Developing computational algorithms that capture the complex structure of natural languages is an open problem. In particular, learning the abstract properties of language only from usage data without built-in knowledge of language structure remains a challenge. We have developed a Bayesian model of the acquisition and use of verb argument structure from child-directed data. In our model, the g...

in this article, the causative alternation in persian is discussed. first, it is shown that persian anticausative verbs involve a cause component and an implicit external argument. second, we claim that causative alternation arises when a single change-of-state verb invokes more than one semantic frame (fillmore, 1985): causative frame and anticausative frame. these semantic frames are the resu...

Usage-based theories of syntax predict that words and syntactic constructions are probabilistically interconnected. If this is true, then words that occur in similar distributions of syntactic constructions should prime each other. These effects should be fine-grained; even small differences between the syntactic distributions of pairs of words of the same grammatical category should cause vari...

This paper describes a method for determining syntactic structure in coordinate constructions. It is based on the information taken from semantic similarities, selectional restrictions, and some other linguistic cues. We discuss the role the information plays in resolving ambiguities that appear in coordinate constructions, describe the means of acquiring the necessary information automatically...

This paper discusses the logophoric properties of Balinese anaphors. first presents evidence showing that complex anaphor may be interpreted logophorically even in presence a syntactic coargument. leads to novel solution "Balinese Bind paradox." proposal is better able account for interpretive constraints observed raising constructions than previous proposals. In addition this analysis, implica...

One of the best known claims about human communication is that people's behaviour and language use converge during conversation. It has been proposed that these patterns can be explained by automatic, cross-person priming. A key test case is structural priming: does exposure to one syntactic structure, in production or comprehension, make reuse of that structure (by the same or another speaker)...

This paper examines English unbounded dependency constructions and concludes that the syntactic mechanism responsible for extraction operates in the same way in all constructions, regardless of the structures being subordinate or coordinate. In other words, this work argues that there is a general and fully uniform mechanism behind the linkage of ‘gaps’ and their ‘fillers’ in the family of cons...

p. 1, par. 2: Until relatively recently, however, words and syntactic patterns, or constructions, were treated on a par not only theoretically, but also empirically. → It is only since recently, however, that words and syntactic patterns, or constructions, are treated on a par not only theoretically, but also empirically. p. 1, first bullet: how much does give prefer to occur in the ditransitiv...

Mandarin light verb constructions, which can be categorized into DO and GIVE groups based on the semantic content of the light verb, are generally believed to be associated with information packaging: in the schematised canonical syntactic realisation ̳dui ̳to‘+NP+LV+NP‘, the preposed preverbal undergoer argument has a contrastive focus function. However, a plethora of LVCs retrieved from a Mand...

Productivity has been a much-debated concept within morphology and word formation for years, while syntactic productivity has received little attention within the research community. In mainstream syntax, the concept of syntactic productivity is focused on speakers' ability to generate sentences never encountered before. This notion of productivity captures what has been labeled Linguistic Comp...