1,720,985 research outputs found
Linguistic Analysis: From Data to Theory
No full textThis book reconsiders the classic topics of linguistic analysis and reflects on universal aspects of language from a typological and comparative perspective. The aim is to show the crucial interactions which occur at the different levels of grammar (phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax and pragmatics), illustrating their various roles in the structural organization of the sentence and exploring how interface relations contribute to yield interpretation in typologically different languages. The structural analysis is set within the Generative framework of grammar, though theoretical tenets are the outcome, rather than the starting point, of a study based on the observation of data.
As the basic intent is to show different phenomena across a wide range of languages, a 'semi-guided' method has been adopted in order to facilitate comprehension and assist the reader in the identification of language universals. For every topic, the discussion of previous literature is followed by cr..
"Focus Marking and Universal Grammar"
No full textL'articolo si occupa dell'analisi delle costruzioni di Focus che includono la presenza di Focus Markers (FM). Si mostra che tale presenza non rappresenta un parametro per se, bensì si inserisce all'interno di uno specifico modulo interpretativo della Grammatica Universale.
In particolare, la necessità che un morfema segnali il Focus viene rapportata al carattere polisintentico che distingue quelle lingue in cui solamente i clitici sono visibili per l'assegnazione dei ruoli argomentali in struttura profonda, attraverso l'incorporazione nella testa verbale(cf. Baker 1996). D'altra parte, i fenomeni morfo-sintattici che emergono in alcune di queste lingue, possono essere correlati al parametro del pro-drop, vale a dire la capacità di una lingua di ammettere il Soggetto Nullo
"Somali in a typological-comparative perspective: from data to theory"
No full textWorking within a framework that assumes universal principles of grammar, the description of a language is only the first step of linguistic investigation. The morpho-syntactic and intonational properties of a language should, in fact, inspire the scholar’s reflection towards wider a consideration about the structure and functioning of languages in a comparative perspective, in order to reach a deeper understanding of the language-system as a unified whole. That’s why, once the description of data has reached a satisfactory level, linguistic investigation must proceed towards theory. The aim of this paper is to offer a short but, hopefully, significant overview of this analytical approach
Information structure in Somali: Evidence from the syntax-phonology interface
No full textThe correspondence between grammatical categories and prosodic events is widely acknowledged
in the literature and a number of recent works have investigated the syntax–prosody
interface and its relation to information structure. In this area of research, this paper provides
an analysis of broad and narrow Focus constructions in Somali, based on a corpus of semispontaneous
conversations between three native speakers of Somali.
Evidence is thus provided for a partition of the utterance into two major domains, one
including the so-called Verbal Complex and the other the left periphery of the sentence –
two interpretive domains that basically correspond to the vP- and CP-phase, consistent
with Minimalist claims (Chomsky 2008). From a cartographic viewpoint, prosodic investigation
supports the existence of a hierarchical organization of discourse-grammar categories
in the C-domain. However, some internal refi nement is required. In particular, functional
heads concerning Focus and (diff erent types of ) Topic are shown to be fully part of the
C-domain, while Fin(iteness)P – the functional projection connected with tense and agreement
specifi cations (cf. Rizzi 1997) – belongs to the clausal domain. A reconsideration of
what counts as the Complement of C (used as a cover term of the CP-phase) is therefore
needed. Finally, intonation strongly supports a cleft-like analysis of narrow Focus constructions
in languages like Somali. In particular, evidence is given for a predicative merge of the
focused DP in a Small Clause construction and for the topicalized status of the (presupposed)
relative DP. Attention is also paid to the intonation of yes-no questions, showing the
necessity of diff erent functional projections to activate interrogative force, according to scopal
requirements
Interfaces: The Relation between Structure and Output
No full textThis paper is concerned with the interpretation of discourse categories in spoken and signed
languages. Based on recent works showing that Focus and Topic constituents are realized in
dedicated projections in the C-domain and associated with specific tonal events (Frascarelli
2004a, Frascarelli and Hinterhölzl 2007), this paper discusses evidence (mainly from Aarons
2004) that a systematic connection of the same kind can be maintained in signed languages as
well. The analysis of data will show that facial expressions qualify as the formal correlates of
intonation insofar as specific non-manual markings signal different discourse categories, which
are encoded in a syntactic hierarchy. A comparative analysis of spoken and signed languages
can therefore shed additional light on the relation between structure and output
Focus in the Force-Fin System. Information Structure in Cushitic Languages
No full textThis paper investigates Information Structure and the Force-Fin system (cf.
Rizzi 1997) in two Cushitic languages, Somali and Afar. In particular, the
activation of the Focus field will be analysed in different clausal types,
showing the existence of a crucial connection between Focus-related
categories and the illocutionary force of the sentence
L’analisi Linguistica. Dai dati alla teoria
No full textUna rivisitazione di temi classici dell'analisi linguistica in cui si intende mettere in evidenza e riflettere su alcuni aspetti universali del linguaggio e sulla loro diversa realizzazione in lingue tipologicamente differenziate. Il lavoro si pone l'obiettivo di mostrare le interazioni tra i vari livelli di analsi per mostrare i loro diversi ruoli e il modo in cui interagiscoo ai fini dell'interpretazione. Pur utilizzando un preciso quadro teorico di riferimento, l'apparato formale è limitato al massimo e lo spazio maggiore è dedicato ai dati e alla loro osservazione e analisi
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