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Previous studies suggest that the application of Controlled Language (CL) rules can significantly improve the readability, consistency, and machine-translatability of source text. One of the justifications for the application of CL rules is that they can have a similar impact on several target languages by reducing the post-editing effort required to bring Machine Translation (Ml’) output to acceptable quality. In certain situations, however, post-editing services may not always be a viable solution. Web-based information is often expected to be made available in real-time to ensure that its access is not restricted to certain users based on their locale. Uncertainties remain with regard to the actual usefulness of MT output for such users, as no empirical study has examined the impact of CL rules on the usefulness, comprehensibility, and acceptability of MT technical documents from a Web user's perspective. In this study, a two-phase approach is used to determine whether Controlled English rules can have a significant impact on these three variables. First, individual CL rules are evaluated within an experimental environment, which is loosely based on a test suite.Two documents are then published and subject to a randomised evaluation within the framework of an online experiment using a customer satisfaction questionnaire. The findings indicate that a limited number of CL rules have a similar impact on the comprehensibility of French and German output at the segment level. The results of the online experiment show that the application of certain CL rules has the potential to significantly improve the comprehensibility of German MT technical documentation. Our findings also show that the introduction of CL rules did not lead to any significant improvement of the comprehensibility, usefulness, and acceptability of French MT technical documentation.
Schlenker (2012) proposes that when framed within a modern Stalnakerian view of presupposition and common ground (Stalnaker, 1998, 2002), Maximize Presupposition! (Heim, 1991; Sauerland, 2008) can be viewed as a special case of the maxim of Quantity (Grice, 1975).
We provide data suggesting that in some cases, Maximize Presupposition! applies even when speakers are not expected to use a presupposition as vectors of new information. We argue that these data support the view that Maximize Presupposition! is an independent pragmatic principle, distinct from Quantity.
Das Fersental (Valle del Fèrsina) liegt etwa fünfzehn Kilometer östlich von Trient in der Provinz Trient / Trento in Oberitalien und bildet eine germanophone Sprachinsel im hauptsächlich italienisch-sprachigen Trentino. Gesprochen wird die Minderheitensprache „Mòchenisch“ [...] oder Deutsch-Fersentalerisch heute in drei Orten des Fersentals [...]. Die Grammatik bietet eine Übersicht über Lautungen, Formen und Satzbau des Mòchenischen.
Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit einem spezifischen Phänomen innerhalb der Sprachphilosophie und der linguistischen Pragmatik – den explizit performativen Äußerungen (Austin 1979). Im Zentrum der Arbeit stehen die detaillierte Explikation und der kritische Vergleich zweier prominenter Erklärungsmodelle von Performativen: Einerseits Bach/Harnish’s (1979) Analyse dieser Äußerungen als indirekte Sprechakte, andererseits Searle’s (1989) Behandlung von Performativen als Deklarationen. Die Arbeit gliedert sich wie folgt. Kapitel 1 führt die terminologischen Grundlagen ein und dient der Darstellung des Performativitätsproblems. Kapitel 2 befasst sich mit der Nachzeichnung der Standardisierten Indirektheit von Performativen nach Bach/Harnish (1979) und der Kritik an diesem Modell. Nach einer Einführung in das intentionale Kommunikationsmodell von Grice erfolgt eine Darstellung der allgemeinen Prinzipien von Bach/Harnish’s Kommunikationstheorie, die in expliziter Anlehnung an Grice konzipiert ist. Grundlage für die Behandlung der Analyse expliziter Performative ist vor allem die Darstellung des Speech Act Schema, also des inferentiellen Rasters, das Bach/Harnish sprachlicher Kommunikation zugrunde legen, sowie die Erläuterung der Begriffe der Konventionalisierung und Standardisierung. Die eigentliche Darstellung der Theorie präsentiert zwei unterschiedliche Muster zur inferentiellen Entschlüsselung der indirekten Bedeutung explizit performativer Äußerungen und schließt mit einem Modell, das die beiden Indirektheitsanalysen und Standardisierung integriert. Die Kritik wägt beide Indirektheitsanalysen gegeneinander ab, befasst sich mit der generellen Frage, ob Performative die Eigenschaften indirekter Sprechakte besitzen und untersucht, inwiefern die Annahme des Vollzugs eines assertiven Aktes mit Performativen problematisch ist. Kapitel 3 wendet sich der Searle’schen Deklarationsanalyse performativer Äußerungen zu. Zu Beginn werden die Grundlagen dieses Modells verfügbar gemacht. Dazu wird, neben einem kurzen Überblick über Searle’s Theorie auf dem Stand von „Sprechakte“ (1971), seine Klassifikation illokutionärer Akte detailliert dargestellt. Vor diesem Hintergrund erfolgt die Nachzeichnung des Deklarationsansatzes. In der anschließenden kritischen Betrachtung des Modells wird die Idee der Intentionsmanifestation diskutiert und es wird geprüft ob sich die unterstellte Existenz einer assertiven illokutionären Rolle von Performativen bestätigen lässt. Insbesondere wird schließlich die illokutionäre Kategorie der Deklarationen hinterfragt. Kapitel 4 dient einer vergleichenden Gegenüberstellung der beiden zuvor behandelten Theorien und versucht abzuwägen, welcher Ansatz die Funktion und Eigenschaften explizit performativer Äußerungen besser erfasst. In Kapitel 5 wird der Versuch unternommen, eine alternative Sicht zu entwickeln. Das besondere kommunikative Potential der Klasse der explizit performativen Äußerungen wird dabei mit ihren semantischen und pragmatischen Aspekten in Verbindung gebracht. Auf diese Weise soll ein Ansatz verfolgt werden, der die deskriptive Eigenschaft von Performativen mit ihrer optionalen performativen Verwendung in Beziehung setzt, ohne diese auf eine assertive illokutionäre Rolle zurückführen zu müssen. Kapitel 6 dient einer abschließenden und resümierenden Betrachtung der im Verlauf der Arbeit unternommenen Überlegungen
This paper contributes to the understanding of vocal folds oscillation during phonation. In order to test theoretical models of phonation, a new experimental set-up using a deformable vocal folds replica is presented. The replica is shown to be able to produce self sustained oscillations under controlled experimental conditions. Therefore different parameters, such as those related to elasticity, to acoustical coupling or to the subglottal pressure can be quantitatively studied. In this work we focused on the oscillation fundamental frequency and the upstream pressure in order to start (on-set threshold) either end (off-set threshold) oscillations in presence of a downstream acoustical resonator. As an example, it is shown how this data can be used in order to test the theoretical predictions of a simple one-mass model.
Das Buch, herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Norbert Richard Wolf, erschien im Reformationsjahr 2017 im Universitätsverlag Winter als Band 7 der Schriften des Europäischen Zentrums für Sprachwissenschaften (EZS). Auf 217 Seiten widmen sich neun Autoren dem Erbe Martin Luthers aus einer jeweils eigenen Perspektive. Der Band präsentiert die Ergebnisse des gleichnamigen Kolloquiums, das im Mai 2017 vom Institut für Deutsche Sprache anlässlich des 500. Jahrestags der Reformation veranstaltet wurde.
Die tschechische und die deutsche Wissenschaftssprache sind sich aufgrund der direkten geographischen Nachbarschaft und einer jahrhundertelangen Verbundenheit ähnlich. Dennoch bestehen Unterschiede, die im interkulturellen Kontakt zu Irritationen und Missverständnissen führen können. Agnes Goldhahn stellt kulturell bedingte Differenzen der sprachlichen Gestaltung tschechischer und deutscher Wissenschaftssprache am Beispiel Wissenschaftlicher Artikel aus dem Bereich der Linguistik vor. Neben einer Analyse des äußeren Textaufbaus geht sie auf die Sprachhandlung 'Textkommentierung' ein, was vor allem in den Bereichen der Personalität und Modalität große Unterschiede zwischen den tschechischen und den deutschen Texten offenbart.
[Goldhahn, Agnes: Tschechische und deutsche Wissenschaftssprache im Vergleich : wissenschaftliche Artikel der Linguistik / Agnes Goldhahn. - Berlin : Frank & Timme, [2017]. - 218 Seiten : Illustrationen. - (Forum für Fachsprachen-Forschung ; Band 133)
ISBN 978-3-7329-0332-0]
"Jelen přeplotil skok" : kontrastiver Vergleich von Wortspielen und idiomatischen Wortverbindungen
(2014)
The article presents some of the outcomes of the contrastive comparison of the Czech original text and its German translation. It tries to show some hidden implications as well as many other peculiarities of wordplay and idiomatic phrases that a reader of the translated text may be deprived of.
Emotionen in Comics
(2010)
Komiksy tvoří jedineĉný textový druh. Děj je vyprávěn pomocí na sebe navazujících obrazových sekvencí, postavy promlouvají přímou řeĉí. Jedná se však o psanou podobu jazyka, která je odkázána především na verbální komunikaĉní prostředky. Příspěvek se zabývá otázkou, jaké prostředky volí autor komiksu k vyjádření emocí. Podrobněji jsou popisovány prostředky verbální, pozornost je však věnována také grafickému znázornění postav, uţití barev a symbolŧ.
The article analyses three texts which address the same subject (the definition of the word Wort) and aims to demonstrate that it is not only the topic that plays a crucial role in creating the macrostructure and microstructure of a text, but also the communicative situation. The article explores what differences there are in the selection of linguistic means when the same content is being expressed in texts intended for communication at various levels of specialization, and which communication strategies the authors of the texts choose in connection with the text's genre, their intentions and (above all) the communicative situation.
Due to its specific features, the German participle has numerous functions and uses in word-formation. As partially deverbalized adjectives, participles take on the syntactic role of an adjective while at the same time retaining the valency of a verb. The paper presents the various steps in an analysis using graded (partial) corpora. Drawing on research into the properties and functions of various participle forms, it explores their specific uses in texts.
Du fait de la traite négrière qui a vu des millions d’Africains être déportés aux Amériques, les langues européennes (anglais, espagnol, français, néerlandais, portugais) des colons qui y étaient déjà installés et qui avaient un fort besoin en main-d’oeuvre africaine, ont eu à intégrer à des degrés divers de nombreux mots africains. Les chercheurs qui travaillent sur ces africanismes sont d’accord pour dire que ces mots ont deux grandes origines africaines : bantoue et non-bantoue.
La présente étude revisite la liste des langues bantoues du Gabon contenues dans la classification des langues bantoues de Guthrie (1967 - 1971), en y ajoutant une nouvelle langue, des nouveaux dialectes, et pour la première fois des sous dialectes. Prenant en compte les acquis des classifications antérieures des langues bantoues du Gabon, elle revient sur les propositions de codification de Maho (2003,2006 et 2007) visant à ajouter des nouvelles langues et de nouveaux dialectes dans la liste de Guthrie sans remettre en question le système de codification établi par ce dernier. Des nouvelles propositions sont formulées ici qui réanalysent ou réaménagent les modèles de codification avancés par cet auteur, tout en se portant en faux contre une sacralisation inavouée de la classification de Guthrie qui viserait à mettre ses propositions d’indexation des langues bantoues à l’abris de toute modification ou réaménagement. Enfin, la présente classification revient sur un certain nombre de dénominations et de problèmes orthographiques des noms de langues relevées dans les anciennes classifications, pour proposer des corrections qui tiennent comptent soit du bon sens, soit du point de vue des locuteurs ou des conventions de notation des langues bantoues arrêtées par les linguistes de l’Ecole de Tervuren.
On est parti ici du constat qu’il était impossible à Blanchon de poser les réflexes réels des schèmes tonals des thèmes nominaux du proto-bantou en wumvu de Malinga, à partir du moment où il s’interdisait, sur le plan méthodologique, d’observer le principe d’identité des niveaux de correspondance entre le proto-bantou et le wumvu de Malinga, c’est-à-dire niveau structurel proto-bantou égale niveau structurel wumvu. Nous nous sommes donc attelé dans la section 1 de cette étude à fixer la structure mélodique et tonale des substantifs du wumvu de Malinga, avant de donner les correspondances tonales entre les deux langues à la section 4. Il nous a paru également vicieux de la part de l’auteur d’avancer une explication, fûtelle historique, sur les faits de tonalité observés dans cette langue, dès lors qu’on ne possédait aucune étude quelconque sur la tonalité de cette dernière. Nous avons donc consacré la section 2 de ce travail à l étude des différents processus tonals relevés dans les substantifs du wumvu de Malinga. Dans la section 3, nous avons été amené à mettre en évidence l’incidence de l’accent dans le traitement de la tonalité de cette langue bantoue du Gabon, montrant par là les limites de l’hypothèse explicative de Blanchon. Enfin, en terme de perspective, on ne peut qu’appeler à la réalisation d’une description complète du wumvu de Malinga, afin que son étude historique ne soit que meilleure.
Depuis quelques mois, nous avons rassemblé et dépouillé au GRELACO (Groupe de Recherche en Langues et Cultures Orales) un ensemble relativement important de données inédites ou non sur les segments latents (appelés aussi segments flottants) dans les langues bantoues du Gabon. Le présent article se propose donc de faire le point sur ce que nous savons aujourd’hui de ces segments latents dans les langues bantoues du Gabon.
La nasalisation en Fang-mekè
(2006)
Le fang-mekè qui appartient au groupe linguistique (A75) est parlé dans les provinces de l’Estuaire (Libreville, Kango, et rive gauche de l’Estuaire),du Moyen-Ogooué (Lambaréné, Ndjolé), de l’Ogooué-Ivindo (Makokou) et du Woleu-Ntem (Mitzic). Le seul travail connu à ce jour sur cette langue à été réalisé par Nzang Obame (2004). Il s’agit d’un mémoire de maîtrise à orientation linéaire, portant sur la description phonologique du fang-mekè parlé au quartier Lalala de Libreville et dont le foyer d’origine est situé à la rive gauche de l’Estuaire. On comprendra donc que pour la réalisation de la présente étude portant sur la nasalisation en fang-mekè, nous nous appuyons uniquement sur le travail de Nzang Obame.
Expletives as features
(2000)
Expletives have always been a central topic of theoretical debate and subject to different analyses within the different stages of the Principles and Parameter theory (see Chomsky 1981, 1986, 1995; Lasnik 1992, 1995; Frampton and Gutman 1997; among others). However, most analyses center on the question how to explain the behavior of expletives in A-chains (such as there in English or Þad in Icelandic). No account relates wh-expletives (as one finds them in so-called partial wh-movement constructions in languages such as Hungarian, Romani, and German) to expletives in Achains. In this paper, I argue that the framework of the Minimalist Program opens up the possibility of accounting for expletive-associate relations in A-/A'-chains in a unified manner. The main idea of the unitary analysis is that an expletive is an overtly realized feature bundle that is (sub)extracted from its associate DP. There in an expletive-associate chain is a moved D-feature which orginates inside the associate DP. Similarily, in A'-chains, the whexpletive originates as a focus-/wh-feature in the wh-phrase with which it is associated. This analysis provides evidence for the feature-checking theory in Chomsky (1995). The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 contains the discussion of expletive there. In section 3 I suggest an analysis for whexpletives, and I also explore whether this analysis can be extended to relations between X°-categories such as auxiliary and participle complexes.
In this paper I show that Clitic Climbing (CC) in Spanish and Long Scrambling (LS) in German (and Polish) are (im-)possible out of the same environments. For an explanation of this fact I propose a feature-oriented analysis of incorporation phenomena. The idea is that restructuring is a phenomenon of syntactic incorporation. In German and Polish, Agro incorporates covertly into the matrix clause and licenses LS out of the infinitival into the matrix clause. Similarily the clitic in Spanish, which is analysed as an Agro-head, incorporates into the matrix clause. I argue that this movement is necessary for reasons of feature-checking, i. e. for checking of an [+R]- or Restructuring-feature. In section 2 I discuss several differences between CC and LS. For example, the proposed analysis correctly predicts that clitics in contrast to scrambled phrases are subject to several serialization restrictions. Throughout the paper I use the term restructuring only in a descriptive sense, in order to describe the phenomenon in question.
Das 2009 erschienene Lehrwerk für Deutsch als Fremdsprache IDIAL. Deutsch im interkulturellen Dialog ist im Rahmen eines gleichnamigen internationalen Projektes entstanden, das von der Europäischen Union im Rahmen des Bildungsprogramms "Lebenslanges Lernen" gefördert und parallel in mehreren Staaten Europas durchgeführt wurde. An dem Projekt beteiligt waren Schulen und Institutionen aus Deutschland sowie germanistische Abteilungen polnischer, slowakischer und bulgarischer Universitäten und Hochschulen. Wie der Titel bereits verrät (Interkultureller DIALog), reflektieret das Lehrwerk die steigende Notwendigkeit des interkulturellen Lernens im europäischen, also sprachenvielfältigen Raum, in dem die Interaktion zwischen den Kulturen die Voraussetzung für einen zufrieden stellenden Austausch zwischen Menschen aus verschiedenen Kulturen darstellt. Das Lehrbuch des slowakischen Teams zielt also nicht nur darauf, die Fremdsprache zu vermitteln und die Deutschkenntnisse der Lernenden zu vertiefen, sondern bietet einen Austausch zwischen der Eigenkultur und der Fremdkultur, wodurch die interkulturelle Kompetenz der Lernenden entwickelt bzw. weiterentwickelt wird. Das Lehrwerk richtet sich an Studierende der Stufe B2 des Europäischen Referenzrahmens und die ersten positiven Erfahrungen an Hochschulen bestätigen, dass sowohl das Gesamtkonzept erfolgreich verfolgt als auch die partiellen Ziele, die das Buch verfolgt, erfolgreich erreicht werden können.
V této práci jsou analyzovány a srovnávány metaforické koncepty v německých a albánských idiomech, které jsou spojeny s 'rukou'. Studie těchto somatismů je provedena na základě teorie konceptuálnìch metafor autorů Lakoffa a Johnsona. Jednotlivé koncepty jsou vńak klasifikovány na základě nadřazených konceptů, které se v obou jazycìch vyskytujì. 'Ruka' se objevuje v metaforických vyjádřenìch např. jako symbol kontroly, moci, vlastnìka, nadřazenosti, činnosti, lidských vztahů, ochrany a dalńìch. V práci jsou dále rozebìrány jednotlivé koncepty těchto somatismů, jako např. Spojenì morálnìho a čistoty: mìt čisté ruce – saubere Hände haben.
In diesem Beitrag wurden deutsche Entlehnungen in der albanischen Mundart in Kosova untersucht, welche in verschiedenen semantischen Bereichen verwendet werden. Schriftliche Quellen zu diesen Germanismen fehlen völlig, daher wurden sie durch mündliche Befragung von Informanten inventarisiert. Den Schwerpunkt dieser Untersuchung bilden der Bekanntheitsgrad und die Akzeptanz dieser Lehnwörter. Die Befragung hat ergeben, dass die Lehnwörter in den hier untersuchten semantischen Bereichen durchschnittlich von über 70% der Befragten erkannt wurden. Im Allgemeinen konnten keine großen Unterschiede im Erkennungsgrad bei männlichen und weiblichen Befragten festgestellt werden, wohingegen bei der Variable Alter eine etwas größere Diskrepanz beobachtet wurde, was das Erkennen oder Nichterkennen der deutschen Entlehnungen anging.
This paper explores Turkish numeral constructions, which have typologically two interesting properties: (i) the existence of an optional classifier, (ii) the incompatibility of plurals with them. I argue that numerals are modifiers of type <<e,t>,<e,t>> defined only for atomic properties (Ionin and Matushansky 2006). The explanation rests on the semantics of bare singulars proposed to denote sets of atoms (contra Bale et al. 2010), and the semantics of the classifier claimed to be a partial identity function presupposing atomic properties.
This paper deals with topic markers interacting with discourse information in imperatives. It compares two topic markers from Slovenian (‘pa’) and Japanese (‘-wa’) and shows that while they mostly match in terms of the foci they associate with, their functions differ in imperatives: only ‘pa’ may yield a concessive imperative reading. It is shown that this reading can be derived while keeping a single entry for ‘pa’ by making attitudes of discourse participants part of the focus ‘pa’ associates with. The split between Slovenian and Japanese can then be attributed to minor differences in terms of which foci ‘pa’ and ‘-wa’ may associate with.
Stečaj je interdisciplinarno područje na kojemu se susreću prije svega ekonomisti i pravnici, odnosno u širemu smislu ekonomski i pravni sustavi razmišljanja i izražavanja. Štoviše, Wood upravo stečajni zakon smatra konačnim testom je li pravosuđe uopće pravedno. U ovome se radu analiziraju nesuglasice oko temeljnih naziva koji se upotrebljavaju u stečajnome pravu. Te je nazive potrebno analizirati, razjasniti, i predložiti rješenje kako bi postigli suglasje oko naziva koji se ne bi redefinirali pri svakoj izmjeni Stečajnog zakona. U trenutku kad se brojni zakoni izmjenjuju zbog usklađivanja s propisima Europske unije, a ti zakoni definiraju naše društvo i odnose, važno je razlučiti pojmove u stečajnome postupku. Budući da je hrvatski Stečajni zakon 1990-ih “prepisan” iz njemačkog izvornika, učinjen je ne samo legislativni već i kulturni i jezični prijenos. Usmjerenost na njemački uzor dovela je do toga da su uz pravna rješenja nekritički prevedeni i temeljni nazivi stečajnoga postupka te je zaboravljeno kako valja pozitivno diskriminirati materinski jezik i, kad god je to moguće, koristiti se uobičajenim hrvatskim riječima, osobito nazivima. U radu se prikazuje sukob temeljnih naziva stečajnog postupka i daju argumenti za uporabu osnovne leksičke jedinice na ovom području – naziva stečaj.
Eigen- und Fremdkultur im Fremdsprachenunterricht (Deutsch) : Entwicklungsfaktoren und –stufen
(2018)
Der Dozent für deutsche Sprache Mohammed Salem Yosof von der Al-Azhar-Universität Kairo geht der Bedeutung der Kulturvermittlung für den Spracherwerb in Ägypten und der arabischen Welt nach. Salem Yosof zeigt anhand vieler Beispiele aus der Praxis die Schwierigkeiten, "die meisten sprachlichen und kulturellen Relationen so zu verstehen und zu erklären wie in der eigenen Muttersprache."
In this paper I argue in favor of a Matching Analysis for German relative clauses. The Head Raising Analysis is shown to fail to account for parts of the reconstruction pattern in German, especially cases where only the external head is interpreted and the absence of Principle C effects. I propose a Matching Analysis with Vehicle Change and make consistent assumptions about possible deletion operations in relatives so that the entire pattern can be captured by one analysis which therefore proves superior to previous ones.
This paper provides an analysis of an alternative strategy to A´-movement in both German and Dutch where the extracted constituent is preceded by a preposition and a coreferential pronoun appears in the extraction site. The construction has properties of both binding and movement: Whereas reconstruction effects suggest movement out of the embedded clause, there is strong evidence that the operator constituent is linked to an A-position in the matrix clause; this paradox is resolved by assuming a Control-like approach that involves movement from the embedded clause into a theta-position in the matrix clause with subsequent short A´- movement. The coreferential pronoun is interpreted as a resumptive heading a Big-DP which hosts the antecedent in its specifier.
Hrvatski jezikoslovac, leksikograf i prevoditelj Adolf Bratoljub Klaić (Bizovac, 1909. – Zagreb, 1983.) svoj je prvi rad, pjesmu „Na grobu srpanjskih žrtava”, god. 1926. objavio kao gimnazijalac u srednjoškolskom časopisu „Omladina”. Otada se razvijala njegova djelatnost u kojoj su postupno prevladavale filološke (dijalektološke, akcentološke, pravopisne, tekstološke) teme, a u četrdesetim godinama počinje i njegova leksikografska djelatnost. Članak je pokušaj periodizacije ukupne Klaićeve djelatnosti od god. 1926. do smrti.
In my paper "Thesen zum Universalienprojekt" (1976) I mention two complementary procedures for discovering language universals: 1. The investigation of the dimensions and principles whose existence is necessitated by the communicative function of language; 2. The development of a formal language in which all syntactic rules are explicitly formulated and in which all syntactic categories are defined by their relation to a minimally necessary number of syntactic categories. Since the first procedure is treated in many of the other papers of this volume, I wish to discuss the role of formal methods in the research of language universals. As an example I want to take the dimensions of determination and show how expressions denoting concepts are modified and turned into reference identifying expressions. There is a general end a specific motivation for the introduction of formal methods into linguistics. The general motivation is to make statements in linguistics as exact and verifiable as they are in the natural sciences. The specific motivation is to make the grammars of various languages comparable by describing them with the same form of rules. The form has to be flexible enough to describe the phenomena of any possible natural language. All natural languages have in common that they may potentially express any meaning. The flexibility of the form of grammatical rules may therefore be attained, if syntactic rules are not isolated from the semantic function they express and syntactic classes are not defined merely by the relative position of their elements in the sentence, but also by the communicative function their elements fulfill in their combination with elements of other classes.
Montague (1974) has shown that this flexibility may be attained by using the language of algebra combined with categorial grammar. Algebraic systems have been developed by mathematicians to model any systems whose operations are definable. Montague does not merely use the tools of mathematics for describing the features of language, but regards syntax, semantics and pragmatics as branches of mathematics. One of the advantages of this approach is that we may apply the laws developed by mathematicians to the systems constructed by linguists for the description and explanation of natural language.
The aim of any Automatic Translation project is to give a mechanical procedure for finding an equivalent expression in the target language to any sentence in the source language. The aim of my linguistic translation project is to find the corresponding structures of the languages dealt with. The two main problems that have to be solved by such a project are the difference of word order between the source language and the target language and the ambiguous words of the source language for which the appropriate word in the target language has to be chosen. The first problem is of major linguistic interest: once the project has been worked out, it will give us the parallel sentence structures for the two languages in question. Since there is no complete analysis of any language that could be used for the purpose of automatic translation, we decided to build up our project sentence by sentence. The rules which are needed for translating each sentence will have to be included in the complete program anyway, and the translation may be checked and corrected immediately. The program is split up into subroutines for each word-class, so that a correction of the program in case of an unsatisfactory translation does not complicate the program unnecessarily.
Theoretical accounts agree that German restrictive relative clauses (RCs) are integrated at the level of syntax as well as at the level of prosody (; , ; ; ; ) in both the default verb-final and the marked verb-second variant (referred to as iV2). Both variants are assumed to show the same prosodic pattern, i. e., prosodic integration into the main clause, and not unintegrated prosody, which would signal a sequence of two main clauses. To date strong empirical evidence for this close correspondence between prosody and syntax in RCs is missing. Findings regarding prosodic integration of verb-final RCs are not consistent, and research regarding the prosody of iV2 structures is very scarce. Using a delayed sentence-repetition task, our study investigated whether subordination is signaled by prosody in RCs in both the verb-final and the V2 variant in adults (n = 21). In addition, we asked whether young language learners (n = 23), who at the age of 3 have just started to produce embedded clauses, are already sensitive to this mapping. The adult responses showed significantly more patterns of prosodic integration than of prosodic non-integration in the V-final and the iV2 structures, with no difference between the two conditions. Notably, the child responses mirrored this adult behavior, showing significantly more patterns of prosodic integration than of prosodic non-integration in both V-final and iV2 structures. The findings regarding adults’ prosodic realizations provide novel empirical evidence for the claim that iV2 structures, just like verb-final RCs, show prosodic integration. Moreover, our study strongly suggests that subordination is signaled by prosody already by age 3 in both verb-final and V2 variants of RCs.
U radu se analizira jezik opisan u Della Bellinoj gramatici u odnosu na jezik jednoga od književnih djela koja su mu bila uzorom – Suze sina razmetnoga Ivana Gundulića. Istraživanje je usmjereno na imeničke oblike u obama djelima. Sličnosti i razlike komentiraju se za svaku deklinaciju posebno, i to sustavno za svaki padež. Budući da su neke uvjetovane formom Della Bellina književnoga predloška, pritom se upozorava na stvarne i prividne razlike.
Rezension zu Stefan Ettinger, Manuela Nunes: Portugiesische Redewendungen – Ein Wörter- und Übungsbuch für Fortgeschrittene. Helmut Buske Verlag Hamburg, 2006, 151 S.
In unserem Beitrag möchten wir die Besonderheiten des systemhaften Aufbaus der funktional-semantischen Kategorien der Modalität und Aspektualität zeigen, und zwar anhand der Konstruktion können + Infinitiv im Deutschen und deren Äquivalente im Englischen. Unser Hauptanliegen ist es, die modalen Konstruktionen zu untersuchen, Unterschiede und Ähnlichkeiten in den beiden germanischen Sprachen zu systematisieren und Sprachmittel verschiedener Ebenen zu diskutieren, um festzustellen, wie diese Mittel bei der Formierung des Plans der Begrenztheit und Unbegrenztheit der Handlung und deren aktionalen Schattierungen funktionieren.
It has become commonplace to introduce works on aspect with the remark that there is hardly another field in linguistics so much plagued by terminological and notional confusion. [..] About 20 major books claiming a comprehensive treatment have come to my attention during little more than the past half decade […]. Among these books are five that form the subject of this paper in a narrower sense, given that the present article originally started out as a combined review of these five works: […] Even if one is not at all keen on monocultures, it is clear that the obvious disunity in fundamental points of view makes the situation increasingly difficult for the "ordinary working linguist". It is getting impossible to keep up with the many different issues raised in the theoretical literature when, for instance, writing a chapter on aspect for a descriptive grammar of a language. As a result, a tremendous gap between descriptive and theoretical work has arisen. This has not gone unnoticed in the literature. There are several recent publications in which explicit attempts are made to bridge this gap […], all of them trying to add a typological perspective to aspect theory and to free it from its purely truth-conditional embedding, which was the dominant paradigm in the 70ies and 80ies. But again, these works are often themselves cast into specific theoretical frameworks, more often than not ignoring other approaches to the field if they do not fit their persuasions. I will therefore avail myself of the opportunity of this review article by briefly sorting out the differences in the fundamental assumptions and theoretical primitives of the various approaches, in order to come to grips with the aspectological landscape. A general, chiefly historically oriented assessment is presented in the first part of this paper (see section 1). The second part is then devoted to a detailed discussion of the books under review against the background etablished in this survey (see section 2). At the end, I will try to draw some conclusions and hint at some directions for future work with aspect in a descriptive and/or typological context (see section 3).
Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert zum ersten Mal eine detaillierte Darstellung des Aspektsystems im Cayuga, einer nordirokesischen Sprache. Das Cayuga verfügt über drei flexionelle Aspektkategorien, den perfektiven "Punctual" und die imperfektiven "Habitual" und "Stative". Jede dieser Kategorien hat eine größere Anzahl unterschiedlicher Lesarten. Es wird gezeigt, in welcher Weise diese Lesarten von der lexikalischen Semantik der betreffenden Verben abhängt bzw. mit dieser interagiert. Die hieraus resultierende Verbklassifizierung fördert eine Reihe konzeptueller Idiosynkrasien zutage, die den sprachspezifischen Charakter der Lexikonorganisation des Cayuga ausmachen. Dennoch läßt sich zeigen, daß es trotz der andersartigen kompositionellen Struktur in der aspektuellen Klassenbildung zu ähnlichen Effekten der Interaktion von morphologischer Aspektsemantik und lexikalischer Verbsemantik kommt wie in Sprachen anderen Typs.
This paper is a preliminary attempt to reconstruct the consonant system of Proto-East-Cushitic (PEC) , one of the four branches of the Cushitic family. Data are taken from some twenty-odd languages including unpublished material on a variety of hitherto little known languages. After discussing a number of general problems raised by the phonological comparison of the East Cushitic languages, 23 consonants are reconstructed for the inventory of the proto-language and the evidence for the reconstructions is presented in the form of cognate sets and correspondence rules which map the proto-phonemes onto the individual reflexes. The method employed is that of comparative linguistics as traditionally employed in Indo-European linguistics.
[I]n its present form, the bibliography contains approximately 1100 entries. Bibliographical work is never complete, and the present one is still modest in a number of respects. It is not annotated, and it still contains a lot of mistakes and inconsistencies. It has nevertheless reached a stage which justifies considering the possibility of making it available to the public. The first step towards this is its pre-publication in the form of this working paper. […]
The bibliography is less complete for earlier years. For works before 1970, the bibliographies of Firbas and Golkova 1975 and Tyl 1970 may be consulted, which have not been included here.
There is an inexhaustible stream of theoretical work on aspect. More than 20 major books of a gelteral nature have come out during the past few years, not to mention the vast amount of shorter articles. The theoretical proposals found in these works are often radically different. What is the state of the art in this highly controversial area? To what extent can the "ordinary working linguist" profit from the flood of theoretical proposals? This paper started out as a review article on five recent books on aspect. These reviews are incorporated here into a general assessment of contemporary aspect theories. We will classify different approaches to aspect and try to sort out their theoretical primitives. The paper concludes wich a brief summary pointing out the most urgent desiderata for a typologically adequate approach to aspect.
Theticity
(1996)
The subject matter of this chapter is the semantic, syntactic and discoursepragmatic background as well as the cross-linguistic behavior of types of utterance exemplified by the following English sentences […]: (1) My NECK hurts. […] (2) The PHONE's ringing. [...] Sentences such as […] are usually held to stand in opposition to sentences with a topical subject. The difference is said to be formally marked, for example, by VS order vs. topical SV order (as in Albanian po bie telefoni 'the PHONE is ringing' vs. telefoni po bie 'the PHONE is RINGING'), or by accent on the subject only vs. accent on both the subject and the verb (as in the English translations). The term theticity will be used in the following to label the specific phenomenological domain to which the sentences in (1) and (2) belong. It has long been commonplace that these and similar expressions occur at particular points in the discourse where "a new situation is presented as a whole". We will try to depict and classify the various discourse situations in which these expressions have been found in the different languages, and we will try to trace out areas of cross-linguistic comparability. Finally, we will raise the question whether or not there is a common denominator which would justify a unified treatment of all these expressions in functional/semantic terms.
Der irokesische Sprachtyp
(1988)
The most macabre of the numerous anthropomorphic metaphors linguists provide for their subject matter is that of language death. The extinction of a language is in fact a distressing matter, because the cultural tradition connected to it and the sociocultural or even ethnic independence of the group that speaks it very often perish together with it. Yet it is a very common phenomenon. [...] It would seem strange that such a frequent and well-known phenomenon has not been studied much earlier; nevertheless it is a fact that the investigation of language death is a new and developing field, which emerged as something like an independent subdiscipline of linguistics towards the end of the seventies. This comparatively embryonic stage of the field should be kept in mind throughout the following discussion.