Previous psycholinguistic research has demonstrated that sentence processing varies according to both syntactic and discourse context. However, a systematic investigation of how such contexts influence how the processor manages low-level representations of linguistic structure has yet to be carried out. In this paper, we conduct a series of…

Writing a topic sentence is difficult, as a variety of linguistic knowledge is required to represent the main idea of the whole paragraph. This study applies the mechanism of A-movement in generative syntax to observe syntactic structures, semantic denotations and pragmatic aspects of topic sentences in applied linguistics research articles. The…

In this dissertation I investigate the Mandarin "you"-existential sentence. My focus is on its syntax. I also discuss in less detail some semantic peculiarity of the "you"-existential. I begin my investigation of the syntax of "you"-existentials by first looking into what they are not. To this end, I present five…

This dissertation features a relative clause island, whose status has been known to differ significantly across languages and extraction types. By conducting a series of acceptability judgment experiments with human participants, as well as measuring token-by-token surprisal values among large language models, I demonstrate the following: First,…

I argue that the variation within and across contexts detailed by Shin & Miller is indicative of a broader phenomenon in which morphosyntax and the discourse context are intertwined, including elements like perspective, discourse relations, information structure, and common ground. Appealing to independent evidence highlighting the role of…

When acquiring the English plural, children correctly produce plural words long before they develop an understanding of morphological structure. When acquiring Sesotho noun prefixes, children are aware of the multiple constraints governing variation from a young age. Both of these cases raise questions about the Shin and Miller (2022) account of…

Speakers display considerable variability in language use and representations: they may have different pronunciations of the same word, different intended meanings for the same phrases, and different sets of syntactic constraints in their internalized grammars. Comprehenders adapt to such variability by constantly updating their expectations for…

This study applies the Apriori algorithm to analyse patterns, syntactic structures, and thematic clusters in Chinese studies data from various genres. This study aims to identify recurring linguistic elements in order to shed light on the dynamic nature of the Chinese language across different contexts and time periods. The Apriori algorithm is…

Increased second language acquisition (SLA) research interest in the effect of planning on subsequent L2 oral production has typically examined the effect of planning on the syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and/or fluency (CALF) of L2 production. However, the results of research in this domain are inconclusive. This study, a…

This paper takes issue with the view of conceptual structures as autonomous syntactic structures generated by syntactic formation rules. Instead, it adopts the position developed by Croft and Cruse (2004), in showing that linguistic knowledge -- knowledge of meaning and form -- is basically conceptual structure. In fact the, fundamental problem…

The study deals with emphatic constructions in English and Arabic scientific texts. To the researcher's best knowledge, this topic received little attention from linguistic researchers, exceptionally in functional grammar analysis. The importance of this study arises from the fact that some syntactic forms are effective linguistic choices for…

In the past two decades, syntactic complexity measures (e.g. the length or number of words per clause/t-unit/sentences and number of clauses per t-unit/sentence, and types of clauses used) have been widely used to determine and benchmark language proficiency development in speaking and writing. (Norris and Ortega 2009; Lu 2011). However, the…

The rise of computational methods and rich textual data has spawned a series of studies that map the contours of academic knowledge produced in various fields. However, while many fields span academic cultures, studies have neglected disciplinary dynamics that may be especially useful for understanding knowledge production in fields with subject…

How do children learn gender stereotypes? Although people commonly use statements like "Girls are as good as boys at math" to express gender equality, such "subject-complement statements" subtly perpetuate the stereotype that boys are naturally more skilled. The syntax of such statements frames the item in the complement…

Background/Objectives: There is no attempt to investigate the relationships between dependency and markedness even though the syntactic roles in language are decided by dependency relations and markers. The main objective of this study was to understand markedness beyond syntactical tables and propose a syntax graph with various syntax structures…