This paper proposes a system of mapping classes of syntactic structures as instruments for automatic text understanding. The system illustrated in Japanese consists of a set of verb classes and information on mapping them together with noun phrases, tense and aspect. The system. having information on direction of possible inferences between the verb classes with information on tense and aspect,...

We examined the effects of syntactic (tense) violations occurring on regularly versus irregularly inflected verbs using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants read sentences in which the main verb varied in terms of regularity (regular vs. irregular), frequency (high vs. low), and grammaticality (tense violation vs. no tense violation). For regular verbs, we found a reliable N400 e...

this study aims to investigate the semantic and syntactic features of verbs used in the introduction section of applied linguistics research articles published in iranian and international journals. a corpus of 20 research article introductions (10 from each journal) was used. the corpus was analysed for the syntactic features (tense, aspect and voice) and semantic meaning of verbs. the finding...

Sandro Zucchi Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione Università di Salerno One difference between the Italian Sign Language sentences in (1)-(3) below and their English translations is that, while the English predicates are inflected for tense, the sign for the verb in Italian Sign Language (LIS) appears in its citational form: (1) GIANNI HOUSE BUY “Gianni is buying a house” (2) TIME-AGO G...

one of the main dichotomies in syntactic analyses deals with the distinction between lexical and functional categories. functional categories gain in stature as the generative grammar moves ahead. they come into play in explaining the derivation stages of phrases and sentences. the present study critically evaluates different approaches to the role and function of one of these functional catego...

Background: tense marking by deaf signers, in the Brazilian Sign Language and in written Portuguese. Aim: to analyze verbal tense inflection in written Portuguese, to verify the relationship between the performance in using verbal tense inflexion and the educational status, and to verify tense marking in the production of sentences in the Brazilian sign language and in written Portuguese. Metho...

Several recent works on modals and tense argue that epistemic modals and similar types of predicates are deprived of temporal properties. This article takes a different stand. Although epistemic modals typically express what may be dubbed “unchanging truths”, there exist examples to demonstrate that these types of predicates are still able to express a shift in temporal reference. This being th...

Arguments concerning the relative role of semantic and grammatical factors in word formation have proven to be a wedge issue in current debates over the nature of linguistic representation and processing. In the present paper, we re-examine claims by Ramscar [Ramscar, M. (2002). The role of meaning in inflection: Why the past tense does not require a rule. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 45-94.] that...

Taking Hindi presumptive modality as a case study, this paper argues that modality is detrimental in an overall organization of the tense-aspect system in languages in which these categories are marked, although only tense and aspect categories have attracted much attention in linguistic research. The paper analyzes different usages of the future form of the Hindi verb honā ‘to be’ – both as a ...