Izražavanje specifičnosti u jeziku bez članova: Pokazatelji specifičnosti u hrvatskom jeziku

The main goal of the paper was to detect specificity markers in Croatian. As specificity is in a close relation to (in)definiteness, markers of (in)definiteness such as articles are standardly used as indicators of specificity as well. However, detecting specificity in articleless languages becomes less straightforward. Regardless of the lack of the article system, other (in)definiteness markers exist in Croatian. Here, we focused on the following markers of (in)definiteness in order to find specificity markers: i) the adjectives, ii) the numeral jedan ’one’, and iii) the demonstrative (definite) and indefinite pronouns. As specificity markers in Croatian we discuss the numeral jedan ’one’, the indefinite pronoun neki ’some’ and the construction taj + neki ’that some’. Our study also lead to the formation of three categories of specificity based on the properties of these markers: a) contextual specificity, b) semi–lexicalized specificity and c) constructional specificity.Glavni cilj ovoga rada bio je odrediti pokazatelje specifičnosti u hrvatskom jeziku. Definicija specifičnosti odnosi se na mogućnost govornikove identifikacije jedinstvenog referenta imenske fraze i na taj način funkcionira kao primarno pragmatički utemeljena kategorija, koja svoju funkciju ostvaruje u govornom, odnosno komunikacijskom činu. Također, specifičnost se kao sintaktičko–semantička kategorija u literaturi često veže uz pojmove određenosti i neodređenosti te se obično izražava članovima u jezicima poput engleskoga. Na taj se način specifičnost u literaturi definira kao kategorija koja presijeca kategorije određenosti i neodređenosti te je njezino izdvajanje za potrebe jezične analize izazovan zadatak. Također, jezici bez sustava članova, poput hrvatskoga, koriste raznorodne strategije za izražavanje neodređenosti i određenosti, kao i njima srodne kategorije specifičnosti. U radu se tako raspravlja s kojim se pokazateljima određenosti i neodređenosti u hrvatskome može povezati i ostvarivanje specifičnosti. Tri kategorije za izražavanje određenosti i neodređenosti koje se obrađuju jesu: a) kratki i dugi oblici pridjeva, b) broj jedan i c) pokazne i neodređene zamjenice. Na primjerima iz Hrvatskoga nacionalnog korpusa te Hrvatske jezične riznice pokazuje se nestanak opreke neodređenosti i određenosti u kratkim i dugim oblicima pridjeva te u skladu s time i nedostatnost ove tradicionalne gramatičke podjele za opis kategorije specifičnosti. Posebna se pažnja posvećuje funkcijama broja jedan i procesu gramatikalizacije kojime jedan u određenim kontekstima gubi svoju funkciju broja te preuzima funkciju neodređenoga specifičnog člana. Nadalje, kao dodatni pokazatelj specifičnosti u hrvatskome ističe se složena konstrukcija taj+neki, odnosno konstrukcija pokazne zamjenice i neodređene zamjenice u poziciji modifikatora imenske fraze. Na temelju korpusne analize primjera i sredstava kojima se izražava specifičnost u hrvatskome ustanovljena je klasifikacija jezičnih sredstava za izražavanje specifičnosti koja se sastoji od kategorija a) kontekstualne specifičnosti, b) poluleksikalizirane specifičnosti i c) konstrukcijske specifičnosti. Kontekstualna specifičnost se definira kao pragmatički ostvarena kategorija, dok se poluleksikalizirana specifičnost ostvaruje gramatikalizacijom broja jedan. Konstrukcijska je specifičnost izražena slaganjem zamjenica taj+neki

Features of noun being integrated into discourse

Odrednici sadrže informacije vezane za odnos imenice u njihovoj jezičnoj domeni s njezinom vrijednosti u ostvarenom diskursu. Jezici koji otvoreno iskazuju odrednike određeni član rijetko koriste kako bi se njime referiralo na individuu koja je odabrana, već se njime naglašava topikalnost topika uvedenoga u prethodnoj rečenici, dok u jezicima koji ne poznaju članove, odrednici često imaju upravo tu funkciju referiranja na anaforu iz (neposredne) prethodne rečenice. Zbog neusporedivosti dvaju sustava vrijedi detaljnije iskazati procese detektiranja te individue u svrhu koindeksacije. Stoga u radu posebnu pažnju posvećujemo obilježjima koja doprinose individualizaciji u višim projekcijama imenske skupine te ukazuju na varijabilnost u procesima iskazivanja-uspostavljanja individualnih obilježja u imenskoj domeni čija je jezgra imenica i rečenica. Krećući od pretpostavke da se veza imenske domene i diskursa ostvaruje slaganjem u obilježju Lica između subjekta i predikata, te nadalje da je Lice obilježje koje osigurava koindeksaciju uzduž diskursa, vrijednosti će biti iskazane obilježjima, a strukturni će odnosi odrediti trenutak njegova iskazivanja.Determiners enclose information on the relation a noun in a structure has to its value in the discourse. In languages with overt determiners, the definite article rarely refers back to an individual introduced in the previous sentence, rather the article emphasises the topichood of the topic; by contrast, in languages with no overt article, determiners are employed to refer back to the anaphora in the preceding sentence. The asymmetry of these two systems requires spelling out of the process by which an individual is detected for coindexation in the latter language type. Here, in order to point to the variability in processes of expressing and establishing individual’s features, we determine the features contributing to individualization in higher projections of nominal domain with a nominal, and a clausal, nucleus. Demonstrating that the relation between the nominal domain and the discourse is achieved through agreement in Person feature in subject-predicate dependency, and furthermore, that Person feature is predicted to assist at insuring coindexation across discourse, we present a process in which features ensures the values, and structural relations determine the moment at which they surface

Multilingualism and structural borrowing in Arbanasi Albanian

In this paper we present a brief overview of the history of linguistic contacts of Arbanasi Albanian, a Gheg Albanian dialect spoken in Croatia, with Croatian and Italian. Then we discuss a number of contact-induced changes in that language. We show that Arbanasi Albanian was subject to strong influences from Croatian (and, to a lesser extent, from Italian) on all levels of linguistic structure. Using the data from our own fieldwork, we were able to show that there were also influences on the level of syntax, including the borrowing of certain constructions, such as analytic causative and imperative constructions, as well as the extension of the use of infinitive in subordinate clauses.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

IMMAGEABILITY ASYMMETRY IN MENTAL LEXICON OF CROATIAN APHASICS AND HEALTHY SPEAKERS

Imageability has been argued to induce asymmetry in processing of nominal lexical units as this feature of the mental lexicon is sensitive to the organization of the conceptual system. Double modality of the representation of high imageable nouns in the mental lexicon, contrasted with single representation in low imageable nouns is argued to facilitate the processing of a concrete noun and slow down successful retrieval, access and any further processing of an abstract noun. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a variation in the semantic processing of high and low imageable words in people with aphasia compared to the healthy control speakers when presented with a visual or auditive stimulus. Conducted research was designed to examine the processing of the lexical feature of imageability and hence included four tests from PALPA battery of tests adapted for Croatian: Auditory Synonym Judgement, Written Synonym Judgement and Word Semantic Association. To reduce the effect of perceptive impairments, general semantic processing was verified by conducting two follow-up PALPA comprehension tests: Spoken Word-Picture Matching and Written Word-Picture Matching. The study included 30 aphasic participants and 30 paired healthy participants; all native speakers of Croatian. In line with the predictions, there was a statistically significant difference between experimental and control group; the experimental group further confirmed the predictions by achieving significantly lower results with respect to low imageable words. Difficulties in recognition of low imageable words in aphasics confirm the existing variations in the organization of processing pathways. The main finding of the research demonstrates that the aphasics, especially Broca’s aphasics, have problems when processing complex psycholinguistic tasks, as well as complex structures involved both in the grammatical and conceptual representations

Relative Clause Attachment to a Coordinated Phrase in Croatian: a Psycholinguistic Perspective

Pitanja o pozadinskim procesima automatske obrade i interpretacije rečenica, odnosno jezično-specifičnim čimbenicima koji uvjetuju te procese, već su dugi niz godina aktualna tema brojnih psiholingvističkih istraživanja. Jedna od struktura koja je doprinijela novijim spoznajama jest relativna rečenica i pitanje procesa u podlozi vezanja relativne rečenice na odgovarajućega antecedenta. S obzirom na to da međusobni odnos imenica u imenskoj skupini može utjecati na obradu rečenice, a s druge je strane upravo utjecaj toga odnosa nedovoljno razjašnjen, u ovome se istraživanju ispituje obrada relativnih rečenica u hrvatskome te preferencije vezanja izvornih govornika na primjerima u kojima je antecedent koordinirana skupina. U skladu s time, dva su glavna cilja rada: 1) ispitati koji element koordinirane imenske skupine modificira relativna rečenica i 2) istražiti koja ograničenja utječu na odabir antecedenta relativne rečenice. U istraživanju su sudjelovale 62 odrasle osobe, izvorni govornici hrvatskoga, a ispitivanje je provedeno dvjema metodama – ispunjavanjem upitnika prosudbe i mjerenjem pokreta očiju tijekom čitanja u stvarnome vremenu. Rezultati upitnika, tj. odabira antecedenta, pokazuju da vezanje relativne rečenice na linearno bližu sastavnicu prevladava nad vezanjem na hijerarhijski višu sastavnicu subjekta glavne rečenice. Podatci dohvaćeni objema metodama dodatno pokazuju da je odabir antecedenta s jedne strane olakšan sročnošću, dok su s druge strane raznovrsnost strategija i višestruka mogućnost interpretacije uzrokom teškoća u obradi. Provedeno istraživanje upućuje na potrebu za ispitivanjem jezično-specifičnih čimbenika koji utječu na odabir i način vezanja relativne rečenice s ciljem širenja spoznaja o jezičnoj obradi općenito, kao i za sustavnim eksperimentalnim istraživanjima različitih fenomena u pojedinačnim jezicima.The language-specific phenomena underlying automatic sentence processing and interpretation have long been the topic of psycholinguistic investigations. Recent studies on processing relative clauses and the strategies that influence attachment preferences have shed new light on this question. Despite the well-attested observation that the structure of the complex noun phrase preceding the relative clause can influence sentence processing, the effect of the structural relations on attachment preferences still remains unclear. Therefore, current study examines sentence processing and attachment preferences in relative clauses headed by coordinated structure. The two main aims of this study are: 1) to establish attachment preferences and 2) to investigate language-specific constraints affecting these preferences. In total, 62 native adult speakers of Croatian language participated in the study. The study combined offline and an online method; the attachment preference questionnaire and the eye-tracking methodology. The results indicate strong preference towards the linearly closer antecedent (low attachment), as opposed to hierarchically higher (high attachment). The data further indicate that the conjunct agreement facilitates, while the parallel availability of multiple interpretations hinders the processing of relative clauses. These findings support the initiative to study language-specific phenomena that affect attachment preferences as these contribute to broadening our understanding of language processing in general, as well as to experimental investigations of various language- -specific phenomena

Conjunct Agreement and Gender in South Slavic: From Theory to Experiments to Theory

Agreement with coordinated subjects in Slavic languages has recently seen a rapid increase in theoretical and experimental approaches, contributing to a wider theoretical discussion on the locus of agreement in grammar (cf. Marušič, Nevins, and Saksida 2007; Bošković 2009; Marušič, Nevins, and Badecker 2015). This paper revisits the theoretical predictions proposed for conjunction agreement in a group of South Slavic languages, with a special focus on gender agreement. The paper is based on two experiments involving speakers of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS) and Slovenian (Sln). Experiment 1 is an elicited production experiment investigating preverbal-conjunct agreement, while Experiment 2 investigates postverbal-conjunct agreement. The data provide experimental evidence discriminating between syntax proper and distributed-agreement models in terms of their ability to account for preverbal highest-conjunct agreement and present a theoretical mechanism for the distinction between default agreement (which has a fixed number and gender, independent of the value of each conjunct) and resolved agreement (which computes number and gender based on the values of each conjunct and must resolve potential conflicts). Focusing on the variability in the gender-agreement ratio across nine combinations, the experimental results for BCS and Sln morphosyntax challenge the notion of gender markedness that is generally posited for South Slavic languages

When linearity prevails over hierarchy in syntax

Hierarchical structure has been cherished as a grammatical universal. We use experimental methods to show where linear order is also a relevant syntactic relation. An identical methodology and design were used across six research sites on South Slavic languages. Experimental results show that in certain configurations, grammatical production can in fact favor linear order over hierarchical structure. However, these findings are limited to coordinate structures and distinct from the kind of production errors found with comparable configurations such as “attraction” errors. The results demonstrate that agreement morphology may be computed in a series of steps, one of which is partly independent from syntactic hierarchy