Structures Formelles du Langage

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Extreme case formulations (ECFs) are semantically extreme formulations that invoke the maximal or minimal properties of events or objects, such as “everyone,” “nobody,” “always,” “never,” “completely,” “nothing,” and so on. This entry reviews seminal work on ECFs, identifying their key features and interactional uses. These include their uses in defending against or countering challenges to the legitimacy of complaints, accusations, justifications and defenses; in proposing the objective (rather than circumstantial) nature of a phenomenon; in proposing that some behavior is right or wrong by virtue of being widespread; and in producing designedly non-literal (and thus not accountably accurate) descriptions that display various kinds of investment on the part of speaker, and can also be used in actions such as joking, teasing and irony. In addition, the entry describes some of the applied interactional research in which ECFs have been shown to be an important resource for participants, and thus for analysts.

This book builds a semantics for several kinds of future-referring expressions, including will sentences, be going to sentences, and futurates. While there exists previous work on future-referring expressions, this is the first treatment of such a variety of expressions in a formal semantic framework. Arguments presented herein explicate the meanings of these expressions, and account for similarities and differences among them. Shared is a future-oriented model with a systematic alternation between inertial and bouletic ordering sources that provide a new way of understanding the age-old future Law of the Excluded Middle, evident in all of the future-referring expressions. A difference found among these meanings is the presence or absence of progressive- or generic-like aspect in a position higher than the future modal. These very high aspectual operators affect the temporal argument of the modal's accessibility relation, with detectable effects that can be used to determine scope relations in future conditionals. Copley's analysis thus addresses a number of issues of great interest to formal semanticists, from modal and aspectual semantics, to the mapping of functional elements in the clause, to the logical form of conditionals.

During language processing, humans form complex embedded representations from sequential inputs. Here, we ask whether a "geometrical language" with recursive embedding also underlies the human ability to encode sequences of spatial locations. We introduce a novel paradigm in which subjects are exposed to a sequence of spatial locations on an octagon, and are asked to predict future locations. The sequences vary in complexity according to a well-defined language comprising elementary primitives and recursive rules. A detailed analysis of error patterns indicates that primitives of symmetry and rotation are spontaneously detected and used by adults, preschoolers, and adult members of an indigene group in the Amazon, the Munduruku, who have a restricted numerical and geometrical lexicon and limited access to schooling. Furthermore, subjects readily combine these geometrical primitives into hierarchically organized expressions. By evaluating a large set of such combinations, we obtained a first view of the language needed to account for the representation of visuospatial sequences in humans, and conclude that they encode visuospatial sequences by minimizing the complexity of the structured expressions that capture them.

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Kant argued that Euclidean geometry is synthesized on the basis of an a priori intuition of space. This proposal inspired much behavioral research probing whether spatial navigation in humans and animals conforms to the predictions of Euclidean geometry. However, Euclidean geometry also includes concepts that transcend the perceptible, such as objects that are infinitely small or infinitely large, or statements of necessity and impossibility. We tested the hypothesis that certain aspects of nonperceptible Euclidian geometry map onto intuitions of space that are present in all humans, even in the absence of formal mathematical education. Our tests probed intuitions of points, lines, and surfaces in participants from an indigene group in the Amazon, the Mundurucu, as well as adults and age-matched children controls from the United States and France and younger US children without education in geometry. The responses of Mundurucu adults and children converged with that of mathematically educated adults and children and revealed an intuitive understanding of essential properties of Euclidean geometry. For instance, on a surface described to them as perfectly planar, the Mundurucu's estimations of the internal angles of triangles added up to ~180 degrees, and when asked explicitly, they stated that there exists one single parallel line to any given line through a given point. These intuitions were also partially in place in the group of younger US participants. We conclude that, during childhood, humans develop geometrical intuitions that spontaneously accord with the principles of Euclidean geometry, even in the absence of training in mathematics.

Space is presently the focus of much research and debate across disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. One strong feature of this collection is to bring together theoretical and empirical contributions from these varied scientific traditions, with the collective aim of addressing fundamental questions at the forefront of the current literature: the nature of space in language, the linguistic relativity of space, the relation between spatial language and cognition. Linguistic analyses highlight the multidimensional and heterogeneous nature of space, while also showing the existence of a set of types, parameters, and principles organizing the considerable diversity of linguistic systems and accounting for mechanisms of diachronic change. Findings concerning spatial perception and cognition suggest the existence of two distinct systems governing linguistic and non-linguistic representations, that only partially overlap in some pathologies, but they also show the strong impact of language-specific factors on the course of language acquisition and cognitive development.

Abstract Case and Agree are technical terms meant here in the framework of Chomsky (1000 et seq.), and the investigation is pursued in that framework, but the issue is by no means internal to it. I use the term theta-related Case for all morphological case marking whose identity depends on the local relationship of a DP to its selector, whether canonical for a theta-role or idiosyncratic (Woolford’s (2006) lexical and inherent Case). It stands in contrast to structural Case, which is assigned to a DP by a functional head that does not select it, often at a potentially unbounded distance. The hallmark of theta-related Case is that it does not alternate with the embedding of an argument selector under different functional architectures such as raising and ECM, and that it cannot be borne by non-thematic elements such as there type expletives, unlike structural Case.

The central goal of this article is to propose a systematic description of differental function marking (DM) in Korean, a language in which both subject and object markers may fail to be spelled out. Taking Aissen's theory of DM (Aissen 2003) as a starting point, we show that although its predictions seem mostly consistent with the statistical results of corpus-based research on Korean (and Japanese), this model does not accurately account for the Korean data. We argue that subject and object bareness (the lack of a functional particle) regularly correlates with interpretive effects that should be captured in terms of information structure (focus structure). Adapting Erteschik-Shir's (1997, 2007) framework to represent f(ocus)-structure, we argue that bare subjects and objects in Korean fail to be visible at this level. Consequently, they may be construed neither as active topics nor as foci, and thus must either be left out of f-structure or incorporated within larger f-structure constituents in order to be interpreted. We show that bare objects are never construed as topics or foci and always exhibit a form of semantic incorporation, while leul-marked objects always stand as f-structure constituents construed as focused at some level. Bare subjects, unlike neun-marked topical subjects and GA-marked subjects, can be construed neither as active topics nor as foci, and always occur in tense-deficient clauses construed as thetic and anchored to speech time. We argue that our assumptions correctly predict the results of corpus studies, and we suggest that as regards nominal arguments, f-structure visibility might ultimately stand as the crucial interpretive correlate of functional positions in syntax.

This paper presents an off-line study consisting of five questionnaires in which we observed interpretational preferences for ambiguous intra-sentential pronouns in parallel structures in German and French. We tested the influence of information structural factors, in particular, we compared the effects of topicalizing versus focusing potential antecedents of the ambiguous pronoun. Results replicated a baseline difference between the two languages: a subject preference in German and an object preference in French (Hemforth et al. 2010). We argue that the object preference in French is due to the fact that speakers take into account an alternative nonambiguous construction. In addition, we found that in both languages, topicalization enhances, but focusing reduces the accessibility of antecedents for pronouns in the same sentence. This stands in contrast with previous results showing an equal accessibility of focused and topicalized referents for pronouns in subsequent sentences (Cowles et al. 2007). We explain this difference with the different function of focus within and across sentences.

Écriture inclusive (EI) has long been the topic of public debates in France. These debates have become more intense in recent years, often focusing on the higher education system and culminating in the formulation of three separate laws banning it for public administration. In this paper, we investigate the foundations of these conflicts through a large quantitative corpus study of the (non)use of EI in Parisian undergraduate brochures. Our results suggest that Parisian university professors use EI not only to ensure gender neutral reference but also as a tool to construct their political identities. We show that both the use of EI and its particular forms are conditioned by how brochure writers position themselves on non gender-related-related issues within the French university's political landscape, which explains how conflicts surrounding a linguistic practice have become understood as conflicts about larger issues in French society. Our paper thus provides new information to be taken into account in the formulation and promotion of nonsexist language policies and sheds light on how feminist linguistic activism and its opposition are deeply intertwined with other kinds of social activism in present-day France.

Abstract This book offers a syntax and a semantics of nonverbal predicates (i.e., nominal, adjectival, and prepositional predicates) in copular sentences. It explores how the different interpretations of nonverbal predicates can be accounted for in a system that maintains a single structure for predication. The book departs from earlier studies by arguing in favor of a ternary distinction between defining/characterizing/situation-descriptive predicates rather than the more common stage-level/individual-level distinction. The distinction is based on two semantic criteria, namely maximality (i.e., whether the predicate describes an eventuality that has spatio-temporal properties or not) and density (i.e. whether the spatio-temporal properties are perceived as atomic or not). The book argues in favor of a strong correlation between the semantic properties of predicates and their internal syntactic structure. Density and maximality are structurally realized in two distinct projections, namely Classifier Phrases and Number Phrases, respectively. Predicates interpreted as maximal involve a NumP layer; predicates interpreted as non-dense involve a ClP layer; while dense predicates lack both projections. The analysis is shown to account for apparently unrelated data across languages as the apparent optionality of the indefinite article in French, the distribution of the two copulas serestar in Spanish, the distribution of nominal and adjectival predicates in Irish, and case marking on Russian predicates. The languages this study is based on are primarily French, Spanish, Modern Irish, and Russian.

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How and why do all children learn language? Why do some have difficulties while others are early language learners? What are the consequences of early bilingualism? Is it possible to reach native-like competence in a foreign language? Although we still cannot fully answer these questions, research during the last two decades has begun to solve some pieces of the puzzle. This book proposes an interdisciplinary collection of writings from some of the best specialists across several fields in cognitive science, offering a wide sample of recent advances in the study of first language acquisition, bilingualism, second language acquisition, and disorders of oral language. It is addressed to all researchers and students interested in language acquisition, as well as to teachers, clinicians and parents, who will find therein many new findings and varied methodological approaches, as well as challenging questions that are still debated and in need of further research.

The confluence of an anomaly such as a growth spurt or a temporary regression on the one hand and a temporary increase in intra-individual variability on the other hand, forms a strong indicator of a major transition in early language development. Data concern one-word (W1), two- and three-word (W2-3), and four-and-more-word (W4+) utterances from two French children during their second and third years. A dynamic growth model was fitted, based on a structure of supportive, conditional and competitive relationships. Using a statistical simulation method, we showed two striking peaks of variability in addition to a temporary regression or rapid growth in the proportions of W1, W2-3 and W4+ utterances. We argue that these phenomena show transitions corresponding to critical points in grammatical development, which could be indicative of the emergence of simple combinatorial and syntactic stages of language successively. Our results emphasize the relevance of time-serial data and of intra-individual variability in the study of developmental transitions in general.

This study investigates when and how French-learning children acquire the main grammatical constraint on the noun category, i.e. the obligatory use of a preceding determiner. Spontaneous speech samples coming from the corpora of twenty children in each of three age groups, 1 ; 8, 2 ; 6, 3 ; 3, were transcribed and coded with respect to morphosyntactic, lexical and length properties of nouns. Results indicate that noun grammaticalization is a gradual process which involves early transitional procedures, as well as an increasing diversity in the content and contexts of determiner use. In support of prosodic hypotheses, noun length effects (in favor of monosyllabic nouns) mostly occurred at 1 ; 8. Animacy effects supporting the lexical hypothesis (in favor of inanimate nouns) occurred at 2 ; 6 and 3 ; 3. We suggest that noun grammaticalization is influenced by both prosodic and lexical factors. Prosodic influences predominate in the first steps of the developmental process, while lexical influences emerge in later steps.

Les travaux réalisés sur l’acquisition en L1 et en L2 laissent penser que les stratégies d’acquisition et par conséquent les voies d’accès lexical pour les deux types d’apprenants pourraient être différentes. Les apprenants L2 traiteraient la liaison plutôt lexicalement (apprentissage au cas par cas pour chaque mot dans chaque contexte problématique) là où les apprenants de L1 semblent plutôt mettre en place une règle morpho-phonologique à un moment précis de leur développement linguistique, règle qu’ils utilisent ensuite en temps réel lors du traitement lexical.Dans cet article, nous nous proposons de faire la synthèse des expériences psycholinguistiques et des données de production concernant l’acquisition de la liaison en L1 et L2, ainsi que d’approfondir l’hypothèse de l’existence de deux types de stratégies d’acquisition et donc de voies d’accès lexical différentes pour L1 et L2. Puis ces résultats seront confrontés au débat concernant la nécessité (ou l’absence de nécessité) du recours à des représentations phonologiques abstraites pour rendre compte de l’existence et de l’acquisition de la liaison en français.

The creation of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has given rise to interest and debate among policy makers, testers, teachers and researchers alike in the reliability and feasibility of the assessment of second language (L2) proficiency. This volume brings together concrete ideas on identifying and measuring L2 proficiency from different branches of SLA research (psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, corpus-based, applied linguistics) to contribute to a deeper understanding of what it means to be proficient in an L2. The chapters introduce a wide range of tools that are innovative, reliable, and easy-to-use for the evaluation of learners’ language level with respect to both productive and receptive skills and provide a variety of answers to the question of how to assess L2 proficiency in a valid, reliable and practical manner. The collection will therefore inspire language teachers, teacher trainers and language testing specialists and help them adapt their assessment practices when necessary, and will also be a valuable resource for postgraduate students and researchers

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