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Coordinated subjects often show variable number agreement with the finite verb, but linguistic approaches to this phenomenon have rarely been informed by systematically collected data. We report the results from three experiments investigating German speakers' agreement preferences with complex subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions sowohl horizontal ellipsis als auch ('both horizontal ellipsis and'), weder horizontal ellipsis noch ('neither horizontal ellipsis nor') or entweder horizontal ellipsis oder ('either horizontal ellipsis or'). We examine to what extent conjunction type and a conjunct's relative proximity to the verb affect the acceptability and processibility of singular vs. plural agreement. Experiment 1 was an untimed acceptability rating task, Experiment 2 a timed sentence completion task, and Experiment 3 was a self-paced reading task. Taken together, our results show that number agreement with correlative coordination in German is primarily determined by a default constraint triggering plural agreement, which interacts with linear order and semantic factors. Semantic differences between conjunctions only affected speakers' agreement preferences in the absence of processing pressure but not their initial agreement computation. The combined results from our offline and online experimental measures of German speakers' agreement preferences suggest that the constraints under investigation do not only differ in their relative weighting but also in their relative timing during agreement computation.
Temporal propositions are mapped to sets of strings that witness (in a precise sense) the propositions over discrete linear Kripke frames. The strings are collected into regular languages to ensure the decidability of entailments given by inclusions between languages. (Various notions of bounded entailment are shown to be expressible as language inclusions.) The languages unwind computations implicit in the logical (and temporal) connectives via a system of finite-state constraints adapted from finite-state morphology. Applications to Hybrid Logic and non-monotonic inertial reasoning are briefly considered.
Although all bilinguals encounter cross-language interference (CLI), some bilinguals are more susceptible to interference than others. Here, we report on language performance of late bilinguals (Russian/German) on two bilingual tasks (interview, verbal fluency), their language use and switching habits. The only between-group difference was CLI: one group consistently produced significantly more errors of CLI on both tasks than the other (thereby replicating our findings from a bilingual picture naming task). This striking group difference in language control ability can only be explained by differences in cognitive control, not in language proficiency or language mode.
Processes involved in late bilinguals' production of morphologically complex words were studied using an event-related brain potentials (ERP) paradigm in which EEGs were recorded during participants' silent productions of English past- and present-tense forms. Twenty-three advanced second language speakers of English (first language [L1] German) were compared to a control group of 19 L1 English speakers from an earlier study. We found a frontocentral negativity for regular relative to irregular past-tense forms (e.g., asked vs. held) during (silent) production, and no difference for the present-tense condition (e.g., asks vs. holds), replicating the ERP effect obtained for the L1 group. This ERP effect suggests that combinatorial processing is involved in producing regular past-tense forms, in both late bilinguals and L1 speakers. We also suggest that this paradigm is a useful tool for future studies of online language production.
Processes involved in late bilinguals' production of morphologically complex words were studied using an event-related brain potentials (ERP) paradigm in which EEGs were recorded during participants' silent productions of English past- and present-tense forms. Twenty-three advanced second language speakers of English (first language [L1] German) were compared to a control group of 19 L1 English speakers from an earlier study. We found a frontocentral negativity for regular relative to irregular past-tense forms (e.g., asked vs. held) during (silent) production, and no difference for the present-tense condition (e.g., asks vs. holds), replicating the ERP effect obtained for the L1 group. This ERP effect suggests that combinatorial processing is involved in producing regular past-tense forms, in both late bilinguals and L1 speakers. We also suggest that this paradigm is a useful tool for future studies of online language production.
Focus expressions in Foodo
(2007)
This paper aims at presenting different ways of expressing focus in Foodo, a Guang language. We can differentiate between marked and unmarked focus strategies. The marked focus expressions are first syntactically characterized: the focused constituent is in sentence-initial position and is second always marked obligatorily by a focus marker, which is nɩ for non-subjects and N for subjects. Complementary to these structures, Foodo knows an elliptic form consisting of the focused constituent and a predication marker gɛ́. It will be shown that the two focus markers can be analyzed as having developed out of the homophone conjunction nɩ and that the constraints on the use of the focus markers can be best explained by this fact.
This is the second part of the presentation of data elicited by means of QUIS within the project on information structure in Gur and Kwa languages. Whereas the first part (Anne Schwarz) introduces the project and the rationals behind the development of the focus translation task, this part provides some comparative remarks gained from the data presented in both parts.
This paper investigates the structural properties of morphosyntactically marked focus constructions, focussing on the often neglected non-focal sentence part in African tone languages. Based on new empirical evidence from five Gur and Kwa languages, we claim that these focus expressions have to be analysed as biclausal constructions even though they do not represent clefts containing restrictive relative clauses. First, we relativize the partly overgeneralized assumptions about structural correspondences between the out-of-focus part and relative clauses, and second, we show that our data do in fact support the hypothesis of a clause coordinating pattern as present in clause sequences in narration. It is argued that we deal with a non-accidental, systematic feature and that grammaticalization may conceal such basic narrative structures.
Especially for the last twenty years, the studies of Linguistic Landscapes (LLs) have been gaining the status as an autonomous linguistic discipline. The LL of a (mostly) geographically limited area – which consists of e.g. billboards, posters, shop signs, material for election campaigns, etc. – gives deep insights into the presence or absence of languages in that particular area. Thus, LL not only allows to conclude from the presence of a language to its dominance, but also from its absence to the oppression of minorities, above all in areas where minority languages should – demographically seen – be visible. The LLs of big cities are fruitful research areas due to the mass of linguistic data. The first part of this paper deals with the theoretical and practical research that has been conducted in LL studies so far. A summary of the theory, methodologies and different approaches is given. In the second part I apply the theoretical basis to my own case study. For this, the LLs of two shopping streets in different areas of Hong Kong were examined in 2010. It seems likely that the linguistic competence of English must be rather high in Hong Kong, due to the long-lasting influence of British culture and mentality and the official status of the language. The case study's results are based on empirical data showing the objectively visible presence of English in both examined areas, as well as on two surveys. Those were conducted both openly and anonymously. The surveys are a reinsurance measuring the level of linguistic competence of English in Hong Kong. That level was defined before by an analysis of the LL. Hence, this case study is a new approach to LL analysis which does not end with the description of its material composition (as have done most studies before), but which rather includes its creators by asking in what way people's actual linguistic competence is reflected in Hong Kong's LL.
The present paper addresses a current view in the psycholinguistic literature that case exhibits processing properties distinct from those of other morphological features such as number (cf. Fodor & Inoue, 2000; Meng & Bader, 2000a/b). In a speeded-acceptability judgement experiment, we show that the low performance previously found for case in contrast to number violations is limited to nominative case, whereas violations involving accusative and dative are judged more accurately. The data thus do not support the proposal that case per se is associated with special properties (in contrast to other features such as number) in reanalysis processes. Rather, there are significant judgement differences between the object cases accusative and dative on the one hand and the subject nominative case on the other. This may be explained by the fact that nominative has a specific status in German (and many other languages) as a default case.
An important strand of research has investigated the question of how children acquire a morphological system using offline data from spontaneous or elicited child language. Most of these studies have found dissociations in how children apply regular and irregular inflection (Marcus et al. 1992, Weyerts & Clahsen 1994, Rothweiler & Clahsen 1993). These studies have considerably deepened our understanding of how linguistic knowledge is acquired and organised in the human mind. Their methodological procedures, however, do not involve measurements of how children process morphologically complex forms in real time. To date, little is known about how children process inflected word forms. The aim of this study is to investigate children’s processing of inflected words in a series of on-line reaction time experiments. We used a cross-modal priming experiment to test for decompositional effects on the central level. We used a speeded production task and a lexical decision task to test for frequency effects on access level in production and recognition. Children’s behaviour was compared to adults’ behaviour towards three participle types (-t participles, e.g. getanzt ‘danced’ vs. -n participles with stem change, e.g. gebrochen ‘broken’ vs.-n participles without stem change, e.g. geschlafen ‘slept’). For the central level, results indicate that -t participles but not -n participles have decomposed representations. For the access level, results indicate that -t participles are represented according to their morphemes and additionally as full forms, at least from the age of nine years onwards (Pinker 1999 and Clahsen et al. 2004). Further evidence suggested that -n participles are represented as full-form entries on access level and that -n participles without stem change may encode morphological structure (cf. Clahsen et al. 2003). Out data also suggests that processing strategies for -t participles are differently applied in recognition and production. These results provide evidence that children (within the age range tested) employ the same mechanisms for processing participles as adults. The child lexicon grows as children form additional full-form representations for -t participles on access level and elaborate their full-form lexical representations of -n participles on central level. These results are consistent with processing as explained in dual-system theories.
Die Publikation zu Sprachwandelprozessen im Russischen und Ukrainischen beschreibt eine ausschlaggebende Phase der neueren Sprachgeschichte Russlands und der Ukraine (1985–2008). Im Fokus steht die Anglisierung als eine der Haupttendenzen der aktuellen sprachlichen Destandardisierung europäischer Sprachen. Die Autorin zeigt am Beispiel der Anglisierung in der Werbesprache die Destandardisierung des Russischen und Ukrainischen nach 1985 auf. Diese korpusbasierte Untersuchung umfasst sowohl die quantitative (statistische) als auch die qualitative (systemlinguistische) Analyse des werbesprachlichen Korpus. Die quantitative chronologische Analyse belegt die deutlich stärkere Dynamik der Anglisierung im Ukrainischen nach 1998. Die qualitative Analyse illustriert die unterschiedlichen bzw. gemeinsamen innerlinguistischen Prozesse in beiden Sprachen, insbesondere Anglizismen-Integration und Standardisierungswege.
This project describes the nominal, verbal and ‘truncation’ systems of Awing and explains the syntactic and semantic functions of the multifunctional l<-><-> (LE) morpheme in copular and wh-focused constructions. Awing is a Bantu Grassfields language spoken in the North West region of Cameroon. The work begins with morphological processes viz. deverbals, compounding, reduplication, borrowing and a thorough presentation of the pronominal system and takes on verbal categories viz. tense, aspect, mood, verbal extensions, negation, adverbs and triggers of a homorganic N(asal)-prefix that attaches to the verb and other verbal categories. Awing grammar also has a very unusual phenomenon whereby nouns and verbs take long and short forms. A chapter entitled truncation is dedicated to the phenomenon. It is observed that the truncation process does not apply to bare singular NPs, proper names and nouns derived via morphological processes. On the other hand, with the exception of the 1st person non-emphatic possessive determiner and the class 7 noun prefix, nouns generally take the truncated form with modifiers (i.e., articles, demonstratives and other possessives). It is concluded that nominal truncation depicts movement within the DP system (Abney 1987). Truncation of the verb occurs in three contexts: a mass/plurality conspiracy (or lattice structuring in terms of Link 1983) between the verb and its internal argument (i.e., direct object); a means to align (exhaustive) focus (in terms of Fery’s 2013), and a means to form polar questions.
The second part of the work focuses on the role of the LE morpheme in copular and wh-focused clauses. Firstly, the syntax of the Awing copular clause is presented and it is shown that copular clauses in Awing have ‘subject-focus’ vs ‘topic-focus’ partitions and that the LE morpheme indirectly relates such functions. Semantically, it is shown that LE does not express contrast or exhaustivity in copular clauses. Turning to wh-constructions, the work adheres to Hamblin’s (1973) idea that the meaning of a question is the set of its possible answers and based on Rooth’s (1985) underspecified semantic notion of alternative focus, concludes that the LE morpheme is not a Focus Marker (FM) in Awing: LE does not generate or indicate the presence of alternatives (Krifka 2007); The LE morpheme can associate with wh-elements as a focus-sensitive operator with semantic import that operates on the focus alternatives by presupposing an exhaustive answer, among other notions. With focalized categories, the project further substantiates the claim in Fominyam & Šimík (2017), namely that exhaustivity is part of the semantics of the LE morpheme and not derived via contextual implicature, via a number of diagnostics. Hence, unlike in copular clauses, the LE morpheme with wh-focused categories is analysed as a morphological exponent of a functional head Exh corresponding to Horvath's (2010) EI (Exhaustive Identification). The work ends with the syntax of verb focus and negation and modifies the idea in Fominyam & Šimík (2017), namely that the focalized verb that associates with the exhaustive (LE) particle is a lower copy of the finite verb that has been moved to Agr. It is argued that the LE-focused verb ‘cluster’ is an instantiation of adjunction. The conclusion is that verb doubling with verb focus in Awing is neither a realization of two copies of one and the same verb (Fominyam and Šimík 2017), nor a result of a copy triggered by a focus marker (Aboh and Dyakonova 2009). Rather, the focalized copy is said to be merged directly as the complement of LE forming a type of adjoining cluster.
In der neurologischen Rehabilitation werden in zunehmendem Maße tracheotomierte Patienten mit schweren Dysphagien behandelt. Daher sollte den hierzu bisher entwickelten Interventionsverfahren eine evidenzbasierte Grundlage gegeben werden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein multidisziplinärer Behandlungsansatz zur Trachealkanülenentwöhung und Dekanülierung vorgestellt, der auf der Grundlage der relevanten Forschungsliteratur und klinischen Beobachtungen entwickelt wurde. Des Weiteren wird erstmals eine systematische Evaluation eines multidisziplinären Trachealkanülenmangements vorgenommen und es werden explorative Daten zum Rehabilitationsverlauf dargestellt. In einem retrospektiven Vergleich wurden hierzu die Dekanülierungs- und Komplikationsraten sowie die Dauer der Trachealkanülenentwöhnung zweier Patientengruppen gegenübergestellt, die vor bzw. nach Einführung des beschriebenen multidisziplinären Trachealkanülenmanagements im REHAB Basel, Schweiz, behandelt wurden. Der rehabilitative Verlauf der multidisziplinär behandelten Gruppe wurde mittels der Messinstrumente FIM (Functional Independence Measure) und EFA (Early Functional Abilities) untersucht. Der Vergleich der Dekanülierungs- und Komplikationsraten ergab eine vergleichbare Effektivität der beiden Behandlungsansätze. Darüber hinaus zeigte sich eine signifikante Verkürzung der Kanülenentwöhnungsphase bei Anwendung des multidisziplinären Vorgehens, so dass dieses als effizenter zu beurteilen ist. Die Verlaufsanalyse der multidisziplinär behandelten Patienten ergab erst nach der Dekanülierung einen signifikanten Zuwachs der funktionellen Selbständigkeit in Alltagsaktivitäten. Bei der Mehrzahl der Patienten konnte ein vollständiger oraler Kostaufbau nach der Dekanülierung erreicht werden.
Inhalt: 1. Einleitung 2. Fragestellungen 3. Methoden 3.1 Methodisches Vorgehen: Interdisziplinäre Trachealkanülenentwöhnung und Dekanülierungsentscheidung im Basler Ansatz 3.2 Methodisches Vorgehen: Probanden und Messverfahren 4. Ergebnisse 4.1 Effektivität und Effizienz des multidisziplinären Ansatzes: Dekanülierungs- und Komplikationsraten und Therapiedauer bis zur Dekanülierung 4.2 Einfluss der Dekanülierung auf den Rehabilitationsverlauf funktioneller Fähigkeiten: Vergleich der funktionellen Selbständigkeit vor vs. nach der Dekanülierung 4.3 Entwicklung der Schluckfunktion und oralen Nahrungsaufnahme nach der Dekanülierung 5. Diskussion 6. Fazit 7. Literatur 8. Danksagung
Auszug: Wie arbeitet unser Gehirn? Was sind die Grundlagen der Kognition? Wie funktioniert unser Sprachsystem? Das ist nur ein kleiner Teil der Probleme, mit denen sich Kognitionsforscher und Neurowissenschaftler auf der ganzen Welt auseinandersetzen. Die Frage nach den neurofunktionellen Grundlagen der Sprachverarbeitung hat dabei zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Obwohl jedes gesunde Kind problemlos und auch unter schwierigen Bedingungen Sprache erwerben und verwenden kann, sind die zugrunde liegenden kognitiven und neurofunktionellen Mechanismen hierfür noch weitgehend ungeklärt. Immer häufiger werden neurolinguistische Fragestellungen mit funktionell-bildgebenden und anderen modernen Verfahren der Hirnforschung untersucht. Ein wesentliches Ziel dieser Forschungsbemühungen ist es, herauszufinden, wie Bedeutungen und Wörter in unserem Gehirn gespeichert sind. Ein besonderes Interesse wird gegenwärtig dem Problem der neuronalen Verarbeitung von Nomen und Verben entgegengebracht. Aktuelle Fragestellungen sind dabei, welche neuroanatomischen Korrelate der Verarbeitung von Nomen und Verben unterliegen und ob es Faktoren gibt, die die Verarbeitung beeinflussen. Zur Beantwortung dieser und weiterer Fragestellungen wurden im Rahmen meines Forschungsprojektes1 funktionelle Magnetresonanzdaten zum Benennen von Nomen und Verben bereitgestellt. Die wichtigsten Methoden und Ergebnisse sollen im Folgenden kurz dargelegt werden. [...]
This article presents several acceptability rating experiments concerned with crossing wh-movement in German multiple questions. Our results show that there is no general superiority effect in German, thus refuting claims to the contrary by Featherston (2005). However, acceptability is reduced when a whphrase crosses a wh-subject with which it agrees in animacy. We explain this finding in terms of the availability of different sorting keys for the answers to the multiple questions.
Verfahren des Genre-Lernens
(2020)
Der Ansatz des genrebasierten Fremdsprachenlernens basiert auf der Grundannahme, dass sich Kommunikation in der Form kultureller Genres vollzieht, die eine spezifische textuelle und interaktionale Form aufweisen. Wer erfolgreich kommunizieren will, muss daher je nach sozialem Kontext und Kommunikationszweck eine Form der Äußerung wählen, die dem entsprechenden Anlass bzw. der Situation angemessen und für die Kommunikationsabsicht zielführend ist. Für den Fremdsprachenunterricht leitet sich daraus das Ziel bzw. die Aufgabe ab, Lernende beim Erwerb dieser Kommunikationsformate bzw. Genres zu unterstützen.
Simulationen
(2020)
Bei Simulationen im Fremdsprachenunterricht handelt es sich um eine ganz-heitliche Lehr-Lern-Methode, in der Lernende mit einer realen oder realitäts-bezogenen Kommunikationssituation konfrontiert werden, um ihre Kompetenzen zur Bewältigung dieser Situation weiterzuentwickeln. Kennzeichnend für die Simulation sind u. a. der Spielcharakter, die Komplexität, Offenheit und Dynamik: Im Vergleich zu Rollenspielen übernehmen alle Lernenden eine Rolle in der Simulation, die in ihrer Ausgestaltung nicht festgelegt ist und den Lernenden Gestaltungsspielräume bietet. Der Verlauf und der Ausgang einer Simulation sind zumeist offen, so dass durch das Handeln der Lernenden eine eigene Dynamik in der simulierten Wirklichkeit entsteht, die wiederum zur aktiven Mitgestaltung motivieren kann.
Rollenspiel
(2020)
Das Rollenspiel wird im Fremdsprachenunterricht eingesetzt, um die freie, interaktive Verwendung der Fremdsprache in realen bzw.oder realitätsbezogenen Kommunikationssituationen zu fördern bzw.und einzuüben. Im Sinne kommunikativen Fremdsprachenunterrichts und des Prinzips der situated practice geht es um die kommunikative und gebrauchsbezogene Verwendung der Fremdsprache: Lernende erhalten im Rollenspiel die Möglichkeit, ihre Fähigkeiten zum sprachlichen und interaktiven Handeln in konkreten Gesprächssituationen zu entwickeln.
This article illustrates how pre-service English teachers’ diagnostic skills of pragmatic competences can be developed in an interdisciplinary seminar that focuses on assessing foreign language learners’ interactional competence (specifically turn-taking, action accomplishment, repair). A competence-oriented approach was chosen to model the linguistic and didactic skills required by language teachers to assess learners’ pragmatic competence in role plays.
Dieser Band versammelt Originaldaten aus einer Erhebung, die im Rahmen des SFB-Teilprojekts B6 „Kiezdeutsch“ im Frühjahr 2010 in Berlin und İzmir, Türkei, durchgeführt wurde. Sämtliche hier dokumentierten Daten wurden schriftlich produziert; sie stammen von drei verschiedenen Sprechergruppen: Jugendliche aus einem multiethnischen Berliner Wohngebiet, die untereinander Kiezdeutsch sprechen, Jugendliche aus einem monoethnischen Berliner Wohngebiet, in dem der traditionelle Berliner Dialekt vorherrscht, und türkische Jugendliche in İzmir, die Deutsch als Fremdsprache gesteuert erworben haben.
Aging in speech production is a multidimensional process. Biological, cognitive, social, and communicative factors can change over time, stay relatively stable, or may even compensate for each other. In this longitudinal work, we focus on stability and change at the laryngeal and supralaryngeal levels in the discourse particle euh produced by 10 older French-speaking females at two times, 10 years apart. Recognizing the multiple discourse roles of euh, we divided out occurrences according to utterance position. We quantified the frequency of euh, and evaluated acoustic changes in formants, fundamental frequency, and voice quality across time and utterance position. Results showed that euh frequency was stable with age. The only acoustic measure that revealed an age effect was harmonics-to-noise ratio, showing less noise at older ages. Other measures mostly varied with utterance position, sometimes in interaction with age. Some voice quality changes could reflect laryngeal adjustments that provide for airflow conservation utterance-finally. The data suggest that aging effects may be evident in some prosodic positions (e.g., utterance-final position), but not others (utterance-initial position). Thus, it is essential to consider the interactions among these factors in future work and not assume that vocal aging is evident throughout the signal.
Phonologie des Deutschen
(2004)
Inhalt: Kapitel 1: Phonetische Grundlagen: Akustische Phonetik Kapitel 2: Phonetische Grundlagen: Artikulatorische Phonetik Kapitel 3: Segment und Allophonie Kapitel 4: Distinktive Merkmale Kapitel 5: Die Silbe: prosodische Struktur der Wörter Kapitel 6: Derivationen und OT: die phonologischen Theorien
In a first step, definitions of the irreducible information structural categories are given, and in a second step, it is shown that there are no invariant phonological or otherwise grammatical correlates of these categories. In other words, the phonology, syntax or morphology are unable to define information structure. It is a common mistake that information structural categories are expressed by invariant grammatical correlates, be they syntactic, morphological or phonological. It is rather the case that grammatical cues help speaker and hearer to sort out which element carries which information structural role, and only in this sense are the grammatical correlates of information structure important. Languages display variation as to the role of grammar in enhancing categories of information structure, and this variation reflects the variation found in the ‘normal’ syntax and phonology of languages.
A series of production and perception experiments investigating the prosody and well-formedness of special sentences, called Wide Focus Partial Fronting (WFPF), which consist of only one prosodic phrase and a unique initial accented argument, are reported on here. The results help us to decide between different models of German prosody. The absence of pitch height difference on the accent of the sentence speaks in favor of a relative model of prosody, in which accents are scaled relative to each other, and against models in which pitch accents are scaled in an absolute way. The results also speak for a model in which syntax, but not information structure, influences the prosodic phrasing. Finally, perception experiments show that the prosodic structure of sentences with a marked word order needs to be presented for grammaticality judgments. Presentation of written material only is not enough, and falsifies the results.
Phonology and intonation
(2007)
The encoding standards for phonology and intonation are designed to facilitate consistent annotation of the phonological and intonational aspects of information structure, in languages across a range of prosodic types. The guidelines are designed with the aim that a nonspecialist in phonology can both implement and interpret the resulting annotation.
Results of a production experiment on the placement of sentence accent in German are reported. The hypothesis that German fulfills some of the most widely accepted rules of accent assignment— predicting focus domain integration—was only partly confirmed. Adjacency between argument and verb induces a single accent on the argument, as recognized in the literature, but interruption of this sequence by a modifier often induces remodeling of the accent pattern with a single accent on the modifier. The verb is rarely stressed. All models based on linear alignment or adjacency between elements belonging to a single accent domain fail to account for this result. A cyclic analysis of prosodic domain formation is proposed in an optimality-theoretic framework that can explain the accent pattern. Japanese wh-questions always exhibit focus intonation (FI). Furthermore, the domain of FI exhibits a correspondence to the wh-scope. I propose that this phonology-semantics correspondence is a result of the cyclic computation of FI, which is explained under the notion of Multiple Spell-Out in the recent Minimalist framework. The proposed analysis makes two predictions: (1) embedding of an FI into another is possible; (2) (overt) movement of a wh-phrase to a phase edge position causes a mismatch between FI and wh-scope. Both predictions are tested experimentally, and shown to be borne out.
The influence of information structure on tonal scaling in German is examined experimentally. Eighteen speakers uttered a total of 2277 sentences of the same syntactic structure, but with a varying number of constituents, word order and focus-given structure. The quantified results for German support findings for other Germanic languages that the scaling of high tones, and thus the entire melodic pattern, is influenced by information structure. Narrow focus raised the high tones of pitch accents, while givenness lowered them in prenuclear position and canceled them out postnuclearly. The effects of focus and givenness are calculated against all-new sentences as a baseline, which we expected to be characterized by downstep, a significantly lower scaling of high tones as compared to declination. The results further show that information structure alone cannot account for all variations. We therefore assume that dissimilatory tonal effects play a crucial role in the tonal scaling of German. The effects consist of final f0 drop, a steep fall from a raised high tone to the bottom line of the speaker, H-raising before a low tone, and H-lowering before a raised high tone. No correlation between word order and tone scaling could be established. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The role of case and animacy in biand monolingual children’s sentence interpretation in German
(2019)
German-speaking children appear to have a strong N1-bias when interpreting non-canonical OVSsentences. During sentence interpretation, especially unambiguous accusative and dative case markers (den ‘the-ACC’ and dem ‘the-DAT’) weaken the N1-bias and help building up sentence interpretation strategies on the basis of morphological cues. Still, the N1-bias prevails beyond the age of five (Brandt et al. 2016, Cristante 2016, Dittmar et al. 2008) and remains until puberty (Lidzba et al. 2013). This paper investigates whether prototypical case-animacy coalitions (denACC + N INANIMATE and demDAT + N ANIMATE ) strengthen a morphologically based sentence interpretation strategy in German. The experiment discussed in this paper tests for effects of such case-animacy coalitions in mono- and bilingual primary school children. 20 German monolinguals, 12 Dutch-German and 17 Russian-German bilinguals with a mean age of 9;6 were tested in a forced-choice off-line experiment. Results indicate that case-animacy coalitions weaken the N1-bias in OVS-conditions in German monolinguals and Dutch-German bilinguals, while no effects were found for Russian-German bilinguals. Together with an analysis of individual differences, these group-specific effects are discussed in terms of a developmental approach that represents a gradual cue strength adjustment process in mono- and bilingual children.
The role of case and animacy in biand monolingual children’s sentence interpretation in German
(2019)
German-speaking children appear to have a strong N1-bias when interpreting non-canonical OVSsentences. During sentence interpretation, especially unambiguous accusative and dative case markers (den ‘the-ACC’ and dem ‘the-DAT’) weaken the N1-bias and help building up sentence interpretation strategies on the basis of morphological cues. Still, the N1-bias prevails beyond the age of five (Brandt et al. 2016, Cristante 2016, Dittmar et al. 2008) and remains until puberty (Lidzba et al. 2013). This paper investigates whether prototypical case-animacy coalitions (denACC + N INANIMATE and demDAT + N ANIMATE ) strengthen a morphologically based sentence interpretation strategy in German. The experiment discussed in this paper tests for effects of such case-animacy coalitions in mono- and bilingual primary school children. 20 German monolinguals, 12 Dutch-German and 17 Russian-German bilinguals with a mean age of 9;6 were tested in a forced-choice off-line experiment. Results indicate that case-animacy coalitions weaken the N1-bias in OVS-conditions in German monolinguals and Dutch-German bilinguals, while no effects were found for Russian-German bilinguals. Together with an analysis of individual differences, these group-specific effects are discussed in terms of a developmental approach that represents a gradual cue strength adjustment process in mono- and bilingual children.
Mundos comunes
(2017)
A partir de la constatación de una serie de movimientos y diálogos artísticos, correspondientes a las décadas del setenta y ochenta, su tesis doctoral interroga la noción de “lo latinoamericano” en el ámbito del arte y la cultura. La investigación realiza un “viaje recopilatorio” de documentos a través de distintas ciudades europeas que permiten problematizar el lugar, la comunidad y la memoria cultural de lo latinoamericano.
Children's online use of word order and morphosyntactic markers in Tagalog thematic role assignment
(2019)
We investigated whether Tagalog-speaking children incrementally interpret the first noun as the agent, even if verbal and nominal markers for assigning thematic roles are given early in Tagalog sentences. We asked five- and seven-year-old children and adult controls to select which of two pictures of reversible actions matched the sentence they heard, while their looks to the pictures were tracked. Accuracy and eye-tracking data showed that agent-initial sentences were easier to comprehend than patient-initial sentences, but the effect of word order was modulated by voice. Moreover, our eye-tracking data provided evidence that, by the first noun phrase, seven-year-old children looked more to the target in the agent-initial compared to the patient-initial conditions, but this word order advantage was no longer observed by the second noun phrase. The findings support language processing and acquisition models which emphasize the role of frequency in developing heuristic strategies (e.g., Chang, Dell, & Bock, 2006).
It is a common finding across languages that young children have problems in understanding patient-initial sentences. We used Tagalog, a verb-initial language with a reliable voice-marking system and highly frequent patient voice constructions, to test the predictions of several accounts that have been proposed to explain this difficulty: the frequency account, the Competition Model, and the incremental processing account. Study 1 presents an analysis of Tagalog child-directed speech, which showed that the dominant argument order is agent-before-patient and that morphosyntactic markers are highly valid cues to thematic role assignment. In Study 2, we used a combined self-paced listening and picture verification task to test how Tagalog-speaking adults and 5- and 7-year-old children process reversible transitive sentences. Results showed that adults performed well in all conditions, while children's accuracy and listening times for the first noun phrase indicated more difficulty in interpreting patient-initial sentences in the agent voice compared to the patient voice. The patient voice advantage is partly explained by both the frequency account and incremental processing account.
Interactive generation of effective discourse in situated context : a planning-based approach
(2013)
As our modern-built structures are becoming increasingly complex, carrying out basic tasks such as identifying points or objects of interest in our surroundings can consume considerable time and cognitive resources. In this thesis, we present a computational approach to converting contextual information about a person's physical environment into natural language, with the aim of helping this person identify given task-related entities in their environment. Using efficient methods from automated planning - the field of artificial intelligence concerned with finding courses of action that can achieve a goal -, we generate discourse that interactively guides a hearer through completing their task. Our approach addresses the challenges of controlling, adapting to, and monitoring the situated context. To this end, we develop a natural language generation system that plans how to manipulate the non-linguistic context of a scene in order to make it more favorable for references to task-related objects. This strategy distributes a hearer's cognitive load of interpreting a reference over multiple utterances rather than one long referring expression. Further, to optimize the system's linguistic choices in a given context, we learn how to distinguish speaker behavior according to its helpfulness to hearers in a certain situation, and we model the behavior of human speakers that has been proven helpful. The resulting system combines symbolic with statistical reasoning, and tackles the problem of making non-trivial referential choices in rich context. Finally, we complement our approach with a mechanism for preventing potential misunderstandings after a reference has been generated. Employing remote eye-tracking technology, we monitor the hearer's gaze and find that it provides a reliable index of online referential understanding, even in dynamically changing scenes. We thus present a system that exploits hearer gaze to generate rapid feedback on a per-utterance basis, further enhancing its effectiveness. Though we evaluate our approach in virtual environments, the efficiency of our planning-based model suggests that this work could be a step towards effective conversational human-computer interaction situated in the real world.
This article presents a situation description production experiment investigating the interaction between syntax and information structure in Akan, a tone language that belongs to the Kwa branch of the Niger- Congo family spoken in Ghana. Information structure was elicited via context questions that put the object in narrow informational focus or narrow corrective focus while controlling for the tonal structure of the target word. Contrary to the prediction that corrective focus is marked by fronting and morphological marking of the focused constituent the data suggest that the in-situ strategy is the preferred one.
A grammar of authority?
(2021)
Directive Speech Acts (dsas) are a major feature of historical pragmatics, specifically in research on historical (im)politeness. However, for Classical French, there is a lack of research on related phenomena. In our contribution, we present two recently constructed corpora covering the period of Classical French, sermo and apwcf. We present these corpora in terms of their genre characteristics on a communicative-functional and socio-pragmatic level. Based on the observation that, both in sermo and apwcf, dsas frequently occur together with terms of address, we analyse and manually code a sample based on this co-occurrence, and we compare the results with regard to special features in the individual corpora. The emerging patterns show a clear correspondence between socio-pragmatic factors and the linguistic means used to realise dsas. We propose that these results can be interpreted as signs of an underlying "grammar of authority".
This dissertation addresses the question of how linguistic structures can be represented in working memory. We propose a memory-based computational model that derives offline and online complexity profiles in terms of a top-down parser for minimalist grammars (Stabler, 2011). The complexity metric reflects the amount of time an item is stored in memory. The presented architecture links grammatical representations stored in memory directly to the cognitive behavior by deriving predictions about sentence processing difficulty.
Results from five different sentence comprehension experiments were used to evaluate the model's assumptions about memory limitations. The predictions of the complexity metric were compared to the locality (integration and storage) cost metric of Dependency Locality Theory (Gibson, 2000). Both metrics make comparable offline and online predictions for four of the five phenomena. The key difference between the two metrics is that the proposed complexity metric accounts for the structural complexity of intervening material. In contrast, DLT's integration cost metric considers the number of discourse referents, not the syntactic structural complexity.
We conclude that the syntactic analysis plays a significant role in memory requirements of parsing. An incremental top-down parser based on a grammar formalism easily computes offline and online complexity profiles, which can be used to derive predictions about sentence processing difficulty.
Parataxe et subordination, ces deux termes, parfois antithétiques, sont problématiques du fait même de leur extrême polysémie. C’est de cette ambiguïté que naît l’objet d’étude, les constructions asyndétiques, au statut incertain entre intégration et indépendance. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons de réinterroger ce phénomène ancien et déjà bien connu en ancien français, en le mettant en regard des remises en question et avancées des recherches actuelles sur le sujet. Pour cela, il nous faut tout d'abord poser une définition de ce qu'est la subordination. Nous montrons ensuite que les constructions asyndétiques sont bien des cas de subordination. Cette thèse établit enfin que ce phénomène constitue, en ancien français du moins, une variante libre en syntaxe. Sa répartition et sa présence dans les textes a cependant très tôt diminué, mais l’existence de phénomènes parallèles en français moderne, tout comme d’autres indices, nous permettent de faire l’hypothèse que cette évolution tient d’une alternance oral / écrit. Cette thèse montre ainsi que les problèmes, comme les enjeux, ne diffèrent finalement pas, quel que soit l’état de langue et que la parataxe constitue bien une construction dans le système de la langue.
Auszug: Etwa zwei Drittel aller Ausgaben der Krankenkassen für das Heilmittel Sprachtherapie betreffen ein Klientel in der Altersgruppe der 0- bis 15-jährigen (GVK-HIS Bundesrepublik 2007). Spracherwerbsstörungen stellen das häufigste Entwicklungsrisiko bei Kindern dar. Ca. 18% der einzuschulenden Kinder weisen einen Förderbedarf im Entwicklungsbereich Sprache auf (Tollkühn 2001) und ca. 18% der 6-jährigen Jungen erhalten nach dem Heilmittelbericht 2006 Sprachtherapieverordnungen (Schröder & Waltersbacher 2006). Die überwiegende Mehrheit erhält diese Verordnung aufgrund der Zuweisung des Indikationsschlüssels „Störungen der Sprache vor Abschluss der Sprachentwicklung“. Darunter fallen v.a. Kinder mit einer primären Spracherwerbsstörung, für deren Art und Ausmaß keine Hörstörung, keine Intelligenzbeeinträchtigung, keine neurologische Schädigung oder soziale Deprivation verantwortlich gemacht werden kann. Für diese besondere Entwicklungssituation wird die Diagnose „Spezifische Spracherwerbsstörung (SSES)“ vergeben (Grimm 2003; Dannenbauer 2002). [...]
In the last years, statistical machine translation has already demonstrated its usefulness within a wide variety of translation applications. In this line, phrase-based alignment models have become the reference to follow in order to build competitive systems. Finite state models are always an interesting framework because there are well-known efficient algorithms for their representation and manipulation. This document is a contribution to the evolution of finite state models towards a phrase-based approach. The inference of stochastic transducers that are based on bilingual phrases is carefully analysed from a finite state point of view. Indeed, the algorithmic phenomena that have to be taken into account in order to deal with such phrase-based finite state models when in decoding time are also in-depth detailed.
Meaning and alternatives
(2022)
Alternatives and competition in language are pervasive at all levels of linguistic analysis. More specifically, alternatives have been argued to play a prominent role in an ever-growing class of phenomena in the investigation of natural language meaning. In this article, we focus on scalar implicatures, as they are arguably the most paradigmatic case of an alternative-based phenomenon. We first review the main challenge for theories of alternatives, the so-called symmetry problem, and we briefly discuss how it has shaped the different approaches to alternatives. We then turn to two more recent challenges concerning scalar diversity and the inferences of sentences with multiple scalars. Finally, we describe several related alternative-based phenomena and recent conceptual approaches to alternatives. As we discuss, while important progress has been made, much more work is needed both on the theoretical side and on understanding the empirical landscape better.
In the current study, we explore how different information-structural devices affect which referents conversational partners expect in the upcoming discourse. Our main research question is how pitch accents (H*, L+H*) and focus particles (German nur `only' and auch 'also') affect speakers' choices to mention focused referents, previously mentioned alternatives or new, inferable alternatives. Participants in our experiment were presented with short discourses involving two referents and were asked to orally produce two sentences that continue the story. An analysis of speakers' continuations showed that participants were most likely to mention a contextual alternative in the condition with only and the L+H* conditions, followed by H* conditions. In the condition with also, in turn, participants mentioned both the focused/accented referent and the contextual alternative. Our findings highlight the importance of information structure for discourse management and suggest that speakers take activated alternatives to be relevant for an unfolding discourse.
The semantics of focus particles like only requires a set of alternatives (Rooth, 1992). In two experiments, we investigated the impact of such particles on the retrieval of alternatives that are mentioned in the prior context or unmentioned. The first experiment used a probe recognition task and showed that focus particles interfere with the recognition of mentioned alternatives and the rejection of unmentioned alternatives relative to a condition without a particle. A second lexical decision experiment demonstrated priming effects for mentioned and unmentioned alternatives (compared with an unrelated condition) while focus particles caused additional interference effects. Overall, our results indicate that focus particles trigger an active search for alternatives and lead to a competition between mentioned alternatives, unmentioned alternatives, and the focused element.
Diese neuartige Einführung in die deutsche Grammatik verbindet schulgrammatisches Wissen und neuere Grammatikmodelle in anschaulicher und verständlicher Weise miteinander. Lehramtsstudierende können sich damit die Kenntnisse und Kompetenzen aneignen, die sie für ihr Studium und ihren künftigen Beruf brauchen, erfahrene Lehrkräfte erhalten wichtige Impulse für neue Wege im Deutschunterricht. Mit den funktional orientierten Erklärungen zum Feldermodell und den zahlreichen systematisch gestalteten Tabellen im Bereich der Verben, Nomen/Nominalgruppen, Präpositionen und Pronomen bekommt die Schulgrammatik eine tragfähige Grundlage. Die Tabellen eignen sich darüber hinaus für DaF-/DaZ-Kurse sowie für die autodidaktische Aneignung des Deutschen als Fremd- oder Zweitsprache. Die neue Auflage wurde gründlich überarbeitet und erweitert.
Phonology limited
(2007)
Phonology Limited is a study of the areas of phonology where the application of optimality theory (OT) has previously been problematic. Evidence from a wide variety of phenomena in a wide variety of languages is presented to show that interactions involving more than just faithfulness and markedness are best analyzed as involving language-specific morphological constraints rather than universal phonological constraints. OT has proved to be a highly insightful and successful theory of linguistics in general and phonology in particular, focusing as it does on surface forms and treating the relationship between inputs and outputs as a form of conflict resolution. Yet there have also been a number of serious problems with the approach that have led some detractors to argue that OT has failed as a theory of generative grammar. The most serious of these problems is opacity, defined as a state of affairs where the grammatical output of a given input appears to violate more constraints than an ungrammatical competitor. It is argued that these problems disappear once language-specific morphological constraints are allowed to play a significant role in analysis. Specifically, a number of processes of Tiberian Hebrew traditionally considered opaque are reexamined and shown to be straightforwardly transparent, but crucially involving morphological constraints on form, such as a constraint requiring certain morphological forms to end with a syllabic trochee, or a constraint requiring paradigm uniformity with regard to the occurrence of fricative allophones of stop phonemes. Language-specific morphological constraints are also shown to play a role in allomorphy, where a lexeme is associated with more than one input; the constraint hierarchy then decides which input is grammatical in which context. For example, [ɨ]/[ə] and [u]/[ə] alternation found in some lexemes but not in others in Welsh is attributed to the presence of two inputs for the lexemes with the alternation. A novel analysis of the initial consonant mutations of the modern Celtic languages argues that mutated forms are separately listed inputs chosen in appropriate contexts by constraints on morphology and syntax, rather than being outputs that are phonologically unfaithful to their unmutated inputs. Finally, static irregularities and lexical exceptions are examined and shown to be attributable to language-specific morphological constraints. In American English, the distribution of tense and lax vowels is predictable in several contexts; however, in some contexts, the distributions of tense [ɔ] vs. lax [a] and of tense [æ] vs. lax [æ] are not as expected. It is shown that clusters of output-output faithfulness constraints create a pattern to which words are attracted, which however violates general phonological considerations. New words that enter the language first obey the general phonological considerations before being attracted into the language-specific exceptional pattern.
Inhalt: 1. Einleitung 2. Hintergrund 2.1 Die prosodische Organisation des Deutschen 2.2 Implikationen für den Erwerb der Wortprosodie im Deutschen 3. Methode 3.1 Datenerhebung 3.2 Empirische Analyse 4. Ergebnisse: Die Entwicklung des Prosodischen Wortes im Deutschen 5. Analyse der empirischen Daten 5.1 Grundannahmen 5.2 Analyse der Entwicklungsstufen 6. Zusammenfassung und Diskussion 7. Literatur
Die Dissertation untersucht die Entwicklung der prosodischen Struktur von Simplizia und Komposita im Deutschen. Ausgewertet werden langzeitlich erhobene Produktionsdaten von vier monolingualen Kindern im Alter von 12 bis 26 Monaten. Es werden vier Entwicklungsstufen angenommen, in denen jedoch keine einheitlichen Outputs produziert werden. Die Asymmetrien zwischen den verschiedenen Wörtern werden systematisch auf die Struktur des Zielwortes zurückgeführt. In einer optimalitätstheoretischen Analyse wird gezeigt, dass sich die Entwicklungsstufen aus der Umordnung von Constraints ergeben und dass dasselbe Ranking die Variation zwischen den Worttypen zu einer bestimmten Entwicklungsstufe vorhersagt.
The main goal of this thesis is to explore the feasibility of using cross-lingual annotation projection as a method of alleviating the task of manual coreference annotation.
To reach our goal, we build a first trilingual parallel coreference corpus that encompasses multiple genres. For the annotation of the corpus, we develop common coreference annotation guidelines that are applicable to three languages (English, German, Russian) and include a novel domain-independent typology of bridging relations as well as state-of-the-art near-identity categories.
Thereafter, we design and perform several annotation projection experiments. In the first experiment, we implement a direct projection method with only one source language. Our results indicate that, already in a knowledge-lean scenario, our projection approach is superior to the most closely related work of Postolache et al. (2006). Since the quality of the resulting annotations is to a high degree dependent on the word alignment, we demonstrate how using limited syntactic information helps to further improve mention extraction on the target side. As a next step, in our second experiment, we show how exploiting two source languages helps to improve the quality of target annotations for both language pairs by concatenating annotations projected from two source languages. Finally, we assess the projection quality in a fully automatic scenario (using automatically produced source annotations), and propose a pilot experiment on manual projection of bridging pairs.
For each of the experiments, we carry out an in-depth error analysis, and we conclude that noisy word alignments, translation divergences and morphological and syntactic differences between languages are responsible for projection errors. We systematically compare and evaluate our projection methods, and we investigate the errors both qualitatively and quantitatively in order to identify problematic cases. Finally, we discuss the applicability of our method to coreference annotations and propose several avenues of future research.
Minimalist accounts lack a natural theory of markedness, whereas Optimality-Theoretical accounts fundamentally encode markedness. We think the duality of interfaces assumed in Minimalism is a step towards explaining pairedness behavior, where a given language exhibits a marked/ unmarked pair of items occupying the same niche. We argue that while Minimalism articulates the derivational aspect of language, and underlies grammaticality, an Optimality Theoretic articulation of PF and LF is conceptually natural and explains pairedness behavior. We adopt this ‘hybrid’ account, first, to explain the existence of marked (often termed ‘reflexive’) and unmarked anticausatives in German, recently studied in depth by Sch¨afer [2007].
Ngizim fieldnotes
(2011)
This chapter presents field notes of the West Chadic language Ngizim, spoken in North-East Nigeria. In Ngizim, subject focus is indicated by subject inversion, whereas the word order of sentences with focused non-subjects can remain unchanged. The goal of the field work was to find out more about focus marking in Ngizim.
This is the 13th issue of the working paper series Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure (ISIS) of the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 632. It is the first part of a series of Linguistic Fieldnote issues which present data collected by members of different projects of the SFB during fieldwork on various languages or dialects spoken worldwide. This part of the Fieldnote Series is dedicated to data from African languages. It contains contributions by Mira Grubic (A5) on Ngizim, and Susanne Genzel & Frank Kügler (D5) on Akan. The papers allow insights into various aspects of the elicitation of formal correlates of focus and related phenomena in different African languages investigated by the SFB in the second funding phase, especially in the period between 2007 and 2010.
The particle noch (‘still’) can have an additive reading similar to auch (‘also’). We argue that both particles indicate that a previously partially answered QUD is re-opened to add a further answer. The particles differ in that the QUD, in the case of auch, can be re-opened with respect to the same topic situation, whereas noch indicates that the QUD is re-opened with respect to a new topic situation. This account predicts a difference in the accommodation behavior of the two particles. We present an experiment whose results are in line with this prediction.
The particle noch (‘still’) can have an additive reading similar to auch (‘also’). We argue that both particles indicate that a previously partially answered QUD is re-opened to add a further answer. The particles differ in that the QUD, in the case of auch, can be re-opened with respect to the same topic situation, whereas noch indicates that the QUD is re-opened with respect to a new topic situation. This account predicts a difference in the accommodation behavior of the two particles. We present an experiment whose results are in line with this prediction.
Sampling
(2022)
From about 7 months of age onward, infants start to reliably fixate the goal of an observed action, such as a grasp, before the action is complete. The available research has identified a variety of factors that influence such goal-anticipatory gaze shifts, including the experience with the shown action events and familiarity with the observed agents. However, the underlying cognitive processes are still heavily debated. We propose that our minds (i) tend to structure sensorimotor dynamics into probabilistic, generative event-predictive, and event boundary predictive models, and, meanwhile, (ii) choose actions with the objective to minimize predicted uncertainty. We implement this proposition by means of event-predictive learning and active inference. The implemented learning mechanism induces an inductive, event-predictive bias, thus developing schematic encodings of experienced events and event boundaries. The implemented active inference principle chooses actions by aiming at minimizing expected future uncertainty. We train our system on multiple object-manipulation events. As a result, the generation of goal-anticipatory gaze shifts emerges while learning about object manipulations: the model starts fixating the inferred goal already at the start of an observed event after having sampled some experience with possible events and when a familiar agent (i.e., a hand) is involved. Meanwhile, the model keeps reactively tracking an unfamiliar agent (i.e., a mechanical claw) that is performing the same movement. We qualitatively compare these modeling results to behavioral data of infants and conclude that event-predictive learning combined with active inference may be critical for eliciting goal-anticipatory gaze behavior in infants.
Three dimensions can be distinguished in a cross-linguistic account of information structure. First, there is the definition of the focus constituent, the part of the linguistic expression which is subject to some focus meaning. Second and third, there are the focus meanings and the array of structural devices that encode them. In a given language, the expression of focus is facilitated as well as constrained by the grammar within which the focus devices operate. The prevalence of focus ambiguity, the structural inability to make focus distinctions, will thus vary across languages, and within a language, across focus meanings.
Feld und Stil
(2020)
Figura Tropicana
(2020)
Information structure
(2007)
If we want to compare the explanatory and descriptive adequacy of the MP and OT, the original definitions by Chomsky (1964) are or little direct use. However, a relativized version of both notions can be defined, which can be used to express a number of parallels between the study of individual I-languages and the language faculty. In any version of explanatory and descriptive adequacy, the two notions derive from the research programme and can only be achieved together. They can therefore not be used to characterize the difference in orientation between OT and the MP. Even if ‘OT’ is restricted to a particular theory in Chomskyan linguistics (to the exclusion of, for instance, its use in LFG), it cannot be said to be stronger in descriptive adequacy than in explanatory adequacy in the technical sense of these terms.
Children’s poor performance on object relative clauses has been explained in terms of intervention locality. This approach predicts that object relatives with a full DP head and an embedded pronominal subject are easier than object relatives in which both the head noun and the embedded subject are full DPs. This prediction is shared by other accounts formulated to explain processing mechanisms. We conducted a visual-world study designed to test the off-line comprehension and on-line processing of object relatives in German-speaking 5-year-olds. Children were tested on three types of object relatives, all having a full DP head noun and differing with respect to the type of nominal phrase that appeared in the embedded subject position: another full DP, a 1st- or a 3rd-person pronoun. Grammatical skills and memory capacity were also assessed in order to see whether and how they affect children’s performance. Most accurately processed were object relatives with 1st-person pronoun, independently of children’s language and memory skills. Performance on object relatives with two full DPs was overall more accurate than on object relatives with 3rd-person pronoun. In the former condition, children with stronger grammatical skills accurately processed the structure and their memory abilities determined how fast they were; in the latter condition, children only processed accurately the structure if they were strong both in their grammatical skills and in their memory capacity. The results are discussed in the light of accounts that predict different pronoun effects like the ones we find, which depend on the referential properties of the pronouns. We then discuss which role language and memory abilities might have in processing object relatives with various embedded nominal phrases.
Children’s poor performance on object relative clauses has been explained in terms of intervention locality. This approach predicts that object relatives with a full DP head and an embedded pronominal subject are easier than object relatives in which both the head noun and the embedded subject are full DPs. This prediction is shared by other accounts formulated to explain processing mechanisms. We conducted a visual-world study designed to test the off-line comprehension and on-line processing of object relatives in German-speaking 5-year-olds. Children were tested on three types of object relatives, all having a full DP head noun and differing with respect to the type of nominal phrase that appeared in the embedded subject position: another full DP, a 1st- or a 3rd-person pronoun. Grammatical skills and memory capacity were also assessed in order to see whether and how they affect children’s performance. Most accurately processed were object relatives with 1st-person pronoun, independently of children’s language and memory skills. Performance on object relatives with two full DPs was overall more accurate than on object relatives with 3rd-person pronoun. In the former condition, children with stronger grammatical skills accurately processed the structure and their memory abilities determined how fast they were; in the latter condition, children only processed accurately the structure if they were strong both in their grammatical skills and in their memory capacity. The results are discussed in the light of accounts that predict different pronoun effects like the ones we find, which depend on the referential properties of the pronouns. We then discuss which role language and memory abilities might have in processing object relatives with various embedded nominal phrases.
Conceptualisation is the first step of speech production and describes the process by which we map our thoughts onto spoken language. Recent studies suggest that some people with language impairments have conceptualisation deficits manifested by information selection and sequencing difficulties. In this study, we examined conceptualisation in the complex picture descriptions of individuals with and without aphasia. We analysed the number and the order of main concepts (ideas produced by >= 60% of unimpaired speakers) and non-main concepts (e.g. irrelevant details). Half of the individuals with aphasia showed a reduced number of main concepts that could not be fully accounted for by their language production deficits. Moreover, individuals with aphasia produced both a larger amount of marginally relevant information, as well as having greater variability in the order of main concepts. Both findings provide support for the idea that conceptualisation deficits are a relatively common impairment in people with aphasia.
Focus and Tone
(2007)
Tone is a distinctive feature of the lexemes in tone languages. The information-structural category focus is usually marked by syntactic and morphological means in these languages, but sometimes also by intonation strategies. In intonation languages, focus is marked by pitch movements, which are also perceived as tone. The present article discusses prosodic focus marking in these two language types.
Focus asymmetries in Bura
(2008)
(Chadic), which exhibits a number of asymmetries: Grammatical focus marking is obligatory only with focused subjects, where focus is marked by the particle án following the subject. Focused subjects remain in situ and the complement of án is a regular VP. With nonsubject foci, án appears in a cleft-structure between the fronted focus constituent and a relative clause. We present a semantically unified analysis of focus marking in Bura that treats the particle as a focusmarking copula in T that takes a property-denoting expression (the background) and an individual-denoting expression (the focus) as arguments. The article also investigates the realization of predicate and polarity focus, which are almost never marked. The upshot of the discussion is that Bura shares many characteristic traits of focus marking with other Chadic languages, but it crucially differs in exhibiting a structural difference in the marking of focus on subjects and non-subject constituents.
The paper presents an in-depth study of focus marking in Gùrùntùm, a West Chadic language spoken in Bauchi Province of Northern Nigeria. Focus in Gùrùntùm is marked morphologically by means of a focus marker a, which typically precedes the focus constituent. Even though the morphological focus-marking system of Gùrùntùm allows for a lot of fine-grained distinctions in information structure (IS) in principle, the language is not entirely free of focus ambiguities that arise as the result of conflicting IS- and syntactic requirements that govern the placement of focus markers. We show that morphological focus marking with a applies across different types of focus, such as newinformation, contrastive, selective and corrective focus, and that a does not have a second function as a perfectivity marker, as is assumed in the literature. In contrast, we show at the end of the paper that a can also function as a foregrounding device at the level of discourse structure.
Focus strategies in chadic
(2004)
We argue that the standard focus theories reach their limits when confronted with the focus systems of the Chadic languages. The backbone of the standard focus theories consists of two assumptions, both called into question by the languages under consideration. Firstly, it is standardly assumed that focus is generally marked by stress. The Chadic languages, however, exhibit a variety of different devices for focus marking. Secondly, it is assumed that focus is always marked. In Tangale, at least, focus is not marked consistently on all types of constituents. The paper offers two possible solutions to this dilemma.