Stress on Accent; Errenteria Basque Revisited

In this paper we report an experiment of accentualplacement in Errenteria Basque. We compare data fromthree generations of speakers with the data described inprevious literature. The results show a mixed accentualsystem with marked and unmarked words (as previouslyaddressed in the literature). The relevant fact is that thephonological shape of the current unmarked words isdifferent from the descriptions in the literature since thecurrent one is a stress-accent system and the previous one suggests to be a pitch-accent system. Based on diachronic data, we show the direction of the phonological change and point a possible explanation for the development of the new accentual system based on Hualde's hypothesis

Why Y : on the centrality of syntax in the architecture of grammar

I defend the centrality of the syntactic module within the general architecture of grammar. According to this model of the language faculty, syntax creates structures that are interpreted at the interfaces with the Articularory-Perceptual and Conceptual-Intentional systems. Thus, I show that the classic inverted-Y model of the architecture of grammar is better suited than alternative "parallel architectures" (cf. Jackendoff (1997 et seq.)) when accounting for interface phenomena. In order to do that, I discuss an interface phenomenon like focus that, according to some scholars, shows the need of a more articulated architecture of the grammar than the classic Y-model. I will argue that the properties of focus bear testimony to the fact that syntax outranks both interpretive modules

The Structure & Derivation of Split Focalization

In this paper I propose a minimalist and derivational theory of the Focus Structure that explains in a straightforward way the focal patterns of the answers of multiple-Wh questions as instances of split focus structures

Focus & Clause Structuration in the Minimalist Program

This article explores the possibility that the derivation of focus from syntax to LF can be implemented in a direct and transparent way. Assuming the principles of Bare Phrase Structure, I develop a derivational construal of the focus structure and provide a syntax of focus in Basque combining it with an eventish logical form whereby the focus falls in the scope of a binary existential quantifier (cf. Herburger (2000)). Adopting recent ideas of Hornstein & Uriagereka (2002), thistransparent interface is accomplished by allowing binary quantifiers to reproject at LF to get their nuclear scope

The relationship between meaning and intonation in non-exhaustive answers: evidence from Basque

In this paper we analyze the intonational properties of a type of focus construction that has been understudied, represented by 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. This type of narrow focus, Non-Exhaustive Narrow Focus (NENF), is different from Exhaustive Narrow Focus (ENF), in which a constituent fills the variable of the question exhaustively, with a concomitant cancellation of the rest of the focal alternatives. Our claim is that natural languages have the means to distinguish ENF and NENF unambiguously through prosodic means. In the present study, we show that speakers of (Northern Bizkaian) Basque assign particular intonational features to answers to wh-questions that should be interpreted non-exhaustively. In our experiment, we measured peak scaling 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 polarity of the event expressed by the verb is focalized, and there were no significant differences in the verbal peaks in NENF and VF. There were no significant differences in peak scaling in the subject's stressed syllable between ENF and NENF, and neither were there any differences between NENF and VF. 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

Ohar batzuk nafar-lapurterazko galdera eta galdegai indartuez

Lan honetan, nafar-lapurterazko galdera eta galdegai egitura berezi batzuk aztertzen ditugu, 'egitura indartuak' izendatzen ditugunak. Haien sintaxia eta semantikaren puntu nagusien deskribapen bat egiten dugu lehenik. Hitz hurrenkeraren aldetik, galdera eta galdegai egitura estandarrengandik hurbilak dira. Esaldi konplexu eta NZ edo galdegai anitzeko egiturei dagokienez, aldiz, oso jokamolde desberdina erakusten dute. Interpretazioaren aldetik, frantsesezko galdera eta erantzun estrategiekiko egiten dugun konparazioak erdibitutako perpausek bezalako jokabidea dutela erakusten du. Azkenik, egitura hauen analisi baterako ideiak iradokitzen ditugu. Egitura hauetan gertakarien deskripzio definitu bat dagoela proposatzen dugu, kuantifikatzaile exhaustibo batek sortzen duena. Analisi honek, erakusten dugu, lanaren lehen partean aurkeztutako egitura indartuen ezaugarri sintaktiko eta semantikoak azaltzen dit

Noam Chomsky: Hizkuntza Teoria eta Hizkuntzaren Filosofia

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