Feb 23 B Dec 24 Conference Abstracts Order of Presentation

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Florida Linguistics Yearly Meeting (FLYM) 3

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
On the Locus of Edge Features
Jairo Nunes
Universidade de So Paulo
CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS
To account for long distance movement in consonance with the Phase Impenetrability Condition,
Chomsky (2001) proposes that the head of a strong phase may be optionally assigned an EPP-type of
feature, which triggers movement to the edge of the phase. This proposal tacitly invokes parametrization
of the computational system, is at odds with the Inclusiveness Condition, and leads to overgeneration,
allowing partial wh-movement in languages such as English. Bokovi (2007) develops an alternative
approach according to which the uninterpretable edge feature that triggers successive cyclic movement
(uF) is hosted by the moving element, instead. Although able to circumvent Chomksys (2001) problems,
Bokovis (2007) account provides no basis to capture the fact that a sucessful instance of A-movement
may depend on the phase heads it crosses, as illustrated by that-trace effects, for instance. Modifying a
proposal by Nunes (2014), in this presentation I explore an alternative hybrid approach to successive
cyclic movement, taking the proposals by Chomsky (2001) and Bokovi (2007) not to be excluding, but
complementary. More specifically, I argue that whether edge features are located on phase heads or
moving elements is a matter of parametric variation and that these different options can account for
substantial differences across languages, such as the fact some languages have especial Cs or vs
associated with A-movement and the fact that the interpretation of adjunct control may be sensitive to the
type of wh-movement available in the language.
FLORIDA(YEARLY(LINGUISTICS(MEETING((FLYM)(3(
and(
LINGUISTICS(MATTERS(FESTIVAL!
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Miami,!Florida,!March!9!/!11,!2016!
Keynote and Plenary Talks are first.

Oral presentations are in order of presentation.
Posters are grouped by session and are in alphabetical order.
1!
2!
BARBARA GORDON MEMORIAL SPEAKER
LINGUISTICS MATTERS PLENARY
How Applied Should Linguistics Be?

From Theory to Practice
Lydia White
McGill University
Is There a DPBE in L2 Acquisition and, If So, Why?

Lydia White
McGill University
Generative second language (L2) acquisition research addresses the nature of interlanguage competence,
examining the roles of Universal Grammar (UG) and the mother tongue in shaping the acquisition,
representation and use of second or foreign languages. However, this does not entail that results of such
research are directly relevant for the language classroom. Nevertheless, there has been a recent revival of
discussion about the possible applications of linguistic theory and L2 research to language pedagogy. In
this paper, I will present an overview of research, past and present, which explores potential insights for
the language classroom. Pedagogical implications are considered, including the advantages offered by
sophisticated linguistic descriptions, as well as how learnability considerations can highlight problem
areas for second language learners. I will offer suggestions, based on this research, for language teaching,
textbook descriptions of grammar, and syllabus design.
3!
A much-studied phenomenon in first language acquisition is the so-called Delay of Principle B Effect
(DPBE), whereby children have greater difficulty in interpreting sentences with pronouns than with
reflexives. In addition, children are more accurate when pronouns refer to quantified antecedents (e.g.
Every bear is touching her) than to referential antecedents (e.g. Mama Bear is touching her). A recent
study by Hartman, Sudo & Wexler (2012) established that English-speaking children were significantly
more adult-like when they heard reduced English pronouns (e.g. John saw'm versus John saw him).
According to some researchers, the DPBE reflects difficulties due to an elevated processing load (e.g.
Grodzinsky & Reinhart 1993). In that case, similar difficulties in interpretation might be expected for L2
learners.
To investigate this question, an experiment was conducted with adult learners of English, using a Truth
Value Judgment Task, administered online. Results suggest that certain aspects of pronoun interpretation
indeed strain processing resources in L2 acquisition but that these effects can be overcome: intermediate
level learners showed a discrepancy in accuracy on quantificational versus referential antecedents, as well
as on reduced versus full pronouns, similar to the performance of L1 acquirers, whereas advanced learners
performed like native speakers.
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Understanding the EPP Effect

Niina Ning Zhang
National Chung Cheng University
Understanding the EPP effect
b.
c.
This talk proposes an account for the EPP effect from the operations of lexical category features
in syntax. Each functional projection in a clausal spine extends a verbal, rather than a nominal,
projection (Grimshaw 1991). This means that the head of such a projection has the lexical
category [V] feature, as well as its intrinsic functional category feature such as T or C. Assume
that this [V] feature needs to be valued by a nominal. This can be viewed as a contrastive or
complementary specification. We argue that all basic operations in syntax, i.e., Merge, Remerge,
and in situ Agree, can value the lexical category feature of such a functional head into [V].
An operation of category Merge of a nominal is seen in the occurrence of an expletive.
An expletive may be merged in the vP of a non-inchoative unaccusative (e.g., arrive) in English
(Deal 2009; Sobin 2014), or CP, as the first element of a V2 clause in Icelandic (Sells 2005) (1).
(1)
var
dansa
stofunni.
was danced in
the.living.room
Someone danced in the living room.
(6)
b.
(Icelandic; Sells 2005: (2a))
EXPL
An operation of category Remerge of a nominal is observed in any movement that

exhibits a nominal category minimality effect. An element that undergoes movement must have
categorial features. In Chomsky (1995: 265; also Ochi 1999: 90), all overt movement chains are
composed of two sub-chains: a chain of formal features that take part in the required checking
and a chain of categorial features. It has been assumed that the latter chain does not involve
feature checking; rather, it is just the carrier of the former chain. We claim that a category
feature may function either as a pure carrier, or as both a carrier and a probed feature. Only in
the latter situation, a category minimality effect is observed. Since A-movement exhibits such an
effect, a nominal category probe can be extracted (2) (In the examples below, a movement is
blocked by the underlined nominal). A similar extraction of a category probe is possible in the
A-bar movement when the gap must be in the highest nominal position, as in the predicateformation of pseudo-relatives in Romance languages (3), participle relatives in many European
languages (Keenan & Comrie 1977), and relatives in Austronesian languages. The category
minimality effect is also attested in the derivation of the subject/topic-complementizer order in
Mandarin Chinese (4)/(5), and the raising of the subject from a finite clause to the left of a
selecting raising verb, as in some Bantu languages (Zeller 2006; Diercks 2012; Carstens &
Diercks 2013)(6).
(2)
(3)
a.
b.
a.
b.
(4)
a.
b.
c.
(5)
a.
*Kimi seemed [for Pat to believe [ti to know the answer]].

*Whoi was there never seen ti?
J'ai
vu
Marie qui
sortait du
cinema. (French; Deprez 1992: 223)
I#CL saw Mary that exit from cinema
I saw Mary going out of the cinema.
*J'ai vu
Marie que
Pierre embrassait
I#CL saw Mary that Peter kissed
ruguo ganhan
yingxiang-le dao-tian
(Chinese; Zhang 2015)
if
drought
affect-PRF
rice-field
ganhani
ruguo ti
yingxiang-le dao-tian
drought
if
affect-PRF
rice-field
Both a & b: If the drought affected the paddy field
*dao-tiani
ruguo ganhan
yingxiang-le ti
rice-field
if
drought
affect-PRF
ruguo shuiguo
yingtaozui
gui
if
fruit
cherry most expensive
1
a.
7!
shuiguoi
ruguo ti yingtao
zui
gui
fruit
if
cherry
most expensive
Both a & b: if as for fruits, cherry is the most expensive,
*yingtaoi
ruguo shuiguo ti
zui
gui
cherry
if
fruit
most expensive
Ka-lolekhana (mbo) John ka-a-kwa.
(Lubukusu; Diercks 2012: 275)
6s-seems
(that) 1John 1s-pst-fell
It seems that John fell.
John a-lolekhana (mbo) ka-a-kwa.
1John 1s-seems
(that) 1s-pst-fell
John seems like he fell/John seems to have fallen.
We argue that when a category movement is optional, as in (4a/b), (5a/b) and (6a/b), the
valuation task is taken by an operation of category Agree of a nominal. Thus, there is no null
expletive in languages or constructions that have no EPP effect. We also argue that EPP is not a
feature. Instead, it is an effect that the Agree operation for a syntactic task is not available, and
thus the task has to be accomplished by a Merge or Remerge operation.
The newly identified category operations are in the narrow syntax system, rather than an
interface system. Category operations (c-operations) are compared with semantic operations (soperations) in the conceptual-intentional interface system. Both the merger of an expletive and
c-selection are c-operations. They are compared with s-selection and argument-structurebuilding, which are s-operations. Category movement is compared with operator movement,
which is an s-operation. Finally, category Agree operation is compared with an in situ operatorvariable dependency, which is an s-operation.
Syntactic operations are usually driven by composite probes of both systems, and
morphosyntactic features (e.g., Case, number). Thus the Relativized Minimality (Rizzi 1990)
should be examined against the probed features, rather than the traditional A and A-bar positions.
We will show that there are two types of raising verbs in Mandarin Chinese. The evidential type
has no EPP, as in some Bantu languages; and the aspectual type has EPP, as in English. The
contrast correlates with whether Case-valuation is combined with category-feature valuation.
This research shows that non-interface operations in syntax are attestable from the
category minimality effect. It identifies category operations in syntax. As a consequence, it
presents a new understanding of expletives, the EPP effect, the composite probes of syntactic
operations, and optional movement.
References
Carstens, Vick & Michal Diercks. 2013. Parameterizing Case and Activity: Hyper-raising in
Bantu. In Proceedings of NELS 40, 99-118. Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Deal, Amy Rose. 2009. The origin and content of expletives:
evidence from selection. Syntax 12: 285-323. Dprez, Viviane. 1992. Raising constructions in
Haitian Creole. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 10: 191-231. Diercks, Michael. 2012.
Parameterizing case: evidence from Bantu. Syntax 15: 253-286. Grimshaw, Jane. 1991.
Extended projections. Ms. Brandeis University. Keenan, Edward & Comrie, Bernard. 1977.
Noun phrase accessibility and Universal Grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8, 63-99. Ochi, Masao.
1999. Some consequences of Attract F, Lingua 109:81-107. Rizzi, Luigi. 1990. Relativized
minimality. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Sells, Peter. 2005. The peripherality of the
Icelandic expletive. In Proceedings of the LFG05 Conference, University of Bergen, ed. M. Butt
& T. Holloway King, 408-428. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Sobin, Nicholas. 2014. Th/Ex,
Agreement, and Case in expletive sentences. Syntax17.4: 385-416. Zeller, Jochen. 2006. Raising
out of finite CP in Nguni: The case of fanele. South African Linguistics and Applied Language
Studies 24:255275. Zhang, Niina Ning. 2015. Decomposing A-movement. Invited talk at the
! 9th Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics, Stuttgart, Sept. 24-26.
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On Two Generalizations on Ellipsis

Hsu-Te Cheng
University of Connecticut
when the sentence is built to a phase (e.g. vP), the complement (VP) will be sent to Spell-Out. The PF
component can choose whether to realize it properly (with full phonological realization) or not, as in (11b).
Later, when the structure is built to the next higher phase, as in (11c), the shaded element in (11c), namely v
to IP, will be sent to Spell-Out, given the cyclic (phase-by-phase) nature of Spell-Out. The whole result will
be either sluicing, if these elements are spelled out as null, as in (11d), or VP ellipsis, if they are properly
realized, as in (11e). The condition in (5) is thus derived. The complement and the edge of the phase are
always in two different spelling out cycles. The only way to elide the whole phase is, in the second SpellOut, to realize the edge of the phase as null but to assign the rest of the spelling out cycle proper realization.
This option, however, is impossible, given that PF cannot handle elements with inconsistent phonological
features in one spelling out cycle, as in (10d). In other words, in (11c) PF cannot realize v and vP as null but
realize I and IP properly. The ban on eliding phases is thus derived. One consequence of this condition is that
the category that may be elided is restricted to complements of phase heads, given that only the complement
of phase head HP may be sent to Spell-Out, as in (12).
(10) a. Derivations proceed successive cyclically and cycle is defined by phase (Chomsky (2000, 2001)).
b. Transfer: In phase P with head HP, Transfer applies to the complement domain of HP as
soon as the edge of P is extended. (Hiraiwa (2003))
c. At each Spell-Out cycle, the PF component must decide whether to spell out the elements properly
or not (with null/zero phonological realization). (cf. Holmberg (2001))
d. PF Uniformity: In each cycle, PF can only handle elements with consistent phonological features.
(11) a. [vP [ v [VP eat a cake ]]]
b. [vP [ v [VP ] ]]
c. [CP C [IP I [vP v [VP ] ] ] ]
! sent to Spell-Out
! VP realized as null
! sent to Spell-Out
d. [CP C [IP ] ] ! sluicing (IP-ellipsis)
e. [CP C [IP I [vP v [VP ] ] ] ] ! VP ellipsis
(12) a. [Phase H [ [Phase Specifier H [XP complement] ]]]
|_____Spell-Out______| |__Spell-Out__|
The Movement Ellipsis Generalization (MEG) MEG, as in (13), can then be derived from the condition in
(5). For a phrase to undergo ellipsis, it must be the complement of phase heads, which has been argued to be
immobile, given the interplay of PIC and Anti-Locality (cf. Abels (2003) and others), as in (14). On the other
hand, for a phrase to undergo movement, it must NOT be the complement of phase heads so that movement
will not be blocked by PIC and Anti-Locality. However, not being the complement of phase will in turn
exclude it to be eligible for ellipsis. MEG thus predicts that movement and ellipsis are mutually-exclusive for
a given phrase, and this is empirically substantiated. (15-17) show that MEG holds for CP, DP, and IP. For
VP, while it may be elided (18a), it cannot be moved (18b), evidence coming from Huangs (1993) binding
examples showing whats fronted is vP, which contains the subject trace.
(13) MEG: For a certainly category XP, if XP can be elided, it cannot be moved and vice versa.
(14) a. [Phase Spec [ HP XP ] ]
b. [Phase Spec [ H XP ] ]
(banned by Anti-Locality)
(banned by PIC)
(15) a. [CP that John will marry a supermodel]1, I will never believe t1 .
b. *John believes that Mary is smart, and Bill also believes [CP e ].
(16) a. [DP Banana]1, John really likes t1 . b. *John likes this book, but Bill does not like [DP e ].
(17) a. *[IP Sam likes Sue]1, Joe doesnt believe that t1 . b. Joe saw someone, but I dont know who [IP e ].
(18) a. Sam will come, but Sue will not [VP e ]. b. Sami said that [wash himself*i/j] Joej certainly would tvP.
Discussion I further argue that the existence of scrambling and AE in Japanese does not pose a problem to
MEG. Following Ohtaki (2011), I will argue that what is elided is not a full DP/NP in Japanese, but a subpart of it, licensed by (null) KP, a phase. I will argue that the same holds for Mandarin Chinese as well. MEG
thus provides us a tool to detect what a phase is, which may be moved but not elided.
On Two Generalizations on Ellipsis

Synopsis The aim of the paper is to argue for two generalizations regarding ellipsis: (1) Phases cannot be
elided. (2) The Movement Ellipsis Generalization (MEG): For a certain category XP, if XP can be elided, it
cannot be moved and vice versa. It will be argued that these two generalizations can capture a wider range of
data regarding Argument Ellipsis (AE), and provide some insight on how to detect phases.
Introduction It is well known that languages differ in whether they allow free occurrence of null arguments
(Huang (1984)). One special type of null arguments, AE, where arguments, but not adjuncts, may be elided
(cf. Oku (1998), Saito (2007), Takahashi (2008), Cheng (2013) among others), has received close inspections
recently. (1)-(3) shows that Japanese allows various arguments to be elided, irrespective of their categories
(DP, PP, CP, etc). The sloppy reading shows that what is involved is ellipsis, not a null pronoun. AE is fairly
constrained. Cheng (2011) argues that the paradigm and the distribution of AE may be represented in (4).
Only languages listed in (4a), but not those in (4b), are claimed to allow AE.
(1) Taroo-ga [NP zibun-no hahaoya-o ] sonkeisiteiru Ziroo-mo [NP e ] sonkeisiteiru
Taroo-nom self-gen mother-acc respect
Ziroo-also
respect
Taroo respects his own mother.
Ziroo also respects e. (OKstrict, OKsloppy)
(2) a. Taroo to Hanako-ga [PP otagai
kara ] meeru-o
uketotta
Taroo and Hanako-nom
each.other from e-mail-acc received
Taroo and Hanako received e-mail from each other.
b. Ken to Yumiko-wa [PP e ] tegami-o uketotta
Ken and Yumiko-top
letter-acc received
Ken and Yumiko received letters.
(3) a. Taroo-wa [CP zibun-no teian-ga
Hanako-o odorokasu to] omotteiru
Taroo-top
self-gen proposal-nom Hanako-acc surprise
that think
Taroo thinks that his proposal will surprise Hanako.
b. Ziroo-mo [CP e ] omotteiru
Ziroo-also
think
Ziroo1 also thinks (that his1 proposal will surprise Hanako).
(4) a. Languages that allow AE (and sloppy interpretation): Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Turkish
b. Languages that DO NOT allow AE (and sloppy interpretation): English, French, German, Dutch
The Proposal I propose that there is a general ban on ellipsis that phases cannot be elided, as in (5). English
provides supports for this generalization. Arguments in English have been argued to be DPs (cf. Abney
(1987)), and it has been argued that DPs are phases (Svenonius (2004), among others). Given the condition
that phases cannot be elided, it is expected that AE is not available in English, as shown in (6). Moreover, it
has been argued that vPs and CPs are strong phases in English. (7b) shows that CPs cannot be elided,
conforming with (5). It should be noted that CP ellipsis should be distinguished from null complement
anaphora and so-complementation, as in (8), which has been argued to be a case of deep anaphora (cf.
Hankamer and Sag (1976)), and not ellipsis (Depiante (2000)). As for vP ellipsis, Merchant (2008) argues
that it is really VP ellipsis, based on the facts in (9) that ellipsis tolerates voice mismatches. Under the
assumption that voice is hosted in v, it follows that what is elided is VP, not vP, conforming with (5). For
Japanese and Chinese, it has been argued that the DP projection is missing in these languages (Bokovi
(2008)). The existence of AE in these languages then follows, given that NP itself is not a phase (Despi
(2011)). Arguments in Japanese and Chinese are thus not subject to the condition in (5).
(5) The Non-Elidability Condition of Phases: If XP is a phase, XP cannot be elided in the PF component.
(6) a. *John likes his mother, and Bill also likes [DP e ].
b. *John thinks that his son is smart. Bill also thinks that [DP e ] is smart.
(7) a. John wonders [CP whether Mary will pass the exam]. b. *Bill also wonders [CP e ].
(8) a. When mother told him to clean up his room, John refused ______. (null complement anaphora)
b. Bill thinks that he will pass the exam, but Peter doesnt think so. (so-complementation)
(9) a. This problem was to have been looked into, but obviously nobody did [VP e ].
b. Actually, I have implemented it with a manager, but it doesnt have to be [VP e ].
Analysis Having substantiated the validity in (5), I argue that it may be derived from other independently
motivated assumptions about phases and Spell-Out. I adopt the three commonly assumed proposals in (10ac) plus the condition in (10d). Given these assumptions, the ban in (5) may be derived. As shown in (11a),
Selected References Abels, K. (2003). Successive cyclicity, anti-locality, and adposition stranding. UConn dissertation.
Abney, S. (1987). The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Doctoral Dissertation, MIT. Bokovi, . (2008).
What will you have, DP or NP? In Proceedings of the 37th North NELS. Chomsky, N. (2000). Minimalist Inquires. In
Step by step, 89-155. Huang, J. (1984). On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns. LI 15: 531-574. Oku, S.
(1998). A theory of selection and reconstruction in the minimalist perspective. Doctoral Dissertation, UConn. Saito, M.
(2007). Notes on East Asian argument ellipsis. Language Research 43: 203-227. Takahashi, D. (2008). Noun Phrase
Ellipsis. In The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Linguistics, 394-422.
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VP-Focus Pseudocleft Sentences in Japanese: An Argument for Question-Answer

Pair Analysis
Yuki Ishihara
Pseudocleft
Sentences in Japanese: An Argument for Question-Answer Pair Analysis
TokyoVP-Focus
Institute
of Technology
What did Taro eat?
Question-Answer pair analysis with Merchants (2004) analysis of fragment answers.

(6)
Taroo-ga
si-ta-no-wa
hon-o
yom-u
koto
da.
Taro-NOM do-PST-C-TOP book-ACC read-NPST NOMINALIZER COP.NPST
Den Dikken et al. (2000) propose to derive a type of specificational pseudocleft sentences in English by
What Taro did was read a book.
generating a presuppositional clause in Spec of TopP and applying deletion in the TP complement of Top0.
(1)
Its an orange.
Following Cho et al. (2008), I consider that pseudocleft sentences are biclausal, but I propose to combine the
[TopP [CP Opi [TP Taroo-ga Vbli si-ta] [C no]]-wa [TP [PredP [FocP [vP hon-o yom]l-u [TP Taroo-ga [hon-o yom]j T]
(?)[TopP [What Mary didnt buy] [TOP is/was] [TP she didnt buy any wine]]
[Foc koto]] [Pred da]] T] TOP]
They argue along with Ross (1972, 1997), Higgins (1976) and Schlenker (2003) that the presuppositional clause
In the presuppositional clause, located in Spec of TopP, operator movement takes place, forming a question. The
is a question and that the focus corresponds to its answer. On the other hand, Akmajian (1979), Heggie (1988)
element in Spec of TopP is followed by the topic marker wa. In FocP, which hosts a fragment answer, focus
and Guron (1992) claim that the presuppositional clause is a free relative. Furthermore, rather than deriving the
movement takes place, followed by deletion of TP. Since Taroo-ga hon-o yom forms a clause at one stage in the
pseudocleft sentences from two clauses, Meinunger (1997) and Hiraiwa and Ishihara (2012) propose a
derivation, it successfully accounts for the connectivity effect observed between the presuppositional clause and
monoclausal analysis. This paper argues for a biclausal derivation of pseudoclefts, demonstrating novel evidence
the focus phrase, as in Taroo-to Hanako-ga si-ta-no-wa otagai-no hon-o yom-u koto da What Taro and Hanako
for the question-answer pair analysis from Japanese, a language with a topic marker.
did was read each others book.

A supporting piece of evidence for this analysis comes from VP focus pseudocleft sentences where the same
An example of a Japanese pseudocleft sentence is shown in (2).

(2)
[ Taroo-ga
t tabe-ta-no-wa]
Taro-NOM
auxiliary occurs both in the presuppositional clause and the focus phrase.
[mikan] da.
eat-PST-C-TOP
(7) a. Taroo-ga
orange COP.NPST
What Taro ate was an orange.
koto
The presuppositional clause consists of a clause with a gap which corresponds to a focus element, and is
Taro-NOM
[mikan] da.
eat-PST-C-NOM
b.
orange COP.NPST
What Taro ate was an orange.
Taroo-ga
musuko-o {*karakaw-u/OKkarakaw-are-ru}
do-PASS-PST-C-TOP son-ACC
tease-NPST/tease-PASS-NPST
dat-ta.
Lit. What Taro was done by Hanako was have his son teased.
not yield a well-formed sentence (3a), though ga-marked subject is fine in ordinary copular clauses (3b).
t tabe-ta-no-ga]
s-are-ta-no-wa
NOMINALIZER COP-PST
followed by the nominalizer no and the topic marker wa. Replacing wa with a nominative case marker, ga, does
(3) a.?* [Taroo-ga
Hanako-ni
Taro-NOM Hanako-DAT
b. Taroo-ga
gakusee da.
Hanako-ni
Taro-NOM Hanako-DAT
Taro-NOM student COP.NPST
koto
Taro is a student.
s-ase-ta-no-wa
ronbun-o
{kak-u/ kak-ase-ru}
do-CAUSE-PST-C-TOP paper-ACC write-NPST/write-CAUSE-NPST
dat-ta.
NOMINALIZER COP-PST
I claim that the obligatory presence of wa in a Japanese pseudocleft sentence can be explained if the
Lit. What Taro made Hanako do was write a paper.
presuppositional clause needs to be interpreted as a question.
If pseudocleft sentences are derived from a single clause, it is not clear why the same causative or passive
In Japanese when an NP with a nominative case marker occurs by itself as in (4a), it is interpreted as a
morpheme occurs twice in them. On the other hand, if the presuppositional clause and the focus phrase represent
sentence fragment, and the value of the missing VP is determined by context. In contrast, when an NP with a
a question and its answer, it is natural that passive questions are answered with a passive verb form as in (7a).
topic marker wa occurs alone as in (4b), it cannot be interpreted as a fragment of a declarative sentence; it can
Since a question involving a causative morpheme can be, but does not have to be, answered with a verb form
only be interpreted as a fragment question.
with the causative morpheme, its optionality in the focus phrase in (7b) follows as well.
(4) a. Taroo-ga.
b. Taroo-wa.
Taro-NOM
Taro-TOP
Selected References
Taro will do it. etc.
#Taro will do it. etc.
Cho, S. et al. (2008) Multiple Focus Clefts in Japanese and Korean, CLS 44./ Den Dikken, M. et al. (2000)
OK
Pseudoclefts and Ellipsis, Studia Linguistica 54./ Hiraiwa, K. and S. Ishihara (2012) Syntactic
Where is Taro? etc.
This fact does not seem to have been discussed in the previous literature as far as I know, but we can account for
Metamorphosis: Clefts, Sluicing, and In-situ Focus in Japanese, Syntax 15./ Merchant, J. (2004) Fragments
the obligatory question reading of (4b) based on its information structure: the missing VP must constitute a
and Ellipsis, L & P 27./ Ross J. R. (1972) Act, Davidson, D. and G. Harman eds. Semantics of Natural
comment for the topic phrase. While an answer to a question makes a good comment, the old information
Languages.
available in the context does not. Going back to (2), we can regard the presuppositional clause of a pseudocleft
sentence as a fragment question and the focus phrase as its answer, as in (5).
(5)
Q: Taroo-ga
tabe-ta-no-wa?
Taro-NOM eat-PST-C-TOP
A: Mikan da(-yo).
orange COP.NPST(-SENTENCE.FINAL.PARTICLE)
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Spelling out Variation: The Case of Subjunctive Particles in Balkan Romance

Sandra-Iulia Ronai
Spelling out variation:
UiT - The Arctic
University
of Norwayparticles in Balkan Romance
the case
of subjunctive
a.
Like most Balkan languages, Balkan Romance employs an analytic subjunctive, constructed with a
verbal form (whose morphology shows traces of differentiation from the indicative) preceded by an
invariable particle: s in (Daco-)Romanian, si/s- in Megleno-Romanian, and s/si/s- in Aromanian
(all presumably from the Latin conjunction si, through semantic bleaching of the conditional
meaning). These languages, as well as two different varieties of (Daco-)Romanian, differ with
respect to how the subjunctive particle interacts with complementizers. I argue that the subjunctive
particles are all complex lexical items that span heads in both the CP and IP layer, and explain that
the inter-variety variation lies exactly in the featural make-up of the particle itself.
For the standard variety of (Daco-)Romanian, establishing the nature of s has been
problematic. The data in (1) illustrate its syntactic behavior and its relationship with the other
element that can embed subjunctive clauses, the complementizer ca. The generalization is this: when
there is any type of linguistic material in the left periphery of the embedded clause (a topic, a focused
constituent, or the subject in preverbal position), s co-occurs with ca, sandwiching this
intervening material (1b). In the absence of any such intervening material, s is used alone, and ca is
ruled out (1a). (2) shows the only case where s can appear together with caintroducing an adjunct
clause with a distinct purpose semantics.
(1)
(2)
a.
Vreau
want-1ST.SG.IND
(*ca)
s
S
trimit
lucrarea
send-3RD.SG.SUBJ paper-THE
b.
Vreau
ca peste o or
s trimit
lucrarea.
want-1ST.SG.IND CA over one hour S send-3RD.SG.SUBJ paper-THE
I want to submit the paper an hour from now.
A
venit
(ca)
s
has
come-PART.PERF.
CA
S
(S)he came (in order) to collect the book.
ia
take-3RD.SG.SUBJ
peste
over
c.
FIGURE 1: Spell-Out of the Romanian CP/IP contact zone: with intervening material in the left
periphery (a), without intervening material (b), and with a Force head with distinct semantics (c).
In contrast with Standard (Daco-)Romanian, a certain non-standard variety always uses s together
with ca, even when there is no intervening material and no extra semantics to break the span.
Megleno-Romanian and Aromanian seem to be somewhere in the middle, with the complementizer
(ca or t) being optional in such cases. This is illustrated in (3):
(3)
o
or.
one hour
cartea.
book-THE
a.
Vreau
*(ca)
want.1ST.SG.IND CA
S
I want us to go together.
s
mergem mpreun.
go.1ST.PL.SUBJ together
(Non-Standard (Daco-)Romanian)
b.
Voi
(ca) s-na
want.1ST.SG.IND CA S.-1ST.PL.ACC.CL
c.
Voi
(t)
want.1ST.SG.IND
CA
duim
priun.
go.1PL.SUBJ
together
(Megleno-Romanian, Tomi 2006)
s-nedzim
deadun.
S-go.1ST.PL.SUBJ
together
(Aromanian, Tomi 2006)
I interpret this as a difference in the features of the subjunctive particles (or, in the size of the
syntactic tree that each lexical item can spell-outStarke 2011). In Standard Romanian, s contains
three features: [FORCE], [FIN] and [MOOD], and can lexicalize all three together when they form a
single span. In Non-Standard Romanian, the lexical entry for s is smaller, containing only two
features: [FIN] and [MOOD], which forces the use of ca in all context (like in Figure 1c above).
Megleno-Romanian and Aromanian (or different speakers of each of these languages) may have two
types of subjunctive particlebig like in Standard Romanian or small like in Non-Standard
Romanian, which gives rise to the optionality.
Thus, a spanning approach, combined with differences in the featural make-up of lexical
items, can explain the double nature of the subjunctive particle, and predict its variation in syntactic
behavior in four separate varieties across Balkan Romance.
As an obligatory inflectional marker of the subjunctive mood, s has been placed by many
researchers (Cotfas 2012, Motapanyane 1995, tefnescu 1997, Cornilescu 1997, Avram 1999,
Alboiu 2001) in a dedicated M(ood)P projection (with no consensus on the locus of this phrase); on
the other hand, because it can act as a complementizer (1a), some analyses (Gramatica Academiei,
Ammann & van der Auwera 2004) claim that it belongs to the C layer. I offer a third solution
(building on an idea in Dobrovie-Sorin 1994): that s is not in the CP or the IP layer, but in both,
lexicalizing an inflectional head and a complementational one at the same time.
I implement this by using the Rizzian projections ForceP and FinP, and by adopting a
Spanning theory of Spell-Out (Bye & Svenonius 2010, Svenonius 2012, Ramchand 2014). A span
(Hockett 1947, Williams 2003) is a continuous sequence of heads where each lower head is the
complement of the higher one; the heads in a span can be lexicalized by a single morphological
exponent. In Standard (Daco-)Romanian, when there is no Topic or Focus to project (i.e., no
intervening material), Force, Fin and Mood form a span, and s can lexicalize all three together.
When there is intervening material, the span is broken, and s can only spell-out the lower part (Fin
and Mood together), with Force needing a separate exponent, ca, to lexicalize it. A breaking of the
span can also happen when the Force head has a specific semantics, which will be expressed by a
distinct complementizer. Figure 1 illustrates the three possible cases.
b.
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SELECTED REFERENCES: COTFAS, M. 2012. On the syntax of the Romanian subjunctive. Control and
obviation. PhD dissertation, University of Bucharest || DOBROVIE-SORIN, C. 1994. The Syntax of
Romanian. Comparative Studies in Romance. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyer || RIZZI, L. The
fine structure of the left periphery. In RIZZI, L. 2000. Comparative Syntax and Language
Acquisition. Routlegde. || STARKE, M. 2011. Towards elegant parameters: Language variation
reduces to the size of lexically stored trees. Ms. || SVENONIUS, P. 2012. Spanning. Ms., UiT The
Arctic University of Norway. || TOMI, O.M. 2006. Balkan Sprachbund Morphosyntactic Features.
Dordrecht: Springer.
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On Conjectural Questions in Japanese: With Special Reference to Speech Act Phrase

Takeshi Oguro
Chiba On
University
of Commerce
Conjectural Questions in Japanese: with Special Reference to Speech Act Phrase
(Hearer-related) agreement. In other words, the politeness marker in (1a) requires the presence of
Hearer, which makes it possible to interpret (1a) as an information-seeking question. However, the
conjectural question reading also seems to be possible in (1a). The polite version of (4a) can also be
interpreted either as an information-seeking question or as a conjectural question, but curiously enough,
yara-questions remain conjectural questions even with a politeness marker.
There is a considerable body of literature on Speech Act Phrase (Speas & Tenny 2003), which
takes as arguments discourse roles like Speaker, Hearer, and Utterance Content.
Miyagawa (2013) discusses the relevance of Hearer in Japanese information-seeking WH-questions
ending with the complementizer ka. This paper deals with conjectural questions in Japanese and
considers their relation to Speech Act Phrase.
Conjectural questions in Japanese typically end with the sentence final particle yara, which is
employed exclusively for conjectural questions. The behavior of yara-questions is different from that
of ka-questions, as observed by traditional Japanese linguists. For instance, information-seeking
questions can end with ka but not with yara, which requires the conjectural question interpretation.
(1) a. Dare-ga
ki-masu
ka?
who-NOM come-POLITE Q
'Who will come?'
(7) a. Dare-ga
kuru desyoo
ka?
who-NOM come MOD.POLITE Q
'Who will come? What do you think?'
'I wonder who will come.'
(7a) can be interpreted either as asking the addressee his/her view concerning who will come or as
expressing the speaker's own wondering in the presence of addressee(s), as in the speech of an
anchorperson or an emcee of a TV show. In (7b), however, the speaker necessarily expresses his/her
own ignorance to the addressee.
I would like to derive this interpretive asymmetry from the two kinds of configurational positioning
of discourse roles and the properties of modal elements in (7) by proposing (8), which is a
modification of (6).
b. Dare-ga
kuru yara.
who-NOM come yara
'I am not certain who will come.'
Ka-questions can be Case-marked, but yara-questions cannot.
(8) a. In information-seeking questions, Hearer is higher than Utterance Content, while in conjectural
questions, Utterance Content is higher than Hearer, on a par with declaratives.
b. The point-of-view operator in ModP headed by daroo has an uninterpretable [udiscourse
participant] feature, whereas the relevant uninterpretable features in yara questions are the
[udiscourse participant, uspeaker].
(2) a. Dare-ga
kuru-ka (ga) wakaranai. b. Dare-ga
kuru-yara (*ga) wakaranai.
who-NOM come-Q NOM know.not
who-NOM come-yara NOM know.not
'I don't know who will come.'
I argue that the peculiarities of yara-questions can be captured by assuming the existence of Speech
Act Phrase. First of all, I show that yara-questions pattern in the relevant respects with ka-conjectural
questions involving the modal daroo such as (4a). These questions, on a par with yara-questions, fail
to be Case-marked, as in (4b).
(4) a. Dare-ga
kuru daroo ka?
who-NOM come MOD Q
'I wonder who will come.'
b. Dare-ga
kuru daroo ka(*o),
who-NOM come MOD Q ACC
Speas and Tenny (2003) seem to assume that this "flip" of the two discourse roles is obligatory in all
the interrogative contexts, but I depart from them and assume that it is applied only in
information-seeking questions. Given (8a), the interpretive ambiguity of (1a) can be accounted for as
well. Assuming yara to require Speaker as its point-of-view holder, proposed in (8b), is intended to
capture the observation that yara-question always reflects the viewpoint of Speaker.
Given (8), (7a) and (7b) will have structures like the following.
watasi-wa siranai
I-TOP
know.not
(9) a. Desyoo ka information seeking question

[SAP Speaker[disc.prt] [SA' [saP Hearer[disc.prt] [sa' [CP [ModP POV[udisc.prt] [MOD' TP MOD0]] C0] sa0]] SA0]]
b. Desyoo ka conjectural question
[SAP Speaker[disc.prt] [SA' [saP [CP [Mod POV[udisc.prt] [MOD' MOD0 TP]] C0] [sa' Hearer[disc.prt] sa0]] SA0]]
(10) a. * Yara-information seeking question
0
0
0
0
[SAP Speaker[disc.prt] [SA' [saP Hearer[disc.prt] [sa' [CP [Mod POV[udisc.prt, uSpeaker] [MOD' TP MOD ]] C ] sa ]] SA ]]
b. Yara-conjectural question
0
0
0
[SAP Speaker[disc.prt] [SA' [saP [CP [Mod POV[udisc.prt, uSpeaker] [MOD' TP MOD ]] C ] [sa' Hearer[disc.prt] sa ]] SA0]]
Interestingly, yara-questions do not allow daroo.

(5)
Dare-ga
kuru (*daroo) yara.
who-NOM come MOD yara
Given Nitta's (1991) observation that daroo cannot occur with another genuine modal, I assume that
yara-questions involve a silent modal element like daroo.
I propose that yara-questions and daroo-questions have structures like the following.
(6)
In (9a), the Point-of-View operator has the perspective of Hearer because it is the closest
c-commanding discourse participant, which makes the sentence ask the addressee's view. In (9b), the
operator reflects the viewpoint of Speaker, which is the only c-commanding discourse participant,
yielding the conjectural question interpretation. In (10a), just like (9a), the closest discourse participant
is Hearer, but the POV operator demands Speaker as its holder, leading to deviance. In (10b), which is
fine, the property of the Point-of-View operator is satisfied.
[SAP Speaker [SA' [CP [ModP POV [Mod' TP Mod0]] C0] SA0]]
In (6) the highest projection is Speech Act Phrase, whose Spec is occupied by Speaker and whose
complement position is filled by CP (Utterance Content). ModP intervenes between CP and TP. The
sequence of Mod0 and C0 is realized as daroo ka in questions like (4a) and as yara in ones like (1b).
[Spec, ModP] contains the Point-of-View operator, which licensed by a sentient element which
c-commands it (Speaker, in this case).
Note that (6) does not involve Hearer, which captures the observation that (1b) and (4a) are not
information-seeking questions, which require Hearer, but instead conjectural questions, which do not.
The failure of Case-markers to be attached to these questions can also be accounted for by assuming
that Case-markers can be attached only to certain categories such as CP and DP, but not Speech Act
Phrase.
It is important to note that the two types of conjectural questions differ when they involve a
politeness marker. It is suggested in Miyagawa (2013) that politeness markers induce allocutive
b. Dare-ga
ki-masu
yara.
Who-NOM come-POLITE yara
References
Miyagawa, Shigeru. 2012. Agreements that occur mainly in the main clause. In Aelbrecht, Lobke,
Liliane Haegeman & Rachel Dye (eds.), Main clause phenomena: new horizons. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins pp 79-112.
Nitta, Yoshio. 1991. Nihongo no Modariiti to Ninsho [Modality and Person in Japanese]. Tokyo:
Kenkyusha.
Speas, Peggy & Carole Tenny. 2003. Configurational properties of point of view roles. Asymmetry in
grammar, ed. A.-M. Di Sciullo, 315-344. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Tenny, Carol. L. 2006. Evidentiality, experiencers, and the syntax of sentience in Japanese. Journal of
East Asian Linguistics 15: 245-288.
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Allocutive Agreement in Brazilian Portuguese: 2nd Person Possessive and SaP

Bruna Karla Pereira
Allocutive agreement in Brazilian Portuguese: 2nd person possessives and the saP
CAPES Foundation
- Ministry of Education of Brazil;
UFVJM; MIT
Bruna Karla Pereira (UFVJM; CAPES; MIT)
Therefore, in Mineiro dialect, 2nd person possessive agrees in number with the addressee which is
(c)overtly realized by a vocative in Spec,SAP. Being so, a provisional analysis of (1b, 2b) would look like (3).
The AgrP position above PossP is due to Cinque (2005) who proposes that each functional projection in the DP
needs to be merged with an AgrP above it to be endowed with nominal features. This is also needed to explain
possessive post-nominal position.
This paper is concerned with 2nd person possessive number agreement in Brazilian Portuguese. Data (1)
from Mineiro dialect show that 2nd person possessive, against the expectations for Romance, does not display
number agreement with the noun; instead, it is inflected according to the number feature of the addressee.
(1)
(3)
a. Eu no tenho as referncias sua (Diamantina, June 2015)

I not have the-FEM-PL reference-FEM-PL your-FEM-SG
I do not have your references.
b. Eu posso passar o telefone seus para o nosso coordenador? (Belo Horizonte, December 2014)
I may pass the-MASC-SG telephone-MASC-SG your-MASC-PL to the our coordinator
May I give your telephone number to our boss?
The type of structures analyzed may also show, in subject position, a 2nd person pronoun (4a) or a 3rd
person DP (4b). In (4a), the possessive pronoun seus is correferential with its closest c-commanding antecedent
vocs, which does not prevent one from postulating saP. As a matter of fact, in (4c), even though a 2nd person
plural pronoun is in subject position, the possessive seu is neither correferential with vocs nor does it agree
with vocs. If we imagine a situation in which the speaker who says (4c) is pointing out (or looking at) an
addressee who is the only one responsible for the mistakes, we understand why the possessive is singular.
Therefore, in (4c), seu refers to a singular addressee, which is encoded in the speech act phrase.
Following Miyagawa (2012), based on Oyharabal (1993), allocutive agreement occurs with 2nd person
and is associated with the level of formality that the speaker wants to convey towards the hearer. Another
property of allocutive agreement is that the inflected verb agrees with the addressee (person and gender
agreement) when the latter is [not] an argument selected by the verb (OYHARABAL, 1993, p. 3), which
means that the inflected form does not agree with the external argument. Analyzing Japanese -mas-, a
politeness marker, used to refer to an addressee which is socially superior to the speaker, Miyagawa (2012)
explains that -mas- is a verbal affix which shows authentic agreement, such that the probe is borne in C,
pronounced in T, and valuated in the saP. His analysis takes into account the saP shell as proposed by Speas and
Tenny (2003) and reformulated by Haegeman and Hill (2011).
So far, I pointed out three main properties of allocutive agreement: i) it is for 2nd person; ii) it conveys a
certain type of social relationship between speaker and hearer; and iii) it checks phi-feature in the saP shell. I
will now show that the data in (1) have exactly all these three properties.
As for (i), in (1a), the speaker has only one addressee, while in (1b) the speaker has more than one. The
plural form (1b) may also be used when the sentence is uttered to only one hearer as long as the speaker intends
to refer to a group (to which the hearer belongs) rather than to the hearer as an individual. Therefore, it seems
that what determines the possessive number inflection, in Mineiro dialect, is exactly the possessor number,
which turns out to be the addressee number, as the pronoun refers to 2nd person.
As for (ii), (1a) could be used in a scenario where a staff member in a shop directs the sentence to a
costumer; and (1b) in a scenario where a businessman directs the sentence to some engineers in a company.
There are, in Brazilian Portuguese, two forms to make clear the reference to 2nd person, if plural de vocs (of
you-PL= your) or singular de voc (of you-SG=your), the latter being less common (for an example, see
NEVES, 2000, p. 473) than the former. In fact, de voc may replace sua in (1a), and de vocs may replace
seus in (1b). So, if the system already makes available a structure which shows number agreement with the
addressee, why does the speaker choose seu(s) instead of de voc(s)? According to Kato (1985), unlike
voc, which indicates a relation of more intimacy between speaker and listener, seu is neutral to this effect.
However, one might inquire whether it is really neutral, because de voc(s) is avoided when the speaker is
required to show respect or formality towards the hearer, and seu may be used instead. Therefore, in either
standard Brazilian Portuguese or Mineiro dialect, seu seems to be a politeness marker compared to de
voc(s); but, only in the latter, does the possessive pronoun seu mark number agreement with the addressee.
As for (iii), the mismatch of agreement between noun and possessive in (1) already raises the question:
what does the possessive agree with? Miyagawa (2012) shows that Japanese -mas- is in fact an
implementation of second person agreement (MIYAGAWA, 2012, p. 79). In this case, feature checking takes
place in the SAP. Following Miyagawas (2012) proposal, I will assume that 2nd person possessive seu reaches
its goal for number valuation in Spec,SAP, the HEARER position, which is proved by the fact that, if the
addressee is phonetically overt as a vocative (2), it has the same number feature as the possessive.
(2)
(4)
In sum, 2nd person possessive seu(s), in Mineiro dialect, displays agreement with the addressee which
may be phonetically realized as a vocative containg the same number feature as the possessive. Keeping in mind
that SAP is the position for vocative, this is evidence of allocutive agreement and phi-feature checking in the
saP.
REFERENCES
CINQUE, Guglielmo. Deriving Greenbergs Universal 20 and its exceptions. Linguistic Inquiry, v. 6, n.3, p.315
- 332, 2005.
HAEGEMAN, Liliane; HILL, Virginia. The syntacticization of discourse. Ms. Ghent University and University
of New Brunswick-SJ, 2011.
KATO, Mary. A complementaridade dos possessivos e das construes genitivas no portugus coloquial: rplica
a Perini, DELTA, 1-2, 107-120, 1985.
MIYAGAWA, Shigeru. Agreements that occur mainly in main clauses. In: AELBRECHT, Lobke;
HAEGEMAN, Liliane; NYE, Rachel. Main Clause Phenomena. New Horizons. Amsterdam: John Benjamins,
2012. p. 79112.
NEVES, Maria Helena Moura. O pronome possessivo. In: _____. Gramtica de usos do portugus. So Paulo:
UNESP, 2000. p. 471 489.
OYHARABAL, Beat. Verb agreement with non arguments: On Allocutive Agreement. In: HUALDE, Jos
Ignacio; URBINA, Jon Ortiz de (Ed.). Generative Studies in Basque Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1993.
p. 89-114.
SPEAS, Peggy; TENNY, Carole. Configurational properties of point of view roles. In: DI SCIULLO A.-M.
(Ed.). Asymmetry in grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2003. p. 315-344.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is supported by CAPES (a Foundation affiliated with the Ministry of Education of Brazil),
Braslia-DF, Zip Code 70.040-020.
a. Senhori, eu no tenho as referncias suai.

Sir-SG, I not have the-FEM-PL reference-FEM-PL your-FEM-SG
Sir, I do not have your references.
b. Senhoresi, eu posso passar o telefone seusi para o nosso coordenador?
Sir-PL, I may pass the-MASC-SG telephone-MASC-SG your-SING-PL to the our coordinator
Sirs, may I give your telephone number to our boss?
17!
a. [Hearer 2PLi] Vocsi j deram desconto para algum cliente seusi? (Belo Horizonte, October 2015)
You-PL already give-PAST-3rdPL discount to some-SG client-SG your-PL
Have you ever given a discount to some client of yours?
b. [Hearer 2PLi] Os amigosi j deram desconto para algum cliente seusi?
The-PL friend-PL already give-PAST-3rdPL discount to some-SG client-SG your-PL
Have you, brothers, ever given a discount to some client of yours?
c. [Hearer 2SGi] Vocs assumiro os erros seui.
You-PL assume-FUT-3rdPL the-MASC-PL mistake-MASC-PL your-MASC-SG
You (all) will assume your mistakes (the mistakes that only you made).
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Testing Recursion in Child English (and Explaining the Concept to Non-linguists)

Barbara Zurer Pearson
Tom Roeper
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Anca Sevcenco
University of Bucharest
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(4) possessives, Johns fathers bicycle (Limbach & Adone, 2010)

(5) adjective phrases, the second green ball (Matthei, 1982)
(6) sentence complements, CHI (age 5): Well#, do you think that they would know that it says
their name? (MacWhinney, 2000).
Recursion was shown to be a useful wedge to help participants appreciate the role of abstract hierarchical
structures in processing sentences in everyday discourse.
This presentation has two goals: 1) reporting an experiment on childrens acquisition of recursion in
specific syntactic constructions, and 2) using an extended debriefing to explain the concept of recursion in
language to the participants (and/or their parents).
Sample stimuli and response: Show me there is a zebra under the lion under the crocodile.
Despite the importance of recursion for syntactic creativity (Hauser et al., 2002), surprisingly little is
understood about its language-particular manifestations and how they are acquired (Roeper & Snyder,
2005). The universal recursive operation of Merge creates a variety of self-embedded structures (SES),
such as possessive, prepositional (PP), sentential, etc. and their formal basis is unclear. Many SES share
the computational property of Indirect Recursion (IR), i.e. they take their own output as input:
XP=>X_YP, YP=>Y_XP (see Hinzen & Arsenijevic, 2012). Nonetheless, they are realized differently
across languages and interact with other properties differently. In (1) and (2) are found sequences of
English locative PPs and relative clauses (RC), respectively.
(1) A lion next to the crocodile next to the bear.
(2) A lion thats next to the crocodile thats next to the bear.
(3) The lion is next to the bear and the crocodile.
References:
Arsenijevic, B. & Hinzen, W. (2012). On the absence of X-within-X recursion in human grammar.
Linguistic Inquiry 43(3): 423-440.
Both constructions admit two major interpretations: A non-hierarchal, conjunctive reading, with the
lion between the crocodile and the bear as in (3) and a hierarchical, IR reading that puts the animals in the
order lion-crocodile-bear. Both interpretations are always available, but a control group of adults showed
a significant preference for IR (93%). A contrast between PP and RC is suggested by constraints on IR in
Romanian. Although IR in both English and Romanian passes through the DP, the latter limits IR to
prepositions with functional-category-marking (de) for PPs but not for RCs. The current study explores
the acquisition path from ages 3-10 yrs and tests the hypothesis that one form of IR (PP or RC) triggers
the other.
Hauser, M.T., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how
did it evolve? Science 298 (5598). 1569-1579.
The study was carried out in a museum environment that showcases research live, i.e. combines actual
data collection for hypothesis-testing with education about the hypotheses. Participants were 48 Englishspeaking children, who were asked to rearrange animals in an array on an iPad and then describe what
they had done. They also repeated sentences with recursive PPs and RCs (as in [1] and [2]). Preliminary
results show an increase from an average of 90% conjunctive interpretations in both comprehension and
production among the 3-year-olds to an average of 85% IR-interpretations among the 9- and 10-year-olds.
There was an observable, but not statistically significant difference favoring the RC over the PP condition
for 5- and 9-yr-olds, and a tendency for some children to repeat PP items using RCs (cf. Prez-Leroux et
al., 2012). These results are consistent with proposals that the acquisition of IR proceeds according to a
step-by-step typology (Roeper, 2011), where PP and RC are in a trigger relationship.
Prez-Leroux, A.T.,. Castilla-Earls, A. P., Bejar, S. & Massam, D. (2012). Elmos sisters ball. The
problem of acquiring nominal recursion. Language Acquisition 19 (4), 301-311.
Limbach, M. & Adone, D. (2010). Language acquisition of recursive possessives in English. Boston
University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD) 34, 281290.
Matthei, E. H. 1982. The acquisition of prenominal modifier sequences. Cognition 11, 301332.
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: Tools for analyzing talk. Third Edition. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Roeper, T. (2011) The Acquisition of recursion: How formalism articulates the acquisition path.
Biolinguistics, 5.12: 057086.
Roeper, T. & Snyder, W. (2005). Language learnability and the forms of recursion. In Anna Maria Di
Sciullo (Ed.), UG and External Systems: Language, Brain and Computation, 155169. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Following the formal experiment, the researcher scaffolded the child in activities that highlighted the
distinction between non-hierarchical conjunctive and hierarchical recursive readings of the experimental
prompts and other constructions that exhibit self-embedding in English and several other languages, as in
(4) to (6):
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A Syntactic-Morphological Analysis of Nominal Compounds

Junya Morita
A Syntactic-Morphological Analysis of Nominal Compounds
Kinjo Gakuin University
accordance with the parameterized morphological condition requiring the absence in the individual elements of
X0 of functional categories.
1. The aim of this study is to elucidate fundamental aspects of the syntax-morphology interaction by analyzing
(1)
nominal compounds in the model of Distributed Morphology (DM). After a brief survey of the DM framework
DP
syntax
(2)
LP
in 2, we will discuss a DM-theoretic analysis of compounds and its problems in 3. Section 4 will present a new
NumP
analysis and show how it solves the previous problems.
2. DM is an antilexicalism theory, whose crucial claims are the post-syntactic Morphology and late insertion: at
[process]
the PF interface, a series of operations such as merger and impoverishment are applied to a syntactic output to
DP
Morphology
Num
[pl]
[entity]
l
[process]
remove
construct a word structure, and then lexical items in Vocabulary are inserted into its terminal nodes. Thus,
NP
N1
NumP
nom
Num
-al
[pl]
-s
[entity]
(l: lexical category)
universality of syntax is pursued by prolonging morphological operations and lexical insertion beyond Spell-Out
N2
nom
claw
(Halle and Marantz (1994), Embick and Noyer (2001)).

3. Harley (2009) proposes that compounds are formed by the syntactic merge of roots and functional categories
The analysis is confirmed by various English and Japanese compounds extracted mainly from the large-scale
like n and v together with syntactic head-movement, following the current framework of DM (Embick and
corpora, British National Corpus and Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese. The theoretical
Marantz (2008)). The derivation of truck driver is: when the root truck merges with n and head-moves to it,
implication is clear: (i) the compounds concerning functional categories like Num are treated elegantly; although
[[truck n]n]nP is derived; the nP then merges with drive and head-moves to it to yield [[[truck n]n drive]]P;
they are generally removed as irrelevant in Morphology, the features concerned are correctly interpreted at LF, (ii)
finally, the P merges with n (-er) and the head moves to it to obtain [[[truck n]n drive] n-er]n. There are four
parametric selection on language-particular varieties is kept in the post-syntactic Morphology, thereby making
problems for this analysis. Technically, inconsistency is visible in the merge of roots with functional morphemes:
syntactic computation universal, and (iii) the lexically underspecified syntax based on late insertion and l-node
while truck merges with n, drive does not merge with v only to avoid *to truck-drive. Second, the mismatch
hypothesis lends strong support to the economy principles of the Minimalist Program which severely limit the
between form and meaning (e.g. plurality is implied but not encoded in the first element of claw removal) cannot
available information at each point of computation (Halle (1994: 3)).
be captured naturally, since the device which rules out words with internal inflections (*trucks-driver) would
preclude compound formation from a syntactic structure containing the [pl] feature. The ban against words with
References
internal inflections may be relaxed, though, as in minerals exploration. This fact is not accounted for in the
Embick, David and Alec Marantz (2008) Architecture and Blocking, Linguistic Inquiry 39, 1-53.
framework. Finally, Harleys system fails to maintain two basic DM hypotheses; late insertioninsertion of all
Embick, David and Rolf Noyer (2001) Movement Operations after Syntax, Linguistic Inquiry 32,
lexical items at PFand the l-node hypothesis (Harley and Noyer (2000))unspecifiedness of lexical categories
555-595.
during syntactic derivationare largely abandoned, thus discarding relevant economical merits.
4. A new analysis aims at well-distributed word formation: to attribute the core properties of word construction
Halle, Morris (1994) Distributed Morphology and the Inflection of Words, ms., MIT.
to its syntactic structure while consigning the role of formal make-up of words to the morphological module. It
Halle, Morris and Alec Marantz (1994) Some Key Features of Distributed Morphology, MIT Working Papers
in Linguistics 21, 275-288.
derives claw removal like this: merge constructs syntactic structure (1), which is sent to Morphology, where
Harley, Heidi (2009) Compounding in Distributed Morphology, The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, ed.
vocabulary insertion as well as category specification and addition of morphemes are carried out; e.g., according
to the general requirement that an l-node be realized as N in the environment of D-complement, a nominalizer is
by Rochelle Lieber and Pavol tekauer, 129-144, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
added to it. The result is structure (2), to which merger is morphologically forced to apply, which is defined as
Harley, Heidi and Rolf Noyer (2000) Formal versus Encyclopedic Properties of Vocabulary: Evidence from
combining adjacent constituents (including one that is already derived via merger) in terminal nodes into a
Nominalisations, The Lexicon-Encyclopedia Interface, ed. by Bert Peeters, 349-374, Elsevier,
zero-level category (Marantz (1996: 24)). The N2-Num merger and the subsequent Num-N1 merger produce
Amsterdam.
[[[[claw []nom]N2 [-s]Num]Num [remove [-al]nom]N1]N3]DP. The derivation is completed with the removal of Num in
Marantz, Alec (1996) Cat as a Phrasal Idiom: Consequences of Late Insertion in Distributed Morphology, ms.,
MIT.
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Possessive Datives that Didnt Mean to Be!

Youssef Haddad
University of Florida Possessive Datives that Didnt Mean to Be!
(5)
DP
wo
D
NP
POSSESSUM wo
DP
N'
5
g
POSSESSOR
N
t
Many languages license structures known as Possessive Dative Constructions (PDCs). The
sentences in (1) through (3) are examples from French (Gueron, 1985: 59, (69b)), Hebrew
(Landau, 1999: 3, (3a)), and Lebanese Arabic respectively. They contain a dative nominal in
boldface that functions semantically as a possessor of another DP (e.g., a direct object, object of
preposition) and syntactically as a complement to the verb. Because the possessor is external to
the possessum DP, PDCs are also known as External Possessive Constructions.
If this is correct, the prediction is that Lebanese Arabic PDCs should allow possession relations
that are not allowed in possessor-raising languages. This prediction is born out. (6) shows that a
PD may be associated with a possessum contained within a larger possessum DP. In addition, if a
sentence contains two arguments, the PD may be associated with the higher argument or the lower
one or both, as (7) illustrates. These and other types of possession relations that are allowed in
Lebanese Arabic PDCs are ungrammatical in possessor-raising languages.
(1) Jai coup les

cheveux
Pierre
I have cut
the
hair
to Pierre.DAT
I cut Pierres hair.
(2) ha-yalda
kilkela
le-Dan
et
ha-radio.
the-girl
spoiled
to-Dan.DAT ACC the-radio
The girl broke Dans radio.
(3) a.
Raami:
kawee-la:
l-tannu:ra
la-A:ya
Ramy
ironed-her.DAT
the-skirt
for-Aaya
Ramy ironed Aayas skirt.
b.
Raami:
naat-la:
ze:t
a-l-tannu:ra
Ramy
dropped-her.DAT
oil
on-the-skirt
Ramy dropped oil on her skirt.
(6) tarat-illa:
be:t l-sabi:
I.painted-her.DAT house the-boy
I painted her sons house.
(7) saffit-lo
l-sayya:ra
idde:m
l-be:t
she.pared-him.DAT the-car
in.front.of
the-house
Literally: She parked the car in front of the house.
a. Possible meaning 1: She parked his car in front of his house.
b. Possible meaning 2: She parked her car in front of his house.
c. Possible meaning 3: She parked his car in front of her house.
This paper has two goals. It provides a descriptive overview of PDCs in Lebanese Arabic from
a cross-linguistic perspective, focusing on both their distribution and their interpretation and
function. In terms of their distribution, the paper delineates the types of predicates (e.g., transitive,
unaccusative), complements (e.g., themes, instruments), and possessums (e.g., alienable,
inalienable) that PDs may occur with. Concerning their interpretation and function, the paper
focuses on the pragmatic meaning that PDs express as conventional implicature contributors. For
example, PDs may express the speakers empathy toward the possessor or depict that person as an
affectee (see OConnor 2007).
In addition, the paper shows that, unlike in languages like Hebrew, German, and Nez Perce in
which the possessor and the possessum start out as a constituent before the possessor undergoes
movement to a higher position (Landau 1999, Lee-Schoenfeld 2006, Deal 2013), the possessor
and possessum in Lebanese Arabic do not form a constituent at any level in the derivation. To
elaborate briefly, movement in possessor-raising languages like Hebrew, German, and Nez Perce
is possible because the possessor undergoes first merge at the edge of the possessum phrase:
(4)
Finally, the paper shows that PDs are Attitude Datives la Haddad 2014, and that the possessor
interpretation is pragmatically determined upon satisfying minimal structural constraints. Like
Attitude Datives, the main function of PDs is to make the possessor more salient in discourse, to
depict the possessor as an affectee, and/or to depict the possessor as an object of empathy. If none
of these functions is satisfied, the PD is infelicitous. The structural constraints that need to be
satisfied for the possessive reading to obtain are (i) and (ii).
(i)
The sentence hosting the dative must contain a potential possessum.
(ii)
The dative must cliticize to the verb that selects that possessum phrase rather than, say, a
higher verb or an auxiliary.
If either of these conditions is violated, the dative is interpreted only as an Attitude Dative. No
possessive interpretation is available.
References:
Deal, Amy Rose. 2013. Possessor raising. Linguistic Inquiry 44. 391432.
Gueron, J. 1985. Inalienable possession: PRO inclusion and lexical chains. In H.-G. Obenauer, J.-Y.
Pollock, & J. Gueron (Eds.), Grammatical representation, 4386. Dordrecht: Foris.
Haddad, Youssef A. 2014. Attitude Datives in Lebanese Arabic and the Interplay of Syntax and Pragmatics.
Lingua 145. 65103.
Landau, Idan. 1999. Possessor raising and the structure of VP. Lingua 107. 137.
Lee-Schoenfeld, Vera. 2006. German possessor datives: Raised and affected. Journal of Comparative
Germanic Linguistics 9.101142.
OConnor, M.C., 2007. External possession and utterance interpretation: a crosslinguistic exploration.
Linguistics 45. 577613.
POSSESSUM DP
3
POSSESSOR
D'
3
D
NP
POSSESSEE
The same movement in Lebanese Arabic is impossible because the possessor is buried in the
possessum phrase, as (5) shows (see Ritter 1988). The movement of the possessor, if it happens,
violates minimality.
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Search and Float for Internal Merge: The Case of Quantifier Raising
Jun Abe
Tohoku Gakuin
Search andUniversity
Float for Internal Merge: The Case of Quantifier Raising
plural relation sentences such as (5):

(5) The women examined the prisoners.
This sentence allows what Scha (1984) calls a cumulative reading in which there is a partition
Pi of the set of women and a partition Pj of the set of prisoners such that (i) each member of Pi
examined some member of Pj and (ii) each member of Pj was examined by some member of
Pi. Thus given the set of women {w1, w2} and the set of prisoners {p1, p2, p3}, (5) can be true
in the situation in which w1 examined p1 and p2 and w2 examined p3. I propose that this
reading is derived from an LF representation in which the lower plural NP is merged with the
higher one to license its [Scope] feature, so that (5) may have the following LF
representation:
(6) [TP [[the women] <the prisoners>] [vP <the women> examined the prisoners]]
[Scope]
[Scope]
I argue that this Merge operation is subject to the mechanism of minimal Search and Float.
Sauerland (1998) observes that the availability of cumulative readings is sensitive to
clause-boundedness, as shown below:
(7) a. John and Bill expected Sue and Linda to win.
b. #John and Bill expected that Sue and Linda would win.
(7a) allows a cumulative reading to hold between the sets A={John, Bill} and B={Sue,
Linda}, that is, the reading in which both members of Set A have the relation expected __ to
win with at least one member of Set B and both members of Set B have that relation borne to
it by at least one member of Set A. (7b), by contrast, does not allow the cumulative reading in
question. This fact follows from a violation of MCL, since the Float operation that takes the
lower DP Sue and Linda to the matrix T to merge it with John and Bill would have skipped a
possible landing site for licensing its [Scope] feature, namely the embedded TP-adjoined
position. Further, it is predicted that in such languages as Japanese that show rigidity effects
in scope interaction, the availability of cumulative readings is also sensitive to rigidity. I
demonstrate that this is in fact borne out by relevant Japanese data, which are schematically
shown below:
(8) a. Those children-Nom those street artists-Dat one coin-Acc gave.
b. Those girls-Nom some teacher-Dat those foods-Acc gave.
(8a) allows a cumulative reading to obtain between the subject those children and the IO
those street artists and further the DO one coin can be interpreted as under the scope of these
two DPs, so that different coins can be given to those street artists. (8b), on the other hand,
allows a cumulative reading to obtain between the subject those girls and the DO those foods
with the proviso that the IO some teacher must be specific, so that only one teacher is a
recipient of those foods. This fact is explained as a result of the minimal Search applied
regarding a [Scope] feature to find those foods as its goal and merge it with those girls to
produce a cumulative reading: in order to make this minimal Search successful, we must have
the intervening IO lack a [Scope] feature, so that this IO is interpreted as specific.
Since Rizzi (1990) proposed the mechanism of relativized minimality, there have been mainly
two types of formulations of such a minimality condition on Move. One is instantiated by
what Chomsky and Lasnik (1993) propose as Minimize chain links (MCL), which,
metaphorically, stands in s point of view in (1), saying, I [=] cannot move to to check
[F] because there is another possible landing site for me, namely, , that is closer to me than
.
(1) ... ... ... ...
[F] [F]
[F]
The other type is instantiated by what Chomsky (1995) proposes as the Minimal Link
Condition (MLC) in terms of attraction: it stands in s point of view in (1), saying, I [=]
cannot attract to check [F] because there is another candidate for attraction, namely, , that
is closer to me than . The main question I would like to raise in this paper is whether it is
correct to see that MCL has been replaced by the MLC and thus has no more role to play in
the computational system of human language (henceforth, CHL). I argue that the near
symmetrical difference in formulating these two minimality conditions is a reflection of
minimal computation applying to two different operations working in CHL. Under the
assumption that movement is simply a special case of Merge, named internal Merge, I
propose that there are two prerequisite operations that make internal Merge possible: one is to
dig into a structure to find a target of Merge, which I call Search, and the other is to make
this target reach the top of the structure, which I call Float. I further propose that due to the
nature of how these operations apply, they are constrained by minimal computation in the
way that Search obeys the MLC (hence minimal Search) and Float obeys MCL. I demonstrate
what I believe is the best case for motivating the mechanism of Search and Float: Quantifier
Raising (QR), which is characterized as movement for satisfying a [Scope] feature, following
Abe (1993). It is well known that some languages such as Japanese and Korean show
so-called rigidity effects in scope interaction, so that in the following schematic configuration:
(2) [TP ... QP1 ... QP2 ...] (where QP1 asymmetrically c-commands QP2)
QP1 necessarily takes scope over QP2. This fact is derived from the minimal Search applied at
TP with respect to [Scope]: this operation cannot find QP2 as its goal since QP1 is closer to TP
than QP2, hence unable to derive an LF representation that would represent the inverse scope
reading. On the other hand, when QP2 undergoes scrambling across QP1, as shown
schematically below:
(3) [TP ... QP2 ... QP1 ... t2 ] (where QP1 asymmetrically c-commands QP2)
then the scope order of these two QPs becomes ambiguous. I propose that scrambling is a
Search-free operation and that this makes it possible for a lower QP to undergo Float across a
higher QP. Given that the [Scope] feature carried by QP2 can be optionally carried along with
this Float operation, the scope ambiguity follows. Another well-known property of QR is
clause-boundedness, so that in a sentence like the following:
(4) Someone thinks that Mary solved every problem.
the embedded object QP every problem cannot take scope over the matrix subject QP
someone, which thus indicates that every problem takes scope in the embedded clause. This
property is properly derived by MCL applied to a Float operation for satisfying [Scope],
which prohibits this operation from being applied across a clause boundary since it crosses a
possible landing site, namely the embedded TP-adjoined position. I further discuss so-called
Selected References Abe, J. 1993. Binding Conditions and Scrambling without A/A
Distinction. PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut. Sauerland, U. 1998. Plurals, derived
predicates, and reciprocals. In The Interpretive Tract, MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 25.
Scha, R. 1984. Distributive, collective and cumulative quantification. In Truth, Interpretation
and Information, J. Groenendijk, et al. Dordrecht: Foris.
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Correlating Pragmatic and Syntactic Markedness in German Inalienable Possession

Constructions
Vera Lee-Schoenfeld
University of Georgia
Gabriele Diewald
Correlating Pragmatic and Syntactic Markedness in German
Leibniz Universitt Hannover
Inalienable Possession Constructions
verb (bite, hit, kick, ) used as

(i)
directional (possessor based inside Goal PP)
(ii)
German inalienable possession constructions of the type shown in (1) come in five variants: with
dative external possessor (DAT EP), with accusative external possessor (ACC EP), with internal
possessor (IP) in the form of a possessive pronoun, with both dative external possessor and
internal possessor, i.e. dative doubly-marked possession (DAT DMP), and with both accusative
external possessor and internal possessor, i.e. accusative doubly-marked possession (ACC DMP).
(1)
transitive (possessor is direct object)
affectee vP
is present
(iii)
(c) affectee vP
is absent
(b) Spec DP of
possessum is
unfilled
(d) Spec DP of
possessum is
filled
(iv)
(a) Spec vP
filled by
Move
Bello hat [vP mir/mich

in [POSSESSUM meine/die Hand] gebissen].
Bello has
me.DAT/ACC in
my/the
hand bitten
Bello bit me on my/the hand.
(d) Spec vP
IP
filled by [+RED, EXPR, OBJ] ACC EP
Merge
[RED, EXPR, +OBJ]
ACC DMP
[RED, +EXPR, +OBJ]
DAT EP
DAT DMP
[RED, EXPR, OBJ] [RED, +EXPR, OBJ]
Lee-Schoenfeld & Diewald s (2014) corpus-based study discusses the DAT EP variant as the
default, unmarked construction and the other four variants as language-internally marked less
frequent, restricted to specific contexts, and triggered by text-type conventions and speaker
intentions. The hypothesis here is that different markedness values are reflected analogously in
the pragmatic features and in the syntactic derivation of each construction.
Figure 1
References
The pragmatic distinctions are modeled via three features: I. [+/RED(uction)], referring to the
possessors participant status in the verbal scene (see Lehmann 2006; the unmarked value [RED]
is realized when the possessor is represented externally, with primary participant status), II. [+/
EXPR(essiveness)], referring to the quantity of linguistic material used for encoding the
possessive relation (the unmarked value [EXPR] is realized when the possessor is pronounced
only once), and III. [+/OBJ(ectification)], referring to the case-marking of the external possessor
with DAT vs. ACC (see Wegener 1985; the unmarked value [OBJ] is realized with the choice of
DAT, which represents the possessor of the injured body part as sympathy-invoking coparticipant, while [+OBJ] is realized with the choice of ACC, which represents possessor and body
part as analogously affected). Each construction receives a distinctive pragmatic feature grid
whose degree of markedness in terms of deviation from the prototype correlates with the
markedness of the syntactic derivation.
Deal, Amy Rose. 2013. Possessor raising. LI 44.3: 391-432.

Lee-Schoenfeld, Vera. 2006. German possessor datives: Raised and affected. Journal of
Comparative Germanic Linguistics 9.2: 101-142.
Lee-Schoenfeld, Vera & Gabriele Diewald. 2014. The pragmatics and syntax of German
inalienable possession constructions. Proceedings of BLS 40, 289-313.
Lehmann, Christian. 2006. Participant roles, thematic roles and syntactic relations In: Tsunoda,
Tasaku & Kageyama, Taro (eds.), Voice and Grammatical Relations. Festschrift for
Masayoshi Shibatani. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: J. Benjamins (Typological Studies in
Language 65), 167-190.
Wegener, Heide. 1985. Der Dativ im heutigen Deutschen. Tbingen: Narr.
The proposed evaluation of syntactic markedness is based on Deals (2013) and LeeSchoenfelds (2006) analyses of external possession. We posit (a) possessor raising from Spec
DP of the possessum to an applicative affectee vP, triggered by lack of case in Spec DP for DAT
EP, (b) a base-generation possessor-as-direct-object analysis for ACC EP, (c) GEN(itive) as last
resort in Spec DP of the possessum when there is no available case-licensor in the verbal
argument domain for IP, and (d) a combined base-generation and GEN-as-last-resort analysis for
DMP. The five construction variants are presented in Figure 1 as the output of a flowchart with
four decision points (i-iv), showing both syntactic derivations (labeled as (a-d) to match the
descriptions above) and pragmatic feature grids.
The default DAT EP construction, having no marked (+) pragmatic feature values, involves
possessor raising, the most economical derivation of combined possession and affectedness. The
other constructions, having at least one marked feature value, either fail to syntactically encode
sympathy-invoking affectedness (IP and ACC EP) or require an extra nominal (DAT/ACC DMP).
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Are Minor Speech Acts Syntactic Objects in Universal Grammar?

Asier Alczar
University of Missouri
1. The problem: The place of Minor Speech Acts (MSA) in Universal Grammar
The context of utterance (speaker, addressee, time, place of u) has been recently represented in syntax
(Bianchi 2003, Sigursson 2004, Giorgi 2009, Delfitto&Fiorin 2014). In semantics, structure-sensitive
monster operators able to rewrite context variables are actively discussed (Schlenker 1999, 2004,
Anand&Nevins 2004, Anand 2006). Research on illocutionary force, by contrast, is limited, and tied to
work on indexicality. Some scholars include illocutionary force in the context (Tenny&Speas 2003,
Alczar&Saltarelli 2014). In this paper, I argue that MSA of uncertain outcome (2, 3, 4:inline) are
syntactic objects in UG (like exclamatives, also MSA). They receive uniform expression in Spanish,
Basque and Quechua (2~4). These languages are unrelated. The morphology has different origins and
functions. Their parallelism is unexpected.
2. Basque ea ote: Grammars identify ea as an optional marker of indirect questions (IQ), be those
polar (1a) or pronominal (1b, Saltarelli 1988, Zubiri&Zubiri 2000, de Rijk 2008).
1. a. Jakin nahi dut (ea) joan-go (ote) naiz-en
b. (Ea) nor joan-go (ote) d-en
know want AUX MIR go.PER-IRR MIR aux-COMP
MIR who go.PER-IRR MIR aux-COMP
I want to know whether I will go
[I want to know] who will go
Ea co-occurs with ote, a mirative in the classic sense (surprising, unexpected events: DeLancey 1997,
Aikhenvald 2004). Ote is also interpretable as anticipating a yet uncertain outcome in the imminent or
near future. This is a lesser-known interpretation of mirative morphology (e.g., Quechua mirative-marked
riddles, challenges [4]: Floyd 1995). Ea is mirative in this sense in (1), as well as in (2): Root IQs
(Zubiri&Zubiri, de Rijk).
2. a. Ea zer gerta-tu-ko
(ote) d-en
c. Ea apur-tzen duzu-n
MIR what happen-PER-IRR MIR aux-COMP
MIR break-IMP aux-COMP
Lets see what happens
Dont you break it!
b. Ea nor-k
irabaz-ten du-en
d. Ea asma-tzen duzu-n
MIR who-ERG win-IMP
aux-COMP
MIR guess-IMP aux-COMP
Lets see who wins!
Can you guess it?
I propose (2) are

MSA with uncertain
outcome/mirativity
in common & thus
define a class.
Root IQs express hope (2a) or uncertainty, fear (2a), challenges/bets (2b), preventatives (2c), guesses
(2d), and other speech acts. Root IQs resemble imperatives in that they resist negation and embedding;
temporal interpretation is now or imminent future, and past is counterfactual. The meaning of Root IQs
seems to follow from absence of speaker control. By contrast, imperative semantics is based on speaker
control (Potsdam 1998). Ea in (2) is higher than CP(-en), NegP, Evidentials, Polar Q Marker/Agreement
(-entz).
3. Spanish a ver to see and a que to that: I found no discussions in classic grammars (Bello;
Alarcos-Llorach; Franch&Blecua; Quilis). Montolo (1999: 3680-1) discusses a ver as a series of
desiderative, preventative expressions. A ver (3) covers the same ground as (2). A ver is obligatory in
(3); ea is also obligatory in (2).
A ver has a fixed
3. a. A ver que pasa [to see what happens] Lets see what happens
position, unless used
b. A ver quien gana [to see who wins] Lets see who wins!
as an interjection or
c. A ver si lo rompes [to see if you break it] Dont you break it!
in elided IQs (3~4).
d. A ver si lo adivinas [to see if you guess it] Can you guess it?
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b. Quiero saber (a ver) si vale I want to know [to see] whether it works
Spanish (&Galician) permit IQ elision (4cd; Basque doesnt, but it allows interjection: Ea, Ask!).
4. c. No se si lo harn. Pregunta a ver! I dont know whether theyll do it. Ask [to see]!
d. Vas a comprar algo? Mirar a ver Will you buy anything? Ill look around [to see]
(4) are spoken language (CREA: phone conversations; Corpus del espaol: habla culta [spoken standard]
across Latin America). (4) abound in the Internet (Portuguese, Catalan, French [ask]).
A ver, ea (ba) function as INTERJECTIONS (4.2), in diverse settings, with great overlap. Hill (2007)
analyzes interjections as deictics. [NB: postponed a ver (4cd) is not an interjection].
ANOTHER FORM: a que to that, covers similar ground to (2-3); however, it cannot be used in indirect
questions (1, 4) or as an interjection. Its origin is likely te apuesto a que I bet you that. If a ver
originates from quiero saber si (I want to know whether), or vamos a ver si lets see if/whether,
which select indirect questions, this could explain their different distributions.
4. Quechua maa chu shi (Adelaar 1977, Weber 1983, 1989, Floyd 1995): Quechua has a pattern
of mirative-marked speech acts & IQs (Floyd 1995). It is more difficult to describe. It involves multiple
mirative marking (like Basque ea, ote), but also a mirative reading of reportative evidential shi
(Cusihuamn 1976, Muysken 2004). Floyd (1995) speaks of a grammaticalized form that engages the
addressee into a joint action with the speaker. They begin with maa, translated as uhm or a ver: riddles
(Maa what-shi is it?, exs. 11-13, p. 917); challenges (Maa lets see which of us-shi lasts till morning,
ex. 17, p. 924). He considers maa shi syntactically interrogative, pointing to Weber (1989), who had
described shi as a marker of finite IQs (in that way well know which of us-shi is the stronger 332; ex.
1372). Weber (1983) provides five more examples of IQs (pp. 93-4, exs. 315-18, 320; also 1989: 437, ex.
1753).
4.1 Semantics of the Quechua speech acts and indirect questions: For Floyd shi is mirative; he argues
reportatives have mirative uses (e.g. Turkish). Aikhenvald (2004: 202) notes these uses of shi co-occur
with Adelaars (1977: 98) sudden discovery tense [mirative]. Adelaar (99-100) describes maashi
noting it takes chu, a root polar question marker [& mirative tense]. For him, maachushi refers to the
uncertain outcome of an experiment. Cusihuamn (1976) describes ma not as an interjection, but as a
mirative enclitic. One of its uses is riddles: ima-s[h]-ma-ri? [what-MIR-MIR-TOP.Q] What could it be?.
Weber suggested a modal difference in the interpretation of shi marked IQs: I dont know where he
went [319] vs. where-shi he might have gone [320]. Weber may have meant mirativity.
4.2 Comparison of Quechua, Spanish and Basque forms: Quechua riddles and challenges overlap with
uses of ea and a ver (2, 3). Coincidentally, Floyd complains other linguists translate challenge shi with a
ver. I disagree with the interpretation as non-confrontational challenge of his only other ex. Maa lets
find out who-shi he gave the money too [son lost borrowed money from third party] (ex. 18, p. 926). It is
hope and/or insecurity/expectation instead (compare with 2a, 3a). To gain perspective on maa shi,
Cerrn-Palomino helps Andrade-Ciudad (2007) with A ver, quin-shi habr venido? [to see] who-shi
has come?. Not a riddle or challenge but, depending on context, similar to (2a, 3a). On the other hand,
there are interjections uses of maa to introduce imperative clauses. Weber (1989: 74, exs. 259-261)
provides exs of maa without shi or chuexhortations with challenge (his gloss for maa): Maa, count
them out for me [so that I can verify ]. All translate naturally with ea/a ver as interjection+imperative;
or as IQs (2-3).
5. Conclusion: MSA of uncertain outcome seem to be syntactic objects in unrelated languages. Is it
contact, convergence, coincidence? I propose they are encoded into UG. Comparison of these MSA and
imperatives begs questions about the relationship of mirativity to illocution.
A ver is used in polar (4a) and pronominal (4b) IQs. It adds mirativity (=uncertain outcome).
4 a. Me pregunto (a ver) si viene I wonder [to see] whether he will come
!
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The Clitic se as a Preposition in Spanish Unaccusative Verbs

Roberto Mayoral Hernndez
University of Alabama at Birmingham
1.!Introduction!
The! main! goal! of! this! paper! is! to! present! a! unifying! account! for! all! unaccusative! constructions! in!
Spanish! (see! Mendikoetxea! 2000! and! Demonte! 2002! for! a! discussion! of! causative! alternation! in!
Spanish)!and!for!the!existence!of!unaccusative!clitics,!based!on!the!relationship!that!exists!between!
the!obligatory!preposition!in!unaccusative!verbs!like!ir!go,!and!the!clitic!which!is!typical!in!many!
Spanish!unaccusative!constructions.!We!postulate!that!all!unaccusatives!share!the!same!underlying!
representation![VP!!V![PP!P!![PP!P!XP]]],!with!a!lower!complex!PP!(Zubizarreta!&!Oh!2007)!that!can!
surface!in!three!different!ways!in!languages!like!Spanish:!(i)!as!an!overt!PP,!(ii)!as!a!clitic!coindexed!
with! the! subject,! and! (iii)! as! a! path! incorporated! at! the! lexicon\syntax! interface.! The! necessary!
presence!of!an!overt!PP!that!characterizes!some!unaccusative!constructions!is!associated!with!the!
absence!of!se!in!directed!motion!verbs,!while!the!absence!of!obligatory!PPs!is!associated!with!an!
obligatory!clitic!or!an!incorporated!path.!
!
2.!Clitics!in!unaccusative!constructions!of!directed!motion:!verb!ir!go!
Many!unaccusative!verbs!have!an!obligatory!clitic!se!in!Spanish,!including!most!verbs!that!occur!in!
the!anticausative!variant!of!the!causative!alternation!(1).!The!verb!ir!go!is!a!typical!unaccusative!
verb!crosslinguistically,!but!it!can!occur!with!or!without!se%in!Spanish.!When!the!clitic!is!present,!it!
an! explicit! PP! is! not! necessary,! but! the! absence! of! a! clitic! makes! the! presence! of! an! explicit! PP!
obligatory,! because! the! PP! needs! to! be! recoverable! (2).! Since! the! clitic! used! with! ir! needs! to! be!
coindexed! with! the! subject! (3)! and! agree! in! person! and! number,! a! pronoun! with! reflexive!
morphology! is! used.! Verbs! of! inherent! direction,! such! as! venir! come! or! llegar! arrive,! do! not!
require!the!presence!of!an!overt!PP,!since!their!meaning!implies!the!goal,!and!therefore,!the!goal!PP!
can!be!always!retrieved.!The!apparent!complementary!distribution!of!the!clitic!and!the!notional!PP!
may!suggest!that!they!are!two!versions!of!the!same!thing.!Coindexation!suggests!that!the!clitic!may!
be! an! overt! trace! of! the! movement! of! the! subject! from! a! lower! position! to! the! higher! subject!
position.!
!
3.!Unaccusative!constructions:!the!structure!
Following!Zubizarreta!&!Oh!2007,!and!its!adaptation!by!Mayoral!Hernndez!2010,!I!postulate!that!
unaccusative!constructions!have!all!the!structure![VP!!Di!!V![PP!!ti![P!![PP!P!XP]]]].!Here,!unaccusative!
verbs! select! a! complement! P! that! indicates! a! notion! of! change! (such! as! with! verbs! displaying! the!
causative!alternation)!or!direction!(with!verbs!of!directed!motion),!which!then!selects!another!P!as!
its! complement,! indicating! a! state! (in! the! anticausative)! or! location! (in! motion! verbs).! The! overt!
subject! (underlying! object)! is! generated! as! spec! of! the! higher! P.! All! unaccusative! verbs! need! to!
realize!the!lower!P!somehow:!(i)!as!an!overt!P!(like!ir),!(ii)!as!a!clitic!with!reflexive!morphology!(like!
irse! leave! and! anticausatives),! (iii)! with! an! incorporated! path/location! (like! venir! come).! With!
verbs!that!require!a!clitic,!the!lower!P!moves!to!adjoin!to!the!higher!P,!which!will!adjoin!to!V!as!a!
clitic! with! reflexive! morphology.! The! clitic! is! coindexed! with! the! subject! (underlying! object)!
because! both! are! base\generated! in! the! same! projection,! as! spec,! P! and! P! respectively.! When! the!
lowest! P! has! a! specifier! (an! internal! causer! such! as! with! verbs! like! hervir! boil,! or! an! impersonal!
feature!such!as!with!verbs!like!aparecer!appear),!the!movement!of!the!lower!P!is!hindered,!so!the!
clitic!is!not!required.!This!account!provides!a!uniform!explanation!to!all!unaccusative!constructions!
and!explains!why!the!unaccusative!clitic!shows!reflexive!morphology!in!Spanish.!
!
!
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!
Examples!
!
(1)! a.! La!ventana!!!!!*(se)!!!!!rompi.!
!
! the!window!!!CLITIC.3!!broke.!
!
! The!window!broke.!
!
!
b.!! Juan!(*se)!!rompi!!la!!!!!ventana.!
!
! Juan!!!!!!!!!!!broke!!!!!the!!window!
!
! Juan!broke!the!window.!
!
(2)! a.! Juan!(se)!fue!a!Francia.!
!
! Juan!went!to!France.!
!
!
b.! *Juan!fue.!
!
! John!went.!
!
!
c.! Juan!se!fue.!
!
! John!left.!
!
(3)! a.! Yoi!!mei! !!!!
!!fui.!
!
! I!!!!!!!me.REFL.1.SG! !!went!
!
! I!left.!
!
!
b.! Ti!!!!tei!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!fuiste.!
!
! you!!!te.REFL.2.SG!!!went.!
!
! You!left.!
!
!
References!
Demonte,! Violeta.! 2002.! Preliminares! de! una! clasificacin! lxico\sintctica! de! los! predicados!
verbales! del! espaol.! In! Sybille! Grosse! and! Axel! Schnberger,! eds.! Ex%oriente%lux:%Festchrift%fr%
Eberhard%Grtner%zu%seinem%60.!Geburtstag.!Frankfurt!am!Main:!Valentia.!!
Mayoral!Hernndez,!Roberto.!2010.!The!locative!alternation:!On!the!symmetry!between!verbal!and!
prepositional!locative!paradigms.!Probus:%International%Journal%of%Latin%and%Romance%Linguistics,!
22(2).!
Mendikoetxea,! A.! 2000.! Construcciones! inacusativas! y! pasivas,! in! I.! Bosque,! V.! Demonte! (eds.),!
Gramtica%Descriptiva%de%la%Lengua%Espaola,!Espasa,!Madrid.!
Zubizarreta,!Mara!Luisa!&!Eunjeong!Oh.!2007.!On%the%syntactic%composition%of%manner%and%motion,%
linguistic%inquiry%monograph.!Cambridge,!MA:!MIT!Press.!
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LINGUISTICS(MATTERS(FESTIVAL(
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The Developing Lexicon of Adjectives in Hebrew A Psycholinguistic Analysis

of Morphology and Register
Dorit Ravid
Odelia Douani
Amalia Bar-On
Ronit Levie
Tel Aviv University
References
Avneyon, E. (2007). Sapir Hebrew-Hebrew dictionary. Or Yehuda: Hed Artzi.
Baayen, R. H. (2014). Experimental and psycholinguistic approaches to studying derivation. In
R. Lieber & P. Stekauer (Eds.), Handbook of derivational morphology (pp. 95-117). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Berman, R.A. (1995). Word-formation as evidence. In D. McLaughlin & S. McEwen (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 19th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development,
Vol. 1 (pp. 82-95). Somerville, Mass: Cascadilla Press.
Carlisle, J. F. (2010). Effects of instruction in morphological awareness on literacy achievement:
An integrative review. Reading Research Quarterly, 45, 464-487.
Anglin, J. M. (1993). Vocabulary development: A morphological analysis. Monographs for the
Society of Research in Child Development, 58 (10).
Ferguson, C.A. (1994). Dialect, register, and genre: Working assumptions about
conventionalization. In D. Biber and E. Finegan (Eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on
register (pp. 1530). New York: Oxford University Press.
Geeraerts, D. (2010). Theories of lexical semantics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jarmulowicz, L. & V. L. Taran. (2013). Lexical Morphology: structure, process, and
development. Topics in Language Disorders, 33, 5772.
Kuperman, V., & Van Dyke, J.A. (2013). Reassessing word frequency as a determinant of word
recognition for skilled and unskilled readers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
Perception and Performance, 39(3), 802-823.
Ravid, D. (2012). Spelling morphology: the psycholinguistics of Hebrew spelling. New York:
Springer.
Ravid, D. & R. Berman. (2009). Developing linguistic register in different text types. Pragmatics
& Cognition, 17, 108145.
Ravid, D. & R. Levie. (2010). Adjectives in the development of text production: Lexical,
morphological and syntactic analyses. First Language, 30, 27-55.
Tribushinina, E., Van den Bergh, H., Ravid, D., Aksu-Ko, A., Kilani-Schoch, M., KoreckyKrll, K., Leibovitch-Cohen, I., Laaha, S., Nir, B., Dressler W.U. and Gillis, S. (2014). The
first year of adjectives: A growth curve analysis of child speech and parental input.
Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 5, 185226.
Wagovich, S. A., Pak, Y., & Miller, M. D. (2012). Orthographic word knowledge growth in
school-age children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21, 140153.
Morphology is key in building lexical representations (Jarmulowicz & Taran, 2013; Wagovich,
Pak & Miller, 2012), especially in a highly synthetic language such as Hebrew (Berman, 1995;
Ravid, 2012). As lexicons expand across childrens development, their morphological composition
changes as well (Anglin, 1993; Carlisle, 2010). At the same time, knowledge of a word's meaning
as a distinct lexical entity goes far beyond its morphological components (Baayen, 2014;
Geeraerts, 2010). This tension between morphological and lexical classification is the topic of the
current study, which concerns the development of the adjective category in Hebrew. As relational
terms, adjectives constitute a highly diagnostic class in childrens evolving lexicons (Tribushinina
et al, 2014). In addition to the cognitive and semantic challenges they pose in learning, Hebrew
adjectives are the least well-demarcated morphological category, so that their acquisition
necessitates knowledge of both noun and verb structure (Ravid & Levie, 2010). In the absence of
reliable frequency lists for Hebrew, the current study aimed to provide a novel way of classifying
Hebrew adjectives by levels of register and morphological structure, based on subjective
classification (Kuperman & Van Dyke, 2013).
The notion of linguistic register was characterized by Ferguson (1994:16) as the linguistic
differences that correlate with different occasions of use, and elaborated for Hebrew as levels of
linguistic usage related to semantic complexity, lexical specificity and degree of abstractness
(Ravid & Berman, 2009: 111). We hypothesized that high-register adjectives would be more
morphologically and semantically complex than neutral-register adjectives. To this end, all 3,747
adjectives listed in a current Modern Hebrew dictionary (Avneyon, 2007) were identified and
classified into 19 morphological structures. Following extensive piloting on sampling
methodology, this adjective bank was broken down into 38 lists, each containing about 100
different adjectives. 329 language experts provided 32,329 assessments of each adjectives register
score on a scale of 1-5 from neutral register (e.g., adom red) to very high register (mti
mythical).
A model based latent class analysis (LCA) procedure produced five clusters of adjectives with
different register scores and low degrees of variance among expert judges. This outcome enabled
us to construct a sequence of different-sized register lexicons from every day and neutral to
highly abstract and lexically specific, pinpointing the morphological composition of each such
lexicon. The morphological make-up of these Hebrew adjective lexicons was found to be Ushaped: internal morphological complexity of adjectives rose with register to a peak and then
dropped in the highest register lexicon, which was composed mostly of borrowed adjectives.
Within each morphological category, differential semantic properties were determined that
explained the distribution of same-structure items across different register lexicons. For example,
able CaCiC adjectives such as amid durable mostly gravitated towards the higher-register
lexicons, while general CaCiC adjectives such as bari healthy clustered with neutral-register
adjectives. As corpus-generated Hebrew frequency lists are often flawed due to high homography,
this analysis not only relates adjectival structures with semantic and lexical properties but also
provides researchers with a reliable way to sample adjectives for psycholinguistic tasks.
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The Mysterious mI: A Syntactic Analysis of the Turkish Focus Question

Morpheme mI
Joanne Chau
Stony Brook University
(8)
Introduction: Turkish is an agglutinating SOV scrambling language; in which scrambling is used to mark
focus. Turkish yes/no questions are formed by attaching a question morpheme, the enclitic mI (I
represents any of the four high vowels in Turkish and the unmarked feature depends on the preceding
vowel), to a constituent and this focuses the constituent in the question. This paper provides an analysis of
the distribution of mI. (1-5) are examples showing mI in simple questions. (QM = question marker)
(1)
(2)
oen
pzza-y
ye-di=mi?
Joanne.NOM
pizza-ACC eat-PAST=QM
Did Joanne eat pizza?
oen
pzza-y=m
ye-di
Joanne.NOM
pizza-ACC=QM eat-PAST
Was it pizza that Joanne ate?
(3)
(4)
(5)
oen=mi
pzza-y
Joanne.NOM=QM pizza-ACC
Was it Joanne that ate the pizza?
*Pizza-y=m
oen
pizza-ACC=QM
Joanne.NOM
*Pizza-y
oen=mi
pizza-ACC
Joanne.NOM=QM
ye-di?
eat-PAST
ye-di?
eat-PAST
ye-di?
eat-PAST
When mI is attached to a constituent, it puts the constituent in focus and questions that
constituent. Example (1) is ambiguous, mI can be questioning the full clause or the verb alone. Examples
(4-5) show that mI focus and preverbal scrambling are incompatible. This compatibility is due to the fact
that multiple foci in a sentence is ungrammatical. If mI provides one focus and preverbal scrambling
provides another, because there is only one focus position in the sentence, both cannot move to the same
constituent. This also causes super-focus as shown in (5) to be ungrammatical. The formation of tag
questions in Turkish, adding deil mi to the end of a sentence, illustrate the locality dependency of mI to
a C[+Q] feature. Examples (6-7) show grammatical and ungrammatical cases of tag questions.
(6)
oen
rengi
deil=mi?
Joanne.NOM
student
is not=QM
Joanne is a student, isnt she?
(7)
*oen
Joanne.NOM
rengi=mi
student=QM
Thursday,!March!10!
deil?
is not
Example (7) demonstrates mI moving out of its local domain. Assuming there are two CPs, the
first (main) CP does not have the C[+Q] feature, but the second one does, so mI cannot move out of its
local domain. When mI is moved out of the local c-command of the C[+Q] feature, the sentence becomes
ungrammatical.
Hypothesis: mI is a morpheme that is local to a C[+Q] feature and despite what seems to be an in-situ
surface form, at logical form, mI and its host move together to Spec CP position to check the C[+Q]
feature. When there is something blocking this movement, the sentence yields ungrammaticality. It is also
safe to assume that there is an incompatibility between the focus from mI and preverbal scrambling. To
confirm the necessity of a C[+Q] feature for mI , different syntactic tests were used, two prominent ones
being complement clauses and strong islands.
Aydoan
oen
hasta diye sor-du=mu?
Aydogan.NOM Joanne.NOM sick
that ask-PAST=QM
Did Aydogan ask is Joanne sick?
(9)
?Aydoan
oen
hasta diye=mi
sor-du?
Aydogan.NOM Joanne.NOM sick
that=QM ask-PAST
Was it is Joanne sick that Aydogan asked?
(10) Aydoan
oen
hasta=m
diye
sor-du?
Aydogan.NOM Joanne.NOM sick=QM
that
ask-PAST
Aydogan asked is Joanne sick?
(11) Aydoan
oen=mi
hasta diye sor-du?
Aydogan.NOM Joanne.NOM=QM sick
that ask-PAST
Aydogan asked was it Joanne that is sick?
(12) Aydoan=mi
oen
hasta diye
sor-du?
Aydogan.NOM=QM Joanne.NOM sick
that
ask-PAST
Was it Ayodgan that asked is Joanne sick?
Further, if mI appears inside a strong island, it should be unable to move to C[+Q]. This is shown by the
ungrammaticality of (13-14) which are derived from the sentence Ali kpe-in ay-y sr-d--n duy-du Ali heard
of the dogs biting of the bear. Unlike complement clauses, where there were two available local C[+Q] features
available, these examples are subordinate nominalizations.(note the presence of the genitive subject). These
structures are thus islands, from which mI cannot move.
(13) *Ali
Ali.NOM
(14) *Ali
Ali.NOM
kpe-in=mi
dog-GEN=QM
kpe-in
dog-GEN
ay-y
bear-ACC
ay-y=m
bear-ACC=QM
sr-d--n
bite-PAST-AGR-ACC
sr-d--n
bite-PAST-AGR-ACC
duy-du?
hear-PAST
duy-du?
hear-PAST
Conclusion: The analysis of grammatical and ungrammatical sentences in Turkish with insertion of mI suggests
that mI requires a local C[+Q] feature. When the feature is blocked, like it was in islands, the sentence is
ungrammatical. In terms of a focus, the focus obtained from mI is incompatible with preverbal scrambling, this
accounts for why super focus and sentences with multiple foci are ungrammatical. My analysis solves the mystery
of the mysterious mI.
References:
sever, S. (2009). A syntactic account of wh-in-situ in Turkish. In S. Ay, . Aydn, . Ergen, S. Gkmen, S.
sever & D. Peenek (Eds.), Essays on Turkish Linguistics: proceedings of the 14th international
conference on Turkish linguistics (6-8 August 2008) (pp. 103-112). Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag.
Kerslake, C. (2007). Alternative Subordination strategies in Turkish. In Hohenstein, C. & Pietsch L. & Rehbein J.
Editor, Connectivity in Grammar and Discourse (pp. 231-258). Philadelphia: John Benjamins B.V.
Results: Complement clauses provide evidence for locality between the C[+Q] feature and mI. Examples
(8-12) show how a Turkish speaker would reiterate what they heard from another person using diye, that
with mI incorporated into the sentences. This construction is similar to the usage of quotation marks ()
in English. Because there are two CP nodes available in complement clauses, (that is, two possible local
C[+Q] features) mI can associate with either CP.
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Thursday,!March!10!
Demystifying Etruscan and Early Bilingualism

Peter Machonis
Florida International University
This paper examines how historical linguists have reconstructed Etruscan, a linguistics isolate, from
limited resources original documents, short inscriptions, archeological artifacts, as well as borrowings
and calques found in neighboring languages and closes with an examination of Latin-Etruscan bilingual
funerary inscriptions to get a better idea of Etruscan assimilation and identity.
As can be seen in Martha (1913:iii), only a century ago, the Etruscan language was still relatively
unknown, and perhaps due to this fact, helped contribute to the "mystery" surrounding the Etruscans -- a
myth that still prevails today in spite of unparalleled archeological findings. Other than the Zagreb
mummy wrappings, the Pyrgi Tablets, and a more recently discovered bronze legal document, the Tabula
Cortonensis, most of our knowledge of Etruscan comes from about 10,000 short inscriptions. Since the
Etruscans never developed a standardized spelling, these inscriptions are furthermore witness to dialectal,
as well as phonetic changes that occurred from 700 BCE to 50 CE (cf. Bonfante & Bonfante 2002:75-81
and Adams 2003:160-1). To highlight the difficulties historical linguists face, we will first examine the
decipherment of a few Etruscan numbers, and the role that certain artifacts, such as dice, can play in
interpreting numbers (Artioli et al. 2011).
In addition to inscriptions, Latin and Etruscan were also in close contact, which can shed light on the
nature of the Etruscan language. Etruscan loan words into Latin (*suplu > subulo "flautist"), Greek words
intermediated through Etruscan (thriambos > *triumpe > triumphus "triumphal procession"), where the
voiced [b] is borrowed into Etruscan with [p] and later loaned to Latin, and anecdotes about Romans
learning Etruscan and vice versa, attest to language contact already taking place in the archaic period
(Adams 2003:163-4). On the other hand, borrowing morphemes and calques such as the Latin numbers
duodeuiginti "eighteen" and undeuiginti "nineteen," where Latin is not borrowing words per se, but the
concept of counting by subtraction found in Etruscan (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002:96) suggest an even
more intimate level of bilingual contact.
In addition, twenty-eight bilingual Etruscan-Latin inscriptions have survived (Wallace 2008:150). We
will examine in detail five of these from Rix (1991:305), Adams (2003:169-74) and Jolivet (2013:158).
In these, we witness a shift to learn Latin, yet at the same time a tendency to keep one's identity, or at least
maintain a dual identity, as for example when an Etruscan Roman citizen has a Latin first name, but also
keeps an Etruscan name. Furthermore, in bilingual inscriptions, when the Latin version uses an Etruscan
naming convention (the mother's name or matronymic), or when Etruscan uses a Latin pattern (name +
clan "son"), this indicates a very high degree of language contact and bilingualism. The language shift
can also be seen in the mixed character and formulaic diversity of unilingual Etruscan and Latin
inscriptions. Finally, the paradoxical use of Latin script to write Etruscan might be indications of its
demise. In sum, although many funerary inscriptions consist only of names, they can still reveal much
about the organization of society, and at the same time be a window into the process of assimilation.
Adams, James Noel. 2003. Bilingualism and the Latin language. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Artioli, G., V. Nociti & I. Angelini. 2011. Gambling with Etruscan dice: a Tale of Numbers and Letters.
Archaeometry 53, 5: 10311043.
Bonfante, Guiliano & Larissa Bonfante. 2002. The Etruscan Language. An Introduction. Second
Edition. Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press.
Jolivet, Vincent. 2013. A Long Twilight (396-90 BC): Romanization of Etruria. In J. Turfa, The Etruscan
World, London and New York, 151-79.
Martha, Jules. 1913. La Langue trusque. Paris : Ernest Leroux.
Rix, Helmut, ed. 1991. Etruskische Texte. Editio minor. Tbingen: Narr.
Wallace, Rex. 2008. Zikh Rasna : a manual of the Etruscan language and inscriptions. Ann Arbor:
Beech Stave Press.
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Thursday,!March!10!
Sonority Restricts Laryngealized Plosives in Southern Aymara

Paola Cepeda
Michael Becker
Stony
Brook University
Sonority restricts laryngealized plosives in Southern Aymara
of this analysis are shown in FIGURE 2. More powerful approaches, e.g. ones with constraints targeting each
sonority level individually, offer only a modest improvement to the proposed analysis.
We examine the conditions for the occurrence of non-initial laryngealized plosives (ejectives and aspirates)
in Southern Aymara roots in relation to the sonority of the initial segment. We show that the distribution of
laryngealized plosives follows a sonority curve: laryngealized plosives are restricted with both low- and
high-sonority initial segments, and are more freely attested with medium sonority initial segments. Previous
work (Landerman 1994; MacEachern 1999; Mackenzie 2013) has focused only on the low-sonority half.
In this paper, we go beyond that work and propose a theoretical analysis of the distribution of non-initial
laryngealized plosives in Southern Aymara that predicts their acceptability in novel roots.
Lexicon study: We analyzed 1,968 disyllabic roots that we extracted from Bttner & Condoris (1984)
dictionary of Puno Southern Aymara (Peru). FIGURE 1 shows the uneven distribution of non-initial
laryngealized plosives with regard to the sonority of the initial segment: they are restricted in plosive-initial
roots (8%) and vowel-initial roots (9%), more acceptable with glides (24%), and most attested in roots that
begin with segments of medium sonority, i.e. fricatives (37%), nasals (34%), and liquids (40%).
FIGURE 2. Predicted percentage of non-initial laryngealized plosives for the whole lexicon
We also used the UCLA Phonotactic Learner (Hayes & Wilson 2008) and trained a phonotactic model on
the Southern Aymara lexicon. The UCLAPL returned a grammar composed of 300 weighted phonotactic
constraints, of which 94 involved laryngealized consonants by including the features [+spread] (for an
aspirate) or [+constricted] (for an ejective). It also returned a harmony score for each of the roots in a testing
list based on the weighted sum of their constraint violations. In order to get the predicted probability for
each root in the testing list, we used its harmony score as the exponent to which the mathematical constant
e was raised. The UCLAPL predictions generate the sonority curve, even if many of the constraints do not
target the sonority hierarchy.
Conclusions: We have identified previously unknown restrictions on the distribution of non-initial
laryngealized plosives in Southern Aymara roots. By using stringent constraints for the sonority hierarchy
and a restriction on the position of the laryngeal features in a root, we have offered an analysis that predicts
the acceptability of non-initial laryngealized plosives in novel roots. We are currently preparing to test these
predictions with a nonce word rating task with Southern Aymara speakers in Peru and Bolivia.
FIGURE 1. Observed percentage of non-initial laryngealized plosives for each root-initial segment
Analysis: According to De Lacy (2003), categories in a scale such as sonority can be conflated in
constraints that stand in a subset relation with respect to their violation marks, that is, a stringency hierarchy.
Thus for the sonority scale Vow>Gli>Liq>Nas>Fri>Plo, the stringent constraints that penalize cooccurrence with non-initial laryngealized consonants in Southern Aymara would be the ones in (1), starting
with *{VOW}LAR, which penalizes a root containing both an onsetless initial syllable and a laryngealized
plosive. Independent evidence shows that, in Southern Aymara, onsetless syllables are largely dispreferred
and only appear in root initial position (Cerrn-Palomino 2000).
(1)
References: Bttner, T. & D. Condori. 1984. Diccionario aymara-castellano. Arunakan liwru: aymarakastillanu. Puno: Proyecto Experimental de Educacin Bilinge. || Cerrn-Palomino, R. 2000. Lingstica
aimara. Cuzco: Centro Bartolom de las Casas. || De Lacy, P. 2003. Conflation and Hierarchies. In Astruc,
L. & M. Richards (Eds.) Cambridge Occasional Papers in Linguistics 1. Cambridge: CUP, 83-100. || Hayes,
B. & C. Wilson. 2008. A Maximum Entropy Model of Phonotactics and Phonotactic Learning. Linguistic
Inquiry 39(3), 379-440. || Landerman, P. 1994. Glottalization and Aspiration in Quechua and Aymara
Reconsidered. In Cole, P., G. Hermon & M.D. Martn (Eds.) Language in the Andes. Newark: University
of Delaware, 332-378. || MacEachern, M.R. 1999. Laryngeal Cooccurrence Restrictions. New York:
Garland. || Mackenzie, S. 2013. Laryngeal co-occurrence restrictions in Aymara. Phonology 30(2), 297345. || McCarthy, J. 2003. OT constraints are categorical. Phonology 20(1), 75-138. || Wilson, C. 2006.
Learning phonology with substantive bias: an experimental and computational study of velar
palatalization. Cognitive Science 30(5), 945-982.
Stringent constraint family:

*{VOW}LAR, *{VOW, GLI}LAR, *{VOW, GLI, LIQ}LAR, *{VOW, GLI, LIQ, NAS}LAR,
*{VOW, GLI, LIQ, NAS, FRI}LAR, *{VOW, GLI, LIQ, NAS, FRI, PLO}LAR
Using the MaxEnt Grammar Tool (Wilson 2006), we trained a MaxEnt weighted constraint model on the
Southern Aymara lexicon using the constraints in (1). As expected, the model was unable to replicate the
curve: the acceptability of internal laryngealized plosives did not drop from medium- to low-sonority initial
segments. However, the effect of initial plosives can be captured with the addition of COINCIDE (McCarthy
2003), a constraint that penalizes laryngeal features not occurring on the leftmost plosive. The predictions
41!
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Thursday,!March!10!
The Predictability of Vowel Alternations in Urban Hijazi Arabic Imperfective Nonce

Forms
Honaida Ahyad
Michael Becker
Stony Brook University
References
Albright, Adam & Hayes, Bruce. 2002. Modeling English past tense intuitions with minimal generalization.
In M. Maxwell (Ed.) Proceedings of the Sixth Meeting of ACL Special Interest Group in
Computational Phonology (pp. 58-69). Philadelphia: ACL.
Albright, Adam & Hayes, Bruce. 2002. Modeling English past tense intuitions with minimal generalization.
In M. Maxwell (Ed.) Proceedings of the Sixth Meeting of ACL Special Interest Group in
Computational Phonology (pp. 58-69). Philadelphia: ACL.
Albright, Adam, and Bruce Hayes. 2006. Modeling productivity with the gradual learning algorithm: The
problem of accidentally exceptionless generalizations. In Gradience in grammar: Generative
perspectives, eds. Gisbert Fanselow, Caroline Fery, Matthias Schlesewsky, and Ralf Vogel, 185
204. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Berent, Iris, Vaknin, Vered, & Marcus, Gary F. 2007. Roots, stems, and the universality of lexical
representations: Evidence from Hebrew. Cognition 104:254286.
Berko, Jean. 1958. The childs learning of English morphology. Word 14: 150177.
Brame, Michael. 1970. Arabic phonology: Implications for phonological theory and general Semitic.
Doctoral Dissertation, MIT.
Chekayri, Abdellah & Scheer, Tobias. 2004. The non-appearance of glides in the hollow verbs of Classical
Arabic. Paper presented at the first conference on Arabic language and linguistics, Oxford 30-31
July.
Chekayri, Abdellah & Scheer, Tobias. 2005. Biliteral approach to weak verbs in Arabic. Paper presented
at the 19th Arabic Linguistics Symposium, University of Illinois 1-3 April.
Gafos, Adamantios. 2003. Greenbergs asymmetry in Arabic: A consequence of stems in paradigms.
Language 79 (2), pp. 317-355.
Rosenthall, Sam 2006. Glide distribution in Clasical Arabic verb stems. Linguistic Inquiry 37, pp. 405-440.
The predictability of vowel alternations in Urban Hijazi Arabic imperfective nonce forms
In Urban Hijazi Arabic verbs that have two consonants on the surface (e.g. [taar] he flew, [ta] he
shot), the vowel is always low in the perfective. In the imperfective, the vowel can be the front [i, ii] or
the back [u, uu] (also [aa] in a few verbs). We found that the choice of vowel is partially predictable: the
presence of an emphatic (pharyngealized consonant) is correlated with [ii] in hollow verbs (long vowel
verbs), but the presence of an emphatic is correlated with [u] in doubled verbs (short vowel verbs). This
fact is true in the existing verbs of the language, and is also apparent in the treatment of nonce verbs, as we
establish here experimentally. Existing analyses of hollow and doubled verbs (Brame 1970, Gafos 2003,
Shekeri & Scheer 2004, 2005, Rosenthall 2006) assume that the vowel choice depends on a lexical
representation, and therefore these analyses do not make predictions about the vowel choice in nonce words.
We offer an analysis based on the Minimal Generalization Learner (Albright & Hayes 2002, 2003, 2006)
that learns the distribution of vowels in the lexicon and extends them to nonce words. The predictions of
our analysis are highly correlated with the experimental results.
Lexicon Study: We compiled an Urban Hijazi Arabic lexicon of 101 long vowel verbs and 133 short vowel
verbs, of which about a quarter contain an emphatic. We see that the back vowel is chosen more often in
the presence of emphatics with short vowel verbs, but less often in the presence of emphatics with long
vowel verbs.
emphatic (pharyngealized)
doubled verbs
(short vowel)
dal ~ ji-dil
ta ~ ji- tu
to get lost
to shoot
hollow verbs
(long vowel)
taar ~ ji-tiir
to fly
saam ~ ji-suum to fast
non-emphatic (plain)
97% [u]
al ~ ji-il
ba ~ ji-bu
to sicken 77% [u]

to spray
32% [uu]
aad ~ ji-iid
aaf ~ ji-uuf
to repeat 59% [uu]

to see
(Phonology, Morphology, language learning)
Experiment: 104 native speakers of Urban Hijazi

Arabic listened to 28 nonce words (wug test,
Berko 1958) put in the perfective, each with two
choices for the imperfective (e.g. [tak] [ji-tik,
ji-tuk]). Participants chose vowels that follow the
lexical distribution of the emphatics, as seen in the
figure, and confirmed with high significance in a
fully crossed mixed-effects logistic regression
model.
Learning Model: We trained the Minimal
Generalization Learner (Albright & Hayes 2002,
2003, 2006) on the real words of the language, and
tested it on the same nonce perfective verbs that
were given to the participants. The model generated
imperfective forms and confidence scores that were
strongly correlated with the choices of the native
speakers.
Discussion: Speakers have implicit knowledge about the choice of vowel in the imperfective based on the
vowels length and the presence of an emphatic. The trends do not seem phonetically motivated; rather,
speakers simply extend the distribution of vowels from their lexicon, as predicted by the Minimal
Generalization Learner. Additionally, our results lend support for the view that speakers of Semitic
languages can learn trends in their lexicon at a level of representation in which both vowels and consonants
are present, not purely consonantal roots (as argued by Gafos 2003, Berent et al. 2007 a.o.).
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Friday,!March!11!
What Determines Nativelikeness in Bilingual Speech?

Mehmet Yava
Evaluating! bilingual! speech! with! respect! to! the! monolinguals! of! the! two! languages! involved! has!
been! a! controversial! issue.! While! many! studies! have! relied! on! perceptual! judgments! made! by!
monolingual! native! speakers! of! the! language! in! question! (Bongaerts! et! al.,! 2000;! Neufeld! 2001)!
such!judgements!may!not!serve!as!a!reliable!tool,!because!in!many!cases!of!the!speech!of!very!fluent!
L2! dominant! bilinguals,! the! distinction! between! near\nativeness! and! actual! nativelikeness! cannot!
be!captured.!Thus,!the!frequently!encountered!imperceptible!nonnativeness!of!the!seemingly!very!
advanced! bilingual! productions! should! be! investigated! through! rigorous! and! detailed! linguistic!
analysis!(Stolten,!Abrahamsson!&!Hyltenstam!2015).!
In!this!talk,!I!will!report!on!results!that!we!have!obtained!from!several!studies!of!Spanish\English!
bilinguals!from!South!Florida!where!bilingualism!is!very!much!alive.!The!particular!studies!that!will!
be! examined! will! include! bilinguals! English! productions! in! laterals! (Yava,! in! press),! voiceless!
stops!(Yava!&!Byers!2015)!as!well!as!reduced!vowels!(Millard!&!Yava,!in!press).!The!data!under!
examination!come!from!early!sequential!bilinguals!who!acquired!their!L2!(English)!before!puberty,!
and!in!most!cases!around!age!4:00.!Almost!all!participants!are!English!dominant!and!have!greater!
use!of!English!in!their!daily!lives!and!are!frequently!judged!native\like!in!perceptual!experiments.!
Acoustic! analyses! of! data! from! these! studies! however! reveal! that,! in! many! instances,! significant!
differences! exist! between! the! productions! of! monolingual! speakers! and! these! fluent! bilinguals.!
While!the!results!may!be!interpreted!that!a!lag!of!even!a!few!years!in!acquiring!an!L2!tends!to!have!
dramatic! consequences! on! speech! production! (! Flege! Yeni\Komshian! &! Liu! 1999;! Fowler! et! al.!
2008)! and! perception! Flege! &! MacKay! 2004;! Sebastian\Galles! &! Soto\Faraco! 1999),! they! also! beg!
the!question!why!different!phonological!targets!are!affected!differently.!
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Comparison of Story Classification Methods across New Annotated Data

Joshua Eisenberg
Mark Finlayson
Friday,!March!11!
We explore how well suited the features of each classifier are to discovering the different types of stories.
We compare their performance and also identify gaps for each classifier exposed by this comparison.
Stories are one of the most common forms of discourse. Storytelling is found in every society and culture,
and stories capture key aspects of the human experience. Deeper understanding of storiesespecially
from a computational point of viewwill lead to deeper understanding of language, culture, and
cognition. Having access to a large set of stories is a necessary first step for computational analysis and
modeling; happily, language dataincluding storiesare increasingly available in electronic form.
Unfortunately the process of automatically separating stories from other forms of written discourse is
difficult for computers, leading to a bottleneck in data collection. Therefore we seek to develop a reliable,
robust automatic algorithm for identifying story text mixed with other non-story text. In this presentation
we report on experiments involving re-implementation and comparison of the current approaches to this
task.
The computational identification of stories is a relatively new problem, and there are only two extant
approaches: one developed by Gordon et al. at USC (Gordon 2009), the other by Corman et al. at ASU
(Ceran 2012). In this talk we will discuss re-implementations of these two algorithms, and will compare
their performance, discuss their differences, and point out gaps. We will also talk about how this study
relates to the more traditional approaches to narrative structure used by Propp (1968) and Dundes (1984).
Both the Gordon and Corman classifiers leverage supervised machine learning algorithms trained on large
annotated datasets, and both use linguistic features to separate story text from non-story text. Gordons
classifier uses simple lexical features to identify stories, such as presence of first person pronouns, past
tense verbs, and unigram frequencies. This classifier was originally tested on an annotated subset of the
ICWSM 2009 Spinner blog dataset, which contains personal stories that were posted to blogs in 2009
(Burton 2009). Cormans classifier, on the other hand, focuses on verbs and their patient and agent
arguments (semantic triplets). It also considers unigram frequencies and the density of various features
such as part of speech tags, named entities, and stative verbs. Cormans classifier was originally tested on
a corpus of Islamic Extremist texts, in which each paragraph was annotated as either story, exposition,
supplication, religious verse, or other.
We re-implemented and re-tested both classifiers for this study. Gordon provided a Python
implementation (Gordon 2014) of his classifier that we rewrote in Java. Cormans paper (Ceran 2012)
provides a high level description of the features used and the training procedure. From this we built our
own implementation in Java, using OpenNLP (Baldridge 2005), the Stanford Natural Language
Processing Suite (Manning 2014), the Illinois NER system (Ratinov 2009), the MIT Java Wordnet
Interface (Finlayson 2014), and portions of the MIT Story Workbench (Finlayson 2008, 2011). We built
additional missing functionality from scratch such as name normalization which finds the correct spelling
of a named entity by querying Microsoft Bing Search programmatically.
Additionally, we trained and tested both classifiers on the other classifiers original data. The weblog and
extremist corpora contain different kinds of stories: the blog posts are personal experiences dealing with
day-to-day life in the U.S., whereas the extremist stories typically are secondhand accounts of events
occurring in the Middle East, especially conflict zones. The extremist narrators are usually third-person,
meaning they are not story characters advancing the action, while the blog narrators usually are firstperson, embedded in the action they describe. In our experiments we trained both classifiers on the data
from their original study as well as with a new corpus comprised of a mixture of data from both corpora.
This work points the way forward to improved story classification algorithms. We discuss how the
insights gleaned from this comparison will inform our own implementation of a new story classification
system, where we will focus on extracting events carried out by actors.
Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant number 5R01GM10503302.
References
Baldridge, J. (2005). The OpenNLP project. Retrieved November 3, 2015, from
https://opennlp.apache.org/
Microsoft (2015). Bing Search. Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://www.bing.com/
Burton, K., Java, A., & Soboroff, I. (2009, May). The ICWSM 2009 Spinn3r Dataset. In Proceedings
of the Third Annual Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM 2009), San Jose, CA.
Ceran, B., Karad, R., Mandvekar, A., Corman, S. R., & Davulcu, H. (2012, August). A semantic triplet
based story classifier. In Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM), 2012 IEEE/ACM
International Conference on (pp. 573-580). IEEE.
Ceran, B., Karad, R., Corman, S., & Davulcu, H. (2012). A Hybrid Model and Memory Based Story
Classifier. Third Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative (CMN), 824, 6064.
Dundes, A. (1984). Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth, 1984. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
Finlayson, M. A. (2008). Collecting Semantics in the Wild: The Story Workbench. Proceedings of the
AAAI Fall Symposium on Naturally Inspired Artificial Intelligence (published as Technical Report FS-0806, Papers from the AAAI Fall Symposium), 1, 4653.
Finlayson, M. A. (2011). The Story Workbench: An Extensible Semi-Automatic Text Annotation Tool.
Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Intelligent Narrative Technologies (INT4), 4, 2124.
Finlayson, M. A. (2014). Java Libraries for Accessing the Princeton Wordnet: Comparison and
Evaluation, 8. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81949
Gordon, A. S., & Swanson, R. (2009). Identifying Personal Stories in Millions of Weblog Entries. Papers
from the 2009 ICWSM Workshop, Data Challenge Workshop, 1623.
Gordon, A., & Swanson, R. (2014). Gordons Story Classifier. Retrieved from
https://github.com/asgordon/StoryNonstory
Manning, C. D., Surdeanu, M., Bauer, J., Finkel, J., Bethard, S. J., & McClosky, D. (2014). The Stanford
CoreNLP Natural Language Processing Toolkit. Proceedings of 52nd Annual Meeting of the ACL: System
Demonstrations, 5560.
Propp, Vladimir. 1968. Morphology of the Folktale. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Ratinov, L., & Roth, D. (2009). Design challenges and misconceptions in named entity recognition.
Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning, (June), 147
155. doi:10.3115/1596374.1596399
Trilingual Lexical Processing: How the Third Language Affects the Second Language
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Friday,!March!11!
Jamile Forcelini
Gretchen Sunderman
TRILINGUAL LEXICAL PROCESSING
Florida State University
How the Third language affects the Second Language.
It is now well known that words from both languages compete for activation in the bilingual mind
during lexical retrieval (Van Heste, 1999; Van Hell & De Groot, 1998; Van Heuven, Dijkstra &
Grainger, 1998). Indeed, previous studies have focused almost exclusively on bilingual lexical
activation.. The present study however explores how trilinguals process words in comparison to
bilinguals. Specifically, it examines how the presence of a third language (L3) affects processing
in a second language (L2), when the L3 (Portuguese) and L2 (Spanish) are typologically similar.
A lexical decision task in Spanish (L2) was conducted with a group of English-Spanish bilingual
speakers (n=53) and a group of English-Spanish-Portuguese trilingual speakers (n=33). All
participants were native speakers of English and had similar proficiency in the L2, Spanish. The
only difference between the groups was the one group was trilingual, with L3 Portuguese.
Participants were exposed to cognates and non-cognate words in Spanish and Portuguese, as well
as pseudo words and had to decide whether these tokens were real Spanish words. In the critical
conditions, the pseudo words were manipulated to look like either real Portuguese or Spanish
words. In addition, control tokens in German and Basque were also included in the experiment.
Reaction times and accuracy were analyzed. Results show that trilingual participants, in judging
words in their L2 Spanish, were affected by the presence of Portuguese words. Although trilingual
speakers were not aware lexical processing in Portuguese was needed in the present study, results
show Portuguese was activated while participants retrieved words in L2 Spanish. In other words,
the trilingual participants demonstrated parallel activation of both the L2 and L3, in spite of the L3
not being required for the task.
.
Keywords: trilingualism, lexical processing, language typology, Spanish, Portuguese.
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Friday,!March!11!
Effect of TV and Internal vs. External Contact on Variation in Syrian Rural Child
Language
Rania Habib
Syracuse University
This study examines the influence of TV and internal/local and external/urban contact on the use of the
variable (q) in the speech of 50 children from the village of Oyoun Al-Wadi, Syria. The variable (q) is
realized as the rural form [q] or the urban form []. The influence of TV is measured by the number of
hours spent watching TV programs/serials in Syrian Arabic or other varieties. The effect of external
contact is measured by the amount of time spent in contact with urban family members and friends by
visiting them in cities or being visited by them in the village. The effect of internal contact is measured by
the amount of time spent in contact with local friends. The purpose of this study is two folds: (1)
introduce a new way to measure the strength and effect of contact and social networks and (2) examine
the influence of social factors other than gender, age, residential area, and mothers origin on the use of
the variable (q). In previous studies (Habib, 2011, To appear a) on the variable (q) by the same speakers,
gender and age emerged as statistically significant. Surprisingly, in the current study, those who have
lower internal contact with local friends show higher use of the rural [q]. TV and external contact show no
significant effect.
The naturally occurring speech of 50 children aged 6-18 constitute the data set. A mixed effects model
is employed with speakers as the random effect and TV, internal contact, and external contact as the fixed
effects. The time spent watching TV and internal and external contacts are measured individually on
scales of 0-4; the digits 0-4 indicate respectively: none, very low, low, high, and very high. Each value is
calibrated with a certain number of hours for TV or a certain number of days for internal and external
contact.
Only internal contact emerged as statistically significant. Those with no or very low internal contact
use the rural [q] more than those who have more internal contact. Despite the long hours many
participants spend watching TV and contrary to previous work about the influence of media and TV on
language variation and change (Carvalho, 2004; Stuart-Smith et al., 2013; Sayers, 2014), TV emerged as
statistically insignificant. Likewise, external contact emerged as statistically insignificant. These results
are surprising as one expects lower internal contact to lead to lower use of the local [q], and more
exposure to urban TV serials and external urban speakers to lead to higher use of the non-local [].
These findings indicate that the use of rural and urban forms is neither related to the strength of
internal and external contact nor to the abundance in watching urban TV serials. Rather, the use of the
urban and rural variants is mainly related to the previously found significant factors, gender and age, and
to the social interpretations/meanings of variants and how they situate the speaker in his/her environment
as rural or urbane or as masculine or feminine (Habib, 2011, To appear b). In other words, children adopt
and use the sound that appeals to them and allows them to project themselves in a specific identity,
demonstrating their competence in the associated social meanings and ability to manipulate their speech
accordingly.
Friday,!March!11!
language. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 17(2), 81-90, Article 10.
Available at: http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol17/iss2/10
Sayers, Dave. 2014. The mediated innovation model: A framework for researching media
influence in language change. Journal of Sociolinguistics 18: 185-212.
Stuart-Smith, Jane, Gwilym Pryce, Claire Timmins, and Barrie Gunter. 2013. Television can also
be a factor in language change: Evidence from an urban dialect. Language 89(3): 501-536.
References
Carvalho, Ana Maria. 2004. I speak like the guys on TV: palatalization and the urbanization of
Uruguayan Portuguese. Language variation and change 16(2): 127-151.
Habib, Rania. To appear b. Identity, ideology, and attitude in Syrian rural child and adolescent
speech. Linguistic Variation.
Habib, Rania. To appear a. Bidirectional linguistic change in rural child and adolescent language in Syria.
Dialectologia 16.
Habib, Rania. 2011. Meaningful variation and bidirectional change in rural child and adolescent
!
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The Acquisition of Inchoative Structures by L1 Spanish Speakers Learning L2

English
Mnica Cabrera Camasca
Loyola Marymount University
The present study provides evidence in favor of the view that L1 transfer is a developmentally constrained
process. Full transfer is more likely to happen in later than in early acquisition. We study the acquisition
of inchoative forms of the causative alternation by L1 Spanish/L2 English adult learners at different levels
of proficiency.
Lexico-syntactic properties. English and Spanish inchoative structures share lexico-syntactic properties.
Most verbs of change of state in these languages enter into the causative alternation, the so-called
transitive alternating verbs (1-2). Verbs of external causation (break/romper) can appear in intransitive
configuration (1b, 2b). The possibility of reducing their valency has been related to the fact that the causer
of the events encoded by these verbs is not necessarily an animate agent (3), and, therefore, it can be left
unspecified. However, not all transitive verbs can have intransitive/inchoative counterparts. Verbs like
cut/cortar can be transitive, but not intransitive (4-5). The causer of the event denoted by these verbs is
necessarily an animate agent that cannot be left unspecified, which renders the intransitive form
unacceptable. These are known as transitive non-alternating verbs.
Morphological properties. English and Spanish inchoative forms are different their morphological
marking. In Spanish, the reflexive pronoun se is used as the morphological signature of a reduction in
verb valency (2b). In English, there is no morphological marking (1b).
Previous L2 studies. Montrul (1997) tested L1 Spanish speakers learning L2 English at the intermediate
level. They marginally incorrectly rejected inchoative sentences with alternating verbs (1b), and correctly
rejected them with non-alternating ones (4b). This was explained as a case of transfer of L1
morphological properties, i.e. modular transfer, and not of full transfer, since inchoative sentences in
English and Spanish are different in their morphology, but not in their lexico-syntactic structure.
However, the prediction of full transfer is more appropriately tested with beginner, and not intermediate
learners, since full transfer is hypothesized to take place at the earliest stage of interlanguage development
(Schwartz & Sprouse 1994, 1996). In conclusion, the role of L1 transfer in the developmental path of the
L2 acquisition of inchoative structures is yet to be further investigated in a study that explores the process
at different levels of interlanguage development.
Predictions. We hypothesize that the properties of the L1 determine which verb classes will be allowed in
the intransitive/inchoative configuration in the interlanguage. We predict that:
(a) If only lexico-syntactic properties are transferred, L1 Spanish learners of L2 English will accept
transitive alternating verbs in the intransitive form, and reject non-alternating ones.
(b) If only morphological properties are transferred, L1 Spanish learners of L2 English will reject
all intransitive sentences due to the absence of morphology (i.e. lack of se).
If there is full transfer:
(c) Transitive alternating and non-alternating verbs will be rejected, but for different reasons: the former
due to the absence of morphology (equivalent to se), and the later due to lexico-syntactic properties.
Experiment. 76 L1 Spanish/L2 English college level L2-learners were tested in Lima, Per. A picturebased acceptability judgment test was used to elicit learners responses. Learners were instructed to
provide a corrected version of sentences that they rated negatively. Prediction (a) held for all proficiency
levels since learners means for alternating verbs were significantly higher than those for non-alternating
ones for all levels of proficiency. Prediction (b) did not hold for any specific level of proficiency
according to the group analysis. The sentence correction analysis revealed that morphological and lexicosyntactic transfer interacted at higher proficiency. We conclude that full transfer is conditioned by
development of L2 competency.
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Examples.
(1)
a. The thief broke the window.
b. The window broke.
(2)
a. El ladrn rompi la ventana.
b. La ventana se rompi.
(3)
a. The wind broke the window.
b. El viento rompi la ventana.
(4)
a. Patricia cut the meat.
b. *The meat cut.
(5)
a. Patricia cort la carne.
b. *La carne se cort.
References
Montrul, S. 1997. Transitivity alternations in second language acqyuisition: A Crosslinguistic study of
English, Spanish and Turkish. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University, Montreal.
Schwartz, B. & R. Sprouse. 1994. Word order and Nominative Case in nonnative language acquisition: A
longitudinal study of (L1 Turkish) German Interlanguage. In T. Hoekstra and B. Schwartz (Eds.),
Language Acquisition Studies in Generative Grammar: Papers in Honor of Kenneth Wexler from the
1991 GLOW Workshops, 317-368, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Schwartz, B. & R. Sprouse. 1996. L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second
Language Research, 12(1), 40-72.
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Cognitive and Language Experience Effects on Second Language Verbal Fluency

Crystal Marull
Rutgers University
Second language (L2) learners systematically fail to converge on native-like proficiency. According to the
Critical Period approach, after a certain age L2 processing is fundamentally different from native-like processing as
a result of representational deficits (e.g., Clahsen & Felser, 2006, Ullman, 2004; 2005). In contrast, the Capacity
Model approach attributes L2 divergence to resource limitations that can be overcome with L2 experience (e.g.,
MacWhinney & Bates 1989; McDonald, 1987). This study tests the hypotheses of these opposing approaches by
examining the effects of cognitive constraints and L2 experience on verbal fluency. Specifically this study
examines the influence of learners' working memory capacity, vocabulary size, and proficiency on the ability access
lexical items for production in real time. Thus, this study asks:
1. Is verbal fluency modulated by proficiency and vocabulary size?
2. Can verbal fluency limitations be characterized in regard to the effects of working memory capacity?
To address these questions, 25 native Spanish-speakers residing in Argentina and 35 Native-English Speakers
learning L2 Spanish (intermediate and advanced) in the US completed the Spanish Lextale-Esp vocabulary test
(Lexical Test for Advance Learners of Spanish, Izura et al., 2014), a modified version of the Diploma de Espaol
como Lengua Extranjera, DELE (Instituto Cervantes, 2007), the letter-number sequencing working memory test,
and a semantic category verbal fluency task.
Preliminary analyses revealed that for the learners only there was a fair degree of correlation between verbal
fluency performance and proficiency (r = .402, p < .01) and a moderate correlation to vocabulary size (r=.688,
p<.01). Working memory was not correlated with verbal fluency for any of the participants. A dependent samples ttest revealed that the native speakers performed significantly better (M=14.7, sd 3.1 words per minute) than the
learners (M=9.8, sd 3.8 words per minute) on the verbal fluency task t(66)=5.712, p<.000)
These findings are in line with capacity approaches that emphasize the role of second language experience,
especially vocabulary development, on L2 fluency, however they also put into question the role of cognitive
capacities especially at intermediate and advanced proficiency levels when a certain lexical automaticity has
already been acquired. In addition to these findings, the theoretical implications for second language processing
will be discussed as an important step towards cognitive underpinnings of second language acquisition.
Clahsen, H., & Felser, C. (2006). Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied
Psycholinguistics, 27(01), 3-42.
Instituto Cervantes (2007). Gua para la obtencin de los Diplomas de Espaol como Lengua Extranjera
(D.E.L.E). Nivel inicial. [on line] <http:// http://diplomas.cervantes.es/ >
Izura, C., Cuetos Vega, F., & Brysbaert, M. (2014). Lextale-esp: Un test para la rpida y eficaz evaluacin
del tamao del vocabulario en espaol= Lextale-Esp: A test to rapidly and efficiently assess the
spanish vocabulary size. Psicologica.
MacWhinney, B. and Bates, E. (eds) (1989) The Cross-linguistic Study of Sentence
Processing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mcdonald, J. L. (1987). Sentence interpretation processes: The influence of conflicting cues.
Journal of Memory and Language, 26, 100-117.
Ullman, M. T. (2004). Contributions of memory circuits to language: The
declarative/procedural model. Cognition, 92(1), 231-270.
Ullman, M. T. (2005). A cognitive neuroscience perspective on second language acquisition:
The declarative/procedural model. Mind and context in adult second language acquisition, 141-178.
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The Critical Role of Understanding Language Development in U.S. Schooling

Peggy Mueller
Aida Walqui
WestEd
With the emergence of new and more challenging societal demands for school graduates in the 21st century and
related new standards for learning in the nations public schools, educators are beginning to acknowledge that
major shifts must take place in instruction in order to support all students performing at those new required levels.
More ambitious goals for learning as articulated in the new standards require all students to gain deep
understanding of central concepts, engage in critical analysis of a wide variety of texts and complex problem
solving, and participate in academic discourse in each of the core disciplines. Understanding how disciplinary
language, analytical and conceptual practices develop in tandem, and how to support this development in all
students, in particular English learners, has not typically been a part of the preparation and development of all
teachers yet for the increasingly expanding population of English learners in schools, this knowledge and skill in
all teachers is critical (AACTE, 2010; Bunch, Walqui and Pearson, 2014).
Meaningful engagement in high level learning for all students, furthermore, is not well-supported by typical
approaches to instruction that have been driven primarily by theories of learning that reinforce the practice of
teacher modeling and student individualized processing of information. Teaching to the new standards, rather,
demands that educators understand the social context of learning and the critical role that the use of language and
well-structured opportunities to converse around key ideas plays in constructing meaning. All teaching must now
take into account and address pedagogies that incorporate language use at levels of discourse that support the
progressive development of high level conceptualization and analytic thinking. But most teachers of the core
subjects have been exposed to little about how language develops or how to support it, not only in bilingual but in
monolingual students as well. New agendas for teachers learning are emerging and acknowledged as essential
(Ball & Forzani, 2011).
Compounding the issue, formal views of language have predominated in schooling, with the resulting emphasis on
judging the grammaticality of student efforts at communication rather than as the performance of valuable social
acts (van Lier & Walqui, 2010). An emphasis on the teaching of lists of isolated vocabulary items at the beginning
of lessons contradicts what is known in the field by the simultaneous development of conceptual understandings,
analytical skills and language practices in school second language learning (Valds, Kibler & Walqui, 2014). As a
consequence, the educational performance of second language learners lags significantly behind the performance of
native speakers of English. With increasing demands for developing in all students deep and transferable learning,
the need for reconceptualization of both the preparation and development of education professionals to include
relevant knowledge about language development and its implications for practice is both timely and urgent.
The proposed presentation will describe a current project underway in a major urban school district, the purpose of
which is to develop and analyze the impact of a new framework for instruction that deliberately connects language
development to another critical tool for learning (literacy) and addresses key principles about their relationship to
academic learning, namely:
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The goal of this work is to respond to the new challenges of developing effective instruction in a way that ensures
high levels of academic engagement among all students by drawing on the expert knowledge of linguists and
educators. The project involves engagement of practitioners in elementary and secondary classrooms who also
become part of a discourse community rethinking and deepening their own understandings and skills regarding how
language is implicated and supported in learning as well as leaders in the district whose work it is to frame more
effective instructional supports for schools.
Questions which will be addressed, based on third-party evaluation, feedback from participants, and observations of
professional conversations to date over the past two years by the project developers, include:
What do all teachers need to understand about language development and acquisition?
What new knowledge and understanding is needed by educators about how to support language use in the
context of deep learning?
How can teachers scaffold language and learning development for bilingual learners in ways that do not
simplify but rather amplify their access to and use of ideas in the disciplines?
How does instruction and instructional planning change as a result of this knowledge about the role of
language development in learning?
What are the signals to teachers that learning is taking place and that conceptual, analytic and linguistic
development is advancing in students?
References
American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (2010). 21st century knowledge and skills in educator
preparation. Retrieved from http://www.aacte.org.
Ball, D.L. & Forzani, F. M. (2011). Building a common core for learning to teach and connecting professional
learning to practice. American Educator, pp. 17-39.
Bunch, G., Walqui, A., & Pearson, P.D. (September, 2014). Complex text and new common standards in the
United States: Pedagogical implications for English learners. TESOL Quarterly, 48 (3), pp. 533-559.
Valds, G., Kibler, A., & Walqui, A. (March, 2014). Changes in the expertise of ESL professionals: Knowledge
and action in an era of new standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL International Association.
van Lier, L & Walqui, A. (2010). Language and the common core standards. Stanford, CA: Understanding
Language Conference.
1) Language and literacy develop in action through authentic use in the context of the disciplines;
2) Language and literacy developments are supported in social contexts via purposeful communication among
peers and with teachers;
3) Language and literacy develop simultaneously with content knowledge as meaningful ideas are explored
and investigated by students; and
4) Scaffolding for language, literacy and disciplinary growth among L2 and L1 students and their teachers is
not about simplifying learning tasks, but rather about amplifying them. Its goal is autonomy and the
emergence of novelty.
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LINGUISTICS MATTERS PLENARY
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The Impact of Late L2 Bilingualism on L1 Verbal Fluency

Lake Mathison
Rutgers University
Is There a DPBE in L2 Acquisition and, If So, Why?

Lydia White
McGill University
A much-studied phenomenon in first language acquisition is the so-called Delay of Principle B Effect
(DPBE), whereby children have greater difficulty in interpreting sentences with pronouns than with
reflexives. In addition, children are more accurate when pronouns refer to quantified antecedents (e.g.
Every bear is touching her) than to referential antecedents (e.g. Mama Bear is touching her). A recent
study by Hartman, Sudo & Wexler (2012) established that English-speaking children were significantly
more adult-like when they heard reduced English pronouns (e.g. John saw'm versus John saw him).
According to some researchers, the DPBE reflects difficulties due to an elevated processing load (e.g.
Grodzinsky & Reinhart 1993). In that case, similar difficulties in interpretation might be expected for L2
learners.
To investigate this question, an experiment was conducted with adult learners of English, using a Truth
Value Judgment Task, administered online. Results suggest that certain aspects of pronoun interpretation
indeed strain processing resources in L2 acquisition but that these effects can be overcome: intermediate
level learners showed a discrepancy in accuracy on quantificational versus referential antecedents, as well
as on reduced versus full pronouns, similar to the performance of L1 acquirers, whereas advanced learners
performed like native speakers.
What are the cognitive consequences of bilingualism, and are those consequences the same regardless of
whether the L2 was learned early or later in life? This study uses verbal fluency tasks to examine L1 lexical
retrieval in late L2 learners of various proficiency levels to determine their L1 performance relative to
monolinguals, in order to investigate how increasing L2 proficiency impacts L1 lexical retrieval.
Verbal fluency tasks, in which participants name as many words as they can in one minute, according to a
given criteria, measure the speed and ease with which individuals can access the words in their lexicon for
production. Early heritage bilinguals often produce fewer words than monolinguals, a finding that has been
attributed variously to cross-linguistic competition (Rosselli et al. 2000), frequency effects (Gollan, Montoya, &
Werner 2002), and vocabulary deficits (Bialystok, Craik, & Luk 2008), while bilinguals matched for vocabulary
knowledge have produced more words than monolinguals in letter fluency tasks, which the authors suggest may be
due to a bilingual executive control advantage (Bialystok et al. 2008).
Regarding late L2 learners and bilinguals, L2 immersion has been found to temporarily result in decreased
L1 verbal fluency relative to non-immersed language learning peers (Linck, Kroll, & Sunderman 2009), but how L1
performance of late L2 learners compares to monolinguals is unknown. Late L2 bilinguals are less likely to
experience either weaker links or vocabulary deficits, given that they spent most of their life monolingual,
surrounded by their L1; therefore, this population is well suited for looking for evidence of competition as well as
investigating the impact of age of acquisition on bilingual lexical retrieval.
Participants include late L2 English-Spanish learners at three levels of proficiency (n=86), as well as
monolingual English speakers (n=28). Results revealed that late L2 bilinguals produced as many or more words
than monolinguals, indicating a lack of competition from the growing L2. In fact, data suggest a lexical retrieval
advantage for those at the highest proficiency level. This research stands to contribute to the field of bilingualism
and second language acquisition by helping helping determine whether or not late L2 bilinguals brains manage
their two languages in the same way as early bilinguals.
References
Bialystok, Ellen, Fergus I.M. Craik, and Gigi Luk. 2008. Lexical access in bilinguals: Effects of vocabulary and
executive control. Journal of Neurolinguistics 21:522-538.
Gollan, Tamar H., Rosa I. Montoya and Grace A. Werner. 2002. Semantic and letter fluency in Spanish-English
bilinguals. Neuropsychology 16:562-576.
Linck, Jared A., Judith F. Kroll, and Gretchen Sunderman. 2009. Losing access to the native language while
immersed in a second language evidence for the role of inhibition in second-language learning. Psychol Sci
20:1507-1515.
Rosselli, Mnica, Alfredo Ardila, Katia Araujo, Viviana A. Weekes, Virginia Caracciolo, Mabel Padilla, and Feggy
Ostrosky-Solis. 2000. Verbal fluency and repetition skills in healthy older Spanish-English bilinguals.
Applied Neuropsychology 7:17-24.
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Sharpening Reprimands through the Dominant Language and Softening Requests

through the Shared L1
Anne Schluter
Marmara University
Longitudinal Outcomes of Language Choice in Spanish-English Bilingual Toddlers

Krystal Ribot
Erika Hoff
Florida Atlantic University
The analysis of code choices as a means of expressing and reinforcing power relations has a long
history, especially as it pertains to Gumperzs (1982) notion of speech economies and verbal repertoires
as well as Bourdieus notions of symbolic capital and symbolic marketplace (1999). Members of the
subordinate group adopt the dominant groups linguistic and cultural practices in their attempts to access
these resources, and this interaction reinforces the existing power relations (Bourdieu 2000). This take on
power and language becomes particularly salient in minority-majority language contact situations such as
Kurdish migrant workers code-switching practices in Istanbul workplaces.
Background
Conversational code-switching, the event where a bilingual child is addressed in one language and
responds in another, has been shown to be concurrently related to child language skills (Ribot & Hoff,
2014). In Spanish-English bilinguals, children who switch more to English are more proficient in English,
whereas those who switch more to Spanish are more proficient in Spanish. It is unclear, however, whether
skill is a precursor or consequence of code-switching behaviors. It may be that childrens language
choices differentially predict their comprehension and production skills, as research on passive
bilingualism has suggested (Bohman, Bedore, Pea, Mendez-Perez, & Gillam, 2010).
Conversational code-switching offers a unique opportunity for researchers to untangle the effects of input
and output on comprehension and production development because childrens input differs from their
output. Consistent with previous research, it was hypothesized that conversational code-switching
behaviors would predict growth, above the effects of input, in vocabulary production and language
comprehension.
Method
Participants included 47 Spanish-English bilingual children (27 girls, 20 boys) examined at the ages of 30,
36, and 42 months. Children were divided into two groups based on their code-switching behaviors: the
Switch to English group (n = 26) reliably responded to English with English and sometimes switched to
English when addressed in Spanish; the Switch to Spanish group (n = 21) reliably responded to Spanish
with Spanish and sometimes switched to Spanish when addressed in English.
Standardized measures of English and Spanish vocabulary production (Expressive One Word Picture
Vocabulary Test Spanish-English Bilingual Edition; Brownell, 2001) and language comprehension
(Preschool Language Scale, 4th edition; Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002), as well as information
regarding participants demographics and home language experiences were collected at each age.
Childrens relative English input at home ranged from 10 to 90 percent.
Results
Multi-level modeling analyses, controlling for home English input, compared growth trajectories of
children who Switch to English to those who Switch to Spanish. Code-switching behaviors predicted
variance over time on all measures except English comprehension. Children who Switch to English scored
highest and grew at the fastest rates on English production; whereas children who Switch to Spanish
scored highest and grew at the fastest rates on both Spanish measures. English input also predicted
variance on all measures and interacted with code-switching behaviors to predict growth on both Spanish
measures.
Discussion
The current study explored the long term consequences of conversational code-switching in early
Spanish-English bilingual development. Longitudinal analyses indicated that output had a unique effect
on comprehension and production skills examined one year later; however, this was not true for English
comprehension skills. This suggests that English output is necessary for the acquisition of English
expressive but not receptive skills. This is consistent with previous research suggesting input is important
as children begin to use a language, whereas output is important for adding knowledge in each language
(Bohman et al., 2010). For Spanish acquisition, both output and input were necessary for the achievement
of high levels of comprehension and production. Further implications and future directions are discussed.
!
Relationships between language and symbolic power have been further accentuated in the
Kurdish-Turkish example through a history of repressive language policy, during which policies to
promote Turkish as the single official language and to assimilate non-Turkish speaking citizens were
systematic (Iduygu et al. 1999). Despite the currently legal status of Kurdish in most spaces, open use of
the language in Turkeys western cities may still carry considerable stigma (Saraolu 2011). Moreover,
the perception of internal Kurdish migrants as outsiders in western Turkish cities deepens this stigma.
Kurdish-speaking migrants language choices thus reflect a history of subordination at the macro-political
level and on-going stigma at the community level.
The current study investigated the code-switching practices of workers in eleven Kurdish-owned
and operated eating establishments in Istanbul. Transcript data from kitchen and dining room-situated
interactions were analyzed to assess workers language choices across eight discourse functions. Followup interviews with managers and workers [N=40] addressed the reasons for these language choices.
Based on these data, Kurdish was associated with both worker-worker and manager-worker
collaboration. This link reflects the traditional relationship between the shared minority language and
solidarity from the language attitude literature (Cavallaro & Chin 2009). Turkish was associated with
power-driven, one-sided communication: authoritarian managers were more likely to choose Turkish, the
more socially distant code, for making face-threatening complaints and demands. These findings reflect
deeply rooted connections between the Turkish language and authority as well as Gumperz and Bourdieubased predictions of managers reproduction of the social hierarchy. The complimentary pragmatic
functions of Turkish and Kurdish in conversations between Kurdish migrants suggest that participants
used both the mother tongue of the home village and the new language of the sophisticated city as
strategic language resources.
Key Words: Kurdish, hybrid identities, bilingualism, language and power
Bourdieu P (2000) The production and reproduction of legitimate language. In: Burke L et al. (eds)The
Routledge Language and Cultural Theory Reader. London: Routledge, 467-477.
Bourdieu P(1999) Language and symbolic power. In: Jaworski A, CouplandN (eds) The discourse reader.
London: Routledge, 502-513.
Cavallaro F, Chin NB (2009) Between status and solidarity in Singapore. World Englishes 28 (2): 143-159.
Iduygu A, Romano D, and Sirkeci I (1999) The ethnic question in an environment of insecurity: the
Kurds in Turkey. Ethnic and Racial Studies 22 (6): 991-1010.
Saraolu C (2011) Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism, and Exclusion in Turkish
Society. New York, NY: Tauris Academic Studies.
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Uses of Internal State Words in Bilingual Mother-Child Interaction

Marta Shiro
Universidad Central de Venezuela
Erika Hoff
Kat Shanks
Florida Atlantic University
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Influences on Linguistic and Cognitive Performance in Bilinguals and Monolinguals

Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole
The use of internal state words in child directed speech reflects and potentially transmits culture specific attitudes
(Fust-Herrman et al. 2006, Hutchins et al. 2009, Shatz et al. 1983, Shiro 2013). Here we ask whether bilingual
mothers and children use internal state words in different ways, depending on the language they are speaking.
We analyze the conversations of 25 thirty month-old bilingual children, born in South Florida, exposed to
English and Spanish from birth, whose mothers are native Spanish speakers, as well as the conversations of 26
thirty month-old monolingual children, exposed to English from birth, with their monolingual English speaking
mothers. The purpose is to determine how internal state words (referring to emotions, beliefs and volition, Shiro
2013) are used in these interactions by bilingual and monolingual children and whether certain factors, such as
mothers use of these terms or childrens vocabulary size have an effect on bilingual childrens internal state
lexicon at this early age.
We examined the frequency of types and tokens of all internal state words used by bilingual children and their
mothers, both in the Spanish and the English interactions and compared them to the frequency of types and
tokens in the monolingual English mother-child interactions. The findings reveal that, even though monolingual
English speaking children use more tokens of internal state words than their bilingual peers, the number of
different words used is similar to those used by the bilingual children in English interactions. Maternal input,
childs vocabulary size and MLU are highly correlated with both bilingual and monolingual childrens use of
internal state words. These results imply that bilingual children are not at a disadvantage when compared to
monolinguals with respect to internal states word types, and both the number of different words and the
frequency of use can increase if it does so in child directed speech.
FUST-HERRMANN, B., E. R. SILLIMAN, R. H. BAHR, K. S. FASNACHT & J. E. FEDERICO (2006). Mental
state verb production in the oral narratives of English- and Spanish-speaking preadolescents: An
exploratory study of lexical diversity and depth. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 2 (1):
44-60.
HUTCHINS, T., L. BOND, E. SILLIMAN & J. BRYANT (2009). Maternal epistemological perspectives and
variations in mental state talk. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52: 61-80.
SHATZ, M., H. WELLMAN & S. SILBER (1983). The acquisition of mental verbs: A systematic investigation
of the first reference to mental state." Cognition, 14: 301-321.
SHIRO, M. (2013). Expresiones de afecto de madres bilinges. Actualidades en Psicologa, 27 (115): 75-91.
One of the thorniest issues in the study of language in bilinguals is the determination of the
primary influences on linguistic and cognitive development (Unsworth, 2015; Gathercole, 2015; Valian,
2015). This talk presents analyses of the relative contributions of a range of factors to simultaneous
Welsh-English bilinguals' knowledge of (a) language in their two languages and (b) their performance on
executive function tasks. Six age groups of speakers are examined. The contributions of general
cognitive abilities, socio-economic status, relative age within their group, and home language are
evaluated for linguistic abilities; the contributions of general cognitive abilities, socio-economic status,
relative age, linguistic knowledge, as measured by vocabulary knowledge, and bilingual-monolingual
status are evaluated for executive function performance.
The linguistic abilities examined are vocabulary and grammatical abilities in the two languages;
the cognitive performance examined is performance on a Simon task. Participants come from the
following age groups: 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, school age children, teens, younger adults,
and older adults. Approximately 75 participants are examined in each age group.
Regression analyses reveal that for the linguistic measures, home language and SES both
contribute to performance. However, the influence of home language is generally greater than SES at the
younger ages, and SES shows a greater contribution to performance than home language at the older ages.
The relatively high contribution of home language to performance lasts longer for the minority language,
Welsh, than for the majority language, English.
For the Simon task, regression analyses were conducted for several distinct dependent variables:
accuracy of performance in congruent and incongruent conditions, reaction times in these two conditions,
and differences in accuracy and RTs in the two conditions. Results reveal that several distinct factors
contribute to performance at different ages. One of the primary contributors to performance is linguistic
knowledge, as measured by vocabulary knowledge; additional contributors include, variously, age within
the group, general cognitive abilities, as well as bilingual-monolingual status. The latter variable was
most apparent as a contributor in the older adults.
Such results suggest that any thorough account of either language development or cognitive
abilities must take into account several factors, and cannot be attributed to any single factor alone.
REFERENCES
Gathercole, V. C. M. (in press). Factors moderating proficiency in bilinguals. In E. Nicoladis & S.
Montanari (eds.), Lifespan perspectives on bilingualism. de Gruyter.
Unsworth, S. (in press). Quantity and quality of language input in bilingual language development. In E.
Nicoladis & S. Montanari (eds.), Lifespan perspectives on bilingualism. de Gruyter.
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18 (1), 2015, 3
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POSTER SESSIONS
POSTER SESSION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9
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At the Syntax-Semantics Interface: A Case Study of Instruments in English

Roxana-Maria Barbu
Ida Toivonen
Carleton University, Canada
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Table 2: Hierarchy of Verbs Syntactic Requirements of an Instrument

scrape = scratch < paint < cut < scrub < sketch < write <
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
A number of rich linguistic theories have been proposed to explain whether instruments (e.g., with a knife
in cut bread with a knife) pattern as arguments or as adjuncts. However, their psychological status
remains unclear, and there are at least three distinct ways of classifying instruments.
Levin and Rappaport (1988) argue that instruments are adjuncts. In contrast, Koening, Manuer,
Bienvenue and Conklin (2008) argue that instruments can be either arguments or adjuncts, depending on
the properties of the verb. Consistent with our analysis, Boland (2005) argues that instruments fall in
between arguments and adjuncts.
This paper investigates whether instruments pattern as arguments, adjuncts, or share properties with both.
Furthermore, it considers the distinction between semantic and syntactic arguments. Two distinct tasks
were designed to capture English speakers intuitions with respect to verbs and related instruments.
Specifically, the tasks explored what verbs require instruments and aimed to tease apart whether the
instruments are conceptually necessary, syntactically necessary, or both. In the first task, 20 speakers were
presented with an event which could use an instrument for completion (e.g., scratching). Speakers were
asked to imagine the event taking place in an empty space and to state all participants (e.g., people,
objects, places) necessary for the event to occur. This task intended to tap into speakers intuitions based
solely on the meaning of the verb, as they were advised to imagine the event occurring. In the second task,
speakers were presented with the beginning of a sentence (e.g., The child broke) and were advised to
complete the sentence in a manner that made the most sense to them. This task gauged what overt
linguistic material speakers needed, and thus tapped into their syntactic intuitions.
The tasks were designed with Jackendoffs (2002) distinction of semantic and syntactic arguments in
mind. Considering the verb to devour, Jackendoff argues that, semantically, a devourer (someone doing
the devouring) and a devouree (something being devoured) are necessary participants for devouring to
take place. Based on this, he then concludes that to devour takes two semantic arguments. Because both
participants need to be overtly expressed in a sentence, he argues that a devouree and a devourer are
syntactically obligatory. Therefore, to devour takes two semantic and two syntactic arguments. In
contrast, to eat takes two semantic arguments and only one syntactic argument, as I ate is grammatically
acceptable, compared to * I devoured, which is not.
As illustrated in Table 1, speakers responses to Task 1 suggest that instruments are often perceived as
semantic arguments. While all verbs had some responses including instruments, their prevalence varied
considerably across verbs. For example, in the case of the verb to scrape, less than half of the participants
(44%) mentioned some sort of tool or utensil such as a sharp object; a tool; a scrapping tool responsible
for the scraping. In the case of the verb to draw, all participants (100%) mentioned a tool such as
drawing utensils; drawing object; pencil necessary for the drawing. When analyzing the responses, such
answers were coded as instruments. As illustrated in Table 1, all other verbs fell in between to scrape and
to draw, suggesting that, from a semantic point of view, instruments fall between arguments and adjuncts.
Table 1: Hierarchy of Verbs Semantic Requirements of an Instrument
Scrape = scratch < paint < cut < scrub < sketch < write < draw
44%
44%
70%
75%
85%
85%
90%
100%
draw
5%
In summary, speakers intuitions suggest that instruments are indeed difficult to classify as arguments or
adjuncts. From a semantic perspective, results are consistent with the view that instruments seem to share
properties with both arguments and adjuncts, as previously argued by Boland (2005). However, from a
syntactic perspective, instruments seem to pattern as adjuncts, being syntactically optional. The results
reinforce the idea that, in the case of instruments, a one-to-one mapping of semantics and syntax is highly
unlikely.
References
Boland, J. E. (2005). Visual arguments. Cognition, 95(3), 237-274.
Jackendoff, R. (2002). Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution, 132-134.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Koenig, J. P., Mauner, G., Bienvenue, B., & Conklin, K. (2008). What with? The anatomy of a (proto)role. Journal of Semantics, 25(2), 175-220.
Levin, B. & Rappaport, M. (1988). Nonevent -er nominals: a probe into argument structure. Linguistics,
26(6), 1067-1083.
Tallerman, M. (2005). Understanding syntax, 2nd edition, 118. London: Hodder Arnold.
Results from Task 2 reveal a general agreement that instruments do not need to be overtly expressed in a
sentence. That is, speakers responses suggest that instruments are syntactically optional.
As optionality is a defining characteristic of adjuncts (Tallerman, 2005), our results suggest that
instruments pattern as adjuncts.
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Derivational Approach to Floating Quantifiers

Kaori Furuya
University of North Texas
Sportiche argues that there is a trace of the NP next to the quantifier that fulfills the locality requirement
within vP. Under Miyagawas representational analyses, it is not clear why Japanese (and Korean) cannot
have the Sportiche-style A-movement that fulfills locality in (1) and (3).
Why are the sentences in (1) and (3) ungrammatical? Recall that earlier in (2a,b), I indicated that both
the associate NPs and NQs can float out of the base-generated positions. As for the ungrammaticality of
(1) and (3), I argue that a violation occurs in the derivation not on the representation (so that the
ungrammaticality is unrelated to the prosody or a NP-trace) in (6).
(6) *Subi [vP [NP ti tj ] Ob [vP NQj
V ]
(for (1) and (3))
Derivational approach to floating quantifiers
By exploring the research question of how floating numeral quantifiers (NQs) fulfill locality, this paper
investigates the issue of derivational vs. representational approaches to syntax within the Minimalist
Program proposed by Chomsky (2001). More particularly, this paper offers an answer to the question,
internal to the derivational approach, are well-formedness conditions imposed specifically at the particular
levels of representation? and it argues for a derivational analysis, as opposed to representational analyses
(Miyagawa 1989, 2005; Miyagawa & Akihara 2007, henceforth M&A). Consider (1).
(1) *Gakusei-ga sake-o
san-nin nonda.
student-NOM sake-ACC 3-NQ
drank
Three students drank sake.
The subject is separated from its associated NQ by the presence of the object (Ko 2007 for Korean).
Miyagawa (1989 and his subsequent work) assumes strict locality as a condition on representational outputs,
where a NP and its associated NQ (or their traces) need to fulfill the strict locality requirement. Under the
NP-trace paradigm, Miyagawa (2005:279) argues that the lower copy of A-chain is not visible for Japanese
(which he considers as a violation of strict locality in (1)). Alternatively, M&A (2007:650) argue that (t)he
absence of a prosodic break between the object and the NQ promotes a reading in which the NQ refers to
this object, resulting in a clash in agreement and thus an ungrammatical reading. But because prosody does
not play a role in narrow syntax, M & A implicitly assume strict locality as a well-formedness condition on
representational output, which leads the ungrammaticality in (1). However, Miyagawas representational
analyses wrongly predict the grammaticality of (2a,b) (where both trace of the scrambled object/wh-phrase
and the quantifier (or its trace) do not fulfill strict locality under Miyagawas trace and prosody theories),
in the same way as in the ungrammatical case of (1).
(2) a. Sake-o
san-bon Tanaka-san-ga
san-bon kinoo
san-bon
katta.
sake-Acc 3-NQ
Tanaka-Mr-Nom 3-NQ
yesterday 3-NQ
bought
Mr. Tanaka bought three bottles of sake yesterday.
b. What all did he say all that he wanted all t?
West Ulster English McCloskey (2000)
Moreover, insertion of an adverb between the object and the NQ does not make the sentence
grammatical in (3).
(3) *Gakusei-ga
sake-o
ikkini/isshoni
san-nin nonda.
student-NOM sake-ACC at once/together 3-NQ drank
Three students drank sake all at once/together.
The presence of an adverb creates a prosodic break and yet the sentence remains ungrammatical. On the
other hand, even when the object and a NQ for the subject NP appear to be next to each other and keep the
same prosody as in (1), the sentence in (4) is grammatical, where it has a floating NQ for the object
additionally after a NQ for the subject.
(4) Gakusei-ga sake-o
san-nin san-bai nonda.
student-NOM sake-ACC 3-NQ 3-NQ
drank
Three students drank three cups of sake.
These observations show that M and As prosodic analysis for floating NQs (as well as his NP-trace
analysis) does not fully account for the syntax of floating NQs. Note that adverbial analyses of floating NQs
(e.g., Bobaljik 2003, Nakanishi 2004) also fail to explain the grammaticality of (4) in contrast to the
ungrammaticality in (1).
Additionally, Miyagawas analyses are also problematic to the VP internal subject hypothesis
proposed by Sportiche (1988) in (5).
(5) Les enfantsi ont [vP tousi vu ce film].
The children have all
seen this movie
(Sportiche 1988: 426)
The subject NP moves up to Spec of TP, whereas its associated NQ undergoes downgrading movement.
This downgrading movement is illegitimate under the Probe-goal theory because there is no motivation for
downward movement of floating NQs into vP/VP.
The current analysis also applies to the floating NQs in (7a-c), whose schema is shown in (7d).
(7) a. *Kodomo-ga geragerato san-nin waratta.
(unergative)
child-NOM loudly 3-CL laughed
Three children laughed loudly.
b. *Kodomo-ga dono-eiga-o
imamadeni san-nin mi-mo-si-na-katta. (indeterminate Pronouns)
child-NOM which-movie-ACC so.far
3-CL see-MO-do-NEG-PAST
Three children did not see any movie so far.
c. Gakusei-ga zenin-o futa-ri-dake mi-na-katta.
(negation and all)
student-NOM all-ACC
2-CL-only see-NEG-PAST
Only two students didnt see all.
*not > all, all > not
d. *Subi [vP [NP ti tj ] [vP ADVERB/Ob NQj V ]]
The current derivational analysis argues that the distribution of floating NQs is constrained by the ban on
downgrading, without appealing to the prosodic properties, a NP-trace or adverbial interpretations of
floating NQs.
The present paper examined floating NQs and argued for the derivational analysis, as opposed to
Miyagawas two representational analyses, for locality. In syntax, crucial relations are typically local. M
&A argue for a strict locality as a well-formedness condition relating to prosody. However, sequence of
operations may yield a representation in which the locality is obscured, as in cases of floating NQs because
both NQs and associate NPs can float out of the base-generated positions. Yet I argued that locality of
floating NQs is observed in each individual step, without appealing to well-formedness conditions at
representational levels relating to prosody or a NP trace. If it is on the right track, the current analysis
demonstrates that the distribution of floating NQs is constrained by the ban on downgrading and defends
the locality hypothesis along with the VP internal subject hypothesis. Thus, a well-formedness condition
relating to prosody or a NP-trace is not required for the analysis of floating NQs.
Selected references:
Chomsky, N. 2001. Derivation by phase. In M. Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: a life in language. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, pp. 1-52.
McCloskey, J. 2000. Quantifier float and wh-movement in an Irish English. Linguistic Inquiry 31:57-84.
Miyagawa, S. 1989. Structure and case-marking in Japanese. New York: Academic Press.
Miyagawa, S. 2005. Locality in syntax and floated numerical quantifiers in Japanese and Korean.
Proceedings of the 14th Japanese/Korean Linguistics. Ed. T. J. Vance and K. Jones. Stanford: CSLI
Publications, 2006. 270-82.
Miyagawa, S. and Arikawa, K. 2007. Locality in syntax and floating numeral quantifiers. Linguistic inquiry
38: 645-670.
Sportiche, D. 1988. A theory of floating quantifiers and its corollaries for constituent structure. Linguistic
Inquiry 19:425-449.
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Copredication, Systemic Polysemy, and the Morphosyntactic Constraints on Dotted

Types
Elliot Murphy
University College London
This paper discusses formal semantic accounts of copredication, the phenomenon of two apparently
incompatible properties being attributed to a single object, creating an impossible entity. The semantic
constraints on copredication are discussed, and it will be suggested that studies of copredication may yield
insight into how comprehenders integrate information from distinct conceptual domains. Exploring the
technical distinctions centred on objecthood, Weinreich (1964) distinguished between contrastive
ambiguity (e.g. river bank vs. bank the financial institution) and complementary ambiguity (e.g. verbal
bank vs. nominal bank). Contrastive ambiguity occupies the bulk of research in semantics and
neurolinguistics. Moving beyond these distinctions, Pustejovsky (1995) explored the problem of two
apparently incompatible properties being attributed to a single object (copredication), defining it as a
complementary ambiguity where there is no change in lexical category and the multiple senses of the word
have overlapping, dependent, or shared meanings (1995: 8). For instance, in The Wallace book was
brilliant but weighed a ton, what Pustejovksy calls the dot objects of INFORMATION and PHYSICAL OBJECT
are attributed simultaneously to the book, creating an impossible entity. A comparable situation arises in
Lunch was delicious but took forever, where delicious is a predicate which should be applied only to
food, and took forever should only be applicable to events. Similarly, in He paid the bill and threw it
away, the bill is simultaneously conceived of as an abstract monetary amount and a printed piece of paper,
while the newspaper in The newspaper I held this morning has gone bust is simultaneously an
organisation and a collection of printed pages. Pustejovsky (2001) later proposed a ranking of types
distinguishing between natural (lion, rock, water), artifactual (adding agentic or telic roles to natural types,
yielding beer, knife, teacher) and complex types (formed from a product type between naturals and
artifactuals, as in school, bank, lunch). Only complex types yield copredication, as in book
(INFORMATIONPHYS_OBJ), which can simultaneously host abstract and concrete properties. Some
elements of book may be stable across uses, while others may be open to adjustment (Ludlow 2014).
Copredication is a much more complex phenomenon than many accounts over the past two decades have
supposed, including those of Pustejovsky (2001). Gotham (2015) shows that copredication cannot be
solved by appealing, as some have done, to coordination reduction, as in Lunch1 was delicious but lunch2
took forever, since copredication occurs in other syntactic structures. These and other examples of
copredication are clear cases of where the distinction between classical categories and family-resemblance
categories breaks down. The numerous problems of formalising copredication also exist alongside
theoretically deficient psycholinguistic studies of concepts and polysemy, which have often kept to
traditional distinctions between abstract and concrete words. Even more recent studies of complement
coercion (Pickering et al. 2005) and systematic polysemy (Vicente 2015) ignore the intricate syntactic
constraints on copredication and subtle variations in licit judgements across dot-type constructions, such
as in *The newspaper has gone bust and is covered in biscuit crumbs. Theories of polysemy, metonymy
and coercion often speculate about the structure of copredication nominals like book, appointment and
sonata in complete abstraction from any actual grammatical organisation. Additionally, while the
copredication of adjacent senses is permitted, the copredication of distant senses yields degraded
judgements. A unique conceptual and cultural object, when presented alongside an individual exemplar,
yields questionable results as in ?The Bible inspired centuries of love and violence but has a torn page, but
not when it is defined more generally (in this case as a book) as in The book I hold in my hands inspired
centuries of love and violence. Similar results arise with bank: *The bank is FTSE-100 listed and used to
be a police station is illicit but The bank was smashed by protestors during the recession and became less
popular is not. Copredication, then, is relevant to and has been discussed by both syntacticians and
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semanticists, and should be of concern to psycholinguists studying the processing costs of complement
coercion and polysemy, though currently is not. The present paper will propose a number of modifications
to existing studies of coercion and polysemy in order to yield a more psychologically plausible model of
online semantic interpretation, and will also explore the post-syntactic operations required to construct
cases of copredication, building on current accounts (such as Chatzikyriakidis & Luo, Submitted) which
invoke linear logic to correctly derive the meaning of newspaper and other complex dotted types.
References:
Chatzikyriakidis, S., & Luo, Z. Submitted. Individuation criteria, dot-types and copredication: a view
from modern type theories.
Gotham, M. 2015. Copredication, Quantification and Individuation. PhD dissertation. University College
London.
Ludlow, P. 2014. Living Words: Meaning Underdetermination and the Dynamic Lexicon. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Pickering, M. J., McElree, B., & Traxler, M. J. 2005. The difficulty of coercion: A response to de
Almeida. Brain and Language 93: 1-9.
Pustejovsky, J. The Generative Lexicon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pustejovsky, J. 2001. Type construction and the logic of concepts. In: Bouillon, P., & Busa, F. (eds) The
Language of Word Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 91-123.
Vicente, A. 2015. The green leaves and the expert: Polysemy and truth-conditional variability. Lingua
157: 54-65.
Weinreich, U. 1964. Websters Third: A critique of its semantics. International Journal of American
Linguistics 30: 405-409.
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Anaphora Resolution in Telugu

Satya Prakash
EFL University, India
ANAPHORA RESOLUTION IN TELUGU
Considerable amount of work has been done both syntactically and psycho-linguistically on null
pronoun languages and their anaphora resolution; the syntactic and semantic principles guiding the
interpretation and distribution of anaphora and also whether there are any pragmatic principles
that play a role in this process. Anaphora are the expressions which need an antecedent to refer
back to for their interpretation. Binding principles are universal in nature but anaphora resolution
depends on the parametric values the languages take to some extent. Theories that have been
proposed for anaphora resolution are the Null and Overt Subject Alternation by Lujn.(1985), the
Position Antecedent Strategy by Carminati(2002) etc.
In this paper, we examine anaphora resolution in Telugu, a Dravidian language, which is a
pro-drop language. An experiment was conducted to identify the preference in assigning
antecedents to anaphors. The number of subjects who participated were 10 and each of them were
given a set of 10 sentences. The sentence consists of two clauses one main and one subordinate.
The subject of the main clause was always an NP; the subject of the subordinated clause could be
either an overt pronoun or a null subject. The task was a picture verification task.
Example::1 Overt Pronoun
Telugu: Sekhar Ravinichusaadu, waaDu video game aaDukunTunDagaa
English: Sekhar Ravi saw
he video game was playing while
Sekhar saw Ravi while he was playing the video game.
Example::2 Null Pronoun
Telugu: Sekhar Ravinichusaadu, video game aaDukunTunDagaa
English: Sekhar Ravi
saw video game was playing
Sekhar saw Ravi while (pro) was playing the video game.
The experiment results showed that in sentences with null pronouns, the subjects preferred the
Spec IP subject position as their antecedents whereas in the case of overt subjects, the preference
was for the object.
References
Carminati, Maria Nella (2002). The Processing of Italian Subject Pronouns. Ph.D. thesis,
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Lujn, M. (1985), Binding properties of overt pronouns in null pronominal languages, in W.Eilfort,
P. Kroeler & K. Peterson, eds, `Papers from the general session: CLS 21, Vol. Part 1, Chicago
Linguistic Society, Chicago, Illinois.
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A Deeper Look into the Licensing of Null Subjects: Evidence from Code-switching
Ariane Sande-Pieiro
UniversityAofdeeper
Illinois
lookChicago
into the licensing of null subjects: evidence from code-switching
determine whether a NS can be formally (i.e. grammatically) licensed while the C-domain decides
whether a NS can be licensed given particular discourse-structural requirements.
The possibility of licensing a null subject (NS) in a language is typically attributed to a

correlation with rich agreement (Taraldsen, 1979; Chomsky, 1981; Rizzi, 1982). Yet, the validity of this
correlation, the so-called Taraldsen Generalization, has been challenged given counterevidence from East
Asian languages (Huang, 1984) or the inability of Icelandic and German, two richly inflected languages,
to license NSs. Thus, the proposals that have subsequently been presented have attempted to incorporate
NS languages into a more cohesive and all-inclusive theory of pro-drop. The vast majority of these
theories argue in favor of the domain of Tense or Agreement (henceforth, T) as being responsible for the
licensing and recovery of a NS in a given syntactic environment. Nevertheless, a set of theories has
emerged fairly recently (Frascarelli, 2007; Sigursson, 2011) that attribute the realm of the
Complementizer (henceforth, C-domain) the lead role in the recoverability of the content of a given
referential NS (i.e. the features of the NS match a those of a CLLD Topic hosted in the C-domain).
Consider the German/Spanish code-switched sentences in (1) and (2), gathered from a
German/Spanish consultant. As we can observe, the verb of the embedded clause and its inflection are
Spanish (amenaz, threatened) yet the complementizer head is in the opposite language, German (wen
what-ACC) in both instances. The crucial difference between both is that in (2) the subject of the
embedded clause (Juan) has been dropped and, according to the same consultant, this drastically degrades
the acceptability of such sentence. This constitutes a surprising finding; following the vast majority of
proposals, a NS should be available in (2) as the verb and its inflection (the T-domain) are Spanish, a prodrop language. Sentences (4) and (5) were taken from an English/Spanish consultant. In both examples,
the verb of the embedded clause is English (bought, saw) and the complementizer head is Spanish
(qu, what). Again, the crucial difference between both is that in (4) the subject of the embedded clause
has been dropped. As in (2), dropping the subject degrades the acceptability of (5), according to my
English/Spanish consultant. This finding is also surprising as the C-domain being Spanish, a pro-drop
language, (see Gonzlez-Vilbazo and Lpez, 2011s Phase Head Hypothesis) would guarantee the
availability of a NS in (5).
Given these facts, one pilot study and one full-scale study were conducted. The language pairs
under scrutiny were English/Spanish and German/Spanish (i.e. English and German being non pro-drop
and Spanish being pro-drop). 7 English/Spanish and 24 German/Spanish bilinguals took part in each
experiment. They completed an Acceptability Judgment Task (AJT) on a 1-7 Likert scale. The stimuli
resembled the structure of (1)-(2) and (4)-(5), in which the language of the T and the C heads are in the
opposite language and pro-drop might have taken place.
The results of both experiments showed that code-switching (CS) itself does not block a NS (see
(3), (6)). The results in fact corroborated that pro-drop is blocked in sentences where the T-domain is
Spanish but the C-domain is either English or German (see (2)). These findings contradict the proposal
that only the T-domain is responsible for both the licensing and the recoverability of pro and also suggest
that the English/German C-domains might be playing a role in the possibility of licensing a NS in such
cases. What is more, the results also raise a question to the C-domain proposals. The participants
consistently rejected sentences like (5), where the C-domain is Spanish. As we can see, the C-domain
being a pro-drop language does not warrant the possibility of licensing a NS in the discourse either, as the
English/German T-domains seem to be blocking it. These empirical results lead us to propose the novel
account that pro-drop occurs via the interplay of T and C. I will show that the T-domain seems to
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Examples
(1) No s
wen
Juan
(I) not know who-ACC Juan-NOM
I dont know who Juan threatened.
amenaz.
threatened.
(2) *No s
wen
pro
amenaz.
(I) not know who-ACC pro
threatened.
I dont know who he/she threatened.
(3) Ich wei nicht a quin
pro
amenaz
(I) not know who-ACC pro
threatened.
I dont know who he/she threatened.
(4) No s
qu bought Mara
with the money she received.
(I) dont know what bought Mara
with the money she received.
I dont know what Mara bought with the money she received.
(5) *Me pregunto
qu
saw
pro
when he got out of the store.
(I) wonder
what
saw
pro
when he got out of the store.
I dont know what he/she saw when he/she got out of the store.
(6) I dont know qu compr pro con el dinero que recibi.
I dont know what bought pro with the money she received.
I dont know what he/she bought with the money he/she received.
References
Camacho, J. (2013). Null subjects (Vol. 137). Cambridge University Press.
Chomsky, N., 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding . Foris, Dordrecht.
Frascarelli, M. (2007). Subjects, topics and the interpretation of referential pro. Natural Language &
Linguistic Theory, 25(4), 691-734.
Gonzlez-Vilbazo, K. & Lpez, L., 2011. Little v and parametric variation. Natural Language &
Linguistic Theory, 30(1). 33-77.
Huang, C.-T. J., 1984. On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry, 15, 531574.
Sigursson, H. . (2011). Conditions on argument drop. Linguistic Inquiry, 42(2), 267-304.
Taraldsen, T., 1978. On the NIC, Vacuous Application and the That-Trace Filter. Indiana University
Linguistics Club, Bloomington.
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Voice and the Bare Infinitive: A Case for Upward Agree

Ryan Walter Smith
University of Arizona
8) Upward Agree values lower Voices uAct feature
Overview: In this paper, I argue that the distribution of the English bare infinitive (BI) can be understood
in terms of a single generalization, namely, that they must be c-commanded by a Voice head within their
syntactic domain. I argue further that this generalization is most naturally accommodated in a framework
that makes use of Upward Agree (Zeiljstra 2012), which permits an unvalued feature on the BIs Voice
head to probe upward for a matching valued feature on the c-commanding Voice head. I contrast this
account with previous analyses of BIs (Felser 1999), and show that only the account defended here makes
correct predictions about the distribution of BIs.
Background: BIs appear as complements to a small set of verbs, as in (1).
1) I saw John leave
A well-attested, and at first glance idiosyncratic, property of BIs is that they are ungrammatical in
passives, as shown in (2). This distinguishes them from other types of complements, such as progressive,
adjectival, and prepositional phrases, which (3) shows to be grammatical in the same context.
2) *John was seen leave
3) John was seen leaving/drunk/with no pants on
Several theorists have proposed analyses to capture this single fact about BIs, in addition to the
grammaticality of to infinitives in passives (Felser 1999; Hornstein et. al 2008, a.o.). However, there is
more to the restrictions on BIs than meets the eye. In addition to their ungrammaticality in passives, BIs
contrast with other types of complement in being ungrammatical in nominalizations (4), pseudo-clefts (5),
and extraposition (6).
4) a. *The sight of John leave
b. The sight of John leaving/drunk/with no pants on
5) a. *What I saw was John leave
b. What I saw was John leaving/drunk/with no pants on
6) a. *I saw John yesterday leave quickly
b. I saw John yesterday leaving quickly/drunk on absinthe/with no pants on
Given proposals in the literature that passives and deverbal nominalizations do not contain VoiceP
(Kratzer 1996), and that extraposed and pseudo-clefted material is base generated in that position, I
propose that BIs must be c-commanded by an active Voice head in the minimal CP containing them.
Analysis: I propose that bare infinitives possess an uninterpretable active voice feature, uAct, which is
valued by a c-commanding Voice head with a matching interpretable feature, iAct. This valuation is
accomplished via Upward Agree (Wurmbrand 2011; Zeiljstra 2012), defined as in (7).
7) Definition of Upward Agree (Bjorkman & Zeijlstra 2014)
A probe Agrees with a goal iff
a. carries at least one uninterpretable feature and carries a matching
interpretable feature
b. c-commands , and
c. is the closest goal to
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This proposal accounts for all of the observations in (2-6) above. In (2) and (4a), no Voice head is present
to value the lower Voices uAct feature, and in (5-6a), the goal bearing the iAct feature does not ccommand the probe, so Upward Agree is unable to locate a matching feature to value the uninterpretable
uAct feature. In all cases, the derivation crashes, thus explaining the observed patterns of
ungrammaticality.
Comparison with other accounts: Most previous analyses of BIs in the literature are specifically
tailored to deal with their ungrammaticality in passivization, so they do not easily extend to the other facts
noted above. Felsers (1999) approach, though also intended to capture the fact that BIs resist
passivization, can be interpreted to predict the ungrammaticality of BIs in other contexts as well. She
proposes an analysis in terms of event control, in which an eventive analogue of PRO introduced by the
BI, termed EPRO, must be licensed by the event introduced by the active matrix verb. Her account
captures the ungrammaticality of BIs in all of the contexts noted above, because E-PRO would be
uncontrolled in all of these cases. However, Felser claims that no perception reports, including
progressive perception reports, permit passivization, which (6) shows to be false. Because Felsers
approach cannot distinguish between progressive and BI complements to perception verbs, her analysis
cannot explain the differences in distribution noted above. Furthermore, her analysis introduces a
theoretical entity, EPRO, which is not otherwise motivated. The analysis provided here, on the other
hand, not only makes correct predictions about the distribution of BIs, but also relies only on mechanisms
previously motivated in the literature.
Conclusion: In this paper, I have provided evidence that English bare infinitives are licensed only when
c-commanded by an active Voice head in the minimal CP containing them, and proposed an analysis in
terms of Upward Agree that captures this fact. The analysis not only captures a new generalization, but
also provides support for the utility of Upward Agree as a syntactic mechanism.
References:
Bjorkman, B. & Zeijlstra, H. (2014). Upward Agree is Superior. Retrieved from
ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/002350.
Felser, C. (1999). Verbal complement clauses: A minimalist study of direct perception constructions (Vol.
25). John Benjamins Publishing.
Hornstein, N., Martins, A.M., & Nunes, J. (2008). Perception and Causative Structures in English and
European Portuguese: phi-feature agreement and the distribution of bare and prepositional
infinitives. Syntax 11(2), 198-222.
Kratzer, A. (1996). Severing the external argument from its verb. In Phrase structure and
the
lexicon (pp. 109-137). Springer Netherlands.
Wurmbrand, S. (2011). Agree and Merge. Ms. UConn.
Zeijlstra, H. (2012). There is only one way to agree. The Linguistic Review, 29(3), 491-539.
!
78!
POSTER!SESSION!
Thursday,!Mar!ch10!!
POSTER!SESSION!
Perception of Code-switched Utterances by Early Sequential Spanish-English

Bilinguals
Emily Byers
Indiana University
POSTER SESSION, THURSDAY, MARCH 10
When bilinguals communicate with one another they are faced with the choice of communicating
in one language or engaging in mixed-language use known as code switching, operationally defined as
the use of two languages within a single utterance or discourse (Gennesse & Nicoladis, 2006). Intrasentential code switches are one of the most commonly studied types of switches because they require
within-utterance language shifts without pause (Grosjean, 2008). While extensive work has been done
from a speech production perspective, much less is known about bilinguals ability to accurately perceive
mixed-language utterances (Li, 1996; Soares & Grosjean, 1984), particularly in adverse listening
conditions.
This study investigates the perception of code-switched utterances in early sequential SpanishEnglish bilinguals living in Miami, Florida. All participants reported using both (L1) Spanish and (L2)
English in their daily lives. Thirty participants were presented with monolingual Spanish and English
sentences as well as both phrasal (L1!L2 or L2!L1) and island (L1!L2!L1 or L2!L1!L2) codeswitched sentences in speech-shaped noise at +10 signal-to-noise ratio. The research questions
investigated were: 1) Are phrasal code switches better understood that island code switches? and 2) Does
the direction of the code switch (L1!L2 versus L2!L1) significantly affect comprehension?
Results indicate that phrasal code switches were understood more accurately than island switches.
Results further indicate that L1!L2 constructions are perceived more accurately than L2!L1 in the
island-shifting condition. These results suggest that despite continuous L1 usage, Miami Spanish-English
bilinguals are better able to process code-switches into the dominant language of the community than into
their L1.
Selected references:
Genesee, F. & Nicoladis, E. (2006). Bilingual acquisition. In Hoff, E. & Shatz, M. (Eds.),
Handbook of Language Development. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing.
Grojean, F. (2008). Studying Bilinguals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Li, P. (1996). Spoken word recognition of code-switched words by ChineseEnglish bilinguals. Journal
of Memory and Language, 35(6), 757-774.
Poplack, S. & Meechan, M.. 1998. How languages fit together in code-mixing. International Journal
of Bilingualism 2 (2): 127-138.
Soares, C., & Grosjean, F. (1984). Bilinguals in a monolingual and a bilingual speech mode: The effect on
lexical access. Memory & Cognition, 12 (4), 380-386.
79!
80!
POSTER!SESSION!
Spanish-Influenced Prosody in Miami English

Naomi Enzinna
Cornell University
This study found that monolingual English speakers from Miami speak a variety of English
influenced by Spanish. Anecdotally, several news organizations (the Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald, etc.) noted
this variety in 2013; FIUs Phillip M. Carters interviews with those news organizations inspired this study.
To examine the influence of Spanish on Miami English, read speech from 10 Miami English Monolinguals
(MEMs), Ithaca English Monolinguals (IEMs), Early Spanish-English Bilinguals (EBs), and Late Spanish-English
Bilinguals (LBs) were collected. Rhythm metrics (Ramus et al., 1999) and pitch metrics (Kelm, 1995) were
compared between groups; results showed that MEM speech has Spanish-influenced prosodic properties.
Surprisingly, results suggest that MEMs with English-speaking parents (MEME) and from neighborhoods with a
lower Hispanic population (MEML)who likely have less direct contact with Spanish than MEMs with Spanishspeaking parents (MEMS) or from neighborhoods with a higher Hispanic population (MEMH)may be leading
this change. These results support Labovs (2014) claim that children may reject features of their parent language
(in this case, English) when the speech community is highly stratified.
POSTER!SESSION!
neighborhood demographics, MEMLs have a greater %V than IEMs (p < .062), but MEMHs do not. These results
suggest that MEMs with less Spanish contact are leading this trend.
For pitch, the recordings were analyzed for f0 range and standard deviation (Kelm, 1995). According to
these measures, monolingualsboth English and Spanishhave a greater f0 range than bilinguals, and English
monolinguals have a greater f0 standard deviation than Spanish-English bilinguals. Thus, I predicted that MEMs
would have a lower f0 range and standard deviation than IEMs.
Analyses of pitch show that MEMs have a lower f0 range (p < .000) and standard deviation (p < .000) than
IEMs. These results suggest that MEMs pitch is similar to that of Spanish-English bilingual speech.
Miami is 65.6% Hispanic, and Spanish-speakers hold high social, economical, and political positions in
Miami (U.S. Census, 2014; Lynch, 2000). This study argues that frequent contact between English and Spanish
speakers in Miami, as well as the social prominence of Spanish, is causing Miami English to acquire Spanishinfluenced prosody. Further, it sheds light on how language contact can influence prosody in diverse speech
communities.
References
TABLE: Participant group abbreviations and descriptions

Abbev.
Participant Group
Arvaniti, A. (2012). The usefulness of metrics in the quantification of speech rhythm. Journal of
Phonetics, 40(3): 351373.
&Carter, P. M. (2005). Prosodic variation in SLA: Rhythm in an urban North Carolina Hispanic
community. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 11(2): 4.&
Celata, C. & Calamai, S. (2014). Introduction: Sociophonetic perspectives on language variation.
Advances in Sociophonetics. John Benjamins Publishing Company.&
Kelm, O. R. (1995). Acoustic measurement of Spanish and English pitch contours: Native and
non-native speakers. Hispanic Linguistics, 6:435448.
Labov, W. (2014). The sociophonetic orientation of the language learner. Advances in
Sociophonetics, 15:17.
&Lynch, A. (2000). Spanish-speaking Miami in sociolinguistic perspective: Bilingualism,
recontact, and language maintenance among the Cuban-origin population. Research on
Spanish in the U.S.!
Nava, E. A. (2010). Connecting Phrasal and Rhythmic Events: Evidence from Second Language
Speech. ERIC.
&Ramus, F. (2002). Acoustic correlates of linguistic rhythm: Perspectives. In Proceedings of
Speech Prosody, pages 115120.&
Ramus, F., Nespor, M., & Mehler, J. (1999). Correlates of linguistic rhythm in the speech signal.
Cognition, 73(3):265292.&
Stockmal, V., Markus, D., & Bond, D. (2005). Measures of native and non-native rhythm in a
quantity language. Language and speech, 48(1):5563.
Thomas, E. R. & Carter, P. M. (2006). Prosodic rhythm and African American English. English
World-Wide, 27(3):331355.&
Description
EB
Early Spanish-English Bilinguals
Lived in Miami majority of life,

Speaks Spanish and English,
Learned English before age 10
IEM
Ithaca English Bilinguals
Lived in area with low Hispanic

population for 10+ years,
Speaks English
LB
Late Spanish-English Bilinguals
Born outside of U.S.,

Speaks Spanish and English,
Learned English after age 10
MEM
Miami-English Monolinguals
Lived in Miami majority of life,

Speaks English
MEME
MEMS
with English-speaking parents

with Spanish-speaking parents
Parents speak English

Parents speak Spanish
MEMH
MEML
from area with high Hispanic demographic

from area with low Hispanic demographic
Miami neighborhood>50% Hispanic

Miami neighborhood<50% Hispanic
&
For rhythm, the recordings were analyzed for the proportion of vocalic intervals (%V) and the standard
deviation of consonantal intervals (C) (Ramus et al., 1999). According to these measures, English has a lower %V
than Spanish, due to vowel reduction, and a greater C than Spanish, due to greater syllable structure variation. I
predicted that MEMs %V and C would fall between English and Spanish.
Analyses of %V and C show MEMs have a greater %V than IEMs (p < .004) but do not differ from EBs.
These results suggest that MEMs %V is similar to that of EB speech. For all groups, there is no difference in C.
Regarding parent language, MEMEs have a greater %V than IEMs (p < .000), but MEMSs do not. Regarding
81!
82!
POSTER!SESSION!
POSTER!SESSION!
Chain Shift in the Vietnamese Rhyme

Andrea Hoa Pham Chain Shift in the Vietnamese Rhyme
Andrea Hoa Pham
University of Florida
The paper suggests that the Quangnam dialect was shaped through dialect contact with speakers
coming from different places in north central Vietnam. The Quangnam dialect is a transitional dialect in
that it maintains some features from conservative dialects, e.g., the presence of final palatals, which
completely disappeared in southern dialects. At the same time, certain phenomena in southern dialects,
the most innovative dialects, are seen the Quangnam dialect, e.g., the loss of alveolar consonants in the
syllable-final position, or simplification of clusters in the onset.
The data were collected in 2013 from four communes in the Quangnam province of Vietnam.
University of Florida
Literature shows that the unit of sound change is often the phoneme (for regular change), or in a
smaller number of cases, the word (through lexical diffusion). This paper provides synchronic evidence
that the full rhyme, i.e., VC, can also be the unit of sound change, where C can be an obstruent or glide.
The Quangnam dialect spoken in central Vietnam has a very different rhymal system compared to
those of other dialects. In the Quang Nam dialect, vowels in open syllables are similar to those in the
Hanoi (northern, standard) or Saigon (southern, standard) dialect, except that the Quangnam dialect has
the low, back unrounded vowel //. This vowel is not found in any other major dialects of Vietnamese.
However, in closed syllables, the vowels drastically change in quality, or length, or both. A few examples
are provided below. Open syllables are shown in (a), closed syllables in (b). Tones, although irrelevant to
the topic but are included with superscript numbers. If the final segment is a glide in the Hanoi dialect, the
glide is either deleted in the Quangnam dialect as in /ta:w3] apple/, or becomes a schwa and the vowel
changes its quality as in / ha:j1/ two.
a.
b.
HANOI
li1
xe3
s1
tu2
t1
s1
t1
ba1
ta:w3
ha:j1
kj2
m1
tkp7
la:2
bap7
mat7
ma:t7
m3
xom1
tom1
QUANGNAM
li1
xe3
s1
tu2
t1
s1
t1
b1
to3
h1
ku2
a:1
ta:k7
l2
ba:p7
m:k7
mk7
am3
xm1
t:m1
References
Cao Xun Ho. Nh n xet v cac nguyn m cua m t phng ng tn h Quang Nam (Remarks
on vowels of a dialect in Quangnam), Ngn Ng (Linguistics) 2 (1986): 22-29.
Fruehwald, Josef. The phonological influence on phonetic change. University of Pennsylvania
dissertation. 2013.
Labov, William. The regularity of regular sound change, ms.
-------------------- The exact description of the speech community: short a in Philadelphia. In R.
Fasol & D. Schiffrin (eds). Language Change and Variation. Washington: Georgetown
University Press. (1989): 1-57.
--------------------. Principles of linguistic change. Oxford: Willey/Blackwell. 2001.
Hoang Thi Chu.
Ti ng Vit trn cac mi n t nc (Vietnamese in all regions of the country).
Ha Ni: Nha Xu t Ban Khoa Ho c Xa Hi. 1989.

Hruschka, D. J., Branford, S., Smith, E. D., Wilkins, J., Meade, A., Pagel, M., & Bhattacharya,
T. Detecting Regular Sound Changes in Linguistics as Events of Concerted Evolution. Current
Biology, 25:1 (2015): 1-9. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.064.
Kerswill, Paul. Koineization as language change, In J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill &N.
Schilling-Estes (eds.) The handbook of language variation and change. Oxford: Blackwell.
(2000): 669-702.
Kiparsky, Paul. Phonological change. In F. Newmeyer, (ed), Linguistics: The Cambridge
survey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1998): 363-415.
Pha m Vn Hao. T h p tl- th ng c An, huy n c Tho , tnh Ha Tn h (The
consonant cluster tl- in Ducan, Ductho district, Hatinh province). In Ngn Ng v i
sng (Language and Life), Vol 1&2 (2003): 14-20. Ha N i: Linguistics Society of Vietnam.
Phm, Andrea Ho. Ngn ng bin i v s phn ca nguyn m /a/ trong ging Qung Nam
(Language change and the phonemic status of /a/ in the Quangnam dialect). Ta p Ch Ngn Ng
Ho c (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics), 6 (2014): 10-18. Ha N i.
Phm, Andrea Ho. (in press). Synchronic evidence for diachronic hypothesis: Vietnamese
palatals. In LACUS (Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States) Forum, Vol. 39
(2013).
Tsuboi, Yoshiharu. Nc ai Nam i di n vi Phap va Trung Hoa 1847-1885 (Confrontation
of Dai Nam country and France and China), part of 1982 Ph.D. dissertation, translated from
French to Vietnamese by Nguyn nh u, Bui Trn Ph ng and Tng Vn Hy. Ha N i: Tri
Thc. 2011.
Trn Th Thn. Ng m ting Tam K - Qung Nam (Tamki-Quangnam phonetics). Ngn
Ng v i sng (Language and Life) 7 (2003): 11-15. Ha N i.
Trudgill, Peter. Dialects in contact. New York: Basil Blackwell. 1986.
Trng, Sinh. Vai nh n xet v v n trong ti ng ia phng Quang Ngai (Remarks on
Quangngai Rhyme). Ngn Ng (Linguistics) 4 (1993), 40-51.
Vo Xun Trang. Phng ng Bnh-Tri -Thin (The Binh-Tri-Thien dialect). Ha N i:
Nha Xu t ban Khoa Ho c Xa H i. 1997.
Vng, Hu L and Hong Dng. Ng m Ting Vit (Vietnamese phonology). Ha N i: Giao Du c.
1994.
glass
star fruit
vehicle
prison
big
monk
silk
three
apple
two
whistler
bee
hair
village
corn
eye
be cool
warm
no
shrimp
In the context of all final consonants and glides, 15 vowel shifts are identified, most of them involve
the vowel /a/, e.g., Hanoi /ma:t7/ be cool and /ha:j1/ two become Quangnam /mk7/ and /h1/,
respectively. In some cases, the shifts create a chain (vowel A moves to take the space of vowel B, and B
moves to C as a result), e.g. before a velar consonant, Hanoi /o/ becomes Quangnam //, Hanoi //
becomes Quangnam /a:/, and Hanoi /a:/ becomes Quangnam //. Examples are below.
a.
b.
c.
Ha Ni
okp7
kp7
a:k7
Quang Nam
kp7
a:k7
k7
Gloss
snail
brain
cruel
83!
84!
POSTER!SESSION!
Portuguese as a Soft Skill in a New Jersey-based Trilingual Cleaning Company

Anne Schluter
Marmara University
Kellie Goncalves
University of Bern
The strategic use of non-dominant languages in the workplace has been documented in such
settings as French-language call centers in English-dominant regions of Canada (Heller 2003) and
Mexican restaurants in Texas, U.S.A. (Barrett, 2006). Similarly, Schluters (2014) findings from Kurdishowned restaurants of Istanbul, Turkey highlight the importance of Kurdish language abilities for the
smooth and cordial operation of business; Duchene (2009) refers to the added value of airport baggage
handlers in Switzerland who are conversant in lesser known African languages; and Goldstein (1994,
2001) investigates the role of Portuguese to transmit solidarity among migrant assembly line workers in a
Toronto, Canada-based factory. The literature provides a number of such examples in which proficiency
in a minority language represents a valuable skill in the workplace context.
In Barrett (2006), Goldstein (1994, 2001), and Schluter (2014), this skill can be considered a soft
skill (as defined by Urciuoli 2008) for its role in establishing and maintaining harmonious work relations.
Similar to these three studies, the current study focuses on the use of a migrant language as a soft skill
among co-workers. In this case, the migrant language is a Portuguese hybrid that borrows from both
Luso-Brazilian and Peninsular varieties; it also includes lexical and syntactic elements of English. The
current study aligns itself with Ldi et al.s (2010) focus on workplaces as microclimates of language
practices that may function independently from those of the larger community. The data for this paper
come from twenty women [aged 26-65] who work at a Brazilian-owned, New Jersey-based cleaning
company that serves primarily monolingual English-speaking clients. These data are part of a larger study
that includes forty-seven semi-structured interviews with a.) the 20 migrant workers from Portugual,
Brazil, and Honduras, b.) 4 language brokers, and c.) 23 English-speaking clients. Transcripts from these
interviews, along with observations of the participants local community and the houses they clean,
resulted in a multimodal corpus that has been analyzed to explore the participants language attitudes and
ideologies as well as employee-employee, employee-employer, and employee-client interactions.
Results suggest that, despite the English-language workplace setting, the predominantly
monolingual English-speaking clientele, and the workers diverse backgrounds, proficiency in a hybrid
Portuguese variety represents a key soft skill as it is the most important language for both finding
employment and maintaining rapport with co-workers. This finding is in line with Schluter (2014) in
which the Kurdish language serves similar purposes between co-workers. It directly parallels Goldstein
(1994, 2001) in which Portuguese rather than English is the workplace lingua franca and conveys
closeness between co-workers. Moreover, the non-native speakers of Portuguese in the current study,
similar to those in Goldsteins study, deem Portuguese rather than English as the language for relating
to co-workers. Their beliefs and desires to eventually return to their home countries influence the
participants minimal investment (Norton 2000) in English. In addition, testimonies of their strong and
dense ties to their social networks within their local community, namely, the Ironbound section of
Newark, New Jersey help shape their language choices (Gonalves 2012).
POSTER!SESSION!
Goldstein, T. (1994). We are all sisters, so we dont have to be polite: Language choice and English
language training in the multilingual workplace. TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL du
Canada,11 (2), 30-45.
Goldstein, T. (2001). Researching womens language practices in multilingual workplaces. In A.
Pavlenko, A.Blackledge, I. Piller & M. Teutsch-Dwyer (Eds.), Multilingualism, Second Language
Learning, and Gender. (pp. 77-120). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
Gonalves, K. (2012). The semiotic landscapes and the discourses of place within a Portuguese-speaking
neighborhood. Interdisciplinary Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies, 71-99.
Heller, M. (2003). Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity.
Journal of Sociolinguistics, 7 (4). 473-492.
Ldi, G., Hchle, K., and Yanaprasart, P. (2010). Plurilingual practices in multilingual work places. In B.
Meyer and B. Apfelbaum (eds.), Multilingualism at Work: From Policies to Practices in Public,
Medical and Business Settings. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 211-234.
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and Language Learning. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Schluter, A. (2014). Competing or compatible language identities in Istanbuls Kurmanji workplaces? In
Kristina Kamp, Ayhan Kaya, Fuat Keyman & Ozge Onursal-Besgul (eds), Contemporary Turkey
at a Glance. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Local and Translocal Dynamics. Verlag fuer
Sozialwissenschaften: Wiesbaden.
Urciuoli, B. (2008). Skills and selves in the new Workplace. American Ethnologist, (35) 2, 211-218.
References:
Barrett R (2006) Language ideology and racial inequality: Competing functions of Spanish in an Angloowned Mexican restaurant. Language in Society 35 (2): 163-204.
Duchne, A. (2009). Universality in tension: the protection of minorities at the United Nations. In SitterLiver, B. (ed.) Universality: From Theory to Practice (pp 55-75). Fribourg: Academic Press
Fribourg.
!
85!
86!
POSTER!SESSION!
Prototypicality!and!Idiom!Comprehension:!Evidence!from!Turkish!Monolingual!
Children!
Huseyin!Uysal!
University!of!Florida!
Seda!G.!Gokmen!
Ankara!University!
!
Figurative language is common in daily language use, and its role as a window into the pragmatics of the
human mind has been investigated. While performing rhetorical functions, idioms also possess an
essential role in language comprehension. An idiom can be defined as a figurative expression that
usually can be interpreted literally but that takes a nonliteral meaning when used in a specific context
(Lacroix et al., 2010, p. 608). The difference between processing effort associated with idiomatic and
literal meaning is a core question, and some research have examined order of access to these two
meanings (Gibbs, 1985). While there is abundant literature on the effect of fixedness (Ackerman, 1982),
familiarity and transparency (Cain et al., 2005; Laval, 2003; Nippold and Rudzinski, 1993) in idiom
comprehension, to the best of our knowledge, there is no language development study dealing with
prototypicality per se.
A prototype is the most central member of a category. Membership is set down by closeness to prototype,
which is expressed as graded structure and fuzzy boundaries (Rosch, 1973). The Graded Salience
Hypothesis (Giora, 1997; Giora, 2003) claims more salient meanings-coded meanings foremost on our
mind due to conventionality, frequency, familiarity, or prototypicality-are accessed faster than and reach
sufficient levels of activation before less salient ones (Laurent et al., 2006, p. 151).
POSTER!SESSION!
!
References!
Ackerman,!B.!P.!(1982).!On!comprehending!idioms:!Do!children!get!the!picture?!Journal%of%% Experimental%
Child%Psychology,!33(3),!439\454.!
Cain,!K.,!Oakhill,!J.!&!Lemmon,!K.!(2005).!The!relation!between!childrens!reading!! comprehension!level!
and!their!comprehension!of!idioms.!Journal%of%Experimental%% Child%Psychology,!90(1),!65\87.!
Gibbs,!R.!W.,!Jr.!(1985).!On!the!process!of!understanding!idioms.!Journal%of%Psycholinguistic%% Research,!14(5),!
465\472.!
Giora,!R.!(1997).!Understanding!figurative!and!literal!language:!the!Graded!Salience!!Hypothesis.!Cognitive%
Linguistics,!8(3),!183\206.!
Giora,!R.!(2003).!On%Our%Mind:%Salience%Context%and%Figurative%Language.!New!York,!NY:!!
Oxford!
University!Press.!
Lacroix,!A.,!Aguert,!M.,!Dardier,!V.,!Stojanovik,!V.!&!Laval,!V.!(2010).!Idiom!! comprehension!in!French\
speaking!children!and!adolescents!with!Williams!! syndrome.!Research%in%Developmental%Disabilities,!
31(2),!608\616.!
Laurent,!J.!\P.,!Denhires,!G.,!Passerieux,!C.,!Iakimova,!G.!&!Hardy\Bayl,!M.!\C.!(2006).!!
On!
understanding!idiomatic!language:!The!salience!hypothesis!assessed!by!ERPs.!!
Brain%Research,!1068(1),!
151\160.!
Laval,!V.!(2003).!Idiom!comprehension!and!metapragmatic!knowledge!in!French!children.!! Journal%of%
Pragmatics,!35(5),!723\739.!
Nippold,!M.!A.!&!Rudzinski,!M.!(1993).!Familiarity!and!Transparency!in!Idiom!Explanation:!! A!
Developmental!Study!of!Children!and!Adolescents.!Journal%of%Speech%and%Hearing%% Research,!36(4),!728\37.!
Rosch,!E.!(1973).!Natural!Categories.!Cognitive%Psychology,!4(3),!328\350.!
Titone,!D.!A.!&!Connine,!C.!M.!(1999).!On!the!compositional!and!noncompositional!nature!of!!idiomatic!
expressions.!Journal%of%Pragmatics,!31(12),!1655\1674.!
The present study investigates the relation between prototypicality of component nouns and idiom
comprehension in Turkish monolingual children and asks to what extent the prototypicality of these nouns
affect the reaction time in comprehending the idioms. Two experiments were designed in a row, to list
concepts along with their prototypicality value and to measure the prototypicality effect of these concepts
in idiom comprehension. The initial experiment asked the participants to write down the first 7 concepts
in the body-parts category in order, and rated the first written concept to be the most prototypical
member. In the second experiment, we listed 23 Turkish idioms having these concepts with different
prototypicality values, and controlled variables in idioms, such as transparency, familiarity, frequency and
novelty of the collocations. For example, comparing two idioms (AIZ bkmek: to twist ones MOUTH,
meaning to dislike something Vs. BOYUN emek: to bend ones NECK, meaning to give in, to
surrender), we hypothesized that the comprehension of the first might be facilitated by MOUTH which is
more prototypical. These idioms were embedded at the solution part of 23 short stories functioning as
context, after which we had the participants choose the picture describing the resolution. The reaction
times and accuracy were measured by software generated via Psychopy 1.82 in Python 3.4. The data was
examined with IBM SPSS Statistics 22. The subject population having participated in the categorization
task comprises 156 Turkish monolingual children whose ages range from 5 to 13. For the comprehension
task, 120 participants from the same population were selected.
In short, we presented positive evidence for decompositionality. Our findings confirm the compositional
approach to idiom processing, which claims that idiomatic meanings are built simultaneously out of
literal word meanings and the specific interpretation of these word meanings within a particular context
(Titone and Connine, 1999, p. 1661). In the light of these findings against frozenness and fixedness, it is
possible to claim that some idioms are not single long words, and that further research is needed to
investigate whether these idioms have any key point determining the processing difficulty.
!
87!
88!

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Florida Linguistics Yearly Meeting (FLYM) 3

Keynote and Plenary Talks are first.

BARBARA GORDON MEMORIAL SPEAKER

LINGUISTICS MATTERS PLENARY

How Applied Should Linguistics Be?

Is There a DPBE in L2 Acquisition and, If So, Why?

Understanding the EPP Effect

(Icelandic; Sells 2005: (2a))

An operation of category Remerge of a nominal is observed in any movement that

*Kimi seemed [for Pat to believe [ti to know the answer]].

On Two Generalizations on Ellipsis

On Two Generalizations on Ellipsis

VP-Focus Pseudocleft Sentences in Japanese: An Argument for Question-Answer

What did Taro eat?

Question-Answer pair analysis with Merchants (2004) analysis of fragment answers.

Taro-NOM do-PST-C-TOP book-ACC read-NPST NOMINALIZER COP.NPST

What Taro did was read a book.

[Foc koto]] [Pred da]] T] TOP]

did was read each others book.

An example of a Japanese pseudocleft sentence is shown in (2).

What Taro ate was an orange.

What Taro ate was an orange.

Taro-NOM student COP.NPST

do-CAUSE-PST-C-TOP paper-ACC write-NPST/write-CAUSE-NPST

Lit. What Taro made Hanako do was write a paper.

presuppositional clause needs to be interpreted as a question.

only be interpreted as a fragment question.

Taro will do it. etc.

#Taro will do it. etc.

Where is Taro? etc.

Spelling out Variation: The Case of Subjunctive Particles in Balkan Romance

On Conjectural Questions in Japanese: With Special Reference to Speech Act Phrase

Ka-questions can be Case-marked, but yara-questions cannot.

(9) a. Desyoo ka information seeking question

Interestingly, yara-questions do not allow daroo.

Allocutive Agreement in Brazilian Portuguese: 2nd Person Possessive and SaP

a. Eu no tenho as referncias sua (Diamantina, June 2015)

a. Senhori, eu no tenho as referncias suai.

Testing Recursion in Child English (and Explaining the Concept to Non-linguists)

(4) possessives, Johns fathers bicycle (Limbach & Adone, 2010)

A Syntactic-Morphological Analysis of Nominal Compounds

analysis and show how it solves the previous problems.

(l: lexical category)

(Halle and Marantz (1994), Embick and Noyer (2001)).

available information at each point of computation (Halle (1994: 3)).

Nominalisations, The Lexicon-Encyclopedia Interface, ed. by Bert Peeters, 349-374, Elsevier,

Possessive Datives that Didnt Mean to Be!

(1) Jai coup les

plural relation sentences such as (5):

Correlating Pragmatic and Syntactic Markedness in German Inalienable Possession

verb (bite, hit, kick, ) used as

transitive (possessor is direct object)

Bello hat [vP mir/mich

Deal, Amy Rose. 2013. Possessor raising. LI 44.3: 391-432.

Are Minor Speech Acts Syntactic Objects in Universal Grammar?

I propose (2) are

The Clitic se as a Preposition in Spanish Unaccusative Verbs

The Developing Lexicon of Adjectives in Hebrew A Psycholinguistic Analysis

The Mysterious mI: A Syntactic Analysis of the Turkish Focus Question

Demystifying Etruscan and Early Bilingualism

Sonority Restricts Laryngealized Plosives in Southern Aymara