Mayfest 2025 - Constraints on Meaning
When and why are certain meanings missing?
Research
Research at our top-ranked department spans syntax, semantics, phonology, language acquisition, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics.
Connections between our core competencies are strong, with theoretical, experimental and computational work typically pursued in tandem.
A network of collaboration at all levels sustains a research climate that is both vigorous and friendly. Here new ideas develop in conversation, stimulated by the steady activity of our labs and research groups, frequent student meetings with faculty, regular talks by local and invited scholars and collaborations with the broader University of Maryland language science community, the largest and most integrated language science research community in North America.
Featured Research News
Self-monitoring and feedback in disordered speech production
What is the neural basis for the integration of auditory and somatosensory feedback in speech production? Josh Riley pursues the question through neuroimaging studies of Foreign Accent Syndrome and Peristent Development Stuttering.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Joshua Riley-Graham
Dates:
The precise contribution and mechanism of sensory feedback (particularly auditory feedback) in successful speech production is unclear. Some models of speech production, such as DIVA, assert that speech production is based on attempting to produce auditory (and/or somatosensory targets; e.g. Guenther et al. 2006), and thus assign a central role to sensory feedback for successful speech motor control. These models make explicit predictions about the neural basis of speech production and the integration of auditory and somatosensory feedback and predict predict basal ganglia involvement in speech motor control. In order to test the implications of models depending on the integration of sensory feedback for speech, we present neuroimaging studies of two disorders of speech production in the absence of apraxia or dysarthria - one acquired (Foreign Accent Syndrome; FAS) and one developmental (Persistent Developmental Stuttering; PDS). Our results broadly confirm the predictions of the extended DIVA (Bohland et al. 2010) model, and emphasize the importance of the basal ganglia, especially the basal ganglia-thalamic-cortical (BGTC) loops. I argue that FAS should be thought of as a disorder of excessive speech sensory feedback, and that fluency in PDS depends on successful integration of speech sensory feedback with feedforward control commands.
Windows into Sensory Integration and Rates in Language Processing: Insights from Signed and Spoken Languages
So-One Hwang compares the time course of visual to auditory speech perception, in signed versus spoken languages, finding evidence for time pressures that apply in both modalities.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): So-One Hwang
Dates:
This dissertation explores the hypothesis that language processing proceeds in “windows” that correspond to representational units, where sensory signals are integrated according to time-scales that correspond to the rate of the input. To investigate universal mechanisms, a comparison of signed and spoken languages is necessary. Underlying the seemingly effortless process of language comprehension is the perceiver’s knowledge about the rate at which linguistic form and meaning unfold in time and the ability to adapt to variations in the input.
The vast body of work in this area has focused on speech perception, where the goal is to determine how linguistic information is recovered from acoustic signals. Testing some of these theories in the visual processing of American Sign Language (ASL) provides a unique opportunity to better understand how sign languages are processed and which aspects of speech perception models are in fact about language perception across modalities.
The first part of the dissertation presents three psychophysical experiments investigating temporal integration windows in sign language perception by testing the intelligibility of locally time-reversed sentences. The findings demonstrate the contribution of modality for the time-scales of these windows, where signing is successively integrated over longer durations (~ 250-300 ms) than in speech (~ 50-60 ms), while also pointing to modality-independent mechanisms, where integration occurs in durations that correspond to the size of linguistic units. The second part of the dissertation focuses on production rates in sentences taken from natural conversations of English, Korean, and ASL. Data from word, sign, morpheme, and syllable rates suggest that while the rate of words and signs can vary from language to language, the relationship between the rate of syllables and morphemes is relatively consistent among these typologically diverse languages. The results from rates in ASL also complement the findings in perception experiments by confirming that time-scales at which phonological units fluctuate in production match the temporal integration windows in perception.
These results are consistent with the hypothesis that there are modalityindependent time pressures for language processing, and discussions provide a synthesis of converging findings from other domains of research and propose ideas for future investigations.
Movement and Intervention Effects: Evidence from Hindi/Urdu
An account of intervention effects in Wh scope-marking, raising and passive in terms of Relativized Minimality and movement chains.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Shiti Malhotra
Dates:
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the nature of intervention effects seen in various constructions like Wh-scope marking, raising and passivization. In particular, this dissertation argues in favor of a movement account for all these cases and supports the idea that (syntactic) movement is inevitable and sufficient enough to provide a unified account of various structural relations (Hornstein, 2009). It further argues that movement always happens in narrow syntax, even when it isn’t visible. For some of these invisible cases, this dissertation suggests head movement as an alternative to LF movement and Agree.
The second aim of this dissertation is to explain intervention effects in terms of relativized minimality (Rizzi 1990, 2004). In this consideration, this dissertation sides with Boeckx & Lasnik (2006) view that not all minimality violations are derivational: some are repairable, indicating that they must be treated as representational constraints, while others are not, indicating that they are derivational.
In this study, the dissertation not only reviews cross-linguistic facts from languages like English, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Icelandic but also provides novel empirical data from Hindi/Urdu. This way, the dissertation focuses on cross- linguistic as well as language specific investigation of intervention effects. The third aspect of this dissertation therefore is to relate cross-linguistic variations in intervention effects to the difference in the nature of the phase heads among languages. For instance, the cross-linguistic difference in the properties of various constructions (such as Wh-scope marking and double object construction) is reducible to the availability of an escape hatch with the relevant phase head (C or v).
In this exploration, this dissertation also makes two language specific claims about Hindi/Urdu; (a) the basic word order in this language is SVO, and (b) this language involves Wh-movement in overt syntax. The first claim contributes to the long standing debate about the basic word in Hindi/Urdu, a language which shows a dichotomy in its word order by exhibiting both SOV and SVO word order. The second claim adds to the covert vs. overt Wh-movement debate for Wh in-situ languages like Hindi/Urdu. The dissertation attributes both these aspects to the phasehood of little v in Hindi/Urdu.
Reflexives in Japanese
Distinguishing pure reflexives from near reflexives and other types of anaphors in Japanese.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Maki Kishida
Dates:
The purpose of this dissertation is to reconsider reflexives in Japanese through thefollowing three steps: (a) separation of genuine reflexive elements from elements that are confounded as reflexives, (b) classification of reflexive anaphors into subtypes based ontheir semantic difference, and (c) classification of predicates that occur with anaphors. Many researchers have worked on the reflexive element zibun ‘self,’ but Japanese has other reflexive elements as well. These elements including zibun have not only the reflexive anaphor usage but also other ones. All the instances are, however, often lumped together under the category ‘reflexives.’ I distinguish genuine reflexive anaphorsin Japanese from elements that are confounded as reflexive elements, by scrutinizing theirsyntactic and semantic properties and behavioral differences.Further, I claim that reflexive anaphors are classified into two subtypes as ‘Pure reflexive anaphors’ and ‘Near reflexive anaphors’ (Lidz, 1996, 2001a,b) based on theirsemantic property. Observing several languages from different language families, I pro-pose that there is a parametric variation with respect to the two-type distinction of reflex-ive anaphors among languages. In languages like Japanese, anaphors in the form of affixare Pure reflexive anaphors, while non-affixal anaphors are Near reflexive anaphors. On the other hand, in languages like Dutch, the morphological composition (complexity) ofanaphor corresponds to the two-type anaphor distinction. What yields this variation is also discussed.
In considering reflexives, it is important to know the nature of reflexive anaphors, but it is also essential to understand the nature of predicates that occur with an anaphor. One of the unsolved questions in the research of reflexives in Japanese is that the anaphor zibun cannot take a local antecedent when it occurs with a certain type of verb, although anaphors should be locally bound. Several studies have demonstrated that the availabil-ity of local binding of an anaphor depends on the property of its cooccuring predicate(Reinhart and Reuland, 1993, Bergeton, 2004, among others). Discussing how the type of reflexive and the type of predicate relate, I propose a way to categorize predicates inJapanese into subtypes based on the analysis in Bergeton (2004). By going through thethree steps, I give an answer to the unsolved question.
Binding Phenomena within a Reductionist Theory of Grammatical Dependencies
A reductionist reformulation of Binding Theory in terms of anti-locality conditions on A-movement, economy conditions on Spellout, and general pragmatics, against the common assumption a grammatical preference for local over longer dependencies.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Alex Drummond
Dates:
This thesis investigates the implications of binding phenomena for the development of a reductionist theory of grammatical dependencies. The starting point is the analysis of binding and control in Hornstein (2001, 2009). A number of revisions are made to this framework in order to develop a simpler and empirically more successful account of binding phenomena.
The major development is the rejection of economy-based accounts of Condition B effects. It is argued that Condition B effects derive directly from an anti-locality constraint on A-movement. Competition between different dependency types is crucial to the analysis, but is formulated in terms of a heavily revised version of Reinhart’s (2006) “No Sneaking” principle, rather than in terms of a simple economy preference for local over non-local dependencies. In contrast to Reinhart’s No Sneaking, the condition presented here (“Keeping Up Appearances”) has a phonologically rather than semantically specified comparison set. A key claim of the thesis is that the morphology of pronouns and reflexives is of little direct grammatical import. It is argued that much of the complexity of the contemporary binding literature derives from the attempt to capture the distribution of pronouns and reflexives in largely, or purely, syntactic and semantic terms. The analysis presented in this dissertation assigns a larger role to language-specific “spellout” rules, and to general pragmatic/interpretative principles governing the choice between competing morphemes. Thus, a core assumption of binding theory from LGB onwards is rejected: there is no syntactic theory which accounts for the distribution of pronouns and reflexives. Rather, there is a core theory of grammatical dependencies which must be conjoined withwith phonological, morphological and pragmatic principles to yield the distributional facts in any given language.
In this respect, the approach of the thesis is strictly non-lexicalist: there areno special lexical items which trigger certain kinds of grammatical dependency.All non-strictly-local grammatical dependencies are formed via A- or A-chains,and copies in these chains are pronounced according to a mix of universal principles and language-specific rules. The broader goal of the thesis is to furtherthe prospects for a “reductionist” approach to grammatical dependencies alongthese lines.
The most detailed empirical component of the thesis is an investigation of the problem posed by binding out of prepositional phrases. Even in a frameworkincorporating sideward movement, the apparent lack of c-command in this con-figuration poses a problem. Chapter 3 attempts to revive a variant of the traditional “reanalysis” hypothesis. This leads to an investigation of certain propertiesof pseudopassivization and preposition stranding.
The analyses in this thesis are stated within an informal syntactic framework. However, in order to investigate the precise implications of a particular economy condition, Merge over Move, a partial formalization of this framework is developed in chapter 4. This permits the economy condition to be stated precisely, and in a manner which does not have adverse implications for computational complexity.
Recalculating adjunct control
Adjunct control in Turkish, analyzed as 'sidewards' agreement between parts of two separate trees.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Ilknur Oded
Dates:
This study investigates properties of adjunct control with a particular focus on Turkish providing an analysis for different types of adjunct control structures such as temporal adjunct clauses and purpose clauses, which have been understudied in Turkish linguistics. In analyzing adjunct control structures, I use Agree-based Theory of Control (ATC) (Landau 2000 and 2004) as a theoretical basis. I introduce a new interarboreal operation that I call Interarboreal Agree which draws upon the intuitions of Nunes (1995) that syntactic relations can be established between two unconnected trees. This analysis refines ATC in that ATC in its current form fails to account for Obligatory Control reading in adjunct control structures. An important overarching theme of this dissertation is the role of Aspect in determining control properties of adjunct clauses. As an example, I account for the structures that I call SOC (Subject or Object Control) structures in Turkish temporal adjunct clauses by assuming that these clauses do not have an Aspect Phrase projection. I also argue that Case variation in languages that have morphologically-dependent secondary predicates, that is to say, secondary predicates that agree with the NP they predicate in Case, gender or number, can be explained by the presence or absence of an Aspect Phrase projection. Aspect properties of adjunct clauses come into play in purpose clauses as well. For instance, in English, control in purpose clauses exhibits optionality in terms of the choice of the controller, which is not the case in the Turkish counterpart of the same type of purpose clauses. I argue that this is due to the fact that English purpose clauses do not have an Aspect Phrase projection.
A Comprehensive Three-dimensional Cortical Map of Vowel Space
Postdoc Mathias Scharinger and collaborators use the magnetic N1 (M100) to map the entire vowel space of Turkish onto cortical locations in the brain. They find two distinct tonotopic maps, one for front vowels and one for back.
Contributor(s): William IdsardiNon-ARHU Contributor(s): Mathias Scharinger, Samantha Poe
Dates:
Mammalian cortex is known to contain various kinds of spatial encoding schemes for sensory information including retinotopic, somatosensory, and tonotopic maps. Tonotopic maps are especially interesting for human speech sound processing because they encode linguistically salient acoustic properties. In this study, we mapped the entire vowel space of a language (Turkish) onto cortical locations by using the magnetic N1 (M100), an auditory-evoked component that peaks approximately 100 msec after auditory stimulus onset. We found that dipole locations could be structured into two distinct maps, one for vowels produced with the tongue positioned toward the front of the mouth (front vowels) and one for vowels produced in the back of the mouth (back vowels). Furthermore, we found spatial gradients in lateral–medial, anterior–posterior, and inferior–superior dimensions that encoded the phonetic, categorical distinctions between all the vowels of Turkish. Statistical model comparisons of the dipole locations suggest that the spatial encoding scheme is not entirely based on acoustic bottom–up information but crucially involves featural–phonetic top–down modulation. Thus, multiple areas of excitation along the unidimensional basilar membrane are mapped into higher dimensional representations in auditory cortex.
Examining the evidence for an independent semantic analyzer: An ERP study in Spanish
Claire Stroud and Colin Phillips challenge recent claims that some kind of semantic composition operates independently of syntax in online language processing, with an ERP study of Spanish.
Contributor(s): Colin PhillipsNon-ARHU Contributor(s): Clare Stroud
Dates:
Recent ERP findings challenge the widespread assumption that syntactic and semantic processes are tightly coupled. Syntactically well-formed sentences that are semantically anomalous due to thematic mismatches elicit a P600, the component standardly associated with syntactic anomaly. This ‘thematic P600’ effect has been attributed to detection of semantically plausible thematic relations that conflict with the surface syntactic structure of the sentence, implying a processing architecture with an independent semantic analyzer. A key finding is that the P600 is selectively sensitive to the presence of plausible verb-argument relations, and that otherwise an N400 is elicited (The hearty meal was devouring ... vs. The dusty tabletop was devouring ...: Kim & Osterhout, 2005). The current study investigates in Spanish whether the evidence for an independent semantic analyzer is better explained by a standard architecture that rapidly integrates multiple sources of lexical, syntactic, and semantic information. The study manipulated the presence of plausible thematic relations, and varied the choice of auxiliary between passive-biased fue and active-progressive biased estaba. Results show a late positivity that appeared as soon as comprehenders detected an improbable combination of subject animacy, auxiliary bias, or verb voice morphology. This effect appeared at the lexical verb in the fue conditions and at the auxiliary in the estaba conditions. The late positivity elicited by surface thematic anomalies was the same, regardless of the presence of a plausible non-surface interpretation, and no N400 effects were elicited. These findings do not implicate an independent semantic analyzer, and are compatible with standard language processing architectures.
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On the relationship between morphological and semantic markedness: The case of plural morphology
An exploration of markedness in number morphology, supporting the view that what is marked morphologically is generally unmarked semantically, with a meaning that augments rather than restricts.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Alan Bale, Michaël Gagnon, Hrayr Khanjian
Dates:
This paper explores two possible connections between the diagnostics for morphological and semantic markedness. One possibility, a positive correlation, predicts that if a grammatical feature is diagnosed as being morphologically marked then it should also be semantically marked. This possibility follows as a consequence of the assumption that features are interpreted as restrictions on denotations. The second possibility, a negative correlation, predicts that if a grammatical feature is diagnosed as being morphologically marked then it should be semantically unmarked. This systematic inconsistency follows from the assumption that features are interpreted as augmenting functions. In our exploration of number marking, we find that the negative correlation is not only theoretically consistent with the semantic literature (in particular Link, 1983), but it is also more consistent with the empirical landscape (as noted by Sauerland, 2008). As a result, the morphological diagnostics lend support to the view that plural features are interpreted as augmenting functions.
MonoTrans2: A New Human Computation System to Support Monolingual Translation
A new user interface to support monolingual translation, by people who speak only the source or target language and not both.
Contributor(s): Philip ResnikNon-ARHU Contributor(s): Chang Hu, Benjamin Bedersen, Philip Resnik, Yakov Kronrod
Dates:
In this paper, we present MonoTrans2, a new user interface to support monolingual translation; that is, translation by people who speak only the source or target language, but not both. Compared to previous systems, MonoTrans2 supports multiple edits in parallel, and shorter tasks with less translation context. In an experiment translating children's books, we show that MonoTrans2 is able to substantially close the gap between machine translation and human bilingual translations. The percentage of sentences rated 5 out of 5 for fluency and adequacy by both bilingual evaluators in our study increased from 10% for Google Translate output to 68% for MonoTrans2.