Rule-governed allomorphy can be suppletive also

Commonly occurring linguistic forms, including allomorphs, tend to be learned (listed in speakers\u27 mental lexicons) even if they are formed according to the pattern of a linguistic rule. They thus have dual motivation: the motivation given by the rule, and the suppletive motivation of their having been learned. This accounts for the otherwise inexplicable persistence of rule-governed allomorphy when the conditioning environment is destroyed through diachronic change, producing apparent positive exceptions to the rule

Aztec causative/applicatives in Space Grammar

From the introduction: There are in Aztecan generally a number of verbal suffixes which function as causatives or as applicatives. (Applicatives often translate by dative movement structures in other languages.) Some of these suffixes are usually causatives, others are usually applicatives, but all function at times in both categories. All also function as verbalizing suffixes, mostly on nouns but often on adjectives and postpositions as well. in each case the suffix has a constant phonological shape and constant morphological properties such as position-class in the verb, conditioning of stem-formation rules, pattern of tense-formation, etc., which make it desirable to treat it as one suffix in spite of its different functions and meanings. This type of phenomenon occurs elsewhere (e.g. the Germanic prefix be- as in English be-speak, be-lie, be-friend, be-little, be-labor, and even be-low shows some very interesting parallels); see also Comrie (1981. 176). I will confine this discussion to a very few forms, all involving a single suffix, -tiya, which is one of a half dozen such suffixes in the dialect of Nahuatl (or Aztec) spoken in Tetelcingo, Morelos. [Data] An important theoretical problem such data raise is this: can causatives and applicatives and the various other structures associated with suffixes like -tiya be analyzed in such a way as to show their relatedness, accounting for the tremendous amount of overlap, or not? Most theories of syntax with which I am acquainted do not allow this: they force us to posit a cluster of accidentally homophonous suffixes which are quite separate from each other in terms of their meanings (if they in fact have any) and of their syntactic behavior

The Antigone Constraint

In this paper I will present a class of sentences that certain syntactic rules of English would be expected to produce, but which are ungrammatical. These sentences all involve the raising of a sentential NP and the subsequent application of some syntactic rule fo that sentential NP. To explain the ungrammaticality of these sentences, I propose a constraint called the Antigone Constraint, which prohibits two-storey rules from applying to clauses which have been raised

The Nahuatl verb maka: A cognitive grammar analysis

From the introduction: The verb stem maka \u27give\u27 in Nahuatl is unusual in its range of options with respect to transitivity. Like all transitive verb stems, it regularly occurs with an object and in fact must do so, but it also appears in an unusually large number of constructions in which it has two objects. I would like to examine these constructions within the framework of Cognitive grammar (CG) (Langacker 1987)

The inflectional/derivational distinction

From the introduction: The traditional distinction between inflectional and derivational morphology is a useful one, but it is quite complex and difficult to apply to actual forms. With this, as with other linguistic distinctions, there is a tendency to assume that we have an absolute binary distinction, a dichotomy, a hard-and-fast line, with everything on one side purely inflectional and everything on the other side purely derivational. I do not believe the facts fit such a model. I would claim that the distinction is better viewed as gradual or scalar along several parameters. In other words, rather than the dichotomy presented in 1.a, [below] the scale of 1.b is a more accurate representation, with its possibility of a morpheme falling in between the two poles on the scale, of one morpheme being more inflectional or more derivational than another, without it being possible to unequivocally call some morphemes either inflectional or derivational. This notion of a scale or cline has affinities to Pike\u27s wave model, which in 1.c. is applied to this distinction. [figures] Such scalar distinctions are expected in what has been called the prototype model of categorization, which many cognitive psychologists believe more accurately represents normal human categorization than does the simple dichotomous model. Typically there will be several parameters along which contrasting categories will differ

Extra argumentality - affectees, landmarks, and voice

This article investigates sentences with additional core arguments of a special type in three languages, viz. German, English, and Mandarin. These additional arguments, called extra arguments in the article, form a crosslinguistically homogeneous class by virtue of their structural and semantic similarities, with so-called "raised possessors" forming just a sub-group among them. Structurally, extra arguments may not be the most deeply embedded arguments in a sentence. Semantically, their referents are felt to stand in a specific relation to the referent of the/a more deeply embedded argument. There are two major thematic relations that are instantiated by extra arguments, viz. affectees and landmarks. These thematic role notions are justified in the context of and partly in contrast to, Dowty's (1991) proto-role approach. An affectee combines proto-agent with proto-patient properties in eventualities that are construed as involving causation. A landmark is a ground with respect to some spatial configuration denoted by the predication at hand, but a figure at the highest level of gestalt partitioning that is relevant in a clause. Thereby, both affectees and landmarks are inherently hybrid categories. The account of extra argumentality is couched in a neo-Davidsonian event semantics in the spirit of Kratzer (1996, 2003), and voice heads are assumed to introduce affectee arguments and landmark arguments right above VP

Discovering Argumentative Patterns in Energy Polylogues: A Macroscope for Argument Mining

A macroscope is proposed and tested here for the discovery of the unique argumentative footprint that characterizes how a collective (e.g., group, online community) manages differences and pursues disagreement through argument in a polylogue. The macroscope addresses broader analytic problems posed by various conceptualizations of large-scale argument, such as fields, spheres, communities, and institutions. The design incorporates a two-tier methodology for detecting argument patterns of the arguments performed in arguing by an interactive collective that produces views, or topographies, of the ways that issues are generated in the making and defending of standpoints. The design premises for the macroscope build on insights about argument patterns from pragma-dialectical theory by incorporating research and theory on disagreement management and the Argumentum Model of Topics. The design reconceptualizes prototypical and stereotypical argument patterns for characterizing large-scale argumentation. A prototype of the macroscope is tested on data drawn from six threads about oil-drilling and fracking from the subreddit Changemyview. The implementation suggests the efficacy of the macroscope’s design and potential for identifying what communities make controversial and how the disagreement space in a polylogue is managed through stereotypical argument patterns in terms of claims/premises, inferential relations, and presentational devices

Abrelatas and Scarecrow: Exocentric Verb-Noun Compounds as Illustrations of Basic Principles of Cognitive Grammar

Spanish and English have exocentric verb+obiect = subiect/instrument compounds, such as abrelatas (opens-cans) 'can-opener' and scarecrow. They share a general constructional pattem, consist of "clumps" or subfamilies of forms, and have a negative or jocular tendency. They differ in their individual compounds, subfamilies and constructional prototypes. The Spanish construction is a widely productive, major mechanism for naming instruments; the English construction names subjects, and is a minor pattem currently productive only in one subfamily.
 Exceptional forms in both languages approach each other's prototype. In both languages the
 category fits into wider families or categories of constructions, but those wider families are
 different.
 These patterns illuminate basic tenets of Cognitive grammar, including: (1) usage-based
 grammar. (2) Multiple pattems. (3) Lower-leve1 outranking higher-leve1 pattems. (4) Functional motivation, but ( 5 ) persistence of pattems despite absence of functionality. These considerations underline (6) the insufficiency of models positing innate, absolute, few and simple rules