bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Why Translation Studies matters
Authors: Gile Daniel
Published: March 2014

Translation Studies is challenged by Translation practitioners because of its alleged irrelevance and ineffectiveness. While it is difficult to quantify its ‘scientific’ contribution, it offers a non-negligible amount of research into relevant topics and has definitely influenced Translator training. Moreover, as an academic activity, it offers a social contribution to the Translators’ community by helping it raise its status and by facilitating the exchange of experience and information, all of this at a low cost for society.
Tracking translators’ keystrokes and eye movements with Translog
Authors: Jakobsen Arnt Lykke
Published: March 2014

Although keylogging opens up many possibilities for studying translation processes,
the addition of eye tracking vastly increases our ability to know what kind of process
a translator engages in at any given point in time. Following a description of how the
Translog software was technologically reshaped in the context of the EU Eye-to-IT
project to be able to integrate keylogging and eye tracking, and of how raw eye and key
data were represented, an analysis of a small sample of eye and key data results will be
presented in a tentative formulation of a recurrent six-step processing micro-cycle
which introduces the “anchor” word as a novel concept. It is optimistically suggested
that an elementary cycle of the kind suggested could both function as the basis of
computational analysis of large volumes of translational eye and key data
and potentially as the core of a computational model of human translation.
Seeing translation from inside the translator’s mind
Authors: Mossop Brian
Published: March 2014

A method is suggested whereby translators can state their beliefs about the meaning of the source text and their intentions about the wording of the translation. The method involves inserting items from a vocabulary into the translation as it is produced. The vocabulary consists of descriptors for various ways of producing language. Several examples are discussed: ventriloquising, quoting, fudging, guessing, explicitating, fictionising, fabricating and glossing. These words express states of mind of the translator which are not accessible to external observers. Some uses of the method are suggested.
Metonymic language use as a student translation problem
Authors: Vandepitte Sonia , Hartsuiker Robert J.
Published: March 2014

The concept of translation problem plays an essential role in translation process and product studies and encompasses a wide variety of kinds of problems, including those of a linguistic nature. While Translation Studies seems to agree that a linguistic competence module is part of a translator’s required competences, it is not clear to what extent cross-linguistic differences actually pose problems to most translation students and therefore need a place in the training curriculum. Our study looks into the extent to which the translation of a linguistic construction that differs cross-linguistically raises translation process problems. Translators who are not aware of the restrictions (or translation tools that have not integrated the cross-linguistic differences) may, indeed, produce a translation that does not conform to the target language idiom. And translators who are aware of the restrictions will need to look for alternative formulations that are suited to the translation situation, and decide on the best translation from a range of possibilities. This chapter will discuss the methods applied in an investigation of a novel kind, which combines approaches from linguistics, psycholinguistics and Translation Studies.
Sight translation and speech disfluency
Authors: Shreve Gregory M. , Lacruz Isabel , Angelone Erik
Published: March 2014

Written and sight translation share a comprehension component centered on written input. In sight translation, because of production constraints, the cognitive effort expended in a given span of time is greater than in written translation. Comprehension, transfer, and production processes occur in much shorter periods of time, and this compression of the information processing window has marked consequences for the target production. Translation problems encountered during sight translation are likely to be more disruptive to translation processing. Disruptions will manifest not just as errors or deficiencies in rendering, but as speech disfluencies in the oral performance of the translation. In this paper, we propose that the analysis of speech disfluencies occurring during sight translation performance provides significant information about cognitive phenomena associated with sight translation such as visual interference, as well as about cognitive processes associated with the solution of lexical, syntactic, and strategic translation problems.
Developing professional thinking and acting within the
field of interpreting
Authors: Vik-Tuovinen Gun-Viol
Published: March 2014

The aim of this article is to contribute to the discussion about how
professional thinking and acting is developed and spread within the field of
interpreting. As a theoretical starting point for the discussion, the central factors
affecting strategies that interpreters can and do use in performing interpreting tasks
are introduced. As a second basis for the discussion the concept of practical and tacit
knowledge is discussed. Three empirical studies are then presented.
The first one deals with how students of interpreting and interpreters select strategies
during the performance of an interpreting task. The other two concentrate on practical
and tacit knowledge within the field of interpreting. Ideally, interpreting performance
is based on each situation, makes good use of the individual interpreter’s knowledge
and mental capacity and respects prevailing norms. The empirical studies presented
show the development of thinking and acting related to interpreting among interpreting
students and interpreters. The studies indicate that students are aware of and have integrated essential issues related to professional thinking and acting. However, among students and practising interpreters, as well as within the whole field of interpreting, there still is a need to both develop and to transfer professional thinking and acting.
Designing a research project
Authors: Russell Debra
Published: March 2014

Beginning a research project can be both daunting and exciting for all researchers, whether experienced or novice. This chapter highlights the crucial stage of creating a research project from a well-developed research question and appropriate methodology that best addresses the question. This beginning stage has a significant impact on the overall study, including the soundness of the results. This chapter explores strategies for conceiving of, and designing, a research project that can both be achievable and contribute to scholarship. This chapter draws on examples from two of the author’s own studies of interpreting in educational and legal settings, to more closely examine the many considerations required for an effective research project.
Methodology in interpreting studies
Authors: Liu Minhua
Published: March 2014

Many review articles have been written describing the growth and development of the field of interpreting studies. Few, though, focus on methodological issues. Methodologies for interpreting research have become increasingly diversified in recent years and warrant close examination. This methodological review analyzes 48 evidence-based studies published in the journal Interpreting during the period 2004–2009. The sampled articles are coded and analyzed in terms of the approach and methodology adopted, variables or constructs analyzed, data collection instruments used, and ways data is analyzed and presented. The article concludes with a discussion of the trends in research and potential improvements in the methodological rigor in interpreting studies.
“Mark my words”
Authors: Leeson Lorraine
Published: March 2014

This paper examines a critical area of interpreting research – assessment – as it pertains to the training of signed language interpreters (SLIs). The idea of testing as a wholly objective assessment of competence is problematized and issues that impact the testing cycle are teased out. These include the design and use of appropriate testing mechanisms. The attitude and expectations of external raters is analyzed, as is internal self-assessment as a means of creating active engagement in learning, and developing critical evaluation skills for later use in professional practice. We briefly consider a small number of empirical case studies that have explored aspects of assessing student interpreters. Finally, we draw attention to established pan-European frameworks, specifically the Bologna Process, for modelling fitness to practice at undergraduate and graduate level and usefulness in assessing the competencies of graduating interpreters. Given the limited empirical research that exists on the assessment of SLIs, this chapter suggests a number of themes where further studies would be beneficial.
Profession in pentimento
Authors: Peterson Rico
Published: March 2014

Video Relay Service (VRS) “interpreting” in the United States is today a billion-dollar industry, regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In this chapter, the role of the interpreter in the VRS industry is explored through a form of narrative inquiry. Deaf people around the world have suffered pervasive and negative consequences as a result of the for-profit model of VRS in the United States. A comparison between community and VRS work is offered and the issue of working conditions in VRS is explored. Recommendations are made that interpreters distinguish between interpreting and working as a communication assistant (CA), the title given the work by the FCC and freely adopted by industry.
“C’est de la bombe!”
Authors: Desagulier Guillaume
Published: March 2014

In this paper, I propose a Construction Grammar approach to the count/mass distinction in French. Rather than confine my analysis to NPs, I examine the effects of mass conversion in the broader context of two partially-filled idiomatic constructions: the CCDN construction (ça c’est de la voiture! ‘that’s some car’) and the CDN construction (cette voiture, c’est de la bombe! ‘that car rocks!’). Both inherit properties from the Copular Subject Predicate construction (c’est une voiture ‘that’s a car”), except their nominal predicates undergo count-to-mass conversion. Generally, count-to-mass conversion has a quantitative function: it turns NPs whose referents are numerically quantifiable into an NP whose referents cannot be quantified as separate entities. In the CCDN and the CDN, count-to-mass conversion has a qualitative function: it predicates a quality of the subject by identifying this subject with the prototype of the category denoted by the nominal predicate. I show that the CCDN and the CDN belong to the same constructional network, even if they differ as to the kinds of identification that they realize.
The -alis/-aris allomorphy revisited
Authors: Cser András
Published: March 2014

The -alis/aris allomorphy has often been the object of detailed investigation, though the nature of its patterns and their interaction with phonotactics are not fully appreciated. A corpus-based analysis of the distribution of liquids reveals asymmetries between r and l and also important differences in repetition patterns. For l the constraint is that its occurrences must be separated by at least one non-coronal consonant; the productive diminutive formation is a saliently exceptional pattern. The case of the -alis/aris dissimilation falls under this constraint: liquid dissimilation is not only blocked by an intervening r but also by any non-coronal consonant. The distance between the two liquids is also relevant. The case of r is different. In final syllables only rVr, in non-final syllables only rVVr occurs. While this receives a partial diachronic explanation, the interesting and non-obvious fact is that Latin word forms generally conform to this pattern even where this is not warranted diachronically. We explain the exceptions to this generalisation with reference to two different morphophonological factors.
Paradigmatic realignment and morphological change
Authors: Hippisley Andrew
Published: March 2014

A natural way of formally modeling language change is to adopt a procedural, dynamic approach that gets at the notion of emergence and decay. We argue that in the realm of morphological change, and notably the reorganization of a lexeme’s paradigm, a model that at a given synchronic stage holds together both the actual facts about the paradigm as well as the range of potential or virtual facts that are licensed by the morphological machinery more elegantly captures the nature of the changing paradigm. We consider the special case of morphological mismatch where syntactic function is misaligned with morphological expression, Latin deponent verbs representing the classical example. Change in this area is essentially realignment of morphology with syntax. Our analysis of the history of deponent verbs as paradigmatic realignment assumes a separation between syntactic function and its morphological realization and is couched within the computable declarative framework of Network Morphology.
Variation and change in morphology and syntax
Authors: Loporcaro Michele
Published: March 2014

Romance past participle agreement in perfective periphrastics, it is argued, has to be analyzed as object agreement. This paper provides a general characterization of Romance object agreement in a typological perspective (Section 2) and then discusses the different diachronic developments of the Proto-Romance rule into the daughter languages (Section 3). The results suggest that change affecting the syntactic working or the morphological marking of agreement can be initiated at either the morphological, the morphosyntactic or the syntactic levels. It may proceed independently on either without affecting the others or may else have repercussions beyond the component from which it started. Special attention is devoted (Section 4) to a case study from a southern Italo-Romance dialect in which syntactic change and the resulting synchronic rule were sensitive to morphology, in a way that is excluded on deductive grounds under many current theories of the morphology-syntax interplay.
Word creation
Authors: Ronneberger-Sibold Elke
Published: March 2014

In this paper, the term “word creation” refers to all operations for the production of new lexemes which are not covered by regular word formation. It includes the coining of sound symbolic words as well as shortening, alienation, extragrammatical derivation, and blending. These so-called creative techniques are considered as intentional extragrammatical operations in the framework of Natural Morphology. Their linguistic status is discussed in contradistinction to regular grammatical word formation and to unintentional extragrammatical operations occurring, e.g., during language acquisition. The primary functions of word creation are a controlled reduction of transparency, and the production of sound shapes with special characteristics, which are difficult to produce by regular word formation. Typical fields of application are different kinds of (mostly humorous) literary texts, brand names, and others. A comprehensive typology of creative techniques is developed on the basis of a large corpus of German brand names.
Pleonastic morphology dies hard
Authors: Stolz Thomas
Published: March 2014

Lithuanian displays a variety of morphological phenomena which languageindependently pass as highly marked. This paper looks at one particularly intriguing feature, namely definiteness inflection in the guise of pleonastic morphology. The synchronic facts of modern standard Lithuanian are presented and assessed first. Their diachronic development from the earliest Lithuanian records to the present is surveyed. Variation on the non-standard level and the state-of-affairs in the Latvian dialect cluster are addressed too, in order to determine whether or not the dynamics of pleonastic morphology conform to the predictions by extant theories of morphological change. It is shown that, within the Lithuanian diasystem, pleonastic morphology proves remarkably resistant to reductive change. On the other hand, the attested variation in the dialects suggests that when changes affect the system they do not necessarily lead to a wholesale disintegration of the marked kind of inflection.
Constraints on compounds and incorporation
Authors: Mithun Marianne
Published: March 2014

This chapter examines the status of a type of compounding often cited as a construction that straddles the boundary between morphology and syntax. Noun incorporation constructions in Kapampangan, Mohawk, and Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo are evaluated with respect to the No Phrase Constraint and the Lexical Integrity Hypothesis. Though they share certain fundamental properties, the constructions differ in crucial ways, reflecting differing stages of diachronic development.
Parasynthetic compounds
Authors: Melloni Chiara , Bisetto Antonietta
Published: March 2014

This chapter is dedicated to parasynthetic compounding, a word-formation phenomenon consisting of the merger of two lexical stems (forming a non-existent compound) with a derivational suffix. On the basis of several classes of data pertaining to Slavic and Romance, we outline a formal analysis of the phenomenon in question and show that a constructionist account, recently developed within the Construction Morphology framework, cannot be applied to a particular set of compounds. We show that a configurational analysis of these (pseudo)compound-affixed forms formulated along the lines of Ackema and Neeleman (2004) which applies a severe mapping between the morpho-syntactic and semantic structure, is not only able to account for the challenging data at issue, but also refines our comprehension of the synthetic compounding phenomena commonly attested in most I.E. languages.
Corpus data and theoretical implications
Authors: Ricca Davide
Published: March 2014

The chapter aims at showing the usefulness of quantitative, corpus-based investigations to get a better understanding of a word formation procedure, taking as a case study the Italian VN compounds found on a large newspaper corpus. Corpus data make it possible to compare the weight of the process with respect to competing derivational strategies, and to evaluate the relevance of tendential phonological and morphological restrictions. Moreover, the hapax data, being a powerful tool to distinguish empirically between production and lexicalization/storage, may offer a new insight into the long-debated issue of the output category of this word-formation rule. It is argued that while the Unitary Output Hypothesis may basically hold for the lexicalized items, it cannot be adequate to describe the formation procedure itself.
Relational competition during compound interpretation
Authors: Gagné Christina L. , Spalding Thomas L.
Published: March 2014

The meaning of an endocentric compound (e.g. snowball) is derived not just from its constituents (snow and ball) but also from the relation between them (e.g. noun MADE OF modifier). We propose that, during the interpretation of an endocentric compound, various relational structures compete for selection, and that the fewer competitors the required relation has, the less time it takes the system to settle on that relation. We present results from three streams of empirical research. The first stream indicates that the availability of relational structures influences ease of processing. The second indicates that relations inhibit each other. The third indicates that relation availability is specific to a constituent’s use in a particular morphosyntactic role. We conclude by presenting a theoretical framework of compound interpretation.
Loanword adaptation in the French of Spanish-speaking immigrants in Montréal
Authors: Friesner Michael L.
Published: March 2014

This paper examines the adaptation of rhotics in loanwords in French by Hispanophone and Francophone Montrealers, in order to investigate the linguistic integration of immigrant communities and the mutual influence of native and nonnative speakers on the outcome of borrowing. Multivariate analysis reveals that many factors govern the variation among the three possible variants. Immigrants have only acquired some of the constraints. Second-generation immigrants share the grammar of the larger community but resemble other Hispanophones in terms of the rates of use of each variant. The author concludes that both native and nonnative speakers influence the integration pattern of loanwords in particular ways.
Morphology and phonology of word-final vowel deletion in spoken Tuscan Italian
Authors: Garrapa Luigia , Meinschaefer Judith
Published: March 2014

Italian elision consists in the optional deletion of the final vowel of a function word followed by a vowel-initial lexical word. The aim of the present study is to reach a better understanding of the interplay between phonology and morphology in Italian elision by analyzing a corpus of spoken Italian as well as by conducting an experimental study. The central claim is that two elision processes have to be distinguished, one that applies to determiners and is closer to categorical variation, to be analyzed in part as allomorphy, and another process that applies to pronouns and is closer to free variation. Italian elision is modeled in a simple optimality-theoretic constraint hierarchy: it is shown that the patterns of variation can be learned by the Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma & Hayes 2001), but only if two different grammars are learned for elision on determiners and on pronouns, respectively.
The syntax of Spanish parecer and the status of little pro
Authors: Ausín Adolfo
Published: March 2014

The existence of a null argument in preverbal position in null subject sentences has been challenged in recent years. This paper presents new empirical evidence based on binding considerations in favor of a syntactically realized argument in preverbal position in null subject sentences. Using raising constructions such as those with the Spanish verb parecer ‘to seem’, I show that the null subject in raising constructions behaves as if in a preverbal position in the matrix sentence. The simplest explanation for this state of affairs is to assume that there is a pro in preverbal position.
Two types of (apparently) ditransitive light verb constructions
Authors: Cuervo Maria Cristina
Published: March 2014

An analysis of Spanish ditransitive constructions with light verb dar reveals that despite surface similarity these constructions belong to two groups corresponding to distinct argument structures. While expressions like dar permiso/ánimo ‘give permission/encouragement’ correspond to double-object constructions, experiencer constructions like dar miedo/envidia ‘give fear/envy’ correspond to an unaccusative structure that patterns syntactically and semantically with configurations with psychological predicates of the piacere/gustar ‘like’ type. On the present account, the morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the construction –including subject properties of the dative, case, and restrictions on bare nouns– derive directly from the way sentences are built in the syntax, not from stipulations in lexical entries or linking rules. The proposal is extended to cover predicates formed with other light verbs (e.g., ser ‘be’, parecer ‘seem’, resultar ‘be’, quedar ‘remain’).
An apparent ‘number case constraint’ in Romanian
Authors: Nevins Andrew , Savescu Oana
Published: March 2014

Romanian pronominal plural clitics differ from their singular clitic counterparts in that they exhibit dative-accusative case syncretism. This contrast correlates with an asymmetry in the combinatorial possibilities of plural vs singular clitics: namely, plural clitics in direct object position in Romanian affect the acceptability of clitic clusters, as confirmed in quantitative acceptability judgements with multiple informants. Rather than invoking a new ‘Number Case Constraint’ governing the distribution of clitics, we link the Romanian data to familiar facts from Leísta dialects of Spanish, which manifest case syncretism between dative and animate accusative 3rd person clitics. We implement the fact that 1st and 2nd person plural clitics in Romanian are case-syncretic by implicationally marking them as inherently [+animate] in the syntax. The severe degradation in acceptability of clusters with direct object plural clitics is accounted for by following aspects of Adger & Harbour’s (2007) proposal for the connection between syncretism and the Person Case Constraint.
The ‘fail to’ construction in Late Modern and Present-Day English
Authors: Egan Thomas
Published: March 2014

This paper traces the development of the ‘fail to’ construction over the last three hundred years. In the eighteenth century, almost 95 percent of tokens of ‘fail to’ were negated. In corpora from the late twentieth century, on the other hand, fewer than 4 percent of all tokens of ‘fail to’ are negated. The nonLnegated ‘fail to’ construction may encode unsuccessful effort or neglect of duty on the part of the subject, or it may encode disappointment of the speaker’s expectations. It may even encode negation pure and simple. Special attention is paid to the growth in these uses of the construction in the nineteenth century. The question of whether or not ‘fail to’ is in the process of grammaticalizing is also addressed.
The interplay of modal verbs and adverbs
Authors: Nykiel Jerzy
Published: March 2014

As Hoye (1997) points out, harmonic combinations of modal verbs and modal adverbs are not uncommon in Present-Day English. The present paper explores semantic and syntactic aspects of one of such combinations, namely mæg eaþe ‘may easily’, from a diachronic perspective. The collocation is attested at the earlier stages of the development of the language, that is, in Old English and Middle English. I aim to show that as early as in Old English, the adverb eaþe ‘easily’ helps to reinforce possibility-based meanings of mæg ‘may’, including epistemic possibility. The Middle English range of contexts in which mæg eaþe ‘may easily’ occurs is more limited, which ultimately leads to the demise of the combination toward the end of the Middle English period. I also examine the issue of the extent to which the collocation is lexicalized in the respective periods, especially with evidence from such factors as decomposition of meaning, productivity and substitutability.
The reflexes of OE beon as a marker of futurity in early Middle English
Authors: Laing Margaret
Published: March 2014

In Old English the finite forms of the bLroot for ‘be’ (beo, bist, bið, etc.) were more likely to appear in contexts involving futurity than the sLroot (eom, eart, is, etc). The use of the bLroot for future continues into Middle English. During the compilation of LAEME, we have observed that the complex and variable Old English distinction can become simplified and systematized. In early Middle English the use of bLforms in the present indicative singular is in some text languages1 restricted entirely to future senses. In the areas where the bLroot is the norm for present indicative plural, this system is confined to the singular. But in the North and to a certain extent the North Midlands, where ar-/erLforms are available, the system is extended into the plural. Ilse Wischer’s contribution to this volume offers fascinating and detailed insights into the different forms of the verb ‘to be’ in Old English and their distinctive functions. This paper looks mainly at subsequent developments. It therefore only briefly summarizes the Old English distinctions as background to a micro-dialectal study of three subsystems that emerge during early Middle English. Their identification gives rise to further questions that might reward investigation in the future.
Leading, linking, and closing tones and tunes in Egyptian Arabic – what a simple intonation system tells us about the nature of intonation
Authors: Zarka Dina El
Published: March 2014

This paper offers an analysis of the basic structure of the intonation system of Egyptian Arabic within an autosegmental framework. Contrary to mainstream work, it is assumed here that the primary units of intonation are not abstract targets but meaningful configurations. Intonation is thought of as an essentially iconic system. Thus three tonal configurations are identified in line with the metaphoric extensions of Ohala’s frequency code and correlated with pragmatic functions: A rising contour is characteristic for topic articulation, while a falling contour, signifying assertion, is used for the focal parts of an utterance. The third, neutral, tone is used for downplaying given material. The contours are obtained by manipulating the basic accent shape, a rise-fall, when associating the melody with the linguistic material. Manipulations are represented as features affecting the low and high targets of the individual accents.
Mood feature as case licenser in Modern Standard Arabic
Authors: Leung Tommi Tsz-Cheung
Published: March 2014

Starting from the Government and Binding Theory until the Minimalist Program, it is assumed that structural case (i.e. nominative and accusative case) is assigned to an NP argument through its structural relation with a case assigner. Nominative case is assigned by the finite inflection or is licensed by the phi-features of Tense, whereas accusative case is assigned by the selecting verb. This paper argues from the observation of complementizers in Modern Standard Arabic that structural case is licensed by the mood feature that originates in the complementizer, instead of by the tense feature. Evidence is collected from (i) the case of complementizer agreement, (ii) the study of ʔinna and her sisters’, (iii) the pronoun clitics, and (iv) the morphological correspondence between mood and case. The case-assigning capacity of the complementizer supports the recent analysis of Complementizer-Tense agreement relation, couched within the Probe-Goal theory of derivational syntax.
An acoustic study of rhotics in onset clusters in La Rioja
Authors: Weissglass Christine
Published: March 2014

Rhotics in Spanish onset clusters can be realized as taps, trills, or approximants depending on the dialect (Hualde 2005: 182–183). However, assibilated [i.e. fricative] pronunciations have been reported in some areas such as the La Rioja region of Spain (Alonso 1925: 169; Llorente 1965: 296–297; Navarro Tomás 1968: 210). The present study examines acoustic data from four participants from La Rioja in order to corroborate these reports. The effects of (i) place of articulation and (ii) voicing of the preceding consonant as well as (iii) the nuclear vowel on rhotic pronunciation are also examined. Rhotic pronunciation is analyzed in terms of (i) manner, (ii) duration, (iii) voicing, (iv) svarabhakti vowel occurrence and (v) svarabhakti vowel duration. The findings show few instances of assibilation; the majority of rhotics were realized as approximants. The results of this study have theoretical implications for the phonological status of rhotics in Spanish.
On bare subject relative clauses in Old French
Authors: Arteaga Deborah
Published: March 2014

This paper considers restrictive relatives in OF, of the type Car ne voi tertre nen soeit rases “For I see no small hill (that) is not razed to the ground”. We note that unlike MF, in OF, the relative pronoun qui could be unexpressed in such structures. OF bare subject relatives, we argue, are not instances of parataxis, or a juxtaposition of two independent clauses, because the syntactic characteristics which such an analysis presumes are lacking in OF. For similar reasons (cf. Arteaga 2009), we also reject a CP analysis of bare subject restrictive relative clauses in favor of an IP analysis in which no null relative is proposed. Following (Trihn 2009), we adopt a copy account of these constructions, part of a general rule of syntactic derivation. This, combined with feature checking, required within Minimalism, allows us to derive bare subject relatives in OF.
On the nature of nominal features
Authors: Demonte Violeta , Fernández-Alcalde Héctor , Pérez-Jiménez Isabel
Published: March 2014

Agreement mismatches pose a challenge for standard conceptions of Agree as a Probe-Goal feature valuation process of a single set of φ-features. In this paper we focus on sentences with a subject DP formed by two singular conjoined Ns, such as La madre e hija vinieron juntas, in which agreement inside DP gives rise to Closest Conjunct Agreement – D agrees in singular with the first N – while Subject-Tense agreement is plural. To solve this puzzle we argue for the necessity of incorporating into the minimalist framework the distinction between concord and index features, as proposed in other theoretical frameworks. Ns and Ds carry these two sets of features which, we claim, are introduced in independently motivated bundles. Building on Frampton & Gutmann’s (2000, 2006) Feature Sharing theory and Chomsky’s (2001) Maximization Principle, we articulate a single agreement process which derives the two ways in which agreement proceeds in conjoined structures.
On the nature of bare nouns in Afro-Bolivian Spanish
Authors: Gutiérrez-Rexach Javier , Sessarego Sandro
Published: March 2014

This paper provides an analysis of bare nouns in Afro-Bolivian Spanish. Their behavior does not fit the typology emerging from the Nominal Mapping Parameter. We consider several properties related to mass/count, kind, and indefinite/definite readings, and we conclude with an explanation based on the generalized availability of type-shifters.
The agreement of collective DPS in Romanian
Authors: Croitor Blanca , Dobrovie-Sorin Carmen
Published: March 2014

Romanian collective nouns do not allow plural agreement on the verb, unlike in British English. But when a collective noun is used with a partitive quantifier (e.g. o parte din guvern “part of the government”), plural agreement is possible. We propose an analysis for partitive quantification, which can account for plural agreement with partitive collectives, as well as with partitive plural DPs (o parte dintre studenţi “part of the students”). Our analysis is based on Higginbotham’s (1994) analysis of mass and plural D-quantifiers. Quantification is construed in terms of amounts of minimal parts; the minimal parts in the denotation of collective nouns are atomic entities. The partitive quantifiers transform a group denoting entity into a sum denoting entity.
Preliminary study of Moroccan Arabic word-initial consonant clusters and syllabification using electromagnetic articulography
Authors: Gafos Adamantios I. , Hoole Philip , Zeroual Chakir
Published: March 2014

This study examines the relation between theoretical claims of syllabic organisation in Moroccan Arabic and temporal patterns in experimental data from two speakers of this language. By an analysis of interval stability, where intervals are defined within and across hypothesised syllable constituents, the paper provides evidence that consonants added before a consonant-vowel sequence are not parsed in the same constituent as that consonant-vowel sequence. The results obtained in this study and in other studies in the research reviewed promise to provide a rigorous methodology for exploring the syllabic structuring of phonological form in terms of temporal patterns.
Nasoendoscopic, videofluoroscopic and acoustic study of plain and emphatic coronals in Jordanian Arabic
Authors: Al-Tamimi Feda , Heselwood Barry
Published: March 2014

In this chapter we present and discuss analyses of instrumental data from nine speakers of Jordanian Arabic. They show that the main articulatory and acoustic differences between plain and emphatic coronal consonants involve changes in the relative volumes and resonance frequencies of the buccal and pharyngeal chambers brought about by adjustments to the position of the tongue body, tongue root, hyoid bone, epiglottis, aryepiglottic folds and the larynx. Formant shifts in adjacent vowels show that F1 is raised and F2 lowered in the presence of an emphatic coronal compared to plain coronals, consistent with the constriction in the mid region of the oropharynx observable on our videofluoroscopic images and with the retraction of the epiglottis revealed by nasoendoscopy. We conclude that the articulatory configuration associated with emphatic coronals is pharyngealisation, but that it becomes uvularisation in the context of the high back /uː/ vowel through coarticulation.
On the reconstruction of experiential constructions in (Late) Proto-Indo-European
Authors: Bubenik Vit
Published: March 2014

In this paper I will attempt to reconstruct the (Late) PIE syntax of experiential constructions for three classes of verbs: in (1) and (2) for verbs of cognition and perception, in (3) verbs denoting changes in bodily states, and in (4) verbs of deontic and epistemic modality. In (5) I will make some proposals regarding typology and syntax of experiential constructions in terms of several diachronic layers. I will also try to ascertain whether we can reconstruct the so-called ‘oblique subject’ typology for the (Late) PIE and, if not, at which intermediate period in its trajectory to the current state of affairs we can discern the appearance of oblique (or rather ‘secondary’) subjects. On the whole, I will be more preoccupied with morphological, semantic and pragmatic properties of the experiential constructions in Ancient IE (Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Gothic, Old Slavic) and Modern Germanic, Baltic and Slavic languages than with the issue of ‘subjecthood’ in terms of formal syntax. In conclusion, I will submit that the cognitive approach presents a number of important correctives to more formal syntactic approach into the typology and diachrony of experiential constructions across the spectrum of Indo-European languages.
Criteria for differentiating inherent and contact-induced changes in language reconstruction
Authors: Gvozdanović Jadranka
Published: March 2014

The paper discusses two progressive accent shifts which happened in Slavic during the post-migrational period before the end of the first millennium AD. Both shifts cross-cut the preceding pattern in Slavic, yet the first of these was relatively general and the second was highly restricted. In addition, the first of these shifts, referred to as Dybo’s law, occurred as part of a sequence of changes, whereas the second was an isolated phenomenon. The paper shows that both shifts can be explained in terms of emerging weight properties within trochaic feet, yet against the background of a different ranking of tone and quantity. Keywords: Dybo’s law; Stang’s law; Slovene progressive shift; resolved trochee; prosodic hierarchy
How different is prototype change?
Authors: Winters Margaret E. , Nathan Geoffrey S.
Published: March 2014

Over the last twenty-five years a consensus has developed among cognitive linguists that semantic change (as viewed within polysemous radial categories or sets) includes the modification of meaning in ways that cause some element(s) of the category to become more or less central (or prototypical) over time. Among other changes, the prototype itself may change, with an earlier central instance becoming more peripheral (or disappearing entirely) and being replaced by another, related meaning. This paper addresses changes in prototypicality, through an exploration of the degree to which change in the most central meaning of a radially configured set is the same as or different from change in other aspects of the set. We examine examples from phonology, the lexicon, and grammar and conclude that the outcomes of prototype change are different from other changes in set configuration, but that the processes by which these central instances of a linguistic unit change are the same as other, non-prototype modifications in meaning.
The Dutch-Afrikaans participial prefix ge-
Authors: Conradie C. Jac
Published: March 2014

The prefix ge- has become morphologically much less integrated with the past participle (p.p.) in Afrikaans than in Dutch as a result of across the board regularization of the p.p. in Afrikaans. Other changes relating to ge- include the loss of complementary distribution with prefixes such as be-, ver- and ont- and its usage as participial marker on verb clusters. Changes such as these tended to enhance the morphological independence of ge-, implying a change in status from inflectional morpheme to that of clitic. In Standard Afrikaans, however, ge- often remains unrealized because of its optionality owing to a phonological condition specifying that a p.p. consist of an unstressed – stressed sequence of syllables. This tends to turn ge- into a dummy element, which suggests a movement away from word status and therefore a less likely candidate for grammaticalization. Afrikaans ge- is, however, also characterized by closer association with the function of past tense formation, which suggests resemanticization. In Griqua Afrikaans, ge-/ga- seems to meet criteria for degrammaticalization to a greater extent, to the point of becoming a free morpheme. The latter development has to be discounted as a further step towards degrammaticalization in view of possible substrate influence from free particles in Khoekhoe. Key words: Past participle; affixation, cliticization; degrammaticalization; Dutch; Afrikaans; Griqua Afrikaans
Diachronic changes in long-distance dependencies
Authors: Hoeksema Jack , Schippers Ankelien
Published: March 2014

Dutch long-distance dependencies representing four constructions (wh-questions, relative clauses, topicalization and comparatives) are studied from a diachronic corpus-based perspective. There is a steep decline in usage of such dependencies for relative clauses (but not free relatives) and topicalization, which we attribute to the rise of resumptive prolepsis as an alternative to syntactic movement. Our corpus data show that resumptive prolepsis is particularly common with relative clauses and topicalization, but hardly in use for wh-questions and not at all for comparatives. Long-distance movement therefore needs to be viewed from a broad perspective that includes the available alternatives to movement constructions, such as wh-copying and partial wh-movement, as well as resumptive prolepsis. The historical record shows more violations of the wh-island constraint for early modern Dutch than for present-day Dutch. We argue that this is linked to the near disappearance of long-distance movement in relative clauses and topicalization.
On the development of the perfect (participle)
Authors: Larsson Ida
Published: March 2014

This paper argues that the perfect tense has developed from a resultant state construction (in the sense of Kratzer 2000) that expresses bounded or resultative aspect. The development involves changes in the structure and meaning of the participle. Perfect participles and resultant state participles differ with respect to stativity and tense, and in Present-Day Swedish they also involve different forms. It seems plausible that the development of the perfect began with an extended use of resultant state participles with HAVE at some point in Old Germanic. Traces of such a development are observed in the Old Norse Edda and the Grágás, as well as in Old Saxon Heliand. In these texts, the frequency of agreeing participles in the complement of HAVE is considerably higher than in both Gothic and Old High German, as well as in the Present-Day languages.
Dative loss and its replacement in the history of Greek
Authors: Cooper Adam , Georgala Effi
Published: March 2014

This paper presents a syntactically-centered analysis of the loss of argumental dative case in the history of Greek. We treat the replacement strategies using accusative and genitive case as individual phenomena contributing to the same end, loss of dative. We argue that in Post-Classical times in possessor raising constructions the genitive possessor pronoun, given its clitic status, is attracted to the head of the Appl(icative)P(hrase) from within the possessee and comes to transfer its genitive Case feature to the head of ApplP. Once the applicative head has a genitive Case feature, it assigns inherent genitive Case to full noun phrases in the [Spec,ApplP]. The replacement of dative by accusative involves loss of the [dative] Case feature of v, resulting in the replacement of dative objects of monotransitive verbs by accusative ones in Medieval Greek. To account for the replacement of dative indirect objects by accusative indirect objects in the northern Greek dialects, we propose that accusative replaced genitive Case in Appl, but retained its inherent Case properties.
Celts in Scandinavian Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England
Authors: Hough Carole
Published: March 2014

According to established models of language contact, communication between incoming settlers and indigenous populations leads to the survival of place-names, whose role as labels means that they can easily be transferred between groups of speakers without understanding of semantic content. The paucity of pre-Norse place-names in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland, like the paucity of pre-Anglo-Saxon place-names in southern Britain, has therefore been taken to reflect a lack of continuity of settlement that is at odds with the archaeological and historical record. This chapter argues that, during the Anglo-Saxon and Viking Ages, place-names served functional purposes, where semantic content was important. This may account for the loss of place-names that were semantically opaque to incoming settlers.
On vernacular literacy in late medieval Norway
Authors: Hagland Jan Ragnar
Published: March 2014

For the study of literate people and local administrative literacy in late medieval Norway, a relatively large corpus of charters constitutes practically all the available source material. The present chapter tries to shed some light upon this material and to explore what answers we may deduce from it. Who were the literate people in Norway, apart from a few trained scribes in administrative positions, and to what extent is it possible to unveil literacy on the basis of the source material we have got? These are difficult questions to answer with any precision, but a distinct process of literarization can be observed, which is to say that the situation was less miserable than has traditionally been claimed in Norwegian historiography.
The Old English origins of the Northern Subject Rule
Authors: Cole Marcelle
Published: March 2014

It has generally been assumed that the Northern Subject Rule (NSR), a grammatical constraint which conditioned present verbal morphology in northern Middle English according to the type and position of the subject, did not exist in Old Northumbrian (Pietsch 2005; de Haas 2008). Using data from the tenth-century Northumbrian gloss to the Latin Gospelbook the Lindisfarne Gospels, this paper aims to show that the distribution of present verbal morphology in Lindisfarne indicates that the syntactic configuration at the crux of the NSR was already a feature of Old Northumbrian. The OE dating for the NSR suggested by these findings may consequentially strengthen the argument for a Brittonic derivation of the NSR (Klemola 2000; Vennemann 2001; de Haas 2008; Benskin 2011).