Overt and hidden complexity – Two types of complexity and their implications

AbstractLinguistic complexity is the result of the two motivations of explicitness and economy. Most approaches focus on the exlpicitness side of complexity (overt complexity) but there is also an explicitness-oriented side to complexity (hidden complexity). The aim of the paper is to introduce hidden complexity as the neglected side of complexity and to discuss the issues of trade-offs, global complexity and equal complexity from a more encompassing perspective that integrates overt and hidden complexity.

Hidden complexity – The neglected side of complexity and its implications

AbstractLinguistic complexity is the result of the two motivations of explicitness and economy. Most approaches focus on the explicitness-side of complexity (overt complexity) but there is also an economy-oriented side to it (hidden complexity). The aim of the paper is to introduce hidden complexity and to show how it opens new perspectives on central issues of linguistics. It will discuss the following questions: (i) the implementability of hidden complexity for psycholinguistic experiments, (ii) the evolution of linguistic complexity, (iii) its realisation in creole languages and (iv) its consequences for theories on the architecture of grammar. With this aim, the paper is a programmatic …

Serial Verb Constructions

The present article aims to give a survey of the typology of serial verb constructions (SVCs) and the criteria that are needed for defining them. For that purpose, it starts with a detailed account of Aikhenvald and Dixon (2006) and their comprehensive cross-linguistic account of SVCs. In a critical discussion of this approach, this article will then address the following three issues. (i) The concept of single eventhood is a more general concept from which a number of Aikhenvald and Dixon's (2006) criteria can be iconically derived. The macro-event property and time-positional operators (Bohnemeyer et al. 2007) provide a good basis for a more coherent definition of what makes an event as f…

Classifiers in Sinitic languages: From individuation to definiteness-marking

Abstract This article examines the distribution and interpretation of the bare classifier phrase [Cl+N] in three Sinitic languages of Mandarin, Wu and Cantonese. We show that [Cl+N] can be interpreted as definite or indefinite depending on pragmatic factors related to information structure and word order. Syntactically, we claim that indefinite [Cl+N] has the maximal projection of ClP and that definite [Cl+N] is a DP, where the D head is filled by the classifier via Cl-to-D raising. Semantically, we claim that indefinite [Cl+N] is predicative, denoting sets of atomic entities and that definite [Cl+N] is derived from indefinite [Cl+N] by lifting it from predicates to Generalized Quantifiers.…

The role of animacy in the real time comprehension of Mandarin Chinese: Evidence from auditory event-related brain potentials.

Two auditory ERP studies examined the role of animacy in sentence comprehension in Mandarin Chinese by comparing active and passive sentences in simple verb-final (Experiment 1) and relative clause constructions (Experiment 2). In addition to the voice manipulation (which modulated the assignment of actor and undergoer roles to the arguments), both arguments were either animate or inanimate. This allowed us to examine the interplay of animacy with thematic interpretation. In Experiment 1, we observed no effect of animacy at NP1, but N400 effects for inanimate actor arguments in second position. This result mirrors previous findings in German, thus suggesting that an initial undergoer univer…

Another Look at Aspect in Thai

The aim of the paper is twofold. The first aim is to analyse aspect in Thai in the framework of the selection-theory approach developed by Breu and Sasse (1991). The second aim is to study all possible co-occurrenc;es of each of the three aspect markers: lεεw, kamlaƞ, yùu with the four classes of verbs and with the verbs occurring with other strategies within the five classes of states of affairs. It was found that the selectional approach chosen helped explaining the inceptive-stative state of affairs in Thai clearly. It also pointed out that the Thai aspectuality focused on the initial boundary and terminative boundary of the state of affairs. It is here that combinations of the three asp…

Areal Typology and Grammaticalization

Grammaticalization processes in East and mainland South East Asian languages show remarkable areal parallels within the domain of the verb and the noun. Since language contact increases processes of reanalysis it supports grammaticalization and its cross-linguistic similarity. Grammaticalization processes are governed by attractor positions (cf. 1.1.3.) and pathways of grammaticalization (cf. 1.1..4.). The former is a good parameter for making areal distinctions, the latter is of areal relevance only within the domain of the verb. Because of attractor positions, grammaticalization processes are not necessarily slow and gradual. The distribution of attractor positions relative to each other …

A Concept for Quantitative Comparison of Mathematical and Natural Language and its possible Effect on Learning

Starting with the question whether there is a connection between the mathematical capabilities of a person and his or her mother tongue, we introduce a new modeling approach to quantitatively compare natural languages with mathematical language. The question arises from educational assessment studies that indicate such a relation. Texts written in natural languages can be deconstructed into a dependence graph, in simple cases a dependence tree. The same kind of deconstruction is also possible for mathematical texts. This gives an idea of how to quantitatively compare mathematical and natural language. To that end, we develop algorithms to define the distance between graphs. In this paper, w…

Knowledge Representation and Cognitive Skills in Problem Solving

This paper offers a programmatic view on the study of cross-linguistic variation and its effects on human cognitive skills. Based on Linguistic Typology and its methodology to account for cross-linguistic differences (section 2), it will show how the presence or absence of certain grammatical categories enhances or inhibits specific skills in the domain of quantification (section 3). In its main part (section 4), it will show how to describe structural differences between the source and the target language in translation and how to find out if these differences affect the performance of students in knowledge assessment tests. For that purpose, it will compare the English and the Japanese ve…

Classifiers, Quantifiers and Class Nouns in Hmong

Four operations of nominal concretization are crucial for presenting a typology of classifier languages: individualization, classification, relationalization (possession), and referentialization. The first three of these operations are at work in the Hmong classifier system. The development of classifiers is described in connection with the degree of grammaticalization which will be measured by the three parameters of [± exact], [± entity], and cohesion. These parameters will be arranged in a three-dimensional continuum (cf. Fig. II.) which leads to the following evolutional steps of increasing grammaticalization: nouns, class nouns, quantifiers, intrinsic quantifiers (to be defined in the …

Performance in Knowledge Assessment Tests from the Perspective of Linguistic Typology

An important part of cross-linguistic variation manifests itself in the grammatical categories which are available in the grammar of a language, their semantic fine-grainedness and the obligatoriness of their use. The present paper will focus on three domains of grammar: (1) information structure and topicality, (2) converbs and clause combining and (3) modality and evidentiality. These domains are known to be prominent in Japanese and Korean grammar while they are clearly less relevant in English. The paper will first give a detailed account of these structures with examples from the US Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE). As will become quite clear, the versions of the test …

Contact-Induced Convergence: Typology and Areality

From an integrative perspective, research on language typology and research on areality understood in terms of contact-induced convergence are mutually dependent. Typologists need to be aware that their generalizations are as reliable as they manage to integrate effects of contact into their statistics. Contact linguists need to be aware that typological findings may not qualify as independent evidence for their field. Thus, typologists and contact linguists both need to have certain information concerning each other's field. For that reason, this article covers both fields under one title. The article is divided into three main sections. The first deals with language contact and its struct…

Nominal and verbal classification

Perspective in the Processing of the Chinese Reflexive ziji: ERP Evidence

We investigated the comprehension of the Chinese reflexive ziji, which is typically subject to long-distance binding. However, this preference can be overridden by verb semantics (some verbs require local binding) as well as by subtle feature combinations of intervening noun phrases (NPs) (e.g., 1st/2nd person pronouns block dependencies with more distant 3rd person antecedents). The processing of ziji was examined in sentences containing two verb types (local/self-oriented, distant/other-oriented) and three different intervening NPs (1st, 2nd , 3rd person). The event-related potential data revealed an early interaction of verb and intervener: other-oriented verbs showed more processing eff…

Problems with primary vs. secondary grammaticalization: the case of East and mainland Southeast Asian languages

Abstract The present paper aims at testing four criteria for the distinction between primary vs. secondary grammaticalization in East and mainland Southeast Asian languages. These languages are of special interest for research on grammaticalization because they show limitations in the coevolution of meaning and form and because pragmatic inference is very prominent (lack of obligatory grammatical markers, multifunctionality). If the four criteria work in these languages, this can be taken as a good indicator for their cross-linguistic, maybe universal relevance. The criteria are tested with three markers that stand for three different types of multifunctionality: (i) the Khmer verb baːn ‘co…

Precategoriality and syntax-based parts of speech

Late Archaic Chinese is a precategorial language, i.e., a language whose lexical items are not preclassified in the lexicon for the syntactic functions of N and V. This will be shown on the basis of structural-conceptual criteria as those developed by Croft (2000) and Sasse (1993b) as well as on the basis of methodological criteria as those suggested by Evans & Osada (2005). As is claimed in Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 2005), the meaning of lexical items is derived by integrating their own lexical meaning with the meaning contributed by the construction. The construction analysed in this paper is the argument structure construction. Linking between lexicon and syntax is subject…

What Can We Learn from Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence on Learning in Higher Education? Implications for an Interdisciplinary Research Framework

Since the development of the hypertext markup language (HTML), a myriad of data from different sources has become increasingly cross-linked, resulting in entire information landscapes; more than 21 billion electronic devices (Web 4.0) will be in use by 2020. Access to and processing of multimedia content and unverified and algorithmically preselected information are constitutive elements of learning in the Internet Age. As learning occurs in- and outside of formal higher education institutions and cannot be explained by educational or technological factors alone, it is a crucial cross-disciplinary topic, equally important for all areas of science and education. Yet, research on learning in …

Radical analyticity and radical pro-drop scenarios of diachronic change in East and mainland Southeast Asia, West Africa and Pidgins and Creoles

Abstract The paucity or absence of inflectional morphology (radical analyticity) and the omission of verbal arguments with no concomitant agreement (radical pro-drop) are well-known characteristics of East and mainland Southeast Asian languages (EMSEA). Both of them have a special status in typology and linguistic theory. Radical analyticity is known under the term of ‘morphological isolation’ and has recently been described as ‘diachronically anomalous’ (McWhorter 2016), while radical pro-drop is a theoretical challenge since Rizzi (1986). The present paper offers an alternative view on these characteristics based on data from EMSEA languages, radically analytic West African languages and …

Numeral classifiers in East Asia

AbstractThe understanding of the functional range of numeral classifiers requires a combined effort from different theoretical approaches and the integration of findings from syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This article demonstrates how such an integrative perspective creates new insights into classifiers in Sinitic languages in the fields of counting and word order, the expression of definiteness and indefiniteness and the syntax of verbal classification.

Inflectional speaker-role classifiers in Weining Ahmao

Abstract This paper is the first of two (see references) aiming to bring to the attention of pragmaticians an idiosyncratic classifier system that encodes speaker-roles along the lines of gender and age. Isolating (analytic) languages are known for their scarcity of word forms and for their under-specification of grammatical categories. Analytic languages in East and Southeast Asian involve classifiers – a word category without counterpart in most languages of the inflectional type – to attenuate some of the vagueness in the nominal realm. Similar to other parts of speech, the classifier generally constitutes a one-form word category with occasional sandhi-derivations. Weining Ahmao, a Miao…

Positive Learning in the Internet Age: Developments and Perspectives in the PLATO Program

The Internet has become the main informational entity, i.e., a public source of information. The Internet offers many new benefits and opportunities for human learning, teaching, and research. However, by providing a vast amount of information from innumerable sources, it also enables the manipulation of information; there are countless examples of disseminated misinformation and false data in mass and social media. Much of the information presented online is conflicting, preselected, or algorithmically obscure, often colliding with fundamental humanistic values and posing moral or ethical problems.