Emergentist approaches to language are burdened with two responsibilities in contemporary cognitive science. On the one hand, they must offer a different and better understanding of the well-known ...phenomena that appear to support traditional formal approaches to language. On the other hand, they must extend the search for alternative explanations beyond the familiar languages of Europe and East Asia. I pursue this joint endeavor here by outlining an emergentist account for constraints on local anaphora in English and Balinese, with a view to showing that, despite numerous proposals to the contrary, the two languages manifest essentially the same system of coreference and that the system in question is shaped by processing pressures rather than grammatical principles.
In recent work, various scholars have suggested that large language models can be construed as input-driven theories of language acquisition. In this paper, we propose a way to test this idea. As we ...will document, there is good reason to think that processing pressures override input at an early point in linguistic development, creating a temporary but sophisticated system of negation with no counterpart in caregiver speech. We go on to outline a (for now) thought experiment involving this phenomenon that could contribute to a deeper understanding both of human language and of the language models that seek to simulate it.
The framework of this paper is Natural Syntax initiated by the author in the tradition of (morphological) naturalness as established by Wolfgang U. Dressler and Willi Mayerthaler. Natural Syntax is a ...pseudo-deductive linguistic theory, and this is its most recent version. The naturalness judgements are couched in naturalness scales, which follow from the basic parameters (or "axioms") listed at the beginning of the paper. The predictions of the theory are calculated in what are known as deductions, the chief components of each being a pair of naturalness scales and the rules governing the alignment of corresponding naturalness values. Parallel and chiastic alignment is distinguished and related to Henning Andersen's early work on markedness. The basic idea is to illustrate how a (pseudo)deductive theory of syntax performs if it insists on avoiding abstract solutions, and in particular on excluding any generative component. In this paper the framework of Natural Syntax is applied mostly outside its original domain; namely, to the morphological behaviour of the imperative in various languages.
This paper explains a very well-known feature of Classical Greek syntax from the perspective of Natural Syntax. Most grammars of Classical Greek state that infinitive clauses could be dependent on ...both verbs of speaking and thinking in Classical Greek. In contrast, finite dependent clauses could be governed only by verbs of speaking. However, one verb of speaking that regularly governs infinitive clauses is 'say'. In terms of Natural Syntax, infinitive clauses are more natural than finite dependent clauses. The scale > nat (infinitive clause, finite dependent clause) is supported by the criterion of favorable for the speaker and the hearer (criterion A) and the criterion of integration into the clause (criterion D). In addition, verbs of thinking are more natural than verbs of speaking. The scale > nat (verbs of thinking, verbs of speaking) is supported by the criterion of integration into the clause (criterion C), the criterion of frequency (criterion C), and the criterion of favorable for the speaker andthe hearer (criterion A). Natural Syntax predicts that the more natural syntactic variant (i.e., infinitive clauses) associates with more natural parameters (i.e., verbs of thinking) than the less natural syntactic variant (i.e., finite dependent clauses). This type of alignment rule is called parallel alignment. In addition, most of the criteria applied indicate that the verb 'say' is more natural than other verbs of speaking (e.g., it is an enclitic verb). Consequently, it is expected within Natural Syntax that the verb 'say' associates with the more natural syntactic variant (i.e., with infinitive clauses).
The paper implements the framework of Natural Syntax and treats various phenomena bearing on transitivity using the language material of ergative languages. In each case one ergative and one ...antipassive constructions are compared, and certain properties of such pairs are predicted. It is new in the paper that it is necessary to distinguish less or more transitive antipassive constructions. In the more transitive ones the agent and the patient are coded with the ergative case, the absolutive case, the nominative case, or the patient is integrated (at least to some extent) into the corresponding verb. More transitive antipassive constructions and the corresponding ergative constructions remain transitive. Because transitivity represents an unnatural environment, the alignment of the corresponding naturalness values is chiastic. The remaining antipassive constructions are less transitive, so that any pair consisting of such a construction and of the corresponding ergative construction withdraws from the unnatural environment of transitivity, and hence the alignment of the corresponding naturalness values is parallel. Another unnatural environment is represented by the patient just in case that its syntactic, not semantic, properties are treated. Consequently the alignment of the corresponding naturalness values ischiastic. The paper discusses 18 ergative languages, mostly from the Caucasus and the Pacific Ocean.
Natural Syntax is a developing deductive theory, a branch of Naturalness Theory. The naturalness judgements are couched in naturalness scales, which follow from the basic parameters (or “axioms”) ...listed at the beginning of the paper. The predictions of the theory are calculated in the deductions, whose chief components are a pair of naturalness scales and the rules governing the alignment of corresponding naturalness values. Parallel and chiastic alignments are distinguished, in complementary distribution. Chiastic alignment is mandatory in derivations limited to unnatural environments.
The paper deals with the grammatical person of personal pronouns. The basic naturalness scale is >nat (1
, 2
, 3
) / grammatical person. Parallel alignment is used, except when the language data are restricted to the 3
person, which demarcates an extremely unnatural environment and thus requires chiastic alignment.
Natural Syntax is a developing deductive theory, a branch of Naturalness theory. The naturalness judgements are couched in naturalness scales, which follow from the basic parameters (or “axioms”) ...listed at the beginning of the paper. The predictions of the theory are calculated in what are known as deductions, whose chief components are a pair of naturalness scales and the rules governing the alignment of corresponding naturalness values. Parallel and chiastic alignments are distinguished, in complementary distribution. Here almost only chiastic alignment is utilized, this being mandatory in deductions limited to unnatural environments. (Of special importance below is the word-initial vowel as a phenomenon of low naturalness in Natural Syntax.)
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