When linearity prevails over hierarchy in syntax

Jana Willer-Gold (Author), Franc Marušič (Author), Tina Šuligoj (Author)

Abstract

Hierarchical structure has been cherished as a grammatical universal. We use experimental methods to show where linear order is also a relevant syntactic relation. An identical methodology and design were used across six research sites on South Slavic languages. Experimental results show that in certain configurations, grammatical production can in fact favor linear order over hierarchical structure. However, these findings are limited to coordinate structures and distinct from the kind of production errors found with comparable configurations such as “attraction” errors. The results demonstrate that agreement morphology may be computed in a series of steps, one of which is partly independent from syntactic hierarchy.

Keywords

experimental syntax;syntactic agreement;elicited language production;coordinated;noun phrases;South Slavic languages;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2018
Typology:	1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:	UNG - University of Nova Gorica
UDC:	81'36
COBISS:	4986619
ISSN:	1091-6490
Views:	3503
Downloads:	178
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
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