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L1 Attrition vis-à-vis L2 Acquisition: Lexicon, Syntax–Pragmatics Interface, and Prosody in L1-English L2-Italian Late Bilinguals
Navigating Ambiguity: Scope Interpretations in Spanish/English Heritage Bilinguals
Developing an AI-Powered Pronunciation Application to Improve English Pronunciation of Thai ESP Learners
When Pitch Falls Short: Reinforcing Prosodic Boundaries to Signal Focus in Japanese

Journal Description

Languages

Languages is an international, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on interdisciplinary studies of languages published monthly online by MDPI. The European Society for Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Dialogue (ESTIDIA) is affiliated with Languages and its members receive discounts on the article processing charges.

Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
High Visibility: indexed within Scopus, ESCI (Web of Science), ERIH Plus, and other databases.
Journal Rank: JCR - Q2 (Linguistics) / CiteScore - Q1 (Language and Linguistics)
Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 55.2 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 9.6 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the second half of 2025).
Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.

Impact Factor: 1.2 (2024); 5-Year Impact Factor: 1.2 (2024)

Imprint Information Journal Flyer Open Access ISSN: 2226-471X

Latest Articles

24 pages, 578 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Evolution of Spanish Ver ‘to See’ in Constructions with a Predicate Participle or Adjective

by Chantal Melis, María Isabel Jiménez Martínez and Milagros Alfonso Vega

Languages 2026, 11(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010013 - 31 Dec 2025

The focus in this corpus-based study is on a set of Spanish constructions formed with the verb of visual perception, ver ‘to See’, and a predicate adjective or participle. In addition to a clearly recognizable transitive schema, the set includes various instances featuring [...] Read more.

The focus in this corpus-based study is on a set of Spanish constructions formed with the verb of visual perception, ver ‘to See’, and a predicate adjective or participle. In addition to a clearly recognizable transitive schema, the set includes various instances featuring a reflexive clitic pronoun coreferential with the subject, some of which have been argued to evidence the grammaticalization of lexical ver into a univerbated semicopular verb (pronominal verse), meaning little more than ‘be’ in some examples, and proximate to the intransitive sense of English look in other cases. We trace the evolution of these constructions in data spanning the history of the Spanish language, from its recorded beginnings to the present. We establish the need to distinguish two constructional sources of change, namely, an old middle-reflexive and a younger reflexive passive. We draw attention to the “renewal” of the Latin deponent videri ‘appear, look, seem’, which can be said to have taken place in Spanish as a product of the passive-derived process of grammaticalization undergone by ver. And throughout the paper we address problems of analyzability, attributable to the superficially identical strings of words that characterize the constructional patterns with a reflexive morpheme. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)

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28 pages, 742 KB

Open AccessArticle

L2 Pragmatics Instruction in the Greek EFL Classroom: Teachers’ Competence, Beliefs, and Classroom Challenges

by Despoina Tosounidou and Marina Terkourafi

Languages 2026, 11(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010012 - 31 Dec 2025

While Greek EFL learners’ pragmatic competence has been frequently investigated, few studies have focused on Greek EFL teachers’ pragmatic knowledge. Complementing these earlier studies based on semi-structured interviews, we employed an extended online questionnaire and discourse completion tasks (DCTs) to explore the pragmatic [...] Read more.

While Greek EFL learners’ pragmatic competence has been frequently investigated, few studies have focused on Greek EFL teachers’ pragmatic knowledge. Complementing these earlier studies based on semi-structured interviews, we employed an extended online questionnaire and discourse completion tasks (DCTs) to explore the pragmatic competence of 72 Greek EFL teachers. Pragmatic comprehension was evaluated using scenarios that required participants to assess speech acts, while their ability to produce pragmatically appropriate responses was also assessed. Likert-scale items explored teachers’ perceptions about L2 instruction and their own abilities in this regard. Findings suggest that Greek EFL teachers possess an above average level of pragmatic competence, which nevertheless has not led to them systematically integrating L2 pragmatic instruction in their classrooms. Additional qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews suggest that teachers’ lack of integration of explicit pragmatic instruction is not due to their not recognizing its importance, but rather to feeling inadequately prepared to implement this, which in turn points to the lack of emphasis on L2 pragmatics in teacher education programs. We catalog the most significant challenges in incorporating L2 pragmatic instruction in Greek EFL classrooms in terms of teacher and learner factors, as well as the Greek EFL context itself. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Speakers and Pragmatics)

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22 pages, 350 KB

Open AccessArticle

Pragmatics or Syntax: The Nature of Adjunct-Inclusive Interpretations

by Yoshiki Fujiwara

Languages 2026, 11(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010011 - 31 Dec 2025

This paper investigates the nature of adjunct-inclusive interpretations in Japanese, which has long been debated in the literature. Previous studies have disagreed on whether these interpretations arise from V-stranding VP-ellipsis or adjunct ellipsis. This study argues that adjunct-inclusive interpretations fall into two distinct [...] Read more.

This paper investigates the nature of adjunct-inclusive interpretations in Japanese, which has long been debated in the literature. Previous studies have disagreed on whether these interpretations arise from V-stranding VP-ellipsis or adjunct ellipsis. This study argues that adjunct-inclusive interpretations fall into two distinct types: one semantically encoded and structurally represented, and another pragmatically inferred, depending on context beyond sentence structure. Using anaphoric expressions and negation as diagnostics, this study shows that adjunct-inclusive interpretations involving (i) omission of both adjunct and object in transitive sentences and (ii) adjunct omission in intransitive sentences are syntactically represented, supporting the existence of V-stranding VP-ellipsis. By contrast, adjunct-inclusive interpretations where only the adjunct is omitted and the object is contrastively focused are derived from pragmatic inference via free pragmatic enrichment, rather than from syntactic structure. These findings provide empirical and theoretical support for the view that Japanese does not allow syntactic adjunct ellipsis but does allow V-stranding VP-ellipsis. More broadly, this study contributes to the understanding of the syntax–pragmatics interface in ellipsis, showing that not all implicit interpretations reflect syntactic structure and highlighting the importance of carefully distinguishing between semantic and pragmatic sources in analyzing ellipsis phenomena. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Issues in Ellipsis and Ellipsis Mismatch: Studies in Japanese and Beyond)

27 pages, 3216 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Acquisition of Verb-Echo Answers: Evidence from Child Japanese

by Miwa Isobe and Reiko Okabe

Languages 2026, 11(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010010 - 31 Dec 2025

The present study investigates Japanese-speaking children’s interpretation of verb-echo answers (VEAs) to yes/no questions. Previous syntactic research suggests that VEAs are derived via ellipsis, with Japanese VEAs specifically analyzed as being derived by TP ellipsis involving verb movement. This study assumes that parameter [...] Read more.

The present study investigates Japanese-speaking children’s interpretation of verb-echo answers (VEAs) to yes/no questions. Previous syntactic research suggests that VEAs are derived via ellipsis, with Japanese VEAs specifically analyzed as being derived by TP ellipsis involving verb movement. This study assumes that parameter settings for pro-drop and verb movement are prerequisites, and that the knowledge of both the possibility of VEAs being answers to questions with existential indefinite subjects and the possibility of the adverb-inclusive interpretation are required for acquiring Japanese VEAs. We conducted a series of three experiments with 4- to 6-year-olds acquiring Japanese to test whether they have knowledge of these factors relevant to Japanese VEAs. The results of the experiments indicate that most children correctly assigned adult-like interpretations to VEAs for questions involving existential indefinite subjects and adverbs. These findings support the hypothesis that children’s VEAs in Japanese are derived through verb movement and TP ellipsis, and suggest that parameters for pro-drop and verb movement, together with evidence regarding the possibility of VEAs to questions with existential indefinite subjects and the possibility of the adverb-inclusive reading, may determine the adult-like interpretation of Japanese VEAs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Parametric Approaches to Cross-Linguistic Variation and Child Language Acquisition)

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20 pages, 8857 KB

Open AccessArticle

Attention Shift, Information Structure, and Interaction: Atypicality in Non-Verbal Predication in Mano (Mande)

by Pavel Ozerov and Maria Khachaturyan

Languages 2026, 11(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010009 - 31 Dec 2025

This study, based on naturalistic discourse in Mano and on both morphosyntactic and prosodic characteristics, analyses the Mano constructions formed with the marker lɛ́, including the identifying construction, referent introduction, focus, relativization, and hanging topic. While the identifying construction can be treated [...] Read more.

This study, based on naturalistic discourse in Mano and on both morphosyntactic and prosodic characteristics, analyses the Mano constructions formed with the marker lɛ́, including the identifying construction, referent introduction, focus, relativization, and hanging topic. While the identifying construction can be treated as a separate predication, and lɛ́ within it as a predicator, in all the other constructions lɛ́ does not have a predicative function. For Mano lɛ́, we suggest an invariant function instead, that of attention shift. Depending on both the structural and the pragmatic grounds, attention shift can be interpreted as having a predicative or a non-predicative function. We finally suggest that mapping recurrent constructions on interactants’ actions requires no definition of the notion of “clausehood”: NP-based constructions can be deployed for performing a communicatively self-sufficient action of an attention shift. This would present them as “clausal” in a speech-act-based analysis, and non-clausal from the perspective that defines clauses as subject–predicate structures—but this question does not arise in our approach that links syntactic structures to communicative action. The analysis is nested in the approach to polysemy as a “family of constructions” and to information structure as diverse interpretive effects, rather than a closed set of discrete universal categories. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue (A)typical Clauses across Languages)

28 pages, 576 KB

Open AccessArticle

Romanian DOM and Loss of Analyzability

by Virginia Hill and Monica Alexandrina Irimia

Languages 2026, 11(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010008 - 30 Dec 2025

This paper revisits the diachronic changes to Romanian DOM by focusing on the emergence of the DOM particle pe: the prenominal preposition pe is shown to undergo loss of analyzability when (i) the adjacent noun phrase is the direct object of the [...] Read more.

This paper revisits the diachronic changes to Romanian DOM by focusing on the emergence of the DOM particle pe: the prenominal preposition pe is shown to undergo loss of analyzability when (i) the adjacent noun phrase is the direct object of the verb; and (ii) pe-DP falls under a certain pragmatic treatment. In other contexts, pe continues as a preposition. Loss of analyzability entails modification of the feature bundle associated with pe, as well as chunking and sensitivity of pe-noun phrases to discourse related priming factors. Briefly, the chunk consisting of two segments (i.e., prepositional phrase and nominal phrase: PP > DP) is gradually reduced to one segment (i.e., DP). This transition is context dependent; that is, it intensifies when the DPs receive a reading that involves discourse salience and animacy. The loss of analyzability regarding the properties of pe and the structural consequences it implied provide the basis for assessing the advent of animacy and definiteness/specificity as priming factors for DOM in Modern Romanian. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)

35 pages, 1614 KB

Open AccessArticle

Requests in Greek as a Foreign Language by Spanish/Catalan Bilinguals: The Role of Proficiency

by Javier Cañas, Maria Andria and María-Luz Celaya

Languages 2026, 11(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010007 - 30 Dec 2025

This study explores how Spanish/Catalan bilinguals acquire requests in Greek as a Foreign Language (FL), focusing on the role of proficiency in different communicative contexts. Fifty-four learners of Greek from different proficiency levels and fifty-three native Greek speakers participated in this study. Data [...] Read more.

This study explores how Spanish/Catalan bilinguals acquire requests in Greek as a Foreign Language (FL), focusing on the role of proficiency in different communicative contexts. Fifty-four learners of Greek from different proficiency levels and fifty-three native Greek speakers participated in this study. Data was collected via role plays featuring varied social parameters (+/−Power, +/−Social Distance, +/−Imposition). Retrospective verbal reports were also employed to gain insights into learners’ use of requests, providing an overall view of their self-perceptions and pragmatic concerns across different proficiency levels. The findings revealed differences between native and non-native speakers in request types and the number of modifications, highlighting that increased proficiency does not necessarily result in target-like pragmatic performance. Additionally, social parameters clearly influenced learners’ requesting behavior, although their ability to interpret and appropriately respond to these variables developed inconsistently across different contexts and proficiency levels. Ultimately, the findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding of L2 pragmatic development in Greek as an FL and, in turn, inform pedagogical practices aimed at enhancing learners’ pragmatic competence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Speakers and Pragmatics)

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40 pages, 486 KB

Open AccessArticle

‘For We Take Our Homeland with Us, However We Change Our Sky’ — Loss, Maintenance and Identity in Early Scottish Immigrants’ Correspondence from New Zealand

by Sarah van Eyndhoven

Languages 2026, 11(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010006 - 29 Dec 2025

This contribution explores transgenerational language change in a historical migrant community by qualitatively examining the correspondence of first- and second-generation Scottish immigrants coming to New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Taking a microsocial approach, the letters of a migrant family and one other [...] Read more.

This contribution explores transgenerational language change in a historical migrant community by qualitatively examining the correspondence of first- and second-generation Scottish immigrants coming to New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Taking a microsocial approach, the letters of a migrant family and one other migrant are explored for language maintenance and shift, to identify whether Scots language features were lost altogether or continued to be utilised for specific social, personal and stylistic goals, despite the English-dominant space that the migrants operated in. In tandem, the adoption of early New Zealand English (NZE) and te reo Māori lexis is analysed, to identify differences in usage patterns that might point to different degrees of integration and mobility. Finally, inter-writer and inter-generational differences are examined in relation to the mobility and social networks of the correspondents, to consider how this might contribute to any variation observed. For the investigation, manuscript letters were digitised, and relevant features identified, extracted and discursively analysed. Results show the continuation of heritage features through a combination of style-oriented goals and learned letter-writing practices, while the adoption of new lexis is shown to occur within specific semantic domains that reflect the social mobility of the migrants. However, language maintenance and shift are not uniform between the writers, elucidating the highly variable experiences of migrants, even within the same family. Rather, contact-induced language changes are sensitive to minute differences across individuals, underpinning the value of nuanced explorations of historical migration and language change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Migrant to Heritage Languages: Transgenerational Language Change in Diasporic Communities)

62 pages, 797 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Relation of Slavic Verb Prefixes to Perfective Aspect

by Hana Filip

Languages 2026, 11(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010005 - 26 Dec 2025

This paper advances two main theses: The first overarching thesis is that the Slavic perfective/imperfective distinction is predominantly of a lexical-derivational nature. Among the categories of the tense–modality–aspect (TMA) system, Slavic aspect systems represent marginal categories, rather than core ones, which are realized [...] Read more.

This paper advances two main theses: The first overarching thesis is that the Slavic perfective/imperfective distinction is predominantly of a lexical-derivational nature. Among the categories of the tense–modality–aspect (TMA) system, Slavic aspect systems represent marginal categories, rather than core ones, which are realized by means of inflectional morphology. The second, and related, thesis concerns the status of Slavic verb prefixes in Slavic aspect systems, given that prefixed verbs constitute the bulk of their perfective verbs. I will provide some arguments, also defended elsewhere, that Slavic verb prefixes are not perfective markers, e.g., do not spell out a functional head/feature in the dedicated aspect structure, as is often assumed in syntactic theories of aspect, and neither do they carry a uniform semantic function for the interpretation of perfective aspect. Instead, Slavic verb prefixes are best treated as separate from perfectivity, on both formal and semantic grounds. This separation, however, does not mean that the two are unrelated. Here, the semantics of perfectivity is represented by means of the maximalization operator (max_e). The most fundamental requirement for its application, and for any maximalization operator for that matter, is that it respect some ordering criterion. It is the role of Slavic verb prefixes to contribute to its specification. They do so by virtue of having common uses/meanings that can be analyzed as extensive or intensive measure functions or vague quantifiers over arguments of verbs to which they are attached. Such meanings are reducible to a uniform scalar-based representation, from which the requisite ordering criterion can be extracted. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Aspectual Architecture of the Slavic Verb: Analogies in Different Languages and Other Grammatical Domains)

24 pages, 1119 KB

Open AccessArticle

Challenging Misconceptions About Studying Moroccan Arabic: Beliefs of L2 Multidialectal Learners Beginning a Year-Long Study Abroad in Morocco

by Joseph Garcia and Khaled Al Masaeed

Languages 2026, 11(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010004 - 26 Dec 2025

Morocco has recently been cited by the Institute of International Education as a leading destination for Arabic study abroad. However, research has shown that ideologies of language purism and unintelligibility position Eastern varieties of Arabic as more prestigious than Western. Yet, how these [...] Read more.

Morocco has recently been cited by the Institute of International Education as a leading destination for Arabic study abroad. However, research has shown that ideologies of language purism and unintelligibility position Eastern varieties of Arabic as more prestigious than Western. Yet, how these beliefs affect learners studying abroad remains an understudied topic, with few studies specifically investigating learners going to Morocco. This study utilizes language learning questionnaires and one-on-one interviews to explore learner beliefs about varieties of Arabic, with particular focus on Moroccan Arabic. Specifically, it looks at four advanced L2 Arabic learners who just started their one-year-long study abroad sojourn in Morocco. Findings show that due to negative stereotypes and misconceptions from native speakers, instructors, and colleagues, learners reported not wanting to learn Darija, the Moroccan variety of Arabic, before studying abroad. However, due to the immediate need of studying and living in Morocco, participants gained interest in Darija and started challenging stereotypes and misconceptions related to this variety of Arabic. These findings highlight the impact of standard language ideology and prestige on learners’ beliefs about what language varieties to study, and how these beliefs may change once learners prepare to and go abroad. Findings from this study support pedagogical and research suggestions to prepare learners for the sociolinguistic realities of the Arabic-speaking world, including critical awareness of ideologies and developing agency in dialect choice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistic Studies)

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21 pages, 455 KB

Open AccessArticle

Generational Variation in Language Convergence: Lexical and Syntactic Change in Dai Lue Under Chinese Influence

by Nuola Yan, Sumittra Suraratdecha and Chingduang Yurayong

Languages 2026, 11(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010003 - 24 Dec 2025

This study examines lexical and syntactic convergence between Dai Lue and Chinese in the multilingual environment of Sipsongpanna, employing an apparent-time approach across three generational cohorts (N = 90, balanced gender). Through mixed-methods analysis (structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews), significant diachronic variation was [...] Read more.

This study examines lexical and syntactic convergence between Dai Lue and Chinese in the multilingual environment of Sipsongpanna, employing an apparent-time approach across three generational cohorts (N = 90, balanced gender). Through mixed-methods analysis (structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews), significant diachronic variation was observed. Younger speakers exhibited pronounced convergence, adopting Chinese-derived syntactic patterns (e.g., prenominal quantifiers and preverbal adjunct phrases) and borrowing Chinese lexical elements (e.g., an adverb sɛn⁵⁵ ‘first’ ← Chinese 先 xiān, and a superlative marker tsui³⁵ ‘most/best’ ← Chinese 最 zuì). Middle-aged speakers use transitional hybrid structures, while older speakers more consistently maintain native Dai Lue features. The results conform with Labov’s age-grading model in contact linguistics and refine Thomason’s borrowing hierarchy by revealing two factors: First, the prestige of the Chinese language drives convergence among youth. Second, syntactic compatibility with Chinese is mediated not merely by language structure, but by discourse-pragmatic needs, functional load redistribution, and the social indexicality of borrowed structures. This underscores the interplay between sociolinguistic motivations and structural-adaptive constraints in language change. The findings provide critical insights into language contact mechanisms among ethnic minorities of China, with implications for sociolinguistic theory, language revitalization efforts, and bilingual education policy implementation in linguistically diverse communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chinese Languages and Their Neighbours in Southeast Asia)

23 pages, 546 KB

Open AccessArticle

On the Evolution of Old Portuguese Indefinite jamais ‘Never’—Syntactic Analyzability and Polarity

by Clara Pinto

Languages 2026, 11(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010002 - 24 Dec 2025

In Contemporary Portuguese, jamais ‘never’ is a negative indefinite that encodes temporal semantics and belongs to the set of strong Negative Polarity Items, being able to express negation on its own, in preverbal position. However, it originates from the merger of two non-negative [...] Read more.

In Contemporary Portuguese, jamais ‘never’ is a negative indefinite that encodes temporal semantics and belongs to the set of strong Negative Polarity Items, being able to express negation on its own, in preverbal position. However, it originates from the merger of two non-negative Latin adverbs—iam ‘now/already’ and magis ‘more’—starting as a construction and later becoming an independent lexical unit, with different features. Data from the 13th century onwards shows that, in early attestations, jamais still preserved some level of internal syntactic analyzability, with the possibility of inverse word order and interpolation. The meaning of the construction could be obtained through the sum of its parts, but its occurrence in negative and modal contexts shows that its interpretation became context-sensitive. This independence was eventually lost, with the emergence of an intrinsic negative reading, favoured in negative contexts through the combination of inchoative and comparative strategies in no-longer expressions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)

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16 pages, 5040 KB

Open AccessArticle

Phonetic Training and Talker Variability in the Perception of Spanish Stop Consonants

by Iván Andreu Rascón

Languages 2026, 11(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010001 - 23 Dec 2025

This study examined how variability in phonetic training input (high vs. low) influences the perception and acquisition of Spanish stop consonants by English-speaking beginners. A total of 128 participants completed 20 online identification sessions targeting /p, t, k, b, d, g/. In the [...] Read more.

This study examined how variability in phonetic training input (high vs. low) influences the perception and acquisition of Spanish stop consonants by English-speaking beginners. A total of 128 participants completed 20 online identification sessions targeting /p, t, k, b, d, g/. In the high-variability condition (HVPT), learners heard tokens from six speakers, and in the low-variability condition (LVPT), all input came from a single speaker. Training followed an interleaved-talker design with immediate feedback, and perceptual learning was evaluated using a Bayesian hierarchical logistic regression analysis. Results showed improvement across sessions for both groups, with identification accuracy reaching ceiling by the end of the training sessions. Differences between HVPT and LVPT were small: LVPT showed steeper categorization trajectories in some cases due to slightly lower baselines, but neither condition yielded a measurable advantage. The pattern observed suggests that for boundary-shift contrasts such as Spanish stops, perceptual improvements are driven primarily by input quantity rather than variability. This interpretation aligns with input-based models of L2 speech learning (SLM-r, L2LP) and underscores the role of repeated exposure in restructuring phonological categories. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impacts of Phonetically Variable Input on Language Learning)

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63 pages, 727 KB

Open AccessArticle

Semantic and Syntactic Realisation of the Incremental Theme (with a Focus on Bulgarian)

by Svetlozara Leseva and Ivelina Stoyanova

Languages 2025, 10(12), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120305 - 18 Dec 2025

This article presents ongoing work on the aspectual properties of verb predicates, in particular, the classes of activities and accomplishments. Herein, we focus on incremental theme predicates, starting with consumption verbs as one of the representative subclasses of incremental accomplishments. We explore, in [...] Read more.

This article presents ongoing work on the aspectual properties of verb predicates, in particular, the classes of activities and accomplishments. Herein, we focus on incremental theme predicates, starting with consumption verbs as one of the representative subclasses of incremental accomplishments. We explore, in detail, the semantic, referential, quantisation and morphosyntactic properties of incremental Themes and their realisation in Bulgarian. The analysis is based on original empirical data and enabled us to identify the common features shared with widely studied languages such as English and Russian, as well as to establish language-specific features typical for Bulgarian. We hope that our findings may contribute to the study of aspectual classes in a cross-linguistic perspective. Full article

24 pages, 3121 KB

Open AccessArticle

On the Constituent Structure of Augmented Plurals in Russian

by Ora Matushansky

Languages 2025, 10(12), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120304 - 16 Dec 2025

This article examines augmented plurals in Russian, mostly focusing on those in -ĭj- (e.g., pero/perʲja ‘feather.sg/pl’). The accentual behavior of -ĭj-plurals is sensitive to animacy: while inanimates show stem-final stress, animates appear with inflectional stress. This is [...] Read more.

This article examines augmented plurals in Russian, mostly focusing on those in -ĭj- (e.g., pero/perʲja ‘feather.sg/pl’). The accentual behavior of -ĭj-plurals is sensitive to animacy: while inanimates show stem-final stress, animates appear with inflectional stress. This is explained by different constituent structures: while for inanimates, -ĭj- combines with the stem, animate stems require complex suffix formation so as to not create neuter animates, which are not tolerated in Russian. The position of the accent is then derived from the usual assumptions about Russian stress and the hypothesis that -ĭj- is accented but unaccentable. Other plural augments are also discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))

22 pages, 2299 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Survey of Family Language Planning in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the Context of New Language Education Policies

by Zhaoyu Wang and Chengyu Liu

Languages 2025, 10(12), 303; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120303 - 16 Dec 2025

The family serves as a critical domain for ethnic minority children to acquire their ethnic language. It plays a vital role in fostering multilingual competence and sustaining language diversity. Therefore, the family language planning (FLP) of ethnic minorities in China has attracted scholarly [...] Read more.

The family serves as a critical domain for ethnic minority children to acquire their ethnic language. It plays a vital role in fostering multilingual competence and sustaining language diversity. Therefore, the family language planning (FLP) of ethnic minorities in China has attracted scholarly attention in recent years. However, there is relatively little research on the FLP of the Yi ethnic group. The present study investigated the FLP of the Yi (Nuosu) families in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (Liangshan) through questionnaires, interviews, and ethnographic observations. The aim was to elucidate the language life within Nuosu families in the context of recent policy modifications regarding the instruction of Putonghua, the Nuosu language, and English. The results indicate that Nuosu families pay greater attention to Putonghua and English, and the Nuosu language practice in the family domain is decreasing across generations. There are signs of language shift from the Sichuan dialect to Putonghua in urban Nuosu families and from the Nuosu language to Putonghua in rural Nuosu families. The Nuosu parents adopt divergent language management strategies in response to the new language education policies. The findings contribute to our understanding of the FLP of a less-discussed ethnic group, as well as the interaction between FLP and school education policies. This study also provides a unique case in the field of multilingual studies, both domestically and internationally. Full article

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12 pages, 430 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Atypicality of Verb-Final Clauses in Japanese Conversation: Toward a Speaker-Centered Characterization of Japanese Clausal Syntax

by Tsuyoshi Ono and Yasuyuki Usuda

Languages 2025, 10(12), 302; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120302 - 12 Dec 2025

The so-called canonical clause, consisting of case-marked NPs and a final finite verb, has played a central role in discussions of Japanese for the past several decades. The current study explores the nature of such clauses in everyday Japanese conversation. Everyday conversation is [...] Read more.

The so-called canonical clause, consisting of case-marked NPs and a final finite verb, has played a central role in discussions of Japanese for the past several decades. The current study explores the nature of such clauses in everyday Japanese conversation. Everyday conversation is considered the most fundamental form of language, and large-scale corpora of Japanese everyday conversation have only become available in recent years, enabling projects like ours. One key finding is that clauses ending with a finite verb are rare, challenging the centrality of the canonical clause in Japanese grammar. Instead, we observe that the verb is usually followed by additional elements that convey pragmatic information. This observation suggests that the canonical clause for Japanese speakers should also include these pragmatic elements. We have observed further that the relatively uncommon examples that do end with a finite verb often involve five frequent semantically light verbs. A preliminary study of one of these verbs, chigau ‘to differ’, reveals that, typically without overt NPs, it functions more like a particle than the verb of a clause. This further calls into question the idea that the canonical clause in Japanese ends with a finite verb. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue (A)typical Clauses across Languages)

16 pages, 4338 KB

Open AccessArticle

Orthographic Visual Distinctiveness Shapes Written Lexicons: Cross-Linguistic Evidence from 131 Languages

by Jiazheng Wang, Ruimin Lyu, Hangyu Zhu and Zhenping Xie

Languages 2025, 10(12), 301; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120301 - 11 Dec 2025

Written language is a multimodal system that integrates visual, phonological, and semantic information. This study examines whether orthographic visual distinctiveness—the degree to which word forms differ visually—acts as a structural constraint across languages. Using standardized script renderings from 131 languages, we extracted visual [...] Read more.

Written language is a multimodal system that integrates visual, phonological, and semantic information. This study examines whether orthographic visual distinctiveness—the degree to which word forms differ visually—acts as a structural constraint across languages. Using standardized script renderings from 131 languages, we extracted visual features of words through a Vision Transformer (VIT) and compared visual distances between co-occurring word pairs from natural corpora and random word pairs from lexicons, controlling for word length and related factors. The results show that co-occurring words are visually more distinct than expected by chance, and this effect is consistent across diverse writing systems. These findings indicate that visual distinctiveness contributes independently to the organization of written language, reflecting an underlying pressure toward visual discriminability in lexical form. Beyond linguistic implications, the framework demonstrates how deep vision models can capture cognitively meaningful visual features of text, offering new perspectives for multimodal research on orthography, reading, and cross-lingual modeling. Full article

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22 pages, 451 KB

Open AccessArticle

Dynamic Syntax in a Theory of Types with Records

by Robin Cooper and Staffan Larsson

Languages 2025, 10(12), 300; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120300 - 10 Dec 2025

This paper presents a recasting of key aspects of dynamic syntax (DS) in a theory of types with records (TTR), concentrating on the incremental processing of speech events as they unfold and viewed in terms of classifying these events in terms of grammatical [...] Read more.

This paper presents a recasting of key aspects of dynamic syntax (DS) in a theory of types with records (TTR), concentrating on the incremental processing of speech events as they unfold and viewed in terms of classifying these events in terms of grammatical types and making predictions about future types that will be realized as the speech event progresses. TTR, like DS, attempts to provide formal analyses of language in terms of a theory of action which is related to cognitive processes. It therefore seems appropriate to explore one in terms of the other in hopes of revealing how the two theories may interact with and contribute to each other. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Development of Dynamic Syntax)

20 pages, 580 KB

Open AccessArticle

Style-Shifting in Multidialectal Spaces: The Case for Speaker-Based, Mixed-Methods Approaches to Dialect Contact

by Víctor Fernández-Mallat

Languages 2025, 10(12), 299; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10120299 - 9 Dec 2025

In this article, I underscore the value of nuanced, speaker-focused approaches to dialect contact, which both complement and extend community-based perspectives. I pursue this goal through two main strategies. First, I use a mixed-methods approach that integrates diverse sources of contextualized conversational data [...] Read more.

In this article, I underscore the value of nuanced, speaker-focused approaches to dialect contact, which both complement and extend community-based perspectives. I pursue this goal through two main strategies. First, I use a mixed-methods approach that integrates diverse sources of contextualized conversational data alongside spontaneous metalinguistic commentary. This broadens the traditional reliance on one-on-one sociolinguistic interviews, in which the regional backgrounds of both interviewees and interviewers are often left uncontrolled. Second, I use an interpretative framework that accounts for individuals’ metalinguistic awareness and examines how this awareness influences their positioning within distinct membership categories. Such positioning is evident in language practices, ranging from accommodation to interlocutors’ speech patterns to the retention of regional variation patterns. The analysis centers on the speech of five individuals in a Spanish dialect contact setting in Anglo-America, using their linguistic behavior as a lens to address broader theoretical and methodological questions in the field. Full article

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