Showing papers in "Language in 1985"
TL;DR: In this article, the piedmont: textile mills and times of change, and the teaching of how to talk in Trackton and Roadville, are discussed, as well as the teachers as learners and the townspeople.
Abstract: Photographs, maps, figures, tables, texts Acknowledgments Prologue Note on transcriptions Part I. Ethnographer Learning: 1. The piedmont: textile mills and times of change 2. 'Gettin' on' in two communities 3. Learning how to talk in Trackton 4. Teaching how to talk in Roadville 5. Oral traditions 6. Literate traditions 7. The townspeople Part II. Ethnographer Doing: 8. Teachers as learners 9. Learners as ethnographers Epilogue Epilogue - 1996 Notes Bibliography Index.
4,208 citations
TL;DR: Johnson-Laird as discussed by the authors argues that we apprehend the world by building inner mental replicas of the relations among objects and events that concern us, and provides both a blueprint for building such a model and numerous important illustrations of how to do it.
Abstract: Mental Models offers nothing less than a unified theory of the major properties of mind: comprehension, inference, and consciousness. In spirited and graceful prose, Johnson-Laird argues that we apprehend the world by building inner mental replicas of the relations among objects and events that concern us. The mind is essentially a model-building device that can itself be modeled on a digital computer. This book provides both a blueprint for building such a model and numerous important illustrations of how to do it. In several key areas of cognition, Johnson-Laird shows how an explanation based on mental modeling is clearly superior to previous theory. For example, he argues compellingly that deductive reasoning does not take place by tacitly applying the rules of logic, but by mentally manipulating models of the states of affairs from which inferences are drawn. Similarly, linguistic comprehension is best understood not as a matter of applying inference rules to propositions derived from sentences, but rather as the mind's effort to construct and update a model of the situation described by a text or a discourse. Most provocative, perhaps, is Johnson-Laird's theory of consciousness: the mind's necessarily incomplete model of itself allows only a partial control over the many unconscious and parallel processes of cognition. This an extraordinarily rich book, providing a coherent account of much recent experimental work in cognitive psychology, along with lucid explanations of relevant theory in linguistics, computer science, and philosophy Not since Miller, Galanter, and Pribram's classic Plans and the Structure of Behavior has a book in cognitive science combined such sweep, style, and good sense. Like its distinguished predecessor, Mental Models may well serve to fix a point of view for a generation. (http://books.google.fr/books?id=FS3zSKAfLGMC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr#v=onepage&q&f=false)
3,556 citations
TL;DR: Language learnability and language devlopment revisited the acquisition theory - assumptions and postulates phrase structure rules phrase stucture rules - developmental considerations inflection complementation and control auxiliaries lexical entries and lexical rules.
2,005 citations
TL;DR: In this article, twelve articles are grouped into three sections, as follows: "I. Syntactic Representation: " Lexical-Functional Grammar: A Formal Theory for Grammatical Representation (R. Kaplan and J. Bresnan); Control and Complementation (J.Bresnan).
Abstract: The editor of this volume, who is also author or coauthor of five of the contributions, has provided an introduction that not only affords an overview of the separate articles but also interrelates the basic issues in linguistics, psycholinguistics and cognitive studies that are addressed in this volume. The twelve articles are grouped into three sections, as follows: "I. Lexical Representation: " The Passive in Lexical Theory (J. Bresnan); On the Lexical Representation of Romance Reflexive Clitics (J. Grimshaw); and Polyadicity (J. Bresnan)."II. Syntactic Representation: " Lexical-Functional Grammar: A Formal Theory for Grammatical Representation (R. Kaplan and J. Bresnan); Control and Complementation (J. Bresnan); Case Agreement in Russian (C. Neidle); The Representation of Case in Icelandic (A. Andrews); Grammatical Relations and Clause Structure in Malayalam (K. P. Monahan); and Sluicing: A Lexical Interpretation Procedure (L. Levin)."III. Cognitive Processing of Grammatical Representations: " A Theory of the Acquisition of Lexical Interpretive Grammars (S. Pinker); Toward a Theory of Lexico-Syntactic Interactions in Sentence Perception (M. Ford, J. Bresnan, and R. Kaplan); and Sentence Planning Units: Implications for the Speaker's Representation of Meaningful Relations Underlying Sentences (M. Ford).
1,908 citations
TL;DR: Marked negation is not reducible to a truth-functional one-place connective with the familiar truth-table for negation, nor is it definable as a separate logical operator; it represents, rather, a metalinguistic device for registering objection to a previous utterance (not proposition) on any grounds whatever, including the way it was pronounced.
Abstract: When 'marked' or 'external' negation has not been treated as an additional semantic operator alongside the straightforward truth-functional, presupposition-preserving ordinary ('internal') negation, it has been collapsed with internal negation into a unified general logical operator on propositions. Neither of these approaches does justice to the differences and kinships between and within the two principal varieties of negation in natural language. Marked negation is not reducible to a truth-functional one-place connective with the familiar truth-table for negation, nor is it definable as a separate logical operator; it represents, rather, a metalinguistic device for registering objection to a previous utterance (not proposition) on any grounds whatever, including the way it was pronounced.*
550 citations
TL;DR: The authors evaluated Jakobson's arguments for discontinuity on the basis of data on the transition from babbling to speech in a single set of children recorded weekly in two contexts: mother-child interaction and solitary play.
Abstract: Controversy exists over whether there is any connection between children's babbling and the development of the adult sound system. The classic proponent of the discontinuity school is Jakobson 1941/1968, who claimed that the pairing of sound and meaning drastically alters the child's sound system. Jakobson's arguments for discontinuity are here evaluated on the basis of data on the transition from babbling to speech in a single set of children recorded weekly in two contexts: mother-child interaction and solitary play. Using the data from the mother-child context, and comparing the sound system of babbling with that of the early words in terms of the distribution of consonants, vocalization length, and phonotactic structure, we find striking parallelism between babbling and words within each child, across time and within time period. The data constitute strong evidence for continuity.*
390 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the correlations of passives with other constructions and found that passives are correlated with constructions such as the reflexive, reciprocal, spontaneous, potential, honorific, and plural formations.
Abstract: It is well known that, in languages of the world, the passive expression is related to constructions such as reflexives and reciprocals This paper pays special attention to the less familiar correlations of passives to spontaneous, potential, honorific, and plural formations; and it is argued that presently available characterizations of the passive are unable to offer explanations for these correlations A satisfactory characterization must include a framework in which one can determine the nature of 'pseudo-passives', 'impersonal passives' etc To achieve these goals, a prototype approach is adopted, and the passive prototype is defined It is also shown that current controversies over whether passives should be analysed as promotional or demotional phenomena find a natural answer when a wider range of passive-related phenomena is examined* 1 Increasing awareness in recent years that linguistic structures are not isolated, but rather tend to show partial resemblances among themselves, has prompted certain linguists to adopt a non-discrete view of grammar Research progress in the framework of prototype theory is one such manifestation In this paper, I shall examine the correlations of passives with other constructions These have two dimensions: in one, passives are correlated with constructions such as the reflexive, reciprocal, spontaneous, potential, and honorific, as well as with plural formation In the other, passives form a continuum with active sentences
365 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the shape of utterances: two kinds of rhythm, pitch and pitch-to-accent, is described, as well as the contours in general and their meanings.
Abstract: Part I. Introduction: 1. Pitch 2. Accent 3. Intonation Part II. Accentual Prosody: 4. Vowels and syllables 5. The shape of utterances: two kinds of rhythm 6. Accents of power 7. Accents of interest Part III. Melodic Prosody: 8. Profiles 9. Intonations and gesture 10. Parts and their meanings 11. Contours in general 12. Contours in particular Conclusion Appendixes Reference matter.
324 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that a wide range of extraction and co6rdination phenomena in English can be accounted for by a simple extension of Categorial Grammar, including certain notorious cases of 'intersecting' dependency among discontinuous constituents of Dutch infinitival complements.
Abstract: It is argued that a wide range of extraction and co6rdination phenomena in English can be accounted for by a simple extension of Categorial Grammar. The same extension will account for a similar range of related phenomena in Dutch, including certain notorious cases of 'intersecting' dependency among discontinuous constituents of Dutch infinitival complements. Some universal implications of the theory are considered, and the relation of such grammars to processors which carry out incremental semantic interpretation is discussed.*
312 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors measure syntactic complexity relative to discourse context and show how much context-sensitivity is required to provide reasonable structural descriptions for parsing in functional unification grammars.
Abstract: Introduction Laurie Karttunen and Arnold M. Zwicky 1. Measuring syntactic complexity relative to discourse context Alice Davison and Richard Lutz 2. Interpreting questions Elisabet Engdahl 3. How can grammars help parsers? Stephen Crain and Janet Dean Fodor 4. Syntactic complexity Lyn Frazier 5. Processing of sentences with intrasentential code switching Aravind K. Joshi 6. Tree adjoining grammars: how much context-sensitivity is required to provide reasonable structural descriptions Aravind K. Joshi 7. Parsing in functional unification grammar Martin Kay 8. Parsing in a free word order language Lauri Karttunen and Martin Kay 9. A new characterization of attachment preferences Fernando C. N. Pereira 10. On not being led up the garden path: the use of context by the pscyhological syntax processor Stephen Crain and Mark Steedman 11. Do listeners compute linguistic representations? Michael K. Tanenhaus, Greg N. Carlson and Mark S. Seidenberg Notes References Index.
TL;DR: This paper shows that the structural and phonological hosts need not be the same; i.e., clitics can simultaneously attach syntactically to a structural host, while attaching independently to a different phonological host.
Abstract: or lexical host, must also necessarily be the phonological host. This paper shows that the structural and phonological hosts need not be the same; i.e., clitics can simultaneously attach syntactically to a structural host, while attaching independently to a different phonological host. Thus the two-strategy assumption of clitic positioning and attachment is inadequate. Instead, three independent parameters are required. These binary parameters encode two structural notions-DOMINANCE and PRECEDENCE-and one phonological notion-LIAISON. The values of the parameters constrain possible clitics to eight types, each of which is illustrated in this paper. These parameters are encoded in the lexical subcategorization frame for clitics. It is shown that clitics are PHRASAL AFFIXES. Although languages appear to differ widely in types of clitics and cliticization, this paper shows how a unitary analysis of apparently diverse clitic types is possible in terms of the three-parameter system. Languages analysed include Classical Greek, Spanish, French, Ngiyambaa, Nganhcara, and some Uto-Aztecan languages.* This paper proposes very restrictive universals having to do with clitic po
TL;DR: The author examines the role of mirrors in the development of language and the meaning of language in the age of smartphones, which has changed the way that many people think about and communicate with one another.
Abstract: Introduction 1. Signs 1.1. Crisis of a concept 1.2. The signs of an obstinacy 1.3. Intension and extension 1.4. Elusive solutions 1.5. The deconstruction of the linguistic sign 1.6. Signs vs. words 1.7. The stoics 1.8. Unification of the theories and the predominance of linguistics 1.9. The 'instructional' model 1.10. Strong codes and weak codes 1.11. Abduction and inferential nature of signs 1.12. The criterion of interpretability 1.13. Sign and subject 2. Dictionary vs. Encyclopedia 2.1. Porphyry strikes back 2.2 Critique of the Porphyrian tree 2.3. Encyclopedias 3. Metaphor 3.1. The metaphoric nexus 3.2. Traditional definitions 3.3. Aristotle: synecdoche and Porphyrian tree 3.4. Aristotle: metaphors of three terms 3.5. Aristotle: the proportional scheme 3.6. Proportion and condensation 3.7. Dictionary and encyclopedia 3.8. The cognitive function 3.9. The semiosic background: the system of content 3.10. The limits of formalization 3.11. Componential representation and the pragmatics of the text 3.12. Conclusions 4. Symbol 4.1. Genus and species 4.2. Expressions by ratio facilis 4.3. Expressions produced by ratio difficilis 4.4. The symbolic mode 4.5. Semiotics of the symbolic mode 4.6. Conclusions 5. Code 5.1. The rise of new category 5.2. The landslide effect 5.3. Codes and communication 5.4. Codes as s-codes 5.5. Cryptography and natural languages 5.6. S-codes and signification 5.7 The genetic code 5.8. Toward a provisonal conclusion 6. Isotopy 6.1. Discursive isotopies within sentences with paradigmatic disjunction 6.2. Discursive isotopies within sentences with syntagmatic disjunction 6.3. Discursive isotopies between sentences with paradigmatic disjunction 6.4. Discursive isotopies between sentences with syntagmatic disjunction 6.5. Narrative isotopies connected with isotopic discursive disjunctions generating mutually exlusive stories 6.6 Narrative isotopies connected with isotopic discursive disjunctions that generate complementary stories 6.7. Narrative isotopies connected with discursive isotopic disjunctions that generate complementary stoies in each case 6.8. Extensional isotopies 6.9. Provisional conclusions 7. Mirrors 7.1. Is the mirror image a sign? 7.2. The imaginary and the symbolic 7.3. Getting in through the Mirror 7.4. A phenomenology of the mirror: the mirror does not invert 7.5. A pragmatics of the mirror 7.6. The mirror as a prosthesis and a channel 7.7. Absolute icons 7.8. Mirrors as rigid designators 7.9. On signs 7.10. Why mirrors do not produce signs 7.11. Freaks: distorting mirrors 7.12. Procatoptric staging 7.13. Rainbows and Fata Morganas 7.14. Catoptric theaters 7.15. Mirrors that 'freeze' images 7.16. The experimentum crucis References Index of authors Index of subjects
TL;DR: This paper found that Mandarin is synchronically a typical VO language, in terms of text distribution of VO and OV orders, with OV appearing at the level of 10% or lower in text, and this is true for both definite and indefinite objects.
Abstract: Two theses concerning word order in Mandarin Chinese have been investigated through a quantified study of written and spoken contemporary Mandarin. It is found, first, that Mandarin is synchronically a typical VO language, in terms of text distribution of VO and OV orders. OV appears at the level of 10% or lower in text, and this is true for both definite and indefinite objects. Further, the functional distribution of OV in both texts suggests that it is an emphatic/contrastive discourse device, having little to do with the contrast between definite and indefinite object. Finally, neither the evidence from our text distribution data nor a comparison with a recent study of the acquisition of Mandarin by native children suggests the existence of a diachronic drift toward SOV order. *
TL;DR: The conceptual domains Realis and Realis as discussed by the authors form an epistemic scale representing a speaker's subjective evaluation of the reality of a given situation, which accounts for grammatical phenomena such as conditionals, Japanese complementizer choice, and 'evidentials' in Turkish, Bulgarian, and Macedonian.
Abstract: The conceptual domains REALIS and IRREALIS form an epistemic scale representing a speaker's subjective evaluation of the reality of a given situation. This scale accounts for grammatical phenomena such as conditionals, Japanese complementizer choice, and 'evidentials' in Turkish, Bulgarian, and Macedonian. Conditionals are identifiable not by their syntactic forms, but by speaker attitudes within the IRREALIS division of the scale. Surprise is also an IRREALIS phenomenon, since it takes time for newly-learned information to be assimilated into one's established body of knowledge.*
TL;DR: This paper found that well anchors a speaker in a system of conversational exchange when the options which a prior referent has opened for upcoming coherence are not fully met, and that well is sensitive to the information structure of questions, answers, the underlying conditions of requests, and various participation shifts in talk.
Abstract: Conversational coherence is a co6perative enterprise in which speaker and hearer jointly negotiate (a) a focus of attention-a referent-and (b) a response which further selects what aspect(s) of that referent will be attended to. Because not all potential referents can be attended to simultaneously, discourse markers like w,ell help speakers locate themselves and their utterances in the on-going construction of discourse. Analysis of everyday talk shows that well anchors a speaker in a system of conversational exchange when the options which a prior referent has opened for upcoming coherence are not fully met. Thus well is sensitive to the information structure of questions, answers, the underlying conditions of requests, and various participation shifts in talk.*
TL;DR: In this paper, a semiotic model of diachronic process phonology is presented, and a semantic-marked root morphemes are used to represent the semantic-pragmatic aspects of grammaticalization.
Abstract: 1. Prefatory note 2. Table of contents 3. Charts, figures and tables 4. Abbreviations 5. 1. Introduction: diachronic linguistics (by Lehmann, Winfred P.) 6. 2. Building on empirical foundations (by Labov, William) 7. 3. A semiotic model of diachronic process phonology (by Dressler, Wolfgang U.) 8. 4. Semantically-marked root morphemes in diachronic morphology (by Malkiel, Yakov) 9. 5. From propositional to textual and expressive meanings some semantic-pragmatic aspects of grammaticalization (by Traugott, Elizabeth Closs) 10. 6. Romance Etymology (by Dworkin, Steven N.) 11. 7. Indo-european etymology with special reference to grammatical category (by Justus, Carol F.) 12. Bibliography 13. Subject index 14. Author index
TL;DR: The authors discuss how people understand ordinary language both spoken and written and discuss existing data on language perception and challenges commonly held conceptions of the cognitive substrate, and propose a method to cut from the subword level up through phrases and sentences to the frame of discourse.
Abstract: Discusses how people understand ordinary language both spoken and written. Consolidates existing data on language perception and challenges commonly held conceptions of the cognitive substrate. Linguistically cuts from the subword level up through phrases and sentences to the frame of discourse. Reports recent experimental findings.
TL;DR: The structural and extralinguistic aspects of the transference of features from a first language (Tw) to a second language (TM) and the adopting of features that are simple and regular-and therefore easy to process-were examined in this article.
Abstract: Taiwan Mandarin (TM) is the variety which is learned and used, primarily as a second language, by the people of Taiwan, 80% of whom speak Taiwanese (Tw), a variety of Minnan, as a native language. Taking Peking Mandarin (PM) as the designated standard, this paper identifies those PM features which (a) are not common in TM, e.g. zero markers for future action, lack of contrast between simple past and perfect, the use of verbs or adjectives instead of auxiliary verbs in short answers; and (b) those that are shared by Tw and PM, e.g. the use of an inclusive lpl. pronoun and the discontinuous A-not-A question forms. In addition to the common phenomena of transference of features from a first language (Tw) to a second language (TM), and the adopting of features that are simple and regular-and therefore easy to process-there is a third important difference between TM and PM. TM displays an obvious drift toward those characteristics which are common to the southern Chinese dialects (Verb-Object languages), and away from those features of Altaic (Object-Verb languages) which are characteristic of PM. The structural and extralinguistic aspects of this trend are examined. On the basis of recent linguistic changes in TM and Tw, it is claimed that a significant correlation exists between sociolinguistic conditions and the way in which TM has changed. This correlation may be useful in reconstructing the sociolinguistic situation under which Altaic features were brought into PM and other northern Chinese dialects.*