The goal of this study is to understand the ways in which humans apply relevant modules of knowledge of language to an input sentence in a parsing process. To this end, quantifier float constructions in Japanese are analyzed, as a case study, on the basis of the view that the output in parsing comprises discrete and multiple categories. Then, a…

Proto-Siouan "one" is reconstructed in two versions from two separate cognate sets, both of which are defective in that each has been entirely lacking from one or another of the major Siouan subgroups. One of the sets for "one" is found in Mississippi Valley Siouan, and it contains the same root as the indefinite article that…

St. Clair's Comanche texts, collected in 1902, appear to exhibit a very uncharacteristic form of objective case marking along with "same subject" dependent clause types unknown elsewhere in the language. Proper interpretation of the materials and the circumstances in which they were transcribed leads to an analysis in which…

This paper examines spatial deixis in Chiwere (Siouan) in the framework of two theories of deixis. Denny (1978) attempts to define a set of distinctive features for spatial deixis, while Rauh (1983) uses spatial deixis as a template for organizing all deictic dimensions. Chiwere data suggest language and dimension specific expansion of both…

Proto-Algonquian had six or seven orders (morphological types) of verbs. The potential order had three modes, the subordinative two, and by one interpretation, the conjunct had four. By another, all conjuncts are participles in the protolanguage. Evidentials include an attestive suppositive dubitative, and perhaps a recollective. Only a few…

An analysis of Kilega, a Bantu language spoken in eastern Zaire, focuses on the relative positions of subject and verb and agreement patterns, with particular attention to WH-movement. It is found that Kilega is a subject-verb-object language, but exhibits some variant patterns. WH-movement triggers verb-subject inversion and shifts agreement. The…

This study investigates the phenomenon of obligatory dative doubling, examining data based upon a critique of two analyses of clitic doubling in Spanish within different grammatical frameworks. Previous analyses propose that dative clitic doubling is obligatory whenever the Noun Phrase in indirect position is not a semantic Recipient/Addressee…

This paper argues that Mandarin Chinese has a fixed syllabic represented by the template CGVX, with one slot in the onset and three slots in the rimeprime (as projection of the rime). It claims that the pre-nucleus glide is obligatory, is an independent constituent, and is adjoined to the rime constituent. Extensive evidence for this template is…

This paper argues that the Korean particles "-to" and "-na" can be analyzed as having one core meaning with their own accompanying meanings due to illocutionary forces or to people's world-knowledge on orderings among the elements of alternative sets. It also maintains that both the incompatibility of "amwu" ('any')…

Implementation of a computer-based model for morphological analysis and synthesis of language, entitled P-KIMMO, is discussed. The model was implemented in Quintus Prolog on a Sun Workstation and exported to a Macintosh computer. This model has two levels of morphophonological representation, lexical and surface levels, associated by…

Causative constructions have been observed to have an iconic relationship between form and meaning. In Nepali, the citation form of a verb ends in "-nu." By inserting the morpheme "-au" before "-nu," one can change the verbs into corresponding causative verbs. In addition, Nepali has several causative verbs that form…

This document focuses on specific linguistic features that serve ideological functions in texts written in South Africa from 1985 to 1988. The features examined include: naming; metaphors; old words with new meanings; words becoming tainted; renaming or lexicalization; overlexicalization; strategies for resisting classification; tense and aspect;…

A discussion of autosegmental phonology (AP), a theory of phonological representation that uses graphs rather than strings as the central data structure, considers its principal constraint, the "No Crossing Constraint" (NCC). The NCC is the statement that in a well-formed autosegmental diagram, lines of association may not cross. After…

Full verbs and auxiliaries are subject to gapping. In the simplest cases, this construction type involves apparent ellipsis within one or more clausal conjuncts under identity with the finite verb or auxiliary of a preceding conjunct. It has often been suggested that the apparent ellipsis must involve at least a verb. Some researchers see in the…

This paper studies the variety of Arabic imperative sentences, which are seen as the result of an interrelated set of choices made from a limited number of binary systems, and analyzes their occurrence in different situations. Where possible, relevant features of Arabic imperative structures are compared with their nearest English equivalents. The…