A semantic and syntactic journey through the Dylan corpus

The original title of this paper, as presented at the Caen colloquium, was "Dylanesque Syntax," which was meant as a joke of sorts, the idea being to scare the audience into submission before the first line was even spoken. Of course, there is no such thing as "Dylanesque syntax," in the sense that we are by no means dealing with a language that is separate from (American) English and has a distinct, separate syntax (even though it may be argued to have a distinct, all but separate phonology). What I intend to do is simply apply some of the tools of linguistics, especially corpus linguistics, to the songs recorded by Dylan over the past 44 years, and, in line with the general theme of the colloquium, see if the findings can teach us something about his artistry. I will then leave it to true Dylan scholars to interpret some of the data I am presenting, in the context of their own approaches to Dylan's writing and poetry. I would like to add, in the way of an introduction, that it is indeed the lyrics I will be concerned with, not the music, even though I am aware that the question of music as syntax is of paramount importance to some theorists.Note: The Peformance Artistry of Bob Dylan: Conference Proceedings of the Caen Colloquiu

L’analyse des relatives de l’anglais en grammaire générative : perspective historique

Le présent article est un rapide survol de la longue histoire des analyses des relatives depuis les débuts de la grammaire générative jusqu’au XXIè siècle. Il montre comment on est passé des phrases-noyau et des transformations à des approches qui doivent leur sophistication au modèle X’ d’une part et à la théorie du DP d’autre part. Il montre également comment, qu’il s’agisse des Principes et Paramètres ou de la théorie de l’antisymétrie, les derniers développements de la GB aboutissent finalement à réintroduire l’idée, centrale dans les années 60, que la relative a étroitement partie liée avec le déterminant du N relativisé.This paper is a brief overview of the long history of the analysis of relatives from the early days of generative grammar up to the 21st century. It shows how the original core sentences and transformations model evolved into more sophisticated approaches, building on the X' model on the one hand and DP theory on the other. It also shows how, whether it be the Principles and Parameters or the theory of antisymmetry, the latest developments in GB eventually lead to the reintroduction of the idea, a central one back in the 1960s, that the relative clause is closely linked with the determiner of the relativized N

Pour une cartographie des causatifs en anglais contemporain

Le present article est une tentative de formalisation du micro-système formé par les 4 opérateurs causatifs de l’anglais contemporain, (make, have, cause et get). D’un point de vue syntaxique, ces constructions sont ambiguës entre contrôle et montée, ce qui soulève le problème des rôles sémantiques associés aux arguments agent et thème. Notre hypothèse est que ces derniers sont à analyser comme des rôles composites, ce qui nous amène, dans une deuxième partie, à proposer une cartographie des 4 verbes, sur un modèle de quadrants définis par deux axes : causation directe vs. Indirecte, et causateur affectant vs. affecté. La dernière partie met les hypothèses avancées à l’épreuve d’une vaste étude de corpus, et montre comment divers effets de sens peuvent être prédits à partir du modèle.This paper is an attempt to formalize the micro-system of the 4 causative verbs (i.e. make, have, cause and get) in modern English. The syntax of causative constructions is ambiguous between control and raising, which raises the problem of the semantic roles of both agent and theme arguments. We argue that those are to be analyzed as composite roles, which in turn leads us to propose a quadrant analysis of the 4 verbs along the two axes of direct vs. indirect causation and involved vs. involving causer. In the 3rd part, a vast corpus analysis shows how the theoretical model may predict and explain the different discourse effects

La prédication en grammaire générative

Cette étude se veut une synthèse des présentations de la notion de prédication dans le cadre général des Principes et Paramètres en grammaire générative. On montre tout d’abord que la prédication est étroitement liée, au plan typologique, au verbe, et que plus précisément dans le cadre retenu, c’est au niveau de la catégorie fonctionnelle I ( = Inflection), qui domine le groupe verbal, que se joue la prédication, cette catégorie étant également étroitement liée à la notion de sujet. Dès lors, à partir des exemples du texte, on examinera successivement les divers cas de figure pertinents, dont les structures existentielles-présentatives en there et les inaccusatifs comme seem, auxquels on montrera que s’assimilent les be copule.In this paper, we try to synthesize the various approaches to predication under the Principles & Parameters framework. It is first shown that, from a typological point of view, predication is closely linked to the verb, and more precisely to the functional projection I ( = Inflection) that dominates the VP. This particular layer is also closely linked to subjecthood. Starting from the examples taken in the text, we then go on to discuss the relevant cases, including there existential-presentative constructions and inaccusative predicates like seem, which will be shown to cover be copular structures

Le traitement des prépositions en grammaire générative

Dans cette contribution, on propose, à partir du corpus commun, une approche générativiste du domaine prépositionnel, qui dans cette optique regroupe quatre sous-catégories définies par des traits {±L} (lexical), {±F} (fonctionnel), les prépositions semi-lexicales, les prépositions fonctionnelles, les adverbes et les particules. On discute des tests syntaxiques permettant d’opposer ces catégories entre elles et de les regrouper deux par deux, et on montre au passage comment les modules constitutifs de la théorie générativiste, en particulier le filtre du cas et la théorie des rôles-théta, sont mis en jeu pour l’analyse des exemples proposés.On the basis of the common corpus, this paper discusses the generative approach to the prepositional domain, which is shown to include four subcategories defined by binary features : {±L} (lexical), {±F} (functional), namely semi-lexical prepositions, functional prepositions, adverbs and particles. We discuss some of the syntactic tests traditionally used to distinguish these categories, while showing how central modules in generative theory, especially the case filter and the theta role theory, may contribute to the analysis of the proposed examples

Topique et focus dans les constructions dites tough en anglais contemporain

International audienc

Deep behavioral impairment in the pearl oyster Pinctada radiata exposed to anthropogenic noise and light stress

The pearl oyster Pinctada radiata is an iconic species in the Arabian Gulf, which is one of the ecosystems most at risk in the world because of the multiple sources of pollution it faces. Alongside chemical pollution, the Gulf is ranked first with regard to noise and light pollution, and pearl oyster populations are at risk. The impact of these latter types of pollution on marine invertebrates is still poorly known. We used the difference in noise and brightness that can exist between a very quiet room without artificial lighting and a standard laboratory room equipped with a standard aquarium as a testbed to explore the possible impact of noise and light pollution on the behavioral and biological traits of Pinctada radiata without added chemical exposure. During an experiment that lasted 2.5 months, we analyzed their grouping behavior, valve activity, biological rhythm, growth rate and spawning activity. In the standard aquarium kept in the laboratory room, the oysters dispersed instead of regrouping as in their natural environment, regrouping which was observed in the quiet room. They stayed closed longer, the opening amplitude of their valves was systematically lower, and in the closed position, they squeezed their valves more tightly when subjected to noise and light pollution. Their daily opening rhythm was strongly structured by switching the electric light on and off, and females showed significantly less egg-laying behavior. In conclusion, seemingly innocuous human activities can lead to very significant alterations in pearl oyster behavior. We propose that it could have significant effects on populations and ecosystems

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

A year of genomic surveillance reveals how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa.

The progression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in Africa has so far been heterogeneous, and the full impact is not yet well understood. In this study, we describe the genomic epidemiology using a dataset of 8746 genomes from 33 African countries and two overseas territories. We show that the epidemics in most countries were initiated by importations predominantly from Europe, which diminished after the early introduction of international travel restrictions. As the pandemic progressed, ongoing transmission in many countries and increasing mobility led to the emergence and spread within the continent of many variants of concern and interest, such as B.1.351, B.1.525, A.23.1, and C.1.1. Although distorted by low sampling numbers and blind spots, the findings highlight that Africa must not be left behind in the global pandemic response, otherwise it could become a source for new variants