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Mark Aronoff - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • A Realization Optimality Theory approach to blocking and extended morphological exponence
    Journal of Linguistics, 2011
    Co-Authors: Mark Aronoff
    Abstract:

    Blocking in inflection occurs when a morphological exponent prevents the application of another exponent expressing the same Feature value, thus barring the occurrence of multiple exponents of a single Morphosyntactic Feature value. In instances of extended exponence, more than one exponent in the same word realizes the same Feature value. We provide a unified account of blocking and extended exponence that combines a realizational approach to inflection with Optimality Theory (Realization Optimality Theory), encoding morphological realization rules as ranked violable constraints. The markedness constraint *F eature S plit bars the realization of any Morphosyntactic Feature value by more than one exponent. If *F eature S plit ranks lower than two or more realization constraints expressing the same Feature value, then we observe extended exponence. Otherwise, we find blocking of lower-ranked exponents. We show that Realization Optimality Theory is superior to various alternative approaches to blocking and extended morphological exponence.

  • A Realization Optimality-Theoretic approach to affix order
    Morphology, 2010
    Co-Authors: Mark Aronoff
    Abstract:

    The interplay of the main factors affecting affix order in inflection (semantic scope, phonology, and morphological templates) can be accounted for in an inferential-realizational Optimality-Theoretic model of morphology, which we present here. Within this model, phonological form is spelled out by means of individual-language-particular realization constraints that associate abstract Morphosyntactic Feature values with phonological forms and that are ordered among more general constraints governing factors like scope and Feature splitting. The data used to exemplify the application of our theory to affix order are drawn from Haspelmath’s (A grammar of Lezgian, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 1993) grammar of Lezgian, a language of the Northeast Caucasian family spoken largely in Dagestan (Russia) and Azerbaijan.

Carrie N Jackson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • the processing and comprehension of wh questions among second language speakers of german
    Applied Psycholinguistics, 2009
    Co-Authors: Carrie N Jackson, Susan C Bobb
    Abstract:

    Using the self-paced reading paradigm, the present study examines whether highly proficient second language (L2) speakers of German (English first language) use case-marking information during the on-line comprehension of unambiguous wh-extractions, even when task demands do not draw explicit attention to this Morphosyntactic Feature in German. Results support previous findings, in that both the native and the L2 German speakers exhibited an immediate subject preference in the matrix clause, suggesting they were sensitive to case-marking information. However, only among the native speakers did this subject preference carry over to reading times in the complement clause. The results from the present study are discussed in light of current debates regarding the ability of L2 speakers to attain nativelike processing strategies in their L2.

  • The processing and comprehension of wh-questions among second language speakers of German
    Applied psycholinguistics, 2009
    Co-Authors: Carrie N Jackson, Susan C Bobb
    Abstract:

    Using the self-paced reading paradigm, the present study examines whether highly proficient second language (L2) speakers of German (English first language) use case-marking information during the on-line comprehension of unambiguous wh-extractions, even when task demands do not draw explicit attention to this Morphosyntactic Feature in German. Results support previous findings, in that both the native and the L2 German speakers exhibited an immediate subject preference in the matrix clause, suggesting they were sensitive to case-marking information. However, only among the native speakers did this subject preference carry over to reading times in the complement clause. The results from the present study are discussed in light of current debates regarding the ability of L2 speakers to attain nativelike processing strategies in their L2.

  • Cross-Linguistic Differences and Their Impact on L2 Sentence Processing.
    Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2009
    Co-Authors: Carrie N Jackson, Paola E. Dussias
    Abstract:

    Using a self-paced reading task, the present study investigates how highly proficient second language (L2) speakers of German with English as their native language process unambiguous wh-subject-extractions and wh-object-extractions in German. Previous monolingual research has shown that English and German exhibit different processing preferences for the type of wh-question under investigation, due in part to the robust case-marking system in German – a Morphosyntactic Feature that is largely absent in English (e.g., Juffs and Harrington, 1995; Fanselow, Kliegl and Schlesewsky 1999; Meng and Bader, 2000; Juffs, 2005). The results revealed that the L2 German speakers utilized case-marking information and exhibited a subject-preference similar to German native speakers. These findings are discussed in light of relevant research regarding the ability of L2 speakers to adopt native-like processing strategies in their L2.

Paola E. Dussias - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Cross-Linguistic Differences and Their Impact on L2 Sentence Processing.
    Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2009
    Co-Authors: Carrie N Jackson, Paola E. Dussias
    Abstract:

    Using a self-paced reading task, the present study investigates how highly proficient second language (L2) speakers of German with English as their native language process unambiguous wh-subject-extractions and wh-object-extractions in German. Previous monolingual research has shown that English and German exhibit different processing preferences for the type of wh-question under investigation, due in part to the robust case-marking system in German – a Morphosyntactic Feature that is largely absent in English (e.g., Juffs and Harrington, 1995; Fanselow, Kliegl and Schlesewsky 1999; Meng and Bader, 2000; Juffs, 2005). The results revealed that the L2 German speakers utilized case-marking information and exhibited a subject-preference similar to German native speakers. These findings are discussed in light of relevant research regarding the ability of L2 speakers to adopt native-like processing strategies in their L2.

Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • The Role of Morphosyntactic Feature Economy in the Evolution of Slavic Number
    2014
    Co-Authors: Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff
    Abstract:

    The Slavic dual pronouns exhibit two different patterns of diachronic change. The first pattern of diachronic change is exemplified in three languages Slovenian, Upper, and Lower Sorbian. In these languages, dual pronouns continue to be used by the speakers in a bi-morphemic morphological structure consisting of a plural pronominal stem and the numeral dva ('two') or the dual suffix -j (1a). The second pattern of diachronic change is more pervasive and occurred in all of the Slavic languages including Russian and Kashubian. In Russian and Kashubian, dual pronouns were reanalyzed by the speakers as plural (1b).

  • The Slavic dual: Morphosyntactic Feature economy as a factor in language change
    2013
    Co-Authors: Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff
    Abstract:

    Dual number marked on personal pronouns and verbal agreement suffixes disappeared in the majority of Slavic languages except for three Slovenian, Upper Sorbian, and Lower Sorbian. Previous studies do not provide a principled account why (i) the monomorphemic dual was reanalyzed as bimorphemic in Slovenian, Upper, and Lower Sorbian, and why (ii) it was replaced by the plural in the majority of Slavic languages including Russian and Kashubian. In this dissertation, I investigate diachronic changes in the Morphosyntactic category of the Slavic dual which occurred in the 11th-15th centuries. In this dissertation, I present new diachronic data obtained through digital corpora of Old Slavic manuscripts. Within the framework of Distributed Morphology, I propose a new principle of Morphosyntactic Feature Economy which explains these two different patterns of diachronic change in the Slavic dual pronouns and verbal agreement. I argue that the principle of Morphosyntactic Feature Economy is one of the factors which drives diachronic change in the category of number in Slavic languages. Morphosyntactic Feature Economy is a principle of efficient computation. It plays an essential role in restructuring of the Morphosyntactic category of the Slavic dual. Morphosyntactic restructuring of the Slavic dual, triggered by its Morphosyntactic and semantic markedness, results in a Morphosyntactically 'simpler' category of number. As a consequence of the application of the principle of Morphosyntactic Feature Economy, the language learner acquires a featurally restructuctured category of number, which is simpler and more computationally efficient. CHAPTER

Gregory D. Keating - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • L2 Proficiency matters in comparative L1/L2 processing research
    Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2016
    Co-Authors: Gregory D. Keating
    Abstract:

    Grammatical processing in a second language (L2) that is learned in adulthood has been shown to differ from processing in a first/native language (L1). Clahsen and Felser's (2006) landmark article provided the first comprehensive account of these differences. According to their shallow structure hypothesis (SSH), L2 learners, unlike L1 speakers, do not compute abstract, hierarchical representations during online sentence comprehension; instead, they rely on lexical, semantic, and pragmatic information to build ‘good enough’ representations. However, native-like processing is attainable – with sufficient L2 proficiency – for word-level processing and Morphosyntactic Feature processing between locally related words. Clahsen and Felser's article spurred a prolific volume of research over the last decade. Some findings support the SSH, whereas others favor the competing claim that L1/L2 differences result from capacity-based limitations.