Showing papers on "Head (linguistics) published in 2013"

Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories

Abstract: A proposal for a radical new view of case morphology, supported by a detailed investigation of some of the thorniest topics in Russian grammar. In this book, David Pesetsky argues that the peculiarities of Russian nominal phrases provide significant clues concerning the syntactic side of morphological case. Pesetsky argues against the traditional view that case categories such as nominative or genitive have a special status in the grammar of human languages. Supporting his argument with a detailed analysis of a complex array of morpho-syntactic phenomena in the Russian noun phrase (with brief excursions to other languages), he proposes instead that the case categories are just part-of-speech features copied as morphology from head to dependent as syntactic structure is built. Pesetsky presents a careful investigation of one of the thorniest topics in Russian grammar, the morpho-syntax of noun phrases with numerals (including those traditionally called the paucals). He argues that these bewilderingly complex facts can be explained if case categories are viewed simply as parts of speech, assigned as morphology. Pesetsky's analysis is notable for offering a new theoretical perspective on some of the most puzzling areas of Russian grammar, a highly original account of nominal case that significantly affects our understanding of an important property of language.

Head-driven phrase structure grammar : eine einführung

Abstract: Das Werk einschlieslich aller seiner Teile ist uhrheberrechtlich geschutzt. Jede Verwertung auserhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulassig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesonder fur Verfielfaltigungen, Ubersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Wenn Sie das Buch weiterempfehlen wollen, verweisen Sie bitte auf die Seite

Getting Morphemes in Order: Merger, Affixation, and Head Movement

Abstract: and

Exploring Vector Space Models to Predict the Compositionality of German Noun-Noun Compounds

Abstract: This paper explores two hypotheses regarding vector space models that predict the compositionality of German noun-noun compounds: (1) Against our intuition, we demonstrate that window-based rather than syntax-based distributional features perform better predictions, and that not adjectives or verbs but nouns represent the most salient part-of-speech. Our overall best result is state-of-the-art, reaching Spearman’s = 0.65 with a wordspace model of nominal features from a 20word window of a 1.5 billion word web corpus. (2) While there are no significant differences in predicting compound‐modifier vs. compound‐head ratings on compositionality, we show that the modifier (rather than the head) properties predominantly influence the degree of compositionality of the compound.

The syntax of question particles

Abstract: ross-linguistically, languages are largely head initial or head final. Most permit some disharmony, but Holmberg (2000) and Biberauer, Holmberg & Roberts (2012), among others, have argued that the structure shown in (1) is ruled out, where YP is X’s complement and ZP is Y’s complement: (1) *[XP [YP Y ZP] X] In structures such as (1), a head-final phrase immediately dominates a head-initial phrase, violating the so-called ‘Final-Over-Final Constraint’ (FOFC). Descriptively however, final question particles are readily found in languages with VO order, resulting in a structure that appears to violate FOFC. (2) illustrates this violation in Tetun (an Austronesian language of East/West Timor), and (3) shows the structure, with a final question particle ka immediately dominating a head-initial TP: (2) o la ba sekola ka? 2S not go school or (Said to child playing:) ‘Didn't you go to school?’ (Van Klinken 1999: 212) (3) iii If ka constitutes the C head of CP, as is standardly assumed, the structure in (3) violates FOFC. I show, following Aldridge (2011), that these particles are best analysed as disjunctive elements, heading an elided clause: (4) [ConjP CP [Conj CP]] The particle is the head of the phrase, with the second CP as its complement and the first (pronounced) CP in Spec,ConjP. This solves the FOFC problem because the ‘particle’ is not final, and therefore the derivation does not include a head-final phrase dominating a head-initial phrase. Instead, the particle precedes its complement (which is not pronounced), and the clause that it follows (which is pronounced) is its specifier. I provide evidence for this position through typological investigation and theoretical analysis. In addition, the various proposals that have been put forward in the literature to avoid this FOFC-violation are considered, but are shown to be problematic in different respects. I discuss the idea that particles are not heads (Biberauer, Holmberg & Roberts 2012). However, they cannot be specifiers and an adjunction analysis fails to explain their properties, so it is unclear what they could be if not heads. Julien (2001), Lee (2005, 2008) and Simpson & Wu (2002) argue that final particles are derived by TP-movement to a Topic or Focus position. This is a promising explanation, but fails to derive the difference between final particles and other types. If the particle is syncategorematic (Biberauer, Holmberg & Roberts 2012), the fact that they appear in fixed positions is mysterious. Processing explanations of the data (Hawkins 2004, Philip 2012) go some way towards deriving the FOFC facts but do not, among other things, explain the high number of final particles in VO languages. The syntax of question particles is discussed in detail, and it is proposed that polar questions consist of two functional heads in combination: Force, giving a (main clause) question illocutionary force, and Polarity, giving a (neutral) iv question open polarity. A true polar question particle is therefore related to one or both of these heads: (5) With this background, the argument is defended in subsequent chapters that some particles cannot be true question elements in this sense and are instead instantiations of the disjunction. Cross-linguistic data demonstrate that final particles in VO languages differ from other types of question particle (initial particles, or final particles in OV languages) in very rarely marking embedded questions: they do so in only one language in the corpus. Homophony between the question particle and disjunction in many languages, combined with attested grammaticalisation paths, adds support to this claim. Furthermore, this analysis explains a number of properties of such particles in addition to their propensity to violate FOFC, including their frequent absence from negative questions, alternative questions and wh-questions. All of these are straightforward consequences of the particle being a disjunction. Finally, the analysis is applied to a particular language, Thai, as a case study, and it is compared with languages of the other types. It is shown that the disjunctive analysis is best able to explain the data and offer an elegant explanation of the FOFC facts.

On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese*

Abstract: I argue that morphological markings and richness of verbal tense paradigms might not be related to verb movement in the way proposed by Biberauer and Roberts (2010). I show that in Brazilian Portuguese there has been a partial loss of verb movement, although the language kept some synthetic forms. I assume Giorgi and Pianesi’s (1997) proposal for tense-aspect structure. Some synthetic forms for tenses such as the pluperfect and future are absent in BP and were replaced by periphrastic forms. I show that the residual synthetic forms in Brazilian Portuguese don’t convey their original tense meanings, indicating loss of verb movement to a higher functional head. In other words, residual synthetic forms have now only aspectual related features, and they do not move to a higher Tense head. Keywords: verb movement; richness of tense; Brazilian Portuguese; Romance languages

Context scene based candidate word input prompt method and system for implementing same

Abstract: The invention provides a context scene based candidate word input prompt method including receiving words input by a user, generating a first candidate word set according to input history of the words input by the user and any nonlocal context scenes related with the words, and providing the first candidate word set to the user. The invention further provides a system for implementing the method. The context scenes are utilized for recommendation of candidate words fully, so that hit rate of the candidate head word during input is increased effectively.

Regularity and Idiomaticity in Chinese Separable Verbs

Abstract: This paper deals with the lexical representation of Chinese Separable Verbs (thereafter SVs) within the framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). We argue that SVs are syntactically flexible, but semantically decomposable or non-decomposable expressions, which are similar to the idiomatic expressions in English. For decomposable SVs, we specify the verbal parts of SVs selecting the nominal parts via the LID feature proposed by Sag (2007a). For decomposable SVs, we introduce a special lexical entry of the head verb to specify the idiomatic meaning with the co-occurring nominal part. For non-decomposable SVs, the syntactic structure is represented as a head-complement- phrase consisting of the head verb and the complement with an empty slash value. The meaning of idiomatic SVs is represented at the head.

The phonological and semantic bifurcation of the functions of an articulator: HEAD in questions in Turkish Sign Language

Abstract: In this article, we analyse the role of the head in content questions and polar questions in Turkish Sign Language (Turk Isaret Dili — TID). We claim that the head not only robustly marks the difference between these two types, but in addition marks an utterance as having interrogative mood. We show that the two functions, the overarching category interrogative mood and the subtypes of interrogatives, have separate phonological exponents, both of which are expressed simultaneously by a single articulator, the head.

The Inner Makeup of Definite Determiners: The Case of Germanic

Abstract: This paper studies the internal structure of definite articles and demon-stratives in twelve Germanic languages. Examining synchronic and diachronic data as well as systematic gaps, it seeks to illuminate the nature of definiteness markers and inflections, d- and -er in German d-er ‘the' and d-ies-er ‘this', with the goal of identifying some consequences for the syntax of the determiner phrase as a whole. Arguing that definite-ness markers are semantically vacuous elements, the paper proposes that articles involve an inflectional head in the syntax and demonstratives consist of an inflectional and a deictic head. Isomorphic correspondences between overt components and abstract syntactic structure may be partially or completely “masked” by postsyntactic operations.*

Variation in the translation patterns of English complex noun phrases into Spanish in a specific domain

Abstract: This paper focuses on a functionalist analysis of the patterns followed when translating specific texts from English into Spanish. The original texts are written in English and, afterwards, translated to other languages. In this process, lexical variation may appear. The main objectives of this study are to determine whether English noun phrases have different lexical equivalents when translated into Spanish and whether this depends on the position of the head in the complex noun phrase. Other objectives of this paper are, on the one hand, to detect the role of the head and modifiers in English complex noun phrases when translated into the target language, and, on the other hand, to determine whether the specificity of nouns could be the cause of variation. The answer to these research questions will be useful for translators, communication specialists and scientists who use English and Spanish to communicate.

Quantification of fetal head direction and descent.

Abstract: We read with interest the letter by Dr Iliescu et al.1 about a simplification of the assessment of head direction as depicted by intrapartum translabial ultrasound (ITU). We would like to caution against introducing supposedly easier approaches (angles) for intrapartum head descent. As well as head station and head descent, we proposed the ‘head direction’ as a simple measurement2,3 (Figure 1). This was based on data from a pilot study obtained during the first and second stages of normal labor as well as immediately prior to operative vaginal delivery. We pointed out that, often, the internal structures of the fetal head could not be seen clearly from a translabial insonation. We therefore proposed measurement of the angle between the longest visible axis of the fetal head and the long axis of the pubic symphysis as ‘head direction’2. We also proposed the three head direction classes: ‘head down’ (angle < 0◦), ‘horizontal’ (angle 0–30◦) and ‘head up’ (angle > 30◦) and correlated them with delivery. In a recent study3, we showed that head direction and the dynamics of head descent during a contraction and over the course of delivery depend on the absolute head station: at higher stations, head direction tends to be ‘horizontal’ or even ‘down’, but at ITU-measured head stations of 0 to +2, a marked upward change in direction occurs during a contraction (see videos S1 and S2 in Tutschek et al.3). Head station is measured as shown in Figure 1. In the letter by Dr Iliescu et al., Figure 1a shows a high head station: the internal structures of the fetal head do not permit identification of the midline structures that indicate the correct biparietal diameter (BPD) plane. In fact, a correct BPD section cannot usually be obtained

[N[N]] compounds in Russian: A growing family of constructions

Abstract: Modern Russian contains a significant number of right-headed compounds modeled on Germanic [N[N]] compounds and containing recently borrowed English or German stems. The present article argues that these compounds are a family of partially lexically-specific constructions. Quantitative corpus data from the restricted semantic domain consisting of names of food/drink establishments support this claim by showing that the [N[N]] structure is specifically associated with certain head nouns. The article discusses the relationship between these and related constructions, and suggests motivations for the partial productivity of [N[N]] constructions in Russian.1

Method of confirming head word, device of confirming head word, searching method and device

Abstract: The invention discloses a method of confirming a head word, a device of confirming the head word, a searching method and a device. The method of confirming the head word includes the steps: dividing searching key words input by users into each key word unit; and confirming the characteristic of each divided key word unit; picking up a key word unit in which the characteristic is a noun from each divided key word unit; and confirming the key word unit which is picked up as the head word of the searching key word. According to the technical scheme, the problem that when the head word is confirmed, many processing resources of websites are wasted in the prior art is solved.

Head faithfulness in lexical blends: A positional approach to blend formation

Abstract: KATHERINE SHAW: Head Faithfulness in Lexical Blends: A Positional Approach to Blend Formation (Under the direction of Elliott Moreton) This thesis applies Positional Faithfulness theory (Beckman 1998) to the problem of lexical blending in English. Lexical blends, like brunch or motel, contract multiple source words into a single lexical item shaped by competing sets of phonological and psycholinguistic constraints. Existing studies of blend structure (e.g., Bat-El & Cohen 2012, Gries 2004a,b) focus on the contributions of each source word relative to their linear order, positions that have little relevance outside of blend formation. I present both corpus and experimental data to argue that previously observed right-word faithfulness effects are actually due to head faithfulness (Revithiadou 1999). This has two major implications: it provides evidence for the existence of positional faithfulness and of head faithfulness in particular; second, it demonstrates that blend formation is subject to independently motivated, broadly applicable constraints. In addition, the discovery of leftheaded blends in the corpus argues that blending is a distinct process from compounding.

A Modular Framework for the Analysis and Synthesis of Head-Related Transfer Functions

Abstract: The paper gives an overview of a number of tools for the analysis and synthesis of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) that we have developed in the past four years at the Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Italy. The main objective of our study in this context is the progressive development of a collection of algorithms for the construction of a totally synthetic personal HRTF set replacing both cumbersome and tedious individual HRTF measurements and the exploitation of inaccurate non-individual HRTF sets. Our research methodology is highlighted, along with the multiple possibilities of present and future research offered by such tools.

The structure of the Dagbani simple noun phrase

Abstract: This article discusses the structure of the Dagbani simple noun phrase. It is shown that, structurally, the Dagbani simple noun phrase is made up of the obligatory head noun and several optional elements. These optional elements generally follow the head noun of the simple noun phrase and so are labelled as post head modifiers. The adjective, the numeral, the demonstrative determiner and the quantifier are analysed as the modifiers of the simple noun phrase in Dagbani. These modifiers give certain grammatical or semantic information about the noun they modify. Though the Dagbani noun phrase may take several post modifiers, these modifiers are strictly ordered since each modifier has a prescribed syntactic slot.

The body in anatomy: Looking at “head” for the mind-body link in Chinese

Abstract: This chapter presents a linguistic study of the Chinese body-part terms for the “head” and its parts, looking at their major metonymic and metaphorical extensions that constitute a unique linguistic pattern embedded in Chinese culture but, at the same time, display some possibly universal experiences derived from the common characteristics and functions of the human body. That is, the linguistic phenomena studied reflect the embodied nature of cognition as situated in the Chinese cultural context. The linguistic data show that our body, with its parts and their functions contributing to an operating system as a whole, serves as a semantic and cognitive template for our abstraction and imagination. In analyzing the linguistic evidence, the study applies an analytical instrument called a Decompositional Approach to Metaphorical Compound Analysis (DAMCA). It is hoped that this analytical tool can show in some detail how universal experiences with the body and culturally-constructed understandings of the body interact resulting in culturally-situated embodiment in human language and cognition. Ning Yu: Pennsylvania State University

Grammatical encoding of referentiality in the history of Hungarian

Abstract: The paper demonstrates that the Old Hungarian article, although homophonous with the distal demonstrative it developed from, is a fully grammaticalized element encoding definiteness on a syntactic level. Questioning its status as a true article is the consequence of the fact that it had a more restricted use in the first records than it does in the subsequent language stages. The careful classification of the articleless noun phrases with a definite interpretation in a selected closed corpus reveals that the Old Hungarian article only appears when there is no other device to identify the referent of the nominal expression, thus it is absent with proper names, generics, nouns modified by a demonstrative, head nouns of possessive constructions, and, occasionally, with non-argument adjuncts. Spreading of the article in certain cntexts can be observed only at the end the period and in Middle Hungarian, in line with the gradual functional extension of the nominal left periphery.

Aspects morphosyntaxiques de l'ocaina : autour des classes lexicales

Abstract: Ocaina (Witotoan), a language with little previous description, is still spoken by about fifty speakers in North-West Amazon. Our description focuses on lexical categories, its classes and sub-classes, identified by means of their morphosyntactic properties. The first distinction is based on the aptitude of the lexical categories to fonction as predicate nucleus; further distinctions can be made according to their ability to form phrases for which they are the head; and/or their ability to receive inflectional morphology: non predicative, with impossibility of heading phrases: lexical statements, particules, adverbs, adjectif (non inflectable), adverbs (inflectable); heading phrases: postposition (inflectable); predicative categories, heading phrases: ideophones (non inflectables), verbs, noms and adverbs. The rich morphology of the language justifies a detailed presentation in terras of morphological processes: inflectional, transferential, and derivational. This subdivision is distinguished according to their regularity and their scope of application (a class or sub-class) and, whether or not they induce a semantic change involving a change of lexical category or sub-class. We propose analyses that complement the theoretical approach to certain issues. For instance, Ocaina illustrates the co-existence in the same language of a gender system and a system of classificatory suffixes of discretisation (see "classifiers"), markers which, in our analysis, express the number category. Furthermore, concepts of quality and property (adjectival concepts) are expressed in: adjective (just one); noun, with a handful of commun nouns; and, predicative adverbs, with (large inventory).

Three-phase voltage phase distinguishing method

Abstract: The invention provides a three-phase voltage phase distinguishing method, wherein voltage collecting devices are installed on an A phrase, a B phrase, a C phrase at a head end of a power supply line on a low-voltage side of a distribution transformer, and electricity-tested places, sampling is conducted when voltages rise over a zero, the referenced moments when voltages of the A phrase, the B phrase and the C phrase rise over the zero are t1, t2 and t3, the referenced moment when a voltage of a phase distinguishing measurement point rises over the zero is ti, the number values of the moments which are over the zero are uploaded to a server and are compared, and when the ti is closest to one of the t1, the t2 or the t3, phrase of the phase distinguishing measurement point can be distinguished. Through the method, number of users and a three-phase power supply balance rate can be counted according to phrases, and a rate of electric energy loss can be counted in a split-phase mode.