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
"Exceptional" Case-Marking and Resultative Constructions
The semantics of case-marking in Korean.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Soo-Min Hong
Dates:
In this thesis, I present evidence that structural Case in Korean is not absolutely semantically inert. It can have a focus flavor in some contexts, for example, stacked Case and Case attached to an adverb/adverbial and a verb. This sort of Case feature may not be an embarrassment for the good design of language. I discuss the Resultative Construction in a derivational approach. We compare the Resultative Construction between English and Korean in pursuit of finding out the underlying cause for differences between the two languages.
The Acquisition and Processing of Backwards Anaphora
The acquisition and online comprehension of cataphoric pronouns.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Nina Kazanina
Dates:
This dissertation investigates long-distance backwards pronominal dependencies (backwards anaphora or cataphora) and constraints on such dependencies from the viewpoint of language development and real-time language processing. Based on the findings from a comprehension experiment with Russian-speaking children and on real-time sentence processing data from English and Russian adults I argue for a position that distinguishes structural and non-structural constraints on backwards anaphora. I show that unlike their non-syntactic counterparts, structural constraints on coreference, in particular Principle C of the Binding Theory (Chomsky 1981), are active at the earliest stage of language development and of real-time processing. In language acquisition, the results of a truth-value judgment task with 3-6 year old Russian-speaking children reveal a striking developmental asymmetry between Principle C, a cross-linguistically consistent syntactic constraint on coreference, and a Russian-specific discourse constraint on coreference. Whereas Principle C is respected by children already at the age of three, the Russian-specific (discourse) constraint is not operative in child language until the age of five. These findings present a challenge for input-driven accounts of language acquisition and are most naturally explained in theories that admit the existence of innately specified principles that underlie linguistic representations. In real-time processing, the findings from a series of self-paced reading experiments on English and Russian show that in backwards anaphora contexts the parser initiates an active search for an antecedent for the pronoun which is limited to positions that are not subject to structural constraints on coreference, e.g. Principle C. This grammatically constrained active search mechanism associated observed in the processing of backwards anaphora is similar to the mechanism found in the processing of another type of a long-distance dependency, the wh-dependency. I suggest that the early application of structural constraints on long-distance dependencies is due to reasons of parsing efficiency rather than due to their architectural priority, as such constraints aid to restrict the search space of possible representations to be built by the parser. A computational parsing algorithm is developed that combines the constrained active search mechanism with a strict incremental left-to-right structure building procedure.
Meaning before truth
Linguistic semantics should be the study, not of reference and truth conditions, but of how the expresssions of a natural language constrain the contents of thoughts and communicative actions.
Contributor(s): Paul Pietroski
Dates:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Linguistic semantics should be the study, not of reference and truth conditions, but of how the expresssions of a natural language constrain the contents of thoughts and communicative actions.
Alternative Directions for Minimalist Inquiry: Expanding and Contracting Phases of Derivation
"Tree Contraction Grammar" as an implementation of a Multiple Spellout theory of syntactic derivation.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): John Drury
Dates:
This dissertation develops novel derivational mechanics for characterizing the syntactic component of human language -- Tree Contraction Grammar (TCG). TCG falls within a general class of derivationally-oriented minimalist approaches, constituting a version of a Multiple Spell Out (MSO-)system (Chomsky 1999, Uriagereka 1999, 2002). TCG posits a derivational WORKSPACE restricting the size of structures that can be active at a given stage of derivation. As structures are expanded, workspace limitations periodically force contractions of the span of structure visible to operations. These expansion-contraction dynamics are shown to have implications for our understanding of locality of dependencies, specifically regarding successive cyclic movement. The mechanics of TCG rely on non-standard assumptions about the direction of derivation -- structure assembly is required to work top-down. TCG draws a key idea from TAG; that is, recursive structure ought to play a direct role in delimiting the range of possible interactions between syntactic elements in phases of derivation. TAG factors complex structures into non-recursive elementary trees and recursive auxiliary trees that are combinable via TAG's two operations (substitution/adjoining). In TCG the expansion of structure in the workspace is similarly limited to containing only non-recursive stretches of structure. In the course of a derivation, encountering "repeated elements" in the expanding dominance ordering forces contractions of the workspace (understood to happen in potentially different ways depending on the properties of repeated elements). In certain circumstances, repeated elements are identified, allowing information from earlier stages of derivation to be carried over to later stages, underwriting our (novel) view of successive cyclicity. Recursive structure is retained in the global "output" structure, upon parts of which we understand the workspace to be superimposed.
What do children have in their heads? Functional heads and parameter setting in child language
The distribution of third-singular "-s" in child English, and its implications for theories of universal grammar and language acquisition.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Graciela Tesan
Dates:
The aim of the present study is to revisit the old debate between rationalists and empiricists in relation to language development with new longitudinal data in hand. I show that when it comes to the development of a specific piece of linguistic knowledge, namely the distribution of the third person singular morpheme -s in child English, the generativist approach can satisfactorily account for the quirks observed in the longitudinal data presented herein. First, I argue that children are not conservative learners in the sense of Tomasello (2003), but they set parameters in the sense of Crain (1991). That is to say, child grammars may vary from the adult -significantly-, but the variation is conservatively limited by the hard-wired principles and parameters of Universal Grammar. I conclude that a parameter setting account of the development of functional categories is preferred as it attains explanatory adequacy with a minimal set of assumptions. I then adopt Lasnik's (1995a) parametric account of verbal morphology, which distinguishes two types of Infl(ectional) items: affixal Infl and featural Infl. Furthermore, I use the same distinction to account for the development of sentential Neg(ation), as well, arguing that there are two parametric values associated with the Neg(ation) category: affixal Neg and featural Neg. In natural languages, the intersection of these values defines different grammars (e.g. Swedish vs. English, Middle English vs. Modern English). Based on the Principles and Parameter theory, I show that at any given point in development, innately hard-wired UG principles and parameters can accurately define child grammars the same way they define any natural language. I argue that longitudinal evidence suggests that these parametric values are hard wired as those options are explored by four different English-speaking 2-year-old children. Thus, I conclude that language development is better understood as language change driven by parameter setting and re-setting.
Putting Children in Context
Demonstrating that children are not insensitive to contextual factors in the resolution of structural ambiguity.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Luisa Meroni
Dates:
Studies of adult sentence processing have established that the referential context in which sentences are presented plays an immediate role in their interpretation, such that features of the referential context mitigate, and even eliminate, so-called 'garden-path' effects. The finding that the context ordinarily obviates garden path effects is compelling evidence for the Referential Theory, advanced originally by Crain and Steedman, (1985) and extended in Altmann and Steedman (1988). Recent work by Trueswell, Sekerina, Hill and Logrip (1999) suggests, however, that children may not be as sensitive as adults to contextual factors in resolving structural ambiguities. This conclusion is not anticipated by the Referential Theory and it also runs counter to the Continuity Assumption, which supposes that children and adults access the same cognitive mechanisms in processing language. The purpose of this work was to reexamine the observations that have led researchers to conclude that children, unlike adults, may lack sensitivity to features of the referential context in comprehension and ambiguity resolution. A series of experiments has been conducted to evaluate this conclusion. The findings show that the performance systems of children and adult differ minimally. Children are sensitive to the same features of the referential context as adults are, and they make use of the context to resolve structural ambiguities in sentence interpretation. In addition, the present study provides evidence in favor of children's pragmatic and semantic knowledge.
Lingering effects of disfluent material on the comprehension of garden path sentences
Do we experience garden path effects when a disfluent speaker replaces one verb with another (as in "chosen, uh, I mean selected") and only one of the two yields the garden-path ambiguity?
Contributor(s): Ellen LauNon-ARHU Contributor(s):
Fernanda Ferreira
Dates:
In two experiments, we tested for lingering effects of verb replacement disfluencies on the processing of garden path sentences that exhibit the main verb/reduced relative (MV/RR) ambiguity. Participants heard sentences with revisions like "The little girl chosen, uh, selected for the role celebrated with her parents and friends." We found that the syntactic ambiguity associated with the reparandum verb involved in the disfluency (here "chosen") had an influence on later parsing: Garden path sentences that included such revisions were more likely to be judged grammatical if the reparandum verb was structurally unambiguous. Conversely, ambiguous non-garden path sentences were more likely to be judged ungrammatical if the structurally unambiguous disfluency verb was inconsistent with the final reading. Results support a model of disfluency processing in which the syntactic frame associated with the replacement verb ‘‘overlays’’ the previous verb’s structure rather than actively deleting the already-built tree.
Cortical Dynamics of Auditory-Visual Speech: A Forward Model of Multisensory Integration.
A new representational framework for the integration of auditory and visual information in speech perception.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Virginie van Wassenhove
Dates:
In noisy settings, seeing the interlocutor's face helps to disambiguate what is being said. For this to happen, the brain must integrate auditory and visual information. Three major problems are (1) bringing together separate sensory streams of information, (2) extracting auditory and visual speech information, and (3) identifying this information as a unified auditory-visual percept. In this dissertation, a new representational framework for auditory visual (AV) speech integration is offered. The experimental work (psychophysics and electrophysiology (EEG)) suggests specific neural mechanisms for solving problems (1), (2), and (3) that are consistent with a (forward) 'analysis-by-synthesis' view of AV speech integration. In Chapter I, multisensory perception and integration are reviewed. A unified conceptual framework serves as background for the study of AV speech integration. In Chapter II, psychophysics testing the perception of desynchronized AV speech inputs show the existence of a ~250ms temporal window of integration in AV speech integration. In Chapter III, an EEG study shows that visual speech modulates early on the neural processing of auditory speech. Two functionally independent modulations are (i) a ~250ms amplitude reduction of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) and (ii) a systematic temporal facilitation of the same AEPs as a function of the saliency of visual speech. In Chapter IV, an EEG study of desynchronized AV speech inputs shows that (i) fine-grained (gamma, ~25ms) and (ii) coarse-grained (theta, ~250ms) neural mechanisms simultaneously mediate the processing of AV speech. In Chapter V, a new illusory effect is proposed, where non-speech visual signals modify the perceptual quality of auditory objects. EEG results show very different patterns of activation as compared to those observed in AV speech integration. An MEG experiment is subsequently proposed to test hypotheses on the origins of these differences. In Chapter VI, the 'analysis-by-synthesis' model of AV speech integration is contrasted with major speech theories. From a Cognitive Neuroscience perspective, the 'analysis-by-synthesis' model is argued to offer the most sensible representational system for AV speech integration. This thesis shows that AV speech integration results from both the statistical nature of stimulation and the inherent predictive capabilities of the nervous system.
Impoverished Morphology and A-movement out of Case Domains
A movement theory of third-plural null subjects in Finnish and Brazilian Portugese.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Cilene Rodrigues
Dates:
This dissertation suggests that referential 3rdP null subjects in Modern Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and Finnish are residues of A-movement, rather than null pronouns. These grammars exhibit weak 3rdP verbal and possessive agreement morphology, and do not obey the Avoid Pronoun Principle, allowing non-emphatic overt pronouns in subject position. This state of affairs has affected the licensing of referential null subjects, which are licensed only within embedded domains. I correlate the loss of agreement with this peculiar behavior of null subjects and advance the hypothesis that BP and Finnish are not pro-drop grammars, arguing on empirical grounds that in BP and Finnish null subject inside the embedded clauses and possessive DPs are residues of A-movement. Putting it boldly, these null subjects are salient copies of their antecedents. The arguments I present in favor of a movement analysis are: (i) Finnish and BP null subjects have an anaphoric behavior, requiring a sentential antecedent, which is the closest c-commanding DP. (ii) They cannot occur within relative clauses if the head of the relative clause intervenes between them and their antecedents. (iii) They display all the diagnostics used to characterize obligatory control as formed by movement; (iv) They do not occur inside paratactic constructions. (v) Inside coordinated DPs, they must occur in an across-the-board fashion. (vi) Floating quantifiers and participial forms within their c-command domains agree with their antecedents in f-features. Presupposing that in pro-drop languages pro is the verbal agreement morpheme (Agr) itself, I suggest in that in BP and Finnish Agr underwent f-degradation and was lexically reanalyzed as part of the verb. However, it is hypothesized that in these languages Agr retained a D-feature, and, consequently, it can satisfy the EPP feature of a Case-checking functional projection. As result, in these grammatical systems, a DP can undergo A-movement out of a Case-domain.
Derivation and Representation of Syntactic Amalgams
A multi-root analysis of Syntactic Amalgamation, as in "He wrote who knows how many articles."
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Max Guimarães
Dates:
This dissertation consists of an investigation of Syntactic Amalgamation (cf. Lakoff 1974): the phenomenon of combination of sentences that yields parenthetic-like constructions like (01). (01) John invited God only knows how many people to you can imagine what kind of a party. The theoretical framework adopted is the Generative-Transformational Grammar (Chomsky 1957, 1965, 1975, 1981, 1986b, 2000b), following (and elaborating on) the recent developments known as the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995, 2000a, 2001a, 2001b; Martin & Uriagereka 2000; Uriagereka 1998, 1999, 2002). As far as the representation of syntactic amalgams is concerned, the main claim made in this dissertation is that such constructions involve a radical form of shared constituency, where two or more matrix sentences share the same subordinate sentence, in a multiply-rooted phrase marker. As far as the derivation of syntactic amalgams is concerned, the main claims made in this dissertation are: (i) context-free shared constituency arises from overlapping numerations; and (ii) the computational system builds structure incrementally, in a generalized tucking-in fashion, which yields a left-to-right/top-to-bottom effect on the derivation, such that constituency is heavily dynamic (along the lines of Phillips 1996, 2003; Drury 1998a, 1998b, 1999; Richards 1999, 2003). The conclusion is that this particular kind of paratactic-like construction is better understood as a purely syntactic phenomenon, where the resources of the computational system are pushed to the limit.