here - Linguistic Society of America

Within the framework of Distributed Morphology, I suggest an analysis adopting Morphological Reduplication. I argue that thereis only one predicate in the syntax, which is reduplicated after Spell-Out in the morphology. The goals of this paper are to showhow JPCCs behave and to explain how they are derived.Hadas Kotek (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Session 34Intervention, covert movement, and focus computation in multiple wh-questionsRecent theories of interrogative syntax/semantics adopt two strategies for the interpretation of in-situ wh-phrases: CovertMovement and Focus-Alternatives computation. The availability of the CM strategy is assumed to be all-or-nothing: wh mustmove to its associated complementizer, or else stay in-situ and be interpreted via FA. I argue that this assumption cannot bemaintained. I introduce novel data from multiple wh-questions that contain syntactic islands and interveners, and show that whphrasesrequire both CM and FA for their interpretation: partial wh-movement occurs first, and focus-computation then assignswh-phrases their meaning. This has significant implications for theories of interrogative syntax/semantics.Elena Koulidobrova (Central Connecticut State University) Session 34Null arguments in American Sign Language: elide me bareWe investigate the nature of null arguments in ASL (NA ASL ). Previous research has argued that the NA ASL is pro licensed by(non-)manual agreement (Bahan et al. 2000). Our data that pose a problem for this view: the NA ASL behaves as a case of argumentellipsis (Oku 1998), the hallmark of which is the ‘sloppy’ and ‘quantificational’ readings. We demonstrate that this behaviorappears contingent on the general possibility of ASL NPs to remain bare. We further show that the elided element must be both ahead and a phrase and, thus, offer evidence for a syntactic approach to argument ellipsis.Elena Koulidobrova (Central Connecticut State University) Session 39She said that ___ was OK: anaphora resolution in ASL-English bilingualismThis study examines grammatical patterns of young ASL-English bilinguals in general, and their acceptability of embedded nullsubjects (NS) in English in particular. It has been suggested that bilingual children acquiring a NS- (like ASL) and a non-NS (likeEnglish) languages do not exhibit higher rates of subject omission than monolinguals. An English grammaticality judgment testwas administered to ASL-English bilinguals. Results indicate that the bilinguals perform differently from controls: they are lessaccurate in rejecting ungrammatical sentences, and accept significantly more embedded NSs. The findings suggest languageinteractioneffects in argument omission surface because of the uniqueness of bimodal bilingualism.L. Viola Kozak (Gallaudet University) Session 17Ronice Muller de Quadros (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina)Carina Rebello Cruz (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina)Aline Lemos Pizzio (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina)Deborah Chen Pichler (Gallaudet University)Diane Lillo-Martin (University of Connecticut)Phonological development in bimodal bilingual children: pseudoword repetitionThis study analyzes the development of phonological memory in signed and spoken language for hearing bimodal bilingualchildren (kodas) and deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs). Two groups of children aged 4-7 were analyzed: those learningAmerican Sign Language and English, and those learning Brazilian Sign Language and Brazilian Portuguese. The study usedpseudoword and pseudosign repetition, in which the children reproduced novel words and signs that followed phonologicalpatterns of each language. Children with deaf parents (koda and CI) performed strikingly better than those with hearing parents,indicating the importance of early language exposure for development of phonological memory.Ekaterina Kravtchenko (University of California, Santa Cruz) Session 37Effects of contextual predictability on optional subject omission in RussianSubjects are frequently optionally omitted in colloquial Russian. An experimental study demonstrates that the predictability of asubject referent in context, as measured by accuracy in guessing the identity of an upcoming referent in text, is predictive of thelikelihood of omission. The result holds after other factors expected to influence choice of referential expression, such as form orgrammatical function of last mention, are controlled for. The finding is consistent with theories of efficient communication,which posit that more predictable elements are preferentially omitted, as well as expectation-driven accounts of referenceproduction (Arnold, 2008).171