Rose-Marie Déchaine

Evidential types : Evidence from cree dialects

Evidentials, which introduce the speaker’s perspective regarding information being presented, can be divided into at least two classes in Cree: CP‐external (with illocutionary force) and IP‐external (with temporal or modal force). Cree dialects differ in their deployment of evidentials. CP‐external evidentials include quotative verbs (attested in all Cree dialects) and reportative particles (in Plains Cree). IP‐external evidentials include dubitative particles (in Plains Cree) as well as affixal indirect evidentials that are temporally conditioned (in Cree/Montagnais/Naskapi). The proposed analysis of evidential types in Cree dialects lends support to the Evidential Domain Hypothesis (Blain and Déchaine 2006) that claims that evidentials differ from each other according to the syntactic domain in which they are introduced.

Binding domains in Haitian

Like many Kwa languages of West Africa (Awóyalé 1986), Haitian lacks unique, morphologically reflexive expressions equivalent to Englishherself, himself, themselves. Instead, local binding has three compositional sources.Morphological economy (Burzio 1989) construes an object pronoun reflexively just if no morphologically reflexive expression has the same agreement features. This elsewhere-type principle, generally satisfied in Haitian, applies only exceptionally in French and English, creating surface anaphor/pronoun complementarity as the predominant pattern in those languages (Bouchard 1984).Referential economy (Pica 1987) “anaphorizes” a possessive DP headed by an inalienably possessed noun such astèt ‘head’ orkò ‘body’.Inherent reflexivity licenses a null internal argument with an inalienably possessed lexical constant BODY. The necessity of all three mechanisms in Haitian argues for the reduction of the LGB binding conditions (Chomsky 1981) to the “On Binding” framework (Chomsky 1980).

Quantifying time-varying coordination of multimodal speech signals using correlation map analysis

This paper demonstrates an algorithm for computing the instantaneous correlation coefficient between two signals. The algorithm is the computational engine for analyzing the time-varying coordination between signals, which is called correlation map analysis (CMA). Correlation is computed around any pair of points in the two input signals. Thus, coordination can be assessed across a continuous range of temporal offsets and be detected even when changing over time due to temporal fluctuations. The correlation algorithm has two major features: (i) it is structurally similar to a tunable filter, requiring only one parameter to set its cutoff frequency (and sensitivity), (ii) it can be applied either uni-directionally (computing correlation based only on previous samples) or bi-directionally (computing correlation based on both previous and future samples). Computing instantaneous correlation for a range of time offsets between two signals produces a 2D correlation map, in which correlation is characterized as a function of time and temporal offset. Graphic visualization of the correlation map provides rapid assessment of how correspondence patterns progress through time. The utility of the algorithm and of CMA are exemplified using the spatial and temporal coordination of various audible and visible components associated with linguistic performance.

On the left edge of Yorùbá complements

Abstract In Standard Yoruba, syntax affects the tone of both lexical and functional heads in different ways. Before an Accusative-marked complement, the inherent low tone of a monosyllabic verb is suppressed. Conversely, in certain empty functional head positions, a ‘spurious’ high tone appears. Both phenomena arguably demonstrate the interaction of labeled phrase-structure with tonal feet. Accordingly, Yoruba prosody counts as an example of direct access by phonology to surface syntax, as proposed by Kaisse (1985) and Odden (1990a).