bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cognitive processes as evidence of the idiom principle
Authors: Erman Britt
Published: September 2007

The study seeks to establish whether pause frequency and pause duration could inform us about the size of linguistic units stored in the mental lexicon. Pauses are seen as a reflection of cognitive effort in lexical retrieval. The basic assumption is that a particular concept starts activating related concepts in a conceptual network via spreading activation. Pausing is assumed to be rare when spreading activation is at work, i.e. in the recall of multiword, or prefabricated, structures. The results show that pausing was significantly more frequent in connection with lexical search in computed as compared to prefabricated structures, thus indicating that prefabricated structures are stored and retrieved as wholes. The most important implication of the study is that the results give further support to John Sinclair’s proposed ‘idiom principle’, according to which strings that would appear to be analyzable into segments nevertheless constitute single choices.
Designing CoSIH: The Corpus of Spoken Israeli Hebrew
Authors: Izre'el Shlomo , Hary Benjamin , Rahav Giora
Published: September 2007

This paper describes the initial design of the Corpus of Spoken Israeli Hebrew (CoSIH). CoSIH will attempt to include a representation of most varieties of spoken Hebrew as it is used in Israel today. CoSIH is designed to consist of two complementary corpora: a main corpus and a supplementary corpus. The main corpus, which will comprise about 90% of the entire collection, will be sampled statistically. For analytical purposes it will use a conceptual tool in the form of a multidimensional matrix combining demographic and contextual tiers. The combined demographic and contextual design will be capable of showing the distribution of speech types in various subgroups of the population. The supplementary corpus will include about 10% of the collected data, and will add to the statistically-sampled corpus some targeted demographically sampled texts and a contextually designed collection. This design is culturally dependent to suit the special structure of the Israeli Hebrew speech community and thus includes both native and non-native speakers of Hebrew. Nonetheless, the principles governing this design are such that they would service study of many other speech communities, to the extent that the design itself may be employed for other corpora with only slight modifications.
Contrastive and Comparable Corpora: Quantitative Aspects
Authors: Shaikevich Anatole
Published: September 2007

This paper draws attention to the complexity of problems arising in statistical linguistics when it must compare various corpora. Those problems are discussed from the point of view of distributional statistical analysis of texts; that is, a set of formal procedures with a minimum of preconceived linguistic knowledge. The terminological distinction between contrastive and comparable corpora is introduced.
Today's corpus linguistics
Authors: Čermák František
Published: September 2007

The paper is concerned with problems of methodology. Against this background, the situation of today's corpora is discussed and some fields are identified as being in a far from satisfactory shape. The place of corpora in linguistics is briefly looked at, suggesting that structuralist tradition is the only one to use them extensively. Problems of annotation and ways, less (statistical) or more successful (rule-based), are raised and discussed. Here, some of the most serious shortcomings, such as multi-word units or status of language units in general that computational linguists should deal with, are listed. In a more general direction, implications and status of paradigmatics and syntagmatics are discussed, too, with considerable and critical attention paid to ontologies.
A modal shock absorber, empathiser/emphasiser and qualifier
Authors: Kjellmer Göran
Published: September 2007

The modal auxiliary can occasionally occurs, as it seems redundantly, in sentences like “I can promise that you'll like it”, a usage that has sometimes been difficult to explain. Its occurrence in the CobuildDirect Corpus is here investigated, and it appears that it typically occurs with three types of verbs: performative verbs, verbs of perception and verbs of mental processes. Far from being redundant, it carries out a number of important functions, labelled Shock absorber, Empathiser/Emphasiser and Qualifier. It is finally suggested that its use in those functions will explain why it predominantly occurs with the three types of verbs.
Genitive and of-construction in modern written English. Processability and human involvement
Authors: Kreyer Rolf
Published: September 2007

On the basis of 698 instances of Saxon genitive and of-construction, the present paper explores the use of these modifiers from a corpus-linguistic perspective. In particular, the influence of the lexical class of the modifier, the semantic relationship expressed by the constructions, and weight and syntactic complexity is analysed. It will be argued that the variation of genitive and of-construction can be explained with regard to two major underlying factors, namely ‘processability' and ‘degree of human involvement'.
A corpus-based view of similarity and difference in translation
Authors: Baker Mona
Published: September 2007

Corpus-based research throws up a number of methodological challenges. Many of these are evident in any type of research which attempts to compare authentic data of any kind, but the difficulties are accentuated by the availability of vast amounts of data in this case. In particular, questions relating to how one selects the features to be compared and, more importantly, how the findings may be interpreted, invite us to elaborate our methodology far more explicitly than in other types of research. The accessibility of the same body of data to other researchers also means that (a) the findings can be assessed and challenged in other studies, and (b) other researchers can invoke different, and perhaps more plausible explanations of the same findings by appealing to parameters that may have been downplayed or ignored in previous studies. These issues have been extensively debated in the literature on corpus linguistics, but rarely – if ever – in the context of corpus-based translation studies. A small-scale study involving comparisons between corpora of translated and non-translated texts in English in terms of frequency and distribution of recurring lexical patterns is used to examine some methodological issues in corpus-based translation research and suggest different ways in which the same findings may be interpreted depending on the variables on which individual researchers choose to focus.
Let-imperatives in English
Authors: Collins Peter
Published: September 2007

This paper reports the findings of a corpus-based study oflet-imperatives in English. Unlike the ordinary lexical verbletmeaning “allow”, theletoflet-imperatives serves merely to mark illocutionary meaning. In ‘first person inclusives’, the variant with us-contraction is found to have increased in popularity over recent decades. Furthermore the occurrence of cases wherelet'scan not be interpreted as a contraction oflet ussuggests that syntactic reanalysis has reached an advanced stage amongst some speakers. ‘Open’let-imperatives, which despite their distinctively optative or deontic-assertive force are grammatically closer to ordinary imperatives, are found to have decreased in popularity in recent decades.
Relevance, goal management and cognitive technology
Authors: Lindsay Roger , Gorayska Barbara
Published: September 2007

An accumulating body of research suggests that it is profitable to treat human cognition as a system that is primarily concerned with goal management. More specifically, it appears that the symbolic representation of goals, the location of relevant objects and operations and the construction of plans to achieve them, using objects and operations as components, are processes which are central to human cognition. The aim of the present paper is to suggest that relevance-based goal management processes are consistent with recent neuropsychological evidence that the human cognitive apparatus is duplex in nature. Furthermore, relevance information can provide a much-needed bridge between connectionist networks and the symbolic planning modules that characterise mature human cognition. The paper explores some phenomena, such as ethical reasoning, that have not been explained within previous theoretical frameworks. Finally, it is argued that, in addition to offering new explanations of familiar phenomena, the theoretical analysis of cognitive processes developed in the early part of the paper also suggests a range of novel technological interventions.
Robot-mediated joint attention in children with autism
Authors: Robins Ben , Dickerson Paul , Stribling Penny , Dautenhahn Kerstin
Published: September 2007

Interactive robots are used increasingly not only in entertainment and service robotics, but also in rehabilitation, therapy and education. The work presented in this paper is part of the Aurora project, rooted in assistive technology and robot-human interaction research. Our primary aim is to study if robots can potentially be used as therapeutically or educationally useful ‘toys’. In this paper we outline the aims of the project that this study belongs to, as well as the specific qualitative contextual perspective that is being used. We then provide an in-depth evaluation, in part using Conversation Analysis (CA), of segments of trials where three children with autism interacted with a robot as well as an adult. We focus our analysis primarily on joint attention which plays a fundamental role in human development and social understanding. Joint attention skills of children with autism have been studied extensively in autism research and therefore this behaviour provides a relevant focus for our study. In the setting used, joint attention emerges from natural and spontaneous interactions between a child and an adult. We present the data in the form of transcripts and photo stills. The examples were selected from extensive video footage for illustrative purposes, i.e. demonstrating how children with autism can respond to the changing behaviour of their co-participant, i.e. the experimenter. Furthermore, our data shows that the robot provides a salient object, or mediator for joint attention. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications of this work in the context of further studies with robots and children with autism within the Aurora project, as well as the potential contribution of robots to research into the nature of autism.
Embedded structure and the evolution of phonology
Authors: Brown Jason , Golston Chris
Published: September 2007

This paper explores a structure ubiquitous in grammar, the embedded tree, and develops a proposal for how such embedded structures played a fundamental role in the evolution of consonants and vowels. Assuming that linguistic capabilities emerged as a cognitive system from a simply reactive system and that such a transition required the construction of an internal mapping of the system body (cf. Cruse 2003), we propose that this mapping was determined through articulation and acoustics. By creating distinctions between articulators in the vocal tract or by acoustic features of sounds, and then embedding these distinctions, the various possible properties of consonants and vowels emerged. These embedded distinctions represent paradigmatic options for the production of sounds, which provide the basic building blocks for prosodic structure. By anchoring these embedded structures in the anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract, the evolution of phonology itself can be explained by extra-linguistic factors.
The emergence of an internally-grounded, multireferent communication system
Authors: Wagner Kyle , Reggia James A.
Published: September 2007

Previous simulation work on the evolution of communication has not shown how a large signal repertoire could emerge in situated agents. We present an artificial life simulation of agents, situated in a two-dimensional world, that must search for other agents with whom they can trade resources. With strong restrictions on which resources can be traded for others, initially non-communicating agents evolve/learn a signal system that describes the resource they seek and the resource they are willing to offer in return. A large signal repertoire emerges mainly through an evolutionary process. Agents whose production and comprehension abilities rely on a single mechanism fare best, although learning enables agents with separate mechanisms to achieve some measure of success. These results demonstrate that substantial signaling repertoires can evolve in situated multi-agent systems, and suggest that simulated social interactions such as trading may provide a useful context for further computational studies of the evolution of communication.
Australia’s “Asia competence” and the Uneasy Balance between Asian Languages and English
Authors: Leitner Gerhard
Published: September 2007

Australia’s policies on languages of the late 1980s were characterized by a balance between the community and broader needs of the nation on the one hand and European and Asian languages on the other. In a climate of ever stronger economic rationalism, globalization and shrinking resources these policies shifted to economic benefit arguments in the 1990s; community-based policies came under attack. European languages suffered more at first, but recently Asian languages have also been jeopardized. This raises several questions: Should Asian (and other) languages continue to be promoted for community or for national needs? Should there be an emphasis on English, the national language, and should migrants be incited to shift to it in light of the growing use of English worldwide and especially in the Asia-Pacific region? This paper explores different facets of the debate about policy and planning with regard to English and Asian languages and the political tension that links them.
Beyond Language
Authors: Cooke David , Brown T. Pascal , Zhu Yunxia
Published: September 2007

Drawing on data from three New Zealand worksites, an analysis of transcripts suggests a pattern of regulation, compliance and resistance, in which small talk aids the exercise of power. To consider the implications of workplace dialogues for L2 workers, the study looks at recorded conversations in the light of Gee’s (1999) concept of “building tasks” in discourse analysis, revealing the importance of “language and beyond” — language that carries constant reference to social realities, inside and outside worksites, that construct interactions among workers. The paper derives conclusions for language instruction, language learners and the personnel of workplaces, arguing that language instruction (e.g., teachers and curriculum developers) can benefit from an awareness of the above issues and include attention to social realities in language courses. Despite debate in the literature, the argument supports the analysis of authentic texts, “battered texts”, and the findings of linguistic analysis in L2 teaching, and proposes consciousness-raising in workplaces.
Exploring the Image of New World Wine Producers
Authors: Poncini Gina
Published: September 2007

This article reports on a study that investigates texts on websites for wineries in Australia and New Zealand. The article focuses on evaluative language in website texts, exploring two interrelated issues. One issue concerns the kind of image that linguistic features help build up for wineries, wine regions, and Australia and New Zealand as New World wine producers. In seeking to shed light on implicit and explicit values underlying the texts, it gives attention to the aspects of local culture and natural elements most frequently represented in the texts, and if or how European wine-making traditions, European settlement, and the indigenous culture are portrayed in the texts. A second issue has to do with the way shared knowledge is built up in the texts and the kind of shared knowledge readers are assumed to have about local elements such as land and climate, traditions, wine-making processes, and local history.
Language-Based Communication Zones and Professional Genre Competence in Business and Organizational Communication
Authors: Du-Babcock Bertha
Published: September 2007

To facilitate the study of business and organizational communication in a global environment, useful models and frameworks are essential. The current study further extends previously established language-based communication zones models by integrating professional genre competence within the framework of a more recently developed language-based communication zones model (see Babcock & Du-Babcock, 2001). It is hoped that by adding professional genre competence dimensions to this theoretical framework a more comprehensive framework can be identified, and thereby better represent the dynamic and multiply-influenced processes integral to international business communication.

Research-based empirical data from the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China (where language-based communication zones make up the communication networks) were collected and analyzed. Building upon previously established theoretical models, the current study reconfigures eight language-based communication zones by redrawing Babcock and Du-Babcock’s (2001) model to take account of the professional genre competencies of interactants. Eighteen parallel and non-parallel patterns are developed within the language-based communication zones. Cases are provided to illustrate key concepts of the reconfigured language-based communication zones.
Text in context
Authors: Wood Johanna L.
Published: September 2007

This paper analyses lexical features in letters written to and by Margaret Paston, using Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional framework for discourse analysis. Historical pragmatics, as a relatively new field, is open to the development of new methodologies and the adaptation of established ones. Although Fairclough’s methodology is intended as a systematic way of approaching modern text, it is shown to be relevant and useful in historical work. The letters are analysed in context, with reference to the discursive practices (production, distribution, and consumption of text) and social practices of the fifteenth century. The analysis shows that Margaret occupies a powerful position within her family and the community.
Yours sincerely and yours affectionately
Authors: Bijkerk Annemieke
Published: September 2007

This article explores the history of yours sincerely and yours affectionately as closing formulas in letters. It focuses especially on the rise of the formulas in the eighteenth century, tracing their origin as positive politeness devices which took the place of the pragmatised standard epistolary formula Your most obedient humble servant. The article will also try to find evidence for John Gay (1685–1732), writer and poet, being a linguistic innovator in terms of the research model of social network analysis as developed by Leslie Milroy (1987). It will be argued that John Gay might have been responsible for the adoption and subsequent spread in usage of the formula within his own social network, comprising Pope, Swift and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
“The pleasure of receiving your favour”
Authors: Valle Ellen
Published: September 2007

The article deals with correspondence in natural history in the eighteenth century between England and North America. The corpus discussed consists of correspondence between John Bartram and Peter Collinson, and between Alexander Garden and John Ellis. The approach used in the study is qualitative and rhetorical; the main point considered is how the letters construct scientific centre and periphery in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. A central concept is the “colonial exchange”, whereby “raw materials” from the colonies — in this case plant and animal specimens, along with proposed identifications and names — are exchanged for “finished products”, in this case codified scientific knowledge contained in publications.
Institution and individual in conflict
Authors: Petersen Zina
Published: September 2007

Though the Early Middle English Ancrene Wisse is of a genre that almost requires a certain amount of misogynistic tropes and figures, the text itself reveals an authorial voice that is reluctant to condemn the women for whom the author writes. Using speech act theory and sentence analysis, this paper examines the ways in which certain structures and usages in Ancrene Wisse undercut its generic antifeminism, almost ironically to empower its readers with a sense of their own spiritual agency and responsibility.
Pragmatic motivations for the development of evidential and modal meaning in the construction “be supposed to X”
Authors: Berkenfield Catie
Published: September 2007

The English construction “be supposed to X” is used in a variety of functions in Present-day English, including evidential, epistemic, and deontic functions. This research offers description and explanations for the development of the evidential, epistemic, and deontic functions from an earlier passive construction, through distinct processes of reanalysis (Hopper and Traugott 1993). I argue that the motivations for these semantic and syntactic shifts are motivated by pragmatic inferences based on: discourse function, discourse expectations about human subjects, frequency effects related to semantic properties of the construction in discourse, and reader-writer expectations about genre type. The results indicate that the evidential function is not part of the general category of epistemicity for this construction, following de Haan (1999, 2001b); that this construction does not exhibit the predicted pathway of semantic development from deontic to epistemic functions (Traugott 1989) due to constraints imposed by the source construction; and that genre plays an important role not only in the relative frequency of the construction (Biber et al. 1999), but also in the emergence of the deontic function diachronically. Finally, I situate the construction in relation to cross-linguistic patterns (Bybee et al. 1994), noting how it parallels broader patterns in the development of the deontic function.
Trial discourse and manuscript context
Authors: Hiltunen Risto , Peikola Matti
Published: September 2007

The present paper underscores the importance of examining the original manuscripts and their context(s) of production, with specific reference to the wealth of documentary material produced in connection with the Salem witchcraft outbreak of 1692. The background to this study is an international project to publish a chronologically structured edition of this material. One central aspect of this work is a reassessment of the role of scribes in the production of these documents. As shown in the paper, scribal profiles can be reconstructed by means of linguistic and palæographic analysis. Specifically, the linguistic and scribal features of two relevant genres (depositions and indictments) are explored here in the light of the 1692 Salem documents.
(Inter)subjectification, Japanese syntax and syntactic scope increase
Authors: Shinzato Rumiko
Published: September 2007

This paper investigates the correlation between semantic-pragmatic change of (inter)subjectification and its syntactic effects. It points out that the diachronic change of subjectification > intersubjectification (Traugott 2003) finds its synchronic counterpart in the rigid predicate order of Japanese. Furthermore, paying closer attention to a layered model in Japanese traditional linguistics, it claims that Japanese episodes of (inter)subjectification display core to peripheral positional shifts of grammaticalized items. In contrast, the opposite directionality is exhibited with the case of possible desubjectification (imperative > conditional). Putting these issues all together, the paper questions syntactic scope decrease as a parameter of grammaticalization, and supports instead structural scope increase, as in “C-command scope increase” (Tabor and Traugott 1998), “raising/upwards movement” (Roberts and Roussou 2003) and “syntactic impoverishment” (Company forthcoming a, b).

Aside from this specific focus, this paper is also an attempt to synthesize the rich tradition of Japanese linguistic studies on subjectivity with their Western counterparts.
(Inter)subjectification in the quotative tte in Japanese conversation
Authors: Suzuki Ryoko
Published: September 2007

This article discusses the process of (inter)subjectification in grammatical constructions including tte, which is known as the quotative complementizer in present-day Japanese. About 170 instances of tte constructions that appeared in the conversational data spanning over 200 years are analyzed, focusing on three major types of constructions: the quotative tte construction, the topic-introducing construction, and the constructions with tte as utterance-final pragmatic particles. There are morphosyntactic changes concomitant to the process of (inter)subjectification; for example, the quality of the “quoted” element preceding tte has been extended to include less utterance-like materials. In addition, the “main” verb iu ‘say’ that is associated with the quotative tte has lost its verbal characteristics in the topic construction and disappears in the utterance-final particle construction. Subjectification, as well as intersubjectification, is observed locally in each position: after the quoted element, after the topic noun, and at the utterance-final position.
Modality and grammaticalization in Japanese
Authors: Narrog Heiko
Published: September 2007

Grammaticalization of modal markers has long been thought of in terms of change from deontic to epistemic meaning. This change, then, is typically thought of as a mapping between conceptual domains. Contrary to this perception, I argue in this paper that (1) change from deontic to epistemic (that is, the acquisition of epistemic meaning by deontic markers), although salient in many European languages, is cross-linguistically a marginal tendency, (2), the cross-linguistically most salient tendency in the development of modal markers is towards greater speaker-orientation, and (3), this change can best be explained by primarily referring to pragmatic processes, rather than conceptual processes. I substantiate my claims by analyzing the cross-linguistic modality data in Bybee et al. (1994), by providing a catalogue of etymologies of Modern Japanese modal markers, and by analyzing the polysemy and semantic change of one specific marker in Japanese language history (-be-si) in detail.
Subjectification and intersubjectification in Japanese
Authors: Horie Kaoru
Published: September 2007

This paper presents a “relativized” assessment of the analyses on subjectification and intersubjectification in Japanese presented in the four case studies (this issue), particularly through a comparison with Korean which shows remarkable similarity to Japanese in terms of morpho-syntactic structures and discursive practices.
Highlighting the chameleon nature of power
Authors: Weeks Edythe
Published: September 2007

This essay uses a poststructural/critical race analysis, and provides a specific example of how the social practice of labeling serves to create major ideological effects, which produce and reproduce unequal race-based power relations. Certain U.S. citizens are ascribed/branded with the seemingly politically correct label, “African-American”. Many believe that the shift from “Black” to “African-American” in 1988 was the result of Blacks exercising political power and achieving a hard-won right to change their identity. Also many view the new label asthecommon sense preferred alternative to “Black”. This article deconstructs the term “African-American” and views it within the context of the macro and micro interactive forces of politics, economics, sociology, history and socio-cultural phenomena. Instead of the intended purpose of fostering a sense of self-esteem, the label has also served to reinforce the socially constructed binary dualisms characterizing “Blacks” as being fundamentally different from “Whites”. Moreover, the notion of Black pride, self-esteem and heritage are concepts with the power to shift culpability and blame onto the victims of a race-based system. Power appeared to have been exercised by Black/African-Americans. However, the shift to African-American was not the result of autonomous thinking. It was a “reflex without reflection” (Billig 1991:8). It “echoed” dominating ideological structures of power. The “new” label unwittingly serves to further perpetuate racist ideology inherited from a foundational institution of slavery. America can enjoy the image of having a culture of freedom, equality and egalitarianism, while maintaining justifiable race-based political, social and economic inequality gaps.
On the use of the personal pronoun we in communities
Authors: Íñigo-Mora Isabel
Published: September 2007

The purpose of this paper is to show the existing relationships between the concept of community and the linguistic forms used to convey or even to manipulate it. First of all, the limits and restrictions of any form of community will be defined. Second, one specific form of community will be selected for analysis. The community chosen will be the Parliamentary community, and the linguistic form singled out for study will be the first person plural pronoun “we”. We will try to discover any type of relationship between (a) the scope of reference of this personal pronoun and (b) the intentions of the person who uttered it. In this way, we can see whether there is any connection between personal identity (in terms of inclusion/exclusion from a group) and pronominal choice. This could also lead us to the discovery of any possible strategic use of this personal pronoun.
National identities in times of supra-national challenges
Authors: Wodak Ruth , Kovács András
Published: September 2007

After the end of the Cold War vigorous discussions developed about new alternatives in security policy in almost all the countries of the former Warsaw Pact and in neutral and non-aligned states, including Austria and Hungary. The comparison of the debates in Austria and Hungary over the last 50 years, focusing on presidential speeches on the one hand, on opinion polls on the other (among many other data sources), shed light on the identity policy aspect of these discourses. The argumentation strategies used by the supporters and by the opponents of different security policies were analysed, illustrating the fact that in Austria neutrality is still perceived as integral part of national identity, whereas in Hungary, joining NATO is viewed as a possibility of finally “belonging” to the West.
Casting the ‘Other’
Authors: Poggio Barbara
Published: September 2007

In the past century the presence of women in the “public sphere” has increased considerably as a result of, amongst other things, the rapid increase in their levels of schooling, professional competences and labour market participation. Much more limited and slower, by contrast, has been the entry of women into the centers of decision-making and power.

This paper proposes reflection on gender citizenship in political arenas, which are precisely those in which action to sensitize and change the broader social context should be undertaken. In order to understand and change gender models in the political-institutional system, analysis is required of how gender is defined and constructed in the specific arenas in which the political careers of individuals are planned and promoted.

The paper presents some findings of qualitative research which collected the narratives of men and women — belonging to different Italian political alignments and occupying different positions and roles — relative to their political career paths and the discourses with which they accounted for female under-representation. The analysis of the texts collected allowed light to be shed on the discursive practices, symbols, meanings and sexed images with which the symbolic gender order is created and reproduced. Highlighted in particular are the gender positioning performed through the narratives, and the tendency to cast women in the role of the “Other” with respect to the political system.

Viewed from this perspective, political arenas are theatrical stages on which gendered knowledge is created and disseminated. It is evident in particular that the symbolic order of gender and the models of the discursive construction of gender characteristic of the cultures analyzed tend to reproduce an image of political activity as a male preserve, where otherness entails marginalization and/or subordination.
True Colors of Japanese Prime Ministers
Authors: Fukushima Tatsuya
Published: September 2007

Recent studies on the Japanese conjunction ga revealed its pragmatic and discourse functions in detailed forms and found their implications for discourse settings. In particular, two variation analyses of ga in public speeches of two prominent Japanese political figures suggested their attempts to project certain sociopolitical images. However, data from individuals in two unparallel setting types and misattribution of the addressers’ sociopolitical considerations prevented these studies from substantiating a connection between the observed ga variations to the addressers’ sociopolitical images. This study analyzes ga occurrences in domestic and international press conferences with three Japanese prime ministers to evaluate the relevance between ga occurrences and their sociopolitical implications. This study finds that ga frequencies in domestic press conferences suggest the prime ministers’ attempts in varying degrees to craft an image of a consensus builder, which would appeal to key members of their party. On the other hand, the study observes different patterns of ga frequencies in international press conferences, which suggest their attempts in varying degrees to present their true colors to the general public.
Narrative inequality in the TRC hearings
Authors: Blommaert Jan , Bock Mary , McCormick Kay
Published: September 2007

South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission victim hearings were a highly unusual discourse event in which previously silenced and powerless people were offered a prestigious public forum and speech format to tell about their experiences of human rights violations. However, despite the equal access offered to victims for the telling of their stories, pre-existing inequalities persisted and were reflected in the relative ‘hearability’ of these stories. We use the concept of ‘pretextuality’ to account for the relative hearability. The concept refers to the varying degrees of competence in language varieties, literacy and narrative skills that people bring with them to a communicative interaction, and which influence the impact of their narratives. Through detailed analysis of selected testimonies, we demonstrate ways in which the inequalities suggested above emerged in the hearings.
The European Union and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie
Authors: De Cock Barbara
Published: September 2007

The EU and the OIF have both developed to become international organisations that combine economic, geopolitical and cultural-linguistic policies. This article deals with the fascinating interface of such policies. The main focus resides on the discourse by which both organisations construct their linguistic and cultural diversity concept and on how they deal with language rights. The role of other divides in the debate on linguistic and cultural diversity in international cooperation is investigated. Furthermore, the analysis includes future scenarios and integrates the frequently used arguments in on-going Belgian public debates on French as an international language and in European debates on French as the legal language for the EU.
“Cut” and “break” verbs in Gbe and Sranan
Authors: Essegbey James , Ameka Felix K.
Published: September 2007

This paper compares “cut” and “break” verbs in four variants of Gbe, namely Anfoe, Anlo, Fon and Ayizo, with those of Sranan. “Cut” verbs are change-of-state verbs that co-lexicalize the type of action that brings about a change, the type of instrument or instrument part, and the manner in which a change occurs. By contrast, break verbs co-lexicalize either the type of object or the type of change. It has been hypothesized that “cut”-verbs are unergative while breaks verbs are unaccusatives. For example “break” verbs participate in the causative alternation constructions but “cut” verbs don’t. We show that although there are some differences in the meanings of “cut” and break verbs across the Gbe languages, significant generalizations can be made with regard to their lexicalization patterns. By contrast, the meanings of “cut” and break verbs in Sranan are closer to those of their etymons in English and Dutch. However, despite the differences in the meanings of “cut” and “break” verbs between the Gbe languages and Sranan, the syntax of the verbs in Sranan is similar to that of the Eastern Gbe variants, namely Fon and Ayizo. We look at the implications of our findings for the relexification hypothesis.
Gbe and other West African sources of Suriname creole semantic structures
Authors: Huttar George L. , Essegbey James , Ameka Felix K.
Published: September 2007

This paper reports on ongoing research on the role of various kinds of potential substrate languages in the development of the semantic structures of Ndyuka (Eastern Suriname Creole). A set of 100 senses of noun, verb, and other lexemes in Ndyuka were compared with senses of corresponding lexemes in three kinds of languages of the former Slave Coast and Gold Coast areas, and immediately adjoining hinterland: (a) Gbe languages; (b) other Kwa languages, specifically Akan and Ga; (c) non-Kwa Niger-Congo languages. The results of this process provide some evidence for the importance of the Gbe languages in the formation of the Suriname creoles, but also for the importance of other languages, and for the areal nature of some of the collocations studied, rendering specific identification of a single substrate source impossible and inappropriate. These results not only provide information about the role of Gbe and other languages in the formation of Ndyuka, but also give evidence for effects of substrate languages spoken by late arrivals some time after the “founders” of a given creole-speaking society. The conclusions are extrapolated beyond Suriname to creole genesis generally.
Substrate influence on the emergence of the TMA systems of the Surinamese creoles
Authors: Winford Donald , Migge Bettina
Published: September 2007

Although the Surinamese Creoles have figured prominently in discussions about Creole genesis, little is still known about the origin of their TMA system, a central area of grammar that has received much attention in this debate. In this paper we assess the relative contribution of the primary substrate input, varieties of Gbe, to the TMA system. Drawing on both contemporary data from several Surinamese Creoles and varieties of Gbe, and historical data from Sranan Tongo, we show that the substrate was clearly responsible for the emergence of some aspect and tense categories. However, in itself, substrate influence cannot explain the emergence of the entire Creole tense and aspect system. Other processes such as internal change, superstrate influence etc. also played an important role.
The Saramaccan implosives
Authors: Smith Norval , Haabo Vinije
Published: September 2007

This paper takes as its starting point the recently discovered fact that Saramaccan contrasts two types of voiced labial and coronal stop, plain and implosive. The plain labials appear to be modern in origin, something which cannot be said about their coronal counterparts. So we reconstruct an earlier situation in Saramaccan in which only one type of labial voiced stop, the implosive, was present, but both types of coronal. The Gbe languages also have one voiced labial stop, and two coronals, although none of these are implosive. It can be demonstrated, however, that a near-regular correspondence exists between the three putative Saramaccan voiced stops and the three Gbe stops, and conclude that this is an additional piece of evidence for the role of Fon/Gbe as a substrate language for Saramaccan. We further discuss the implications this correspondence has for views on the nature of the 17th century Fon consonant system.
The configurational structure of a nonconfigurational language
Authors: Legate Julie Anne
Published: September 2007

In this article, I present evidence for hierarchy and movement in Warlpiri, the proto-typical nonconfigurational language. Within the verb phrase, I identify both a symmetric and an asymmetric applicative construction, show that these are problematic for an LFG-style account that claims Warlpiri has a flat syntactic structure, and outline an account of the symmetric/asymmetric applicative distinction based on a hierarchical syntactic structure. Above the verb phrase, I establish syntactic hierarchy through ordering restrictions of adverbs, and ordering of topics, wh-phrases, and focused phrases in the left periphery. Finally, I present evidence that placement of phrases in the left periphery is accomplished through movement, with new data that show island and Weak Crossover effects.
Variation in the phase structure of applicatives
Authors: McGinnis Martha
Published: September 2007

This paper argues that a substantial amount of the variation in the grammatical properties of applicative constructions arises from structural differences between two main types, identified by Pylkkänen (2000) as high and low applicatives. High applicatives take an NP specifier and a VP complement, while low applicatives take an NP specifier and an NP complement. The two types of applicatives differ in their lexical-semantic and transitivity properties, as well as in their A-movement properties under raising or passivization, and in their phonological phrasing. It is proposed that these differences arise from a difference in phase structure, where phases are syntactic domains that play a role in semantic and phonological interpretation.
Eppur si muove!
Authors: Munaro Nicola , Poletto Cecilia , Pollock Jean-Yves
Published: September 2007

This article offers a comparative syntax approach to wh-questions in French and Bellunese, a Northern Italian dialect spoken in the town of Belluno. A striking difference between the two languages, otherwise very closely related, lies in the fact that bare wh-words in root questions, which display obligatory subject clitic inversion (SCLI), must appear at the right edge of the sentence in Bellunese. In French on the other hand apparent in situ structures ban SCLI and do not accept que in sharp contrast with Bellunese. To make sense of these data we suggest that despite appearances wh-words in Bellunese do move to the left periphery, just as they must in French SCLI structures. This in turn requires that the remaining IP also move to the left periphery which should then be highly split. The minimal parameter distinguishing French and Bellunese, we claim, lies in the existence of a class of non assertive clitics in Bellunese, which have turned into interrogative markers. Their absence in French triggers obligatory wh-movement to a high operator position at the left edge of the CP domain. In this light it is suggested that French wh in situ questions also involves invisible remnant IP movement and wh movement to a truncated left periphery.
Construct states at the PF interface
Authors: Siloni Tal
Published: September 2007

The paper claims that the Semitic Construct state defines a prosodic domain of Case checking. It has been common lore in generative grammar that the domain of Case checking is a syntactic one. In concert with recent proposals, I argue that Case can also be checked at PF; the domain of Case checking is then defined in prosodic terms. The properties of constructs follow straightforwardly. The treatment extends naturally to nonnominal constructs, which, in turn, provide additional evidence in favor of the prosodic analysis. A morphological parameter derives the difference between languages allowing construct states and those which do not. Finally, contra standard assumption I show that there is no indefiniteness spread in construct states but only definiteness spread.
Yes/no questions and the relation between tense and polarity in English and Finnish
Authors: Holmberg Anders
Published: September 2007

It is argued that the structure of the sentence in English as well as Finnish is C [Pol [T...]], where Pol(arity) has negative or affirmative value. Yes/no questions are derived, universally, by movement of a wh-marked Pol to C, deriving an operator-variable relation between C and Pol. No category with interpretable features can intervene between C and Pol, as it would block the crucial relation between C and Pol. It is argued, with reference to Finnish, that we do not need to assume any head with uninterpretable features such as AgrS between C and Pol, either. For English, the theory is based on Zwicky & Pullum’s 1983 arguments that the negation -n’t in English is an inflection, combined with the analysis of inflected words as derived by head movement and incorporation of a lexical head in the inflectional head.
Question words in focus positions
Authors: Jayaseelan K.A.
Published: September 2007

Malayalam, an SOV language, moves its wh-phrases to a Focus position immediately to the left of V (linearly speaking). Multiple wh-phrases are “stacked” in this position. Wh-extraction from an embedded clause is not possible. When a wh-phrase in an embedded clause has matrix scope, scope-marking is done by two movements: the wh-phrase moves to the Focus position in the embedded clause, and the embedded clause is pied-piped to the Focus position in the matrix clause. It is shown that the device of “Attract” by EPP is inadequate (by itself) to describe these movements (or multiple wh-fronting). We suggest a supplementary device. “Association with focus”, the algorithm by which the question operator accesses question words, is (we suggest) a kind of ‘probe’. In languages which employ strong focusing devices, the question operator’s probe “looks at” only Focus positions. In these languages, wh-phrases must cluster in Focus positions in order to be interpreted.
Methods in parametric linguistics and cognitive history
Authors: Longobardi Giuseppe
Published: September 2007

The present paper addresses some foundational issues on the status of parametric linguistics, understood as a partially independent new branch of formal grammar and of the cognitive sciences more generally. Chomsky’s (1964) original three levels of adequacy are extended to five and it is then suggested that the theory of parameters, being able to deal with cultural variation, is in the best position to achieve adequacy at the fourth proposed level, one connected with historical explanations, and some methods to pursue this goal are proposed. The development of parametric linguistics is viewed as a major step toward the potential application of the Galilean style of formal grammar both to the study of linguistic history and to other domains of cognitive science and cultural anthropology.