Syntax Commons^™

A (Great) Many Of Many Constructions, Jim Wood, Squid Tamar-Mattis

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

In this paper, we discuss a series of constructions across various English dialects involving the word many, drawing examples from the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) and web searches. The constructions include both standard and colloquial forms, including formally singular and plural constructions, as well as those employing a lot of and a great many. We connect these constructions to existing linguistic analyses, particularly those proposed by Kayne (2002, 2006, 2007a,b, 2017).

Another One: On The Syntax Of ‘Alternative One’, Ester Luna

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

This paper discusses the use of one as a disjunction marker occurring immediately after a DisjP, such as He was in Tennessee or Kentucky, one. Little research has been published on this construction, which is used predominantly by Southern American English speakers. My project aims to fill this gap in the literature by describing the distribution of one and examining various hypotheses for its syntactic derivation using data from Montgomery (2004) and the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project. Based on my descriptive analysis, I propose to treat this "alternative one" as a proform and matrix clause adjunct.

I compare …

Mapping The ‘Alternative One’ Construction In American English, Guilherme M. C. Pereira

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

Alternative one is an understudied construction accepted by speakers of some American English dialects in sentences like (i), where the word one appears immediately after a disjunction.

(i) I need to talk to John or Malcolm, one.
'I need to talk to John or Malcolm, one or the other.'

(Montgomery 2006:152)

In this paper, I present maps of acceptability judgments of this construction in the U.S., using data from a survey administered by the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project in 2020 and 2021. The maps confirm the geographical distribution claimed for alternative one in the Dictionary of American Regional English (Cassidy …

I Have A Survey On Lonely Transitives! Do You Want?, Linda Do

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

In this paper, I describe a recently observed grammatical construction that the YGDP has termed "lonely transitives" (LonTs). Used by some speakers of English in informal contexts, the construction consists of a traditionally transitive verb used without an object. LonTs can only be used if there is sufficient prior linguistic or situational context to recover the null object and if the sentence retains the same meaning as the verb used with an overt object. Using the results of a survey I conducted, I discuss the syntactic distribution of LonTs and suggest that it may be much wider than previously established …

I Have Some Maps. Do You Want?, Ella Moran

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

This paper investigates the distribution of the 'lonely transitive' (or LonT) construction using YGDP survey data. I analyze the distribution of this construction by interpolating acceptability judgment data to create a series of maps showing the likely acceptability of various LonT sentences for English speakers across the US. I find that the distribution of LonTs does not seem to be geographically conditioned and that a markedness hierarchy exists between the verbs want, have, and need.

Hella Much Variation: Intensification In Northern California English, As Seen Through The South Bay, Clara Mcmahon

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

In this paper I present a unified syntactic analysis to account for all of the typical usages of the Northern California lexical item hella. Specifically, I focus on hella’s usage in the South Bay—a subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area which corresponds roughly to Santa Clara County. Contrary to Boboc (2016), who proposes that Bay Area speakers do not allow hella to modify silent elements, I provide evidence that hella is a degree word which can license silent elements for South Bay speakers. Using a silent MANY and a silent MUCH (Kayne 2005), all of hella’s …

Diaspora Documentation Of West Albay Bikol, Nhia Borja

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper presents a comprehensive linguistic analysis and cultural documentation of West Albay Bikol, a dialect spoken in Bikol, Philippines. Drawing upon narratives spoken by a native speaker, this study aims to expand the literature on Bikolano language and add the dialects of Balugo and Polangui to the conversation. The motivation for the project stems from a personal aspiration to learn West Albay Bikolano and provide authentic language examples.

The paper comprises six chapters. The first chapter briefly overviews Bikol dialects and Central Philippine languages and reviews existing literature on the overall Bikol language. The second chapter is an examination …

Exploring Etymology Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

The English language is a borrowed language, a blend of words from many languages from around the world. We see this in the various ways sounds are represented by letters and letter combinations. In transparent or shallow orthographies, there is high predictability and consistent letter-sound correspondence whereas in opaque or deep orthographies, there are many ways to spell the same sound as well as there are many sounds for the same spellings (Burkins & Yates, 2021; Moats, 2020). This assignment description is a guided inquiry for preservice teachers to explore the concept of etymology by watching and reflecting on six …

How Phonological And Syntactic Overlap Impact Cognate Processing Speeds In Bilinguals, Ella Marie Peterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This paper investigates individuals who are proficient in two languages (bilinguals) and the speeds at which bilinguals process cognates (words with comparable form and meaning across languages). This paper cites two ongoing experiments: The Language Identification (LID) task and the Self-Paced Listening (SPL) task. Findings from the LID suggest that phonological overlap in cognates facilitates bilingual language processing speeds, when cognates are presented in isolation. Findings from the SPL suggest that syntactic overlap in cognates also facilitates bilingual language processing speeds, when cognates are presented in sentences. These findings are significant in that the tasks present cognates to participants in …

The Influence Of Visual Perspective On The Cognitive Effort Required For Mental Representation, Jeffrey P. Hong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mental representation is the process by which an individual simulates an event in their mind’s eye. This process is the foundation of the ability to remember the past, engage in prospective thinking, or imagine fictitious scenarios. An individual can mentally represent any event through their own eyes—the first-person perspective or from the viewpoint of an external observer—the third-person perspective. The perspective of representation influences outcomes related to memory, visuospatial processing, affect, social cognition, clinical diagnoses, and language processing. In turn, an individual’s tendency to favour either perspective is shaped by related factors.

The current research consists of four experiments, designed …