Transparency in language Kees Hengeveld Sterre Leufkens

Transparency in language

Kees HengeveldSterre Leufkens

Introduction

• Scarcity of transparent languages versus learnability of transparent languages

• Is there any systematicity in the degrees if transparency that languages display?

• Which types of features are more likely to be transparent?

• Can languages be ranked systematically in terms of their degree of transparency and, hence, learnability?

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Contents

1. Transparency2. Transparency and FDG3. Transparent and non-transparent features4. The sample5. The data6. Results7. Conclusions

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1. Transparency

Transparency

Turkishel-ler-im-dehand-PL-1.SG.POSS-LOC

‘in my hands’

Mastered before the age of two

Transparency

Dutchde balDEF.COMM ball(COMM)

het paardDEF.NEUT horse(NEUT)

Not completely mastered at the age of seven

Transparency: overgeneralization

Dutchik koop-te < ik kochtI buy-PST.SG I buy.PST.SG

“I buyed” ‘I bought’

Turkishovergeneralization impossible

Transparency ≠ simplicity

TurkishKoş-uş-tur-ul-a-ma-dı-y-sa-lar.run-RECIPR-CAUS-PASS-ABIL-NEG-PST.VIS-y-COND-PL

‘If they haven’t been made available for our service.’

Dutchverbal system with tense, number, person

2. Transparency and FDG

Interactions between levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Relations between Levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Relations between Levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Relations between Levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Relations within Levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level: Form X → Form Y

Phonological Level

Relations within Levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level: Form X → Form Y

Relations between and within Levels

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level: Form X → Form Y

Phonological Level: Form X → Form Y

3. (Non-)transparent features

Interpersonal - Representational

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Apposition

One Interpersonal unit maps onto more than one representational unit

Peter, my brother, is ill.

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Interpersonal/Representational - Morphosyntactic

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Grammatical relations

Pragmatic/semantic alignment system

AcehneseLȏn teungöh=lȏn=jak.1 M=1.A=go‘I am going.’

Gopnyan galak=geuh that.3.POL happy=3.POL.U very‘He is very happy.’

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Discontinuity

Pragmatic/semantic units map onto a single morphosyntactic unit

EnglishThe guy who is going to fix my lock has arrived.The guy has arrived who is going to fix my lock.

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Stem alternation

Wambonen- ande- na-eat(basic stem) eat(PAST/FUT/IMP.PL stem) eat(IMP.SG stem)

Spanishcab-er quepo *cabofit-INF I.fit I.fit

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Interpersonal/Representational/Morphosyntactic - Phonological

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level

Phonological and morphosyntactic phrasing do not run parallel

Acehnese[Ureueng='nyan] [ka=geu=jak='woe] [ba'roe]person=DEM INCH=3=go=return

yesterday‘That person returned yesterday.’

Dutch[Ik] [wou] [dat [hij]

[kwam]].['kʋɑu] ['dɑti]

['kʋɑm]I want.PST COMP he

come.PST‘I wish he would come.’

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Phonological weight influences morphosyntactic placement

SpanishLo=ví.3.SG.ACC=see.PRF.PST.IND.3.SG‘I saw him.’

Vía tu

vecino.see.PRF.PST.IND.3.SG OBJ 2.SG.POSS neighbour‘I saw you neighbour.’

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Within the Morphosyntactic Level

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level: Form X → Form Y

Phonological Level

Expletive elements

Tagalog

Marami-ng pera.lot-LNK money‘There is a lot of money.’“A lot of money”

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Grammatical gender

Spanish casa ‘house’ is arbitrarily assigned to the class of feminine nounsárbol ‘tree’ is arbitrarily assigned to the class of masculine nouns

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AgreementSpanish la-ø casa-ø viej-a-øDEF.F-SG house(F)-SG old-F-SG‘the old house’

el árbol-ø viej-o-øDEF.M.SG tree(M)-SG old-M-SG‘the old tree’

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Within the phonological level

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level: Form X → Form Y

Phonological adaptations

Quechua nasal assimilation:tayta-n=paq ‘father-3.POSS=PURP’ ‘for his father’ -> taytampaq

Spanish diphtongization: dormir ‘sleep’ duerme ‘sleeps’

Dutch degemination:pakkans ‘chance to be caught’ -> pakans

Turkish vowel harmony:gel-miș ‘come-RES’ gör-müș ‘see-RES’

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4. The sample

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Language family Sample Language(s)Afro-Asiatic ShekoAltaic TurkishAustralian Bininj Gun-WokAustro-Asiatic KhariaAustronesian SamoanChukotko-Kamchatkan ChukchiCreole Sri Lanka MalayDravidian TamilEskimo-Aleut West GreenlandicIndo-European DutchJaponic JapaneseKartvelian GeorgianKhoisan SandaweNiger-Congo FongbeNorth Caucasian KhwarshiOtomanguean Sochiapam Chinantec

Quechuan Huanuco Quechua

Sino-Tibetan BantawaTrans-New Guinea TeiwaYukaghir Kolyma Yukaghir

5. The data

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Language

Property

Bantawa.Chukchi, Sandawe, Sheko

Bininj Gun-Wok

Dutch

Fongbe, Japanese, Samoan, Teiwa

Khwarshi, Sochiapan Chinantec

Georgian, West Greenlandic

Quechua, YukaghirTamil, Turkish

Kharia

Sri Lanka Malay

Apposition + + + + + + + + +

Discontinuous constituents - + + - + + + - -

Grammatical agreement (clausal) - - + - + - - - -

Grammatical agreement (phrasal) - - + - + + - - -

Grammatical gender - - + - - - - - -

Grammatical relations + + + + + + + + -

Stem alternation + + + - + + + + -

Nominal expletives - - + - - - - - -

Phonological adaptations + + + + + + + + +

Phon. weight influences order - - + - + + + + +

The data (unsorted)

6. Results

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Language

Property

Dutch

Khwarshi, Sochiapan Chinantec

Georgian, West Greenlandic

Quechua, Yukaghir, Tamil, Turkish

Kharia

Bantawa, Chukchi, Sandawe, Sheko

Bininj Gun-Wok

Fongbe, Japanese, Samoan, Teiwa

Sri Lanka Malay

Nominal expletives + - - - - - - - -

Grammatical gender + - - - - - - - -

Grammatical agreement (clausal) + + - - - - - - -

Grammatical agreement (phrasal) + + + - - - - - -

Discontinuous constituents + + + + - - + - -

Phon. weight influences order + + + + + - - - +

Stem alternation + + + + + + + - -

Grammatical relations + + + + + + + + -

Apposition + + + + + + + + +

Phonological adaptations + + + + + + + + +

The data (sorted)

The transparency hierarchyApposition/Phonological adaptations

⊂Grammatical relations

⊂Morphologically based stem alternation

⊂Phonological weight influences morphosyntactic placement

⊂Discontinuous constituents

⊂Grammatical agreement (phrasal)

⊂Grammatical agreement (clausal)

⊂Grammatical gender/Nominal expletives

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Language

Property

Dutch

Khwarshi, Sochiapan Chinantec

Georgian, West Greenlandic

Quechua, Yukaghir, Tamil, Turkish

Kharia

Bantawa, Chukchi, Sandawe, Sheko

Bininj Gun-Wok

Fongbe, Japanese, Samoan, Teiwa

Sri Lanka Malay

Nominal expletives + - - - - - - - -

Grammatical gender + - - - - - - - -

Grammatical agreement (clausal) + + - - - - - - -

Grammatical agreement (phrasal) + + + - - - - - -

Discontinuous constituents + + + + - - + - -

Phon. weight influences order + + + + + - - - +

Stem alternation + + + + + + + - -

Grammatical relations + + + + + + + + -

Apposition + + + + + + + + +

Phonological adaptations + + + + + + + + +

The data (sorted)

Counterexample: Bininj Gun-Wok discontinuity

Ngakngak bogen ga-rrabu-gurrmegrey-crowned.babbler two 3-egg-lay.NPST‘Grey-crowned babblers lay two eggs.’

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Counterexample: Sri Lanka Malay displacement

Se=ppe oorang thuuva pada anà-biilang1.SG=POSS man old PL PST-say

kithang pada Malaysia=dering1.PL PL Malaysia=ABL

anà-dhaathang katha.PST-come QUOT

‘My elders said that we had come from Malaysia.’

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Tranparent and non-transparent features

Transparency hierarchy Interface or Level

Apposition IL – RL

Phonological adaptations PL

Grammatical relations IL/RL – ML

Morphologically based stem alternation IL/RL – ML

Phon. weight influences order IL/RL/ML – PL

Discontinuous constituents IL/RL – ML

Grammatical agreement (phrasal) ML

Grammatical agreement (clausal) ML

Grammatical gender ML

Nominal expletives ML

Highly non-transparent features

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level: Form X → Form Y

Phonological Level

Weakly non-transparent features

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Interpersonal Level

Representational Level

Morphosyntactic Level

Phonological Level: Form X → Form Y

Transparent and non-transparent languages

Transparency hierarchy LanguagesApposition Phonological adaptations Sri Lanka MalayGrammatical relations Samoan, Teiwa, Fongbe, JapaneseStem alternation Bantawa, Bininj Gun-Wok,

Chukchi, Sandawe, ShekoPhon. weight influences order KhariaDiscontinuous constituents Quechua, Yukaghir, Tamil, TurkishGrammatical agreement (phrasal) Georgian, West GreenlandicGrammatical agreement (clausal) Khwarshi, Sochiapan ChinantecGrammatical gender

Nominal expletives Dutch

7. Conclusions

Conclusions

• The notion of transparency is a useful parameter in systematically characterizing languages as to the overall design of their grammars.

• The transparency hierarchy captures the differences between languages as to their degrees of transparency.

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Conclusions

• Purely morphosyntactically motivated non-transparent features are the ones that languages are most resistent to.

• Given that transparent structures are easier to learn, the transparency hierarchy also predicts that there are differences in the degrees of learnability of languages.

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this presentation is accessible atwww.keeshengeveld.nl