Volume 13, Issue 1 -

This paper proposes a procedure to evaluate the possible existence of negative correlation between three language ratios (phonemes per syllable, syllables per word, and words per clause), based on a synergetic linguistics’ approach. It uses partial correlation coefficients and simultaneous-equation regressions, and the analysis is performed on data obtained from the fable “The North Wind and the Sun”, translated into 50 languages. After controlling for phenomena related to geographic and genetic factors, we end up with the conclusion that the three ratios are negatively correlated between themselves, and this can be seen as a signal of the possible existence of complexity trade-offs.

This paper presents a comparative evaluation of three linguistic frameworks, the Minimalist Programme (MP), Word Grammar (WG) and the Matrix Language Frame Model (MLF), regarding their predictions of possible combinations in a corpus of 187 German–English code-switched (CS) determiner–noun constructions. The comparison revealed a significant difference in the accuracy of the predictions between the MP and WG, but not between the other frameworks. We draw attention to the fact that while WG and MP deal with the processes of feature agreement between determiner and noun, the MLF is concerned with a broader notion of agreement in language membership. We suggest that advances in our understanding of grammaticality in code-switching will be achieved by combining the insights of all three frameworks instead of considering them in isolation.

In Dutch, as in several other languages, many ditransitive verbs alternate between a construction with two unmarked NP objects coding the recipient and the theme (the double object construction , e. g. Hij gaf haar een geschenk ‘He gave her a present’) and a construction in which the recipient is marked by a preposition, viz. aan in the case of Dutch (the aan-construction , e. g. Hij gaf een geschenk aan zijn vrouw ‘He gave a present to his wife’). In this paper we take a diachronic and multifactorial perspective, both of which are lacking in the literature on the Dutch dative alternation. First, focussing on the dative alternation in early Modern Dutch, we show via a mixed-effects logistic regression model that, in the earliest period already, the alternation was determined by a cluster of semantic, formal and discourse-pragmatic factors. A comparison with a regression model for the late Modern English dative alternation (Wolk et al. 2013, Dative and genitive variability in Late Modern English: Exploring cross-constructional variation and change. Diachronica 30(3). 382–419) suggests that the cognitive mechanisms underlying a speaker’s choice for one of both ditransitive constructions hold cross-linguistically. Second, via a detailed diachronic comparison with a regression analysis for present-day Dutch, we show that through time a better correspondence seemed to emerge between the order of theme and recipient and the constructional choice. Word order principles more clearly play a role in the present-day alternation: the effects of several formal and discourse-pragmatic variables have become stronger, and the frequency of the non-canonical orders of both constructions has decreased.

In this paper I take a look at a classic problem in Spanish morphosyn-tax, namely the alternation between the forms -se and -ra in the Imperfect Subjunctive ( Imperfecto de Subjuntivo ). Research on this topic has mainly focused on sociolinguistic variation, and has been done almost exclusively with impressionistic data and speakers’ intuitions. I address the problem from a usage-based perspective, using corpus linguistics methods. The main claim is that the choice between -se and -ra correlates to a certain extent with morpho-syntactic and discourse factors. Through collostructional analysis I also show that there exists repelled and attracted collexemes that distinguish and relate both forms.

Research on the morpho-syntax of non-native varieties of English has reported a widespread presence of mass noun pluralization such as baggages , equipments and softwares . In this paper we conducted a corpus linguistic study in order to provide empirically substantiated answers to this claim. We examined the purported prevalence of noun countability in World Englishes in a 1.9 billion-token mega-corpus of global varieties of English. In a comparison of native and non-native varieties of English, first we algorithmically isolated nouns that are more frequently pluralized in non-native varieties. The results indicate a continuum of non-native English countability, along which mass nouns occupy the most extreme tail of inflated occurrences of noun pluralization. In an exploratory analysis, we then examined the similarity in noun countability behaviour across non-native varieties of English. This analysis revealed that geographically proximate countries in which non-native varieties of English are spoken are most similar in the extent to which they pluralize nouns. We argue that noun-countability is a phenomenon best viewed as a gradient that is also regionally dependent.

This paper introduces a tool for lexeme-based collexeme analysis. The tool uses cluster analysis to generate the typical constructions of a given lexeme and computes the collostruction strength of the constructions. These two functions enable the tool to facilitate efficient studies of lexeme–construction interactions in large-scale data. As a case study, the paper examines the lexeme “cause”. It shows that the tool provides strong statistical evidence that confirms earlier findings about the negative semantic prosody of the lexeme. In addition, the collexeme analyses with the tool show that the lexeme is typically used in attitudinal constructions. The case study demonstrates that the tool can enhance the efficiency, comprehensiveness and granularity in lexeme-based collexeme analysis.