Showing papers on "Head (linguistics) published in 2006"

NP-internal agreement and the structure of the noun phrase

Abstract: For the analysis of the noun phrase, the treatment which currently prevails in generative grammar is the one in which the head of the noun phrase is identified with the determiner, rather than with the noun. This D(et)P treatment has the advantage of providing a uniform account of all syntactic categories, both the substantive and the functional ones, and it provides a natural way to capture the co-occurrence restrictions between nouns and determiners, but it also faces a number of empirical problems. To solve them I propose an analysis in which the head of the noun phrase is identified with the noun, but in which the advantages of the DP treatment are incorporated as much as possible. This is done in two steps. First, I argue that the requirement (or the desirability) of a uniform treatment of all syntactic categories does not by itself favour the DP treatment, since there is no empirical evidence for the postulation of a separate syntactic category for the determiners. The argumentation is mainly based on an analysis of NP-internal agreement data and leads to the conclusion that the class of determiners is syntactically heterogeneous: there are the adjectival determiners, which are subject to morpho-syntactic agreement, and (pro)nominal ones, which are exempt from this agreement. Second, I dissociate the roles of head and selector. All prenominals, both the specifying and the modifying ones, are treated as functors which select a nominal head, rather than as heads which select a nominal complement. This functor treatment accounts in a natural and straightforward way for both morpho-syntactic agreement and semantic types of agreement. The language which is used for exemplification is Dutch, but at various points comparisons are made with German and English.

Licensing Configurations: The Puzzle of Head Negative Polarity Items

Abstract: LICENSING CONFIGURATIONS: THE PUZZLE OF HEAD NEGATIVE POLARITY ITEMS Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Wang, William. 1967. Phonological features of tone. International Journal of American Linguistics 33:93–105. Yip, Moira. 1980. The tonal phonology of Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Mass. Yip, Moira. 1989. Contour tones. Phonology 6:149–174. Yip, Moira. 1995. Tone in East Asian languages. In The handbook of phonological theory, ed. by John Goldsmith, 476–494. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell. Yip, Moira. 2001. Phonological constraints, optimality and phonetic realization in Cantonese. In University College London working papers in linguistics 13, ed. by Corinne Iten and Ad Neeleman, 141–166. London: University College London, Department of Phonetics and Linguistics. Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Successive Cyclicity, Anti-locality, and Adposition Stranding

Abstract: This thesis studies movement operations in natural languages. It is observed that certain heads – C° , v°, and, in most languages, P° – cannot be stranded; the complements of these heads never move without pied-piping the heads in question. This is surprising since (a) extraction out of CP, vP, and PP is possible in principle and (b) the complement categories of these heads, TP, VP, and DP or PP, are movable. Evidence for the more contentious of these claims is provided in chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 4 also investigates the ramifications of these facts for theories of adposition stranding. All heads in question have independently been argued to project what Chomsky (2000) calls ‘phases’. The generalization is that phase heads cannot be stranded. Chapter 2 derives the ban against stranding phase heads within a derivational model of the grammar. The effect of phases on successive cyclicity is the following: To be licit, movement out of a phase must pass through the specifier position of that phase. The idea of the account is that every step of movement must establish a relation between the moved item and some other element in the phrase marker which is in a well-defined sense closer than the relation they were in prior to movement. Movement from complement to specifier position within the same phrase never achieves this. In fact, any movement within the same phrase is in effect too short to achieve this. There are then well-defined anti-locality effects, which fallout from considerations of local economy. The ban against stranding phase heads now follows. A category can leave its containing phase only by passing through its specifier position. Since complements cannot reach the specifier position in the same phrase, the complements of phase heads cannot move away. Head Movement is prohibited by the same economy based reasoning. Chapter 5 focuses on Head Movement, advocating a version of Brody’s (2000) Mirror Theory. In contrast to standard theories of Head Movement, Mirror Theory predicts what looks like downward Head Movement to be possible. Data from VP-ellipsis in English show that this prediction of Mirror Theory is correct.

On the discourse impact of subordinate clauses

Abstract: The present article investigates the discourse status of subordinate sentences, i.e., it considers the context change potential of dependent clauses. It is argued that (subordinate) clauses are associated with certain grammatical phenomena that mark them as anaphoric (i.e., familiar) or as focal, introducing new information into the discourse. As with noun phrases, these phenomena are: (i) morphological marking on the head (choice of verbal mood), (ii) phonological stress pattern, and most importantly syntactic position (iii), in the sense that discourse-old and discourse-new clauses are associated with different positions, an idea that comes close to a Mapping Hypothesis, as originally proposed for noun phrases by Diesing (1992). The claim is that dependent indicative verb second clauses in German undergo extraposition which is not semantically vacuous. This movement step places them into a quasi-paratactic position from which the relevant clauses act as assertions. Thus in contrast to complementizercontaining verb-final, i.e., canonical, subordinate clauses, these dependent verb second clauses have illocutionary force and mark new information. It is furthermore argued that related phenomena can be observed in other languages: for example, the Romance languages signalize the new information–givenness distinction and the presence vs. absence of illocutionary force (partly) by the use of verbal mood – a factor which plays an important role in German(ic) as well.

Classifiers and noun classes: semantics

Abstract: Almost all languages have some grammatical means for the linguistic categorization of nouns and nominals. The continuum of noun categorization devices covers a range of devices, from the lexical numeral classifiers of Southeast Asia to the highly grammaticalized gender agreement classes of Indo-European languages. They have a similar semantic basis, and one can develop from the other. They provide a unique insight into how people categorize the world through their language in terms of universal semantic parameters involving humanness, animacy, sex, shape, form, consistency, and functional properties. Noun categorization devices are morphemes that occur in surface structures under specifiable conditions, and denote some salient perceived or imputed characteristics of the entity to which an associated noun refers (Allan, 1977: 285). They are restricted to classifier constructions, morphosyntactic units (e.g., noun phrases of different kinds, verb phrases, or clauses) that require the presence of a particular kind of morpheme, the choice of which is dictated by the semantic characteristics of the referent of the nominal head of a noun phrase. Noun categorization devices come in various guises. We distinguish noun classes, noun classifiers, numeral classifiers, classifiers in possessive constructions, and verbal classifiers. Two relatively rare types are locative and deictic classifiers. They share a common semantic core and differ in the morphosyntactic contexts of their use and in their preferred semantic features. Research Background: This article is a concise and encyclopaedic summary of grammatical means for the linguistic categorization of nouns and nominals based on original work by Aikhenvald. The continuum of noun categorization devices covers a range of devices, from the lexical numeral classifiers of Southeast Asia to the highly grammaticalized gender agreement classes of Indo-European languages. They provide a unique insight into how people categorize the world through their language in terms of universal semantic parameters involving humanness, animacy, sex, shape, form, consistency, and functional properties. Research Contribution: The main contribution of this article is the formulation of parameters of variation and semantics of noun categorization devices across several hundred of the world's languages. The article provides original insights into human categorization of nominal entities and culturally relevant parameters of categorization, which may also be influenced by social and physical environment. Research Significance: This article is part of the fundamental Encyclopaedia of Languages and Linguistics which is a major reference source in the area of linguistics, languages and cognitive and behavioural studies. Noun categorization devices come in various guises. We distinguish noun classes, noun classifiers, numeral classifiers, classifiers in possessive constructions, and verbal classifiers. Two relatively rare types are locative and deictic classifiers. They share a common semantic core and differ in the morphosyntactic contexts of their use and in their preferred semantic features. This article breaks new grounds in offering a comprehensive empirically based approach to human categorization of entities, and correlations between language and culture. It is widely quoted and considered a major reference for the typology of categorization devices.

La légèreté en français comme déficience de mobilité

Abstract: We propose a new type of syntactic deficiency that we call “lightness”, which is relevant for all major syntactic categories. It applies to both words and phrases. Lightness is taken into account by different aspects of syntax (word order, extraction, adjunction sites, subcategorisation). Light forms differ from both incorporated and traditional “weak” forms, in the sense that they can be modified or coordinated. We show that lightness is relevant for French word order in the verbal domain. Light forms must be closer to the head (the verb) than other forms.

Topologische Felder: Nominalphrase und Satz im Deutschen

Abstract: In this paper, the linear structures of clauses and nominal phrases are compared in a topo logical framework. The approach is based on the distinction between positions and fields: the first position is the functional core of the clause (C-position) and the NP (Def-position), the second is the semantic core of the clause (VK = verbal complex) and NP (Nom-position). The C- and Def-positions are restricted to one simple or complex constituent, whereas the VK- and Nom-positions can be filled by several syntactic elements. The VK/Nom-positions contain one head, which governs the other parts. Three fields are used to describe the word order in clauses and NPs: the "Vorfeld" (K-field/Z-field), the "Mittelfeld" (X-field) and the "Nachfeld" (Z-field). The common characteristic of K-field and Z-field is the restriction to only one constituent. The middle fields of clauses and NPs are in part structured according to Behaghels law ("semantic connection of constituents is mirrored in syntactic adjacency"). In,,Nachfeld" and Z-field complements are closer to the semantic core (VK resp. Nom) than adjuncts. In sum, there are correspondences between clauses and nominal phrases, but also several differences. This study is a first step to develop a common topological fields model for both.

On the Status of Phrases in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar - Illustration by a Totally Lexical Treatment of Extraction

Abstract: This paper proposes a new analysis of extraction in HPSG focused on the syntax-semantics interface. Contrary to previous analyses, our approach is totally lexical: linguistic information is exclusively introduced by the way of lexical descriptions and no phrasal descriptions are needed. Our analysis of wh-words is based on an idea of Tesnière, treating them simultaneously as complementizers and pronouns. In this way, the combination of the filler phrase with the rest of the clause involves two simultaneous combinations of words and both phrases act as the head in one of the two combinations. Our study allows for a precise comparison between HPSG and dependency grammars and poses the problem of the exact role of phrases in the syntax-semantics interface of a linguistic model. We argue that an HPSG without phrasal descriptions is more or less equivalent to a particular implementation of a DG and that the phrase structure only results from a particular choice in words’ combination, that is, from a bottom-up covering of the dependency structure.

Over-the-head CPR.

Abstract: To the Editor: We read with interest the paper investigating over-the-head cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as an alternative to standard CPR (1). The study supports our (2) and others (3) findings in demonstrating equivalence for chest compressions. However, the statement that over-the-head CPR delivers superior ventilation is not supported by their data and is misleading. The authors compared mouthto-mouth and bag-valve-mask ventilation. The authors defined correct tidal volumes as 400–800 mL. This contrasts with current international guidelines which recommend “tidal volumes of 10 mL/kg (approximately 700 –1000 mL) for adult cardiac arrest victims” (4). Experimental studies show that small-volume ( 500 mL) ventilation with room or expired air causes significant hypoxia and hypercapnia compared with larger (1000 mL) tidal volumes (5–7). The ventilations classified as incorrect in their paper may have been correct (i.e., 700 –1000 mL) or vice versa. To conclude that over-thehead CPR is superior to standard CPR is erroneous and not proven. It would be interesting to know the average tidal volumes for each technique— data collected by the manikin used in their study. We are surprised that a professional rescue organization tasked with responding to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests advocates mouth-tomouth ventilation. As the authors recognize, there are small but significant risks with this practice. Mouth-to-mask ventilation reduces the risk of cross-infection and allows supplemental oxygen insufflation. In our study we evaluated this technique and found no difference in tidal volumes between over-thehead and standard CPR. In summary, in our opinion, the methodological limitations of this study preclude concluding that over-the-head CPR is superior to standard CPR.

Modeling the Interpretation and Interpretation Ease of Noun-Noun Compounds Using a Relation Space Approach to Compound Meaning

Abstract: Modelling the Interpretation and Interpretation Ease of Noun-Noun Compounds Using a Relation Space Approach to Compound Meaning Barry Devereux (Barry.Devereux@ucd.ie) Fintan Costello (Fintan.Costello@ucd.ie) School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin Dublin, Ireland Abstract process, such as how the correct relationship between the two constituent concepts is found or constructed. In this paper, our aim is to present evidence for a more compre- hensive approach to conceptual combination, allowing us to model both the interpretation and interpretation ease aspects of noun-noun comprehension. Conceptual combination can be regarded as a process which instantiates the most plausible or most appropri- ate relationship between the two constituent words in a compound (termed the modifier word and the head word, respectively). An important issue therefore for any model of conceptual combination is the manner in which the relationship between the modifier and head of a compound is represented; indeed, previous models of conceptual combination can be classified as belonging to two types, distinguished by how they represent relations. The first type, the concept specialization approach, as- sumes that instantiating a relation for a compound in- volves modifying a slot in the representation of the head word concept (for example, see Smith, Osherson, Rips & Keane, 1988). In the second type, the relationship be- tween the two nouns is specified by means of a taxonomy of general relation categories. For example Levi (1978) describes a set of recoverably deletable predicates such as CAUSE, HAVE & FROM which are used to spec- ify the meaning of compounds. The idea that the re- lationship between the constituents in a compound can be specified by a taxonomy of semantic primitives forms the basis for representing compound meaning in an im- portant cognitive theory about conceptual combination, namely the Competition Among Relations In Nominals (CARIN) model (Gagn´e & Shoben, 1997). The concept specialization approach and the taxo- nomic approach both assume that the meaning of a com- pound can be adequately captured by a simple label (ei- ther as a slot in the head concept or as a stand-alone relation category). One of the primary theses of this pa- per is that such a simple representation of compounds is inadequate; the relations instantiated during concep- tual combination are semantically detailed entities and as such require a more complex mode of representation. Our approach assumes that relations are as complex and as semantically non-trivial as the constituent con- cepts that they link are. We therefore represent relations in a way similar to how concepts have been represented in the classification literature (e.g. Nosofsky, 1984; Kr- uschke, 1992), using exemplars which are defined as sets of values on a set of dimensions. We generate relation exemplars using a corpus study where a large, represen- In this paper, we present a computational model of conceptual combination that introduces a new repre- sentation for the meaning of compounds: the relations used to interpret compounds are represented as points or vectors in a high-dimensional relation space. Such a representational framework has many advantages over other approaches. Firstly, the high-dimensionality of the space provides a detailed description of the compound’s meaning; each of the space’s dimensions represents a semantically distinct way in which com- pound meanings can differ from each other. Secondly, the spatial representation allows for a distance metric to measure how similar of different pairs of compound meanings are to each other. We conducted a corpus study, generating vectors in this relation space rep- resenting the meanings of a large, representative set of familiar compounds. A computational model of compound interpretation that uses these vectors as a database from which to derive new relation vectors for new compounds is presented. Also presented is a model of interpretation ease: that is, the ease or rapidity with which people can comprehend compounds. Our model uses ideas from the CARIN theory of conceptual combination about the modifier noun’s role in the comprehension process; the model correlates as well as the traditional CARIN model with people’s reaction times. Keywords: Conceptual combination; noun-noun compounds; mathematical modelling; CARIN. Introduction Conceptual combination, the process that people employ when interpreting novel noun-noun compounds such as volcano science, gas crisis or penguin movie, is a non- trivial cognitive task, often requiring people to access complex knowledge about the two constituent concepts and about the world in general. For example, people can quickly and efficiently determine that the compound penguin movie refers to a movie about penguins, and not a movie by penguins (which would be the correct way to interpret the compound penguin journey), nor a movie for penguins (the correct way to interpret the compound penguin enclosure), nor any of the infinitely many other possible but implausible ways of interpret- ing that compound. Perhaps because of the complex- ity of the phenomenon, previous theories of conceptual combination have tended to focus on only some aspects of conceptual combination. For example, in Gagn´e and Shoben’s (1997) CARIN model, the focus is on mod- elling the ease and rapidity with which people interpret noun-noun compounds (as measured by reaction time), but not other features of the conceptual combination

Numbers and alphabets inputting method

Abstract: A digital letter input method includes utilizing digital code of 26 English letters to input English and Chinese word, using digital code of two phonetic letters from head and tail of word to input a word, taking head and tail letters of two words of two words input and taking head and tail letters of the first and the second word for three words input as well as taking head and tail letters of the first and the second as well as the third words for four words input and taking all current letters for word being less than four letters for inputting Chinese character; applying the way as above to input English word.

Templates from syntax to morphology: affix ordering in Qafar

Abstract: The functional head suggests that verbs acquire their inflectional properties by moving from one head position to the next in the syntactic derivation. A problem arises as affixes’ ordering is not sensitive to syntactic properties, as it is the case in Qafar. This Cushitic language exhibits two verbal classes depending on whether verbs can have prefixes. I argue that the hierarchical structure of template corresponds to the syntactic structure. Phonological constraints on templates formation activate adequate syntactic operations. If we assume that templatic domains lie at the interface between syntax and phonology, we account for some issues of affix ordering, that involve no syntactic property.

On de as a head in Chinese

Abstract: The focus of this paper is on the syntactic status of de in Chinese nominal phrases under the generative frameworkIt is argued that being a functional category,de(的)is not necessarily treated as a head unless there is independent supporting evidence from semanticsIt is also argued that the modifiers to which de is attached should be analyzed as adjuncts rather than specifiers,according to the criteria listed in Duffield(1999)The discussion in this paper hopefully can resolve some of the debates on the status of de in the literature