Head (linguistics)

About: Head (linguistics) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2540 publications have been published within this topic receiving 29023 citations. The topic is also known as: nucleus.

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.

Body-Part Nouns as a Source of Reflexives: Towards a Grammaticalization Account of Georgian tav- 'Head'

Abstract: It is well-known that nouns denoting the human body or parts of it are an important source of polysemy in the languages of the world. One such example, the development of Georgian tav'head' into a reflexive anaphor, is the object of the present paper. After a typological overview of reflexivization strategies in Georgian, we present an account, both synchronic and diachronic, of the rise of various tavbased strategies in grammaticalization terms. We then investigate motivations for the use of the fairly grammaticalized POSS + tavstrategy in a peculiarity of Georgian syntax called Object Camouflage, and finally discuss an intensifier reading of reflexives in subject function, suggesting a potential counterexample to the allegedly unidirectional development from intensifiers to reflexives.

Is nP Part of Universal Grammar

Abstract: Rutkowski & Progovac (2005) propose to analyze the postnominal placement of classifying adjectives in Polish as resulting from N-movement. Rutkowski (2007a) modifies this account by arguing for a special structural layer (nP) projected immediately above NP, whose head (n°―‘little’ or ‘light’ N) attracts the noun in classifying structures. The goal of the present paper is to discuss the status of nP in more detail and to extend the nP analysis to other nominal constructions―both in Polish and crosslinguistically.

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.