Grammatically-Constrained Variation at the Syntax-Prosody Interface: The View from Irish
Dr. Emily Elfner
Post-doctoral fellow, University of British Columbia
Friday, May 5, 2017
2:00pm – 3:00pm
A major topic of debate in research addressing the syntax-phonology interface is the extent to which information about syntactic constituent structure may be recovered from the identification of prosodic domains. One of the challenges in finding a definitive answer to this question has been the development of an understanding of how syntactic and prosodic domains correspond to each other, and how non-isomorphic (“mismatched”) structures sometimes emerge from this mapping. This talk addresses this question through the examination of sentence-level intonational phonology in Connemara Irish, and proposes an analysis in light of Match Theory (Selkirk 2009, 2011), a theory of the syntax-phonology interface in which syntax-prosody mapping (“Match”) constraints interact directly with prosodic markedness constraints. Specifically, this talk presents the results of a production experiment that looks at prosodic phrasing in transitive (VSO) sentences in Connemara Irish and the effect of systematically varying the size and syntactic structure of the subject and object constituents. The data in this talk will focus on intonational patterns, and particularly on the distribution of two discrete types of phrasal pitch accents found in the language, L*H (rise) and H*L (fall), which I have previously argued to provide information on the left and right edges of prosodic constituents in Connemara Irish, respectively (Elfner 2012, 2015). This talk addresses the question of what role prosodic markedness constraints play in the occurrence and relative frequency of the patterns of prosodic phrasing observed in the experimental data. I will focus on the prosodic markedness constraint Strong-Start (Selkirk 2011), a constraint which militates against prosodic structures with a relatively weak prosodic element at its left edge. I show that this constraint, and its interaction with syntax-prosody correspondence constraints, plays a crucial role in explaining the range and prevalence of the prosodic structures that are observed in the VSO sentences produced in the experiment.
I didn’t learn like grammar: Discourse, society and language change
Dr. Alexandra D’Arcy
Associate Professor, University of Victoria
Saturday, May 6, 2017
2:00pm – 3:00pm
Language change unfolds constantly, instantiated “over a series of synchronic states which constitute a succession of present moments” (Joseph & Janda 2003: 86). The innovation of apparent time (Labov 1963) as an analytic heuristic enabled detailed examination of a single ‘present moment’ that could be extrapolated to reflect diachrony over the short term. Although the emphasis of variationist sociolinguistics is often some current state of a language or variety, the roots of the field are grounded in questions emerging from the study of language in historical perspective. Apparent time is a powerful lens, but it cannot wholly replace the careful study of linguistic variation, structure and usage over the long term. In this talk I explore the ways in which synchronic perspectives can function as distractions from diachronic trends in variable systems, and argue that the examination of linguistic structure and usage beyond the living speech community is often necessary to tease apart the genuine now from what only appears to be the now. I conclude that when examining apparent synchronic cataclysms, it is necessary to probe the history of a variable system or feature, else risk falling for the Recency Illusion, the belief that uses noticed (or examined) in synchronic perspective are in fact recent (Zwicky 2005).
Language acquisition through the lens of general learning mechanisms
Alexis Black
PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia
Sunday, May 7, 2017
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Abstract coming soon.