Volume 51, Issue 1

Conceptualizing person markers as an instrument of ideological negotiation and persuasion, this study explores the relationships between language, interaction and identity in the context of courtroom opening statements. The study quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes the use of first- and second-person markers. Based on a corpus of three high-profile trials, the findings indicate that person markers are pragmatically conditioned and contribute to making opening statement argumentative. By manipulating pronouns, the lawyers construct a shared identity with jurors and, at the same time, an authoritative self-image in order to align the jurors with their version of reality.

This study deals with the morphology-pragmatics interface in Modern Greek compounding. The object of investigation are 64 compounds explicitly marked for stance. It is shown that the linking of denotational (semantic and/or categorial) and socioexpressive (pragmatic) heads defines the different classes of compounds in a highly restrictive manner. The threefold negative socio-expressive structure of the verbal derivatives in -(i)áz(o) shows up in the compounds as well. It is concluded that, in both verbal derivation and compounding, the morphology-pragmatics interface recruits specific denotational structures for its expression.

This study investigates the nature of phonological impairment in 20 pre- and early school Portuguese children with phonologically based Speech Sound Disorders (SSD). The phonological profile of these children was compared with the performance of 232 younger typically developing (TD) controls. Results showed differences in phonological acquisition of children with phonologically based SSD, namely a low percentage of correct consonants score and a higher percentage of occurrences of typical phonological processes. Children with phonologically based SSD also used phonological processes (e.g., backing and initial consonant deletion) that are considered unusual in normally developing children and were not observed in the TD group. Results for SSD children also showed that early acquisition consonants were substituted by later acquisitions. Children with SSD presented differences in phonological acquisition, unusual phonological processes, and replaced early acquisition consonants by later acquisition consonants. This knowledge is useful for speech and language therapists in the diagnosis and treatment of SSD.

The paper raises the topic of what the functional and logical notion of subject is. It examines the syntax-semantic nature of Icelandic and Polish quirky subject constructions (subjectless clauses in which the initial DP bears oblique Case) with psych-verbs. Of main interest is the full vs. default agreement on V which nominative DPs and quirky subjects always trigger, respectively. We attempt to define the primitive notion of subject from two standpoints – its LF representation and how it is mirrored syntactically by the predication relation of the subject with respect to vP/VP and the proposition of the sentence in TP between the subject and T′. We discuss the semantic and configurational dependencies between quirky subjects and nominative DPs and vP and TP/CP. The paper investigates also the landing site for non-nominative initial DPs and argues for the Topic Phrase in the Left Periphery (Rizzi 1997) as a most natural candidate to host quirky subjects. Hopefully, the conclusions reached here may offer some way of bringing the notion of subject towards its more satisfactory understanding and description within the generative approach.

This paper analyzes instances of use of conventionalized antonyms in sentences in which they generate a related contrast pair or enhance its contrast potential, e.g. All those young blonde American nurses who marry old film stars placed in their care are simply taking care of business . The theoretical framework adopted is that of Cognitive Linguistics, in which meanings are mental entities in conceptual space and arise through context-driven conceptual combinations. Contexts of antonym use in the sentence seem to be structured and can be explained if conceptual approach to antonymy is adopted. Sentences in which the well-established antonymous pair is employed to act as a contrast generating device actually contain two contrasting pairs. The article seeks to explain why we are able to interpret the second contrast pair in the relation of binary semantic contrast, whether any form-meaning pairings can become members of the binary contrast set, and whether there is a scale of antonymity of contrast pairs in those contexts. The results provide support to cognitive prototype approach to antonymy, which predicts a category with a continuum structure, with a number of prototypical antonym partners as core members and ad hoc couplings on the outskirts.

There is evidence that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with linguistic difficulties. However, the pathophysiology underlying these difficulties is yet to be determined. This study investigates functional abnormalities in Broca’s area, which is associated with speech production and processing, in adolescents with ADHD by means of resting-state fMRI. Data for the study was taken from the ADHD-200 project and included 267 ADHD patients (109 with combined inattentive/hyperactive subtype and 158 with inattentive subtype) and 478 typically-developing control (TDC) subjects. An analysis of fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), which reflects spontaneous neural activity, in Broca’s area (Brodmann Areas 44/45) was performed on the data and the results were compared statistically across the participant groups. fALFF was found to be significantly lower in the ADHD inattentive group as compared to TDC in BA 44, and in the ADHD combined group as compared to TDC in BA 45. The results suggest that there are functional abnormalities in Broca’s area with people suffering from ADHD, and that the localization of these abnormalities might be connected to particular language deficits associated with ADHD subtypes, which we discuss in the article. The findings might help explore the underlying causes of specific language difficulties in ADHD.