bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The emphatic interpretation of English verb-phrase preposing
Authors: Samko Bern
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the emphatic interpretation associated with English verb-phrase preposing (VPP). Two main conclusions emerge. First, the emphatic interpretation is not an idiosyncratic property of VPP. Second, the interpretation is triggered not by any property of VPP, but rather by repetition of a lexical verb with a particular intonational contour.
Semantic Bleaching and the Emergence of New Pronouns in AAVE
Authors: Jones Taylor W. , Hall Christopher S.
Published: June 2015

AAVE is developing new pronouns, facilitated by the semantic bleaching of the word ‘nigga.’ We show ‘nigga’ is not specified for race, gender, or humanness (although default is [+human] and [+male]). Using 20,000 tweets and field notes from NYC and Philadelphia, we demonstrate that there are new first person pronouns in AAVE based on ‘nigga’ (e.g. 1sg “a nigga”) – moreover, we demonstrate they pattern with true pronouns and not imposters (Collins & Postal, 2010) with respect to binding and verbal agreement. We discuss the origin of these new pronouns, related grammatical forms (including vocatives and honorifics), and rate of adoption and current rates of use.
Swedish relative clauses as weak island
Authors: Lindahl Filippa
Published: June 2015

Some recent accounts of relative clause extraction (RCE) in Swedish assume that clauses that allow extraction do not themselves involve A-bar dependencies, and that RCE is possible only from subject relatives (e.g. Kush et al. 2013). I present evidence that Swedish allows A-bar movement from non-subject RCs as well. But not just any type of phrase can be extracted. For example, certain non-argument wh-phrases cannot move out. This means that Swedish RCs are weak, rather than strong islands (cf. Szabolcsi 2006). Szabolcsi takes an algebraic approach to weak islands where phrases that denote individuals, which can be collected into sets forming Boolean algebras, can be extracted, whereas phrases that denote non-individuals, which cannot be collected into such sets, cannot. However, it is not obvious how to extend such an approach to Swedish RCs, since they allow extraction of some phrases that denote non-individuals, like ‘how late’, as long as they are linked to the discourse. Instead, I propose that the phrases that can move out of relative clauses carry discourse-related features (DR), and that the C-heads in Swedish RCs attract DR-marked phrases, making them available in later stages of the derivation. 
Syntactic categories informing variationist analysis: The case of English copy-raising
Authors: Brook Marisa Alana
Published: June 2015

This paper re-examines variation between the comparative complementizers (AS IF, AS THOUGH, LIKE, THAT, and Ø) that follow verbs denoting ostensibility (SEEM, APPEAR, LOOK, SOUND, and FEEL) in the large city of Toronto, Canada. Given that younger speakers appear to be using more of these structures in the first place, I evaluate the hypothesis that there is a trade-off in apparent time between these finite structures and the non-finite construction of Subject-to-Subject raising. Focusing on the verb SEEM, I find that the non-finite structures are losing ground in apparent time to the finite ones. I subsequently address the issue of how best to divide up the finite tokens as co-variants opposite the finite constructions, and find that a split according to syntactic properties – whether or not the copy-raising transformation is permitted – tidily accounts for the patterning and reveals a straightforward change in progress. The results reaffirm the value of using variationist methodology to test competing claims, and also establish that variation can behave in a classic way even among whole syntactic categories.
Ideophone-gesture composites: depictive type, sendory class, and modality
Authors: Nuckolls Janis
Published: June 2015

Our paper seeks to clarify the interrelations between ideophones and gestures in the Pastaza dialect of Ecuadorian Quichua. We argue that in some instances there is a very straightforward semantic relationship between ideophones and gestures, especially when they depict visually observable motion. In other instances, it’s necessary to consider not only the interrelations between ideophones and gestures, but between ideophones, verbs and gestures, because the ideophone and its gesture are specifying the manner of a verb’s motion, or an image of the verb’s action as ongoing, or accomplished and complete. Gestures, therefore, not only illustrate ideophones’ meanings, but also tie those meanings together with a verb’s grammatical and semantic specifications.
Asymmetric resumption, extension, and the derivation of Hawaiian VSO
Authors: Medeiros David Jenkins
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes a heretofore undocumented asymmetry in the distribution of resumptive pronouns in the Ni’ihau dialect of Hawaiian, with resumption occurring in object and adjunct-initial word orders, but not in subject-initial orders. While the observed pattern is not predicted by current theories of syntax which allow movement operations that do not target the root (e.g. Chomsky 2008), the asymmetry may be explained by analyses in which the Extension Condition (Chomsky 1995) is strictly maintained.
Children’s Use of Vernacular Functions of 'like' in Peer Conversation
Authors: Odato Christopher
Published: June 2015

Much recent research describes the ongoing development of 'like' as a discourse particle and in the 'BE+like' quotative construction. Comparatively little is known about how speakers acquire this variable. This study examines children’s (ages 3-6 and 10) use of like to better understand how it is incorporated into maturing grammars. There is evidence for early acquisition of discourse 'like', most frequently as a discourse particle adjoined to determiner phrases. Also, children’s discourse 'like' tokens occurred more frequently with the verb BE, and quotative tokens more frequently without BE, than adults’, suggesting a weaker distinction between the discourse and quotative functions.
Deriving wide-scoping operators in an associative Lambek categorial grammar
Authors: Whitman Neal
Published: June 2015

Previous analyses of sentences like Ward can’t eat caviar and Sue get only beans regard them as coordinations of tenseless clauses. Siegel (1987) proposes a wrapping operation to insert the wide-scoping modal and negation into the first clause; others analyze such sentences as a kind of gapping. However, these sentences are part of a larger landscape of coordinations, where material such as question-marking, quantifiers, or another operator is syntactically part the first conjunct but scopes semantically over both. The conjuncts may be tensed clauses or VPs, making previous analyses inapplicable. Such coordinations are derivable in an associative Lambek categorial grammar.
Effects of Focus Type and Argument Length on the Dative Alternation
Authors: Byram Mary , Zubizarreta Maria Luisa
Published: June 2015

The arguments of English double object verbs appear in the dative form (ex: “Give the sailor the cup.”) or the PP-frame (ex: “Give the cup to the sailor.”). We conducted a production study to test (i) whether information focus or contrastive focus drives this word order variation, and (ii) whether focus interacts with weight. The study found that heavy themes and information focused constituents appear sentence finally, but contrastive focus does not effect the word order. Furthermore, information focus was a stronger motivator than weight. This suggests that at least two types of focus need to be considered in any theory of word in addition to weight.
Inalienable possession in Iquito (Zaparoan): a frequency analysis
Authors: Hansen Cynthia I. A.
Published: June 2015

The differential marking of alienable and inalienable possession has been attributed to iconicity, under the assumption that items that are conceptually close will have less linguistic distance (e.g. Haiman 1983). Haspelmath (2008) argues against iconicity, claiming instead that the coding asymmetry can be explained by an economy approach. This paper looks at the marking of inalienable possession in Iquito, a Zaparoan language of the northern Peruvian Amazon, and presents data in favor of Haspelmath's analysis, by showing that the shorter, more cohesive forms found with inalienably possessed nouns are better explained by frequency of use than by iconicity.
Jarai formulaic sayings: Hook rhyme & the nature of binarity in folk verse
Authors: Jensen Joshua M
Published: June 2015

Formulaic sayings in Jarai (Austronesian; Vietnam) are a folk poetic form with lines joined by hook rhymes. The first member of each hook-rhyme pair is line-final, and the second member is line-initial, as in this poem excerpt: t?u? p?a ra / ?ia p?a nao / plao p?a do? 'different mountains / walking along different waters / living on different islets.' By means of hook rhyme, each line except the first and last is a member of two couplets. This overlapping couplet structure--a binary organizing principle--often results in a poem with an odd number of lines.
Patterns of Variation in ASL Semantic Classifiers: Native and nonnative VEHICLE handshapes
Authors: Nadolske Marie A.
Published: June 2015

This study examines handshape use in the American Sign Language Semantic “Classifier” VEHICLE. Elicited narratives from three adult populations (Deaf native, hearing native, and hearing nonnative) were analyzed to assess the allowable variation within group and across groups. While all groups displayed variation, Deaf natives produced the least amount, hearing natives produced more, and hearing nonnatives produced the most. While degree of nativeness was important, additional motivations for variation included articulation pressures, discourse factors, and vehicle type. These findings expand our understanding of systematic variation to a portion of ASL’s lexicon previously thought to contain little or no possible variation.
Predicting Processing Difficulty in Chinese Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution: A Parallel Approach
Authors: Hsieh Yufen , Boland Julie
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Sonorants, fricatives, and a tonogenetic typology
Authors: Hyslop Gwendolyn Mavis Tshering
Published: June 2015

While some phonological mechanisms underlying tonogenesis have been understood for some time (e.g. Maspero (1912), Haudricourt (1954), inter alia) ongoing research in tonogenesis suggests that the full picture is more complex than previous studies have indicated. In this study I contribute to our understanding of tonogenesis by compiling a typology from published sources of reported tonogenesis. Based on this typology, I show that although languages develop tone by different diachronic means, there is a strong tendency for tonogenesis to begin in syllables that are opened or closed by sonorants and then spread to the fricatives.
The Syntax and Pragmatics of Language Contact: a case study of Andean Spanish
Authors: Muntendam Antje Gerda
Published: June 2015

In this paper, I report the results of tests that I designed to show how Andean Spanish(AS) word order is affected by language contact with Quechua. In AS the object appears in preverbal position more frequently than in Standard Spanish(SS). The main syntactic properties of focus-fronting in SS are weak-crossover and long-distance movement. I constructed tests to check for these syntactic properties and the pragmatics of focus in AS and Quechua. The results show that AS and SS are syntactically identical, but that there is pragmatic transfer from Quechua into AS. The study has implications for language contact and syntax.
Functional significance of rising-intonation declaratives in settings with special discursive norms
Authors: Shepherd Michael A.
Published: June 2015

Rising intonation in English declaratives (aka “uptalk”) is generally regarded as a solidarity marker (Warren 2005). However, its functions in settings with special discursive norms, such as classrooms, remain unexplored. Analysis of third-graders’ declarative responses to teachers’ questions reveals that students use rising intonation when they anticipate rejection, arguably making it a pragmatic face-saving strategy (Goffman 1982). Specifically, rising intonation functions as a marker of idea positioning (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet 2003), lessening students’ commitment to responses they suspect are incorrect. It also deemphasizes such responses’ being answers to questions while emphasizing their being presented for teacher evaluation.
Infants Use Prosody to Learn About Clauses
Authors: Hawthorne Kara E
Published: June 2015

Many researchers have proposed that infants may be able to use prosody to bootstrap into syntax (e.g., Morgan, 1986). Thus far, researchers have shown that prosodic cues are useful for chunking linear sequences, but have not addressed its usefulness in cuing hierarchical syntactic structure. In this study, we asked if infants treat prosodically-marked units as moveable (moveability is a classic test of syntactic constituency). Our results suggest that they do, providing support for the possibility that prosody is a stronger cue to syntactic structure than has previously been shown.
Nonfamiliarity and indefinite descriptions
Authors: Abbott Barbara , Horn Laurence R.
Published: June 2015

Kehler & Ward (2006) argue for the existence of NONFAMILIARITY IMPLICATURES, including one that results from the use of English a/an rather than the. This implicature appears intended to subsume the scalar implicature of nonuniqueness postulated by Hawkins (1991). In this paper we try to clarify the nature of such a nonfamiliarity implicature, and we present evidence that such an implicature does not supplant Hawkins’ nonuniqueness implicature for indefinites.
Probabilistic Modeling of Tone Perception: Autosegmental ‘targets’ are insufficient
Authors: Ramadoss Deepti
Published: June 2015

Existing tone perception models simply match f0-value strings of stimuli to category templates. Here we propose probabilistic models of Thai tone perception motivated by phonological theory: tone categories are defined by High(H) and Low(L) target combinations associated with syllable moras. Category specific prior probability distributions are computed over these target (f0-value) sets; then, the most likely category of any given stimulus is computed. Probabilities computed by Model 1 are over targets (accuracy: 36.36%); Model 2 are over slopes between targets (accuracy: 63.6%). Overall, this research shows that phonological representations of a single cue are insufficient to account for tone perception.
Resumptive Pronouns in Chinese Passives
Authors: Xu Ting
Published: June 2015

This paper accounts for the following puzzle: In Chinese long passives resumptive pronouns are allowed as long as the predicate under bei is modified by a post-verbal modifier. This follows from Huang’s (1999) analysis that Chinese long passives involve null operator movement. Surprisingly, resumptive pronouns cannot be licensed if the predicate under bei is bare. I argue that this exception follows from a PF constraint: Resumptive pronouns cannot occur in a position which receives stress. Without a postverbal modifier of the predicate, the neutral stress automatically falls on the resumptive pronoun, which violates the PF constraint.
What Determiners can do: Data from Mopan Maya
Authors: Contini-Morava Ellen , Danziger Eve
Published: June 2015

The word class Determiners and the functional category D are often characterized as encoding definiteness, specificity and/or uniqueness (Chomeshi-Paul-Wiltschko 2009). In Mopan Maya (Yukatecan), the noun classifiers and article are not sensitive to definiteness, but rather help specify that the associated lexeme be treated as a nominal rather than a predicate. This need arises from Mopan's "omnipredicativity" (Launey 1994): nouns, adjectives, and stative predicates may carry the same affixes, a phenomenon attested in several other indigenous American languages (Mithun 1999) . We describe the syntactic, semantic, and discourse-pragmatic functions of Mopan determiners, and argue for broadening typological definitions of "Determiner".
Why Prosody Matters: Surface Scope Bias in Russian Quantifier Scope
Authors: Antonyuk-Yudina Svitlana
Published: June 2015

I present the results of a production experiment on the prosodic realization of doubly quantified sentences in Russian that tested the hypothesis (due to Kitagawa and Fodor 2003, Hirotani 2004) that native speakers (tacitly) impose surface scope-biasing prosody. If correct, the hypothesis could account for the rigid surface scope claims found in the literature. Target sentences were excised from contexts, evaluated for the degree of disambiguation and analized within the autosegmental-metrical framework (Pierrehumbert 1980). The results of our experiment support the main hypothesis, strongly suggesting that Russian prosody needs to be strictly controled for when eliciting quantifier scope judgements.
Approximation and the coercion of gradable predicates
Authors: Zaroukian Erin
Published: June 2015

The modifier approximately shows a surprising pattern of distribution when combined with non-numeral items, such as scalarly-coerced nouns like lasagna in (2). (1) John read approximately five books. (2) a. ??John served approximately lasagna. b. What John served was approximately lasagna. I propose a explanation in terms of semantic types such that approximately+NP is only licit in copular-type constructions. This pattern does not carry over to prepositional modifiers (e.g. about), and I propose that the difference lies in their ability to coerce scalar predicates out of their complements. (3) What John served was ??about/??around lasagna.
Effects of weight and definiteness on speakers’ choice of clausal ordering in English
Authors: Francis Elaine , Michaelis Laura A.
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
From IGT to precision grammar: French verbal morphology
Authors: Bender Emily M , Wax David , Goodman Michael Wayne
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Kwak'wala "Agreement" as Partial Subject Copy
Authors: Littell Patrick W
Published: June 2015

In the literature on Kwak'wala, a Northern Wakashan language of British Columbia, the term "agreement" refers to a particular phenomenon in which a determiner-like enclitic agreeing with the subject can occur in clause-second position when the subject itself does not. Using subject topicalizations, conjoined predicates, and other structures, I will argue that this phenomenon is not "agreement" as ordinarily understood. Instead, I will propose an account of Kwak'wala agreement in which this enclitic is a partial copy of the subject; that is, that it is movement of the D head of the DP subject under a copy theory of movement.
Morphological and Syntactic Aspects of Indefinite Pronouns in Iliatenco Me'phaa
Authors: Duncan Philip Travis
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Placing Atayal on the Ergativity Continuum
Authors: Huang Zong-Rong , Lin Kuo-Chiao Jason
Published: June 2015

Atayal, a Formosan language, has long been regarded as an ergative language (Huang 1994; Starosta 1999). However, re-examinination of Atayal syntax shows its mixing property of ergativity (A-binding, imperative, A’-extraction, narrow scope of O, etc.) and accusativity (coordination, control, no weak-crossover, etc.). Comparison between Atayal and other Austronesian ergative languages (Aldridge in press; Arka & Mannning 1998; Paul & Travis 2006) yields the ergative continuum : Tagalog > Atayal > Malagasy > Seediq > Indonesian. This continuum further supports the view that ergativity cannot be a macroparameter because no core properties are found among them (Paul & Travis 2006).
Revisiting Rivera: Palatalization of dental stops in a border town
Authors: Castaneda Rosa-Maria
Published: June 2015

I present a follow-up study of the social stratification of palatalization of /ti/, /di/ in Uruguayan Portuguese (UP). Carvalho’s (1998) provided apparent-time evidence suggesting that palatalization of /ti/, /di/ in Rivera was undergoing linguistic change. I test the apparent-time construct with the objective of substantiating the change in progress hypothesized by Carvalho (1998). The examinations of linguistic factors indicate that following and preceding context and tonicity of the syllable condition the variability. Data results confirmed the hypothesis that younger speakers tend to prefer the innovative variant, however, cross-sectional comparisons point toward a state of relative stability at the speech-community level.
Suppletive (?) tonal alternations in Munken
Authors: Lovegren Jesse
Published: June 2015

The Munken dialect of Mungbam (ISO mij; Benue-Congo, Cameroon) employs tone lexically and gramatically, contrasting four level tones as well as contours. Noun stems undergo tonal alternations conditioned by the tone of a following possessive pronoun. For some of these alternations it is not obvious that they represent a phonetically natural allophonic process. Furthermore, similar alternations are not observed outside of the possessive construction. If the alternation is suppletive, then Munken would represent a case of phonologically conditioned suppletive allomorphy (PCSA). Tonally conditioned PCSA is only rarely reported, and until now not for any African language.
The Behavior-before-Coding Principle in morphosyntactic change: evidence from verbal rather.
Authors: Klippenstein Rachel
Published: June 2015

Haspelmath (2010), extending a proposal by Cole et al. (1980), suggested as a principle of morphosyntactic change that behavioral properties (those ‘reflected in (inflectional) morphological distinctions’) change before coding properties (‘syntactic properties without morphological reflexes’). Evidence from Google Books shows reanalysis of the adverb 'rather' as a verb in phrases like 'I would rather VERB'. In the late 1500s, 'rather' shows behavioral properties of verbhood, appearing in contexts that require a verb; however, it does not show coding properties of verbhood in the form of verbal morphology until the late 1800s. This development pattern supports the behavior-before-coding principle.
The Syntax, Semantics, and Prosody of German "VP"-fronting
Authors: Lee-Schoenfeld Vera , Lunden Stephanie Anya
Published: June 2015

“VP”-fronting involving an unergative or transitive (agentive) vP depends on a rise-fall, bridge-contour intonation (Büring 1997) in order to be acceptable. (1) [/Ein Außenseiter gewonnen] hat hier noch nie. a.NOM outsider won has here yet never ‘It has never happened here that an outsider won.’ Furthermore, the fronted vP must express partially discourse-old information, have a non-specific/generic subject, and denote a proposition that is quantified over, not asserted. Pitch tracks show the bridge-contour ‘wrapping’ vP into one large prosodic (Intonational) phrase with a high edge tone, reducing vP-contained DPs to major phrases.
Only, at least, more, and less
Authors: Brochhagen Thomas , Coppock Elizabeth
Published: June 2015

Only, at least, more, and less
Article drop in headlines and truncation of CP
Authors: Weir Andrew
Published: June 2015

Article drop in headlines and truncation of CP
Why does epistemic must need indirect evidence, and is it logically strong or weak?
Authors: Glass Leila
Published: June 2015

Why does epistemic must need indirect evidence, and is it logically strong or weak?
Remind-Me Readings: Evidence for Question Act Decomposition
Authors: Yatsushiro Kazuko , Sauerland Uli
Published: June 2015

Remind-Me Readings: Evidence for Question Act Decomposition
Distinguishing negative polarity from concord in Korean
Authors: Kang Jungmin , Tieu Lyn Shan
Published: June 2015

Distinguishing negative polarity from concord in Korean
Phonetically and syntactically based reanalysis in the development of verbal better
Authors: Klippenstein Rachel
Published: June 2015

Phonetically and syntactically based reanalysis
in the development of verbal better
Left-Peripheral Interactions in English Imperatives
Authors: Cormany Ed
Published: June 2015

Left-Peripheral Interactions in English Imperatives
An investigation of scalars in the antecedents of conditionals
Authors: Howe Karin , Simons Mandy
Published: June 2015

An investigation of scalars in the antecedents of conditionals
Acoustic Bases for Place-Faithful Loan Adaptation
Authors: Adam Christopher C. , Marks Aaron W.
Published: June 2015

Acoustic Bases for Place-Faithful Loan Adaptation
Focusing on unlikely accented nominals: context, alternatives and implied expectations
Authors: Gillingham Gwendolyn
Published: June 2015

In English, accenting a pronoun occasionally switches its reference rela- tive to an unaccented pronoun: (1) John pushed Bill and... a. heb/# j fell. b. HEj/#b fell. However, accent does not always have this effect - it is not licit in (2) below: (2) John bought Bill a drink and then... a. hej/?b went home. b. # HE went home. This paper argues that the felicity of the accent in (1b) is dependent on a presupposition of relative unlikeliness, which is unfulfilled in (2b). The presence of this accent is due to a focus-sensitive operator, Opunlikely, which presupposes the existence of a likelier alternative to the asserted one. The reference and the distribution of accented pronouns is due to the satisfaction of this presupposition. Opunlikely not only accounts for accents on pronouns, but also on coreferential nouns and other types of constituents as well. Finally, this operator also accounts for the distribution of accent and unlikeliness associated with other focus-sensitive constructions.
Harmonic sluicing: Which remnant/correlate pairs work and why
Authors: Barros Matthew Veras
Published: June 2015

In this paper, I claim that two generalizations about sluicing in the recent literature are epiphenomenal, emerging from the interaction of independent properties of sluicing and answerhood. The primary focus is on the generalization in Dayal & Schwarzschild 2010, dubbed Antecedent-Correlate Harmony. The empirical pattern is shown to follow from how the semantics of Wh-phrases and correlates interact with Barker’s (in press) Answer Ban generalization, where the antecedent cannot be an answer to the sluiced question. In the latter part of the paper, I shift focus from ACH to the Answer Ban and show how the Answer Ban fills a previously unnoticed gap in Romero’s (1998) empirical coverage of inheritance of content effects in sluicing. The Answer Ban is, in turn, shown to follow straightforwardly from the recent semantic condition on sluicing proposed in AnderBois 2011.
Inherent and coerced gradability across categories: manipulating pragmatic halos with sorta
Authors: Anderson Curt
Published: June 2015

In this paper I provide an analysis of the English hedges sorta and kinda, which show a cross-categorial distribution and can induce gradability with non- gradable predicates. I analyze sorta and kinda as degree words and provide a formal analysis of their behavior. With gradable predicates, these behavior similar to other degree words such as very, but with non-gradable predicates, a mismatch of logical type forces the predicate to typeshift to a gradable type, making available a degree argument that represents imprecision. The analysis is developed using Morzycki’s (2011) implementation of Lasersohnian pragmatic halos (Lasersohn 1999), and presents a case study in how gradability may be coerced from non- gradable expressions.
Subject domain restriction and reference-tracking
Authors: McKenzie Andrew
Published: June 2015

This paper addresses a question: How does reference-tracking work with non-referential items? Specifically, it explores switch-reference, which typically tracks subjects, in the endangered Kiowa language (of Oklahoma). In it, I propose that switch-reference does not track reference of subjects at all; instead, it tracks the domain restricting resource situation of the subject. This proposal explains a wide variety of switch-reference facts in Kiowa, and the paper brings to light new data that elucidates our understanding of this reference-tracking phenomenon, and perhaps others like it.
Sufficiency inference in anankastic conditionals
Authors: Krasikova Sveta
Published: June 2015

The minimal sufficiency reading of anankastic conditionals, discussed in connection with Heim's (2001) ambiguities in comparative constructions and von Fintel & Iatridou's (2007) 'Prejacent Problem' in the sufficiency modal construction, is argued to stem from the kind of ordering associated with anankastic modals.
The metalinguistic use of vague predicates in conditionals
Authors: Hinterwimmer Stefan
Published: June 2015

This paper deals with an at first sight surprising reading that indicative conditionals whose antecedents contain vague predicates receive under certain conditions. I argue that the existence of this reading can be explained if indicative conditionals are allowed to receive a special kind of metalinguistic interpretation. According to this reading, the worlds quantified over do not (possibly) differ from the world of evaluation with respect to some extralinguistic state of affairs, but only with respect to the standards according to which the vague predicates in the antecedents are interpreted. I show that the availability of the metalinguistic reading can be accounted for if both the epistemic modal bases and the selection function relative to which the worlds quantified over are determined are allowed to operate in a more flexible way than is standardly assumed.
On the Structure of Indefinite Possessives
Authors: Storto Gianluca
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
How and why conventional implicatures project
Authors: Venhuizen Noortje Joost , Bos Johan , Hendriks Petra , Brouwer Harm
Published: June 2015

Conventional Implicatures (CIs; in the sense of Potts 2005) are part of a larger class of projection phenomena. These phenomena also include presuppositions and anaphora, and can described as content that is not at-issue (cf. Simons, Tonhauser, Beaver & Roberts 2010). Despite the shared property of projection, CIs differ from other projection phenomena with respect to the information status of their contribution. Presuppositions, for instance, refer to established, or old information, whereas CIs contribute novel information to the discourse, like at-issue content. Here, we propose a unidimensional analysis of CIs and at-issue content, which highlights the similarity in projection behaviour of CIs, presuppositions, and anaphora. This analysis treats CIs as ‘piggybacking’ on their anchor; they introduce an anaphoric dependency on the interpretation site of their anchor, while at the same time requiring their anchor to refer to a specific referent in the discourse context. CIs are thus elaborations on the description of the referent referred to by their anchor. This analysis of CIs is formalized in Projective Discourse Representation Theory (PDRT; Venhuizen, Bos & Brouwer 2013), a representational framework in which the property of projection is accounted for by explicitly distinguishing between the introduction and interpretation site of semantic content. Our formal analysis explains the interpretational differences between CIs, presuppositions, anaphora, and at-issue content, without stipulating a fundamental distinction between them. 
Taste predicates and the acquaintance inference
Authors: Ninan Dilip
Published: June 2015

Simple sentences containing predicates like "tasty
 and "beautiful" typically suggest that the speaker has first-hand knowledge of the item being evaluated. I consider two explanations of this "acquaintance inference": a presuppositional approach, and a pragmatic-epistemic approach. The presuppositional approach has a number of virtues, but runs into trouble because the acquaintance inference has a very different projection pattern from that of standard presuppositions. The pragmatic-epistemic approach accounts for the main data discussed in the paper, but faces challenges of its own.
All notional mass nouns are count nouns in Yudja
Authors: Lima Suzi
Published: June 2015

This paper investigates the linguistic expression of individuation and counting in Yudja (Juruna family), a Tupi language spoken in Brazil. Relying on the principles of mereotopology (Casati and Varzi 1999, Varzi 2007), the main claim of this paper is that in Yudja all nouns can be used as count nouns. That is, in Yudja maximal self-connected concrete portions of a kind can be considered as atoms and can be counted. This claim is based on two fundamental properties of Yudja. First, all notional mass nouns can be directly combined with numerals. Second, the results of quantity judgments studies with Yudja children and adults suggest that all nouns can be directly combined with count-quantifiers and that count-quantifiers are necessarily interpreted as referring to the number of concrete portions. These properties together suggest that all nouns in Yudja are interpreted as count nouns.
Plurality inferences are scalar implicatures: Evidence from acquisition
Authors: Tieu Lyn , Bill Cory , Romoli Jacopo , Crain Stephen
Published: June 2015

This paper provides novel experimental evidence for a scalar implicature approach to the plurality inferences that are associated with English plural morphology (Emily fed giraffes -> Emily fed more than one giraffe). Using a Truth Value Judgment Task, we show that both adults and 4–5-year-old children compute more plurality inferences in upward-entailing than downward-entailing environments, but children compute fewer plurality inferences overall than adults do. These findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating children’s relative insensitivity to scalar implicatures. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of plurality inferences, and for the acquisition of scalar inferences more generally. 
Is 'more possible' more possible in German?
Authors: Herburger Elena , Rubinstein Aynat
Published: June 2015

 

While some modals are clearly gradable (e.g. likely), the gradablity of possibility modals is controversial. We argue that one of the major reasons to think that possibility modals can be graded, namely the appearance of German möglich (‘possible’) and kann (‘can’) in a comparative construction involving eher, should be rethought. We argue that eher is not a simple comparative marker and propose an analysis of eher möglich in which degrees of epistemic commitment are compared, not degrees of possibility. 
The weakness of must: In defense of a Mantra
Authors: Lassiter Daniel
Published: June 2015

Many semanticists have claimed that must’s meaning is weaker than

epistemic necessity, a claim that von Fintel & Gillies (2010) dub “The Mantra”.

Recently von Fintel & Gillies have argued in an influential paper that the Mantra is

false, and that the intuitions that have driven it can be accounted for by appealing to

evidential meaning. I show that von Fintel & Gillies do not provide a compelling

argument against the Mantra, and that their theory of evidential meaning, while

promising in certain respects, also has serious empirical and conceptual problems.

In addition, a variety of corpus examples indicate that speakers who assert must

p are not always maximally confident in the truth of p. As an alternative, I reimplement

von Fintel & Gillies’ theory of indirect evidentiality in a probabilistic,

Mantra-compatible framework. Ultimately, both sides of the debate are partly right:

must is weak in several respects, but it also encodes an indirect evidential meaning.
Intervention Effects, Monotonicity and Scope
Authors: De Swart Henriëtte
Published: June 2015

No abstract
'Or' and Anaphora
Authors: Stone Matthew D.
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Focus and the LF of NP quantification
Authors: Herburger Elena
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Front matter
Authors: Lahiri Utpal , Wyner Adam Zachary
Published: June 2015

Proceedings from of the 3rd Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference, held March 5-7, 1993 at the University of California at Irvine, edited by Utpal Lahiri and Adam Zachary Wyner.
Integrative Conflict Resolution
Authors: Byron Amanda Smith
Published: June 2015

This chapter explores the use of integrative conflict resolution as a foundational means for loving praxis to emerge in effective cross-cultural organizational leadership. The work of Mary Parker Follett is introduced, and is recognized as formative to the disciplines of conflict resolution and organizational development. Follett's work is compared and contrasted with other strategies for conflict management, with attention to the advantages of an integrative approach. Integrative conflict resolution is situated within a loving praxis, which occurs when the theory of loving is brought into practice to strengthen organizational leadership, specifically within the increasingly diverse landscape of globalization. Curiosity, creativity, and compassion are understood within the context of integrative conflict resolution, and are recommended as key tools for achieving a loving praxis within organizational culture.
Paths to Success
Authors: Martins Ana , Lopes Albino , Martins Isabel , Petiz Orlando
Published: June 2015

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of cross cultural collaboration and leadership contextualized in a knowledge management paradigm with innovation and intangibles as cornerstones of competitive advantage. It is our intent to shed light on the importance of new knowledge arising from the paradigm shift of organizational values wherein intangibles lie. An innovative culture based on learning steers organizations on human potential with a new mindset to develop core competencies. This chapter demonstrates how core values of commitment, tolerance, involvement and willingness to take risk foster organizational sustainability in the new age paradigm. Complex, dynamic and turbulent organizational environments lead to second order learning, as opposed to first order learning. Organizational memory is reinforced in an environment of collaborative effort and committed knowledge workers. The quality of learning depends on leadership fostering teamwork and harnessing a common vision and organizational principles that nurture and encourage trust.
Smartphones and Self-Broadcasting among College Students in an Age of Social Media
Authors: Yartey Franklin Nii Amankwah , Ha Louisa
Published: June 2015

This chapter examines the use of smartphones for self-broadcasting via social media among college students. Based on motivation and network externalities theories, our survey of a public university's college students confirmed our hypotheses that network size, years of experience using social media and the time spent on social media positively predict their frequency of self-broadcasting on their smartphones. The results suggest that 85.2% of college students self-broadcast at least once a month by updating their status on SNS and students are likely to self-broadcast within their network. Most students set their profile privacy setting as private or semi-private. But privacy setting does not affect self-broadcast frequency.
Profiling of Prosumers for the Needs of Electric Energy Demand Estimation in Microgrids
Authors: Fabisz Karol , Filipowska Agata , Hossa Tymoteusz
Published: June 2015

Nowadays, a lot of attention regarding smart grids' development is devoted to delivery of methods for estimation of the energy demand taking into account the behavior of network participants (being single prosumers or groups of prosumers). These methods take an advantage from an analysis of the ex-post data on energy consumption, usually with no additional data about profiles of prosumers. The goal of this paper is to present and validate a method for an energy demand forecasting based on profiling of prosumers that enables estimation of the energy demand for every user stereotype, every hour, every day of the year and even for every device. The paper presents possible scenarios on how the proposed approach can be used for the benefit of the microgrid.
Influence of Cognitive Style and Cooperative Learning on Application of Augmented Reality to Natural Science Learning
Authors: Lin Hao-Chiang Koong , Su Sheng-Hsiung , Wang Sheng-Tien , Tsai Shang-Chin
Published: June 2015

With the constant progress of information technology, as long as computer software is connected with video equipment, augmented reality can be implemented. In teaching, augmented reality can provide specific images of learning objects and interact with them to enhance students' learning interest and effectiveness. The main purpose of this study is to integrate unmarked augmented reality technology with natural science courses to develop a system that is suitable for learning. This system uses image objects and 3D animation to stimulate sensory learning and strengthen users' learning effectiveness and memory. Moreover, this study also intends to investigate the system usability perception, learning motivation, and self-perceived learning effectiveness of users with different cognitive styles as they operate this system to engage in cooperative learning. Furthermore, this study used triangulation method to assess usability. In the end, this study analyzed and investigated the qualitative and quantitative data of the research questions.
Ovarian Cancer during Pregnancy: A Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Hummeida Moawia E. , Hamad Kamal , Abdel Gadir Abdel Fatah , Ali AbdelAziem A.
Published: June 2015

Ovarian cancer during pregnancy is a rare event. Little is known about the treatment of this condition due to lack of prospective randomized trials and cohort studies. In this paper the authors reported a rare case of small cells ovarian cancer, diagnosed at 16 weeks of gestation, treated with conservative surgery at 18 weeks and chemotherapy. At week 38, the patient underwent caesarean section and delivered a healthy baby girl. Staging surgery was then carried out followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus the findings from this case concluded that prognosis and quality of the patient’s life should be a priority, chemotherapy during the second trimester seems to be safe however, potential risks of this interventions still has to be considered.
Elastic stockings effect on leg volume variability in healthy workers under prolonged gravitational gradient exposure
Authors: Tessari Mirko , Gianesini Sergio , Menegatti Erica , Zuolo Michele , Malagoni Anna Maria , Vannini Maria Elena , Zamboni Paolo
Published: June 2015

The aim of this study was to determine the elastic stockings effect on healthy workers (HW) who are exposed to a prolonged hydrostatic pressure overload for professional reasons. The cohort was composed by 20 HW who voluntarily underwent a water plethysmography test before and after eight hour of standing up in an operating room, wearing elastic stockings. After 8 h of gravity exposure, we demonstrated the absence of leg volume increase in case of elastic stockings use. In the morning measurement we found that the lower limb volume was 1967.5 mL±224, while in the evening it was 1962.5 mL±227 (P<0.0828). The decreased volume is significantly correlated with the time that was spent under gravity forces for working purpose wearing elastic stockings (R2=0.99, P<0.0001). Our experiment demonstrates that elastic stockings may effectively counteract the increased leg volume over time in workers who are exposed to prolonged gravitational gradient. Further longitudinal studies are needed to determine if the above effect could correct one of the major risk factors for the development of chronic venous insufficiency.
Infantile Fibromatosis: A Rare Cause of Anterior Mediastinal Mass in a Child
Authors: Bhat Venkatraman , Raju Praveen , Rao Sanjay , Ramaiah Srinivas
Published: June 2015

Fibromatosis also known as desmoid tumor is an uncommon cause of a mediastinal mass in patients of all ages. Imaging appearance of fibromatosis is generally nonspecific and demands special attention to subtle details to be correctly identified as a possibility. Management of the patient is often complicated by failure to obtain precise pre-operative diagnosis. Location of a mass in the anterior mediastinum with encasement of vital structures is not favourable for complete cure. Although histologically benign, biological behaviour of the lesion varies between benign fibrous proliferation and low-grade fibrosarcoma. We present imaging appearances, surgical management dilemma, and the histopathological details of a case of fibromatosis in the anterior mediastinum in a child.
Carcinoma en Cuirasse from Recurrent Breast Cancer seen on FDG-PET/CT
Authors: Win Aung Zaw , Aparici Carina Mari
Published: June 2015

Our patient was a 36-year-old female diagnosed with Grade II ER+/PR−/Her-2 − ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in the left breast. She underwent left lumpectomy and received treatment with tamoxifen and radiotherapy. Three years later, she presented with multiple diffused skin nodules on the chest and upper left arm. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) exam showed widespread metastasis in the chest, upper left arm, left axillary lymph nodes, and left suprascapular muscle. FDG-PET/CT imaging of breast carcinoma en cuirasse is very rare. FDG-PET/CT is useful in detecting recurrent breast cancer.
Elevated Expression of the Testis-specific Gene WBP2NL in Breast Cancer
Authors: Nourashrafeddin Seyedmehdi , Dianatpour Mehdi , Aarabi Mahmoud , Mobasheri Maryam Beigom , Kazemi-oula Golnesa , Modarressi Mohammad Hossein
Published: June 2015

Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death in women; therefore, the study of molecular aspects of breast cancer for finding new biomarkers is important. Recent studies have shown that WW domain-binding protein 2 (WBP2) is important for the oncogenic property of breast cancer. WWP2 N-terminal-like ( WBP2NL) is a testis-specific signaling protein that induces meiotic resumption and oocyte activation events. Our previous study revealed that WBP2NL gene expression is elevated in actively dividing cells and it might be associated with cellular proliferation and tumorigenic process. However, the clinical relevance and importance of WBP2NL gene in cancer has not been understood yet. Therefore, we were interested in analyzing the expression of WBP2NL gene in human breast cancer tissues and breast cancer cell lines, for the first time. We used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and semi-nested RT-PCR to evaluate the expression of WBP2NL in malignant breast cancer and adjacent noncancerous tissue (ANCT) samples, as well as MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. The WBP2NL gene was expressed in 45 out of 50 (90%) breast cancer tissues and overexpressed in the MDA-MB-231 cell line. We suggest that WBP2NL may play roles in breast cancer activation maybe through binding to a group I WW domain protein. The elevated expression of WBP2NL gene in breast cancer and MDA-MB-231 cell line leads us to suggest that WBP2NL might be considered as a novel prognostic factor for early diagnosis of breast cancer.
Identification of Genetic Mutations in Human Lung Cancer by Targeted Sequencing
Authors: Feng Hongxiang , Wang Xiaowei , Zhang Zhenrong , Tang Chuanning , Ye Hua , Jones Lindsey , Lou Feng , Zhang Dandan , Jiang Shouwen , Sun Hong , Dong Haichao , Zhang Guangchun , Liu Zhiyuan , Dong Zhishou , Guo Baishuai , Yan He , Yan Chaowei , Wang Lu , Su Ziyi , Li Yangyang , Nandakumar Vijayalakshmi , Huang Xue F. , Chen Si-Yi , Liu Deruo
Published: June 2015

Lung cancer remains the most prevalent malignancy and the primary cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Unique mutations patterns can be found in lung cancer subtypes, in individual cancers, or within a single tumor, and drugs that target these genetic mutations and signal transduction pathways are often beneficial to patients. In this study, we used the Ion Torrent AmpliSeq Cancer Panel to sequence 737 loci from 45 cancer-related genes and oncogenes to identify genetic mutations in 48 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) human lung cancer samples from Chinese patients. We found frequent mutations in EGFR, KRAS, PIK3CA, and TP53 genes. Moreover, we observed that a portion of the lung cancer samples harbored two or more mutations in these key genes. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using the Ion Torrent sequencing to efficiently identify genetic mutations in individual tumors for targeted lung cancer therapy.