The syntax and the function of Chinese relative clauses have been a hot issue in linguistic studies, given that typologically modifiers of nominals rarely occur before a demonstrative (cf. Greenberg 1963, Cinque 2005), and yet pre-demonstrative relative clauses are common in Chinese. This paper presents an analysis of syntax and information structure of Chinese relative clauses and shows result...

This paper describes the types of thematic role categories verbal clause arguments in Toba Batak language (BBT). syntactic study is conducted through a qualitative approach with listening technique collecting oral and written data. Then data processed commensurate 'agih' methods, which are described distributional informal methods. The results show that category clauses BBT divided into two par...

In their recent work, Hauser, Chomsky and Fitch (2002:1569) suggest that recursion “is the only uniquely human component of the faculty of language”. In both generative and typological studies, the relativization site has been considered to be one of the places where recursion of sentences takes place. This paper examines a number of wide-spread patterns of relativization around the globe and a...

Sadler and Nordlinger (2001) provides a descriptive overview of the phenomenon of independent nominal tense, whereby tense marking on a nominal temporally situates the nominal itself, independent of the tense of the proposition. In this paper we build on this descriptive work by exploring the lines along which an lfg analysis might be developed of the syntax and semantics of different types of ...

This paper reports on patterns of verb choice in identifying relational clauses (e.g. ‘X is Y, Y is X’) in English technical manuals. While it is obvious that specific lexical verbs will feature in identifying clauses of different functions, e.g. mean (defining), call (naming), exemplify (exemplifying), less transparent is the distribution of these more specific verbs and the general or neutral...

The roles and effects of changes in syntax on comprehension and processing effort, and the relationships between these two, comprise a large and separate field of inquiry, with the general belief now in place that such changes and variations bring about varied psycholinguistic and discursive implications for comprehension, manifesting themselves differently in different genres.The current study...