Abstract Referring to the so-called “actuation problem”, stability and change are two equally important problems in every theory of language change. However, apart from some exceptions, up to now studies predominantly focused on change, while stable linguistic features have been rarely considered. To address this desideratum and investigate factors that account for stability, the present article combines a real- and apparent-time analysis of the variable (en) in the Austrian base dialects by investigating data from 163 base dialect speakers from 40 locations across the country. The variable (en) occurs as a word-final ending in infinitive as well as in nominal forms, and – with respect to the preceding phonetic environment – shows a high degree of variation within and across all Austrian dialect areas. Although such a high degree of variation is considered a prerequisite for change, the analyses reveal a remarkable amount of stability for several variants of (en) in Austria. As will be argued, this fact can be attributed to both extra- and intralinguistic factors such as the variant’s areal distribution, its frequency, and morphological constraints.
{"title":"On explaining stable dialect features: A real- and apparent-time study on the variable (en) in Austrian base dialects","authors":"Philip C. Vergeiner, Dominik Wallner","doi":"10.1515/opli-2020-0168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2020-0168","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Referring to the so-called “actuation problem”, stability and change are two equally important problems in every theory of language change. However, apart from some exceptions, up to now studies predominantly focused on change, while stable linguistic features have been rarely considered. To address this desideratum and investigate factors that account for stability, the present article combines a real- and apparent-time analysis of the variable (en) in the Austrian base dialects by investigating data from 163 base dialect speakers from 40 locations across the country. The variable (en) occurs as a word-final ending in infinitive as well as in nominal forms, and – with respect to the preceding phonetic environment – shows a high degree of variation within and across all Austrian dialect areas. Although such a high degree of variation is considered a prerequisite for change, the analyses reveal a remarkable amount of stability for several variants of (en) in Austria. As will be argued, this fact can be attributed to both extra- and intralinguistic factors such as the variant’s areal distribution, its frequency, and morphological constraints.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43706871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The study focuses on the interaction between length of exposure and instruction in the L2 English acquisition process of L1 Spanish school children. Two target structures involving noun premodification are targeted: noun–noun (NN) compounds and adjective–noun (AN) strings. Four groups of participants have been studied for 3 years: a group that has been exposed to a specifically designed teaching program targeting NN compounds and a group that has received the regular English instruction program which does not address this structure as part of the curriculum. Two age subgroups appear in each case. The longitudinal judgment data elicited show that performance improves in the cooperation between length of exposure and the exposure to the NN instruction program. Furthermore, it is this last issue that actually takes the lead in that the NN instruction program directly impacts on not only NN compounds but also AN strings. This points to instruction being determinant in the L2 learning process; that is, a consciously and carefully directed instruction is proven to be more effective than length of exposure itself. This study on longitudinal experimental data contributes to shed light on the factors involved in instructed L2 acquisition.
{"title":"When teaching works and time helps: Noun modification in L2 English school children","authors":"Raquel Fernández Fuertes, Eduardo Gómez Garzarán, Sonja Mujcinovic, Iban Mañas Navarrete","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0219","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study focuses on the interaction between length of exposure and instruction in the L2 English acquisition process of L1 Spanish school children. Two target structures involving noun premodification are targeted: noun–noun (NN) compounds and adjective–noun (AN) strings. Four groups of participants have been studied for 3 years: a group that has been exposed to a specifically designed teaching program targeting NN compounds and a group that has received the regular English instruction program which does not address this structure as part of the curriculum. Two age subgroups appear in each case. The longitudinal judgment data elicited show that performance improves in the cooperation between length of exposure and the exposure to the NN instruction program. Furthermore, it is this last issue that actually takes the lead in that the NN instruction program directly impacts on not only NN compounds but also AN strings. This points to instruction being determinant in the L2 learning process; that is, a consciously and carefully directed instruction is proven to be more effective than length of exposure itself. This study on longitudinal experimental data contributes to shed light on the factors involved in instructed L2 acquisition.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43796515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Expressing opinions is considered a significant communicative act frequently taking place in our conversations. It is one of the fairly neglected areas of research in the Arabic context. Among the studies conducted on the communicative acts, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no attempt to investigate the expressions of opinion and its strategies specifically in Jordanian Arabic (JA). To this end, the current study intends to investigate the communicative act of opinion giving in JA with reference to gender disparities. Data elicited from 50 male and 50 female speakers of JA via Discourse Completion Task and role-plays revealed that Jordanians resort to a mixture of expressions to convey their opinion clearly. They use various types of strategies, including direct expression of opinion, indirect manifestation of opinion, advice, suggesting, enumeration, prayers, address terms, complaining, personalized hedges, and rarely opting out. In addition, gender differences were also noticed in expressing this speech act. Males use direct expression strategy and imperative expression significantly more than the female participants, whereas the females used six strategies significantly more than their male counterparts: indirect expression, advice, personalized hedges, suggesting, prayers, and address terms.
{"title":"The Communication of Viewpoints in Jordanian Arabic: A Pragmatic Study","authors":"N. Al-Khawaldeh, Luay Abu Rahmeh","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0191","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Expressing opinions is considered a significant communicative act frequently taking place in our conversations. It is one of the fairly neglected areas of research in the Arabic context. Among the studies conducted on the communicative acts, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no attempt to investigate the expressions of opinion and its strategies specifically in Jordanian Arabic (JA). To this end, the current study intends to investigate the communicative act of opinion giving in JA with reference to gender disparities. Data elicited from 50 male and 50 female speakers of JA via Discourse Completion Task and role-plays revealed that Jordanians resort to a mixture of expressions to convey their opinion clearly. They use various types of strategies, including direct expression of opinion, indirect manifestation of opinion, advice, suggesting, enumeration, prayers, address terms, complaining, personalized hedges, and rarely opting out. In addition, gender differences were also noticed in expressing this speech act. Males use direct expression strategy and imperative expression significantly more than the female participants, whereas the females used six strategies significantly more than their male counterparts: indirect expression, advice, personalized hedges, suggesting, prayers, and address terms.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43128750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The Polysystem Hypothesis, bringing together language, literature, culture and society, has hallmarked Translation Studies, while heralding the cultural turn, subsequently attributed to the study of Bassnett and Lefevere. Without a shadow of doubt, this conceptual and methodological framework continues to spark interdisciplinary research interests, allowing for recasts. In this context, the current article sets out to investigate the translation of Australian writers in Romania, from a diachronic and synchronic perspective alike. The main aims are related to featuring quantitative aspects – number of translated authors, number of translated works, etc., and qualitative dimensions – translation policies, the role of translators in the interlinguistic and intercultural transfer of texts, other controlling factors. Furthermore, the affordability, portability and ownership of literary translation underlie shifting patterns of translation knowledge creation and transfer and of translation effective practice.
{"title":"Transferring knowledge to/from the market – still building the polysystem? The translation of Australian fiction in Romania","authors":"Titela Vîlceanu, A. Păunescu","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0199","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Polysystem Hypothesis, bringing together language, literature, culture and society, has hallmarked Translation Studies, while heralding the cultural turn, subsequently attributed to the study of Bassnett and Lefevere. Without a shadow of doubt, this conceptual and methodological framework continues to spark interdisciplinary research interests, allowing for recasts. In this context, the current article sets out to investigate the translation of Australian writers in Romania, from a diachronic and synchronic perspective alike. The main aims are related to featuring quantitative aspects – number of translated authors, number of translated works, etc., and qualitative dimensions – translation policies, the role of translators in the interlinguistic and intercultural transfer of texts, other controlling factors. Furthermore, the affordability, portability and ownership of literary translation underlie shifting patterns of translation knowledge creation and transfer and of translation effective practice.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45481902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Shakespeare’s Shylock has been so debatable a character since its introduction to the English stage. According to the existing literature, there is an on-going debate as to whether this Jewish character is a villain or falls victim to the anti-Semitic community. The current study applies deictic theory of pronouns to examine the relationship between this character’s employment of thou and you, and his affect based on the hypothesis that a person’s use of pronouns, among other function words, can reveal their sense of self. Findings have shown that Shylock uses both pronouns in the normative way considerably more than in the pragmatic way; that he adheres to the normative use of the terms more than do his Christian counterparts; and that when he pragmatically uses them, expressions of his negative emotions often appear. Findings also suggest that (fictional) persons’ use of second-person pronouns reflects to some degree their sense of freedom and reciprocity relative to others. In this case, the rather restrictive and abusive employment of thou and you by the Jew indicates him being suppressed and alienated from society, which in turn drives him to wreak vengeance on the Christians – the culminating action that makes him meet his eventual downfall.
{"title":"A pragmatic analysis of Shylock’s use of thou and you","authors":"Somboon Pojprasat","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0221","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Shakespeare’s Shylock has been so debatable a character since its introduction to the English stage. According to the existing literature, there is an on-going debate as to whether this Jewish character is a villain or falls victim to the anti-Semitic community. The current study applies deictic theory of pronouns to examine the relationship between this character’s employment of thou and you, and his affect based on the hypothesis that a person’s use of pronouns, among other function words, can reveal their sense of self. Findings have shown that Shylock uses both pronouns in the normative way considerably more than in the pragmatic way; that he adheres to the normative use of the terms more than do his Christian counterparts; and that when he pragmatically uses them, expressions of his negative emotions often appear. Findings also suggest that (fictional) persons’ use of second-person pronouns reflects to some degree their sense of freedom and reciprocity relative to others. In this case, the rather restrictive and abusive employment of thou and you by the Jew indicates him being suppressed and alienated from society, which in turn drives him to wreak vengeance on the Christians – the culminating action that makes him meet his eventual downfall.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46067094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article proposes a fine-grained semantic analysis of similative and comparative constructions within the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). The core idea is that, when used in their prototypical modifying functions, the two types of constructions are built upon two semantic frames that share an identical structure but differ as regards the semantic category that underlies the whole modifying expression – whence the title of the article: similatives are Manners and comparatives are Quantities. At the same time, I argue that similatives can also be put to modifying and predicative uses in which they do not express a Manner but a Configurational Property (i.e., a “nuclear predication”) and that comparatives do not express a Quantity when occurring as arguments of lexical(ized) ditransitive predicates like prefer or would rather, nor when the two terms of the comparison are introduced by a specific type of temporal expression. Finally, the paper refines previous FDG approaches to the alternation between analytic and synthetic expression of comparison in such languages as English and Latin, proposing that the English comparative suffix -er is liable to being modified by narrow-scope measure expressions and is therefore a partly lexical element and not a fully grammaticalized marker of comparison.
{"title":"Similatives are Manners, comparatives are Quantities (except when they aren’t)","authors":"R. Giomi","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0211","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article proposes a fine-grained semantic analysis of similative and comparative constructions within the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). The core idea is that, when used in their prototypical modifying functions, the two types of constructions are built upon two semantic frames that share an identical structure but differ as regards the semantic category that underlies the whole modifying expression – whence the title of the article: similatives are Manners and comparatives are Quantities. At the same time, I argue that similatives can also be put to modifying and predicative uses in which they do not express a Manner but a Configurational Property (i.e., a “nuclear predication”) and that comparatives do not express a Quantity when occurring as arguments of lexical(ized) ditransitive predicates like prefer or would rather, nor when the two terms of the comparison are introduced by a specific type of temporal expression. Finally, the paper refines previous FDG approaches to the alternation between analytic and synthetic expression of comparison in such languages as English and Latin, proposing that the English comparative suffix -er is liable to being modified by narrow-scope measure expressions and is therefore a partly lexical element and not a fully grammaticalized marker of comparison.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48756154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Research into Ugandan English places it in the nativisation phase of the evolution of Englishes, amidst a nexus of local acceptance with ingredients of endonormativity and ingrained exonormative traditions. The current study shows how the use of modal verbs of obligation and spatial prepositions provides insights into how the nexus of the above phenomena has shaped Ugandan English. For example, although the preference of have to over must is a global trend, in Ugandan English, it is more prevalent in Bantu-speaking than in Nilotic-speaking areas because of substrate influence. Crucially, although the use of spatial prepositions is generally similar to how they are used in, for example, (standard) British English, the peculiar use of from to encode stative location in Ugandan English is, despite some regional variations, so widespread in the country that it tends towards endonormative stabilisation.
{"title":"Between exonormative traditions and local acceptance: A corpus-linguistic study of modals of obligation and spatial prepositions in spoken Ugandan English","authors":"Bebwa Isingoma, Christiane Meierkord","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0185","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Research into Ugandan English places it in the nativisation phase of the evolution of Englishes, amidst a nexus of local acceptance with ingredients of endonormativity and ingrained exonormative traditions. The current study shows how the use of modal verbs of obligation and spatial prepositions provides insights into how the nexus of the above phenomena has shaped Ugandan English. For example, although the preference of have to over must is a global trend, in Ugandan English, it is more prevalent in Bantu-speaking than in Nilotic-speaking areas because of substrate influence. Crucially, although the use of spatial prepositions is generally similar to how they are used in, for example, (standard) British English, the peculiar use of from to encode stative location in Ugandan English is, despite some regional variations, so widespread in the country that it tends towards endonormative stabilisation.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42681877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Idioms have long been an intricate part of language both from a semantic and a translational point of view. According to Cognitive Linguistics, many idioms do not always have an arbitrary meaning, as postulated by their traditional definition. The purpose of this article is to bring into focus the contribution that the Cognitive Linguistic approach can make to the process of selecting appropriate target language counterparts of source language idioms while applying translation strategies. To this end, we attempt at identifying appropriate Romanian counterparts of several English heart idioms on the basis of the same cognitive mechanisms (conventional knowledge, conceptual metaphors and metonymies) which motivate, to a certain extent, their meanings. Moreover, considering its specificity, this study is structured by drawing on the first three strategies suggested by “Baker, Mona. 1992. In other words. A coursebook on translation. London & New York: Routledge,” which translators can make use of when being faced with the challenging task of rendering idioms from the source text into the target text. In addition, our analysis is exclusively concerned with systemic equivalent idioms in terms of language as a system (Kvetko, Pavol. 2009. An outline of English phraseology. 3rd revised edition. Trnava: Univerzita Sv. Cyrila a Metoda).
从语义和翻译的角度来看，抽象习语一直是语言中复杂的组成部分。根据认知语言学，许多习语并不总是像传统定义所假设的那样具有任意的含义。本文的目的是关注认知语言学方法在应用翻译策略时对选择源语言习语的适当目标语言对应物的过程所能做出的贡献。为此，我们试图在相同的认知机制（传统知识、概念隐喻和转喻）的基础上，确定几个英语心形习语的罗马尼亚对应词，这些认知机制在一定程度上激发了它们的意义。此外，考虑到其特殊性，本研究借鉴了“Baker，Mona.1992”提出的前三种策略。换句话说。一本关于翻译的教程。伦敦和纽约：Routledge”，译者在面临将习语从源文本翻译成目标文本的艰巨任务时可以利用它。此外，我们的分析只关注从语言作为一个系统的角度来看的系统等效习语（Kvetko，Pavol.2009）。英语措辞大纲。第3次修订版。Trnava：Univerzita Sv.Cyrila a Metoda）。
{"title":"Considerations on the meaning and translation of English heart idioms. Integrating the cognitive linguistic approach","authors":"Ana-Maria Trantescu, Georgiana Reiss","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0203","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Idioms have long been an intricate part of language both from a semantic and a translational point of view. According to Cognitive Linguistics, many idioms do not always have an arbitrary meaning, as postulated by their traditional definition. The purpose of this article is to bring into focus the contribution that the Cognitive Linguistic approach can make to the process of selecting appropriate target language counterparts of source language idioms while applying translation strategies. To this end, we attempt at identifying appropriate Romanian counterparts of several English heart idioms on the basis of the same cognitive mechanisms (conventional knowledge, conceptual metaphors and metonymies) which motivate, to a certain extent, their meanings. Moreover, considering its specificity, this study is structured by drawing on the first three strategies suggested by “Baker, Mona. 1992. In other words. A coursebook on translation. London & New York: Routledge,” which translators can make use of when being faced with the challenging task of rendering idioms from the source text into the target text. In addition, our analysis is exclusively concerned with systemic equivalent idioms in terms of language as a system (Kvetko, Pavol. 2009. An outline of English phraseology. 3rd revised edition. Trnava: Univerzita Sv. Cyrila a Metoda).","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47870325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract It is generally accepted that the order of elements within the English noun phrase is relatively fixed, and that, in the prefield, determiners (primary and secondary) precede modifiers. This article is concerned with a group of noun phrases exhibiting non-canonical word order, namely those cases in which a modifier precedes a numeral, such as a fabulous two years, a staggering 30 singles, that short fourteen months, and the largest two markets. Using corpus data from the British National Corpus, it is shown that such noun phrases are far more heterogeneous (in terms of the kind of noun, the scope and type of the modifier, the form and number of the determiner, and subject-verb agreement) than assumed in previous studies. It is argued that the variation observed in the data can only be accounted for if different subtypes of such NPs are distinguished, each characterized by its own combination of functional and formal properties. Finally, it is demonstrated how Functional Discourse Grammar, with its function-to-form approach and its different levels and layers of representation, is particularly well-suited to capture the main features of the construction as a whole, as well as the more specific semantic and syntactic properties of each of the subtypes.
摘要人们普遍认为，英语名词短语的成分顺序是相对固定的，在前域，限定词(主要和次要)在修饰语之前。本文关注的是一组表现出非规范词序的名词短语，即修辞符放在数字前面的情况，例如a fabulous two years, a惊人的30 singles, that short 14 months, and the biggest two markets。使用英国国家语料库的语料库数据表明，这些名词短语在名词的种类、修饰语的范围和类型、限定词的形式和数量以及主谓一致性方面的异质性远远超过以往的研究。有人认为，在数据中观察到的变化只能解释，如果这些NPs的不同亚型被区分开来，每一个都以其自己的功能和形式属性的组合为特征。最后，本文论证了功能语篇语法是如何利用其从功能到形式的方法及其不同层次和层次的表征，特别适合于捕捉结构的主要特征，以及每个子类型的更具体的语义和句法属性。
{"title":"Modifier-numeral word order in the English NP: An FDG analysis","authors":"E. Keizer","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0207","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract It is generally accepted that the order of elements within the English noun phrase is relatively fixed, and that, in the prefield, determiners (primary and secondary) precede modifiers. This article is concerned with a group of noun phrases exhibiting non-canonical word order, namely those cases in which a modifier precedes a numeral, such as a fabulous two years, a staggering 30 singles, that short fourteen months, and the largest two markets. Using corpus data from the British National Corpus, it is shown that such noun phrases are far more heterogeneous (in terms of the kind of noun, the scope and type of the modifier, the form and number of the determiner, and subject-verb agreement) than assumed in previous studies. It is argued that the variation observed in the data can only be accounted for if different subtypes of such NPs are distinguished, each characterized by its own combination of functional and formal properties. Finally, it is demonstrated how Functional Discourse Grammar, with its function-to-form approach and its different levels and layers of representation, is particularly well-suited to capture the main features of the construction as a whole, as well as the more specific semantic and syntactic properties of each of the subtypes.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48518947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Two studies investigate the production and perception of speech chunks in Estonian. A corpus study examines to what degree the boundaries of syntactic constituents and frequent collocations influence the distribution of prosodic information in spontaneously spoken utterances. A perception experiment tests to what degree prosodic information, constituent structure, and collocation frequencies interact in the perception of speech chunks. Two groups of native Estonian speakers rated spontaneously spoken utterances for the presence of disjunctures, whilst listening to these utterances ( N = 47 N=47 ) or reading them ( N = 40 N=40 ). The results of the corpus study reveal a rather weak correspondence between the distribution of prosodic information and boundaries of the syntactic constituents and collocations. The results of the perception experiments demonstrate a strong influence of clause boundaries on the perception of prosodic discontinuities as prosodic breaks. Thus, the results indicate that there is no direct relationship between the semantico-syntactic characteristics of utterances and the distribution of prosodic information. The percept of a prosodic break relies on the rapid recognition of constituent structure, i.e. structural information.
{"title":"A perceptual study of language chunking in Estonian","authors":"Nele Ots, P. Taremaa","doi":"10.1515/opli-2020-0182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2020-0182","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Two studies investigate the production and perception of speech chunks in Estonian. A corpus study examines to what degree the boundaries of syntactic constituents and frequent collocations influence the distribution of prosodic information in spontaneously spoken utterances. A perception experiment tests to what degree prosodic information, constituent structure, and collocation frequencies interact in the perception of speech chunks. Two groups of native Estonian speakers rated spontaneously spoken utterances for the presence of disjunctures, whilst listening to these utterances ( N = 47 N=47 ) or reading them ( N = 40 N=40 ). The results of the corpus study reveal a rather weak correspondence between the distribution of prosodic information and boundaries of the syntactic constituents and collocations. The results of the perception experiments demonstrate a strong influence of clause boundaries on the perception of prosodic discontinuities as prosodic breaks. Thus, the results indicate that there is no direct relationship between the semantico-syntactic characteristics of utterances and the distribution of prosodic information. The percept of a prosodic break relies on the rapid recognition of constituent structure, i.e. structural information.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48650900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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