Volume 60, Issue 4

Cross-linguistically , phrasal comparatives have been shown to vary with respect to the categorical status and denotational meaning of their standard of comparison (i.e., the NP constituent following the ‘than’ particle): whether the standard of comparison in phrasal comparatives is to be categorized as a superficially individual-denoting nominal expression or it is to be interpreted as an underlyingly degree-denoting reduced clause that undergoes deletion in the syntax. This paper argues that Jordanian Arabic (JA) is a language which makes use of phrasal comparatives with no clausal source in the standard of comparison. The paper further shows that the comparative head (i.e., the –er morpheme) in JA phrasal comparatives requires a special instance of Schönfinkelization of the comparative operator which relates individual-denoting objects with no transformations in the syntax-semantics interface.

This research article provides evidence from Jordanian Arabic (JA) that negation is syntactically bound to the projection of a phasal head, wherein NegP is structurally licensed to project exclusively within phase-bound configurations. Therefore, NegP can project separately in CP and v*P, offering support to the multi-locus view (Alqassas 2012. The morpho-syntax and pragmatics of Levantine Arabic negation: A synchronic and diachronic analysis . Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University) that NegP in Arabic is not restricted to one structural position in the clause structure. NegP can rather project separately above TP or below TP. However, as we argue for in this article the projection of NegP is correlated with the presence of a phasal head (Chomsky 2007. Approaching UG from below. In Uli Sauerland & Hans-Martin Gärtner (eds.), Interfaces+recursion=language? Chomsky’s minimalism and the view from syntax-semantics , 1–30. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter). Our evidence comes from two interrelated phenomena in JA: (1) the possibility of negating the past tense copula ka:n independently from the negation of the main verb in transitive and passive sentences and (2) the impossibility of independently negating the verb and the past-tense copula ka:n in unaccusative clauses. Following Jarrah’s (2023. Passive vs. unaccusative predicates: A phase-based account. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 41. 1397–1424) assumption that unaccusative predicates, unlike passive or transitive verbs, do not project phases in JA grammar, we propose that the use of two NegPs in the same clause with unaccusative clauses is prohibited as these unaccusative predicates do not project phases. This assumption is significant as phases, local domains, are not only found to be independent in terms of their Φ-content (their head bears an independent set of unvalued Φ-features) but also in terms of negation.

Focusing on the interaction of linguistic stress with the poetic and musical meters, and the melodic contour, this paper provides a qualitative suprasegmental analysis of two Turkish versions (T1: Ah! Güzel yavrum ; T2: Duy ey sevgili sesimi! ) of Franz Schubert’s Ellens Gesang III (D. 839). The acceptability of Turkish lyrics despite the failure of T1/T2 to align stressed syllables with strong positions in the iambic feet points towards the relative insignificance of poetic meter. Based on an analysis of the 36 downbeats, alignment rates (the second German version [95.8 %] > the original German version [91.7 %] > T2 [66.7 %] > T1 [50 %]) suggest that factors such as word length and default final stress may have proven counter-productive for Turkish in stress-meter alignment. As long as musical phrasing is in conformity with linguistic phrasing, a melodic contour that mirrors phrasal/sentential intonation may reinforce intended meaning despite mismatched syllables. Singable lyrics need not exhibit absolute stress-peak alignment such that various degrees of mismatches may be tolerable, depending on factors such as melismatic versus syllabic notation, the relative duration of adjacent syllables, and whether or not the mismatch occurs at tactus level.

This paper focuses on biased polar questions in Macedonian headed by the interrogative particles zar and neli . These particles function as veridicality markers: neli asserts the truth of p , while zar challenges it by emphasizing the conflict between the epistemic and the evidential bias. Consequently, these questions have different discourse functions. Our goal is to examine the discourse-pragmatic properties of these questions and determine the factors influencing their distribution. We argue that their felicity depends on the interplay of contextual factors: the degree of speaker’s certainty in the truth of the proposition, the existence of conflicting contextual evidence, and the assertiveness component of the biased question. A statistical analysis of 340 examples from literary and social media sources revealed that the most decisive factor for the occurrence of neli - and zar -questions is the degree of speaker certainty in prior belief, highlighting the assertive force of neli -questions compared to the more inquisitive nature of zar -questions.