Abstract In German, a verb selected by another verb normally precedes the selecting verb. Modal verbs in the perfect tense provide an exception to this generalization because they require the perfective auxiliary to occur in cluster-initial position according to prescriptive grammars. Bader and Schmid (2009b) have shown, however, that native speakers accept the auxiliary in all positions except the cluster-final one. Experimental results as well as corpus data indicate that verb cluster serialization is a case of free variation. I discuss how this variation can be accounted for, focusing on two mismatches between acceptability and frequency: First, slight acceptability advantages can turn into strong frequency advantages. Second, syntactic variants with basically zero frequency can still vary substantially in acceptability. These mismatches remain unaccounted for if acceptability is related to frequency on the level of whole sentence structures, as in Stochastic OT (Boersma and Hayes 2001). However, when the acceptability-frequency relationship is modeled on the level of individual weighted constraints, using harmony as link (see Pater 2009, for different harmony based frameworks), the two mismatches follow given appropriate linking assumptions.
{"title":"Analyzing free variation with harmony – A case study of verb-cluster serialization","authors":"M. Bader","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2020","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In German, a verb selected by another verb normally precedes the selecting verb. Modal verbs in the perfect tense provide an exception to this generalization because they require the perfective auxiliary to occur in cluster-initial position according to prescriptive grammars. Bader and Schmid (2009b) have shown, however, that native speakers accept the auxiliary in all positions except the cluster-final one. Experimental results as well as corpus data indicate that verb cluster serialization is a case of free variation. I discuss how this variation can be accounted for, focusing on two mismatches between acceptability and frequency: First, slight acceptability advantages can turn into strong frequency advantages. Second, syntactic variants with basically zero frequency can still vary substantially in acceptability. These mismatches remain unaccounted for if acceptability is related to frequency on the level of whole sentence structures, as in Stochastic OT (Boersma and Hayes 2001). However, when the acceptability-frequency relationship is modeled on the level of individual weighted constraints, using harmony as link (see Pater 2009, for different harmony based frameworks), the two mismatches follow given appropriate linking assumptions.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"39 1","pages":"407 - 437"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45354209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This issue is the first special issue of Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft to be published exclusively online, as a third issue complementing this year’s two regular issues. ZS online-only issues are meant to offer a forum for one of the AGs (workshops) that are part of the annual conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS, the Linguistic Society of Germany) to publish selected contributions of their AG. The present issue has emerged from the Workshop Contrast and Opposition in ‘Free’ Phenomena, organized by the guest editors Volker Struckmeier and Andreas Pankau and held at the 41st Annual Conference in Bremen, in March 2019.
{"title":"Special Issue on Indeterminacies and mismatches in grammatical systems","authors":"D. Matić, Natascha Pomino","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2022","url":null,"abstract":"This issue is the first special issue of Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft to be published exclusively online, as a third issue complementing this year’s two regular issues. ZS online-only issues are meant to offer a forum for one of the AGs (workshops) that are part of the annual conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS, the Linguistic Society of Germany) to publish selected contributions of their AG. The present issue has emerged from the Workshop Contrast and Opposition in ‘Free’ Phenomena, organized by the guest editors Volker Struckmeier and Andreas Pankau and held at the 41st Annual Conference in Bremen, in March 2019.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2022","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43910974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Grohmann, M. Kambanaros, Evelina Leivada, Natalia Pavlou
Abstract Variation involving a switch between pre- and post-verbal placement of pronominal object clitics in a single syntactic environment within a language is unexpected. The rationale why this would not be expected is clear: Languages pattern as either proclitic or enclitic with respect to object clitic placement, possibly allowing one or the other option across different syntactic environments. We provide an overview of our research from data collected in Cyprus, related to the development and use of pronominal object clitics for child populations and adult speakers that are bilectal in Cypriot and Standard Modern Greek. While it has been shown that the tested bilectal populations receive exposure to more than one distinct grammar, including mixed grammars with optional choices for clitic placement, an important question remains unaddressed: Is variation really “free” across all speakers or are there universally reliable predictors (such as gender, age, or level of education) that mediate a consistent use of either the standard or the dialect? Combining insights from targeted elicitation tasks administered to different groups, a corpus of spontaneous speech, and an extensive literature review, we show the weakness of such purported predictors and support a claim of free variation.
{"title":"On “free” grammatical variation in a mixed lect: Clitic placement in Cypriot Greek","authors":"K. Grohmann, M. Kambanaros, Evelina Leivada, Natalia Pavlou","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Variation involving a switch between pre- and post-verbal placement of pronominal object clitics in a single syntactic environment within a language is unexpected. The rationale why this would not be expected is clear: Languages pattern as either proclitic or enclitic with respect to object clitic placement, possibly allowing one or the other option across different syntactic environments. We provide an overview of our research from data collected in Cyprus, related to the development and use of pronominal object clitics for child populations and adult speakers that are bilectal in Cypriot and Standard Modern Greek. While it has been shown that the tested bilectal populations receive exposure to more than one distinct grammar, including mixed grammars with optional choices for clitic placement, an important question remains unaddressed: Is variation really “free” across all speakers or are there universally reliable predictors (such as gender, age, or level of education) that mediate a consistent use of either the standard or the dialect? Combining insights from targeted elicitation tasks administered to different groups, a corpus of spontaneous speech, and an extensive literature review, we show the weakness of such purported predictors and support a claim of free variation.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"39 1","pages":"275 - 298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48458974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Some Mayan languages display optional verbal agreement with 3pl arguments (Dayley 1985; Henderson 2009; England 2011). Focusing on novel data from Santiago Tz’utujil (ST), we demonstrate that this optionality is not reducible to phonological or morphological factors. Rather, the source of optionality is in the syntax. Specifically, the distinction between arguments generated in the specifier position and arguments generated in the complement position governs the pattern. Only base-complements control agreement optionally; base-specifiers control agreement obligatorily. We provide an analysis in which optional agreement results from the availability of two syntactic representations (DP vs. reduced nominal argument). Thus, while the syntactic operation Agree is deterministic, surface optionality arises when the operation targets two different sized goals.
{"title":"Optional agreement in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan) is syntactic","authors":"Theodore Levin, Paulina Lyskawa, Rodrigo Ranero","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2018","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Some Mayan languages display optional verbal agreement with 3pl arguments (Dayley 1985; Henderson 2009; England 2011). Focusing on novel data from Santiago Tz’utujil (ST), we demonstrate that this optionality is not reducible to phonological or morphological factors. Rather, the source of optionality is in the syntax. Specifically, the distinction between arguments generated in the specifier position and arguments generated in the complement position governs the pattern. Only base-complements control agreement optionally; base-specifiers control agreement obligatorily. We provide an analysis in which optional agreement results from the availability of two syntactic representations (DP vs. reduced nominal argument). Thus, while the syntactic operation Agree is deterministic, surface optionality arises when the operation targets two different sized goals.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"39 1","pages":"329 - 355"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45484849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Grammars are decomposable. On the one hand, an adequate characterization of a given utterance factorizes the contributions of each subsystem of grammar and on the other hand, it thereby reduces the apparent overall complexity to the interaction of less complex subsystems. Scrambling is an apt showcase. Its complicated properties are not inherent properties of a syntactic construction but the result of the interaction of phrase structuring with other subsystems of grammar, and in particular with the information-structuring (IS) subsystem of pragmatics. Scrambling is “utilized” rather than “triggered”. In general, when syntax admits structural variation, this potential is captured and utilized by other subsystems of grammar. Germanic and Slavic languages are handy testimonies for rejecting syntactic trigger scenarios not only for scrambling but also for other constructions with displaced items. Cross-linguistically, scrambling is not a matter of syntactical determinism. For an adequate syntactical account of scrambling it is sufficient to understand and explain the structural conditions that make a language a scrambling language. The pragmatic functions that utilize scrambling structures are not a concern of syntax. They are syntactically not causal and epiphenomenal to syntax.
{"title":"A null theory of scrambling","authors":"H. Haider","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2019","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Grammars are decomposable. On the one hand, an adequate characterization of a given utterance factorizes the contributions of each subsystem of grammar and on the other hand, it thereby reduces the apparent overall complexity to the interaction of less complex subsystems. Scrambling is an apt showcase. Its complicated properties are not inherent properties of a syntactic construction but the result of the interaction of phrase structuring with other subsystems of grammar, and in particular with the information-structuring (IS) subsystem of pragmatics. Scrambling is “utilized” rather than “triggered”. In general, when syntax admits structural variation, this potential is captured and utilized by other subsystems of grammar. Germanic and Slavic languages are handy testimonies for rejecting syntactic trigger scenarios not only for scrambling but also for other constructions with displaced items. Cross-linguistically, scrambling is not a matter of syntactical determinism. For an adequate syntactical account of scrambling it is sufficient to understand and explain the structural conditions that make a language a scrambling language. The pragmatic functions that utilize scrambling structures are not a concern of syntax. They are syntactically not causal and epiphenomenal to syntax.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"39 1","pages":"375 - 405"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48146446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present volume addresses a foundational issue in linguistic typology, viz. crosslinguistic generalizations andhow they should be explained.More precisely, it discusses to what extent statistical universals of linguistic structure can be accounted for by so-called “source-oriented”, mutational explanations, i. e. constraints on language change, or by “result-oriented”, functional-adaptive principles, i. e. forces leading to preferred structural types that facilitate communication and language processing for speakers and hearers. Unlike previous volumes in a similar vein (e. g. Hawkins 1988; Good 2008), the debate in this volume takes place entirely within the functional, usage-based camp. Even so, Explanation in Typology is a major contribution to typology and general linguistics and will be of great interest to any linguist keen to engage with the nature of linguistic universals, regardless of their theoretical position. After the table of contents, the book starts with an introduction by Karsten Schmidtke-Bode outlining the aim and structure of the volume and briefly summarizing each of the subsequent chapters. This is followed by nine research papers by Martin Haspelmath, Sonia Cristofaro, Jeremy Collins, Matthew S. Dryer, Holger Diessel, Karsten Schmidtke-Bode, Ilja A. Seržant, Susanne Maria Michaelis, and Natalia Levshina, as well as a concluding chapter by Karsten Schmidtke-Bode and Eitan Grossman. Separate indices of names, languages, and subjects round off the book. The volume can be downloaded for free at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/220. Alternatively, each chapter can be downloaded separately. Print-on-demand options are available, too. The first research article is a programmatic paper in which Martin Haspelmath addresses some terminological issues and provides an overview of causal factors for linguistic universals, including functional-adaptive and mutational constraints. Crucially, both explanations involve language change, but in the former, change only serves to fulfill the functional adaptation, whereas in the latter, change itself is the causal factor. Haspelmath acknowledges the importance of mutational constraints in certain cases, but generally favors functional-adaptive explanations.
{"title":"Karsten Schmidtke-Bode, Natalia Levshina, Susanne Maria Michaelis, Ilja A. Seržant (Eds.). Explanation in Typology. Diachronic Sources, Functional Motivations and the Nature of the Evidence","authors":"T. Bossuyt","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2013","url":null,"abstract":"The present volume addresses a foundational issue in linguistic typology, viz. crosslinguistic generalizations andhow they should be explained.More precisely, it discusses to what extent statistical universals of linguistic structure can be accounted for by so-called “source-oriented”, mutational explanations, i. e. constraints on language change, or by “result-oriented”, functional-adaptive principles, i. e. forces leading to preferred structural types that facilitate communication and language processing for speakers and hearers. Unlike previous volumes in a similar vein (e. g. Hawkins 1988; Good 2008), the debate in this volume takes place entirely within the functional, usage-based camp. Even so, Explanation in Typology is a major contribution to typology and general linguistics and will be of great interest to any linguist keen to engage with the nature of linguistic universals, regardless of their theoretical position. After the table of contents, the book starts with an introduction by Karsten Schmidtke-Bode outlining the aim and structure of the volume and briefly summarizing each of the subsequent chapters. This is followed by nine research papers by Martin Haspelmath, Sonia Cristofaro, Jeremy Collins, Matthew S. Dryer, Holger Diessel, Karsten Schmidtke-Bode, Ilja A. Seržant, Susanne Maria Michaelis, and Natalia Levshina, as well as a concluding chapter by Karsten Schmidtke-Bode and Eitan Grossman. Separate indices of names, languages, and subjects round off the book. The volume can be downloaded for free at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/220. Alternatively, each chapter can be downloaded separately. Print-on-demand options are available, too. The first research article is a programmatic paper in which Martin Haspelmath addresses some terminological issues and provides an overview of causal factors for linguistic universals, including functional-adaptive and mutational constraints. Crucially, both explanations involve language change, but in the former, change only serves to fulfill the functional adaptation, whereas in the latter, change itself is the causal factor. Haspelmath acknowledges the importance of mutational constraints in certain cases, but generally favors functional-adaptive explanations.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"39 1","pages":"231 - 234"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45259128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Theoretical accounts agree that German restrictive relative clauses (RCs) are integrated at the level of syntax as well as at the level of prosody (Brandt 1990; Gärtner 1998, 2002; Endriss and Gärtner 2005; Catasso and Hinterhölzl 2016; Sanfelici et al. 2017) in both the default verb-final and the marked verb-second variant (referred to as iV2). Both variants are assumed to show the same prosodic pattern, i. e., prosodic integration into the main clause, and not unintegrated prosody, which would signal a sequence of two main clauses. To date strong empirical evidence for this close correspondence between prosody and syntax in RCs is missing. Findings regarding prosodic integration of verb-final RCs are not consistent, and research regarding the prosody of iV2 structures is very scarce. Using a delayed sentence-repetition task, our study investigated whether subordination is signaled by prosody in RCs in both the verb-final and the V2 variant in adults ( n = 21n=21). In addition, we asked whether young language learners ( n = 23n=23), who at the age of 3 have just started to produce embedded clauses, are already sensitive to this mapping. The adult responses showed significantly more patterns of prosodic integration than of prosodic non-integration in the V-final and the iV2 structures, with no difference between the two conditions. Notably, the child responses mirrored this adult behavior, showing significantly more patterns of prosodic integration than of prosodic non-integration in both V-final and iV2 structures. The findings regarding adults’ prosodic realizations provide novel empirical evidence for the claim that iV2 structures, just like verb-final RCs, show prosodic integration. Moreover, our study strongly suggests that subordination is signaled by prosody already by age 3 in both verb-final and V2 variants of RCs.
{"title":"What verb-final and V2 have in common: evidence from the prosody of German restrictive relative clauses in adults and children","authors":"Emanuela Sanfelici, C. Féry, P. Schulz","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2020-2011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2020-2011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Theoretical accounts agree that German restrictive relative clauses (RCs) are integrated at the level of syntax as well as at the level of prosody (Brandt 1990; Gärtner 1998, 2002; Endriss and Gärtner 2005; Catasso and Hinterhölzl 2016; Sanfelici et al. 2017) in both the default verb-final and the marked verb-second variant (referred to as iV2). Both variants are assumed to show the same prosodic pattern, i. e., prosodic integration into the main clause, and not unintegrated prosody, which would signal a sequence of two main clauses. To date strong empirical evidence for this close correspondence between prosody and syntax in RCs is missing. Findings regarding prosodic integration of verb-final RCs are not consistent, and research regarding the prosody of iV2 structures is very scarce. Using a delayed sentence-repetition task, our study investigated whether subordination is signaled by prosody in RCs in both the verb-final and the V2 variant in adults ( n = 21n=21). In addition, we asked whether young language learners ( n = 23n=23), who at the age of 3 have just started to produce embedded clauses, are already sensitive to this mapping. The adult responses showed significantly more patterns of prosodic integration than of prosodic non-integration in the V-final and the iV2 structures, with no difference between the two conditions. Notably, the child responses mirrored this adult behavior, showing significantly more patterns of prosodic integration than of prosodic non-integration in both V-final and iV2 structures. The findings regarding adults’ prosodic realizations provide novel empirical evidence for the claim that iV2 structures, just like verb-final RCs, show prosodic integration. Moreover, our study strongly suggests that subordination is signaled by prosody already by age 3 in both verb-final and V2 variants of RCs.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"39 1","pages":"201 - 230"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/zfs-2020-2011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43535184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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