Open Access Published by De Gruyter Open Access

Volume 5 Issue 1

January 2019

Issue of Open Linguistics

Contents
Journal Overview

Regular Articles

Open Access April 9, 2019

“Saber español sí sirve” Academic Validation of Spanish as a Heritage Language

Patricia Bayona

Page range: 69-80

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Abstract

The article offers an account of the challenges and successes encountered in the process of opening a new Professional Spanish Minor, targeted mainly to Heritage Spanish speakers in a small traditional liberal arts college in the Midwest region of the USA. The article introduces the concept “bi-directional scaffolding”, and some of the topics discussed are the motivation for establishing the new program, the choice of curriculum, and the process used to involve diverse Faculty. Additionally, the results of an opinion survey distributed among Heritage Spanish speakers are presented, in which their career expectations and current perceptions of their life at this college have provided a much more accurate framework to design the new minor. Conclusions include a reflection on programmatic solutions for the needs of Hispanic students in our institution. The article proposes an inter-institutional dialogue regarding program standards and curricular schemes for Heritage Spanish students nationwide.

Open Access April 20, 2019

Reframing the Arabic Narratives on Daesh in the English Media: The Ideological Impact

Nael F. M. Hijjo, Surinderpal Kaur, Kais Amir Kadhim

Page range: 81-93

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Abstract

This paper discusses the dynamic role of translators in possibly promoting certain ideologies and political agendas by presenting stories through the lens of an ideologically laden meta-narrative. It compares the representation of ‘ Daesh ’ in the narratives of Arabic editorials and their English translations published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). MEMRI is a pro-Israeli organization, widely cited by leading Western media outlets, especially in the US. The study adopts the narrative theoryinformed analysis of Baker (2006) as its theoretical framework to examine how narrative is used to legitimize, normalize, and justify certain actions to the public. The findings suggest that through translation, MEMRI draws upon the meta-narrative of the War on Terror in furthering its ideologically laden agenda of terrorist Arabs and Muslims by publishing selective and decontextualized excerpts and mistranslation of concepts such as Daesh ( داعش), Jihad (جهاد), and Jizya (جزية).

Open Access May 22, 2019

Accounting for the stochastic nature of sound symbolism using Maximum Entropy model

Shigeto Kawahara, Hironori Katsuda, Gakuji Kumagai

Page range: 109-120

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Abstract

Sound symbolism refers to stochastic and systematic associations between sounds and meanings. Sound symbolism has not received much serious attention in the generative phonology literature, perhaps because most if not all sound symbolic patterns are probabilistic. Building on the recent proposal to analyze sound symbolic patterns within a formal phonological framework (Alderete and Kochetov 2017), this paper shows that MaxEnt grammars allow us to model stochastic sound symbolic patterns in a very natural way. The analyses presented in the paper show that sound symbolic relationships can be modeled in the same way that we model phonological patterns. We suggest that there is nothing fundamental that prohibits formal phonologists from analyzing sound symbolic patterns, and that studying sound symbolism using a formal framework may open up a new, interesting research domain. The current study also reports two hitherto unnoticed cases of sound symbolism, thereby expanding the empirical scope of sound symbolic patterns in natural languages.

Open Access June 20, 2019

Bulgarian-English Code-switching in Internet Forum Communication: The BG-mamma Case

Bilyana Bozhinova Todorova

Page range: 121-135

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Abstract

The aim of the paper is to introduce the author's observations on the influence that English has on the Bulgarian forum "Netspeak" for women living in the USA. The collected data for the investigation are excerpted from a Bulgarian forum platform. The emphasis is on code-switching, one of the main topics in sociolinguistics; as well as on the interlanguage, which is a result of the penetration of some elements from English into the first language of communicators. The orthography may also be influenced as in Bulgaria the Cyrillic alphabet is used. The informal situation is a prerequisite for the mixed style use, especially in vocabulary. Different topics have been observed and discussed by users in the forum: the choice of baby accessories; baggage loss in airports; child diseases, child physical and mental development, etc. The investigated forum discussion includes 52,020 lexical items. Excerpted English words are few - only 1.5%. Most of them are nouns because of their easy grammatical adaptation. The verb group is not affected so noticeably. The Bulgarian verbal system is very complicated and English verbs used in Bulgarian context are grammatically adapted. There are some exceptions when people use ready-made constructions like idioms and phrasal verbs.

Open Access August 3, 2019

Perception Verbs in Brazilian Portuguese: A Functional Approach

Kees Hengeveld, Edson Rosa Francisco de Souza, Maria Luiza Braga, Valéria Vendrame

Page range: 268-310

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Abstract

This paper examines the semantic and morphosyntactic complementation patterns of perception verbs in Brazilian Portuguese. Using the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar, five semantic complement types are identified. It is subsequently shown that these five types are in an implicational relationship, such that the set of semantic complement types that a certain perception verb in Brazilian Portuguese may take occupies a contiguous segment on a hierarchy of semantic complement types. The morphosyntactic complements of perception verbs in Brazilian Portuguese include noun phrases, finite, and non-finite clauses, the latter comprising progressive1 and infinitival forms. The second part of the study shows that the choice for one of these types can to a high extent be predicted from the semantics of the complements, using the same hierarchy of semantic complement types.

Open Access September 13, 2019

Religious and Socio-cultural Influences on the Pakistani Wedding Invitation

Musarat Yasmin, Farhat Naseem, Ayesha Sohail

Page range: 354-368

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Abstract

The Wedding Invitation is one of the significant text genres. Following genre analysis approach and discourse analysis (DA), the present research analysed the wedding invitation genres in Pakistan to explore generic structures, as well as the role played by the broader socio-cultural norms and values in shaping this genre. Therefore, a corpus of 50 wedding invitations in Urdu and English was randomly selected from cards received from January to June 2018. The results of this genre analysis revealed seven obligatory and one optional move in Urdu, while six obligatory and one optional move in English invitations. Through discourse analysis, it has been uncovered how religious association and cultural influence in Pakistani society shape textual selection. Little variation was displayed in the invitations of the two languages, presumably due to regional cultural reflections and recent influence of western values. A comparison of Pakistani and UK invitations showed differences not only in move selection but also in lexical choices which are shaped by the respective cultures.

Open Access November 8, 2019

The Conceptualization of Tolerance in the UAE Press Media: A Case Study of ‘The Year of Tolerance’

Aseel Zibin, Abdulrahman Dheyab Abdullah

Page range: 405-420

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Abstract

This study investigates the conceptualisation of tolerance via metaphors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) press media after proclaiming 2019 as the ‘Year of Tolerance’. The results revealed that various source domains are used to conceptualise tolerance, reflecting certain aspects of the Emirati culture and affecting the Emirati cultural model of tolerance. There are three types of experience working together to shape the formation of conceptual metaphors of tolerance: firstly, bodily experience which emerges from human cognitive embodiment. Secondly, this bodily experience mingles with cultural experience in the Emirati context, which suggests that embodiment is socioculturally grounded. Finally, there is linguistic experience which is inherited by its speakers as part of their cognitive and cultural heritage.

Open Access December 5, 2019

Sonority Sequencing Principle in Sabzevari Persian: A Constraint-Based Approach

Mufleh Salem M. Alqahtani

Page range: 434-465

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Abstract

This study sheds light on the relationship between the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) and syllable structure in Sabzevari, a Persian vernacular spoken in the Sabzevar area of Northeast Iran. Optimality Theory (OT), as a constraint-based approach, is utilized to scrutinize sonority violation and its repair strategies. The results suggest that obedience to the SSP is mandatory in Sabzevari, as shown through the treatment of word-final clusters in Standard Persian words which violate the SSP. These consonant clusters are avoided in Sabzevari by two phonological processes: vowel epenthesis and metathesis. Vowel epenthesis is motivated by final consonant clusters of the forms /fricative+coronal nasal/, /plosive+bilabial nasal/, /fricative+bilabial nasal/, /plosive+rhotic/, /fricative+rhotic/, and /plosive+lateral/. Metathesis, as another repair strategy for sonority sequencing violations, occurs when dealing with final consonant clusters of the forms /plosive+fricative/and / fricative+lateral/.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Topicalization in Japanese Cooking Discourse

Mitsuaki Shimojo

Page range: 511-531

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Abstract

A topic- wa -phrase is analyzed here in written recipes and the corresponding spoken instructional cooking discourse. Despite the possible assumption that the topic phrase is not used in recipes, the analysis shows that ingredients of a recipe are selectively topicalized. Those topicalized are the primary ingredients which are given with substantial procedural descriptions, when these procedures represent a parallel relationship to each other. The topicalization connects the parallel segments so that they constitute coherent discourse and properly represent the intended structure of the recipe. Also, in the spoken discourse, a topic- wa -phrase is used in a side-sequence (a digression) to connect with the main segment. These functions of representing important information and connecting parallel elements are consistent with observations in other genres of discourse. On the other hand, the analysis also suggests discourse type-based variations. In the instructional discourse, the “digressions” are connected as part of the coherent discourse. This contrasts with (non-instructional) casual spoken discourse, in which digressions are not topicalized and are detached from the main segment. These variations imply speakers’ different pragmatic intentions based on different types of discourse, which are reflected on their choice of referential forms.

Open Access December 13, 2019

Linguistic Landscape and Authenticity in a Japanese Supermarket in Singapore

Keri Matwick, Kelsi Matwick

Page range: 532-552

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Abstract

This study examines the linguistic landscape of a Japanese supermarket in Singapore. Building on linguistic landscape research, this study focuses on cross-cultural, cross-linguistic, and cross-culinary exchanges that occur in food spaces. The analysis examines promotional signs and their image, text, typography, format, and the overall retail experience, allowing for a reading of “the semiotic landscape,” or how all the elements work together (Kress & Van Leeuwen 2006). What emerges is a dominant discourse of authenticity, identifiable by five types: original, natural, influential, referential, exceptional (Gilmore & Pine 2007), and we propose a sixth type of authenticity: health, which is particularly relevant to food. Health authenticity draws on science to inform consumers of nutrition but is made relatable to shoppers through folklore and local Singapore recipes. The use of Japanese is informative for Japanese shoppers while symbolic for non-Japanese shoppers of a Japan that is pure, authentic, high-quality, and significantly, healthy.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Spatial Vantage Points in Norwegian Sign Language

Lindsay Ferrara, Torill Ringsø

Page range: 583-600

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Abstract

Previous studies on perspective in spatial signed language descriptions suggest a basic dichotomy between either a route or a survey perspective, which entails either the signer being conceptualized as a mobile agent within a life-sized scene or the signer in a fixed position as an external observer of a scaled-down scene. We challenge this dichotomy by investigating the particular couplings of vantage point position and mobility engaged during various types of spatial language produced across eight naturalistic conversations in Norwegian Sign Language. Spatial language was annotated for the purpose of the segment, the size of the environment described, the signs produced, and the location and mobility of vantage points. Analysis revealed that survey and route perspectives, as characterized in the literature, do not adequately account for the range of vantage point combinations observed in conversations (e.g., external, but mobile, vantage points). There is also some preliminary evidence that the purpose of the spatial language and the size of the environments described may also play a role in how signers engage vantage points. Finally, the study underscores the importance of investigating spatial language within naturalistic conversational contexts.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Beyond Length: Investigating Dependency Distance Across L2 Modalities and Proficiency Levels

Hengbin Yan, Yinghui Li

Page range: 601-614

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Abstract

As an important index of working memory burden and syntactic difficulty, Dependency Distance (DD) has been fruitfully applied in the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) to both native and non-native language production. Recent research has focused on DD as a predictor of writing performance across different proficiencies, while the other modality of second language (L2) performance – speaking – has been largely neglected. Moreover, while previous results reported significant positive correlations between DD and writing proficiency, a lack of control for important variables such as sentence/text length may have potentially inflated the outcomes of the analyses. In this study, we examine the effects of DD across the different modalities and proficiency levels, controlling for the effects of text and sentence lengths. Results from statistical analysis show that the mean DD of L2 writing is significantly shorter than L2 speech production, indicating that L2 writing may be a cognitively more demanding task than L2 speaking. Additionally, while significant statistical differences in DD were found across proficiency levels in both L2 writing and speech, the significance disappeared after controlling for sentence and text length. The implications of the present study for future research on DD in SLA are discussed.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Cree-English intrasentential code-switching: Testing the morphosyntactic constraints of the Matrix Language Frame model

Hussein Al-Bataineh, Saleem Abdelhady

Page range: 706-728

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Abstract

This study examines the morphosyntactic constraints on Cree-English intrasentential codeswitching involving mixed nominal expressions to test the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model. The MLF model is one of the most influential frameworks in the field of contact linguistics used in the study of grammatical aspects of codeswitching and other contact-induced phenomena. The three principles associated with MLF, viz., the Matrix Language Principle, the Asymmetry Principle and the Uniform Structure Principle, were tested on data consisting of 10 video recordings (constituting of 323 tokens of English nouns in mixed utterances) collected from the speech of a Cree child, aged 04;06 - 06;00. The data is drawn from Pile’s (2018) thesis which is based on the data collected from the Chisasibi Child Language Acquisition Study (CCLAS). The results of the analyses suggest general support for the three principles since, in the entire data set, not a single counter example has been recorded. The Cree-English bilingual data appears asymmetrical in structure, where the Matrix Language, namely Cree, provides morpheme order and outsider late system morphemes, and consequently, is responsible for the well-formedness and morphosyntactic frame of bilingual clauses..

Special issue: Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition Editors: Diane Nelson and Virve Vihman

Open Access July 19, 2019

Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition: Introduction to Special Issue

Virve-Anneli Vihman, Diane Nelson

Page range: 260-267

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Abstract

Most, if not all, languages exhibit “animacy effects”: grammatical structures interact with the relative animacy of noun referents, as represented on various versions of animacy scales, with human discourse participants at one end and inanimate objects at the other. Cross-linguistic evidence attests to a range of linguistic phenomena conditioned by animacy, with complex effects requiring (a) subtler distinctions than a binary contrast [± animate] and (b) more sophisticated analyses than mapping higher animacy to higher grammatical role. This paper introduces the Special Issue, “Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition”, in which the linguistic interest in grammatical effects of animacy is aligned with broader questions concerning animacy in cognition, including the origins of animacy in language, the biases underlying how we attend to animacy distinctions and how animacy affects discourse. Recent work in cognitive science and adjacent fields has contributed to the understanding of the role of animacy across linguistic domains. Yet, despite the consensus that sensitivity to animacy is a property central to human cognition, there is no agreement on how to incorporate animacy within linguistic theories. This SI focusses on the cognitive construal of animacy, aiming to extend our understanding of its role in grammar(s) and theory.

Open Access April 9, 2019

The role of case and animacy in bi-and monolingual children’s sentence interpretation in German: a developmental perspective

Jana Gamper

Page range: 1-24

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Abstract

German-speaking children appear to have a strong N1-bias when interpreting non-canonical OVSsentences. During sentence interpretation, especially unambiguous accusative and dative case markers ( den ‘the-ACC’ and dem ‘the-DAT’) weaken the N1-bias and help building up sentence interpretation strategies on the basis of morphological cues. Still, the N1-bias prevails beyond the age of five (Brandt et al. 2016, Cristante 2016, Dittmar et al. 2008) and remains until puberty (Lidzba et al. 2013). This paper investigates whether prototypical case-animacy coalitions ( den ACC + N INANIMATE and dem DAT + N ANIMATE ) strengthen a morphologically based sentence interpretation strategy in German. The experiment discussed in this paper tests for effects of such case-animacy coalitions in mono- and bilingual primary school children. 20 German monolinguals, 12 Dutch-German and 17 Russian-German bilinguals with a mean age of 9;6 were tested in a forced-choice off-line experiment. Results indicate that case-animacy coalitions weaken the N1-bias in OVS-conditions in German monolinguals and Dutch-German bilinguals, while no effects were found for Russian-German bilinguals. Together with an analysis of individual differences, these group-specific effects are discussed in terms of a developmental approach that represents a gradual cue strength adjustment process in mono- and bilingual children.

Open Access June 15, 2019

Humans, Animals, Things and Animacy

Shiva Bayanati, Ida Toivonen

Page range: 156-170

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Abstract

Animacy influences the patterns of subject-verb agreement marking in many languages, including Persian and Inari Saami. In Persian, animate plural subjects trigger plural agreement on the verb, whereas inanimate subjects may or may not trigger agreement. The variation is governed by factors such as personification, agency and distributivity. In Inari Saami, verbs fully agree with human subjects and verbs partially agree with inanimate subjects. Verbs may or may not agree with subjects referring to animals. We argue that the intricate interaction between biological animacy and grammatical agreement in these two languages warrants careful consideration of the tripartite distinction between biological animacy in the world, our conceptualization of animacy and formal animacy features in the grammar.

Open Access June 3, 2019

Gradient Effects of Animacy on Differential Object Marking in Turkish

Elif Krause, Klaus von Heusinger

Page range: 171-190

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Abstract

Animacy is a pervasive cognitive category that is displayed in the grammatical behavior of the world’s languages through categorical or gradient effects. We argue in this paper that animacy is a crucial parameter for Differential Object Marking (i.e., the optional marking of the direct object) in Turkish. DOM languages are typically categorized according to their dependency on definiteness and animacy. Turkish has thus far been assumed to depend only on definiteness; however, we present the first set of empirical evidence based on perceived acceptability judgment measures that show a significant effect of animacy on Turkish DOM. Moreover, we show the gradient nature of this effect. This original finding provides further evidence for the assertion that animacy is a crucial linguistic parameter in Turkish DOM and illustrates how the conceptual category of animacy is deeply entrenched in the grammar of Turkish.

Open Access December 31, 2019

How Animacy and Verbal Information Influence V2 Sentence Processing: Evidence from Eye Movements

Peter de Swart, Geertje van Bergen

Page range: 630-649

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Abstract

There exists a clear association between animacy and the grammatical function of transitive subject. The grammar of some languages require the transitive subject to be high in animacy, or at least higher than the object. A similar animacy preference has been observed in processing studies in languages without such a categorical animacy effect. This animacy preference has been mainly established in structures in which either one or both arguments are provided before the verb. Our goal was to establish (i) whether this preference can already be observed before any argument is provided, and (ii) whether this preference is mediated by verbal information. To this end we exploited the V2 property of Dutch which allows the verb to precede its arguments. Using a visual-world eye-tracking paradigm we presented participants with V2 structures with either an auxiliary (e.g. Gisteren heeft X … ‘Yesterday, X has …’) or a lexical main verb (e.g. Gisteren motiveerde X … ‘Yesterday, X motivated …’) and we measured looks to the animate referent. The results indicate that the animacy preference can already be observed before arguments are presented and that the selectional restrictions of the verb mediate this bias, but do not override it completely.

Special issue: Explorations of engagement, ed. by Henrik Bergqvist and Dominique Knuchel

Open Access December 31, 2019

Explorations of Engagement: Introduction

Henrik Bergqvist, Dominique Knuchel

Page range: 650-665

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Abstract

The paper explores engagement as a linguistic category by discussing its defining characteristics. Following work by Evans and colleagues (2018a, b), we discuss issues of scope and the intersubjective distribution of information, as central to the definition of engagement. In addition, we examine the notion of access as a crucial component of engagement marking and we attempt to distinguish access from epistemic authority, which we argue is a prerequisite for the existence of engagement as a linguistic category. Both access and epistemic authority appear central to an analysis of engagement marking, as found in the literature and in the languages of this Special Issue. From an interactional point of view, engagement may be viewed as a form of “stance” (Du Bois 2007), in that it primarily positions the speech participants with respect to talked about events from the point of view of the speaker.

Open Access April 9, 2019

Epistemic authority and sociolinguistic stance in an Australian Aboriginal language

John Mansfield

Page range: 25-48

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Abstract

Murrinhpatha, an Aboriginal language of northern Australia, has an initial k -alternation in verbs that has hitherto been resistant to grammatical analysis. I argue that k -does not encode any feature of event structure, but rather signals the speaker’s epistemic primacy over the addressee. This authority may relate to concrete perceptual factors in the field of discourse, or to socially normative authority, where it asserts the speaker’s epistemic rights. These rights are most salient in the domains of kin, country and totems, as opposed to other topics in which speakers are habitually circumspect and co-construct knowledge. My analysis of the k -alternation thus brings together the typology of epistemic grammar (Evans, Bergqvist, & San Roque, 2018a, 2018b), and a sociolinguistic perspective on stance (Jaffe, 2009).

Open Access April 29, 2019

Intersubjectivity and engagement in Ku Waru

Alan Rumsey

Page range: 49-68

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Abstract

Following Evans et al. (2018a, 2018b), I use “engagement” to refer to grammatical encoding of the relative accessibility of an entity or state of affairs to the speaker and addressee. I refer to what is thereby encoded as the “engagement function”. How neatly does that function map on to grammatical categories of particular languages? Here I address that question with respect to the Papuan language Ku Waru, focusing on spatial and epistemic demonstratives, and definiteness and indefinite marking. I show that forms within each of those word/morpheme classes do serve engagement functions, but in cross-cutting and partial ways. I show how the engagement function is also achieved through poetic parallelism, prosody, gaze direction and other aspects of bodily comportment. In the examples considered, the engagement function is realised through interaction between those extra-linguistic features and the grammatical ones. The main thing that is added by grammatical engagement marking is an explicit signalling of the intersubjective accord that has been achieved on other bases. I hypothesize that that is true of engagement overall, and conclude by suggesting some ways to test that hypothesis and to advance the understanding of engagement more generally.

Open Access May 16, 2019

The Absconditive revealed: Attention alignment in the grammar of Coastal Marind

Bruno Olsson

Page range: 136-155

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Abstract

Speakers of Coastal Marind, a Papuan language of the Anim family, use a special inflectional form of the verb to signal that the state of affairs that the verb describes is outside the addressee’s current focus of attention. A central claim of the paper is that speakers use this verb form, which I call the Absconditive , to signal that the addressee should realign their attention to achieve shared access to the state of affairs. The paper describes the function of this attentional-epistemic grammatical category and provides examples of its use, mostly drawn from video recordings of face-to-face interaction. I also contrast the Absconditive with constructions with related functions, such as the use of morphology expressing information-structural notions (narrow focus), and a verb form that appears to express shared access to a referent.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Kogi Demonstratives and Engagement

Dominique Knuchel

Page range: 615-629

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Abstract

While demonstratives typically signal aspects of the spatial configuration of speech act participants and objects in the speech situation, intersubjective parameters, such as the attentional state of the interlocutor, have recently gained importance in the analysis of such forms. Several systems have been described in which the use of certain forms is conditioned by shared vs. non-shared attention towards a referent. Phenomena of this kind have recently been considered under the notion of ‘engagement’, i.e. the expression of a speaker’s assumptions about the knowledge or attention of their interlocutor (Evans et al. 2018a, b). The present study contributes to the ongoing investigation of engagement by a descriptive account of demonstratives in Kogi (Chibchan). It is argued that the use of certain (ad)nominal forms that were initially associated with addressee proximity cannot be accounted for in merely spatial terms. The paper proposes a novel analysis in terms of engagement and shows that the forms apply when a referent is in the attention of, or is known to both interlocutors. Evidence in support of this comes from elicited data as well as an interactive matching game in which attentional states of participants can be observed.

Special issue: Argument Structure across Modalities, special issue edited by Vadim Kimmelman, Roland Pfau & Enoch O. Aboh

Open Access May 22, 2019

Verbal Symbols and Demonstrations Across Modalities

Gillian Ramchand

Page range: 94-108

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Abstract

In this paper, I develop a new theory of the ingredients of semantic composition for the verb phrase, building on work in Ramchand (2018). I argue that the essential properties of this new approach make possible a new rapprochement between the theoretical analyses of symbolic verbal meaning across the visual and auditory modalities. The innovation of the new theory is that it partitions the verb phrase into a lower purely symbolic zone and a higher instantiational situation zone, mediated by the demonstrative act (cf. Davidson 2015, Henderson 2016). In the first part of the paper, I lay out the system, and then I show how it can be used to give a formal analysis of gestural and iconic elements in language. Along the way, I discuss the different ways in which iconicity in the two modalities plays out.

Open Access August 8, 2019

Antipassive Adds an Argument

David Basilico

Page range: 191-216

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Abstract

In this paper, I give an analysis of the syntax of the antipassive construction in the Eskimo-Aleut language family. In this account, I follow previous works, such as Benua (1997), Basilico (2004, 2012), Aldridge (2012), and Johns and Kučerová (2017) and posit that the antipassive, oblique argument occupies a different position than the transitive, absolutive object. However, I do not argue that the absolutive direct object argument and the oblique antipassive object occupy the same base position. Instead, I analyze the antipassive marker as an element which creates an argument position: it turns the verb to which it is attached from a predicate of events into a relation between an event and an entity, introducing the undergoer thematic role predicate and its argument. By considering that the antipassive morpheme introduces an argument, rather than saturating or demoting one, we explain a number of interesting phenomena: why ‘agentive’ verbs do not appear with an antipassive morpheme while ‘patientive’ verbs do, why the antipassive is associated with the inchoative as well as the applicative, and why transitive impersonal verbs do not undergo antipassivization.

Open Access July 11, 2019

Stability and Change in Intransitive Argument Structure

Elly van Gelderen

Page range: 217-232

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Abstract

The argument structure of verbs is pretty uniform across languages. Thus, verbs of `falling’ involve a Theme and an optional Causer and verbs of `working’ an Agent. Aspect is relevant to that uniformity as well since the former verbs will be telic and the latter durative. Stative verbs form a third main class. I first show that, when (spoken/written) languages change, the basic argument structure and aspect don’t change for most unaccusatives and unergatives. There are, however, systematic reports (e.g. Rosen 1984; Keller & Sorace 2003; Randall et al 2004) that certain verbs are unergative in one language and unaccusative in another and that verbs alternate between different aspects (e.g. Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2014). I examine a few verbs diachronically that are ambiguous in the Keller & Sorace work, i.e. verbs of continuation and of controlled motional process, and conclude that a more fine-grained system is helpful.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Stativity in the Causative Alternation? New Questions and a New Variant

Maria Eugenia Mangialavori Rasia

Page range: 233-259

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Abstract

This paper discusses whether capacity to license an internal argument and eventivity are default properties of so-called change-of-state verbs. I draw attention to the claim that, in certain languages, the causative-inchoative alternation extends to a third, external-argument-only variant with stative behavior. Productivity and systematicity raise a host of problems for current generalizations on the Causative Alternation and change-of-state verbs for various reasons, starting from the long-held claim that unique arguments of change-of-state verbs are by default internal. Insofar as the causative component is independently realized in a noneventive, nonepisodic frame, this variant challenges (a) a widely agreed rule of event composition, whereby cause , if present, causally implicates process ; (b) the claim that cause(r) interpretation of the external argument is a byproduct of transitivization. The present discussion: (a) brings out a crosslanguage contrast bearing on default (cause/undergoer) interpretation of unique arguments in equipollent alternations; (b) provides new empirical data supporting the stativity of the (causative) outer v head; (c) substantiates important predictions in the literature (e.g. that verbs of causation should have stative readings; that external-argument-only variants of Object-Experiencer verbs should be found); (d) captures further verb classes allowing the alternation; and (e) shows crucial contrasts with other transitive-(in/a)transitive alternations involving null/arb objects. Aspect and determination of different (a)atransitivity alternations are central throughout.

Open Access August 3, 2019

Transitivity, Events, and Gesture: The Case of the Causative-inchoative Alternation

Suwei Wu, Alan Cienki

Page range: 311-331

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Abstract

An increasing number of studies are being devoted to the investigation of what aspects of grammar, and of events, expressed in speech are coordinated with gesture. However, previous studies have focused on gesture use in relation to either transitivity or event properties, without considering how these factors interact. In this study, we consider how gesture use relates to transitivity when the type of event in the causativeinchoative alternation is considered, and also how gesture use relates to properties of the events when the type of transitivity is considered. We found various relations both between gesture use and transitivity on the one hand, and between gesture use and certain properties of events on the other hand. Whereas some of the results contrast with the findings in previous studies about the relation between gesture and transitivity, other results obtained actually reinforce and complement some previous findings. The results concerning event properties and gesture also add to previous studies about which properties of certain motor-spatial events relate to gesture and how they do so. The study thus provides a more nuanced understanding of the relation between gesture and language.

Open Access August 8, 2019

Argument Structure of Classifier Predicates: Canonical and Non-canonical Mappings in Four Sign Languages

Vadim Kimmelman, Vanja de Lint, Connie de Vos, Marloes Oomen, Roland Pfau, Lianne Vink, Enoch O. Aboh

Page range: 332-353

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Abstract

We analyze argument structure of whole-entity and handling classifier predicates in four sign languages (Russian Sign Language, Sign Language of the Netherlands, German Sign Language, and Kata Kolok) using parallel datasets (retellings of the Canary Row cartoons). We find that all four languages display a systematic, or canonical, mapping between classifier type and argument structure, as previously established for several sign languages: whole-entity classifier predicates are mostly used intransitively, while handling classifier predicates are used transitively. However, our data sets also reveal several non-canonical mappings which we address in turn. First, it appears that whole-entity classifier predicates can be used unergatively, rather than unaccusatively, contrary to expectations. Second, our data contain some transitive uses of whole-entity classifier predicates. Finally, we find that handling classifier predicates can express various complex event structures. We discuss what these findings imply for existing theories of classifier predicates in sign languages.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Transitivity prominence within and across modalities

Carl Börstell, Tommi Jantunen, Vadim Kimmelman, Vanja de Lint, Johanna Mesch, Marloes Oomen

Page range: 666-689

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Abstract

We investigate transitivity prominence of verbs across signed and spoken languages, based on data from both valency dictionaries and corpora. Our methodology relies on the assumption that dictionary data and corpus-based measures of transitivity are comparable, and we find evidence in support of this through the direct comparison of these two types of data across several spoken languages. For the signed modality, we measure the transitivity prominence of verbs in five sign languages based on corpus data and compare the results to the transitivity prominence hierarchy for spoken languages reported in Haspelmath (2015). For each sign language, we create a hierarchy for 12 verb meanings based on the proportion of overt direct objects per verb meaning. We use these hierarchies to calculate correlations between languages – both signed and spoken – and find positive correlations between transitivity hierarchies. Additional findings of this study include the observation that locative arguments seem to behave differently than direct objects judging by our measures of transitivity, and that relatedness among sign languages does not straightforwardly imply similarity in transitivity hierarchies. We conclude that our findings provide support for a modality-independent, semantic basis of transitivity.

Special issue: Linguistic variation, ed. by K. Habicht, T. Hennoste, and H. Metslang

Open Access November 11, 2019

Accounting for Variation in Language

Edith Moravcsik

Page range: 369-382

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Abstract

In this paper, variation is defined as a type having more than one subtype. Using twelve examples from linguistics, two kinds of accounts are identified: eliminating variants and motivating them. Eliminating variants means a subtype is promoted to a type. Motivating variation in turn involves acknowledging the existence of the variants and explaining their existence either by reference to their differing meanings or by identifying the different contexts they occur in. The general applicability of these two ways of dealing with variation is shown by examples from other fields of study and from everyday life.

Open Access November 1, 2019

Semantic Parallelism in Traditional Kakataibo Chants

Alejandro Prieto Mendoza

Page range: 383-404

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Abstract

In the present article, I propose some initial topics for the typological-comparative study of semantic parallelism, which also serve as an analytical axis to study semantic parallelism in traditional kakataibo chants. These basic topics are the structure of the cotext, lexical and grammatical type of parallel units, type of semantic relations between parallel units, number of parallel units per pair of lines, and associated phenomena such as recurrent or fixed pairing and diphrasism. Following this initial proposal, I postulate that the cotext in Kakataibo semantic parallelism is a repeated morphosyntactic structure that does not exhibit ellipsis or increasing, the number of parallel units can be one to three slots and one pair is more productive, parallel units are related by semantic fields such as kinship terms and colors. Furthermore, I analyze the interaction of semantic parallelism in the continuous creation of lines with two other poetic forms, enjambment and repetition, and I postulate that semantic parallelism is a compositional strategy due to its high productivity for line composing.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Intra-line and inter-individual variation in Sardinian arrepentina

Paolo Bravi, Teresa Proto

Page range: 496-510

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Abstract

S’arrepentina is a genre of extemporary poetry performed by semi-professional poets, both at informal gatherings and in public contests in south-central Sardinia. The name arrepentina refers both to the genre/performance in its entirety, and to the set of metrical forms and rhyme schemes used during the performance. Lines occur in non-strophic (stichic) form, and are made up of halflines linked by a complex system of rhymes. Unlike similar metrical forms, s’arrepentina is not performed in a “free rhythm” singing style. Typically, poets improvise their verses accompanied by an accordion, which provides a steady pulse. In this study, we investigate variation in nine arrepentinas and we aim to determine the degree of rhythmical variability in each halfline by measuring it against the underlying meter provided by the musical accompaniment. From the analysis, it emerges that the rhythmical variants are concentrated at specific positions, and their distribution suggests an asymmetry between the two halflines. Some inter-individual variation among the poets also appears in their preference for one type of variant over others.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Individual Rhythmic Variation in Oral Poetry: The Runosong Performances of Seto Singers

Janika Oras

Page range: 570-582

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Abstract

The article explores the individual differences of rhythmic variation in traditional sung oral poetry. The analysed group of ritual songs is part of the Seto singing culture – a subtradition of Finnic oral trochaic tetrameter. The rhythmic variation, created by different positioning of stressed syllables in the song line, reveals itself on two levels, in linguistic verse structure and in musical performance. In the singers’ performances the verse and musical structures complement each other, having a cumulative rhythmic effect. By designing the rhythm at both levels, the singers systematically take into consideration the linguistic features of the used words. A statistical analysis shows a remarkable divergence in the rhythmic variation of different lead singers. The results are more homogeneous at the level of linguistic verse structure and more diverse at the level of musical performance. Also, the rhythmic choices of the lead singer and his or her choir in the course of the performance may differ. We may speculate that this divergence in individual rhythmic strategies could have been caused by the singers’ type of creativity and skills, their different perceptions of genre features and intergeneric relations, and the musical influences between more closely related singers.

Open Access December 31, 2019

The Role of Context in Translating Colour Metaphors: An Experiment on English into Estonian Translation

Anu Kalda, Mari Uusküla

Page range: 690-705

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Abstract

Contemporary theory on metaphor states that metaphor is conceptual, conventional, and part of the ordinary system of thought and language. It has been argued that metaphors can become a translation problem, since transferring them from one language and culture to another may be restricted by linguistic and cultural differences. We investigated how colour metaphors are translated from English into Estonian. To understand how metaphors are translated, a cognitive empirical study was carried out with 21 colour metaphors. The experiment was conducted with two separate groups of volunteers. The first group participated in a context-based translation task, the second in a context-free one. The experiment indicates that colour metaphors are culture specific. It also revealed that context plays a crucial role in the comprehension and translation of colour metaphors. The more novel and original the metaphor is, the more varied are the translation strategies used by the participants (e.g. yellow-bellied person ). Differences in translation choices were obvious between translators and non-translators. Qualitative differences appeared as translators were more target culture oriented and non-translators more source culture oriented, for example.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Verb placement and accentuation: Does prosody constrain the Estonian V2?

Heete Sahkai, Anne Tamm

Page range: 729-753

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Abstract

The paper contributes to the understanding of the variation in finite verb placement in Estonian, a verb-second language, by establishing two descriptive facts. First, it identifies a previously undescribed finite verb position in Estonian declarative main clauses, which will be referred to as ‘clause-medial’. The clause-medial position is located between clause-medial sentence adverbials on the one hand, and VP adverbials and the complements of the verb on the other hand. Secondly, the paper reports two empirical studies providing evidence in support of the hypothesis that the occurrence of a finite verb in the proposed clause-medial position, as opposed to its occurrence in the second position, correlates with its accentuation. While clause-medial verbs tend to bear a nuclear pitch accent, second-position verbs don’t. Finally, the paper briefly discusses some broader implications of the existence of the clause-medial finite verb position and of the interaction between verb placement and prosody.

Post-conference Special Issue on Language and Migration

Open Access November 8, 2019

The Discourse of Migration in English-language Online Newspapers: An Analysis of Images

Helene Schmolz

Page range: 421-433

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Abstract

This paper examines English-language online newspapers from the UK, the USA and Australia and analyses the images of news articles about migration. To do so, the newspapers The Guardian, USA Today and The Sydney Morning Herald have been chosen and news articles collected in August 2016. The corpus consists of 650 news articles comprising about half a million of words. From these, 1,300 images have been extracted, sorted into migration- and not migration-related images and then grouped thematically. Selected and high-frequency categories are examined in more detail, example images analysed more closely, and patterns found and common characteristics are discussed. Investigating a larger image corpus is rare in discourse analysis and is still missing for migration-related issues.

Open Access December 13, 2019

Analysis of Lavapiés through its Linguistic Landscape and the Press

Ester Saiz de Lobado García, Almudena Revilla Guijarro

Page range: 466-487

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Abstract

The XXth century gateway cities in Europe, such as Madrid, have followed and in-depth population readjustment, due to the arrival of immigrants from all over the world. This readjustment has left traces in the public spaces of the city; and the media have noted this phenomenon as well. This paper aims at analysing the superdiversity present in Lavapiés, through two different and complementary methodologies: the analyses of the Linguistic Landscape and of press corpora. The analysis of the landscape of the territory will be conducted through a corpus of images or Linguistic Cartography that includes samples of multilingualism present in the area. The press corpora contain news stories, interviews and articles on immigration. These analyses will provide a better picture of the area, in terms of diversity. This paper is part of the Post-conference Special Issue on Language and Migration.

Open Access December 17, 2019

Lost in Migration – Mirandese at a Crossroads

Cláudia Martins, Sérgio Ferreira

Page range: 488-495

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Abstract

The linguistic rights of Mirandese were enshrined in Portugal in 1999, though its “discovery” dates back to the very end of the 19th century at the hands of Leite de Vasconcellos. For centuries, it was the first or only language spoken by people living in the northeast of Portugal, particularly the district of Miranda do Douro. As a minority language, it has always moved among three dimensions. On the one hand, the need to assert and defend this language and have it acknowledged by the country, which proudly believe(d) in their monolingual history. Unavoidably, this has ensued the action of translation, especially active from the mid of the 20th century onwards, with an emphasis on the translation of the Bible and Portuguese canonical literature, as well as other renowned literary forms (e.g. The Adventures of Asterix). Finally, the third axis lies in migration, either within Portugal or abroad. Between the 1950s and the 1960s, Mirandese people were forced to leave Miranda do Douro and villages in the outskirts in the thousands. They fled not only due to the deeply entrenched poverty, but also the almost complete absence of future prospects, enhanced by the fact that they were regarded as not speaking “good” Portuguese, but rather a “charra” language, and as ignorant backward people. This period coincided with the building of dams on the river Douro and the cultural and linguistic shock that stemmed from this forceful contact, which exacerbated their sense of not belonging and of social shame. Bearing all this in mind, we seek to approach the role that migration played not only in the assertion of Mirandese as a language in its own right, but also in the empowerment of new generations of Mirandese people, highly qualified and politically engaged in the defence of this minority language, some of whom were former migrants. Thus, we aim to depict Mirandese’s political situation before and after the endorsement of the Portuguese Law no. 7/99.

Open Access December 13, 2019

The Linguistic and Cultural Atlas of Immigration: Multidisciplinary Research for Spanish Classrooms

María del Carmen Fernández López

Page range: 553-569

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Abstract

This study presents a model for researching the integration of the immigrant population in educational contexts based on a multidisciplinary approach. The Linguistic and Cultural Atlas of Immigration (ALCI) is a working tool designed for teachers who must serve students in their classrooms from languages and cultures other than that of instruction. The information the Atlas contains is the product of various research and documentation projects on the demographic variables of the foreign population located in central Spain, the habits and customs of their culture of origin and important aspects of their native, family or heritage language. The ALCI raises awareness of the results of linguistic and cultural research carried out with the collaboration of the immigrant population (students, their families and other participating adults) and teachers, so that they can be leveraged and employed in the classroom.

About this journal

Open Linguistics is an academic peer-reviewed journal covering all areas of linguistics. The objective of this journal is to foster free exchange of ideas and provide an appropriate platform for presenting, discussing and disseminating new concepts, current trends, theoretical developments and research findings related to a broad spectrum of topics: descriptive linguistics, theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives.

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Coordinating Editors: Titela VÎLCEANU, Antonia CRISTINOI BURSUC, Verónica PACHECO COSTA, Loredana PUNGÃ
manuscript submission deadline: 15 June 2023

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