Pires, Acrisio and Sarah G. Thomason. 2008. How Much Syntactic Reconstruction is Possible? In Principles of Syntactic Reconstruction, ed. G. Ferraresi and M. Goldbach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 27-72.

Abstract:

This paper explores ways to synthesize methods from generative linguistics and historical linguistics to develop explanatory criteria that need to be satisfied by different attempts to carry out syntactic reconstruction.  It addresses various questions such as (i) the need to define exactly what it means to reconstruct a language; (ii) characterizing the formal entities that count as the basic elements in the analysis of the empirical evidence for syntactic reconstruction, and whether the units of analysis and the elements that need to be reconstructed are formal entities of the same kind; (iii) whether it is possible to establish general principles for reconstructing syntax; (iv) to which extent the methodology adopted for the reconstruction of other properties of a linguistic system can be applied successfully to the reconstruction of syntax; and (v) identifying methodological criteria to assess the success of a syntactic reconstruction, and devise empirical tests for the reconstruction model.

Sally Thomason published “Pidgins/creoles and historical linguistics” in John
Victor Singler & Silvia Kouwenberg, eds., The handbook of pidgins and creoles, 242-262.  Oxford: Blackwell. 2008.

Edward Flemming, Peter Ladefoged and Sally Thomason.  Phonetic structures of Montana Salish Journal of Phonetics 36:465-491. 2008.

Abstract

Montana Salish is an Interior Salishan language spoken on the Flathead Reservation in Northwest Montana by an estimated population of about 40 speakers. This paper describes the basic phonetic characteristics of the language based on data from five speakers. Montana Salish contains a number of typologically unusual consonant types. Including glottalized sonorants, pre-stopped laterals, and a series of pharyngeals distinguished by secondary articulations of glottalization and/or labialization. The language also allows long sequences of obstruent consonants. These and more familiar phonetic characteristics are described through analysis of acoustic, electroglottographic, and aerodynamic data, and compared with related characteristics in other languages of the world.

Tutunjian, D & Boland, J. E. (2008). Do we need a distinction between arguments and adjuncts? Evidence from psycholinguistic studies of comprehension. Language and Linguistic Compass.

Abstract
Within both psycholinguistic theories of parsing and formal theories of syntax, a distinction between arguments and adjuncts is central to some theories, while minimized or denied by others. Even for theories that deem the argument/adjunct distinction important, the exact nature of the distinction has been difficult
to characterize. In this article, we review the psycholinguistic evidence for an argument/adjunct distinction, discuss how argument status can best be defined in the light of such evidence, and consider the implications for how grammatical knowledge is represented and accessed in the human mind.

Hsieh, Y., Boland, J. E. ,  Zhang, Y., & Yan, M. 2008. Limited syntactic parallelism in Chinese ambiguity resolution.  Journal of Language and Cognitive Processes

Abstract
Using the stop-making-sense paradigm (Boland, Tanenhaus, Garnsey, & Carlsen, 1995) and eye-tracking during reading, we examined the processing of the Chinese Verb NP1 de NP2 construction, which is temporarily ambiguous between a complement clause (CC) analysis and a relative clause (RC) analysis. Resolving the ambiguity as the more complex, less preferred CC was costly under some conditions but not under others. We took this as evidence for a limited parallel processor, such as Tabor and Hutchins’ (2004) SOPARSE, that maintains multiple syntactic analyses across several words of a sentence when the structures are each supported by the available constraints.

Carmel O’Shannessy has published  ”Children’s production of their heritage language and a new mixed language” In Simpson, Jane and Gillian Wigglesworth (eds) Children’s Language and Multilingualism. London / New York: Continuum International Press      

Abstract:
Children in Lajamanu community grow up in a complex linguistic environment in which people around them talk in several languages and code-switch between them. They learn two Indigenous languages in the home – Light Warlpiri, which they use on a daily basis from when they fi rst start to talk, and Warlpiri, which they begin to produce between the ages of 4 and 6 years. Light Warlpiri and Warlpiri share a lot of vocabulary and grammatical patterns. They differ mainly in the use of verb systems, and in the distribution of certain types of suffixes on nouns. The similarities and differences in the two languages lead to intriguing
questions about how the children in the community deal with such complex and variable input. In this paper I discuss the children’s development in speaking each language, by examining their production of a set of stories told in both Light Warlpiri and Warlpiri. Analysis shows that they can identify and reproduce quite finely differentiated patterns within and between languages.

Andries Coetzee has published a new paper in Language, the Journal of the Linguistic Society of America.

Coetzee, Andries W.  2008.  Grammaticality and ungrammaticality in
phonology.  Language, 84(2):218-257.

Abstract

In this paper, I make two theoretical claims: (i) For some form to be
grammatical in language L, it is not necessary that the form satisfy
all constraints that are active in L – i.e. even grammatical forms can
violate constraints. (ii) There are degrees of ungrammaticality – i.e.
not all ungrammatical forms are equally ungrammatical. I first show
that these claims follow straightforwardly from the basic architecture
of an Optimality Theoretic grammar. I then show that the surface sound
patterns used most widely in formal phonology cannot be used to test
the truth of these two claims, but argue that results from speech
processing experiments can. Finally, I discuss three experiments on
the processing of non-words of the form [stVt], [skVk] and [spVp] in
English that were designed to test these claims, and show that both
claims are confirmed by the results of the experiments.

Jeff Heath has published a grammar of Jamsay, a Dogon language spoken in Mali. Jeff is continuing work on the Dogon languages with support from the National Science Foundation and plans to produce grammars of all 20 Dogon languages.

Information
A Grammar of Jamsay
May 2008. 24 x 16 cm. XXII, 735 pages.
ISBN 978-3-11-020113-0
Series: Mouton Grammar Library [MGL] 45
MOUTON DE GRUYTER

From the publisher

Jamsay is the largest-population language among some twenty Dogon languages in Mali, West Africa. This is the first comprehensive grammar of any Dogon language, including a full tonology. The language is verb-final, with subject agreement on the verb and with no other case-marking. Its most striking feature is the morphosyntactically triggered use of stem-wide tone-contour overlays on nouns, verbs, and adjectives. All stems have a lexical tone contour such as H[igh], L[ow]-H, HL, or LHL with at least one H-tone. An exam of tone overlay is tone-dropping to stem-wide all-L. This is used for Perfective verbs (in the presence of a focalized constituent), and for a noun or adjective before an adjective. It is also used to mark the head NP in a relative clause (the head NP is not extracted, so this is the only direct indication of head NP status). The verb in a relative clause is morphologically a participle, agreeing with the head NP in humanness and number, rather than with the subject. “Intonation” is used grammatically. For example, NP conjunction ‘X and Y’ is expressed as X Y, without a conjunction, but with “dying-quail” intonation on both conjuncts.

Libu Lakhi, Brook Hefright and Kevin Stuard (20007).  ”The Namuyi:  Linguistic and Cultural Features.” Asian Folklore Studies 66, 233-253. 

Abstract:  The Namuyi live in southern Sichuan Province, the People’s Republic of China, and form part of the officially recognized Tibetan ethnic group. This paper first introduces the Namuyi in terms of location, population, and ethnonym. It then provides brief background on the Namuyi language, including comparisons of the dʐə¹¹ qu¹¹ and Luóguōdǐ varieties and a 207-item Swadesh list of English words with their dʐə¹¹ qu¹¹ Namuyi equivalents. Finally, it discusses Namuyi religion and provides a transcription of the ka¹¹ ju¹¹ bu⁴ ritual.