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Many attempts to define depiction appeal to viewers' perceptual responses. Such accounts are liable to give a central role in determining depictive content to picture features responsible for the response, design. A different project is to give a compositional semantics for depictive content. Such attempts identify syntax: picture features systematically responsible for the content of the whole. Design and syntax are competitors. But syntax requires system, in how picture features contribute to content, that design does not. By examining John Kulvicki's semantics for basic depictive content, I argue that the relevant systematicity is absent from the pictorial realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the teaching of the noun phrase (NP) in the 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO). Firstly, the lack of progression and depth found in the Secondary Education and Baccalaureate curricula regarding the teaching-learning process of units smaller than sentences is brought to light. Secondly, the didactic transposition about the NP presented in several textbooks from 4th of ESO is revised. We also present a didactic proposal about several grammatical contents that can be taught at this stage, so that the configuration of the NP is examined with a level of profundity and complexity higher than the one from previous years. This proposal is completed with a set of exercises to reinforce the theoretical contents presented. The main goal of this didactic proposal is to address the study of the linguistic system in Secondary not only as a communicative tool, but also as a scientific object. In this way, the metalinguistic ability will be strengthened from the development of skills such as active observation, reflection, hypothesis formulation and (counter)argumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its apparently ambiguous semantics and syntax, Ps 73:24b remains an unresolved crux in Psalms studies. This article brings valency theory to bear upon this cryptic clause. Attention to the valency patterns occurring with the clause's verb (לקח) presents a contextually compelling solution to its grammatical and semantic difficulties, suggesting that the language of Ps 73:24b may not be ambiguous after all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common framing has it that any adequate treatment of quotation has to abandon one of the following three principles: (i) The quoted expression is a syntactic constituent of the quote phrase; (ii) If two expressions are derived by applying the same syntactic rule to a sequence of synonymous expressions, then they are synonymous; (iii) The language contains synonymous but distinct expressions. In the following, a formal syntax and semantics will be provided for a quotational language which adheres to all three principles. The point here is not merely to provide a "possibility proof", but to reveal the hard constraints on the theory of quotation, and to highlight certain assumptions at the syntax/semantics/post-semantics interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how second language speakers use syntactic and semantic cues in processing complex sentences. Turkish speakers of English, native speakers of English and native speakers of Turkish participated in a self-paced reading experiment, a read-aloud task and a pen-and-paper questionnaire in their relevant languages. The participants' working memory capacity was also measured. The results supported the primacy of syntax view for native speakers of Turkish and English (Frazier & Fodor, 1978). Both groups of native speakers primarily used syntactic cues in their on-line decisions; semantic information influenced later decisions only. The second language speakers, however, used semantic cues in both their initial and later decisions, with evidence for accessing complex syntactic representations. The results are taken to support the view that native and non-native speakers weight linguistic cues differentially (Cunnings, 2017). The potential reasons for differential cue-retrieval in the first and second language are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this text is to offer an overview of current research directions in comparative syntax and semantics, considering a brief history of the two areas and their current international trends. As Contrastive Linguistics still presents relatively incipient development in Portuguese-speaking areas, the main paths of research in diachronic syntax and semantics are presented in the formalist, functionalist and variationist strands, as well as the research groups that represent them, especially in Brazil and Portugal. Finally, the contributions of the articles that make up the special issue that accompanies this text are described, as well as a reflection on the directions that they point for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The works of Henry James (1843-1916) are often considered precursors of English-language modernism due to their treatment of consciousness. To represent the characters' mental activity, James employs long and winding sentences, ambiguities, and subtle inversions of word order. As a result, the language he uses becomes aesthetically self-centered. Building upon this notion, our aim is to analyze how James employs these techniques to linguistically elaborate on the narrative category of space in his novel, The Golden Bowl, which was published in 1904. We propose that the author prefigures literary modernism by employing syntax and semantics to construct space - or the material dimension around the characters - in a distinctive manner. To conduct this analysis, we draw upon the insights of Luis Alberto Brandão (2013), Kate Stanley (2013), Stephen Kern (2011), Malcolm Bradbury and James Mcfarlane (1991), and Mary Cross (1981). Our findings reveal that the spatiality of The Golden Bowl, being an integral part of a structure that prioritizes the medium itself, moves away from mere empirical or accessory representation of material reality. Instead, spatiality gains formal prominence by actively interrupting expected linguistic continuities and destabilizing the reader's attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the perfective progressive periphrasis (PPP) in Brazilian Portuguese (BrP) and Argentinian Spanish (AS) in a comparative way. Based on different linguistic tests, we make two statements regarding the PPP in comparison with the imperfective progressive periphrasis (IPP). Firstly, we claim that the PPP has a progressive and perfective meaning. Secondly, we claim that the PPP allows iterative readings when combined with telic events (i.e., achievements in BrP and AS and accomplishments just in AS). We propose a syntactic and semantic analysis which accounts for these observations in a compositional way: while the gerund form expresses a progressive meaning (present in both periphrases), the auxiliary on the PPP expresses a perfective meaning which allows the iterative readings observed in this periphrasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers jointly model multiple linguistic tasks (e.g., joint modeling of named entity recognition and named entity classification and joint modeling of syntactic parsing and semantic parsing) with an implicit assumption that these individual tasks can enhance each other via the joint modeling. Before conducting research on jointly modeling multiple tasks, however, such researchers hardly examine whether such assumption is true or not. In this paper, we empirically examine whether named entity classification improves the performance of named entity recognition as an empirical case of examining whether semantics improves the performance of a syntactic task. To this end, we firstly specify the way to determine whether a linguistic task is a syntactic task or a semantic task according to both syntactic theory and semantic theory. After that, we design and conduct extensive experiments on two well-known benchmark datasets using three representative yet diverse state-of-the-art models. Experimental results demonstrate that named entity recognition does not lie at the semantic level and is not a semantic task; instead, it is a syntactic task and that the joint modeling of named entity recognition and classification does not improve the performance of named entity recognition. Experimental results also demonstrate that traditional handcrafted feature models can achieve state-of-the-art performance in comparison with the auto-learned feature model on named entity recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first systematic investigation of the role of insubordination, the diachronic conventionalization of formally subordinate clauses as main clauses, in the syntax and semantics of the Ancient Greek sentence. Since diachronic studies are still a desideratum, this paper details the insubordination of if- and that-clauses from Archaic to Post-Classical Greek. Firstly, a principled diachronic analysis of the insubordination of various if-wishes (with ϵἰ, ϵἰ/αἲ γάρ and ϵἴθϵ/αἴθϵ (γάρ)) and that-wishes (with ὡς and ἵνα) is performed using both functional (discursive vs syntactic independence) and formal criteria (vocatives, particles, sentence complexity, mood extensions) in order to determine their relative degree of conventionalization of the main clause use. Subsequently, insubordinate directive, assertive and evaluative constructions (with ϵἰ, ἐάν, ὅπως and ἵνα) from Archaic, Classical and Post-Classical Greek are analysed before presenting a diachronic constructional typology of insubordination and suggestions for future avenues of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a computational approach to Arabic syntax. The approach uses the Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) framework. Semantic networks and frames were used to handle computational semantics using lambda notation. This was implemented in Prolog using Definite Clause Grammar (DCG) as a formalism for analyzing and generating syntactic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crucial issue in the debate about the correct treatment of natural language tense concerns covert variables: do we have reason to think there are any in the syntax, as the quantifier theorist maintains? If not, it seems we can quickly discount the quantifier theory from consideration, without even considering the data in its favour. And, indeed, there is a good reason to doubt that there are such variables: contemporary syntactic theory, notably, does not seem to posit them. I respond to this argument going from the premise that positing covert variables is illicit to the conclusion that quantifier theories of tense are false. I argue that the argument fails by suggesting a non-committal understanding of the process of positing covert variables. On this view, even if we are not doing fundamental syntax in so positing, nevertheless there is a reason to think we are doing something theoretically productive, because it seems like an important part of the practice of semantics and because it seems like semantics is a discipline which is making progress. The progress of semantics supports the methodology of positing variables at its heart; the quantifier theorist of tense, accordingly, need not worry about their syntactic commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heyday of discussions initiated by Searle's claim that computers have syntax, but no semantics has now past, yet philosophers and scientists still tend to frame their views on artificial intelligence in terms of syntax and semantics. In this paper I do not intend to take part in these discussions; my aim is more fundamental, viz. to ask what claims about syntax and semantics in this context can mean in the first place. And I argue that their sense is so unclear that that their ability to act as markers within any disputes on artificial intelligence is severely compromised; and hence that their employment brings us nothing more than an illusion of explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the position of object and adverbial clitic pronouns in coordinated affirmative verb-first declaratives introduced by e(t) "and" in Old Occitan and early Old French, a context in which clitics are variably preverbal or postverbal. An empirical study reveals that this variation is principled and reflects semantico-discursive properties in the same way in these two related and grammatically similar medieval Gallo-Romance varieties. On a theoretical level, I posit that preverbal clitics occur when conjunction occurs at the TP level, and postverbal clitics occur when conjunction occurs at the CP level, and that the choice of clause structure (TP vs. CP) for second conjunct clauses depends on illocutionary force, which in turn depends on discourse coherence relations and the semantics of verba dicendi (verbs of utterance). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the neurobiology of syntax, a methodological challenge is to vary syntax while holding semantics constant. Changes in syntactic structure usually correlate with changes in meaning. We approached this challenge from a new angle. We deployed word lists--typically, the unstructured control in studies of syntax--as both test and control stimuli. Three-noun lists ("lamps, dolls, guitars") were embedded in sentences ("The eccentric man hoarded lamps, dolls, guitars...") and in longer lists ("forks, pen, toilet, rodeo, lamps, dolls, guitars..."). This allowed us to minimize contributions from lexical semantics and local phrasal combinatorics: the same words occurred in both conditions, and in neither case did the list items locally compose into phrases (e.g., "lamps" and "dolls" do not form a phrase). Crucially, the list partakes in a syntactic tree in one case but not the other. Lists-in-sentences increased source-localized MEG activity at; 250-300 ms from each of the list item onsets in the left inferior frontal cortex, at; 300-350 ms in the left anterior temporal lobe and, most reliably, at; 330-400 ms in left posterior temporal cortex. In contrast, the main effects of semantic association strength, which we also varied, localized in the left temporoparietal cortex, with high associations increasing activity at; 400 ms. This dissociation offers a novel characterization of the structure versus word meaning contrast in the brain: the frontotemporal network that is familiar from studies of sentence processing can be driven by the sheer presence of global sentence structure, while associative semantics has a more posterior neural signature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the complex clauses that entail an Estonian -des, -mata or -maks converb construction, i.e., an infinite construction functioning as a free modifier. The article is based on a study of 1803 sentences entailing a converb construction, and gives an overview of the informational roles of the converb construction as well as the main factors of its variation. The study revealed that the Estonian converb construction has four main informational roles: 1) frame-setting topic, 2) background of the comment, 3) focused part of the comment and 4) distinct information unit. The informational role of a converb construction mainly depends on the word order. A construction starting with a converb normally functions as a distinct information unit. A construction ending with a converb or consisting only of a converb normally forms an unitary information unit together with the main clause. The specific informational role of the construction ending with a converb or consisting only of a converb is dependent on the position of the construction: constructions located before the main clause function as topics, constructions located inside the main clause function as the background part of the comment, constructions located after the main clause function as foci. Other important factors related to the informational role are, for example, the interpunction, the communicative type of the main clause, focusing adverbs, the semantic function of the converb construction, the length and structure of the arguments of the converb construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to traditional linguistic theories, the construction of complex meanings relies firmly on syntactic structure-building operations. Recently, however, new models have been proposed in which semantics is viewed as being partly autonomous from syntax. In this paper, we discuss some of the developmental implications of syntax-based and autonomous models of semantics. We review event-related brain potential (ERP) studies on semantic processing in infants and toddlers, focusing on experiments reporting modulations of N400 amplitudes using visual or auditory stimuli and different temporal structures of trials. Our review suggests that infants can relate or integrate semantic information from temporally overlapping stimuli across modalities by 6 months of age. The ability to relate or integrate semantic information over time, within and across modalities, emerges by 9 months. The capacity to relate or integrate information from spoken words in sequences and sentences appears by 18 months. We also review behavioral and ERP studies showing that grammatical and syntactic processing skills develop only later, between 18 and 32 months. These results provide preliminary evidence for the availability of some semantic processes prior to the full developmental emergence of syntax: non-syntactic meaning-building operations are available to infants, albeit in restricted ways, months before the abstract machinery of grammar is in place. We discuss this hypothesis in light of research on early language acquisition and human brain development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings novel data to bear on whether nominal concord relationships are formed in the narrow syntax or post-syntactically. In Guébie, a Kru language spoken in Côte d'Ivoire, nominal concord marking on non-human pronouns and adjectives is determined not by syntactic or semantic features of the concord-triggering noun, but by the phonological form of the noun. Specifically, concord marking on pronouns and adjectives surfaces as a vowel with the same backness features as the vowels of the head noun. Assuming that syntax is phonology-free (Pullum & Zwicky 1986, 1988), the fact that we see phonological features conditioning nominal concord in Guébie means that nominal concord must take place in the post-syntax. I expand on post-syntactic models of nominal concord in Distributed Morphology (Kramer 2010, Norris 2014, Baier 2015) showing that when combined with a constraint-based phonology, such an approach can account for both phonologically and syntactico-semantically determined concord systems. Additionally, the proposed analysis includes a formal account of ellipsis via constraints during the phonological component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is sentence structure processed by the same neural and cognitive resources that are recruited for processing word meanings, or do structure and meaning rely on distinct resources? Linguistic theorizing and much behavioral evidence suggest tight integration between lexico-semantic and syntactic representations and processing. However, most current proposals of the neural architecture of language continue to postulate a distinction between the two. One of the earlier and most cited pieces of neuroimaging evidence in favor of this dissociation comes from a paper by Dapretto and Bookheimer (1999). Using a sentence-meaning judgment task, Dapretto & Bookheimer observed two distinct peaks within the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG): one was more active during a lexico-semantic manipulation, and the other during a syntactic manipulation. Although the paper is highly cited, no attempt has been made, to our knowledge, to replicate the original finding. We report an fMRI study that attempts to do so. Using a combination of whole-brain, group-level ROI, and participant-specific functional ROI approaches, we fail to replicate the original dissociation. In particular, whereas parts of LIFG respond reliably more strongly during lexico-semantic than syntactic processing, no part of LIFG (including in the region defined around the peak reported by Dapretto & Bookheimer) shows the opposite pattern. We speculate that the original result was a false positive, possibly driven by a small subset of participants or items that biased a fixed-effects analysis with low power. • Is sentence structure processed by the same brain regions that are recruited for processing word meanings? • We try to replicate distinct peaks in LIFG for semantic vs. syntactic processing reported by Dapretto and Bookheimer (1999). • Parts of LIFG respond reliably more strongly during semantic than syntactic processing. • No part of LIFG (including in the region defined around the peak reported by D&B) shows the opposite pattern. • The original D&B finding is likely a false positive driven by a subset of participants/items in a fixed-effects analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of semantics (meaning) and syntax (structure) seems to be an integral way of how humans perceive and order their environment. Processing natural scenes with semantic or syntactic inconsistencies evokes distinct Event-Related Potentials, ERPs, in the N300/400 and P600, respectively (Vo & Wolfe, 2013). Artworks, however, can by definition use violations of natural relationships as a means of style, especially in surrealist art. To test whether inconsistencies are processed differently in artworks, we presented participants with surrealist paintings containing semantic or syntactic inconsistencies, edited versions without inconsistencies, and as control real photographic versions of each painting. Photographs elicited more pronounced negative ERP amplitudes than paintings in all time windows, N300, N400 and P600. However, the lack of an interaction between image type and inconsistency type indicates that all presented images were processed as artworks, probably due to context effects. The ERPs were largely opposite to those reported previously with everyday life pictures, with syntactic inconsistencies driving the earlier components and eliciting higher amplitudes than semantic ones in the N400, and semantic inconsistencies eliciting a higher amplitude in the P600. We conclude that viewing artworks includes a specific processing mode, entailing syntactic and semantic expectations different from those in natural scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idioms are a compelling subject of study for linguists, lexicographers and psycholinguists due to their seemingly idiosyncratic status as lexical units that pose challenges for integration into accepted grammatical frameworks. The literature reveals much disagreement on the semantic compositionality, syntactic flexibility and lexical variation of both specific idioms and idioms as a class. We analyze some of the sources for the disparate analyses, which are most often based on judgments of constructed rather than attested examples. Relying solely on corpus data from English and German that shows a wide range of syntactic and lexical variation independent of semantic compositionality, we argue that speakers' use of idioms is in fact compatible with the rules governing freely composed language. This article is based on a talk given at the BSGL 2015 meeting on idioms in Brussels (Fellbaum 2015b). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grammar, or syntax, of human language is typically understood in terms of abstract hierarchical structures. However, theories of language processing that emphasize sequential information, not hierarchy, successfully model diverse phenomena. Recent work probing brain signals has shown mixed evidence for hierarchical information in some tasks. We ask whether sequential or hierarchical information guides the expectations that a human listener forms about a word’s part-of-speech when simply listening to every-day language. We compare the predictions of three computational models against electroencephalography signals recorded from human participants who listen passively to an audiobook story. We find that predictions based on hierarchical structure correlate with the human brain response above-and-beyond predictions based only on sequential information. This establishes a link between hierarchical linguistic structure and neural signals that generalizes across the range of syntactic structures found in every-day language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the semantics of MOOD and the syntax of the let’s-construction in English from a Cardiff Grammar approach. After reviewing previous studies and specifying basic notions in Cardiff Grammar, the study analyzes and discusses the semantics of MOOD and the syntax of the construction with linguistic data from COCA. The study shows that semantically the let’s-construction realizes [proposal for action], where three choices could be made: [by self and addressee], [by self] and [by addressee], with [by self and addressee] having the highest frequency. Dependent on these choices, more delicate choices could be made with different probabilities, such as [firm proposal], [statement of assumption], [statement of wish], [suggestion], [offer], [self-deliberation] and [request]. Syntactically, in most cases the study analyzes let in the construction as a direct element of the clause, i.e. Let Element (L), ‘s as the Subject and the lexical verb following let’s as the Main Verb. In highly specialized cases, let’s as a whole is analyzed as L, and the nominal group following let’s as the Subject. The basic syntactic forms to realize MOOD meanings of the construction are ‘L^S’ and ‘O^L’. This unique clause element of L plays an important role in MOOD selection of the construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Syntax is the set of rules for combining words into phrases, providing the basis for the generative power of linguistic expressions. In human language, the principle of compositionality governs how words are combined into a larger unit, the meaning of which depends on both the meanings of the words and the way in which they are combined. This linguistic capability, i.e., compositional syntax, has long been considered a trait unique to human language. Here, we review recent studies on call combinations in a passerine bird, the Japanese tit (Parus minor), that provide the first firm evidence for compositional syntax in a nonhuman animal. While it has been suggested that the findings of these studies fail to provide evidence for compositionality in Japanese tits, this criticism is based on misunderstanding of experimental design, misrepresentation of the importance of word order in human syntax, and necessitating linguistic capabilities beyond those given by the standard definition of compositionality. We argue that research on avian call combinations has provided the first steps in elucidating how compositional expressions could have emerged in animal communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from a recent neuroimaging study on spoken sentence comprehension have been interpreted as evidence for cortical entrainment to hierarchical syntactic structure. We present a simple computational model that predicts the power spectra from this study, even though the model’s linguistic knowledge is restricted to the lexical level, and word-level representations are not combined into higher-level units (phrases or sentences). Hence, the cortical entrainment results can also be explained from the lexical properties of the stimuli, without recourse to hierarchical syntax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L1 grammar education is internationally criticised because of its pedagogy and its curriculum content. There is a gap between linguistic theory and school grammar in which the latter rarely makes use of possibly relevant insights from the former. At the same time, linguistics itself has never seriously undertaken attempts to identify the fundamental, theory-neutral conceptual knowledge of the field. Instead, most linguists spend time on defining the boundaries between different linguistic theories, making it harder for language teachers to take advantage of insights that linguistics has to offer. This paper, therefore, aims (1) to establish a theory-neutral foundation for sentential syntax and semantics and (2) to explore the role this foundation should play in language education according to linguists. The experts were asked to articulate the most important linguistic concepts for both the domain of linguistic theory and the domain of grammar education. Twenty-six concepts were identified and ranked in a Delphi study for relative importance in both domains. The importance of the concepts correlated strongly for both domains, making it feasible to bridge the gap between linguistics and school grammar. The Dutch context is taken as a frame of reference, although the study's relevance is likely to be broader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a syntax-based reordering model (RM) for hierarchical phrase-based statistical machine translation (HPB-SMT) enriched with semantic features. Our model brings a number of novel contributions: (i) while the previous dependency-based RM is limited to the reordering of head and dependant constituent pairs, we also model the reordering of pairs of dependants; (ii) Our model is enriched with semantic features (Wordnet synsets) in order to allow the reordering model to generalize to pairs not seen in training but with equivalent meaning. (iii) We evaluate our model on two language directions: English-to-Farsi and English-to-Turkish. These language pairs are particularly challenging due to the free word order, rich morphology and lack of resources of the target languages. We evaluate our RM both intrinsically (accuracy of the RM classifier) and extrinsically (MT). Our best configuration outperforms the baseline classifier by 5–29% on pairs of dependants and by 12–30% on head and dependant pairs while the improvement on MT ranges between 1.6% and 5.5% relative in terms of BLEU depending on language pair and domain. We also analyze the value of the feature weights to obtain further insights on the impact of the reordering-related features in the HPB-SMT model. We observe that the features of our RM are assigned significant weights and that our features are complementary to the reordering feature included by default in the HPB-SMT model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the morphology, syntax, and semantics of number in Balinese. All Balinese pronouns are singular, and non-reduplicated common nouns have general number. Regular and associative plural constructions allow for expression of nominal plurality. Common nouns can also be reduplicated, which often (but not always) indicates plural meaning. In the verbal domain, reduplication generally marks pluractionality. We show that reduplication is a derivational process which can imply rather than encode plural meaning. We also explore parallels between nominal and verbal plurality, examining inclusive/exclusive plural readings in nominal and verbal domains, and associative pluractionality in the verbal domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of decades of theorizing, the origins of Zipf’s law remain elusive. I propose that a Zipfian distribution straightforwardly follows from the interaction of syntax (word classes differing in class size) and semantics (words having to be sufficiently specific to be distinctive and sufficiently general to be reusable). These factors are independently motivated and well-established ingredients of a natural-language system. Using a computational model, it is shown that neither of these ingredients suffices to produce a Zipfian distribution on its own and that the results deviate from the Zipfian ideal only in the same way as natural language itself does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between intra-sentential codeswitching restrictions after subject pronouns, negative elements, and interrogatives and language-specific syntactic structures. Data are presented from two languages that have non-cognate lexicons but share identical phrase structure and syntactic mechanisms and exactly the same grammatical morphemes except for pronouns, negators, and interrogative words. The languages are the Quichua of Imbabura province, Ecuador and Ecuadorian Media Lengua (ML), consisting of Quichua morphosyntax with Spanish-derived lexical roots. Bilingual participants carried out un-timed acceptability judgment and language-identification tasks and concurrent memory-loaded repetition on utterances in Quichua, ML, and various mixtures of Quichua and ML. The acceptability and classification data show a main effect for category of single-word switches (significant differences for lexical vs. interrogative, negative, and for acceptability, pronoun) and repetition data show significant differences between lexical vs. interrogatives and negators. Third-person pronouns (which require an explicit antecedent) also differ significantly from lexical items. Logical-semantic factors may contribute to code-switching restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of language evolution, and human cognitive evolution more generally, has often been ridiculed as unscientific, but in fact it differs little from many other disciplines that investigate past events, such as geology or cosmology. Well-crafted models of language evolution make numerous testable hypotheses, and if the principles of strong inference (simultaneous testing of multiple plausible hypotheses) are adopted, there is an increasing amount of relevant data allowing empirical evaluation of such models. The articles in this special issue provide a concise overview of current models of language evolution, emphasizing the testable predictions that they make, along with overviews of the many sources of data available to test them (emphasizing comparative, neural, and genetic data). The key challenge facing the study of language evolution is not a lack of data, but rather a weak commitment to hypothesis-testing approaches and strong inference, exacerbated by the broad and highly interdisciplinary nature of the relevant data. This introduction offers an overview of the field, and a summary of what needed to evolve to provide our species with language-ready brains. It then briefly discusses different contemporary models of language evolution, followed by an overview of different sources of data to test these models. I conclude with my own multistage model of how different components of language could have evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While published linguistic judgments sometimes differ from the judgments found in large-scale formal experiments with naive participants, there is not a consensus as to how often these errors occur nor as to how often formal experiments should be used in syntax and semantics research. In this article, we first present the results of a large-scale replication of the Sprouse et al. 2013 study on 100 English contrasts randomly sampled from Linguistic Inquiry 2001-2010 and tested in both a forced-choice experiment and an acceptability rating experiment. Like Sprouse, Schütze, and Almeida, we find that the effect sizes of published linguistic acceptability judgments are not uniformly large or consistent but rather form a continuum from very large effects to small or nonexistent effects.We then use this data as a prior in a Bayesian framework to propose a small n acceptability paradigm for linguistic acceptability judgments (SNAP Judgments). This proposal makes it easier and cheaper to obtain meaningful quantitative data in syntax and semantics research. Specifically, for a contrast of linguistic interest for which a researcher is confident that sentenceAis better than sentence B, we recommend that the researcher should obtain judgments from at least five unique participants, using at least five unique sentences of each type. If all participants in the sample agree that sentence A is better than sentence B, then the researcher can be confident that the result of a full forced-choice experiment would likely be 75% or more agreement in favor of sentence A (with a mean of 93%).We test this proposal by sampling from the existing data and find that it gives reliable performance.* [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditionals in English can traditionally be viewed according to two different perspectives. One is a simplistic approach based on certain 'cases'; the other is centered on the truth value of the protasis and apodosis. This argument is based on the semantics of the conditional structures, regardless of the syntax involved. In a similar vein, the complexity of conditionals in Arabic stems from the fact that the syntax of the conditional structure does not necessarily point to the semantics involved. This affinity between the two language systems in terms of conditionality is examined within the context of two English translations of the Arabic religious text Sahih Muslim. The present study adopts an approach that focuses on both syntax and semantics to underline the interplay and/or dissociation of the two in practice. The study reveals that Siddiqui's versions of translating 'law' (and its variant 'law-la') and 'inn' structures into English are mostly inaccurate, where the syntax-semantics interplay and/or dissociation is not duly observed in practice. Khattab's versions, however, point to a tendency to start from the entrenched premise of literalism, which is stimulated by adopting the simplistic approach to English conditional structures, being akin to documentary translation where awkwardness is common practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Formal Comment the authors respond to objections to their previous Essay, reiterating that comparative linguistics is not an easy undertaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When learning a new language, we build brain networks to process and represent the acquired words and syntax and integrate these with existing language representations. It is an open question whether the same or different neural mechanisms are involved in learning and processing a novel language compared with the native language(s). Here we investigated the neural repetition effects of repeating known and novel word orders while human subjects were in the early stages of learning a new language. Combining a miniature language with a syntactic priming paradigm, we examined the neural correlates of language learning on-line using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior temporal cortex, the repetition of novel syntactic structures led to repetition enhancement, whereas repetition of known structures resulted in repetition suppression. Additional verb repetition led to an increase in the syntactic repetition enhancement effect in language-related brain regions. Similarly, the repetition of verbs led to repetition enhancement effects in areas related to lexical and semantic processing, an effect that continued to increase in a subset of these regions. Repetition enhancement might reflect a mechanism to build and strengthen a neural network to process novel syntactic structures and lexical items. By contrast, the observed repetition suppression points to overlapping neural mechanisms for native and new language constructions when these have sufficient structural similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural principles that provide a foundation for memory, perception, and decision-making include place coding with sparse distributed representations, associative synaptic modification, and attractor networks in which the storage capacity is in the order of the number of associatively modifiable recurrent synapses on any one neuron. Based on those and further principles of cortical computation, hypotheses are explored in which syntax is encoded in the cortex using sparse distributed place coding. Each cortical module 2–3 mm in diameter is proposed to be formed of a local attractor neuronal network with a capacity in the order of 10,000 words (e.g. subjects, verbs or objects depending on the module). Such a system may form a deep language-of-thought layer. For the information to be communicated to other people, the modules in which the neurons are firing which encode the syntactic role, as well as which neurons are firing to specify the words, must be communicated. It is proposed that one solution to this (used in English) is temporal order encoding, for example subject–verb–object. It is shown with integrate-and-fire simulations that this order encoding could be implemented by weakly forward-coupled subject–verb–object modules. A related system can decode a temporal sequence. This approach based on known principles of cortical computation needs to be extended to investigate further whether it could form a biological foundation for the implementation of language in the brain. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Brain and Memory . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new survey of switch-reference in the languages of North America. The survey's purposes are to provide a broad basis for future analysis of switch-reference (SR), spur further research on the languages included, and help revitalization efforts with a better understanding of what SR looks like and how it works. The survey catalogs 33 facts about SR morphology, semantics, and syntax, organized around central questions in SR research. The paper discusses the major findings based on the survey, some of which have major implications for theories of switch-reference: SR is found in nearly 70 American language varieties, mostly in the western United States and Mexico, often spreading by areal diffusion. Cross-linguistically, SR usually indicates subject co-reference across clauses. It is associated with every type of clause juncture except disjunction and is found throughout the verbal morphology. Morphological homophony with case is not due to a common semantic core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we investigate how the human brain processes small clauses and finite clauses. Small clauses are instances of ‘simpler’ syntax in the sense that they do not involve operations such as Move and Tense, and have been argued to represent an earlier stage of syntactic evolution before the development of fully-fledged syntax (Bickerton, 1990; Jackendoff 2010; Uriagereka, 2008). Understanding how the brain processes instances of different levels of syntactic complexity may further our understanding of (i) the analytical functions of specific brain regions, and (ii) the distribution of labor in the interpretation or different levels of syntax. To pursue this hypothesis, we ask whether small clauses require different analytical processes than regular syntax. This report provides evidence that they do. In an fMRI study of syntactic processing in a group of Mandarin speakers, small clauses showed greater activation of areas involved in semantic processing. In addition, both small and finite clauses showed substantial activation of areas implicated in syntactic and semantic processing, including significant RH activation. We interpret these findings with reference to Levinson's articulatory bottleneck: structures which appear simpler in terms of syntactic production may require more effort in parsing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to identify brain regions that are recruited by linguistic stimuli requiring relatively demanding semantic or syntactic processing. We included 54 functional MRI studies that explicitly varied the semantic or syntactic processing load, while holding constant demands on earlier stages of processing. We included studies that introduced a syntactic/semantic ambiguity or anomaly, used a priming manipulation that specifically reduced the load on semantic/syntactic processing, or varied the level of syntactic complexity. The results confirmed the critical role of the posterior left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (LIFG) in semantic and syntactic processing. These results challenge models of sentence comprehension highlighting the role of anterior LIFG for semantic processing. In addition, the results emphasise the posterior (but not anterior) temporal lobe for both semantic and syntactic processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents a number of restrictions on negation marking in Avar, a Northeast Caucasian language, and presents a tentative analysis of the observed morphosyntactic facts as having a semantic basis. The two different negation markers are analysed, based on the proposal in (Ramchand & Svenonius 2014), as taking complements of a different semantic type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This dissertation offers a thorough examination of the Modern Greek distributive determiner. Specific focus is placed on particular parameters that involve whole sentences, which seem to result in different readings (semantic interpretations). I conclude through my analysis, which is circumscribed within the syntax-LF interface, that a common mechanism of Agree/binding is responsible for the emergence of these different readings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally thought that Carnap's work in semantics decisively contributed to conform the view of language as calculus and to develop the model-theoretical approach to the theory of meaning. Whereas his research on the logical syntax of language was consistent with an understanding of language as a universal medium, in Introduction to Semantics and Meaning and Necessity he moved into the paradigm of language as calculus. In this paper I reinforce Hintikka's renewing work on Carnap's semantics, arguing that Meaning and Necessity still contains a variety of universalist ingredients. It is emphasized that the main feature of Carnap's semantics in this book is that of conceiving a theory of meaning as a translation theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sentence No head injury is too trivial to be ignored is often presented as a verbal illusion. According to the standard view, this sentence, which seems perfectly acceptable at first sight, is in fact logically incorrect. It is usually assumed that sentences such as these are produced as the result of negation overload, but get a coherent interpretation because of shallow processing, and because of pragmatic factors, which overrule semantics and syntax. In this paper it is argued that this analysis is incorrect and that No head injury is too trivial to be ignored can be seen as an instance of the negative ‘No X is too Z to Y' construction, which is a sub-construction of the abstract ‘No X is too Y to Z' construction. This negative construction can be seen as a conventionalized construction (form-meaning unit) that has a transparent (i.e. linguistically analyzable) syntactic structure that can be linked to and motivated by other constructions. It is shown that the occurrence of negative ‘No X is too Z to Y' construction has to do with the rhetorical function of the infinitival verb in these sentences, and the need to express particular information by a form-meaning element. This study stresses the importance of the rhetorical dimension of constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper argues that the structure, derivation and evolution of syntax is given by the sequence (elements, concatenation, embedding). We discuss the implications of this sequence for language and the numeral system in general and on the evolution of language in particular. A four-stage model of the evolution of syntax, broadly compatible with several earlier scenarios, is proposed. The four stages are (1) signs, (2) increased number of signs, (3) commutative concatenation, and (4) noncommutative concatenation. We support the model by showing that its stages can be adaptive per se, which could explain why they evolved. We also identify two preconditions for maintaining the stages: stage (2) depends on the ability to conceptualize asymmetric relations between concepts and the adaptiveness of stage (3) depends on cultural constraints on linguistic interpretation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article proposes a syntax and a semantics for intonation in English and some related languages. The semantics is 'surface-compositional', in the sense that syntactic derivation constructs information-structural logical form monotonically, without rules of structural revision, and without autonomous rules of 'focus projection'. This is made possible by the generalized notion of syntactic constituency afforded by combinatory categorial grammar (CCG)--in particular, the fact that its rules are restricted to string-adjacent type-driven combination. In this way, the grammar unites intonation structure and information structure with surface-syntactic derivational structure and Montague-style compositional semantics, even when they deviate radically from traditional surface structure. The article revises and extends earlier CCG-based accounts of intonational semantics, grounding hitherto informal notions like 'theme' and 'rheme' (a.k.a. 'topic' and 'comment', 'presupposition' and 'focus', etc.) and 'background' and 'contrast' (a.k.a. 'given' and 'new', 'focus', etc.) in a logic of speaker/hearer supposition and update, using a version of Rooth's alternative semantics. A CCG grammar fragment is defined that constrains language-specific intonation and its interpretation more narrowly than previous attempts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammar studies have focused lately on speech instead of on written language, being the latter the most traditional approach. This situation confronts us with the necessity of a new definition for some grammar concepts. This paper proposes a new definition for the concept of sentence so that it can be used for spoken Spanish analysis. Already existing definitions are evaluated and discarded because they do not fit with many normal speech structures. Besides, they usually are confusing regarding syntactic, prosodic and pragmatic features. We propose a new definition only based on grammar and semantic features. Conclusions show that this approach allows the syntactic analysis of speech in a much more accurate way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

King develops a syntax-based account of propositions based on the idea that propositional unity is grounded in the syntactic structure of the sentence. This account faces two objections: a Benacerraf objection and a grain-size objection. I argue that the syntax-based account survives both objections, as they have been put forward in the existing literature. I go on to show, however, that King equivocates between two distinct notions of ‘propositional structure’ when explaining his account. Once the confusion is resolved, it is clear that the syntax-based account suffers from both Benacerraf and grain-size problems after all. I conclude by showing that King's account can be revised to avoid these problems, but only if it abandons its motivating idea that it is syntax that unifies the proposition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined the neurocognition of late-learned second language (L2) Spanish in two groups of typical university foreign-language learners (as compared to native (L1) speakers): one group with only one year of college classroom experience, and low-intermediate proficiency (L2 Low), and another group with over three years of college classroom experience as well as 1–2 semesters of immersion experience abroad, and advanced proficiency (L2 Advanced). Semantic violations elicited N400s in all three groups, whereas syntactic word-order violations elicited LAN/P600 responses in the L1 and L2 Advanced groups, but not the L2 Low group. Indeed, the LAN and P600 responses were statistically indistinguishable between the L1 and L2 Advanced groups. The results support and extend previous findings. Consistent with previous research, the results suggest that L2 semantic processing always depends on L1-like neurocognitive mechanisms, whereas L2 syntactic processing initially differs from L1, but can shift to native-like processes with sufficient proficiency or exposure, and perhaps with immersion experience in particular. The findings further demonstrate that substantial native-like brain processing of syntax can be achieved even by typical university foreign-language learners. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In sentence processing, semantic and syntactic violations elicit differential brain responses observable in event-related potentials: An N400 signals semantic violations, whereas a P600 marks inconsistent syntactic structure. Does the brain register similar distinctions in scene perception? To address this question, we presented participants with semantic inconsistencies, in which an object was incongruent with a scene’s meaning, and syntactic inconsistencies, in which an object violated structural rules. We found a clear dissociation between semantic and syntactic processing: Semantic inconsistencies produced negative deflections in the N300-N400 time window, whereas mild syntactic inconsistencies elicited a late positivity resembling the P600 found for syntactic inconsistencies in sentence processing. Extreme syntactic violations, such as a hovering beer bottle defying gravity, were associated with earlier perceptual processing difficulties reflected in the N300 response, but failed to produce a P600 effect. We therefore conclude that different neural populations are active during semantic and syntactic processing of scenes, and that syntactically impossible object placements are processed in a categorically different manner than are syntactically resolvable object misplacements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]