@article{Hassler2019, author = {Haßler, Gerda}, title = {Theory of signs and ideas on the relation between language and thought at the border between the 18th and 19th centuries}, series = {Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Jazyk i literatura}, volume = {16}, journal = {Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Jazyk i literatura}, number = {3}, publisher = {St. Petersburg University Press}, address = {Sankt-Peterburg}, issn = {2541-9358}, doi = {10.21638/spbu09.2019.308}, pages = {463 -- 479}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The name Ideologues refers to a group of philosophers, psychologists, grammarians, educational theorists and medical specialists who for a short period from 1795 to 1805 determined the intellectual climate in France and sought to develop a science of ideas (id{\´e}ologie). The Ideologues had a rather reserved attitude to Condillac's (1714-1780) ideas and his sensualist sign theory. They strove for the perfection of language for the needs of thought and of scientific knowledge. The connections with the Ideologues can also be discerned in Russia. In the educational theory, Jean-Baptiste Maudru (1740-1808) was close to the Ideologues and, despite his insufficient knowledge of the Russian language, made some interesting remarks on the connection between the language and the national character. According to Maudru and in agreement with the Ideologues, different typologies of word order are not just an indication of greater or lesser closeness to the natural order. Rather, they indicate differences in national character, which manifest themselves in the specific character of individual languages. Maudru taught at the military academy in Saint Petersburg and published the first Russian grammar in France (Maudru 1802). In his grammar, he sought to link mechanically the specific features of languages and of national characters with the climatic influences. His attempt to revive the theory of climatic influences was criticized by Karamzin. Karamzin also treated the discussion of the metaphoric extension of word meanings as an absurd undertaking, which had no place in grammar.}, language = {en} } @article{FelserCunningsBatterhametal.2012, author = {Felser, Claudia and Cunnings, Ian and Batterham, Claire and Clahsen, Harald}, title = {The timing of Island effects in nonnative sentence processing}, series = {Studies in second language acquisition}, volume = {34}, journal = {Studies in second language acquisition}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {0272-2631}, doi = {10.1017/S0272263111000507}, pages = {67 -- 98}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Using the eye-movement monitoring technique in two reading comprehension experiments, this study investigated the timing of constraints on wh-dependencies (so-called island constraints) in first- and second-language (L1 and L2) sentence processing. The results show that both L1 and L2 speakers of English are sensitive to extraction islands during processing, suggesting that memory storage limitations affect L1 and L2 comprehenders in essentially the same way. Furthermore, these results show that the timing of island effects in L1 compared to L2 sentence comprehension is affected differently by the type of cue (semantic fit versus filled gaps) signaling whether dependency formation is possible at a potential gap site. Even though L1 English speakers showed immediate sensitivity to filled gaps but not to lack of semantic fit, proficient German-speaking learners of English as a L2 showed the opposite sensitivity pattern. This indicates that initial wh-dependency formation in L2 processing is based on semantic feature matching rather than being structurally mediated as in L1 comprehension.}, language = {en} } @misc{FelserCunningsBatterhametal.2012, author = {Felser, Claudia and Cunnings, Ian and Batterham, Claire and Clahsen, Harald}, title = {The timing of island effects in nonnative sentence processing}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-41517}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-415179}, pages = {32}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Using the eye-movement monitoring technique in two reading comprehension experiments, this study investigated the timing of constraints on wh-dependencies (so-called island constraints) in first- and second-language (L1 and L2) sentence processing. The results show that both L1 and L2 speakers of English are sensitive to extraction islands during processing, suggesting that memory storage limitations affect L1 and L2 comprehenders in essentially the same way. Furthermore, these results show that the timing of island effects in L1 compared to L2 sentence comprehension is affected differently by the type of cue (semantic fit versus filled gaps) signaling whether dependency formation is possible at a potential gap site. Even though L1 English speakers showed immediate sensitivity to filled gaps but not to lack of semantic fit, proficient German-speaking learners of English as a L2 showed the opposite sensitivity pattern. This indicates that initial wh-dependency formation in L2 processing is based on semantic feature matching rather than being structurally mediated as in L1 comprehension.}, language = {en} } @article{BordihnMitrana2020, author = {Bordihn, Henning and Mitrana, Victor}, title = {On the degrees of non-regularity and non-context-freeness}, series = {Journal of computer and system sciences}, volume = {108}, journal = {Journal of computer and system sciences}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {San Diego, Calif. [u.a.]}, issn = {0022-0000}, doi = {10.1016/j.jcss.2019.09.003}, pages = {104 -- 117}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We study the derivational complexity of context-free and context-sensitive grammars by counting the maximal number of non-regular and non-context-free rules used in a derivation, respectively. The degree of non-regularity/non-context-freeness of a language is the minimum degree of non-regularity/non-context-freeness of context-free/context-sensitive grammars generating it. A language has finite degree of non-regularity iff it is regular. We give a condition for deciding whether the degree of non-regularity of a given unambiguous context-free grammar is finite. The problem becomes undecidable for arbitrary linear context-free grammars. The degree of non-regularity of unambiguous context-free grammars generating non-regular languages as well as that of grammars generating deterministic context-free languages that are not regular is of order Omega(n). Context-free non-regular languages of sublinear degree of non-regularity are presented. A language has finite degree of non-context-freeness if it is context-free. Context-sensitive grammars with a quadratic degree of non-context-freeness are more powerful than those of a linear degree.}, language = {en} } @article{McElvenny2017, author = {McElvenny, James}, title = {Grammar, typology and the Humboldtian tradition in the work of Georg von der Gabelentz}, series = {Language \& history : journal of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas}, volume = {60}, journal = {Language \& history : journal of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1759-7536}, doi = {10.1080/17597536.2016.1212580}, pages = {1 -- 20}, year = {2017}, abstract = {A frequently mentioned if somewhat peripheral figure in the historiography of late nineteenth-century linguistics is the German sinologist and general linguist Georg von der Gabelentz (1840-1893). Today Gabelentz is chiefly remembered for several insights that proved to be productive in the development of subsequent schools and subdisciplines. In this paper, we examine two of these insights, his analytic and synthetic systems of grammar and his foundational work on typology. We show how they were intimately connected within his conception of linguistic research, and how this was in turn embedded in the tradition established by Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), especially as it was further developed by H. Steinthal (1823-1899). This paper goes beyond several previous works with a similar focus by drawing on a wider range of Gabelentz' writings, including manuscript sources that have only recently been published, and by examining specific textual connections between Gabelentz and his predecessors.}, language = {en} } @misc{HoehleHoernigWeskottetal.2014, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and H{\"o}rnig, Robin and Weskott, Thomas and Knauf, Selene and Kr{\"u}ger, Agnes}, title = {Effects of focus and definiteness on children's word order}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {511}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-41569}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-415695}, pages = {31}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Two experiments tested how faithfully German children aged 4; 5 to 5; 6 reproduce ditransitive sentences that are unmarked or marked with respect to word order and focus (Exp1) or definiteness (Exp2). Adopting an optimality theory (OT) approach, it is assumed that in the German adult grammar word order is ranked lower than focus and definiteness. Faithfulness of children's reproductions decreased as markedness of inputs increased; unmarked structures were reproduced most faithfully and unfaithful outputs had most often an unmarked form. Consistent with the OT proposal, children were more tolerant against inputs marked for word order than for focus; in conflict with the proposal, children were less tolerant against inputs marked for word order than for definiteness. Our results suggest that the linearization of objects in German double object constructions is affected by focus and definiteness, but that prosodic principles may have an impact on the position of a focused constituent.}, language = {en} }