Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Attachment And Concord Of Temporal Adverbs: Evidence From Eye Movements, Nicoletta Biondo, Francesco Vespignani, Brian Dillon

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The present study examined the processing of temporal adverbial phrases such as “last week,” which must agree in temporal features with the verb they modify. We investigated readers’ sensitivity to this feature match or mismatch in two eye-tracking studies. The main aim of this study was to expand the range of concord phenomena which have been investigated in real-time processing in order to understand how linguistic dependencies are formed during sentence comprehension (Felser et al., 2017). Under a cue-based perspective, linguistic dependency formation relies on an associative cue-based retrieval mechanism (Lewis et al., 2006; McElree, 2006 …

No Longer An Orphan: Evidence For Appositive Attachment From Sentence Comprehension, Brian Dillon, Lyn Frazier, Charles Clifton

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In this paper, we investigate the comprehension of appositive relative clauses and nominal appositives. First, we present experimental evidence that suggests that nominal appositives and appositive relative clauses behave like other adjunct phrases with respect to ambiguity resolution (Experiment 1). Second, we show that an ambiguous nominal appositive can modify a distant syntactic head as easily across an appositive relative clause as across a restrictive relative clause (Experiment 2). Last, we show that syntactic repair is as successful across an appositive relative clause or parenthetical as it is across an at-issue restrictive relative clause (Experiment 3). Taken together, our results …

(In)Variability In The Samoan Syntax/Prosody Interface And Consequences For Syntactic Parsing, Kristine M. Yu, Edward P. Stabler

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

While it has long been clear that prosody should be part of the grammar influencing the action of the syntactic parser, how to bring prosody into computational models of syntactic parsing has remained unclear. The challenge is that prosodic information in the speech signal is the result of the interaction of a multitude of conditioning factors. From this output, how can we factor out the contribution of syntax to conditioning prosodic events? And if we are able to do that factorization and define a production model from the syntactic grammar to a prosodified utterance, how can we then define a …

The Role Of Time In Phonetic Spaces: Temporal Resolution In Cantonese Tone Perception, Kristine M. Yu

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The role of temporal resolution in speech perception (e.g. whether tones are parameterized with fundamental frequency sampled every 10 ms, or just twice in the syllable) is sometimes overlooked, and the temporal resolution relevant for tonal perception is still an open question. The choice of temporal resolution matters because how we understand the recognition, dispersion, and learning of phonetic categories is entirely predicated on what parameters we use to define the phonetic space that they lie in. Here, we present a tonal perception experiment in Cantonese where we used interrupted speech in trisyllabic stimuli to study the effect of temporal …

Multiple Grammars And The Logic Of Learnability In Second Language Acquisition, Tom W. Roeper

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The core notion of modern Universal Grammar is that language ability requires abstract representation in terms of hierarchy, movement operations, abstract features on words, and fixed mapping to meaning. These mental structures are a step toward integrating representational knowledge of all kinds into a larger model of cognitive psychology. Examining first and second language at once provides clues as to how abstractly we should represent this knowledge. The abstract nature of grammar allows both the formulation of many grammars and the possibility that a rule of one grammar could apply to another grammar. We argue that every language contains Multiple …

The Relationship Between Anaphor Features And Antecedent Retrieval: Comparing Mandarin Ziji And Ta-Ziji, Brian Dillon, Wing-Yee Chow, Ming Xiang

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In the present study we report two self-paced reading experiments that investigate antecedent retrieval processes in sentence comprehension by contrasting the real-time processing behavior of two different reflexive anaphors in Mandarin Chinese. Previous work has suggested that comprehenders initially evaluate the fit between the morphologically simple long-distance reflexive “ziji” and the closest available subject position, only subsequently considering more structurally distant antecedents (Gao et al., 2005; Liu, 2009; Li and Zhou, 2010; Dillon et al., 2014; cf. Chen et al., 2012). In this paper, we investigate whether this locality bias effect obtains for other …

Phonological Concept Learning, Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Linguistic and non-linguistic pattern learning have been studied separately, but we argue for a comparative approach. Analogous inductive problems arise in phonological and visual pattern learning. Evidence from three experiments shows that human learners can solve them in analogous ways, and that human performance in both cases can be captured by the same models. We test GMECCS (Gradual Maximum Entropy with a Conjunctive Constraint Schema), an implementation of the Configural Cue Model (Gluck & Bower, 1988a) in a Maximum Entropy phonotactic-learning framework (Goldwater & Johnson, 2003; Hayes & Wilson, 2008) with a single free parameter, against the alternative hypothesis that …

Canadian Raising With Language-Specific Weighted Constraints, Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The distribution of the raised variants of the Canadian English diphthongs is standardly analyzed as opaque allophony, with derivationally ordered processes of diphthong raising and of /t/ flapping. This paper provides an alternative positional contrast analysis in which the pre-flap raised diphthongs are licensed by a language-specific constraint. The basic distributional facts are captured with a weighted constraint grammar that lacks the intermediate level of representation of the standard analysis. The paper also provides a proposal for how the constraints are learned, and shows how correct weights can be found with a simple, widely used learning algorithm.

Emergent Systemic Simplicity (And Complexity), Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Across phonology and syntax, the typological probability of one structure being present in a linguistic system often depends on other related aspects of that system. For example, voiced [g] is more probable in a language if it contains voiced [b] than if it does not, and a left-headed PP is more probable in a language that contains left-headed VPs than in one that has right-headed VPs. These dependencies can be seen as preferences for systemic simplicity, for uniform expression of laryngeal contrasts across place, and for uniform syntactic headedness. Both the systemic and the probabilistic nature of these generalizations pose …

Phonotactics As Phonology: Knowledge Of A Complex Restriction In Dutch, René Krager, Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The Dutch lexicon contains very few sequences of a long vowel followed by a consonant cluster, where the second member of the cluster is a non-coronal. We provide experimental evidence that Dutch speakers have implicit knowledge of this gap, which cannot be reduced to the probability of segmental sequences or to word-likeness as measured by neighborhood density. The experiment also suggests that the ill-formedness of this sequence is mediated by syllable structure: it has a weaker effect on judgments when the last consonant begins a new syllable. We provide an account in terms of Hayes and Wilson's Maximum Entropy model …

Autosegmental Spreading In Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Revised December 2009

This paper is a shorter (and probably better) version of "Harmony in Harmonic Serialism." Like its big brother, it argues that Harmonic Serialism answers the conundrum of how iterative autosegmental spreading is obtained in Optimality Theory.

Pausal Phonology And Morpheme Realization, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Revised December 2009

Classical Arabic has complex phonological alternations affecting words in utterance-final position, traditionally called "pause". All pausal forms end in a heavy syllable, but the ways of achieving this result are both diverse and subject to both phonological and morphological conditioning. This chapter argues that an adequate analysis of Arabic's pausal phonology requires a derivational version of Optimality Theory, called Harmonic Serialism, in which morpheme spell-out is interleaved with phonological processes.

Perception Of Exuberant Exponence In Batsbi, Alice Carmichael Harris, Arthur G. Samuel

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Batsbi has multiple exponence (redundant marking) in gender-number agreement, and in a series of experiments we explore the question of whether marking of this kind is functional. In a series of three experiments, we compare verbs that have no agreement marker with ones that have a single marker, and we compare verbs with one agreement marker with ones that have two. We find that word recognition is slower with agreement than without it; words with two agreement markers are recognized more slowly and with more errors relative to verbs with a single marker. For grammaticality judgments, subjects were generally slower …

The P-Map In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

According to the P-Map, a phonological mapping is less faithful to the extent that there is more perceptual distance between its input and output. Although this idea is attractive, it cannot be implemented in the standard parallel version of Optimality Theory. This note explains why and shows how a derivational version of OT, Harmonic Serialism, can solve this problem.

Weighted Constraints In Generative Linguistics, Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Harmonic Grammar (HG) and Optimality Theory (OT) are closely related formal frameworks for the study of language. In both, the structure of a given language is determined by the relative strengths of a set of constraints. They differ in how these strengths are represented: as numerical weights (HG) or as ranks (OT). Weighted constraints have advantages for the construction of accounts of language learning and other cognitive processes, partly because they allow for the adaptation of connectionist and statistical models. HG has been little studied in generative linguistics, however, largely due to influential claims that weighted constraints make incorrect predictions …

Harmony In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

What OT constraint favors autosegmental spreading? Existing proposals for the pro-spreading markedness constraint make implausible typological predictions. This paper presents a new proposal that depends on Harmonic Serialism to avoid those unwanted predictions.

Studying Gen, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In Optimality Theory, phonological patterns are accounted for with output constraints ranked in a hierarchy. There is little explanatory role for a theory of operations, and hence little has been said about the Gen component. This situation has changed with the emergence of a derivational version of Optimality Theory called Harmonic Serialism.

One of the principal differences between Harmonic Serialism and standard Optimality Theory is that Harmonic Serialism's Gen is limited to doing one thing at a time. Harmonic Serialism's analyses and explanations depend on knowing what it means to “do one thing at a time”, and that requires a …

Classified Bibliography Of Works On Ot With Candidate Chains (Ot-Cc) And Harmonic Serialism (Hs), John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Gradual Learning And Convergence, Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

The Serial Interaction Of Stress And Syncope, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Many languages respect the generalization that some or all unstressed vowels are deleted. This generalization proves elusive in classic Optimality Theory, however. The source of the problem is classic OT’s parallel evaluation, which requires that the effects of stress assignment and syncope be optimized together. This article argues for a version of OT called Harmonic Serialism, in which the effects of stress assignment and syncope can and must be evaluated sequentially. The results are potentially applicable to other domains where process interaction is best understood in derivational terms.

The Gradual Path To Cluster Simplification, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

When a medial consonant cluster is simplified by deletion or place assimilation, the first consonant is affected, but never the second one: /patka/ becomes [paka] and not *[pata]; /panpa/ becomes [pampa] and not [panta]. This article accounts for that observation within a derivational version of Optimality Theory called Harmonic Serialism. In Harmonic Serialism, the final output is reached by a series of derivational steps that gradually improve harmony. If there is no gradual, harmonically improving path from a given underlying representation to a given surface representation, this mapping is impossible in Harmonic Serialism, even if it would be allowed in …

Derivations And Levels Of Representation, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In the theory of generative phonology, the phonological grammar of a language is regarded as a function from underlying to surface forms: /kæt þz/ ! [kæts] ‘cats’. Underlying and surface form are known as levels of representation, and the mapping between them is a derivation. This chapter describes the rationale for positing distinct levels of representation, various views of how many and what kind of levels of representation there are, and the nature of the derivations that link different levels of representation.

Syntactic Variation, Lisa J. Green

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

This chapter considers the syntax of dialects of English from a view that incorporates issues in dialectal variation and syntactic theory. Variation in dialects of languages such as Italian, German, Dutch, and Flemish has been analyzed in a model of microparametric variation, which takes into consideration the distribution of syntactic variables in geographical areas and formal analyses of syntactic properties (Barbiers, Cornips, and van der Kleij 2002). On the other hand, research on dialects of American English has focused mainly on morphosyntactic, phonological, and, to some extent, syntactic variables in the context of social factors, linguistic constraints, and variation and …

Consonant Harmony Via Correspondence: Evidence From Chumash, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The phonology of [anterior] in Chumash supports recent proposals by Hansson (2001), Rose & Walker (2004), and Walker (2000a, 2000b) that long-distance consonant assimilation does not involve autosegmental spreading. Linking of the feature [anterior] is forbidden across morpheme boundaries, but long-distance [anterior] harmony is allowed across morpheme boundaries. The Chumash evidence therefore shows that assimilation can occur without autosegmental spreading.

What Is Optimality Theory?, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Optimality Theory is a general model of how grammars are structured. This article surveys the motivations for OT, its core principles, and the basics of analysis. It also addresses some frequently asked questions about this theory and offers suggestions for further reading.

The Locus Of Exceptionality: Morpheme-Specific Phonology As Constraint Indexation, Joe Pater

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Morphemes often behave differently phonologically in ways that cannot be explained purely phonologically: one morpheme undergoes or triggers a process while another morpheme fails to undergo or trigger that process, even though the two are in all relevant respects indistinguishable. Piro syncope (Matteson 1965, Kisseberth 1970, Lin 1997) provides an example of such morpheme-specific phonology. Morphemes differ in whether they cause the preceding vowel to delete (/heta+nu/ [hetanu] Ogoing to seeP vs. /heta+lu/ [hetlu] Osee itP), and in whether they undergo deletion themselves (/meyi+wa+lu/ [meyiwlu] OcelebrationP vs. /heta+wa+lu/ [hetawalu] Ogoing to see him yetP). As the behavior of the homophonous …

Slouching Toward Optimality: Coda Reduction In Ot-Cc, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

There is a well-established asymmetry in the behavior of medial consonant clusters: the first consonant in the cluster can undergo assimilation or deletion, but the second consonant in the cluster cannot. This article presents an explanation for that asymmetry based on a version of Optimality Theory with candidate chains (McCarthy (2006a)). The key idea is that a consonant can only assimilate or delete if it first loses its place features by debuccalizing, and debuccalization is only possible in coda position.

Less Than Zero: Correspondence And The Null Output, John J. Mccarthy, Matthew Wolf

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In this chapter, we have argued for a revision of correspondence theory in which strings rather than segments are the formal objects that stand in correspondence. In this revision, well-behaved unfaithful mappings do not alter ℜ’s status is a total bijective function. Candidates with a less orderly ℜ violate MPARSE; among these candidates there is one that harmonically bounds all of the others, the null output &#;. The primary goal of this project is to explain why &#; uniquely violates no constraints except MPARSE, making it suitable for the analysis of phonologically-conditioned gaps. Along the way, we have also discussed …

Paradigm Regained: Deixis In Northern Wakashan, Emmon Bach

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Morphology: Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.