{"title":"Argument Structure in Sign Languages","authors":"V. Kimmelman","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-122519","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-122519","url":null,"abstract":"Although sign languages are crucial for research on the human linguistic capacity, argument structure in these languages is rarely addressed in theoretical and typological studies. This article provides an overview of existing research on argument structure and argument structure alternations in sign languages. It demonstrates that there are many fundamental similarities between the two modalities in the domain of argument structure, such as the basic valency patterns and the semantic basis of argument structure. At the same time, modality effects, such as iconicity, simultaneity, and the use of space, play an important role in argument structure realization. Finally, the article discusses how emerging sign languages present an opportunity to observe and study the emergence of argument structure. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 8 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90822030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cracking Prosody in Articulatory Phonology","authors":"D. Byrd, Jelena M. Krivokapic","doi":"10.1146/ANNUREV-LINGUISTICS-030920-050033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/ANNUREV-LINGUISTICS-030920-050033","url":null,"abstract":"Articulatory Phonology advances an account of phonological structure in which dynamically defined vocal tract tasks—gestures—are simultaneously and isomorphically units of cognitive representation and units of physical action. This paradigm has fundamentally altered our understanding of the linguistic representation of words. This article reviews the relatively recent incorporation of prosody into Articulatory Phonology. A capsule review of the Articulatory Phonology theoretical framework is presented, and the notions of phrasal and prominence organization are introduced as the key aspects of linguistic prosodic structure under consideration. Parameter dynamics, activation dynamics, and prosodic modulation gestures, such as the π-gesture, are outlined. The review is extended to touch on rhythm, intonation, and pauses and to consider innovations for integrating multiple aspects of prosodic structure under this dynamical approach. Finally, a range of questions emerges, crystallizing outstanding issues ranging from the abstract and theoretical to the interactive and functional.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"111 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79623665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Linguistics Then and Now: Some Personal Reflections","authors":"Bo Huang, Bo Huang","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-081720-111352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-081720-111352","url":null,"abstract":"By mid-twentieth century, a working consensus had been reached in the linguistics community, based on the great achievements of preceding years. Synchronic linguistics had been established as a science, a “taxonomic” science, with sophisticated procedures of analysis of data. Taxonomic science has limits. It does not ask “why?” The time was ripe to seek explanatory theories, using insights provided by the theory of computation and studies of explanatory depth. That effort became the generative enterprise within the biolinguistics framework. Tensions quickly arose: The elements of explanatory theories (generative grammars) were far beyond the reach of taxonomic procedures. The structuralist principle that language is a matter of training and habit, extended by analogy, was unsustainable. More generally, the mood of “virtually everything is known” became “almost nothing is understood,” a familiar phenomenon in the history of science, opening a new and exciting era for a flourishing discipline.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73979934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julia Hyland Bruno, E. Jarvis, M. Liberman, O. Tchernichovski
{"title":"Birdsong Learning and Culture: Analogies with Human Spoken Language","authors":"Julia Hyland Bruno, E. Jarvis, M. Liberman, O. Tchernichovski","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-090420-121034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-090420-121034","url":null,"abstract":"Unlike many species, song learning birds and humans have independently evolved the ability to communicate via learned vocalizations. Both birdsong and spoken language are culturally transmitted across generations, within species-specific constraints that leave room for considerable variation. We review the commonalities and differences between vocal learning bird species and humans, across behavioral, developmental, neuroanatomical, physiological, and genetic levels. We propose that cultural transmission of vocal repertoires is a natural consequence of the evolution of vocal learning and that at least some species-specific universals, as well as species differences in cultural transmission, are due to differences in vocal learning phenotypes, which are shaped by genetic constraints. We suggest that it is the balance between these constraints and features of the social environment that allows cultural learning to propagate. We describe new opportunities for exploring meaningful comparisons of birdsong and human vocal culture.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90142122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Serial Verb Constructions","authors":"Joseph Lovestrand","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031920-115317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031920-115317","url":null,"abstract":"In a serial verb construction (SVC), two or more verbs combine in a single clause without any morphosyntactic marking of linking or subordination. However, the way in which different linguists interpret and diagnose this description is a continual source of controversy. There are different assumptions about the nature of verbhood and clausehood as well as disagreements over how to interpret morphosyntactic marking in particular languages. Despite the fuzzy nature of the category, SVCs are often found to have similar functions in many languages—for example, to express closely linked sequences of events; to indicate directional and prior motion; to show concurrent aspects of a single event, such as posture, alongside another activity; and to express particular semantic roles or aspectual meaning. The morphosyntactic complexity and diversity found in SVCs continue to challenge conceptions of the clause that are assumed in both generative and comparative approaches to syntax.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81188753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Morphome","authors":"M. Maiden","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-040220-042614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-040220-042614","url":null,"abstract":"The term morphome (to be distinguished from morpheme), and the notion that there exist autonomous morphological phenomena synchronically independent of phonological or functional conditioning, has occupied a central place in morphological theory. This article reviews some characteristics of morphomic (i.e., autonomously morphological) structures that are assumed in recent studies. Taking a diachronic perspective, it asks whether these properties (typological uniqueness, phonological heterogeneity, syncretism, systematicity, predictiveness) are inherent or only contingent. It concludes that typological uniqueness is not inherent and that the belief that it is so is a misunderstanding. Phonological heterogeneity, a repeatedly observed concomitant of some of the best-known types of morphome, proves merely contingent since alternations firmly anchored in a particular phonological form can be morphomic. Syncretism may be a precondition for, but is not necessarily characteristic of, the historical emergence of morphomes. Contrary to widely held assumptions, systematicity and predictiveness are acquired (not inherent) characteristics of morphomes.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88962151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Annual Review of LinguisticsPub Date : 2021-01-01Epub Date: 2020-10-12DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-043020-092357
Diane Lillo-Martin, Jonathan Henner
{"title":"Acquisition of Sign Languages.","authors":"Diane Lillo-Martin, Jonathan Henner","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-043020-092357","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-043020-092357","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Natural sign languages of deaf communities are acquired on the same time scale as that of spoken languages if children have access to fluent signers providing input from birth. Infants are sensitive to linguistic information provided visually, and early milestones show many parallels. The modality may affect various areas of language acquisition; such effects include the form of signs (sign phonology), the potential advantage presented by visual iconicity, and the use of spatial locations to represent referents, locations, and movement events. Unfortunately, the vast majority of deaf children do not receive accessible linguistic input in infancy, and these children experience language deprivation. Negative effects on language are observed when first-language acquisition is delayed. For those who eventually begin to learn a sign language, earlier input is associated with better language and academic outcomes. Further research is especially needed with a broader diversity of participants.</p>","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"7 ","pages":"395-419"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8570554/pdf/nihms-1712492.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39598504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Use of Corpus Linguistics in Legal Interpretation","authors":"Neal Goldfarb","doi":"10.1146/ANNUREV-LINGUISTICS-050520-093942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/ANNUREV-LINGUISTICS-050520-093942","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past decade, the idea of using corpus linguistics in legal interpretation has attracted interest on the part of judges, lawyers, and legal academics in the United States. This review provides an introduction to this nascent movement, which is generally referred to as Law and Corpus Linguistics (LCL). After briefly summarizing LCL's origin and development, I situate LCL within legal interpretation by discussing the legal concept of ordinary meaning, which establishes the framework within which LCL operates. Next, I situate LCL within linguistics by identifying the subfields that are most relevant to LCL. I then offer a linguistic justification for an idea that is implicit in the case law and that provides important support for using corpus analysis in legal interpretation: that data about patterns of usage provide evidence of how words and other expressions are ordinarily understood. I go on to discuss linguistic issues that arise from the use of corpus linguistics in disputes that involve lexical ambiguity and categorization. Finally, I point out some challenges that the growth of LCL will present for both legal professionals and linguists.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2020-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88937988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fantastic Linguistics","authors":"Sarah Thomason, W. Poser","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030459","url":null,"abstract":"Many nonlinguists believe that their ability to speak at least one language provides special insight into the essence of languages and their histories. One result of this belief is a plethora of theories about language from a surprising variety of perspectives: where particular languages (or all languages) originated, which languages are related by a shared history, how undeciphered writings or pseudowritings are to be read, how language figures in paranormal claims as “evidence” for reincarnation and channeled entities, and much, much more. This review surveys some of the major areas in which fringe and crackpot claims about language thrive. Only a few topics and examples can be covered in the limited space of a single article, but these should be enough, we hope, to suggest the range of wonderfully wacky pseudolinguistic notions out there.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76788102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Metered Verse","authors":"P. Kiparsky","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030620","url":null,"abstract":"Generative metrics studies versification as a stylization of phonological form. This review article outlines its main goals, hypotheses, and findings and presents a template-matching version of it, which models meters as mappings of abstract verse patterns to their permissible linguistic instantiations. It lays out the key features that verse rhythm shares with rhythm in other cognitive domains and distinguishes it from biological rhythms, offering evidence suggesting that these features are rooted in the language faculty. After a review of the typology of stress-, weight-, and tone-based meters, the predictions of the theory are illustrated in more detail with an analysis of Shakespeare's blank verse. The theory is extended by modeling conventions of setting poems to music as an interface between composition and delivery. English text-setting, which privileges natural phonological stress and phrasing, even at the expense of the poem's meter, lineation, and caesuras, is contrasted with other traditions in which text-setting is more faithful to meter. The negotiation of phonology and meter in song provides a sensitive probe into the prosodic organization of language.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90996123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}