In the English lexicon, laryngeal alternations in the plural (e.g. "leaf" ~ "leaves") impact monosyllables more than finally stressed polysyllables. This is the opposite of what happens typologically, and would thereby run contrary to the predictions of "initial-syllable faithfulness." Despite the lexical pattern, in a wug test we found…

I present evidence from Navajo and English that weaker, gradient versions of morpheme-internal phonotactic constraints, such as the ban on geminate consonants in English, hold even across prosodic word boundaries. I argue that these lexical biases are the result of a MAXIMUM ENTROPY phonotactic learning algorithm that maximizes the probability of…

What is the mechanism by which a linguistic change advances across successive generations of speakers? We explore this question by using the model of incrementation provided in Labov 2001 and analyzing six current changes in English. Extending Labov's focus on recent and vigorous phonological changes, we target ongoing morphosyntactic(-semantic)…

Presents a semantic analysis of English progressive as an intentional operator within the framework of modal semantics. The treatment allows a combination of the central idea that the progressive's meaning has a major modal component with insights of other theories. Using a more sophisticated background theory of modality allows natural solutions…

Explores whether adult language learners have access to the principles of universal grammar in constructing the grammar of a foreign or second language (L2) by examining the interpretation of English and Japanese reflexive pronouns. The data suggest that L2 learners observe constraints defined by universal grammar that could not be derived from…

Offers a detailed analysis of the English suffix "-ee" (employee, refugee, etc.) based on 1,500 naturally occurring tokens of 500 word types. Argues that certain semantic constraints, taken together, amount to a special-purpose thematic role that actively constrains productive use of derivational morphology. (Author/MSE)

Presents a discourse-functional account of English inversion, based on an examination of a large corpus of naturally occurring tokens. It is argued that inversion serves an information-packaging function and that felicitous inversion depends on the relative discourse-familiarity of the information represented by the preposed and postposed…

A number of experimental tasks were conducted in which subjects were asked to interpret and create novel noun-noun compounds. Results indicate that semantic relationships that hold between members of these compounds cannot be characterized in terms of a finite list of appropriate compounding relationships. (CHK)

This article discusses the syntactic behavior of the word "that," usually classified as a relative pronoun but seen here as a conjunction. Data from standard and non-standard English, Yoruba, and Persian are used. (CLK)

The manifestation of time, space, and person reference in American Sign Language is described and discussed. The effect of the modality of communication on the language system is studied. (Author/RM)

Preliminary version of this paper was given at the 1968 winter meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, New York City, based upon work supported by the Office of Education as a Cooperative Research Project. (VM)

This study presents evidence for the psychological reality of the Subset Principle as a determinant of the acquisition of Governing Category Parameter settings for English anaphors and pronominals. Prelingual deafness was used as a natural experiment in the acquisition of English in the presence of variably impaired access to English language…