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- Volume 23, Issue, 1999
Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language” - Volume 23, Issue 2, 1999
Volume 23, Issue 2, 1999
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Cognitive Universals and Linguistic Conventions: The Case of Resumptive Pronouns
Author(s): Mira Arielpp.: 217–269 (53)More LessGenerativist pragmatists and discourse grammarians both subscribe to a functional view of language, but they do not agree on the nature of pragmatic principles. Prince (1988a,b) has argued that form-function correlations are arbitrary and language specific. Discourse grammarians have argued that pragmatic, and even grammatical rules, emerge out of universal, natural and predictable extralinguistic pressures. I will argue that although the distribution of gaps and resumptive pronouns in relative clauses seems arbitrary and language specific, one cognitively-based form-function principle governs their distribution. Relative clauses where the head is highly accessible when the relativized position is processed take gaps, whereas relative clauses which maintain a relatively low degree of accessibility of the head when the relativized position is processed take resumptive pronouns. The differences between languages are then attributed to language-specific grammaticization processes, rather than to different motivations and/or discoursal patterns.
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The Grammaticization of Topics in American Sign Language
Author(s): Terry Janzenpp.: 271–306 (36)More LessThe topic construction of American Sign Language (ASL), within a topic-comment discourse structure framework, is explained as having emerged from gestural, communicative roots. In modern ASL, the prototypical topic construction is understood to grammatically mark pragmatic information that is accessible to both the signer and the addressee. But the construction is shown to have grammaticized further, with grammatical meaning having to do with text organization and with no reference to pragmatic, extra-linguistic information. The topic, however, is not seen as grammaticizing into a subject. Rather, the grammaticized topic remains prominent in ASL, with its own distinct set of resulting functions.
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Japanese Enter/Exit Verbs Without Motion Semantics
Author(s): Sotaro Kitapp.: 307–330 (24)More LessThe semantics of English and Japanese Enter/Exit verbs is compared. It is argued that the temporal schema encoded in the Japanese verbs hairu 'enter' and deru 'exit' is discrete change of state. For example, hairu encodes at one point in time, something is not inside, and at a later point in time the thing is inside. Unlike the English equivalents {enter, exit, go into, and go out of), there is no semantic commitment as to what happens in transition between the two states. The implications of this cross-linguistic difference on previous theories of semantics of spatial expressions are discussed.
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Object Agreement, Grammatical Relations, and Information Structure
Author(s): Irina Nikolaevapp.: 331–376 (46)More LessNorthern Ostyak (Uralic) has optional object agreement. This paper analyzes the grammatical behavior of objects that trigger agreement and objects that do not, and demonstrates that while the former participate in certain syntactic processes, the latter are syntactically inert. The asymmetry cannot be explained with reference to semantics or argument status, as both objects bear an identical argument relationship to the predicate. Following the functional approach to language, under which the clause has three independent representational levels (syntax, semantics, and information structure), I suggest that the two objects differ in their information structure status. The object that does not trigger agreement bears the focus function, and systematically corresponds to the focus position. It is further argued that virtually all grammatical relations in Ostyak demonstrate reduced syntactic activity when they are in focus. This leads to a search for an information structure-driven motivation for certain behavioral properties.
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Grammaticalization of Modality in Language Acquisition
Author(s): Anna Giacalone-Ramatpp.: 377–407 (31)More LessThe present study aims to provide empirical evidence for a number of claims concerning the grammaticalization of deontic and epistemic modality. It is based on results from a research project on the acquisition of Italian as a second language conventionally called the "Pavia Project". The organization is as follows: first, the relevance of Second Language Acquisition for linguistic theory and — conversely — the relevance of linguistic theory for interpreting results of empirical studies are advocated. Then a theoretical framework is established and the polysemy of modal verbs is presented as an essential issue to the present study. In Section 5 information on research design and subjects is provided and results are discussed. The focus is on the order of emergence of modal distinctions in learner varieties and the types of encoding of modal notions preferred by learners. It will be shown that deontic modality is straightforwardly expressed through modal verbs, while epistemic modality is expressed through a number of different means.Conclusions are drawn, and implications for the study of modality and for principles governing learner languages are assessed.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 49 (2025)
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Volume 46 (2022)
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Volume 45 (2021)
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Volume 44 (2020)
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Volume 43 (2019)
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Volume 23 (1999)
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Volume 22 (1998)
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Volume 21 (1997)
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Volume 20 (1996)
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