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Volume 10
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Languages, Volume 10, Issue 9 (September 2025) – 43 articles

Cover Story (view full-size image): Accurate and efficient proficiency measures are crucial for research with heritage language learners, yet most available tools were developed for L2 learners. This study evaluates the Spanish version of LexTALE (LexTALE-ESP), a rapid vocabulary-based test, against ACTFL-rated Writing Proficiency in U.S. college heritage speakers of Spanish. Results show that LexTALE-ESP significantly correlates with functional writing proficiency and outperforms self-assessment as a predictor. These findings demonstrate that vocabulary recognition tasks can capture core aspects of written language ability, challenging assumptions that heritage language learners’ assessment must be entirely distinct from L2 approaches. However, LexTALE-ESP lacks the precision needed for placement or other high-stakes decisions. View this paper
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33 pages, 13287 KB  
Article
Navigating Ambiguity: Scope Interpretations in Spanish/English Heritage Bilinguals
by Cecilia Solís-Barroso, Acrisio Pires and Teresa Satterfield
Languages 2025, 10(9), 244; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090244 - 22 Sep 2025
Viewed by 191
Abstract
This study investigates how Mexican Spanish/U.S. English heritage bilinguals process scope ambiguities in sentences containing the existential quantifiers a/una and the universal quantifiers every/cada in English and Spanish. Sentences like ‘A person bought every book’ are syntactically ambiguous in both languages, [...] Read more.
This study investigates how Mexican Spanish/U.S. English heritage bilinguals process scope ambiguities in sentences containing the existential quantifiers a/una and the universal quantifiers every/cada in English and Spanish. Sentences like ‘A person bought every book’ are syntactically ambiguous in both languages, allowing for multiple possible interpretations. Research suggests that one interpretation is often preferred due to lower cognitive demand, though degree of preference varies across languages. Notably, heritage bilinguals may have distinct interpretation preferences in each language, highlighting the complexity of bilingual processing. Sixty Spanish/English heritage bilinguals (Age M = 25.48, SD = 2.65) completed a timed and graded truth-value judgment task in both languages, along with language proficiency tests. We analyzed interpretation ratings, response times, and potential effects of proficiency. Results reveal nearly identical preferred interpretation ratings (Spanish: M = 4.19, SD = 0.56; English: M = 4.14, SD = 0.66) and response times (Spanish: M = 6.97 s, SD = 2.70; English: M = 6.67 s, SD = 1.80) across languages, with one interpretation consistently favored and associated with faster response times. Language proficiency had no significant impact. Our experimental findings offer new insights into heritage bilinguals’ processing of competing linguistic structures and inform models of bilingual syntax and cognitive flexibility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Processing in Spanish Heritage Speakers)
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25 pages, 11348 KB  
Article
Discourse Markers in French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB) Dialogues and Their Translation into French: A Corpus-Based Study
by Sílvia Gabarró-López
Languages 2025, 10(9), 243; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090243 - 22 Sep 2025
Viewed by 227
Abstract
Discourse markers have been extensively studied in spoken languages from different perspectives, covering monolingual, contrastive, and translation studies. However, research on these items remains limited for signed languages, with only a handful of scattered publications. Following a corpus-based approach, this paper aims to [...] Read more.
Discourse markers have been extensively studied in spoken languages from different perspectives, covering monolingual, contrastive, and translation studies. However, research on these items remains limited for signed languages, with only a handful of scattered publications. Following a corpus-based approach, this paper aims to investigate discourse markers in French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB), including their types, functions, and translation/s into written French. An 18 min sample of three dialogues and six signers was analyzed using a two-level independent taxonomy (domain and function) previously applied to spoken and signed data. Overall, 251 discourse markers were identified in the LSFB sample. They can be manual, nonmanual, or a combination of both, the latter type being the most frequent. In contrast to the previous literature, discourse markers cannot be spatial in LSFB. Regarding their functional spectrum, most discourse markers belong to the sequential domain (i.e., they are mostly used to structure discourse) and express ‘addition’ (i.e., providing more information) or ‘monitoring’ (i.e., keeping control over one’s turn or over the interaction). When examining the translation of DMs, most are either omitted or substituted by other non-discourse marking items in the target texts. Although these results are generally similar to previous studies on DMs in spoken languages, more research on these items in other signed languages is needed to obtain a precise overview of their role in human communication. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends in Discourse Marker Research)
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19 pages, 2999 KB  
Article
When Pitch Falls Short: Reinforcing Prosodic Boundaries to Signal Focus in Japanese
by Marta Ortega-Llebaria and Jun Nagao
Languages 2025, 10(9), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090242 - 20 Sep 2025
Viewed by 343
Abstract
This production study examines how Japanese speakers mark information structure through an Edge-Reinforcing Strategy—a prosodic system that signals focus via boundary-based cues, independently of lexical pitch accent or phrasing constraints. While many Japanese dialects mark focus with F0 expansion and post-focal compression, such [...] Read more.
This production study examines how Japanese speakers mark information structure through an Edge-Reinforcing Strategy—a prosodic system that signals focus via boundary-based cues, independently of lexical pitch accent or phrasing constraints. While many Japanese dialects mark focus with F0 expansion and post-focal compression, such strategies are limited in utterances containing unaccented words and in systems without lexical accent or multiword Accentual Phrases. We hypothesize that when pitch cues are constrained, speakers rely on temporal and spectral cues aligned with prosodic edges, such as silence insertion, jaw opening, and duration asymmetry. Nine educated speakers of Japanese standard produced 48 genitive noun-phrases (e.g., umáno hizume ‘horse’s hoof’) under Broad and Narrow Focus. Acoustic measures included word duration, and F1-based estimates of jaw opening and silence insertions. Results showed that silence and duration were the strongest predictors of Narrow Focus, functioning additively and independently of pitch accent. F1-based measurements of jaw opening played a secondary, compensatory role, particularly in unaccented contexts. Cue-profile analysis revealed a functional hierarchy: silence and duration together were most effective, while jaw alone was less informative. These findings broaden current models of focus realization, showing that prosodic restructuring can emerge from gradient, edge-based cue integration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Articulation and Prosodic Structure)
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23 pages, 3533 KB  
Article
A Web Corpus Analysis of the Italian Grazie Di/Per Alternation
by Mark Hoff
Languages 2025, 10(9), 241; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090241 - 19 Sep 2025
Viewed by 310
Abstract
The prepositional variation of grazie di/per + complement ‘thanks for X’ is often acknowledged in Italian grammars but has not yet been adequately examined. I appeal to key tenets of Construction Grammar to analyze 3000 tokens of this construction from the Italian Web [...] Read more.
The prepositional variation of grazie di/per + complement ‘thanks for X’ is often acknowledged in Italian grammars but has not yet been adequately examined. I appeal to key tenets of Construction Grammar to analyze 3000 tokens of this construction from the Italian Web 2020 Corpus. To fully probe the conditioning of di/per selection, I pair logistic regression of the entire dataset with a descriptive statistical analysis of various levels of constructional schematicity and frequent individual complements. Results confirm previous descriptions that per is now the majority variant and reveal that significant predictors of preposition selection include complement type (nominal, simple infinitive, compound infinitive), as well as complement complexity and quantity of intervening material (both measured in number of words). However, strong lexico-constructional effects are also observed, such that the older variant di remains strongly preferred in specific micro-constructions (e.g., grazie di tutto ‘thanks for everything’, grazie di esistere ‘thanks for existing’). These findings evince a complex case of variation which requires the joint consideration of both overall patterns and fine-grained constructional distinctions. Full article
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13 pages, 991 KB  
Review
Speech Segmentation with Prosodic and Statistical Cues Is Language-Specific in Infancy
by Mireia Marimon, Amanda Saksida, Barbara Höhle and Alan Langus
Languages 2025, 10(9), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090240 - 19 Sep 2025
Viewed by 274
Abstract
Speech segmentation is one of the first tasks infants face when learning their mother tongue. It has been argued that statistical learning could function as a gateway to speech segmentation in the absence of pre-existing knowledge about the language to be acquired. However, [...] Read more.
Speech segmentation is one of the first tasks infants face when learning their mother tongue. It has been argued that statistical learning could function as a gateway to speech segmentation in the absence of pre-existing knowledge about the language to be acquired. However, infants also segment speech with prosodic cues, such as lexical stress. Here, we review recent evidence from studies that look at how infants weigh statistical and prosodic information when segmenting continuous speech. We argue that the idea that statistical regularities have a main role in early speech segmentation, as evidenced in English-learning infants, is not found with German-learning infants. With more natural speech stimuli, German-learning infants only become sensitive to statistical regularities in the speech signal by their first birthday. We provide further support for this hypothesis by showing that there are cross-linguistic differences in how statistical models segment child-directed speech (CDS) and that CDS changes as infants grow. This suggests that speech input to younger infants is not tailored for speech segmentation with statistical cues, but that it is subject to cross-linguistic differences like prosody. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Acquisition of Prosody)
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23 pages, 2168 KB  
Article
Interactive Functions of Palm-Up: Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Modal Insights from ASL, American English, LSFB and Belgian French
by Alysson Lepeut and Emily Shaw
Languages 2025, 10(9), 239; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090239 - 19 Sep 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 220
Abstract
This study dives into the interactive functions of the palm-up across four language ecologies drawing on comparable corpus data from American Sign Language (ASL)-American English and French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB)-Belgian French. While researchers have examined palm-up in many different spoken and signed [...] Read more.
This study dives into the interactive functions of the palm-up across four language ecologies drawing on comparable corpus data from American Sign Language (ASL)-American English and French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB)-Belgian French. While researchers have examined palm-up in many different spoken and signed language contexts, they have primarily focused on the canonical forms and its epistemic variants. Work that directly compares palm-up across modalities and language ecologies remains scarce. This study addresses such gaps by documenting all instances of the palm approaching supination in four language ecologies to analyze its interactive functions cross-linguistically and cross-modally. Capitalizing on an existing typology of interactive gestures, palm-up annotations were conducted using ELAN on a total sample of 48 participants interacting face-to-face in dyads. Findings highlight the multifunctional nature of palm-up in terms of conversational dynamics with cross-modal differences in the specific interactive use of palm-up between spoken and signed language contexts. These findings underscore the versatility of the palm-up and reinforce its role in conversational dynamics as not merely supplementary but integral to human interaction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-representational Gestures: Types, Use, and Functions)
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13 pages, 373 KB  
Article
Varieties of Polar Question Bias: Lessons from Vietnamese
by Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine and Anne Nguyen
Languages 2025, 10(9), 238; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090238 - 19 Sep 2025
Viewed by 249
Abstract
This paper describes the use conditions of different polar question constructions in Vietnamese and their consequences for the description and analysis of polar question bias. We argue that the behavior of questions with the final particle à highlights the utility and relevance of [...] Read more.
This paper describes the use conditions of different polar question constructions in Vietnamese and their consequences for the description and analysis of polar question bias. We argue that the behavior of questions with the final particle à highlights the utility and relevance of the theoretical notion of projected bias for describing polar question bias, distinct from and in addition to original bias based on the speaker’s prior beliefs and contextual bias based on evidence available in the context. We also argue that some but not all bias requirements may be described as due to pragmatic competition between different question forms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Issues in Vietnamese Linguistics)
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19 pages, 398 KB  
Article
On the Licensing Condition on Sluicing: Evidence from Japanese
by Shun Ihara and Yuya Noguchi
Languages 2025, 10(9), 237; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090237 - 19 Sep 2025
Viewed by 331
Abstract
Recent studies on sluicing have been pursuing its licensing condition by examining mismatch phenomena in sluicing. The groundbreaking work was by Rudin, who proposes a syntactic licensing condition on sluicing through investigating mismatch phenomena. This paper aims to critically examine Rudin’s proposal by [...] Read more.
Recent studies on sluicing have been pursuing its licensing condition by examining mismatch phenomena in sluicing. The groundbreaking work was by Rudin, who proposes a syntactic licensing condition on sluicing through investigating mismatch phenomena. This paper aims to critically examine Rudin’s proposal by discussing novel Japanese data regarding mismatches in modality, polarity and verbs. We show that these data challenge Rudin’s proposal both conceptually and empirically and thus suggest that it needs to be re-examined. We then show that Kroll’s semantic licensing condition on sluicing captures the Japanese data in question and thus argue that the condition has a wider empirical coverage compared with Rudin’s proposal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Issues in Ellipsis and Ellipsis Mismatch: Studies in Japanese and Beyond)
23 pages, 1736 KB  
Article
The Sociolinguistics of Quotatives in Sri Lankan English: Corpus-Based Insights
by Tobias Bernaisch
Languages 2025, 10(9), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090236 - 18 Sep 2025
Viewed by 365
Abstract
This paper examines the quotative system of Sri Lankan English. Quotatives are identified in face-to-face conversations in the Sri Lankan component of the International Corpus of English. The use of kiyala indicating and following quoted material has been transferred from Sinhala, one of [...] Read more.
This paper examines the quotative system of Sri Lankan English. Quotatives are identified in face-to-face conversations in the Sri Lankan component of the International Corpus of English. The use of kiyala indicating and following quoted material has been transferred from Sinhala, one of the indigenous languages of the country, into Sri Lankan English. Together with the occurrence of complementising that, the localisation of the Sri Lankan English quotative system is evident. Special emphasis is given to the choice between BE like and SAY, the by far most frequent quotative forms in the informal spoken data analysed. They are annotated with established structural (e.g., content of the quote or tense) and sociobiographic variables (e.g., age and gender of the speaker) apparent from earlier quotative research, but also with new ones (e.g., quote length or speakers’ stays abroad or media exposure to particular varieties of English). Via a generalised linear mixed-effects model tree implementing the latest methodological suggestions for classification trees, it is found that BE like is favoured over SAY in Sri Lankan English with younger speakers—particularly when the conversation took place after 2015 and events are narrated using the historical present. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sociolinguistic Variation and Change: Focus on English as a Second and Foreign Language)
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26 pages, 1194 KB  
Article
Pronoun Mixing in Netherlandic Dutch Revisited: Perception of ‘u’ and ‘jij’ Use by Pre-University Students
by Suzanne Pauline Aalberse
Languages 2025, 10(9), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090235 - 18 Sep 2025
Viewed by 225
Abstract
Prescriptive grammars of Netherlandic Dutch usually explicitly warn against mixing T- and V-pronouns. Although the prescriptive norm opposes mixing, pronoun mixing does occur, and its use can often be interpreted as strategic, in the sense that mixing pronouns might help to balance conflicting [...] Read more.
Prescriptive grammars of Netherlandic Dutch usually explicitly warn against mixing T- and V-pronouns. Although the prescriptive norm opposes mixing, pronoun mixing does occur, and its use can often be interpreted as strategic, in the sense that mixing pronouns might help to balance conflicting needs such as signaling respect and formality to the addressee on the one hand as well as expressing closeness on the other hand. This article explores the perception of pronoun mixing among high school students who were in the process of acquiring the norm. As part of a student science project, we asked students to categorize real-world examples of pronoun mixing that they themselves had gathered as a strategy or as a mistake. Based on the students’ responses, we extrapolated that the most acceptable forms of mixing were brief switches to V in a T-context to express humor or urgency and—if there was no clear default pronoun—that mixing was most acceptable (1) when the text was free of spelling errors and other signs of sloppiness, (2) when the mixing was intersentential, (3) when the number of switches was infrequent, and (4) when there was a clear division of tasks between the pronouns. As an offshoot of this student science project, we designed a brief follow-up survey to gain insight into domains and consensus and variation among the students’ perceptions of pronoun mixing. This follow-up survey revealed that if not explicitly asked, most students do not notice pronoun mixing. We asked students to rank four real-life examples of address pronoun mixing that they had gathered during the student science project. We expected that with respect to their perception of the mixing of address pronouns all students would rank examples of mixing in the same order. A primary result of this part of our exploration was that there were large individual differences in the perception of mixing and that there was variation in the ranking of examples among the students. Intersentential mixing yielded the most neutral evaluations by the students, but intrasentential mixing showed the most extreme evaluations. It was disliked most strongly by students who had a general dislike of mixing and liked best by students who appreciated mixing as a style. Briefly switching to V in contexts associated with the T-pronoun was perceived to be humorous by a quarter of the students, and half of the students perceived a switch to the petrified abbreviation AUB (‘if you-V please’) as expressing urgency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perception and Processing of Address Terms)
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25 pages, 962 KB  
Article
The Production-Comprehension Relationship in the Acquisition of Prosodic Focus Marking: The Role of Age and Individual Differences
by Aoju Chen and Huub van den Bergh
Languages 2025, 10(9), 234; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090234 - 16 Sep 2025
Viewed by 250
Abstract
Central to the debate on the production–comprehension relationship in prosodic development is the acquisition of the focus-to-prosody mapping in West Germanic languages. Past research primarily examined the production–comprehension relationship in 4- to 5-year-old English and Dutch-speaking children and yielded evidence both for and [...] Read more.
Central to the debate on the production–comprehension relationship in prosodic development is the acquisition of the focus-to-prosody mapping in West Germanic languages. Past research primarily examined the production–comprehension relationship in 4- to 5-year-old English and Dutch-speaking children and yielded evidence both for and against a production-precedes-comprehension asymmetry. Recent research shows a protracted developmental trajectory to adult-like use of the full range of prosodic means for focus marking in Dutch-speaking children, suggesting a comprehension-precedes-production asymmetry. Little is known about whether the production–comprehension relationship changes with age and differs between children. To elucidate the effect of age on the production–comprehension relationship and shed initial light on individual differences in this domain, we investigated production and comprehension of the focus-to-prosody mapping in SVO sentences by 71 Dutch-speaking children aged 4 to 8 years, using picture-based production and online comprehension tasks. Multilevel modelling showed that the children’s comprehension was predictive of their production in sentence-initial focus but not in sentence-final focus across ages. However, this predictive relationship between comprehension and production differed for different children depending on whether their comprehension was adult-like. In conclusion, we have found limited evidence that children’s comprehension of the focus-to-prosody mapping supports their use of prosody to mark focus in production. The stability of individual differences across development is similar to findings in other domains of language acquisition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Acquisition of Prosody)
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17 pages, 406 KB  
Article
Partition by Exhaustification and Polar Questions in Vietnamese
by Tue Trinh
Languages 2025, 10(9), 233; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090233 - 15 Sep 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 269
Abstract
This note presents a series of contrasts pertaining to Vietnamese polar questions: (i) The subject can be definite but not quantificational; (ii) the subject can be plain but not only-focused; (iii) the modal adverb chắc chắn (‘certainly’) can follow but not precede [...] Read more.
This note presents a series of contrasts pertaining to Vietnamese polar questions: (i) The subject can be definite but not quantificational; (ii) the subject can be plain but not only-focused; (iii) the modal adverb chắc chắn (‘certainly’) can follow but not precede verum focus. I argue that a monoclausal analysis, advocated in several previous works, will have difficulties accounting for these contrasts and propose a bi-clausal analysis that explains them in a natural way. The explanation relies on the assumption of a general condition on questions, Partition by Exhaustification (PbE), in conjunction with some other independently motivated semantic and pragmatic constraints. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Issues in Vietnamese Linguistics)
28 pages, 453 KB  
Article
Language Learning in the Wild: The L2 Acquisition of English Restrictive Relative Clauses
by Stephen Levey, Kathryn L. Rochon and Laura Kastronic
Languages 2025, 10(9), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090232 - 10 Sep 2025
Viewed by 520
Abstract
We argue that quantitative analysis of community-based speech data furnishes an indispensable adjunct to theoretical and experimental studies targeting the acquisition of relativization. Drawing on a comparative sociolinguistic approach, we make use of three corpora of natural speech to investigate second-language (L2) speakers’ [...] Read more.
We argue that quantitative analysis of community-based speech data furnishes an indispensable adjunct to theoretical and experimental studies targeting the acquisition of relativization. Drawing on a comparative sociolinguistic approach, we make use of three corpora of natural speech to investigate second-language (L2) speakers’ acquisition of restrictive relative clauses in English. These corpora comprise: (i) spontaneous L2 speech; (ii) a local baseline variety of the target language (TL); and (iii) L2 speakers’ first language (L1), French. These complementary datasets enable us to explore the extent to which L2 speakers reproduce the discursive frequency of relative markers, as well as their fine-grained linguistic conditioning, in the local TL baseline variety. Comparisons with French facilitate exploration of possible L1 transfer effects on L2 speakers’ production of English restrictive relative clauses. Results indicate that evidence of L1 transfer effects on L2 speakers’ restrictive relative clauses is tenuous. A pivotal finding is that L2 speakers, in the aggregate, closely approximate TL constraints on relative marker selection, although they use the subject relativizer who significantly less often than their TL counterparts. We implicate affiliation with, and integration into, the local TL community as key factors facilitating the propagation of TL vernacular norms to L2 speakers. Full article
21 pages, 1740 KB  
Article
The Dual Functions of Adaptors
by Renia Lopez-Ozieblo
Languages 2025, 10(9), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090231 - 10 Sep 2025
Viewed by 622
Abstract
Adaptors, self-touching movements that supposedly lack communicative significance, have often been overlooked by researchers focusing on co-speech gestures. A significant complication in their study arises from the somewhat ambiguous definition of adaptors. Examples of these movements include self-manipulations like scratching a leg, bringing [...] Read more.
Adaptors, self-touching movements that supposedly lack communicative significance, have often been overlooked by researchers focusing on co-speech gestures. A significant complication in their study arises from the somewhat ambiguous definition of adaptors. Examples of these movements include self-manipulations like scratching a leg, bringing a hand to the mouth or head, and fidgeting, nervous tics, and micro hand or finger movements. Research rooted in psychology indicates a link between adaptors and negative emotional states. However, psycholinguistic approaches suggest that these movements might be related to the communicative task. This study analyzes adaptors in forty Cantonese speakers of English as a second language in monologues and dialogues in face-to-face and online contexts, revealing that adaptors serve functions beyond emotional expression. Our data indicate that adaptors might have cognitive functions. We also identify micro-movements, flutter-like adaptors or “flutters” for short, that may have interactive functions conveying engagement. These findings challenge the traditional view of adaptors as purely non-communicative. Participants’ self-reports corroborate these interpretations, highlighting the complexity and individual variability in adaptor use. This study advocates for the inclusion of adaptors in gesture analysis, which may enrich understanding of gesture–speech integration and cognitive and emotional processes in communication. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-representational Gestures: Types, Use, and Functions)
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16 pages, 406 KB  
Article
Anglicizing Humor in a Spanish Satirical TV Show—Pragmatic Functions and Discourse Strategies
by María-Isabel González-Cruz
Languages 2025, 10(9), 230; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090230 - 10 Sep 2025
Viewed by 606
Abstract
Humor is a pragmatic and interdisciplinary phenomenon whose sociocultural relevance has been increasingly recognized by the Academia. Surprisingly, although the anthropo-philosophical theory of homo risu emerged in the 7th century, linguists became interested in the study of the linguistic mechanisms of humor only [...] Read more.
Humor is a pragmatic and interdisciplinary phenomenon whose sociocultural relevance has been increasingly recognized by the Academia. Surprisingly, although the anthropo-philosophical theory of homo risu emerged in the 7th century, linguists became interested in the study of the linguistic mechanisms of humor only a few years ago. One of those mechanisms is the use of Anglicisms, because of their pragmatic potential to provide some added value, a halo of prestige and modernity, which creates playful effects of complicity. This paper examines the way Anglicisms crucially contribute to the humorous discourse of the satirical news show El Intermedio, the longest-running program on a Spanish private TV channel. Monitoring of 300 episodes broadcast between April 2022 and December 2024 proves how, in addition to puns and irony, scriptwriters tend to resort to a number of strategies involving the creative use of Anglicisms, which perform different pragmatic functions, while showing sociolinguistic awareness. They also offer an up-to-date sample of the great vitality of Anglicisms in contemporary Spain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Pragmatics in Contemporary Cross-Cultural Contexts)
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19 pages, 765 KB  
Article
Language Attitudes Regarding Communication with Young Children and the Use of Diminutives
by Reili Argus and Andra Kütt-Leedis
Languages 2025, 10(9), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090229 - 9 Sep 2025
Viewed by 381
Abstract
Parental attitudes play a crucial role in shaping children’s language development. Language attitudes within families and parental beliefs about communicating with young children are under-researched, particularly in Estonia. This study aims to investigate language attitudes in Estonian-speaking families regarding communication with children under [...] Read more.
Parental attitudes play a crucial role in shaping children’s language development. Language attitudes within families and parental beliefs about communicating with young children are under-researched, particularly in Estonia. This study aims to investigate language attitudes in Estonian-speaking families regarding communication with children under three years old. Using data collected via a web-based questionnaire from 246 Estonian families, the article addresses the following questions: How important do Estonian-speaking parents consider communication with young children during early stages of language development, including the pre-verbal period?; Do parents believe that speaking to young children should differ from communication with adults?; What specific features of child-directed speech (e.g., the use of diminutives) are known and applied by parents?; How do language ideologies about child-directed communication relate to socio-economic factors such as parental education, age, language skills, or residential environment (e.g., rural vs. urban)? The findings contribute to understanding the interplay between individual attitudes and beliefs in language strategies used with speaking with young children. Almost all parents considered speaking with children very important. Altogether, 58% of respondents answered that one should speak even with pre-verbal children, 67% reported that they use diminutives when speaking with children. Attitudes were more strongly expressed by individuals who indicated that they do not use a different register when speaking with children. Many respondents justified their perspective by emphasizing the importance of using normative and correct language with young children. Socio-economic status factors such as age, education, language skills, and residential environment did not appear to influence attitudes toward communicating with small children. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies in Eastern Europe)
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15 pages, 1165 KB  
Article
Revisiting Negative Particle Questions in Sixian Hakka
by Yi-Ling Irene Liao
Languages 2025, 10(9), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090228 - 9 Sep 2025
Viewed by 345
Abstract
This study investigates the syntactic structure of negative particle questions (NPQs), also known as VP-NEG questions, in Sixian Hakka (a variety of Chinese spoken in Taiwan). We revisit the existing literature on Hakka NPQs, pointing out unresolved issues in previous analyses. Drawing on [...] Read more.
This study investigates the syntactic structure of negative particle questions (NPQs), also known as VP-NEG questions, in Sixian Hakka (a variety of Chinese spoken in Taiwan). We revisit the existing literature on Hakka NPQs, pointing out unresolved issues in previous analyses. Drawing on previous analysis of VP-NEG questions in Middle Chinese, we argue that the negator mo in Hakka NPQs has grammaticalized into a disjunctive head, as mo and the predicate do not show agreement. This proposal not only accounts for the syntactic properties of NPQs in Sixian Hakka but also addresses potential problems found in previous studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
19 pages, 694 KB  
Article
The Syntax of Serbian How-Complements
by Alberto Frasson
Languages 2025, 10(9), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090227 - 8 Sep 2025
Viewed by 688
Abstract
This paper discusses a special type of complement of perception verbs in Serbian, introduced by kako (‘how’). Via a parallel corpus analysis, I compare the distribution of Serbian kako-clauses and English -ing forms. I show that two types of non-interrogative kako [...] Read more.
This paper discusses a special type of complement of perception verbs in Serbian, introduced by kako (‘how’). Via a parallel corpus analysis, I compare the distribution of Serbian kako-clauses and English -ing forms. I show that two types of non-interrogative kako-clauses can be used in translations of English -ing forms, distinguished based on their formal and interpretive properties: ‘eventive’ and propositional kako-clauses. Eventive clauses focus on directly perceived events and cannot be negated or combined with epistemic verbs, while propositional clauses express beliefs or judgments and have a truth value. At a formal level, eventive clauses feature a null subject, while propositional clauses feature an overt nominative subject. I argue that this distinction is captured syntactically through the notion of phasehood, with only propositional clauses merging a full CP domain. Adopting the Form-Copy operation, I propose that eventive clauses lack a phase boundary, allowing for the deletion of a lower subject copy and yielding the observed case alternation and null embedded subject. This analysis offers a unified syntactic account of kako-complements and contributes to the typology of perception-based clause embedding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
21 pages, 320 KB  
Review
Virtual Reality as a Mediating Tool in Addressing Social Communication Disorder: Current Understanding and Implementation Strategies
by Weifeng Han, Tianchong Wang, Yu Takizawa and Shane Pill
Languages 2025, 10(9), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090226 - 5 Sep 2025
Viewed by 488
Abstract
Social Communication Disorder (SCD) involves persistent verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties, significantly impacting children and adolescents’ social interactions. Traditional interventions, while valuable, face practical limitations, including difficulties replicating real-world social contexts and low engagement among some learners. This paper examines Virtual Reality (VR) [...] Read more.
Social Communication Disorder (SCD) involves persistent verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties, significantly impacting children and adolescents’ social interactions. Traditional interventions, while valuable, face practical limitations, including difficulties replicating real-world social contexts and low engagement among some learners. This paper examines Virtual Reality (VR) as an innovative intervention tool for SCD through a comprehensive review of empirical studies (2010–2024). Analysis of 11 peer-reviewed studies, encompassing both autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-specific and broader SCD populations, revealed five key themes being discussed in the current literature: usability and acceptability, social skills training, gaze and attention tracking, measurement and assessment, and applications in inclusive education. Our findings demonstrate VR’s potential as a mediating tool between therapeutic interventions and real-world social interactions, offering controlled yet naturalistic environments that enable safe, structured practice while maintaining engagement. The alignment with cognitive science principles enhances learning processes through effective management of cognitive demands. Building on these findings, we propose implementation strategies for educational and therapeutic settings, addressing design considerations, delivery methods, and outcome evaluation. This synthesis advances the understanding of VR as an innovative, scalable approach to supporting social communication development in children and adolescents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Communication Disorders in Childhood: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Assessment and Intervention)
12 pages, 381 KB  
Article
Russian–Belarusian Border Dialects and Their “Language Roof”: Dedialectization and Trajectories of Changes
by Anastasiia Ryko
Languages 2025, 10(9), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090225 - 5 Sep 2025
Viewed by 475
Abstract
The dialects discussed in this article were considered Belarusian in the early 20th century, and later, as a result of the transfer of the administrative (state) border, they became part of the Russian territory and were considered Russian. The changes occurring in these [...] Read more.
The dialects discussed in this article were considered Belarusian in the early 20th century, and later, as a result of the transfer of the administrative (state) border, they became part of the Russian territory and were considered Russian. The changes occurring in these dialects as a result of the influence of the standard Russian language are interesting from various perspectives. Firstly, the linguistic self-identification of dialect speakers changes and the perception of their dialect as less prestigious compared to the standard language is formed. Secondly, linguistic features that dialectologists previously defined as characteristic of the Belarusian language are being replaced by standard Russian ones. By analyzing the linguistic data obtained from the dialect speakers of different generations, we can trace the emergence of variation and then its loss. Observing which linguistic features are subject to change first, and which remain more stable, allows us to examine linguistic changes through the lens of the “hierarchy of borrowings” theory. Additionally, given the linguistic inequality between the dialect and the standard language, we can observe the gradual transformation of the dialect under the influence of the prestigious standard idiom. Therefore, the loss of Belarusian–Russian variation can be viewed as a process of dedialectization, bringing the dialect closer to the standard language. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies in Eastern Europe)
34 pages, 3234 KB  
Article
L1 Attrition vis-à-vis L2 Acquisition: Lexicon, Syntax–Pragmatics Interface, and Prosody in L1-English L2-Italian Late Bilinguals
by Mattia Zingaretti, Vasiliki Chondrogianni, D. Robert Ladd and Antonella Sorace
Languages 2025, 10(9), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090224 - 4 Sep 2025
Viewed by 579
Abstract
Late bilingual speakers immersed in a second language (L2) environment often experience the non-pathological attrition of their first language (L1), exhibiting selective and reversible changes in L1 processing and production. While attrition research has largely focused on long-term residents in anglophone countries, examining [...] Read more.
Late bilingual speakers immersed in a second language (L2) environment often experience the non-pathological attrition of their first language (L1), exhibiting selective and reversible changes in L1 processing and production. While attrition research has largely focused on long-term residents in anglophone countries, examining changes primarily within a single L1 domain, the present study employs a novel experimental design to investigate L1 attrition, alongside L2 acquisition, across three domains (i.e., the lexicon, syntax–pragmatics interface, and prosody) in two groups of L1-English L2-Italian late bilinguals: long-term residents in Italy vs. university students in the UK. A total of 112 participants completed online tasks assessing lexical retrieval, anaphora resolution, and sentence stress patterns in both languages. First, both bilingual groups showed comparable levels of semantic interference in lexical retrieval. Second, at the syntax–pragmatics interface, only residents in Italy showed signs of L1 attrition in real-time processing of anaphora, while resolution preferences were similar between groups; in the L2, both bilingual groups demonstrated target-like preferences, despite some slowdown in processing. Third, while both groups showed some evidence of target-like L2 prosody, with residents in Italy matching L1-Italian sentence stress patterns closely, prosodic attrition was only reported for residents in Italy in exploratory analyses. Overall, this study supports the notion of L1 attrition as a natural consequence of bilingualism—one that is domain- and experience-dependent, unfolds along a continuum, and involves a complex (and possibly inverse) relationship between L1 and L2 performance that warrants further investigation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Determining the Scope, Nature and Causes of Attrition in Adult L1 Grammars)
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24 pages, 1479 KB  
Article
Beyond L2 Learners: Evaluating LexTALE-ESP as a Proficiency Measure for Heritage Language Learners of Spanish
by Cristina Lozano-Argüelles and Alberta Gatti
Languages 2025, 10(9), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090223 - 30 Aug 2025
Viewed by 666
Abstract
LexTALE has emerged as a popular measure of language proficiency in research studies. While it has been widely validated for L2 learners across multiple languages, its applicability to heritage language learners (HLLs)—who often show distinct language development from L2ers—has not been established. Here, [...] Read more.
LexTALE has emerged as a popular measure of language proficiency in research studies. While it has been widely validated for L2 learners across multiple languages, its applicability to heritage language learners (HLLs)—who often show distinct language development from L2ers—has not been established. Here, we evaluate the Spanish version of LexTALE (LexTALE-Esp) as a predictor of writing proficiency among college-aged HLLs in the United States. We show that LexTALE-Esp scores significantly correlate with ACTFL-rated functional writing levels and outperform self-assessment as a predictor of proficiency. Our results suggest that, despite concerns about HLLs’ limited experience with written texts in the heritage language, vocabulary-based tasks capture core aspects of written language ability. These findings indicate that vocabulary-based tests like LexTALE-Esp capture proficiency-relevant lexical knowledge across speaker profiles and may tap into dimensions of both core and extended language competence. Full article
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20 pages, 616 KB  
Article
L2 Korean Learners’ Socialization into Discourses Around the Non-Honorific ‘Banmal’ Style: Affective and Pedagogical Consequences
by Devon Renfroe and Katharine E. Burns
Languages 2025, 10(9), 222; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090222 - 30 Aug 2025
Viewed by 439
Abstract
This study examines L2 Korean learners’ self-reports of their socialization into discourses around the use of two categories of non-honorific (banmal) and honorific (jondaenmal) language. L2 Korean learners (n = 49) of varying proficiency levels completed a questionnaire aimed [...] Read more.
This study examines L2 Korean learners’ self-reports of their socialization into discourses around the use of two categories of non-honorific (banmal) and honorific (jondaenmal) language. L2 Korean learners (n = 49) of varying proficiency levels completed a questionnaire aimed at capturing their beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding learning and using banmal. A subset of questionnaire participants (n = 11) were interviewed, and transcripts were analyzed using discourse analysis to understand how banmal is positioned discursively in participants’ self-reported accounts of learning and using L2 Korean. Findings revealed three dominant discourses in learners’ self-reported accounts of their socialization into learning and using banmal: (1) jondaenmal is more important to them than banmal, (2) banmal does not belong in formal learning contexts such as classrooms, and (3) banmal instruction should be delayed until the intermediate or advanced level. Additionally, these discourses were connected to two overarching, at times contradictory, affective responses from participants. While they reported heightened anxiety over when to use banmal, they also described how using it instilled confidence in their sociopragmatic abilities. These findings highlight the connection between the affective experiences of learners and prevailing discourses on particular linguistic forms. Finally, we suggest the need for more integrated approaches to teaching speech styles in L2 Korean classrooms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistic Studies)
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23 pages, 379 KB  
Article
Case-Dependent Agreement in an Active–Stative Language
by Guillaume Thomas, Germino Duarte and Akil Ismael
Languages 2025, 10(9), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090221 - 30 Aug 2025
Viewed by 485
Abstract
This paper revisits the cross-reference marking system of Mbyá Guaraní, focusing on two phenomena: object agreement using the prefix i- and its allomorphs, and absolutive cross-reference marking in converbs. The analysis demonstrates that cross-reference marking in Mbyá is sensitive to abstract Case. [...] Read more.
This paper revisits the cross-reference marking system of Mbyá Guaraní, focusing on two phenomena: object agreement using the prefix i- and its allomorphs, and absolutive cross-reference marking in converbs. The analysis demonstrates that cross-reference marking in Mbyá is sensitive to abstract Case. Building on a view of agreement as an obligatory operation whose failure does not result in ungrammaticality, this paper argues that the segment i- is an object agreement prefix, rather than part of an allomorph of an active subject agreement prefix. This marker is underspecified for person, allowing it to cross-reference 1st, 2nd or 3rd objects. The paper further argues that converbs in Mbyá Guaraní follow an absolutive cross-reference marking pattern, where only intransitive subjects or objects are cross-referenced. This pattern is shown to be consistent with cross-linguistic and historical data from the Tupí–Guaraní family. This paper’s contributions include a proposal for case-sensitive agreement in Mbyá, with active agreement prefixes realizing agreement with nominative DPs only. The analysis also emphasizes the different roles of Infl and little v as probes for person features, with little v being underspecified and not triggering cyclic expansion. The proposed framework accounts for both hierarchical cross-reference marking in independent clauses and absolutive marking in converbs, unifying these two patterns under the assumption of Case dependence of agreement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Studies on Morpho-Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics: A View from the South American Lowlands and Beyond)
27 pages, 1025 KB  
Article
Encoding Nonbinary Reference in Syntax: The German Neo-Pronoun xier and Socially Driven Language Change
by Nicholas Catasso
Languages 2025, 10(9), 220; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090220 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 593
Abstract
This paper investigates the morphosyntactic and semanto-pragmatic behavior of the German neo-pronoun xier, a gender-neutral form used to refer to nonbinary individuals. Framed within the Minimalist Program, the analysis explores how xier carries a gender feature that encodes nonbinary identity—not through binary [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the morphosyntactic and semanto-pragmatic behavior of the German neo-pronoun xier, a gender-neutral form used to refer to nonbinary individuals. Framed within the Minimalist Program, the analysis explores how xier carries a gender feature that encodes nonbinary identity—not through binary morphological marking, but via presupposition. The use of xier triggers a presupposition about the referent’s identity: that they are nonbinary. This gender feature is not absent, void or underspecified, but interpretively rich and categorically distinct. The analysis thus rejects any account treating xier as lacking gender. Instead, it argues that xier exemplifies a grammatical strategy of encoding gender beyond the binary, through formal structures that engage the interpretive system directly. The paper further argues that xier’s morphosyntactic profile—including its compatibility with standard agreement morphology—shows that nonbinary gender can be syntactically represented and participate fully in φ-feature interactions. Drawing on cross-linguistic comparisons (e.g., English they and the Italian adaptation ze), the study shows how presuppositional gender encoding supports stable φ-Agree, interface-compatible labeling without requiring binary valuation. The proposal refines the architecture of φ-features by allowing for interpretively active gender categories that are formally encoded even when they do not match traditional binary specifications. This account offers a model for how minimalist syntax can accommodate socially driven innovations without abandoning core theoretical principles. Xier, in this light, demonstrates that grammatical systems can expand to encode emerging reference categories—not by omitting gender, but by formally encoding nonbinary gender via presupposition. This study is the first to offer a formal syntactic account of a German neo-pronoun, linking socially driven innovation to core φ-feature operations like Agree and valuation. Full article
20 pages, 1589 KB  
Article
Articulatory Control by Gestural Coupling and Syllable Pulses
by Christopher Geissler
Languages 2025, 10(9), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090219 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 582
Abstract
Explaining the relative timing of consonant and vowel articulations (C-V timing) is an important function of speech production models. This article explores how C-V timing might be studied from the perspective of the C/D Model, particularly the prediction that articulations are coordinated with [...] Read more.
Explaining the relative timing of consonant and vowel articulations (C-V timing) is an important function of speech production models. This article explores how C-V timing might be studied from the perspective of the C/D Model, particularly the prediction that articulations are coordinated with respect to an abstract syllable pulse. Gestural landmarks were extracted from kinematic data from English CVC monosyllabic words in the Wisconsin X-Ray Microbeam Corpus. The syllable pulse was identified using velocity peaks, and temporal lags were calculated among landmarks and the syllable pulse. The results directly follow from the procedure used to identify pulses: onset consonants exhibited stable timing to the pulse, while vowel-to-pulse timing was comparably stable with respect to C-V timing. Timing relationships with jaw displacement and jaw-based syllable pulse metrics were also explored. These results highlight current challenges for the C/D Model, as well as opportunities for elaborating the model to account for C-V timing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Articulation and Prosodic Structure)
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17 pages, 320 KB  
Article
Language Attitudes of Parents with Russian L1 in Tartu: Transition to Estonian-Medium Education
by Birute Klaas-Lang, Kristiina Praakli and Diana Vender
Languages 2025, 10(9), 218; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090218 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 513
Abstract
In 2023, the authors conducted a qualitative study in five bilingual educational institutions (two general education schools and three kindergartens) in Tartu, Estonia, undergoing a transition to Estonian-medium education. The empirical material for this qualitative research was collected during ten discussion evenings with [...] Read more.
In 2023, the authors conducted a qualitative study in five bilingual educational institutions (two general education schools and three kindergartens) in Tartu, Estonia, undergoing a transition to Estonian-medium education. The empirical material for this qualitative research was collected during ten discussion evenings with Russian L1 parents, with around 300 attendees. Given the emotional and political sensitivity of the topic, the discussions were documented through researchers’ handwritten field notes and subsequently reconstructed from these notes for thematic analysis following the principles of qualitative content analysis. This study aimed to map the concerns and fears of Russian L1 parents and to collaboratively explore possible solutions. The broader objective was to understand and interpret Russian-speaking parents’ attitudes toward the shift to Estonian-medium instruction. A further aim was to raise language awareness among parents and to help lay a more positive foundation for the transition process. The theoretical framework draws on the notion that parents’ language attitudes significantly influence their children’s perceptions of the value of the language being learned. Our results show that many Russian L1 parents in Tartu consider it important for both Estonian- and Russian-speaking children to study in a shared, Estonian-medium learning environment. At the same time, parents identified several key challenges, including concerns about a decline in education quality, increased academic pressure and stress for children learning in a non-native language, a lack of suitable learning materials, and parents’ limited ability to assist with homework due to their own insufficient proficiency in Estonian. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies in Eastern Europe)
21 pages, 466 KB  
Article
The Position of Clitics in Slovene Imperatives Is Not Special
by Sašo Živanović and Ema Štarkl
Languages 2025, 10(9), 217; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090217 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 862
Abstract
In general, Slovene clitics occur in the second, so-called Wackernagel position of the clause. However, Slovene is exceptional among Wackernagel languages in that the clitic cluster may also occupy the clause-initial position. Imperative sentences have been argued to form an exception to this [...] Read more.
In general, Slovene clitics occur in the second, so-called Wackernagel position of the clause. However, Slovene is exceptional among Wackernagel languages in that the clitic cluster may also occupy the clause-initial position. Imperative sentences have been argued to form an exception to this exception, again allowing the clitic cluster only in the second position. In this paper, we present corpus data that speaks against this second-order exception. We categorize the imperative clauses containing initial clitic clusters found in the corpora into three classes: modally subordinated imperatives, imperatives containing the adversative or the concessive particle, and imperatives occuring as a step in an instruction. We argue that all three classes involve a covert anaphoric element residing in the clause-initial position, yielding an illusion of a clause-initial clitic cluster. In conclusion, initial clitic clusters in Slovene imperatives are not ungrammatical but merely uncommon, and their distribution is ultimately governed by the discourse. We also make a theoretical point, emphasizing that the presented analysis offers support to the view that all discursive information must be represented in syntax. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
24 pages, 6304 KB  
Article
Revisiting Particle-Stranding Ellipsis: A Critical Comparison of Two Analyses
by Ryuta Ono
Languages 2025, 10(9), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090216 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 571
Abstract
This paper presents novel evidence that particle-stranding ellipsis in Japanese is best accounted for by PF-deletion rather than by its theoretical competitor, LF-copying. I begin by examining a central prediction of the LF-copying analysis, which states that overt extraction is categorically ruled out, [...] Read more.
This paper presents novel evidence that particle-stranding ellipsis in Japanese is best accounted for by PF-deletion rather than by its theoretical competitor, LF-copying. I begin by examining a central prediction of the LF-copying analysis, which states that overt extraction is categorically ruled out, and show that this prediction is not supported by the empirical data. Additional evidence comes from covert across-the-board movement, as I demonstrate that particle-stranding ellipsis can occur in environments that are argued to involve this type of movement. This finding presents a serious derivational challenge to the LF-copying theory, given the widely accepted view that covert across-the-board movement is not permitted in the grammar. In addition to these syntactic observations, I present previously unreported prosodic evidence showing that particle-stranding ellipsis involving the negative polarity item -sika can exhibit focus intonation. As the LF-copying analysis cannot account for this prosodic pattern, the data provide strong support for the PF-deletion account. Finally, I show that these findings are well explained by the phonology-based deletion model that was originally proposed in the literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Issues in Ellipsis and Ellipsis Mismatch: Studies in Japanese and Beyond)
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52 pages, 827 KB  
Article
The Consonant Inventory of Proto-Tsonga-Copi
by Isaac Eaton
Languages 2025, 10(9), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090215 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 859
Abstract
Recent studies have greatly furthered our understanding of the Southern Bantu languages, but questions about the internal relationships of the Southern Bantu language subgroups and the validity of the clade as a whole still remain. This study attempts to reconstruct the consonant inventory [...] Read more.
Recent studies have greatly furthered our understanding of the Southern Bantu languages, but questions about the internal relationships of the Southern Bantu language subgroups and the validity of the clade as a whole still remain. This study attempts to reconstruct the consonant inventory of one proposed genetic clade, that of Tsonga-Copi (S50–S60). Using published dictionaries and reference works for each language of the subgrouping, a corpus of cognate vocabulary was assembled. Each term was then matched, where possible, to a reconstruction in the Bantu Lexical Reconstructions 3 (BLR3) database. Sound correspondences were identified and used to reconstruct the consonant inventory of Proto-Tsonga-Copi. In addition to the discovery of several typologically unusual sound changes, the results of this study also lend support to existing and developing hypotheses about both the internal relationships of Southern Bantu clades, as well as the nature of language contact in (pre)historic Southern Africa, particularly the influence of Khoisan and other Bantu languages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Developments on the Diachrony and Typology of Bantu Languages)
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