Contributors. Introduction. Part I: Derivation Versus Representation:. 1. Explaining Morphosyntactic Competition: Joan Bresnan (Stanford University). 2. Economy Conditions in Syntax: Chris Collins (Cornell University). 3. Derivation and Representation in Modern Transformational Syntax: Howard Lasnik (University of Connecticut). 4. Relativized Minimality Effects: Luigi Rizzi (Universite de Geneve). Part II: Movement:. 5. Head Movement: Ian Roberts (University of Stuttgart). 6. Object Shift and Scrambling: Hoskuldur Thrainsson (University of Iceland). 7. Wh--in--situ Languages: Akira Watanabe (University of Tokyo). 8. A--Movements: Mark Baltin (New York University). Part III: Argument Structure and Phrase Structure:. 9. Thematic Relations in Syntax: Jeffrey S. Gruber (independent scholar). 10. Predication: John Bowers (Cornell University). 11. Case: Hiroyuki Ura. 12. Phrase Structure: Naoki Fukui (University of California). 13. The Natures of Nonconfigurationality: Mark C. Baker (McGill University). 14. What VP Ellipsis Can Do, and What it Can't, but not Why: Kyle Johnson (University of Massachusetts at Amherst). Part IV: Functional Projections:. 15. Agreement Projections: Adriana Belletti (Universita di Siena). 16. Sentential Negation: Raffaella Zanuttini (Georgetown University). 17. The DP Hypothesis: Identifying Clausal Properties in the Nominal Domain: Judy B. Bernstein (Syracuse University). 18. The Structure of DPs: Some Principles, Parameters and Problems: Giuseppe Longobardi (University of Trieste). Part V: Interface With Interpretation:. 19. The Syntax of Scope: Anna Szabolcsi (New York University). 20. Deconstructing Binding: Eric Reuland and Martin Everaert (both Utrecht Institute of Linguistics). 21. Syntactic Reconstruction Effects: Andrew Barss (University of Arizona). Part VI: External Evaluation of Syntax:. 22. Syntactic Change: Anthony S. Kroch (University of Pennsylvania). 23. Setting Syntactic Parameters: Janet Dean Fodor (City University of New York). Bibliography. Index.

The handbook of contemporary syntactic theory

http://people.uncw.edu/hungerforda/Infancy/PDF/zimmerman.pdf

Associations between media viewing and language development in children under age 2 years.

In analyzing regime transition as an open-ended process, the paradigmatic approach of the paper provides an alternative to teleological schemes of the "transition to democracy". The process of regime transition, regardless of the regime type itself, includes several stages, such as the breakdown of the ancient regime, the uncertainty of the political regime, and the installation of the new regime. The key characteristics of the uncertainty stage are the uncertain position of actors and the institution-free environment. The completion of this stage is the installation of the new regime. Looking at some of Russia’s regions as case studies of regime transition, the paper aims at understanding scenarios of outcomes of uncertainty and their impact on new

A Comparative Perspective

This study investigates the way adult second language (L2) learners of English resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities in sentences such as The dean liked the secretary of the professor who was reading a letter .T wo groups of advanced L2 learners of English with Greek or German as their first language participated in a set of off-line and on-line tasks. The results indicate that the L2 learners do not process ambiguous sentences of this type in the same way as adult native speakers of English do. Although the learners’ disambiguation preferences were influenced by lexical–semantic properties of the preposition linking the two potential antecedent noun phrases (of vs. with), there was no evidence that they applied any phrase structure–based ambiguity resolution strategies of the kind that have been claimed to influence sentence processing in monolingual adults. The L2 learners’ performance also differs markedly from the results obtained from 6- to 7-year-old monolingual English children in a parallel auditory study, in that the children’s attachment preferences were not affected by the type of preposition at all. We argue that children, monolingual adults, and adult L2 learners differ in the extent to which they are guided by phrase structure and lexical–semantic information during sentence processing.

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The processing of ambiguous sentences by first and second language learners of English

The focus of this study is the acquisition of grammatical gender in Greek and Dutch by bilingual children whose other language is English. Although grammatical gender languages share the property of noun classification in terms of grammatical gender, there are important differences between the languages under investigation here in terms of both the morphological cues for gender marking available to the child and the developmental path followed by monolingual children. Dutch offers limited input cues for grammatical gender, but Greek shows consistent and regular patterns of morphological gender marking on all members of the nominal paradigm. This difference is associated with the precocious pattern of gender acquisition in Greek and the attested delay in monolingual Dutch development. We explore the development of gender in Dutch and Greek with the aim of disentangling input from age of onset effects in bilingual children who vary in the age of first exposure to Dutch or Greek. Our findings suggest that although bilingual Greek children encounter fewer difficulties in gender acquisition compared to bilingual Dutch children, amount of input constitutes a predictive factor for the pattern attested in both cases. Age of onset effects could be partly responsible for differences between simultaneous and successive bilinguals in Greek, but this is clearly not the case for Dutch. Our findings are also addressed from the more general perspective of the status of "early" and "late" phenomena in monolingual acquisition and the advantages of investigating these from the bilingual perspective.

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The role of age of onset and input in early child bilingualism in Greek and Dutch

A dolphin calf’s relationship with its mother is crucial for its survival and may be affected by the mother’s preferred mode of interacting with her calf. Mothers from a variety of species exhibit individual differences and stable maternal styles. However, little is known about individual differences in the maternal behaviors of dolphins. We investigated the possibility of maternal styles in dolphins by identifying specific maternal care behaviors in 7 dolphin mothers at two facilities during the first year of each calf’s life. The mothers exhibited different patterns of behavior including proximity maintenance, discipline, and initiation of separations and reunions with calves. These patterns of maternal behaviors suggest that dolphin mothers display a range of maternal styles that appear to be differentiated by level of maternal control. Moreover, a mother may also modify her individual style as her calf matures and as the social context changes.

All Mothers are Not the Same: Maternal Styles in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Handbook of Child Language Acquisition

Currently, very little formal research exists regarding the behavioral development of beluga calves (Delphinapterus leucas). The behaviors and interactions of two beluga calves born into the care of humans were observed consistently from birth to 12 months. Changes in behavior were recorded continuously for 20 minutes for each mother-calf pair 2 to 4 times a week. As expected, the primary calf activity involved swimming with mother, which gradually decreased over the first year of life. Calves initiated the majority of their separations from and reunions with their mothers. Unexpectedly,the calves demonstrated an early independence and primary responsibility for proximity maintenance to their mothers. The calves also engaged in more solitary swims, object play, and interactions with each other across the year. In summary, the two calves followed developmental trends that were similar to each other and to other cetaceans in the care of humans.

/pdf/the-behavioral-development-of-two-beluga-calves-during-the-1eoukv65lo.pdf

The Behavioral Development of Two Beluga Calves During the First Year of Life

The repertoire of socio-sexual and sexual behaviors of cetaceans is relatively unknown. The purpose of the current study was to advance the existing knowledge of socio-sexual behavior of beluga whales through the development of a behavioral catalog that lists the full repertoire of sexual and socio-sexual behaviors. A behavioral catalog was developed initially from 800 hours of observations, collected across a 7-year period from 11 belugas ranging in age (birth to 30+ years), sex, and social...

/pdf/developing-a-catalog-of-socio-sexual-behaviors-of-beluga-3l3o0wvyot.pdf

Developing a Catalog of Socio-Sexual Behaviors of Beluga Whales ( Delphinapterus leucas ) in the Care of Humans

While play occurs in many taxa with younger conspecifics engaging in play behaviors more often than older conspecifics, little empirical research currently exists on play by white whales, or belugas, (Delphinapterus leucas). The purpose of the current study was to explore the types of play exhibited by a group of belugas in human care. Archived video footage representing 24.5 hours of observation time collected over three years for 14 belugas (5 immature and 9 adults) was coded for type, frequency, and duration of all play events. Out of 2,092 play events, the belugas produced 497 bouts of play and preferred to engage in independent forms of play (92%) as opposed to coordinating their activities together (8%). Immature belugas exhibited four times as many play bouts (n = 405) compared to adult play events (n = 92) and included motor play, water play, and object play as well as some social interactions (e.g., play chases). When compared to all types of play, play with objects represented 50% of the bouts, and when the degree of diversity of play was considered all belugas showed more diversity with environmental enrichment devices (EEDs) present (83% of diverse play bouts) than when exhibiting motor or water play. Age and sex of the belugas also influenced the type of play (i.e., motor, water, or EEDs) exhibited during different degrees of complexity of play bouts (i.e., single events, repetitive bouts, diverse bouts, and complex cooperative social play). When sex of the beluga was considered, males appeared to prefer to engage in motor play while females appeared to prefer to engage in object play during single play events (males: n = 68, 64%, females: n = 55, 52%) and repetitive bouts (males: n = 18, 62%, females: n = 20, 54%). Some complex cooperative play bouts between immature belugas and between immature and adult belugas (n = 42, 10%) were observed. Play bouts involving EEDs lasted significantly longer (M = 55.38 sec, s = 2.85) and produced greater diversity in play behaviors for all belugas combined. In summary, belugas of all ages engage in spontaneous play behaviors, but the age and sex of each beluga produce different play preferences.

/pdf/adults-play-but-not-like-their-young-the-frequency-and-types-2uvqhn15g0.pdf

Heather M. Hill

Papers

All Mothers are Not the Same: Maternal Styles in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Handbook of Child Language Acquisition

The Behavioral Development of Two Beluga Calves During the First Year of Life

Developing a Catalog of Socio-Sexual Behaviors of Beluga Whales ( Delphinapterus leucas ) in the Care of Humans

Adults Play but Not Like Their Young: The Frequency and Types of Play by Belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) in Human Care