Pub Date : 2018-07-01DOI: 10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0006
Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero
Abstract The surface realization of a linguistic expression can often be predicted from the form of paradigmatically related items that are not contained within it: in Latin, the nominative singular of a noun can often be inferred from the genitive; in French, the final consonant of a prenominal masculine adjective in liaison can typically be predicted from the feminine; in Romanian, the plural form of a noun determines whether its stem will exhibit palatalization before the derivational suffix /-ist/. Such instances of phonological paradigmatic dependence without containment have been claimed to challenge cyclic models of the morphosyntax-phonology interface. In this article, however, they are shown to be established indirectly through the acquisition of underlying representations. This approach correctly predicts that phonological paradigmatic dependencies are never systematically extended to new items if they involve suppletive allomorphy rather than regular alternation, whilst those surface phonological properties of derivatives that are under strict phonotactic control evade paradigmatic dependence on the inflectional forms of their bases. Theories relying on surface-to-surface computation fail to recover these empirical predictions because they are inherently nonmodular, positing generalizations that promiscuously mix phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical information. Underlying representations, therefore, remain indispensable as a means of establishing a necessary modular demarcation between regular phonology and suppletive allomorphy.
{"title":"In defence of underlying representations: Latin rhotacism, French liaison, Romanian palatalization","authors":"Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero","doi":"10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The surface realization of a linguistic expression can often be predicted from the form of paradigmatically related items that are not contained within it: in Latin, the nominative singular of a noun can often be inferred from the genitive; in French, the final consonant of a prenominal masculine adjective in liaison can typically be predicted from the feminine; in Romanian, the plural form of a noun determines whether its stem will exhibit palatalization before the derivational suffix /-ist/. Such instances of phonological paradigmatic dependence without containment have been claimed to challenge cyclic models of the morphosyntax-phonology interface. In this article, however, they are shown to be established indirectly through the acquisition of underlying representations. This approach correctly predicts that phonological paradigmatic dependencies are never systematically extended to new items if they involve suppletive allomorphy rather than regular alternation, whilst those surface phonological properties of derivatives that are under strict phonotactic control evade paradigmatic dependence on the inflectional forms of their bases. Theories relying on surface-to-surface computation fail to recover these empirical predictions because they are inherently nonmodular, positing generalizations that promiscuously mix phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical information. Underlying representations, therefore, remain indispensable as a means of establishing a necessary modular demarcation between regular phonology and suppletive allomorphy.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"111 1","pages":"171 - 214"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77872643","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-10DOI: 10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0008
Susagna Tubau, V. Déprez, Joan Borràs-Comes, M. Espinal
Abstract This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation designed to test the interpretation of the optional doubling of the negative markers no and pas in Expletive Negation (EN) contexts and in preverbal Negative Concord Items (NCI) contexts in Catalan. We show that in EN contexts a negative interpretation of no is preferred to an expletive one, with non-negative readings being less widespread than expected from what is described in traditional grammars. In NCI contexts the overt presence of no basically contributes to a single negation interpretation, thus confirming the status of Catalan as a Negative Concord language. We also show that, in the absence of discourse environments, pas in both EN and NCI contexts shows a variable interpretation, a characteristic of negative polarity items. Our results indicate that pas does not increase the amount of negative interpretation of no in EN contexts, or of double negation in NCI contexts, but is an item dependent on the interpretation of no. We conclude that the strengthening role of Catalan pas (at stage two of Jespersen’s cycle), while associated with the expression of metalinguistic negation, does not reverse the truth or falsity of a proposition.
{"title":"How speakers interpret the negative markers no and no…pas in Catalan","authors":"Susagna Tubau, V. Déprez, Joan Borràs-Comes, M. Espinal","doi":"10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation designed to test the interpretation of the optional doubling of the negative markers no and pas in Expletive Negation (EN) contexts and in preverbal Negative Concord Items (NCI) contexts in Catalan. We show that in EN contexts a negative interpretation of no is preferred to an expletive one, with non-negative readings being less widespread than expected from what is described in traditional grammars. In NCI contexts the overt presence of no basically contributes to a single negation interpretation, thus confirming the status of Catalan as a Negative Concord language. We also show that, in the absence of discourse environments, pas in both EN and NCI contexts shows a variable interpretation, a characteristic of negative polarity items. Our results indicate that pas does not increase the amount of negative interpretation of no in EN contexts, or of double negation in NCI contexts, but is an item dependent on the interpretation of no. We conclude that the strengthening role of Catalan pas (at stage two of Jespersen’s cycle), while associated with the expression of metalinguistic negation, does not reverse the truth or falsity of a proposition.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"31 1","pages":"121 - 167"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81570863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-10DOI: 10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0004
E. Rinke, Cristina Flores, Pilar P. Barbosa
Abstract This paper investigates object omissions in the spontaneous production of European Portuguese by second-generation Portuguese-German bilingual speakers and compares them to first-generation migrants, and two age-matched groups of monolingual speakers. The results show that bilingual speakers as well as the younger generation of monolinguals show a higher number of null objects in their speech than the two older generations. This may reflect an inter-generational development that favours null objects, which is independent of language contact. The analysis of the syntactic and semantic conditions determining the occurrence of null objects in the speech of the different groups reveals that the semantic properties of the null objects realized by the bilinguals, particularly the higher rates of animate and non-propositional null objects, show that they extend the semantic-pragmatic conditions of null object realization along a referential hierarchy. The bilingual speakers may reflect a language-internal pathway that appears to resemble a diachronic change observed in BP.
{"title":"Null objects in the spontaneous speech of monolingual and bilingual speakers of European Portuguese","authors":"E. Rinke, Cristina Flores, Pilar P. Barbosa","doi":"10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper investigates object omissions in the spontaneous production of European Portuguese by second-generation Portuguese-German bilingual speakers and compares them to first-generation migrants, and two age-matched groups of monolingual speakers. The results show that bilingual speakers as well as the younger generation of monolinguals show a higher number of null objects in their speech than the two older generations. This may reflect an inter-generational development that favours null objects, which is independent of language contact. The analysis of the syntactic and semantic conditions determining the occurrence of null objects in the speech of the different groups reveals that the semantic properties of the null objects realized by the bilinguals, particularly the higher rates of animate and non-propositional null objects, show that they extend the semantic-pragmatic conditions of null object realization along a referential hierarchy. The bilingual speakers may reflect a language-internal pathway that appears to resemble a diachronic change observed in BP.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"29 1","pages":"93 - 119"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73174565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-10DOI: 10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0010
J. Arroyo, Javier Vellón Lahoz
Abstract In this paper, we examine the grammatical status of el que in Spanish prepositional relative clauses (el lugar en el que vivo) [the place where I live] from a variationist perspective of the theory of grammaticalization. At least from the nineteenth century onwards, several authors have defended the nature of el que as a compound relative pronoun, even if these forms continue alternating today with others without the article [el lugar en que vivo], in contrast to el cual, a fully grammaticalized relative since the late fifteenth century. Based on a 3,200,000 word corpus of immediacy text (mainly private letters), we test the hypothesis of el que being a case of grammaticalization in progress from a variationist point of view, examining in depth what happens inside the grammar and the socio-stylistic matrix in different periods of history, from 1700 to 1960. The idea underlying this approach is that the structure of changes as well as the grammaticalization in progress can be inferred from the comparative analysis between different quantitative magnitudes of functionally similar variants. To do so, we have performed three independent mixed-effects regression analyses (Rbrul), one for each century. The results of these comparative analyses confirm the progression of el que in prepositional subordinate clauses between the early eighteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Yet, this progression has taken place at a slow pace and, objectively, can only be described as moderate. Moreover, a number of elements of continuity in history are revealed, such as several conditioning factors that are systematically selected and with the same explanatory direction in all periods. This casts serious doubt on the existence of a grammaticalization in progress in the case of el que, and sees the evolution as not essentially different from other morphosyntactic changes that have taken place in the history of Spanish.
摘要本文从语法化理论的变异论视角考察了西班牙语介词关系分句“我住的地方”中的“我”的语法地位。至少从19世纪开始，一些作者就捍卫了el que作为复合关系代词的本质，即使这些形式在今天继续与其他形式交替，没有冠词[el lugar en que vivo]，与el cual相比，el cual自15世纪后期以来已经完全语法化了。基于320万词的即时文本语料库(主要是私人信件)，我们从变异论的角度检验了el que是一种正在进行的语法化的假设，深入研究了从1700年到1960年不同历史时期语法和社会风格矩阵内部发生的事情。这种方法的基本思想是，可以从功能相似变体的不同数量量级的比较分析中推断出变化的结构以及正在进行的语法化。为此，我们进行了三个独立的混合效应回归分析(Rbrul)，每个世纪一个。这些比较分析的结果证实了在18世纪早期到20世纪上半叶介词从句中el que的发展。然而，这一进展进展缓慢，客观上只能用温和来形容。此外，还揭示了一些历史上的连续性因素，如系统选择的几个条件因素，在所有时期都具有相同的解释方向。这使人们对el que的语法化是否存在产生了严重的怀疑，并认为这种演变与西班牙语历史上发生的其他形态句法变化没有本质上的不同。
{"title":"On the trail of grammaticalization in progress: has el que become a compound relative pronoun in the history of Spanish prepositional relative clauses?","authors":"J. Arroyo, Javier Vellón Lahoz","doi":"10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper, we examine the grammatical status of el que in Spanish prepositional relative clauses (el lugar en el que vivo) [the place where I live] from a variationist perspective of the theory of grammaticalization. At least from the nineteenth century onwards, several authors have defended the nature of el que as a compound relative pronoun, even if these forms continue alternating today with others without the article [el lugar en que vivo], in contrast to el cual, a fully grammaticalized relative since the late fifteenth century. Based on a 3,200,000 word corpus of immediacy text (mainly private letters), we test the hypothesis of el que being a case of grammaticalization in progress from a variationist point of view, examining in depth what happens inside the grammar and the socio-stylistic matrix in different periods of history, from 1700 to 1960. The idea underlying this approach is that the structure of changes as well as the grammaticalization in progress can be inferred from the comparative analysis between different quantitative magnitudes of functionally similar variants. To do so, we have performed three independent mixed-effects regression analyses (Rbrul), one for each century. The results of these comparative analyses confirm the progression of el que in prepositional subordinate clauses between the early eighteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Yet, this progression has taken place at a slow pace and, objectively, can only be described as moderate. Moreover, a number of elements of continuity in history are revealed, such as several conditioning factors that are systematically selected and with the same explanatory direction in all periods. This casts serious doubt on the existence of a grammaticalization in progress in the case of el que, and sees the evolution as not essentially different from other morphosyntactic changes that have taken place in the history of Spanish.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"8 1","pages":"1 - 45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76794700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-10DOI: 10.1515/probus-2017-0009
Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho
Abstract This article aims to explain the optional gemination in the elided form of the French 3rd p. object pronouns le and la, i.e. before vowel, as in [ʒəllɛvy] for je l’ai vu(e) ‘I saw him/her/it’. This geminate, which cannot be accounted for in purely phonological terms, is shown to follow from a boundary shift within the morphological sequence /il+lə/la+V/, providing the 3rd p. object pronouns with a new geminate allomorph before vowel; thereby, /ll/ can spread to the entire paradigm. It is argued (a) that the resulting allomorphy is the strategy found by speakers to eliminate the irregular allomorphy of the 3rd p. subject pronoun il before consonant; (b) that a perception grammar is needed to capture the reasons for the new allomorphy.
摘要:本文旨在解释法语第三人称代词le和la的省略形式，即元音前的可选双音节形式，如je l ' ai vu(e) ' I saw him/her/it '的[j] l / ll / vy。这个双音节不能用纯粹的音系术语来解释，它显示了在形态序列/il+l / /la+V/内的边界移动，为第三p宾语代词在元音之前提供了一个新的双音节异形;因此，/ll/可以扩展到整个范式。本文认为:(a)由此产生的异形是说话者发现的消除第三人称代词il在辅音前不规则异形的策略;(b)需要一个感知语法来捕捉新异型的原因。
{"title":"Je ll’ai vu: Perception-driven allomorphic optimization of French l’","authors":"Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho","doi":"10.1515/probus-2017-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/probus-2017-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article aims to explain the optional gemination in the elided form of the French 3rd p. object pronouns le and la, i.e. before vowel, as in [ʒəllɛvy] for je l’ai vu(e) ‘I saw him/her/it’. This geminate, which cannot be accounted for in purely phonological terms, is shown to follow from a boundary shift within the morphological sequence /il+lə/la+V/, providing the 3rd p. object pronouns with a new geminate allomorph before vowel; thereby, /ll/ can spread to the entire paradigm. It is argued (a) that the resulting allomorphy is the strategy found by speakers to eliminate the irregular allomorphy of the 3rd p. subject pronoun il before consonant; (b) that a perception grammar is needed to capture the reasons for the new allomorphy.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"56 1","pages":"47 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73597837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-10DOI: 10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0005
Diego Pescarini
Abstract This article aims to reconsider some restrictions on the distribution of of the arbitrary si/se in Romance. The main theoretical tenet of the work is that the observed cross-linguistic variation results from a set of micro-parameters ruling the merging site of si/se and the agree relations occurring between si/se and probing elements such as v and T. In particular, the proposed model aims to account for languages allowing si/se to occur with unaccusative verbs, but not with passive, copular constructions, and with accusative clitics.
{"title":"Parametrising arbitrary constructions","authors":"Diego Pescarini","doi":"10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PROBUS-2017-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article aims to reconsider some restrictions on the distribution of of the arbitrary si/se in Romance. The main theoretical tenet of the work is that the observed cross-linguistic variation results from a set of micro-parameters ruling the merging site of si/se and the agree relations occurring between si/se and probing elements such as v and T. In particular, the proposed model aims to account for languages allowing si/se to occur with unaccusative verbs, but not with passive, copular constructions, and with accusative clitics.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"56 1","pages":"67 - 91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82865186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-05-01DOI: 10.1515/probus-2015-0009
Jonathan E. MacDonald
Abstract This article discusses four properties of Spanish aspectual se constructions. 1. The telicity inducing effects of se; 2. The ungrammaticality of bare noun direct objects; 3. Leísta Spanish Person Case Constraint (PCC) repairs; and 4. A central/terminal coincidence relation between the direct object and the subject. I show that aspectual se does not induce telicity with stative VPs. The ungrammaticality of bare noun direct objects results from the direct object functioning as an ‘inner subject’ of a complex predicate formed by the verb and a null preposition, the complement of which is a pro coreferential with the external argument. The semantics of the null P plus verb give rise to a central/terminal coincidence relation between the direct object and the complement of P. Moreover, I argue that the null pro moves to Spec, Appl and functions as an indirect object. In this respect, aspectual se is an indirect object reflexive. The resulting structure, moreover, is fundamentally a double object construction, a construction in which PCC effects are known to hold.
摘要本文讨论了西班牙语的四种性质。1. 硒致电性作用;2. 裸名词直接宾语的不语法性3.Leísta西班牙人个案约束(PCC)修复;和4。直接客体与主体之间的中心/末端重合关系。我证明了在静态副总裁的情况下，视向性不会诱发电性。裸名词直接宾语的不语法性源于直接宾语作为由动词和空介词组成的复杂谓词的“内主语”，其补语与外部参数是亲指的。null P +动词的语义导致了P的直接宾语和补语之间的中心/末端重合关系。此外，我认为null pro移动到Spec, apple并作为间接宾语发挥作用。在这方面，方面性是一个间接宾语反身。此外，由此产生的结构基本上是一个双重对象结构，在这种结构中，PCC效应是已知的。
{"title":"Spanish aspectual se as an indirect object reflexive: The import of atelicity, bare nouns, and leísta PCC repairs","authors":"Jonathan E. MacDonald","doi":"10.1515/probus-2015-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/probus-2015-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article discusses four properties of Spanish aspectual se constructions. 1. The telicity inducing effects of se; 2. The ungrammaticality of bare noun direct objects; 3. Leísta Spanish Person Case Constraint (PCC) repairs; and 4. A central/terminal coincidence relation between the direct object and the subject. I show that aspectual se does not induce telicity with stative VPs. The ungrammaticality of bare noun direct objects results from the direct object functioning as an ‘inner subject’ of a complex predicate formed by the verb and a null preposition, the complement of which is a pro coreferential with the external argument. The semantics of the null P plus verb give rise to a central/terminal coincidence relation between the direct object and the complement of P. Moreover, I argue that the null pro moves to Spec, Appl and functions as an indirect object. In this respect, aspectual se is an indirect object reflexive. The resulting structure, moreover, is fundamentally a double object construction, a construction in which PCC effects are known to hold.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"52 1","pages":"117 - 73"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78290566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-05-01DOI: 10.1515/probus-2015-0006
Luis Eguren
Abstract In this paper, the properties of Spanish DPs including a possessive pronoun and a relative clause are thoroughly described and analyzed. Adopting a raising analysis for both prenominal possessives and restrictive relatives, it is claimed that the incompatibility of a determiner possessive and a restrictive relative in current standard Spanish is due to the violation of an interpretive constraint sanctioning subextraction from [Spec, CP]. It is further proposed that, in constructions in which a possessive pronoun does combine with a relative clause, the possessive is not subextracted from [Spec, CP]. It is finally shown that this proposal accounts for different well-formed dialectal and Old Spanish patterns with a prenominal possessive and a restrictive relative and also applies to data from other Romance languages.
{"title":"Possessives and relative clauses in Spanish","authors":"Luis Eguren","doi":"10.1515/probus-2015-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/probus-2015-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper, the properties of Spanish DPs including a possessive pronoun and a relative clause are thoroughly described and analyzed. Adopting a raising analysis for both prenominal possessives and restrictive relatives, it is claimed that the incompatibility of a determiner possessive and a restrictive relative in current standard Spanish is due to the violation of an interpretive constraint sanctioning subextraction from [Spec, CP]. It is further proposed that, in constructions in which a possessive pronoun does combine with a relative clause, the possessive is not subextracted from [Spec, CP]. It is finally shown that this proposal accounts for different well-formed dialectal and Old Spanish patterns with a prenominal possessive and a restrictive relative and also applies to data from other Romance languages.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"13 1","pages":"41 - 72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87426730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-05-01DOI: 10.1515/probus-2014-0016
M. Armstrong
Abstract Many varieties of Romance show more than one intonation contour available for polar question (PQ) marking. Understanding the pragmatic licensing conditions for these contours is no easy task. Experimental work has tended to account for the variation in terms of dichotomies like information-seeking vs. confirmation-seeking or neutral vs. biased. In this paper I use production data to argue that different languages and dialects will encode different types of information intonationally in PQs, but that the type of information that we find encoded through intonation is quite similar to the type of information encoded through sentence-final particles in languages like Cantonese or Lao. These meanings lie on an epistemic gradient, and the points on the gradient that are encoded linguistically through intonation are language-specific (i.e. language X encodes meaning A, but language Y might encode meaning B, or meanings A & B, etc.). I explore three contours in Puerto Rican Spanish, their phonetic implementations, and their meanings with respect to this epistemic gradient. I argue that we should keep in mind the range of possible meanings of SFPs in other languages in order to refine our methodology in a way that allows us to make better predictions about the pragmatic division of labor among intonation contours, specifically for PQs.
{"title":"Accounting for intonational form and function in Puerto Rican Spanish polar questions","authors":"M. Armstrong","doi":"10.1515/probus-2014-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/probus-2014-0016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Many varieties of Romance show more than one intonation contour available for polar question (PQ) marking. Understanding the pragmatic licensing conditions for these contours is no easy task. Experimental work has tended to account for the variation in terms of dichotomies like information-seeking vs. confirmation-seeking or neutral vs. biased. In this paper I use production data to argue that different languages and dialects will encode different types of information intonationally in PQs, but that the type of information that we find encoded through intonation is quite similar to the type of information encoded through sentence-final particles in languages like Cantonese or Lao. These meanings lie on an epistemic gradient, and the points on the gradient that are encoded linguistically through intonation are language-specific (i.e. language X encodes meaning A, but language Y might encode meaning B, or meanings A & B, etc.). I explore three contours in Puerto Rican Spanish, their phonetic implementations, and their meanings with respect to this epistemic gradient. I argue that we should keep in mind the range of possible meanings of SFPs in other languages in order to refine our methodology in a way that allows us to make better predictions about the pragmatic division of labor among intonation contours, specifically for PQs.","PeriodicalId":45039,"journal":{"name":"Probus","volume":"255 1","pages":"1 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73361813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-28DOI: 10.1515/probus-2017-0003
Isabel Pérez-Jiménez, Violeta Demonte
Abstract This paper analyzes the role of the interaction between syntax and semantics in determining the mixed agreement patterns shown by Spanish partitive constructions when they appear as subjects. These patterns follow straightforwardly from the dual nature of nominal features (concord and index features organized in bundles) and from the assumption that Agree is a feature-valuation process in which the unvalued features of a Probe seek matching parallel valued features of a Goal under locality constraints and a maximization principle. After discussing previous approaches and justifying our syntactic analysis, we demonstrate that interaction for agreement between syntax and semantics is articulated via the nominal index features of the head nouns in the partitive structure, so singular and plural agreement, linked to the valuation/non-valuation of the number index feature, correlates with a group/atomic entity vs. a plurality/distributive reading, respectively, the meaning of the verbal predicate also being relevant. The empirical basis for this analysis is provided by a corpus search whose results are carefully described in the paper.
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