic Phonology, which defends the view that syntactic and phonological representations are not isomorphic and that there is a distinct level of representation called Prosodic Structure which contains a hierarchically organized set of prosodic constituents. These constituents are built from syntactic structure by a finite set of parameterized algorithms, and phonological processes refer to prosodic constituents rather than to syntactic constituents. Elordieta (1997, 1999) proposes that certain phonological phenomena may be specified to apply in the domains or constituents formed by functional and lexical heads related by feature checking. Seidl's (2001) Minimal Indirect Reference Theory claims that syntactic relationships such as theta-domains determine phonological constituency at the phrasal level. Another important, more recent view is the one that maintains that spellout domains (that is, all the material included in a syntactic phase except for the head of the phase and elements in the specifier of that phase) are interpreted as phonological constituents in PF

Information-Seeking Question Intonation in Basque Spanish and Its Correlation with Degree of Contact and Language Attitudes

The present study analyzes the prosodic characteristics of the variety of Spanish in contact with Basque (in the Basque Country, Spain). We focus on information-seeking yes/no questions, which present different intonation contours in Spanish and Basque. In Castilian Spanish, these sentences end in a rising contour, whereas in Basque, they end in a falling or rising–falling circumflex contour. In our previous work, this topic was investigated among the urban populations of Bilbao and San Sebastian. The results were that 79% of information-seeking yes/no questions had final falling intonational configurations. All the speakers presented a substantial presence of final falls regardless of their linguistic profile, but there were differences among speakers in the degree of presence of such features. A correlation was observed between the dependent variable of ‘frequency of occurrence of final falls in absolute interrogatives’ and social factors, such as ‘degree of contact with Basque’ and ‘attitudes towards Basque and the Basque ethnolinguistic group’. The correlation was that the higher the degree of contact with Basque and the more positive the attitudes towards Basque and the Basque ethnolinguistic group, the greater the frequency of occurrence of final falling intonational contours in information-seeking absolute interrogatives. The interpretation of this correlation was that the adoption of the characteristic Basque prosody allows speakers to be recognized as members of the Basque community. In the present study, we focused on rural areas. Falling intonational contours at the end of information-seeking absolute interrogatives were even more common than in urban areas (93.4%), and no correlation was found with degree of contact with Basque and with attitudes towards Basque. Our interpretation is that in rural areas the presence of Basque in daily life is stronger, and that there is a consolidated variety of Spanish used by all speakers regardless of their attitudes. Thus, the adoption of intonating features of this language is not the only indicator belonging to the Basque ethnolinguistic group. Our study reveals the great relevance of subjective social factors, such as language attitudes, in the degree of convergence between two languages.This work has been funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant number FFI2016-80021-P), the Basque Government (grant number IT1396-19) and the University of the Basque Country (grant number GIU18/221)

Experimental test of a hypothesized diachronic change in Basque accentuation

In the central and western Basque-speaking regions there are two main accentual types: In the Northern Bizkaian area we find a pitch-accent system with demarcative phrase-initial rises and uniformly falling (H*L) accents, on the last syllable of the phrase in the unmarked case. In the rest of the area the general rule is postinitial accent. This study tests the hypothesis, advanced in previous work on this topic, that one of the ways postinitial accent has historically developed is through the reinterpretation of phrase-initial boundary rises as accents, possibly under the influence of Spanish, a language in which non-phrase-final rises from valleys typically correlate with the location of stressed syllables. The results of our experiment confirm that this is a plausible historical scenario. Both native Basque speakers from other areas and, especially, Spanish L1/Basque L2 speakers show a strong tendency to perceive primary accentual prominence on the postinitial syllable in Northern Bizkaian speech, regardless of the actual position of the accent, except for initial accent

The prosody and interpretation of non-exhaustive narrow focus in Basque

In this paper we analyze the intonational properties of a type of focus construction that has not been discussed in the literature on focus in generative grammar. We refer to a type of answers to wh-questions in which the constituent that fills the variable does not do so exhaustively, that is, it does not provide an exhaustive answer because the speaker cannot commit to asserting that the other potential alternative candidates to fill the variable are cancelled. The type of narrow focus usually discussed in the literature is one in which a constituent fills the variable of the question exhaustively, with a concomitant cancellation of the rest of the focal alternatives. We call these types of narrow focus Non-Exhaustive Narrow Focus (NENF) and Exhaustive Narrow Focus (ENF), respectively. In our experiment, we measured peak scaling and alignment of accents in the subject and the verb in ENF and NENF utterances. The results show that NENF is distinguished from ENF in having a pitch accent on the verb with a higher F0 value, almost as if the verb were focalized. In fact, we compared the intonational patterns of NENF with Verum Focus constructions, in which the event expressed by the verb is focalized, and there were no significant differences in the verbal peaks in NENF and VF. As for subjects, only one of the three speakers had higher peaks in NENF, but another speaker showed categorical peak delay in NENF. The paper offers a semantic analysis of the differences between ENF and NENF, by claiming that NENF is a split focus construction, in which both the subject and the polarity (or rather, the pairing between the subject and the polarity) constitute the focus of the utterance

Proceso de ajuste emocional de padres cuyos hijos presentan algún tipo de discapacidad

La discapacidad se vive desde diferentes perspectivas como social, laboral, cultural, y familiar. En donde los deseos y expectativas se vienen abajo de esta última, ya sean padres, hijos, hermanos, abuelos, primos, etc. Cada uno de estos trata de sobreponerse a esta situación dependiendo de los recursos con los que cuente cada persona ya que tiene un impacto social, familiar y psicológico. En cuanto a lo psicológico se enfrentan un sin fin de emociones contradictorias necesitando ayuda de profesionales para un adecuado manejo de la situación. El estudio tuvo como objetivo la aplicación de la escala de ajustes para padres con hijos que presentan algún tipo de discapacidad para identificar en qué etapa del proceso de duelo se encuentran y de qué manera se puede intervenir para un mejor desarrollo familiar. Se aplicó el instrumento “Escala de ajuste para padres con hijos que presentan algún tipo de discapacidad” a los padres de la comunidad estudiantil del Centro de Atención Múltiple CAM del municipio de Zumpango, Estado de México. Identificando que los padres de familia se encuentran cansados de la situación, evitando convivir con nuevas personas y encontrándose en un constante fantaseo del hijo sano

Experimental test of a hypothesized diachronic change in Basque accentuation

In the central and western Basque-speaking regions there are two main accentual types: In the Northern Bizkaian area we find a pitch-accent system with demarcative phrase-initial rises and uniformly falling (H*L) accents, on the last syllable of the phrase in the unmarked case. In the rest of the area the general rule is postinitial accent. This study tests the hypothesis, advanced in previous work on this topic, that one of the ways postinitial accent has historically developed is through the reinterpretation of phrase-initial boundary rises as accents, possibly under the influence of Spanish, a language in which non-phrase-final rises from valleys typically correlate with the location of stressed syllables. The results of our experiment confirm that this is a plausible historical scenario. Both native Basque speakers from other areas and, especially, Spanish L1/Basque L2 speakers show a strong tendency to perceive primary accentual prominence on the postinitial syllable in Northern Bizkaian speech, regardless of the actual position of the accent, except for initial accent

La lógica de la argumentación en el pensamiento de Jürgen Habermas.

El ensayo expone el interés y necesidad de agregar la teoría de la argumentación a las ciencias sociales. Esta idea por parte del filósofo alemán Jürgen Habermas tiene la intención de consolidar una ciencia social que pueda llevar a los participantes a una discusión racionalmente motivada y bajo un conceso donde se presenten pretensiones de validez universales. Provocando la posibilidad de una acción comunicativa y las soluciones que permitan establecer un acuerdo dentro de los intereses personales y comunitarios. Evitando en todo sentido, un conflicto violento e irracional

Uriarte en semifinales en los mundiales de judo

Lugar: Tokio ;Protagonistas:Sugoi Uriarte ;Tipo de evento: Campeonato del mundo de judoel judoka Sugoi Uriarte se queda a un paso de la medalla en la categoría de -66 kilos en el tatami Yoyogi National Gimnasium de Tokio.Alcibar García, MC. (2010). Sugoi Uriarte quinto en el mundial de Tokio. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/9148