Linguistic complexity serves as an important measure of second language (L2) writing development. Complexity indices, however, rarely feature in the studies of learner languages other than English. Additionally, L2 writing studies have been criticized for the lack of consistency in defining proficiency. The current study addresses these gaps by…

This study provides a systematic phonetic analysis of the basic entities of Kabardian prosodic units above the word and investigates the predictability of prosodic units from grammatical and discourse factors. This dissertation is the first extensive description of Kabardian prosody and grammar based on natural data. This study proposes that…

A discussion of Japanese topic construction argues that topicalization is merely an attachment of the topic particle "wa". It also proposes that other operations associated with this construction, such as movement and base-generation, are not specifically related to topicalization but can be explained in terms of more general rules of…

The aim of this paper is to describe verbal complementation in Malagasy and to consider how the Malagasy data reflect the "binding hierarchy" proposed by Givon (1980). It is shown that the Malagasy data provide support for the hierarchy and that the occurrence of the complementizer "fa" can be accounted for in terms of the strength of binding the…

Reviews literature pertaining to the subtle differences between the meanings of the particles "waw al-ma iyya" and "fa al-sababiyya," emphasizing their construction differences. (CB)

This paper discusses the phonology-syntax interface in Akan, a language spoken in Ghana and the Cote d'Ivoire, describing a medium of exchange between phonology and syntax. Studies in lexical phonology have distinguished two levels in phonology--lexical and post-lexical--based on how and where phonological rules apply, although some phonological…

A detailed analysis of nouns derived from Noun + Noun structures in the African language Yoruba is presented. These nouns are categorized into two types: compound and phrasal nouns. Assuming some of the basic principles of lexical phonology, it is argued that compound nouns should be derived in the lexicon, while phrasal nouns are derived in the…

Addresses the position of adjectives in the noun phrase in Modern Greek, concentrating on the possible interpretations that the adjective can have relative to the noun. Differences observed between definite and indefinite noun phrases are suggested to be consequences of their predicative nature and the way this interacts with the…

Shows, on empirical grounds, that a verb phrase (VP) is absent in the Arabic sentence structure through specific examination of the language's syntactic property. (CB)

This book presents a guide to syntax in the Hungarian language. It is intended for students and researchers working on syntax and those interested in Finno-Ugric languages. It describes the key grammatical features of the language, focusing on the phenomena that have proven to be theoretically the most relevant and that have attracted the most…

Explores the acquisition process of relative clauses in Japanese and Korean. Examines the issue of whether Korean "kes" and Japanese "no" found in Korean and Japanese relative clauses are each a complementizer or a head noun.(Author/VWL)

The basic noun phrase of Koine Greek is examined, and an analysis consistent with current views on phrase structure within X-bar theory is proposed. The fact that the syntactic distribution of quantifiers, demonstratives, and descriptive adjectives is different leads to the proposal that these are distinct word classes in Greek, as in many other…

Presents checklists of the more common grammatical patterns in spoken Mandarin for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students. Most of the patterns include an example with an English gloss. (Author/LMO)

Some of the problems inherent in a word-based hypothesis asserting that the word/stem is taken as the minimal sign not only for syntax but also for morphology are examined in an analysis of a polysynthetic language, Koyukon, an Athabaskan language of Alaska. Data from the Central dialect is considered in the analysis. A brief sketch of the verbal…

This study examined the interlanguage syntax of Arabic speaking learners of English in the area of the noun phrase, focusing on the closed system elements that can occur before or after the noun head, the noun head and pronouns in line with Quirk and Greenbaum's (1977) treatment of the noun phrase. Participants were 25 Arabic speaking English…