Hsieh, Yufen. & Boland, J. E. (2007). Narrative-object/modifieir noun ambiguity resolution in Mandarin Chinese. International Conference on Processing Head-final Structures. Rochester, NY, September.

Abstract:

Using the self-paced stop-making-sense paradigm (Boland et al., 1995), we examined the processing of the Chinese ‘Verb NP1 de NP2’ construction, which is temporarily ambiguous between a narrative-object structure (NOS) and a modifier-noun structure (MNS). Two experiments showed that resolving the ambiguity as the more complex, less preferred NOS was cost-free. We took this as evidence for a limited parallel processor that maintains multiple syntactic analyses throughout the ambiguous region of a sentence, when two structures are both supported by the available constraints. In addition, the data patterns replicated an important finding by Zhang et al. (2000), demonstrating that Chinese parsing is multi-constraint based and incremental.

Photo by Brian Beddor

Epstein, Sam. 2007. Physiological Linguistics, and Some Implications Regarding Disciplinary Autonomy and Unification. Mind and Language 22.1

Abstract
Chomsky’s current Biolinguistic (Minimalist) methodology is shown to comport with what might be called ‘established’ aspects of biological method, thereby raising, in the biolinguistic domain, issues concerning biological autonomy from the physical sciences. At least current irreducibility of biology, including biolinguistics, stems in at least some cases from the very nature of what I will claim is physiological, or inter-organ/inter-component, macro-levels of explanation which play a new and central explanatory role in Chomsky’s inter-componential (interface-based) explanation of certain (anatomical) properties of the syntactic component of Universal Grammar. Under this new mode of explanation, certain physiological functions of cognitive mental organs are hypothesized, in an attempt to explain aspects of their internal anatomy. Thus, the internal anatomy of the syntactic component exhibits features that enable it to effectively interface with (i.e. function in a coordinated fashion with) other ‘adjacent’ organs, such as the Conceptual-Intensional (C-I) (‘meaning’) system and the Sensory- Motor (SM) (‘sound’) system. These two interface systems take as their inputs the assembled outputs of the syntactic component and, as a result of the very syntactic structure imposed by the syntax (as opposed to countless imaginable alternatives) are then able to assign their (linearized) sound and (compositional) meaning interpretations. If this is an accurate characterization, Chomsky’s long-standing postulation of mental organs, and I will argue, the advancement of new hypotheses concerning physiological inter-organ functions, has attained in current biolinguistic Minimalist method a significant unification with foundational aspects of physiological explanation in other areas of biology.

Carmel O’Shannessey received a grant from the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (HRELP), administered by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, to document a traditional Warlpiri ceremony in northern Australia next summer. The project has supplementary funding from the Warlpiri community, and has been developed in response to a request from community elders.

POST-NASAL DEVOICING IN TSWANA
Andries W. Coetzee, Susan Lin & Rigardt Pretorius
ICPhS XVI. p. 861-864

Tswana is traditionally described as having a process of post-nasal devoicing (/mba/ > [mpa]). If this is accurate, then Tswana poses a challenge to views that neutralization processes should be articulatorily grounded. Airflow leakage through the nasal cavity should promote, not inhibit, voicing post-nasally. Zsiga et al. performed acoustic analysis of the speech of 6 Tswana speakers, and found no evidence of post-nasal devoicing. They conclude that, counter to traditional descriptions, Tswana does not have post-nasal devoicing. In an independent study, we collected speech from 12 Tswana speakers. Four of our speakers showed clear and consistent post-nasal devoicing. In this paper, we present the data for these 4 speakers to show that at least some speakers of Tswana do have an active process of postnasal devoicing. We also consider possible explanations for this process, arguing that it is motivated by perceptual rather than articulatory considerations.

Full paper

Professor Qunhu Gong of Fudan University, Shanghai, China and Wayne State University will give a colloquium lecture on September 21st, 2007 in 311 West Hall. The title of the lecture is “Some Linguistic Features of Zhaba — A Tibeto-Burman Language in West Sichuan, China”.
More information is available on the department’s colloquium page.

7 pm, Friday Sept 14
Sushi.com (715 N University)

If you wear your Linguistics Department apparel, the club will pay $5
of your bill.

email eschro@umich.edu with questions

Queen, Robin. 2007. Sociolinguistic Horizons: Language and Sexuality. Language and Linguistics Compass. Vol. 1, June 2007

Note: Language and Linguistics Compass is a new on-line journal from Blackwell. The first issue is available free through Sept. 30, 2007.

Abstract
In this essay, I examine the current state of research on the connections between language and sexuality and argue that the time has arrived for such research to adopt a more vigorous use of the scientific method, which will allow for testing the predictions made by the various theoretical interventions that have been proposed since the 1990s. I begin by outlining the major theoretical debate within the field, namely, the question of the place of social identity within a theory of language and sexuality and then detail several areas and trends in the research, including research focused on lexical and grammatical variation, language and sexual identity, language and heterosexuality, language and eroticism, and finally experimental approaches to language and sexuality. I conclude with a call for more integration of deductive and inductive approaches within the field.

Coetzee, Andries W. and Daan Wissing. 2007. Global and local
durational properties in three varieties of South African English. The
Linguistic Review, 24:263-289.

Abstract
This article investigates the relationship between the global and local durational properties of an utterance. We show that languages that are similar in terms of their global durational properties are also similar in terms of their local durational properties. However, languages that differ globally also differ locally. We illustrate this with three varieties of South African English. We show that South African English L1 and Afrikaans English both pattern with stress-timed languages and both apply phrase-final lengthening. Tswana English, however, patterns with syllable-timed languages, and does not apply phrase-final lengthening.

And about Andries’ co-author
Daan Wissing was my first linguistics professor — from the North-West University in South Africa. I had one semester, similar to our Ling 111, from him when I was an undergrad. Since then, he and I have worked together on several projects. This paper
marks the completion of a project that has been in the making for several
years.

From July 30-August 10, Bill Baxter co-ran an intensive workshop on Old Chinese reconstruction along with Professor CHEN Jian of Fudan University, Shanghai. The workshop was held at Leiden University, the Netherlands and was sponsored by the Research School for Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies (CNWS) and the Leiden University’s Faculty of Arts. The workshop focused especially on interpreting the
script of texts of the Warring States period (5th-3rd centuries BCE) recently excavated at
archeological sites in China.