Pottsian LFG

Potts (2005) provides an elegant and influential approach to the syntax and semantics of a wide range of 'parenthetical' constructions, including various kinds of supplementals/appositives and expressives, which have not received much attention in the LFG literature. The prospect of wholesale importation of Pottsian analyses for such constructions is appealing. However, there are (as Potts himself notes) problems with his approach from a resource sensitive perspective, such as is often assumed in LFG approaches to the syntax semantics interface. Potts sketches, but does not develop, a way of overcoming these problems. In this paper we attempt to develop his proposal and explore ways in which it can be implemented in the architecture of LFG. For exemplification, we focus on supplemental ('appositive', non-restrictive) relative clauses in English. A side effect of our discussion is thus a proposal for an LFG analysis of this construction, which appears to have been neglected hitherto

Resilient ecological solutions for urban regeneration

There is a need for biological conservation at the global scale, and urban conservation has the potential to support the delivery of this wider goal. Despite historic trends, efforts are underway to protect and enhance the quality, quantity and accessibility of green infrastructure within cities, including biodiversity features within new developments. However, there are questions over their long-term persistence and function. This paper applies an urban futures resilience analysis to a case study site to illustrate how such concerns may be explored and addressed in practice. The analysis identifies vulnerable sustainability solutions and clarifies the aspects that may be improved. The results suggest that the resilience of these solutions is questionable, even though resilience has clearly been considered. In particular, future compliance with, and enforcement of, planning conditions is questionable. The resilience of these ecological solutions may be improved by including some redundancy, designing for low maintenance, incorporating microclimate buffers and locating features in areas unlikely to be subject to future disturbance. The establishment of endowment funds or other dedicated funding mechanisms should also be explored. The paper also recommends that a futures-based resilience analysis be included within the development planning process

Restrictive Relative Clauses in Maltese

This paper provides a descriptive overview of restrictive relative clauses (henceforth RRCs) in Maltese, a construction which has received little atten- tion to date and which is poorly described in existing grammars. We outline an LFG approach to the facts we describe bulding on existing LFG work on relatives. Further we explore some issues raised by Maltese for approaches to resumption

Affected experiencers and mixed semantics in LFG/Glue

Bosse, Bruening and Yamada (2012) (BBY) provides a study of several constructions involving ?non-selected? arguments, and outlines an approach to the syntax and semantics of one such construction: the Affected Experiencer (AE) construction. The syntactic analysis relies on abstract functional projections and particular assumptions about configurational syntax. We show how an account may be given without these syntactic assumptions. Semantically, BBY argue that AEs may contribute both at issue content and conventional implicatures, which raises interesting issues for the approach of e.g. Potts (2005). We explore some consequences of their semantic analysis and show that it faces a number of difficulties

On the analysis of non-selected datives in Maltese

This paper provides a descriptive overview of extra-argumental or non-selected datives in Maltese, poorly described in existing grammars. We outline an LFG approach to the facts we describe building on existing LFG work and in particular on Kibort (2008)?s approach to dative arguments, extending her approach to the various subclasses of non-selected dative arguments

NP would like to meet GF: A Welsh Adjectival Construction

In this article we examine a Welsh adjectival construction which superficially looks simple but on closer examination proves to be somewhat challenging. The construction contains an NP constituent whose GF status is far from clear. We consider various analyses of this NP, as SUBJ, OBJ, and ADJ, and suggest that on balance the evidence favours the OBJ analysis. Beyond the purely parochial Welsh or Celtic interest, it may provide a useful case study of how difficult it is to determine the correct identification of grammatical functions beyond core cases

From juxtaposition to incorporation: an approach to Generic-Specific constructions

In this paper, we present an analysis of classifier noun incorporation in Gunwinyguan languages from northern Australia, focussing particularly on generic-specific constructions. We show how the analysis of Sadler and Nordlinger (2006) for generic-specific constructions formed through nominal juxtaposition can be extended to account for incorporated generic-specific constructions also. In this analysis, each nominal (or incorporated noun) is treated as belonging to a set at f-structure, on a par with the standard LFG treatment of coordination. The difference between the various set-based constructions (including coordinations, generic-specific constructions and part-whole constructions) arises in the mapping to the semantic structure. We show how this provides a single unified analysis for all generic-specific constructions in these languages, whether incorporated or juxtaposed. In doing so, we provide the first LFG analysis of classifier incorporation with doubling