Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments

Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments PDF Author: Yves Roberge
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 9780773507326
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
Recent work in the generative framework of grammar has avoided explicit language-particular syntactic rules. This has had definite consequences for some theories of recoverability. In his solidly argued work, Yves Roberge considers the possibility that empty syntactic argument positions, where their content is recoverable in a very local sense, are a property of some natural languages: the null argument property.

Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments

Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments PDF Author: Yves Roberge
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 077356229X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
In The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments Roberge studies the syntactic properties of subject and object clitic pronouns in several Romance languages and dialects from the perspective of the Principles-and-Parameters framework in generative grammar. He is able to make important claims through a comparative study of various rarely discussed French dialects, Spanish dialects, and Italian, and concludes that French should be analysed as a null subject language like many others in the Romance family. Roberge's parameters are so carefully detailed as to allow tests to be drawn up for both first and second language learners. As such, The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments will be of interest not only to syntacticians and dialectologists but also to researchers in the field of language acquisition.

The Null Subject Parameter

The Null Subject Parameter PDF Author: M. Jaeggli
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400925409
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description


Bilingual Selection of Syntactic Knowledge

Bilingual Selection of Syntactic Knowledge PDF Author: Teresa Satterfield
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461552591
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 167

Book Description
Bilingual Selection of Syntactic Knowledge motivates a more formal approach in theoretical linguistics by investigating the parameters of syntactic variation and simultaneous acquisition of multiple languages. Taking the behavior of the Null Subject Parameter (NSP) across languages as an illustration, the book raises important questions concerning the adequacy of standard parameter-setting models in the face of compelling evidence from both mono- and bilingual child speech data. Teresa Satterfield argues convincingly that so-called `universal' premises guiding well-known parametric approaches greatly complicate attempts to construct an economical bilingual analysis. Further, she demonstrates the compatibility of more recent formulations in linguistic theory (i.e. the Minimalist Program) and studies on language learnability (Clark, 1992, 1993; Kapur, 1994) which present the view that while initially convincing, standard parameter models are potentially costly and less than effective in terms of monolinguals as well. Using Clark's application of the Genetic Algorithm as a point of departure, Bilingual Selection of Syntactic Knowledge describes a number of computational simulations. These simulations not only demonstrate the robustness of the GA-as-language-learner, they offer a more detailed account of the parameter-setting task confronting the bilingual child while also making more precise predictions regarding the process of syntactic knowledge.

The Acquisition of Syntax

The Acquisition of Syntax PDF Author: Marc-Ariel Friedemann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317881230
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
This volume contains a collection of studies that survey recent research in developmental linguistics, illustrating the fruitful interaction between comparative syntax and language acquisition. The contributors each analyse a well defined range of acquisition data, aiming to derive them from primitive differences between child and adult grammar. The book covers cross-linguistic and cross-categorial phenomena, shedding light on major developments in this novel and rapidly growing field. Extensions to second language acquisition and neuropathology are also suggested.

Language Acquisition Beyond Parameters

Language Acquisition Beyond Parameters PDF Author: Anahí Alba de la Fuente
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027266263
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
The chapters in this volume take different approaches to the exploration of language acquisition processes in various populations (monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition, L2 acquisition) and address issues in syntax, morphology, pragmatics, language processing and interface phenomena. This volume is a tribute to Juana M. Liceras’ fundamental and enduring contribution to the field of Spanish Second Language Acquisition (SLA). All the chapters in the volume are linked to or inspired by Juana’s extensive body of work, and, like Juana’s research, they all stand at the crossroads of formal and experimental linguistics. Together, the studies presented in this volume are a reflection of Juana’s impact both as a mentor and as a collaborative researcher while at the same time showcasing current trends and new directions in the field of generative SLA.

Syntactic Change in French

Syntactic Change in French PDF Author: Sam Wolfe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192609920
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
This book provides the most comprehensive and detailed formal account to date of the evolution of French syntax. It makes use of the latest formal syntactic tools and combines careful textual analysis with a detailed synthesis of the research literature to provide a novel analysis of the major syntactic developments in the history of French. The empirical scope of the volume is exceptionally broad, and includes discussion of syntactic variation and change in Latin, Old, Middle, Renaissance, and Classical French, and standard and non-standard varieties of Modern French. Following an introduction to the general trends in grammatical change from Latin to French, Sam Wolfe explores a wide range of phenomena including the left periphery, subject positions and null subjects, verb movement, object placement, negation, and the makeup of the nominal expression. The book concludes with a comparative analysis of how French has come to develop the unique typological profile it has within Romance today. The volume will thus be an indispensable tool for researchers and students in French and comparative Romance linguistics, as well as for readers interested in grammatical theory and historical linguistics more broadly.

Parameters and Functional Heads : Essays in Comparative Syntax

Parameters and Functional Heads : Essays in Comparative Syntax PDF Author: Perugia Adriana Belletti Associate Professor of Linguistics Universita per Stanieri
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198024886
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
The essays collected in this volume, most previously unpublished, address a number of closely interconnected issues raised by the comparative syntax of functional heads within the Principles-and-Parameters approach. The general theory of head movement, the properties of derived structures created by incorporation, and the parameterization involved are the main theoretical foci. One major empirical area which is addressed concerns head movement in configurations involving certain kinds of operator-like elements, for example, the different manifestations of Verb Second phenomena in Wh and other constructions and the syntax of negative heads and specifiers. In addition, properties of functional heads and head movement in nominal and clausal structures and the causative construction are investigated.

Approaches to Language: Data, Theory, and Explanation

Approaches to Language: Data, Theory, and Explanation PDF Author: Ángel J. Gallego
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889636682
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Book Description
The study of language has changed substantially in the last decades. In particular, the development of new technologies has allowed the emergence of new experimental techniques which complement more traditional approaches to data in linguistics (like informal reports of native speakers’ judgments, surveys, corpus studies, or fieldwork). This move is an enriching feature of contemporary linguistics, allowing for a better understanding of a phenomenon as complex as natural language, where all sorts of factors (internal and external to the individual) interact (Chomsky 2005). This has generated some sort of divergence not only in research approaches, but also in the phenomena studied, with an increasing specialization between subfields and accounts. At the same time, it has also led to subfield isolation and methodological a priori, with some researchers even claiming that theoretical linguistics has little to offer to cognitive science (see for instance Edelman & Christiansen 2003). We believe that this view of linguistics (and cognitive science as a whole) is misguided, and that the complementarity of different approaches to such a multidimensional phenomenon as language should be highlighted for convergence and further development of its scientific study (see also Jackendoff 1988, 2007; Phillips & Lasnik 2003; den Dikken, Bernstein, Tortora & Zanuttini 2007; Sprouse, Schütze & Almeida 2013; Phillips 2013).

Arguments and Agreement

Arguments and Agreement PDF Author: Patrick Brandt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019928573X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 358

Book Description
This book brings together new work by leading syntactic theorists from the USA and Europe on a central aspect of syntactic and morphological theory: it explores the role of agreement morphology in the morphosyntactic realization of a verb's arguments. The authors examine the differences and parallels between nonconfigurational, pronominal- agreement languages; configurational languages which allow pronoun drop (for example, "Is coming" for "He is coming"); languages that allow pronoun drop in particular constructions only; and languages which always require overt syntactic determiner phrases as arguments. The book considers whether the morphological properties of agreement play a role in determining which of these types a language belongs to and how far languages differ with respect to the argumental status of their agreement and syntactic determiner phrases. The authors explore these and related issues and problems in the context of a wide range of languages. Their book will interest linguists at graduate level and above concerned with morphosyntactic theory, linguistic typology, and the interactions of syntax and morphology in different languages.