Syntax Commons^™

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 …

Mirativity In English Response Particles: An Analysis From The Syntax/Semantics Interface, Randi Martinez

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

Responses to questions can provide significant insight about linguistic structure and meaning. In this paper, I propose an analysis of the structure of assertions and various responses to assertions, bringing together semantic and syntactic considerations. The analysis incorporates a Speech Act Phrase (SAP, Speas & Tenny 2003), which is taken to encode illocutionary force. I present novel data on a polar response particle (PRP) form that has not yet been considered in the literature, namely, the English yeah-huh/nuh-uh responses. I show that these are polarity-based responses that signal disagreement and mirativity. I discuss the syntactic and discourse-related restrictions for yeah-huh/nuh-uh …

Completive All In English And The Status Of All, Carolina Fraga

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

In this paper I discuss a novel construction in English, restricted to existentials and possessive have sentences, exemplified by sentences such as There’s all sand in my hair. I argue that the syntax and the semantics of this construction, which I have labeled the completive all construction, can be explained only if all is understood to be modifying a silent element (in the sense of Kayne 2004). In particular, I propose that completive all sentences contain a silent SPACE element and a silent preposition WITH. All is the modifier of a PP headed by silent WITH and the nominal …

Not Me Getting With The Times: A New Kind Of Not-Fragment In English, Guilherme M. C. Pereira

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

In this paper, I describe a relatively new construction in colloquial use by many English speakers: a discourse-initial not-fragment that draws attention to a factual event and conveys some attitude towards it, typically that it is embarrassing, surprising, ironic, ridiculous, or simply bad. A prototypical example of this construction, which I call “spotlight not,” is an utterance like Not me going to Starbucks for the second time today, which is taken to indicate that the speaker is indeed going to Starbucks for the second time that day, and that they find this fact embarrassing or surprising, ironic, …

The Impact Of The First Language Transfer On English Language Syntax For Arab Esl Students At Private Language Center In Mid-Size University Town, Mohammed A. S. Abdalhadi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the Impact of the First Language Transfer on English Language Syntax for Arab ESL Students at Private Language Center in Mid-Size University Town. The research population was 12 participants from Spring International Language Center through Intensive English Program and 7 participants from Adult Education center. The writing samples and interview were the main two instruments to analyze the data. I used constructive Analysis (CA), Error Analysis (EA), and coding to analyze the writing samples and the interview. The study focused on the syntax transfer between Arabic L1 and English L2, so Adjective/noun order, Subject/verb order, Number/numbered order, …

Grammatical Parallelism In Aphasia: A Lesion-Symptom Mapping Study, William Matchin, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Alexandra Basilakos, Brielle Caserta Stark, Julius Fridriksson, Gregory Hickok

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Sentence structure, or syntax, is potentially a uniquely creative aspect of the human mind. Neuropsychological experiments in the 1970s suggested parallel syntactic production and comprehension deficits in agrammatic Broca’s aphasia, thought to result from damage to syntactic mechanisms in Broca’s area in the left frontal lobe. This hypothesis was sometimes termed overarching agrammatism, converging with developments in linguistic theory concerning central syntactic mechanisms supporting language production and comprehension. However, the evidence supporting an association among receptive syntactic deficits, expressive agrammatism, and damage to frontal cortex is equivocal. In addition, the relationship among a distinct grammatical production deficit in aphasia, …

Destined Failure, Chengjun Pan

Masters Theses

I attempt to examine the complex structure of human communication, explaining why it is bound to fail. By reproducing experienceable phenomena, I demonstrate how they can expose communication structure and reveal the limitations of our perception and symbolization.I divide the process of communication into six stages: input, detection, symbolization, dictionary, interpretation, and output. In this thesis, I examine the flaws and challenges that arise in the first five stages. I argue that reception acts as a filter and that understanding relies on a symbolic system that is full of redundancies. Therefore, every interpretation is destined to be a deviation.

Memetic Epidemiology: A Mathematical Model For Tracking The Spread Of Linguistic Features Across Western Europe, Benjamin Shavitz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this dissertation is to introduce a powerful new method for demonstrating the role of contact in potential cases of linguistic contact spread, Memetic Epidemiology, that can facilitate extensive future research. This dissertation introduces and demonstrates the use of this method on examples from Western and Central Europe.

Part I begins by providing theoretical background for Memetic Epidemiology using understandings, including Memetics, and Evolutionary Phonology and its extensions. Part I proceeds to lay out the objective of Memetic Epidemiology: to provide a new means of demonstrating that contact influenced the rise of linguistic features in certain languages during …

L’Emprunt Lexical De L’Arabe Algérien À L’Amazighe : Étude Sur Un Corpus Parémiologique, Abdelaziz Berkai

Journal of Amazigh Studies

Résumé :

Une étude très récente de parémiologie contrastive entre le kabyle et l’arabe algérien montre, par-delà l’« isomorphisme » parémiologique existant entre les deux langues-cultures, qu’un certain nombre de mots de l’arabe dialectal seraient des emprunts à l’amazighe. C’est l’étude de ces emprunts au plan lexico-sémantique, et subsidiairement étymologique, qui constitue l’objet de notre proposition de contribution. Nous commencerons chaque fois par la vérification des données en arabe classique et en dialectal algérien, avant d’analyser les matériaux amazighs et d’en tirer les conclusions qui s’imposent.

Mots-clés : emprunt lexical, parémiologie, arabe algérien, et langue amazighe

Lexical borrowing of Algerian …

The Would-Chuck Construction, Grace Teuscher

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

In Standard American English sentences, only one modal verb is typically allowed. However, in certain varieties of English, most notably the Double Modal Construction, spoken mainly in the American South, more than one modal is allowed. This thesis provides a syntactical analysis of a currently under-researched construction—the Would- Chuck Construction. Here, four modal verbs are allowed in the English middle field: first is typically will, followed by the perfect have, which is then followed by another modal and another perfect auxiliary. This results in a sentence resembling “I will have should have pet the cat.” When the linear order of …

What Before Means: Teaching About The Communicative Contribution Of The English Pluperfect, Max Miller

Publications and Research

This paper presents a text-based analysis of the communicative functions of the simple past and pluperfect tenses of English, and offers a pedagogical approach to assist learners in acquiring them. Following a functional, usage-based linguistics perspective, the analysis holds that the simple past expresses Time PAST, while the pluperfect expresses Time PAST, BEFORE. Thus only the latter tense signals a speaker's subjective creation of a linkage in time. The understanding of these meanings can enhance an English language teacher's effectiveness in the classroom (as in selecting texts and activities) and a language user's effectiveness in communication. A classroom-based pedagogical application …

"Does This Make Sense?": The Effect Of Congruent Guise In Regional Accent On Grammatical Acceptability Judgments, Nour Kayali

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This study seeks to unite sociophonetic speech perception and syntax research by presenting participants with congruent or incongruent social expectations during a structural grammaticality judgement task. Participants completed a between-subjects matched guise survey with place-based grammatical structures spoken in either a congruent place-based, local accent or a nonlocal accent. Place-based structures are consistently rated more acceptable in the local accent than the nonlocal. These results suggest that judgment of grammaticality results from an interplay of sociocultural expectations with accent and sentence structure. Judgement of structural grammaticality is not independent of social expectation.

Plant And Animal Body-Part Terms In Shiwulu Grammar: Classification, Nominalization, And Incorporation, Pilar M. Valenzuela

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"The goal of the present study is to offer an account of the principal constructions containing body-part terms in Shiwilu. These involve inanimate classifiers, three lexical nominalizers (instrumental, habitual agent, and resultative), and incorporated nouns and classifiers. While articles have previously been written addressing the Shiwilu system of classifiers and nominal incorporation (Valenzuela 2016, 2019, to appear), this chapter focuses on the role that body-part terms play in the grammar of the language."