The research reported here casts doubt on the general value of the Yngve hypothesis, which relates a phrase structure measure of syntactic complexity to both sentence production and memory. (Author/FWB)

Investigates whether syntax signals foregrounding/backgrounding structure in English. Backgrounded the main clause using progressive or pluperfect aspect. A rating study showed coreference was allowed more frequently for pronouns in main clauses when those clauses contained progressive or pluperfect aspect. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the use of the preposition "a" by examining why a few verbs in Spanish seem to occur with an obligatory marker and what relationship exists between this use of the preposition "a" and the more common occurrence of "a" with animate, definite direct objects. (SED)

Discusses the structure of Spanish noun phrases within the general framework of minimalist syntax. Proposes nominal functional category and feature checking via chain linking and suggests lexical specifications for common and proper nouns accounting for their distribution in the clause. (32 references) (Author/CK)

This study examines the comprehension patterns of various sentence types by Mandarin-speaking aphasic patients and evaluates the validity of the predictions from the Trace-Deletion Hypothesis (TDH) and the Double Dependency Hypothesis (DDH). Like English, the canonical word order in Mandarin is SVO, but the two languages differ in that the head…

Examines Ga/No conversion in Japanese under the Move F theory of movement (Chomsky, 1995). Building on Miyagawa's (1993) analysis, argues that a genitive phrase raises out of a prenominal gapless clause in either overt or covert syntax. (Author/VWL)

This study examines how Keenan and Comrie's (1977) noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (NPAH) intersects with the typological characteristics of Korean in the acquisition of relative clauses (RCs). Korean has two types of RC constructions: head-external and head-internal. The head-external relative has its head to the right of the RC, whereas the…

We report four act-out experiments testing the sensitivity of adults and three- to five-year-old children to the distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses in English. Specifically, we test knowledge of the fact that restrictive relative clauses cannot modify a proper name head, and of the fact that relatives introduced…

The author proposes an abstract form for the base categorial component of a transformational grammar--a form which represents categories and relations (functions) in a way that holds reasonable promise for resolving certain very broad problems of the interplay between linguistic form and function. The problems are so broad that almost everything…

Nomina actionis'' may be defined as a substantive derived from a verb and denoting action. (RS)

Presents a description of the syntax of prepositional phrases and adjectives in postnominal position in French sentences. (AM)

It has been observed that phonological phrasing in Shanghai Chinese distinguishes certain determiners from others and wh-quantifier phrases from non-wh-quantifier phrases. This article shows that such phonological phrasing distinctions are also found in Hokkien Chinese but in a more restricted environment. (Author/VWL)

The study presented here investigated the role of memory in normal sentence processing by looking at ERP effects to normal sentences and sentences containing grammatical violations. Sentences where the critical word was in the middle of the sentence were compared to sentences where the critical word always occurred in sentence-final position.…

The author divides the appositive noun phrases in German into two types, the relative and the performative, and describes the structure of each type. (Text is in German.) (TL)

The form of the print poetic line is partially determined by the expectations of the potential readers since authors, as participants in the common literary heritage of their culture, make use of the common expectations of that literary heritage. As a test of this hypothesis, one poem by James Dickey and one by Ted Olson were printed as prose, and…