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• Dependency measures were used to study the impact of interpreting directionality. • L2 (English) to L1 (Chinese) interpreting shows simplification, but not vice versa. • Language pair factors seem to outweigh directionality in word order adjustment. • Preparation mitigates the impact of directionality on interpreters' performance. This study investigates the impact of interpreting direction on interpreters' syntactic processing strategies, utilizing a bidirectional parallel corpus from UN Security Council meetings of Chinese-English simultaneous interpretations and their original speeches. Two syntactic measures of dependency, namely, dependency distance and dependency direction, are used to examine the syntactic complexity and typological characteristics of interpreted speech in comparison to that of non-interpreted speech in the target language, to reflect how interpreters process sentences. The study showed that when interpreters worked from L2 to L1, they employed less complex syntactic structures, indicating a tendency towards simplification, while such a pattern was not observed in the opposite direction. Additionally, interpreters were found to adjust the word order of interpreted speech in both directions to produce an idiomatic rendition. These findings suggest that when professional interpreters prepare adequately, the constraint of directionality on their cognitive capability appears to be limited. Language pair-related factors, including the influence of the source language and the normative requirement to comply with target language conventions, tended to have a greater impact on how they processed sentences in both directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Word order in Mandarin serves as an interface between syntax and pragmatics, which is exhibited through the role that word order in Mandarin plays in marking case as well as topics. • Mandarin shows a mixed case-marking pattern through word order, namely that nominative-accusative pattern coexists with ergative-absolutive pattern, both of which allow intra-clausal topics and extra-clausal topics. • It is the intra-clausal topics rather than the extra-clausal ones that are associated with case-marking patterns, and hence topic assignment in unmarked constructions of different case-marking patterns can be identified. • In light of the two case-marking patterns, context-independent topics in various constructions can be identified. The typological classification of Mandarin Chinese as an isolating language lacking inflection brings about a theoretical consideration that word order in Mandarin serves as an interface between syntax and pragmatics. This paper provides from typological perspective a unified framework to examine the role that word order in Mandarin plays in marking case as well as topics. The study finds that Mandarin exhibits a mixed case-marking pattern through word order, namely that nominative-accusative pattern coexists with ergative-absolutive pattern. Both of the two case-marking patterns allow intra-clausal topics and extra-clausal topics, and it is the intra-clausal topics rather than the extra-clausal ones that are associated with case-marking patterns. With respect to the intra-clausal topics, in nominative-accusative pattern, topic assignment in unmarked constructions is A/S oriented, whereas in ergative-absolutive pattern, topic assignment in unmarked two/three-argument constructions is post- bă P oriented, and topic assignment in unmarked one-argument constructions is preverbal-S oriented. In light of the two case-marking patterns, context-independent topics in various constructions can be identified, and thus the controversial issue of distinguishing topics from other arguments can be properly addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dependency measures were used to study complexity in interpreted, L2, and L1 speech. • Interpreted English has the lowest mean dependency distance. • Interpreted English features more head-final structures than native English. • Simplification in interpreted speech is attributed to higher cognitive load. This study investigates the simplification hypothesis in interpreting, as well as its cognitive implications, by examining features of syntactic dependency in three language varieties: English speech simultaneously interpreted from Chinese, original English speech produced by native speakers (L1 speech), and original English speech produced by non-native speakers (L2 speech). Two measures of the dependency relation, namely dependency distance and dependency direction, are employed to explore the distinction among the three language varieties in terms of their syntactic complexity, amount of cognitive demand, and the typological property of word order. The findings reveal that interpreted speech has the lowest mean dependency distance (MDD), followed by L2 speech and L1 speech, which indicates that interpreted English speech is syntactically more simplified than original English speech. The lowest MDD in interpreted speech is associated with the high cognitive demand in simultaneous interpreting, suggesting that increased cognitive demand in language processing is likely to lead to simplification of the syntactic structure of the linguistic output. Furthermore, dependency direction analysis of the three language varieties indicates that interpreted English tends to be more head-final than L1 English speech, confirming a typological word order distinction between translational and original language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the interactions between word orders and particles in Japanese transitive sentences in terms of information structure. To this end, a series of corpus analyses within the framework of the Givónian approach were conducted. Based on the present corpus analyses, I propose that scrambling is chosen when the scrambled object is anaphorically prominent but cataphorically non-prominent, and that topicalization is selected when the direct object is anaphorically and cataphorically prominent. Additionally, I arrive at the conclusion that word order permutations in Japanese are applied to intermediately accessible referents. In other words, word order changes are neither used with highly accessible referents, nor completely new information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the naturalistic data from four children (aged from 00;10 to 02;06) and experimental data from 60 children (aged from four to eight years old) and 15 adults, the study proposes that Mandarin speakers’ judgment about the scope assignment between negation and universal quantification is attributed to the interplay of several influential factors: word order, lexical semantics of logical expressions, structural complexity, conversational implicature, and felicity in the use of negation. Knowledge about the vital importance of word order in the grammar of Mandarin-speaking adults is not initially present in the grammar of children, but is gradually acquired. They initially rely excessively on lexical semantics in interpreting scope, sometimes leading to non-adult interpretations. Full mastery of scope knowledge comes when they become fully aware of the prominent role of isomorphism, at age 6 or 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tanzanian Bantu language Rangi exhibits a comparatively and typologically unusual word order alternation in the future tense. Whilst declarative main clauses exhibit post-verbal auxiliary placement, the auxiliary appears pre-verbally in wh-questions, sentential negation, relative clauses, cleft constructions and subordinate clauses. This paper examines this alternation from the perspective of Dynamic Syntax ( Cann et al., 2005; Kempson et al., 2001 ). Dynamic Syntax (DS) is a parsing-oriented framework which aims to capture the way in which meaning is established incrementally as a result of lexical input encountered in context. The paper presents a unified analysis of this construction found in Rangi, locating it within the wider workings of the language. It shows that this seemingly idiosyncratic constituent order is in fact predictable on the basis of a general constraint operative in the DS framework which prohibits the co-occurrence of more than one unfixed node, thereby also confirming the claim of Dynamic Syntax to constitute a grammar framework rather than merely a parsing device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Linguistic features of translational language are examined with dependency grammar. • Translational language has longer mean dependency distance. • Translational language has more head-final dependencies and less head-initial ones. • Translational and non-translational language has the same word order preference. Translational language, the language of translated texts, is distinct from both the source and the target language. Although there are many studies on translational language, they present contradictory results. This paper aims to investigate the syntactic and typological properties of translational language by adopting the two main indices of dependency grammar: mean dependency distance (MDD) and dependency direction. A comparable dependency treebank, consisting of translated and non-translated English abstracts, was built and quantitatively described. The results show that (1) the MDD of translational English is significantly longer than that of non-translational English, which can be explained by the difference in MDD of the main grammatical relations (subject, object, attribute and adverbial); (2) the MDD of translational English is within the threshold of four; (3) translational English has more head-final and fewer head-initial dependencies, which can be explained by the distributional differences of the four grammatical relations; (4) translational English has the same word order preference for SV-VO-AdjN as non-translational English, but there are more AdjN and fewer SV pairs in translational English. These findings show the effect of source language interference and suggest that a quantitative method is valid for a holistic and systemic description of translational language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the Persian Ezafe construction, a construction which has received significant attention in the syntactic literature in the past few decades. Descriptively, Ezafe is an unstressed vowel -e (-ye after vowels) which appears between a noun and its modifier (N-e Mod), and is repeated on subsequent modifiers, if they are present, except the last one (N-e Mod1-e Mod2-e Mod3). This paper takes a fresh look at the distribution of the Ezafe vowel, with a special emphasis on its correlation with the order of elements in the noun phrase. After the close connection between word order and the absence/presence of Ezafe is established, the paper considers alternative ways this relation can be captured and argues for a roll-up movement account of this construction, which takes the base order of the noun phrase in Persian to be head final, with the surface order derived via phrasal movement to specifiers of intermediate functional projections in a roll-up fashion. In developing and arguing for this analysis, we will also have a closer look at several constructions in Persian, such as the superlative and the colloquial definite marker, and will account for various word order restrictions in the Persian noun phrase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Poetic word order has a non-complex relationship to ordinary grammar. [•] Remnants from older stages in grammar can complicate the pattern. [•] The wish for special effects can also break the pattern. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• All preverbal positions in Spanish belong to the Complementizer field. • The complementizer field is divided between a topic field and a focus field. • Spec-of-FocP acts as a subject of predication position for the focus field. • All arguments, but Non DMOs, can occupy the preverbal FocusP adjacent to the verb. • Any element on Spec-of-FocusP may trigger pseudo-distributivity effects in Spanish. In this article, after reviewing arguments for and against a preverbal dedicated subject position in Spanish, I conclude that the only asymmetry among preverbal arguments is between non-Differently Marked Objects (DMOs) and other arguments. Non DMOs cannot occupy the preverbal Focus Phrase adjacent to the verb, except for some quantified expressions. All the preverbal positions belong to the Complementizer field since the verb in Spanish always moves at least to FocP to check a [ u Focus] feature. Evidence that the position to which the Spanish verb moves is Foc is given by the fact that its specifier may be occupied by indefinite nominal expressions, which are rhematic by definition, wh-words, and negative words, and by word order facts based on the syntactic position of adverbs and floating quantifiers. The Spec-of-FP acts as a subject of predication position for the focus field, and is an escape-hatch for postverbal elements, and it is argued that apart from move operations outside the clause it may serve as a step for phrases moving to the Contrastive Topic position. Elements occupying the Spec-of-FP check criterial features, and quantificational features. Finally, it is argued that in Spanish the element occupying Spec-of-FP may trigger pseudo-distributivity effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper discusses the syntax of distributivity in Singapore English, a contact variety of English with extensive Chinese substrate influence. The analysis adapts the framework of Beghelli and Stowell (1997), focusing on the DistP projection in the functional spine. Novel data are presented and it is shown that also in Singapore English is polysemous, being realised as two homophonous but semantically distinct lexical items, which function as an additive adverb, as is the case in standard varieties of English, or as a distributivity operator. The environments in which also appears are similar, but not identical, to that of dou in Chinese: universal quantification, discontinuous even-focus constructions and free choice constructions. It is argued that also is an overt realisation of the Dist head, which bears an EPP feature that triggers movement of its various associates to its specifier, resulting in strict preverbal word order configurations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article examines the distribution and interpretation of the bare classifier phrase [Cl+N] in three Sinitic languages of Mandarin, Wu and Cantonese. We show that [Cl+N] can be interpreted as definite or indefinite depending on pragmatic factors related to information structure and word order. Syntactically, we claim that indefinite [Cl+N] has the maximal projection of ClP and that definite [Cl+N] is a DP, where the D head is filled by the classifier via Cl-to-D raising. Semantically, we claim that indefinite [Cl+N] is predicative, denoting sets of atomic entities and that definite [Cl+N] is derived from indefinite [Cl+N] by lifting it from predicates to Generalized Quantifiers. We further claim that the definiteness expressed by [Cl+N] is characterized by the pragmatic notion of ‘familiarity/identifiability’ as it can be linked to information structure and not ‘uniqueness’. Definite classifiers differ from the English definite article ‘the’ and they are not full-fledged grammaticalized definiteness markers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: One major controversy in the field of language development concerns the nature of children''s early grammatical knowledge. This paper focuses on the early representation of word order. It questions the validity of the results obtained with the Weird Word Order methodology () in which children are presented with ungrammatical sentences. These results have previously been considered as major evidence for the constructivist, usage-based approach to word order development according to which young children initially encode word order as a verb-specific lexical property which only slowly develops into abstract knowledge at age 3 or 4 (e.g., ). The critical review presented here addresses various problems with the results and their interpretation. The discussion questions the relationship between theory and data as well as methodological issues related to the small number of observations and the discarding of data not missing at random. It is argued that the data not only fail to support the constructivist account, but they actually bring evidence for the alternative hypothesis according to which children, from early on, represent word order abstractly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The claim that focus evokes a set of alternatives is a central issue in several accounts of the effects of focus on interpretation. This article presents two empirical studies that examine whether this property of focus is independent of contextual conditions. The syntactic operation at issue is object-fronting in German, Spanish, Greek, and Hungarian licensed by contexts involving focus on the object constituent. This operation evokes the intuition that the fronted referent excludes some or all relevant alternatives. The presented experiments deal with the question whether this interpretative property obligatorily accompanies the operation at issue or not. The empirical findings show that in German, Spanish, and Greek this intuition depends on properties of the context and is sensitive to the interaction with further discourse factors (in particular, the predictability of the referent). Hungarian displays a different data pattern: our data does not provide evidence that the syntactic operation at issue depends on the context or interacts with further discourse factors. This finding is in line with the view that evoking alternatives is inherent part of constituent-fronting in this language. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The existential construction with the predicate –isy in Malagasy is shown to have an unaccusative structure in which the predicate may take either (i) a DP-complement, with an optional locative adjunct and an optional PP or (ii) an IP-complement. The structure is empirically supported by various facts about adverb placement, coordination, word-order, extraction, certain cases of tense-matching between –isy and a following thematic predicate, as well as the lack of the stage-level vs individual-level predicate distinction in the construction. It is argued that the predicate –isy introduces an existential quantifier binding (i) a variable that certain DPs or the locative phrase can in principle provide or (ii) the event or unprojected arguments of a thematic predicate. The definiteness effect arises from existential quantification interacting with the structure of headless relative clauses and the constraint barring strong quantifiers in predicate position. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In many Bantu languages, not only the grammatical agreement of verbs, but also SVO word order, has a role in establishing grammatical relations. In Matengo, however, the main function of word order is to code information structure, rather than grammatical relations. This paper discusses the possible positioning of each element within sentences in Matengo, and shows that word order is largely determined by information structure, especially topicality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper offers an introduction to the basic morphosyntax of the Bantu languages, in the context of issues related to the investigation of movement and word order in this large and diverse group of languages. These issues cover three major topics in syntax: agreement, information structure and wh-questions, all of which relate to the relationship between movement and word order. Data introducing the basic contrasts is provided from a wide range of Bantu languages. Furthermore, this paper offers an overview of the state-of-the-art in Bantu syntax with respect to these issues. Analyses of the Bantu languages are related to general syntactic theory, showing where the Bantu languages can make particularly valuable contributions to linguistic theory. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Many researchers have observed that in the development of two grammatical systems the two languages can influence each other. This influence has been labeled cross-linguistic influence. It has been argued by some researchers that cross-linguistic influence is a child-internal process reflecting that bilingual children, when confronted with a highly complex grammatical phenomenon in one language, will use the less complex analysis of the same grammatical phenomenon in the respective other language for both languages temporarily. However, cross-linguistic influence may also be promoted or even caused by a so-called “parental contact-variety input”, meaning that child data would simply reflect a so-called “contact-variety input” of the native language of that parent who, for a long time, has lived in an L2 majority environment and thus shows some inherent cross-linguistic interference himself. The aim of the present research is to argue that a contact-variety approach cannot account for cross-linguistic influence in early bilingualism. The effects of cross-linguistic influence depend on language complexity and on the bilingual''s fluency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses how children deal with word order variation in the input, focusing on the effects of frequency and economy in the acquisition process. We consider two contexts where Norwegian displays variable word order, viz. subject placement in main and embedded clauses, and the variable word order found inside the DP in possessive constructions. We identify the conditions under which each word order is chosen in the target language, both with respect to syntax and information structure, and investigate the frequency of the different orders in child-directed speech. In both cases it is shown that the children have both word orders in place from the onset of production of relevant utterances and that they are sensitive to the distinctions between the two from early on. Nevertheless, in their earliest production, the children seem to have a preference for the word order that is the least frequent one in the input. These findings indicate that frequency by itself is not sufficient to explain children''s preferences in early production. Instead, the findings in the child data are accounted for in terms of an economy principle of movement that is argued to be operative in early child language. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on the advantages and limitations of quantitative evidence in the study of diachronic syntax. It is argued that, although quantitative evidence is indispensable in historical linguistics, quantitative data can only contribute to a better understanding of diachronic change when two premises are fulfilled: first, the researcher has to be transparent about the sources and the methodology used in the investigation and second, the investigation of texts has to be based on hypotheses about possible individual grammars and clear predictions about the kind of evidence supporting and contradicting them. Although these points seem at first sight to be self-evident, they are not always standard in diachronic research. We illustrate how to gain the best possible advantage of the availability of quantitative data by referring to a selection of case studies on French we have conducted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Word-order typology often uses the linear order of binary grammatical pairs in sentences to classify a language. The present paper proposes a method based on dependency treebanks as a typological means. This paper investigates 20 languages using treebanks with different sizes from 16K to 1 million dependencies. The results show that some languages are more head-initial or head-final than others, but all contain head-initial and head-final elements. The 20 languages can be arranged on a continuum with complete head-initial and head-final patterns as the two ends. Some data about subject–verb, object–verb and adjective–noun are extracted from the treebanks for comparison with the typological studies based on the traditional means, the results are similar. The investigation demonstrates that the proposed method is valid for positioning a language in the typological continuum and the resources from computational linguistics can also be used in language typology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Existentially interpreted bare nominals in English have been argued to be in focus; generic bare nominals, topical. In distributional terms, these nominals distribute more freely as compared to, e.g. Romance bare nominals. Arabic bare nominals pattern with the latter in interpretation and distribution. This paper proposes that Arabic bare nominals, which can only be interpreted existentially, are foci, on a par with their English counterparts, and that this plays a key role in their licensing. More importantly, the present paper seeks to derive the surface differences seen in the distribution of these nominals in Arabic and English from deeper differences between these two languages in the focus system facts and word order possibilities. Arabic has a freer word order, but is more constrained in its focus system. The reverse holds in English, a fact that explains why English bare nominals are more freely distributed than their Arabic counterparts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate whether topic and focus movement operations exist DP-internally. The answer that I will reach is by and large negative. First, I will show that the DP, being argumental and not propositional, is ill-suited for topic/comment or focus/background partitioning. Second, I adopt Neeleman and van de Koot''s (2008) proposal for clause-level focus and topic movement. The fundamental idea in this proposal is that topic and focus movement is driven by the need to create a syntactically continuous comment or background constituent. As I explain below, it follows from this that topic and focus movement cannot take place DP-internally. In the remainder of the paper I provide an analysis for two sets of data where DP-internal FocusP has been proposed in the literature: adjective reordering and Greek polydefinites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a corpus study of the order between subject and object in German main and embedded clauses. Since prior studies have shown that object–subject (OS) sentences are rare in comparison to subject–object (SO) sentences, for both main and embedded clauses two corpora were assembled: One corpus containing both SO and OS sentences, and a second corpus containing only OS sentences. In accordance with prior work, the rate of OS sentences was low, but the construction of a corpus restricted to OS sentences still allowed a statistical analysis of OS sentences. For embedded clauses, the main results of the current corpus study are: (i) accusative objects predominate in SO sentences but dative objects in OS sentences. (ii) The use of OS order is tied to lexical-semantic properties of verbs and their arguments. OS order occurs mainly when the subject is inanimate and the object animate. The verbs used in OS sentences are mainly ditransitive verbs in the passive voice and unaccusative verbs. (iii) Weight had no significant effect on order. For main clauses with either subject or object in the prefield somewhat different results were found. Following the presentation of the corpus results, we discuss how they fit into current conceptions of word-order variation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of word order in Niuean, a Polynesian language traditionally considered to be V1. The central issue explored is: what are the relations between languages traditionally described as V1 and those traditionally described as V2? Landing sites, motivations for movement, and movement types are compared, and although at first glance the language types seem different, many common points can be discerned. Particular attention is paid to whether Niuean, a language in which tense does not appear on the verb but rather as a separate constituent, can fit into recent hypotheses that both V1 and V2 languages arise through an attempt to avoid verb-first (*V-1) or tense-first (*T-1) orders. The conclusion is that it can, in spite of appearances, but several tricky issues emerge regarding the definition of “first”. For example, neither *V-1 nor *T-1 can be a simple phonological constraint, and it becomes evident that to determine the validity of the two constraints we need a clearer understanding of the visibility (or not) of different types of elements including null and syncretic morphemes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper offers a new account of basic VOS word order in Chol (Mayan). I argue that VOS order is not base-generated, as is commonly proposed within Mayan linguistics, but instead is the result of phrasal fronting of the predicate to the specifier of TP. This proposal derives support from restrictions on objects in VOS order. Specifically, the object in a VOS construction may not appear with a determiner, but must be a bare NP. In contrast, VSO constructions require a full DP object. I argue that these facts are best explained under a proposal in which bare NP objects remain inside the raised v P, while full DP objects undergo object shift to a position outside of v P. VSO order, then, is the result of v P remnant movement to Spec,TP. I suggest that the maximal predicate fronts to Spec,TP to check agreement features as a last resort due to the unavailability of -to- head movement. In addition to eliminating the need for a specifier–head ordering parameter, this analysis receives empirical support from the placement of certain adverbs and PPs, and may be extended to cover constituent order in the nominal domain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on the analysis of languages that allow both VSO and VOS orders. An analysis is proposed in the context of a flexible approach to syntax (cf. Neeleman, A., Weerman, F., 1999. Flexible Syntax: A Theory of Case and Arguments. Kluwer, Dordrecht) and compared with different alternative analyses of VSO–VOS alternations. The major argument is that a flexible approach allows for an analysis of VSO–VOS alternation that is appealing because of its simplicity and because of a number of predictions. The most important predictions are that languages with VSO–VOS alternation should have preverbal particles and that the subject should c-command the object in both VSO and VOS clauses. It is argued that three VSO–VOS languages (St’át’imcets (Lillooet Salish), Chamorro and Tongan) conform to these predictions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the distribution of embedded verb second in Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. Two conclusions can be drawn from the study. First, none of the Scandinavian languages can be said to display generalized embedded verb second across the board. There are varieties of Faroese and Icelandic that display restrictions of the kind found in the other Scandinavian languages. In these varieties, non-subject initial verb second is dispreferred in environments that are known to resist root phenomena. Second, it is shown that the definitions of assertion proposed in the literature cannot discern V2 from non-V2 word orders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A central hypothesis of the Minimalist Program is that syntactic principles are constant across languages. Apparent syntactic variation would be reducible to variation in the lexicon, in particular variation in morphosyntactic features, and variation at the level of phonological interpretation (PF), in particular in the way syntactic structure is spelled out. This hypothesis invites large-scale microcomparative syntactic research, as minor morphosyntactic differences between closely related language varieties are expected to cause syntactic variation, such as variation in word order. In this paper, the hypothesis is tested against the data of the Syntactic Atlas of the Dutch Dialects (SAND), a project in which over 100 syntactic variables in 267 dialects of Dutch were investigated. In four case studies, involving complementizer drop, one-insertion, strong reflexives and doubling in Wh-chains, it is shown that most of syntactic variation can indeed be reduced to lexicon and PF, but that there is a residue of variation in the syntactic module concerning the size of the constituents that are copied in movement operations. Two further conclusions are that syntax plays a role in the lexicon in that it determines the limits of lexical variation and that part of syntactic variation must be explained by language-external factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Georgian is famous for its word order flexibility: all permutations of constituent order are possible and the choice among them is primarily determined by information structure. In this paper, we show that word order is not the only means to encode information structure in this language, but it is used in combination with sentence prosody. After a preliminary description of the use of prosodic phrasing and intonation for this purpose, we address the question of the interrelation between these two strategies. Based on experimental evidence, we investigate the interaction of focus with word order and prosody, and we conclude that some aspects of word order variation are pragmatically vacuous and can be accommodated in any context if they are realized with an appropriate prosodic structure, while other word order phenomena are quite restrictive and cannot be overridden through prosodic manipulations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of the present study was to evaluate how successfully the UG (nativist) and connectionist (emergentist) frameworks can account for early L2 development, focusing on the acquisition of Japanese word order by adult native English speakers. We conducted a laboratory-based language learning study in which participants were exposed to a semi-artificial language based on Japanese, and we measured incidental learning of scrambling (and head-direction). Although there was some evidence of learning a generalised notion of “free word order”, there was no evidence for accessing the relevant UG parameterised properties. The lack of clustering effects expected as a result of acquiring scrambling led us to conclude that adult SLA is not guided by UG. On the other hand, a connectionist simple recurrent network that was trained and tested on the same structures provided a close approximation to the participants’ data, suggesting that they had acquired a good sense of the statistical structure of the input. Nevertheless, we argue that such a model cannot provide a complete account of learning the word order phenomena that we investigated without being supplemented by symbolic rule-learning mechanisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Yongren Lolo (as well as a portion of related Tibeto-Burman languages) exhibits a type of DOM in a wide range of clause types strictly based on ambiguity. Devices such as morphological case-marking and word order fixations are taken out of the toolbox only if the assignment of semantic roles is not implied by the semantics of the predicate and its arguments. ADDOM-languages (Ambiguity-Driven Differential Object Marking languages) such as Yongren Lolo resist any rigid alignment pattern of semantic roles. Earlier attempts by linguists to sketch Lolo-style syntax in terms of the grammatical relations of primary object and ‘anti-ergative’ marking are shown to fail for various reasons. The characteristic feature of ADDOM-languages seems to be their ability to strike a special deal between two conflicting constraints that operate at a deeper level of syntactic organization: Economy and Markedness. Based on the interplay of these constraints, I define a wide range of theoretic ADDOM-structures and position Yongren Lolo within this typology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper examines two questions concerning Irish non-finite clauses, i.e.: (1) the free variation between overt subjects and PRO and (2) dialectal variation. As regards the first issue, it is argued that Irish non-finite clauses represent two types, namely: clauses with PRO which exhibit anaphoric Agr in T checking PRO''s null Case and non-finite clauses which exhibit non-anaphoric Agr in T checking nominative Case of the subject. The mechanism licensing overt subjects and PRO can be used to account for distinct word orders found in Northern and in Southern dialects. While the former allow overt object shift in the presence of either the overt subject or PRO, hence yielding the following orders: S+O+particle+V and PRO+O+particle+V, the latter trigger overt object shift only in the presence of PRO and never in the presence of an overt subject, hence giving rise to the following patterns: S+particle+V+O and PRO+O+particle+V. In order to account for this dialectal variation, the particle a is taken to represent a marker of transitivity in Northern dialects and hence to appear in v. Object shift is triggered by the necessity to satisfy the v''s EPP-feature and subject raising from Spec, vp is triggered by the EPP-feature of T. For Southern dialects the following assumptions are made: (1) the particle a has always a Case feature to check, (2) the particle a can appear in v or in T, when it appears in v, it checks the Case of the object and when it appears in T, it checks the Case of the subject, (3) overt subjects are licensed by the particle a, which is an overt realisation of non-anaphoric Agr in T, and (4) PRO is licensed by anaphoric Agr in T. Under these assumptions, the order S+particle+V+O arises if a is in T, whereas the order PRO+O+particle+V surfaces if a occurs in v. It is further suggested that subject and object raise in Southern dialects for Case reasons, not for EPP-checking. The pattern S+O+particle+V is impossible in Southern dialects, as in order to license the overt subject a must be in Agr, whereas in order to license object shift a must appear in v. Since a cannot occupy two positions simultaneously, this order is never attested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Welsh noun–adjective and noun–possessor orders are widely analysed as involving movement of the noun to the head of a functional projection above the adjective or possessor. This account is consistent with the claim that Welsh adjectives appear in a universally prescribed order similar to that laid down for English. This paper considers the order and interpretation of adjectives in Welsh in more detail, arguing that the ordering data for Welsh adjectives is more complex than this, with both ‘universal’ and ‘mirror-image’ orders appearing under certain circumstances. A straightforward implementation of an N-raising approach is therefore not possible. Possible amendments, supplementing or replacing N-movement with phrasal movement within the DP are also considered, but are shown to run into severe problems of implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper questions traditional views that in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian (SIC/B), languages without a system of articles, definiteness may be expressed through some other linguistic means, namely word order, the aspect of adjectives, and demonstrative determiners. While it is assumed that semantic/pragmatic definiteness as a universal category is inferred in communication though some general principles of goal-oriented behaviour, it is argued that it is not grammaticalised in these languages. The structure of the nominal phrase in S/C/B is discussed, and evidence from an SLA study presented which supports the argument that DP is not projected on top of (full) nominal phrases in S/C/B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that the location of the focused constituent within a sentence, as well as the definition of all the constituents that might be interpreted as focused, is predictable on the basis of the syntax of a given language. The major (though not only) division across languages as to the distribution of focus is related to the degree of freedom that languages allow for its location. The basic idea tested on basis of data taken from French, Italian, Turkish and English, is that the more prominence may move around within an intonational phrase, the more the language is characterized by rigid word order properties. Since infants are sensitive to prosodic properties since birth, we argue that it is feasible that infants use the location of intonational parameters in a preverbal stage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• This study finds evidence for cross-linguistic collocational priming for ADJ+N collocations. • Collocations are processed faster in L1–L2 direction. • Congruent collocations are processed faster cross-linguistically. • The findings support the language non-selective lexical access at the collocational level. • There is an inhibition effect for V+N collocations due to different word order. According to the Collocational Priming Theory , every word is primed to co-occur with particular other related words and priming could be regarded as the source of our creative language system. Previous research has shown evidence of collocational priming in both L1 and L2 users of English and has indicated that L2 processing is influenced by L1 collocations. This study attempts to further our understanding of the relationship between first and second language collocations through the paradigm of cross-linguistic priming. That is, it will test the extent to which individual words in one language prime recognition of those words' collocates in the other language. Results suggest a complex picture of both cross-linguistic priming and cross-linguistic inhibition, operating differently across different part of speech combinations. They also suggest important methodological influences which future research will need to investigate. Findings are discussed in the light of the current bilingual mental lexicon models and some implications are drawn based on the observed collocational networks in the L1 Turkish–L2 English bilingual mental lexicon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The choice of construction depicts a different perspective of accidental events. • Native speakers of Spanish mostly use constructions with se in the story climax. • Morphosyntactic features in se-utterances are conditioned by discourse aspects. • Acceptability judgment tasks disclose speakers' metalinguistic knowledge. • Natural-like tasks are effective to detect actual differences in language use. This paper compares the range of alternating constructions to convey the notion of uncontrolledness in narratives of accidental events told by native and non-native speakers of Spanish. The paper addresses the question of whether or not these speaker groups convey an accidental event differently. Using a meaning-focused production task, natural-like oral narratives of accidental events were elicited from a group of 45 English-speaking learners of Spanish at advanced instructional levels and 45 Colombian monolingual Spanish speakers. Constructions conveying uncontrolled events in finite clauses across the whole stories were contrasted. Special attention was paid to constructions with se conveying accidentality in which syntactic features such as agreement, word order, and null subjects were analyzed. The results of the study show that native Spanish speakers use significantly more constructions with se conveying accidentality than non-native speakers, especially in the story climax. A form-focused acceptability judgment task was carried out to address metalinguistic knowledge and compare its results with those from the production task, which arguably reflects a greater use of procedural-communicative knowledge. The paper gives evidence of a different performance of native and non-native speakers of Spanish in production and acceptability tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Negation in Tujia is expressed by five negators. • The five negators result from the fusion a negator with different adjacent elements. • The five negators display a mixed pre-head and post-head word order. • The negator in Tujia has been realigned from pre-head to post-head. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive description of the negation system of Tujia, an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken in south-central China. There are five negators, which display a mixed pre-head and post-head word order. Simple verb negation is usually post-head, but in existential constructions the negator precedes the verb, while in imperative constructions negation can either follow or precede the head. We argue that there is only one original negator, and the other forms result from the fusion of the negator with adjacent elements, such as the existential verb or aspect particles. Our analysis shows that, diachronically, the negator in Tujia has been realigned from pre-head to post-head. This paper contributes to the typology of negation in Tibeto-Burman languages, as well as the cross-linguistic development of negation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Edge feature is neither deleted during an Agree relation nor duplicated. • Preverbal elements in Modern Standard Arabic are topics/foci. • A-properties of preverbal elements are indirect effects of their surface positions. • Cartography is a vital tool to explore the rich left periphery of Arabic. In this paper, we first argue against Alahdal's (2018) account of feature inheritance of the Edge Feature (EF) from C0 to T0 in null subject languages (NSLs), including (Modern Standard) Arabic. Alahdal proposes that Spec,TP becomes a position that exhibits A/A-bar properties in Arabic when T0 inherits EF from C0. We explore the defects of this argument, highlighting its conceptual and empirical inconsistencies. We also show that this argument suffers from internal problems which speak against its theoretical validity. Second, we present an alternative approach to the relevant data. We propose that a preverbal element in Modern Standard Arabic (and other NSLs with a prominent VSO word order) is either a topic or a focus, depending on its informational content. The preverbal element is located in a dedicated A-bar position in the CP domain of the clause. All A-properties of preverbal elements are assumed to be indirect effects of their clause-initial position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]