Table of Contents:
First of all, we'd like to apologize for the gap between the last issue of SASSN and the present one. As you will have noticed, this is a joint 4.1 and 4.2 issue. While the primary responsibility for this is ours, we also received fewer submissions than in the past. However, there does not seem to be a drop in the work being done on South Asian syntax and semantics. Please do make it a point to send us your contributions since there are many out there who stand to benefit. As in the past, contributions should be sent to the Rutgers address in the interests of organizational order. Email submissions are preferable since it cuts down on our typing out material.
As mentioned in earlier issues, SASS Newsletter has been supported by the Department of Linguistics, Rutgers University since its inception in 1991. In order to reduce the burden on the home department we had requested voluntary subscriptions of $5. Unfortunately, we only got one check. With this issue we are therefore cutting down on mailing costs by moving to email transmission. Many of you have expressed interest in receiving the issue by email so this should not be too much of a problem. Please make sure that you send your current correct email address to Rajesh (email: bhatt@babel.ling.upenn.edu). Of course, we will continue to mail copies to those who are not on email.From now on, the newsletter will also be available on the WWW at the following URL: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/sassn.html .
In this issue, we have included a section on forthcoming/unpublished work. Since the publication process is slow, it is helpful for other people in the field to be aware of work that is ready for circulation but not yet in print. Thanks to all of you who contributed.
Veneeta Dayal Rajesh Bhatt Editor, SASSN Associate Editor, SASSN Department of Linguistics Department of Linguistics Rutgers University University of Pennsylvania 18 Seminary Place Room # 619, Williams Hall New Brunswick, NJ 08903 Philadelphia, PA 19104 Phone: (908) 932-6903 Phone: (215) 546-9343 email:dayal@rci.rutgers.edu bhatt@babel.ling.upenn.edu
West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics March 1994. University of Southern California, San Diego. (Proceedings Published)
FAS March 1994. Berlin. (Proceedings Published)
GLOW April 1994, Vienna (Published in GLOW Newsletter 32, Spring 1994)
Workshop on Burzio's Generalization June 1994, Utrecht University. (Proceedings published)
CLS 31 Parasession on Clitics (Proceedings published)
SALA 17
GGS Jena 1995
Formal Grammar Conference -- Special Session on Clause Union. Barcelona.
Linguistic Society of America, Annual Meeting January 1995, New Orleans
Bhuvana Narsimhan (Boston University) proposes a general lexical
semantic constraint to account for Dative subjects in Hindi
psychological predicate construction: an argument that is higher on
the "affectedness" hierarchy is assigned Dative case ina predicate
that is a state or an achievment. Hence, Dative case assignment is
constrained by aspect and affectedness (Tenny, 1987, van Valin,
1991) - factors that also play a role in other lexical phenomena
such as unaccusativity (McClure, 1990). Lexical case is not
necssarily "quirky" or "idiosyncratic" case.
Semantics and Linguistic Theory V February 1995, University of Texas, Austin. (Proceedings Published by Cornell University)
West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics March 1995. University of California, Los Angeles. (Proceedings Published)
Diachrony in Generative Syntax 4 University of Quebec at Montreal, Oct. 31 - Nov. 2 1995
Western Conference on Linguistics University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Oct. 1995
Tara Mohanan. 1995. "Wordhood and Lexicality: Noun Incorporation in Hindi". Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 13.1. This paper examines the syntactic, semantic, morphological and phonological properties of a certain type of noun-verb sequence in Hindi, and argues that it is an instance of noun incorporation. The sequence must be analysed as a lexical category; yet paradoxically, verb agreement and negation show that this noun is on par with a syntactically independent argument. The paper proposes a solution to this dual behavior of the noun by recognizing grammatical categories and grammatical functions as belonging to distinct but co-present dimensions of syntactic representation.
Jeffrey L Lidz. "Morphological Reflexive Marking: Evidence From Kannada".
Lingusitic Inquiry 26.4
In this paper I argue that Reinhart and Reuland's theory of
Reflexivity can be extended to handle the properties of the Kannada
verbal reflexive 'koL' as well as the Kannada pronominal reflexive
'tannu'. What is required is an extension of the notion of 'reflexive
marking', which includes syntactic reflexive marking by an argument and
lexical reflexive marking, to also include morphological reflexive
marking by an affix like the Kannada verbal reflexive 'koL'.
Theoretical Perspectives on Word Order in South Asian Languages
Edited by: Miriam Butt, Tracy Holloway King, Gillian Ramchand
1994, CSLI Publications, Stanford, California
(pubs@csli.stanford.edu)
Contents:
1. Tracy Holloway King and Gillian Ramchand 'Introduction' (1-12)
2. Tista Bagchi 'Bangla Correlative Pronouns, Relative Clause
Order, and D-linking' (13-29)
3. Rakesh Mohan Bhatt 'Word Order, Configurationality, and the
Structure of the Kashmiri Clause' (31-65)
4. Miriam Butt 'Complex Predicate Scrambling in Urdu' (67-90)
5. Veena Dwivedi 'Topicalization in Hindi and the Correlative
Construction' (91-117)
6. Susan C. Herring 'Afterthoughts, Antitopics, and Emphasis: The
Syntacticization of Postverbal Position in Tamil' (119-152)
7. K. P. Mohanan and T. Mohanan 'Issues in Word Order in South
Asian Languages: Enriched Phrase Structure of Multidimensionality'
(153-184)
8. Tara Mohanan 'Case OCP: A Constraint on Word Order in Hindi'
(185-216)
9. Mona Singh 'Thematic Roles, Word Order, and Definiteness'
(217-235)
10. Veneeta Srivastav Dayal 'Binding Facts in Hindi and the
Scrambling Phenomenon' (237-261)
11. K. G. Vijayakrishnan 'Compound Typology in Tamil' (263-278)
The problem of word order and word order flexibility remains one of
the most difficult and problematic areas for formal theories of
grammar. The modern linguistic goal of arriving at an invariant
and regular set of structures for natural language in general
(Universal Grammar) is in tension with the palpable variability in
surface word order among and within particular languages. This
volume presents a collection of papers on word order variation in
the languages of South Asia. These languages are interesting
precisely because they exhibit such great flexibility in their word
orders while not being completely non-configurational; and data
from these languages has been the source of much recent research
and controversy in this domain. The papers embody widely differing
theoretical perspectives and concerns, and this is in part a
reflection of the far reaching effects and problems associated with
word order possibilities for many different linguistic domains:
morphological, lexical, syntactic, semantic and
discourse/pragmatic. However the reader chooses to interpret these
facts, or assess these theoretical proposals, we believe they
cannot be ignored in any general analysis of the status of
precedence relations and word order variability within languages.
Overview of Individual Papers: In `Bangla Correlative Pronouns, Relative Clause Order and Discourse Linking', T. Bagchi examines the different discourse properties of the correlative construction in Bangla depending on whether the correlative is expressed in a standard or right-dislocated structure. Not only are these distinct orders seen to have different semantics, but the interpretation of deictics and anaphors also varies depending on precedence relations.
In `Word Order, Configurationality and the Structure of the Kashmiri Clause' R. Bhatt argues that Kashmiri, a verb-second language, is configurational. The existence of VP-internal and external hierarchical structure in Kashmiri, which has been previously analyzed as nonconfigurational, contributes to the debate as to whether universally all languages project their arguments configurationally and argues against the notion that `free' word order is synonymous with nonconfigurationality.
In `Complex Predicate Scrambling in Urdu', M. Butt uses word order variability to demonstrate the ambiguous constituency structure of two complex verbal sentential types in Urdu. Butt argues that while scrambling possibilities reflect constituent structure, this does not seem to distinguish predicational structures on the basis of argument structure or functional structure differences. The data from Urdu argue that differences in argument structure between two constructions are not reflected in the constituent structure representation, but that these distinctions are effectively lost at that level.
In `Topicalization in Hindi and the Correlative Construction' V. Dwivedi argues that topicalization in Hindi comprises two structures. Topic dislocation involves a topic base generated under TopicP, outside of CP, and binds a pro within CP. Topicalization involves movement of an NP to a position adjoined to IP, which binds a trace within the clause. Dwivedi further proposes that there is a semantic difference between the two positions: referential NPs are dislocated, while all other XPs and non-referential NPs are adjoined to IP.
In `Afterthoughts, Antitopics and Emphasis', S. Herring presents a theory of the discourse functions associated with the post-verbal position in Tamil. The post-verbal position is associated with emphasis, backgrounding, and afterthoughts. Herring shows that these three functions are not only functionally distinct but are also positionally distinct, with the `emphasis' position being most closely connected to the sentence, and the `afterthought' being the furthest out and most loosely connected to the sentence.
In `Issues in Word Order in South Asian Languages', K.P. Mohanan and T. Mohanan examine many of the crucial questions that arise from a discussion of word order variability in these languages and present two main theoretical alternatives for capturing the basic facts. These alternatives involve the choice between an enriched phrase structure approach, which encodes a variety of syntactic information in a single phrase structure, and a more multidimensional approach, which provides a different representations for different types of information. They present a particular kind of multidimensional theory, which they argue represents most clearly and adequately the facts from a number of South Asian languages.
In `Case OCP: A Constraint on Word Order in Hindi' T. Mohanan argues that word order relations are encoded at a level logically independent of syntactic hierarchical structure and of lexical and phonological levels of linguistic representation. Mohanan argues that the Obligatory Contour Principle can operate at the level of word order. She argues that identically case marked arguments of a predicate are prohibited when prosodically adjacent. These data present a challenge to theories in which the interactions between different levels of representation are more constrained.
In `Thematic Roles, Word Order and Definiteness' M. Singh shows that there are correlations between the scrambling possibilities of direct objects and the possibility of definite interpretations for those objects. When an object that would otherwise be ambiguous between a definite and indefinite interpretation is scrambled out of its canonical position adjacent to the verb, it can no longer have an indefinite interpretation but must be interpreted as a definite.
In `Binding Facts in Hindi and the Scrambling Phenomenon' Srivastav Dayal argues against the claim advanced by Mahajan (1990) that scrambling in Hindi can be an instance of A-movement. Taking a closer look at binding facts, she shows that scrambling can only be considered an instance of A' movement. However, quantifier float and weak cross-over propoerties of scrambling differ from those of standard A' movement. Thus scrambling calls for a three-way distinction in movement types.
In `Compound Typology in Tamil', K. G. Vijayakrishnan uses scrambling, adjacency facts, and the possible intrusion of focus phrases to distinguish between different types of compound verbs in the language. Word order possibilities make crucial distinctions between the types of compounds in Tamil, and this is used to motivate phrase structural and morpholexical differences. Of particular theoretical interest is the claim that non-zero level categories participate in compound formation within the lexicon.
.
Papers from The Fifteenth South Asian Language Analysis Round Table
Conference, edited by Alice Davison and Frederick M. Smith,
University of Iowa press, Iowa City, IA. (To order write to:
Publications Order Dept. , University of Iowa, 100 Oakdale,
#M1050H, Iowa City, IA 52242-5000, or call 1-8000235-2665)
Contents:
1. Why explicators are not auxiliaries
Anvita Abbi and Devi Gopalakrishnan (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
2. Another look at correlatives in Hindi/Urdu
Gurprit Bains (Long Island University)
3. Contact Phenomena: The case of Malaysian Tamil
Loga Baskaran (University of Malaya)
4, Classifiers and the Bangla DP
Probal Dasgupta and Tanmoy Sengupta (University of Hyderabad)
5. A compound structure for the pronominal anaphor in Hindi-Urdu
Alice Davison (University of Iowa)
6. Conjunctive Operators in South Asian languages
David Gil (Singapore National University)
7. Agreement system in Telugu
M. Hariprasad (University of Hyderabad)
8. Discourse linkage in Sanskrit Narratives with special emphasis
on
the story of Nala
Hans H. Hock (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
9. Marathi relative clauses revisited
Indira Junghare (University of Minnesota)
10. The demise of diglossia in Bengali
M. H. Klaiman (Indiana-Purdue University, Ft. Wayne)
11. On the origin of embedded relative clauses
Patrick Marlow (University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign
12. Some new perspecitives on South-Asia as a linguistic area
Colin P. Masica (University of Chicago)
13. On the correlation between morphological case and semantic
functions in Hindi/Urdu
Annie Montaut (Institut national des languages et civilizations
orientals, Paris)
14. Is it coordination or subordinaton
Jayashree Nadahalli (New York University)
15. The position of negation in Bengali: An account of synchronic
and diachronic variation
Zelmira Nunez del Prado and James Gair (Cornell University)
16. Tamil anaphor binding in distant clauses
Vasu Rengenathan (University of Washington)
17. Tier conflation and bracket erasure
P. Sailaja (University of Hyderabad)
18. If that's the case, I don't agree
Anjum P. Saleemi (National University of Singapore)
19. Case dependencies in Hindi
Joga Singh (York University and South Gujarat UNiversity)
20. Clefts in Malayalam: a focussed movement approach
K. Srikumar (Osmania University)
21. Reference and aging in Tamil
Jeyesheree Venkatesan (University of Texas at Arlington)
22. Dissimilition in Meitei
K. Vijayakrishnan (CIEFL, Hyderabad)
23. Phonetic emphasis in Tamil
James E. Vinton (University of Texas at Arlington)
24. Clitic and Case: A cross-linguistic perspective
Kashi Wali (Syracuse University and Cornell University)
25. Normative canons, women's language and translation of the
Other
Arlene Zide (Washington College (Chicago) and University of
Chicago)
Bayer, J. (1995). Directionality and Logical Form: On the Scope of Focusing Particles and WH-In-Situ. To be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory).
Anoop Mahajan (UCLA) "Oblique Subjects" (a series of five lectures, Dutch National Graduate Program, University of Leiden, June 1994). These lectures develop a proposal for a version of categorial uniformity of underlying structures across languages. It is suggested that categorial structures instantiating parallel thematic organizations should be categorially similar (an extension of UTAH). The implications of this proposal are examined by exploring the categorial nature of subjects in a variety of construction types in some sub branches of the Indo-European family. It is argued that the categorial differences between the subjects in these languages can be related to certain other primary differences like word order, agreement and productivity of scrambling operations.
Anoop Mahajan (UCLA) "Against A Rightward Movement Analysis of Extraposition and Rightward Scrambling in Hindi" in Shigeo Tonoike (ed) Kurosio Publishers (Japan). This paper examines the nature and interaction of two putative rightward movement syntactic operations in Hindi. These operations are Rightward Scrambling and Extraposition. It is argued that the properties of these two operations are inconsistent with their standard analysis that treats them as rightward movement rules. On the other hand, the descriptive effects concerning the nature and interaction of these operations follow straightforwardly if extraposition is treated as a clause-stranding operation and rightward scrambling as either a leftward movement rule or as an argument in-situ in conjunction with VP or AGRP preposing operations. The paper presents additional empirical support for the theory of anti-symmetry of Kayne (1994).
Anoop Mahajan (UCLA) "Universal Grammar and the Typology of
Ergative Languages" in A. Alexiadu and T.A. Hall (eds). John
Benjamins Publications. One of the central goals of linguistics is
to construct a model of language that is not only consistent with
the observable differences between languages but provides a basis
for an explanation of such observable differences. Within the
Principles and Parameters approach, differences between individual
languages, and between groups of languages, are usually handled by
positing parameterization of universal principles. However,
differences between individual languages often come in clusters.
Recent work within P&P takes the view that several discrete
differences between two languages may sometimes be linked to a
fundamental difference between such languages. This paper aims to
illustrate how a research program can be implemented in the
empirical domain of case marking systems. It is suggested that the
well known case marking differences between nominative-accusative
and ergative-absolutive languages are not primary but are merely
surface manifestations of certain other fundamental factors which
are also responsible for many other typological traits of these two
classes of languages.