100,376 research outputs found
Frightening or englightening? An appraisal of the functions of the military metaphor in the AIDS context
No full textCITATION: Biberauer, T. 1996. Frightening or englightening? An appraisal of the functions of the military metaphor in the AIDS context. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 29:130-143, doi:10.5842/29-0-102.The original publication is available at https://spilplus.journals.ac.zaNo abstract availablehttps://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/102Publisher's versio
Apparent violations of the final-over-final constraint:The case of Gbe languages
No full textIn a series of recent talks and articles, Theresa Biberauer, Anders Holmberg, Ian Roberts, and Michelle Sheehan argue that the final-over-final condition (FOFC) is an absolute universal regulating structure building. Yet, many languages deviate from FOFC thus suggesting that this condition is not “surface-true”. The question therefore arises what factors make languages violate FOFC on the surface. In order to answer this question, we need a typology of FOFC-violating languages, as well as a detailed description of such violations. In this short essay, I describe FOFC violations in Gbe and some creoles, while relating the observed phenomena to some theoretical questions they raise
Negative exclamatives in Afrikaans : some initial thoughts
No full textCITATION: Biberauer, T. & Potgieter, J. M. 2017. Negative exclamatives in Afrikaans : some initial thoughts. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 48:17-33, doi:10.5774/48-0-278.The original publication is available at http://spil.journals.ac.zaWe consider the to date minimally discussed phenomenon of negative exclamatives in Afrikaans. Negative exclamatives superficially seem to be negative, when they are in fact positive exclamations. These structures therefore feature so-called expletive negation. Our goal is to illustrate some aspects of the phenomenon as it manifests in Afrikaans, and to demonstrate that Afrikaans’s negative exclamatives seem well behaved when considered against a broader crosslinguistic backdrop.http://spil.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/278Publisher’s versio
Rethinking V2 and Nominative case assignment: new insights from a Germanic variety in Northern Italy
No full textCimbrian is a German(ic) VO heritage language that does not display the linear V2 restriction: the DP subject can show up before the finite verb together with other constituents while verb-subject inversion a la German only obtains with clitic pronouns. In recent literature on Cimbrian, pronominal subject inversion has been taken as a traditional argument in favor of mandatory V-to-C movement (assuming a split-C configuration). Building on this assumption, the syntax of the enclitic expletive subject, -da/-ta, (which shows up whenever the DP subject does not raise in the C-domain) makes the Cimbrian scenario particularly relevant since it casts light on the correlation between V2 and Nominative case licensing. Our take is that Nominative case in Cimbrian is assigned by C and not by T – as is the case of other Germanic V2 languages – but in a very idiosyncratic way: (i) it applies within the C domain, i.e FinP; (ii) expletive -da/-ta absorbs Nominative case and acts as a defective goal with respect to the “low” subject.
Basing on the feature-spreading model in Ouali (2008), we take the phasal head C in Cimbrian to “KEEP” its relevant φ- and T-features assigning Nominative case in [Spec,FinP] and triggering mandatory V-movement
The mixed OV/VO syntax of Mocheno main clauses: on the interaction between high and low left periphery
No full textIn this paper, I address the syntax of the direct object in the Tyrolean dialect Mòcheno, a mixed OV/VO language, and provide a novel account for the coexistence of the two word orders. The traditional view (a.o. Rowley 2003), which makes sense of Mòcheno mixed syntax through the assumption that speakers have access to two grammars with different parameter settings due to contact, will be challenged by showing that variation emanates from one single grammar and is ruled by information structure. In order to capture the connection between syntax and information structure, I propose an antisymmetric (Kayne 1994) and cartographic (a.o. Rizzi 1997, Cinque 1999) account, whose core idea is that the linear word order of all sentences is the result of the interaction between the high left periphery and the low left periphery (Jayaseelan 2001, Belletti 2004) both assumed to be characterised by hosting functional projections encoding discourse-related features and by having a V2 rule, relating to the finite verb and the past participle, respectively (Poletto 2006)
‘Ja-nee. No, I'm fine’ : a note on YES and NO in South Africa
No full textCITATION: Biberauer, T., et al. 2017. ‘Ja-nee. No, I'm fine’ : a note on YES and NO in South Africa. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 48:67-86
doi:10.5774/48-0-281.The original publication is available at http://spil.journals.ac.zaThis paper considers some unusual uses of NO and YES observed in South African English (SAE) and other languages spoken in South Africa. Our objective is to highlight the fundamentally speaker-hearer-oriented nature of many of these elements, and to offer a formal perspective on their use. We also aim to highlight the value of pursuing more detailed investigations of these and other perspectival elements employed in SAE and other languages spoken in South Africa.http://spil.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/281Publisher’s versio
Harmonic word order constraints are not created equal: the final-over-final constraint as an epiphenomenon
No full textThe Final-over-Final Constraint (FOFC, Holmberg 2000, Biberauer et al 2007, 2008) is a descriptive generalisation stating that a head-initial phrase cannot be dominated by a head-final phrase. The empirical support for this observation is robust in certain clausal contexts, but elsewhere shows that the FOFC-violating order is simply dispreferred. There is therefore some confusion as to whether the FOFC is an invariant principle, or a non-absolute trend. This paper provides evidence that the FOFC acts as a robust principle only as regards the leftright asymmetry in the distribution of subordinating complementisers. For any other category, there are examples of FOFC-violating structures, including the categories Aux and T, contra previous claims (cf. Julien 2002, 2007, Biberauer et al 2007, 2008). The key contribution of the paper is to show that the only data directly supporting the FOFC—the distribution of subordinating complementisers—can be derived independently of it. It is shown that the attested distribution is fully captured by the interaction of three independently motivated harmonic word order principles: Head Proximity (Rijkhoff 1984, 1986, 1990, 1992), the Head Parameter (inter alia Chomsky 1981) and the preference for complement clauses to appear in sentence-final position (Dryer 1980). Where there is competition among these principles, it is Head Proximity that takes precedence. The disharmonic orders that occur elsewhere are explained by specific linearisation rules within a language pertaining to the semantics of a head. Such rules require a head with specified semantics to appear in a prominent position. The presence of such rules may result in either a FOFC violation or its inverse, whereby a head-initial phrase dominates a head-final one. The comparative rarity of the former over the latter can be attributed to two factors: firstly, linearisation rules targeting a prominent position more often target an initial, than final, position (Dik 1978, Siewierska 1991); secondly, there is a cross-linguistic preference to place shorter material before longer, such as heads before phrases (Siewierska 1988). Finally, the fact that subordinating complementisers always obey the optimal word order, and are therefore immune to more specific linearisation rules, is predicted by their lack of semantics
Letter, [Author unclear] to Paulina T. Merritt
No full textHandwritten letter to Paulina Merritt from an unknown author, October 1, 1876.
Rethinking microvariation in Romance demonstrative systems
No full textThis article explores the formal and functional organization of Romance
demonstrative systems, providing a detailed empirical overview of the vast microvariation
attested in standard and non-standard Romance varieties. Despite highlighting a
considerable number of distinct demonstrative systems based on different
superficial person contrasts, it is argued that the underlying number of systems can
effectively be reduced to a much smaller number of systems based on a finite number
of options. In particular, it is argued that the feature geometric analysis of person
developed by Harley & Ritter (2002) makes some specific predictions about the
range and types of person combinations, and hence by implication also the types
and natural classes of demonstrative systems, that are cross-linguistically available.
Adopting these assumptions, it is argued that these differing person feature
specifications can be profitably modelled in terms of a set of hierarchically-organized
interrelated parametric options in accordance with much recent work developed
within the ReCoS group
Three fundamental issues in parametric linguistics
No full textIn this paper we discuss the status of three compelling questions, which impinge on parameter theory:
a. What are the actual parameters of UG?
b. What is the form of a possible parameter?
c. How are parameter values distributed in space and time?
With respect to the first question, we present the guidelines of a heuristic methodology to discover the parameters of UG, Modularized Global Parametrization, first proposed by Longobardi (2003). Building on the potential of such an approach, we pursue a Minimalist critique of the general form of parameters and sketch the programmatic lines of a Principles&Schemata model of UG. To address the third problem, we begin to investigate the implications of a parametric approach for the study of phylogenetic relationships among languages and, more broadly, of cognitive approaches to the study of history
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