- Home
- e-Journals
- Language and Linguistics
- Previous Issues
- Volume 18, Issue 4, 2017
Language and Linguistics - Volume 18, Issue 4, 2017
Volume 18, Issue 4, 2017
-
On the status of functional categories (heads and phrases)
Author(s): Guglielmo Cinquepp.: 521–576 (56)More LessAbstractIn this article I would like to revisit one aspect of the structure of the functional sequence of the clause in light of certain recent developments, in particular Kayne’s (2016) proposal that all heads are necessarily silent. I will also discuss the possibility that (certain) silent heads may be endowed with single features that denote complex notions taking progressive aspect as a case in point.
-
The pitfalls of negative evidence
Author(s): Robert Blust and Victoria Chenpp.: 577–621 (45)More LessAbstractBeginning with publications in the early 1980s there have been attempts to use syntactic data to determine the highest-order subgroups of Austronesian. These efforts fall into two categories: those which claim that the voice affixes of Philippine-type languages originally had exclusively nominalizing functions, and those which claim that the affixes themselves were innovated after the separation of Rukai from the ancestor of all other Austronesian languages. Although these ideas lay dormant for some years, recently both have been revived in renewed efforts to show that the Austronesian family tree is not ‘rake-like’ in its highest nodes, but shows extensive embedding of subgroups that can be justified by successive layers of syntactic innovations. This paper questions the methodological soundness of both types of arguments on the grounds that they appeal to negative evidence, and logically any such appeal can do no better than reach an inference of indeterminate status rather than the positive conclusions that have been proposed.
-
Perception of tones in Mandarin and Dutch adult listeners
Author(s): Liquan Liu, Ao Chen and René Kagerpp.: 622–646 (25)More LessAbstractThis paper examines the nature of categorical perception (CP) effects in Mandarin and Dutch adult listeners through identification and discrimination tasks using lexical tonal contrasts and through the CP index analysis. In identification tasks, Mandarin listeners identify tones in accordance with their native tonal categories whereas Dutch listeners do so based on acoustic properties. In discrimination tasks, Dutch listeners outperform Mandarin listeners especially in tonal steps on the continuum falling within the Mandarin tonal category boundary, whereas Mandarin listeners display high sensitivity in discrimination of stimuli falling across the native boundary. The CP index analysis shows a higher degree of CP in Mandarin (categorical perception) than in Dutch (psycho-acoustic perception) listeners.
-
On some mysteries, asymmetries and derivation of potential de construction in Chinese
Author(s): Changsong Wangpp.: 647–698 (52)More LessAbstractIn this paper, some mysteries and asymmetries of the Chinese potential de construction are investigated. It is shown that a morphosytnactic approach is conducive to accounting for these puzzles. First we explore the possibility of taking de and its negative counterpart -bude as functional heads (cf. Tsai 2001; T. Wu 2004). It is proposed that bude could be a functional head with the negative potential (i.e. impossible/impermissible) meaning. This could be evidenced by both empirical data and theoretical deduction. It is argued that bu in V-bu-R, which is distinct from the normal pre-verbal negative morpheme bu, is actually bude. This helps to explain why the negative potential meaning is involved in V-bu-R. Meanwhile, V-de/bude and V-de/bu-R are both assumed to be formed through Morphological Merger (cf. Marantz 1988; Embick & Noyer 2001, 2007, etc.). Meanwhile, we have discussed some asymmetries observed between V-de/bude and V-de/bu-R and some paradigmatic asymmetries between potential V-de construction and its negative potential V-bude construction. It is assumed that these syntactic asymmetries may be due to some morphological operations related to de and bude.
Most Read This Month

-
-
Structure of numerals and classifiers in Chinese
Author(s): One-Soon Her (何萬順)
-
-
-
From caused-motion to spatial configuration
Author(s): Meichun Liu and Juiching Chang
-
- More Less