Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments
This book investigates the syntax and usage of fragments (Morgan 1973), apparently subsentential utterances like "A coffee, please!" which fulfill the same communicative function as the corresponding full sentence "I'd like to have a coffee, please!". Even though such utterances are frequently used,...
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| Format: | Online |
| Langue: | anglais |
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Language Science Press
2022
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| Accès en ligne: | OCN: 1296711843 |
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| _version_ | 1869521304236851200 |
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| author | Lemke, Robin |
| author_browse | Lemke, Robin |
| author_facet | Lemke, Robin |
| author_sort | Lemke, Robin |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | This book investigates the syntax and usage of fragments (Morgan 1973), apparently subsentential utterances like "A coffee, please!" which fulfill the same communicative function as the corresponding full sentence "I'd like to have a coffee, please!". Even though such utterances are frequently used, they challenge the central role that has been attributed to the notion of sentence in linguistic theory, particularly from a semantic perspective. The first part of the book is dedicated to the syntactic analysis of fragments, which is investigated with experimental methods. Currently there are several competing theoretical analyses of fragments, which rely almost only on introspective data. The experiments presented in this book constitute a first systematic evaluation of some of their crucial predictions and, taken together, support an in situ ellipsis account of fragments, as has been suggested by Reich (2007). The second part of the book addresses the questions of why fragments are used at all, and under which circumstances they are preferred over complete sentences. Syntactic accounts impose licensing conditions on fragments, but they do not explain, why fragments are sometimes (dis)preferred provided that their usage is licensed. This book proposes an information-theoretic account of fragments, which predicts that the usage of fragments in constrained by a general tendency to distribute processing effort uniformly across the utterance. With respect to fragments, this leads to two predictions, which are empirically confirmed: Speakers tend towards omitting predictable words and they insert additional redundancy before unpredictable words. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-78054 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Language Science Press |
| publisherStr | Language Science Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-780542026-06-12T09:55:39Z Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments Lemke, Robin Language Arts & Disciplines Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics This book investigates the syntax and usage of fragments (Morgan 1973), apparently subsentential utterances like "A coffee, please!" which fulfill the same communicative function as the corresponding full sentence "I'd like to have a coffee, please!". Even though such utterances are frequently used, they challenge the central role that has been attributed to the notion of sentence in linguistic theory, particularly from a semantic perspective. The first part of the book is dedicated to the syntactic analysis of fragments, which is investigated with experimental methods. Currently there are several competing theoretical analyses of fragments, which rely almost only on introspective data. The experiments presented in this book constitute a first systematic evaluation of some of their crucial predictions and, taken together, support an in situ ellipsis account of fragments, as has been suggested by Reich (2007). The second part of the book addresses the questions of why fragments are used at all, and under which circumstances they are preferred over complete sentences. Syntactic accounts impose licensing conditions on fragments, but they do not explain, why fragments are sometimes (dis)preferred provided that their usage is licensed. This book proposes an information-theoretic account of fragments, which predicts that the usage of fragments in constrained by a general tendency to distribute processing effort uniformly across the utterance. With respect to fragments, this leads to two predictions, which are empirically confirmed: Speakers tend towards omitting predictable words and they insert additional redundancy before unpredictable words. 2022-01-28T04:05:37Z 2022-01-28T04:05:37Z 2022-01-27T05:32:12Z 2021 book OCN: 1296711843 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/52597 9783961103317 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/78054 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52597/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52597/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52597/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52597/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52597/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52597/1/external_content.pdf Language Science Press Language Science Press https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5596236 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5596236 ed03121b-b998-4b50-8d58-1d0745565558 Knowledge Unlatched 9783961103317 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Language Science Press 2021-2023 Language Science Press open access |
| spellingShingle | Language Arts & Disciplines Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics Lemke, Robin Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| title | Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| title_full | Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| title_fullStr | Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| title_short | Experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| title_sort | experimental investigations on the syntax and usage of fragments |
| topic | Language Arts & Disciplines Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics |
| topic_facet | Language Arts & Disciplines Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics |
| url | OCN: 1296711843 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lemkerobin experimentalinvestigationsonthesyntaxandusageoffragments |