Proceedings Published by the LSA (Linguistic Society of America)
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Russian elision as lenition to zero
Get PDFWhile there has been extensive documentation of elision in colloquial Russian speech, there is minimal phonetic research on its underlying causes. The present study performs an exploratory acoustic analysis on spontaneous Russian speech and ties its phonetic correlates to previously described lenition processes by demonstrating their continuous nature. Special attention is given to /v/ due to its sonorant-like qualities in Russian. Furthermore, the study uses the results of this analysis to propose a framework for predicting elided forms using both language-general processes alongside word frequency
Ordering preferences in Ukrainian multiple wh-fronting
Get PDFWe present the first systematic study of ordering restrictions in Ukrainian multiple wh-fronting (MWF) constructions, examining the effects of grammatical relation, case and animacy. Using an acceptability judgment task with pair-list primes, we tested the acceptability of Superiority-obeying and Superiority-violating questions with two wh-arguments. We found that Ukrainian speakers exhibit two distinct patterns with respect to Superiority: one group of speakers accepted Superiority violations while the other did not. Both groups, however, allowed free word order with wh-prepositional phrases and the lexical item ščo ‘what’. We conclude that these two patterns represent two distinct varieties of Ukrainian which differ in Superiority in matrix MWF constructions
Ethnic visibility and ethnolinguistic repertoires: Dearborn English and the hijab
Get PDFThis study explores the intersection of ethnic visibility and linguistic behavior by analyzing the speech of two groups of Muslim female speakers in Dearborn, MI: one group wearing the Islamic hijab and another not wearing the hijab. Recent research shows that the variety of American English spoken in Dearborn is locally recognized and includes certain ethno-local markers such as higher rates of word-final /t/ glottalization and the convergence of voice onset time for lenis and fortis members of bilabial and velar stops. The Dearborn ethnolinguistic repertoire also features a vowel pattern not consistent with surrounding mainstream patterns. The sociolinguistic analysis in the present study explores the intersection between female Dearborners’ sartorial choices in terms of the Islamic hijab and their linguistic behavior with reference to the features of Dearborn English. Labovian Sociolinguistic Interviews were conducted with 16 female Dearborners: 9 with the Islamic headcover and 7 without the headcover. The results show both groups of speakers display similarly high rates of /t/ glottalization, a prominent feature of Dearborn English, in their speech. However, the hijab-wearing group’s stop VOT distribution and vowel patterning is more strongly aligned with the features of Dearborn English, showing compatibility between their sartorial and linguistic choices
A wh discourse particle: Dutch hoezo
Get PDFThis paper provides an analysis of a special kind of why-questions in Dutch, formed with the wh-word hoezo (lit. ‘how so’). We propose that hoezo signals the speaker’s resistance to updating the discourse model, by asking the interlocutor to provide a reason for their preceding discourse move. Hoezo shares properties with both discourse particles (its not-at-issue content expresses the speaker’s attitude towards the current state of the discourse), and question words (it asks the interlocutor to provide a reason). Unlike waarom (the regular word for ‘why’), hoezo is not subject to wh-movement and does not bind a variable
Non-discourse-configurationality in Imbabura Kichwa
Get PDFThis study investigates the syntactic structure of Imbabura Kichwa, a Quechuan language spoken in the Imbabura Province of Ecuador, with a focus on the seemingly free word order in grammatical functions and discourse-semantic functions (i.e., topic and focus). We first provide the data and overviews of the non-configurationality and non-discourse-configurationality of Imbabura Kichwa. Then, we demonstrate that the underlying syntactic structure of Imbabura Kichwa is built up hierarchically based on the agreement of focus enclitics with clause types and polarity. Finally, we argue that the non-configurationality and non-discourse-configurationality are the surface realization of the movement from the underlying structure to the daughter positions of a non-projective category S
English coronal stop deletion is categorical not gradient
Get PDFEnglish Coronal Stop Deletion (CSD) has been a subject of debate in terms of whether it is categorical or gradient. Previous studies have overlooked the possibility that tongue tip raising during inaudible coronal stop may come from neutral tongue tip position rather than gradient CSD. The current study found that in sentence reading, that much involves word-initial tongue tip raising just prior to [m] that is significantly similar to the tongue tip behavior of much in isolation. We argue that English CSD should be analyzed as categorical deletion and that one can only argue for gradient deletion after considering the neutral position of the tongue tip. More generally, this study suggests that arguing for gradience involves complexities beyond merely noting variations in measurements. Therefore, one may conclude categoricity based on Occam’s razor and only argue for gradience when alternative explanations have been evaluated and suggested so
Anymore, this feature varies: An experimental study of non-polarity anymore
Get PDFThe non-polarity “positive” anymore construction (NPAM; e.g., I write letters anymore, ‘I write letters nowadays’) is a vernacular feature found in the Midland dialect region. Analyses have suggested that while its negative polarity counterpart (I don’t write letters anymore) is associated with a positive presupposition and a negative assertion, NPAM contributes a negative presupposition and a positive assertion. This paper presents an experiment testing this hypothesis. The results provide initial support for the negative presupposition—positive assertion analysis of NPAM, but suggest that regional exposure is not necessary to know this feature does not share the same meaning as NPI-anymore
Graphs and networks in teaching the history of linguistics
Get PDFTeaching the history of linguistics often involves talking about a large number of people – linguists and scholars in related fields – who are only hazily recognized by students, and often the teacher is no better off. A set of graphical networks can help enormously in the task of orienting oneself and keeping track of who is exactly who.
Note: A video of the session in which this was presented and the associated slide deck are available in the foreword to this issue.
An in-situ analysis of reduced embedded questions with multiple wh-phrases in Uyghur
Get PDFThis paper provides a detailed description of reduced embedded questionswith multiple wh-phrases in Uyghur and proposes to analyze them in terms of an in-situ analysis. We argue that reduced questions with multiple wh-phrases in Uyghur can be derived from in-situ focus sentences. This proposal is supported by the fact that the in-situ analysis can account for the observed properties of reduced questions, including the presence of a copula, the case-matching effect, the absence of the clause-mate effect, and island-insensitivity
The three musketeers: plural marking in Turkish nominal phrases with cardinal numerals
Get PDFNumerically-quantified noun phrases in Turkish prohibit plural marking,except in the case of reference to well-known groups such as The Three Musketeers. We argue that the observed plural in such expressions is not the regular additive plural, the plural that is required in English and that is prohibited in the general case in Turkish in the presence of numerals, but is an instance of a group plural, which appears structurally higher and co-occurs with a proprial feature in D, responsible for the proper-name-like interpretation of The Three Musketeers