Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This paper examines the effect of intonation contour on two types of scopally-ambiguous constructions in English: configurations with a universal quantifier in subject position and sentential negation (e.g., Every horse didn’t jump) and configurations with quantifiers in both subject and object positions (e.g., A girl saw every boy). This was investigated via an auditory acceptability judgment task, in which native English speakers rated the acceptability of auditorily presented sentences in contexts matching surface-scope vs. inverse-scope readings. The results provide evidence that fall-rise intonation facilitates the inverse-scope readings of English quantifier-negation configurations (supporting findings from prior literature), but not those of double-quantifier configurations.

Resumo em Português:

Resumo O aspecto perfect revela um intervalo existente entre dois pontos no tempo. Um dos tipos do perfect é o existencial (PE), que pode estar relacionado a uma situação do passado com efeitos no presente. O objetivo deste estudo é investigar as realizações morfológicas e adverbiais compatíveis com o PE, associado ao tempo presente, no inglês americano (IA). A metodologia consistiu em análises de corpora – entrevistas da TV americana e do Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English – e de dados obtidos por teste linguístico. A hipótese é a de que a realização do PE associado ao tempo presente no IA ocorre só pela perífrase have + particípio, com ou sem apagamento do verbo auxiliar. A hipótese foi refutada, pois o passado simples também foi encontrado veiculando esse aspecto. Discutiu-se sobre a contribuição da forma verbal, dos advérbios de perfect e da pluralidade dos eventos na expressão do PE.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The perfect aspect reveals an interval between two points in time. One of its types is the existential perfect (EP), that may be related to a past situation with effects in the present. The goal of this study is to investigate the morphological and adverbial realizations compatible with the EP, associated with the present, in American English (AE). The methodology consisted of analyses of corpora – interviews taken from the American TV and the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English – and of data obtained by a linguistic test. The hypothesis is that the realization of the EP associated with the present in AE only occurs through “have” + past participle, with or without the overt realization of the auxiliary verb. The hypothesis was refuted, since the simple past was also found while realizing this aspect. We discussed the contribution of the verbal forms, adverbs and the plurality of events in the expression of the EP.

Resumo em Português:

Resumo O objetivo deste trabalho é abordar a contribuição para a estrutura de evento da partícula verbal em complex particle constructions. O recorte será um subgrupo destas construções que apresenta um predicado secundário com leitura de estado resultante sobre um sintagma acusativo juntamente com a presença de uma partícula verbal, conforme se observam nos exemplos seguintes: John grilled the onions up dry e The farmer painted the barn up red. A argumentação é de que a contribuição da partícula é de natureza aspectual, mais especificamente, com o sentido de completude e ou totalidade, e não telicidade propriamente.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The goal of this paper is to investigate the verb particle’s contribution for the event structure in complex particle constructions. The focus will be on a subgroup of constructions that have a secondary predicate denoting a resultant state over an accusative phrase alongside with a verb particle, as we can see in the following examples: John grilled the onions up dry and The farmer painted the barn up red. The argumentation supports the view that the particle contribution is aspectual in its nature, specifically representing a sense of completeness and/or totality, and not telicity proper.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This paper aims to discuss whether parametric analyses can account for missing subjects in child English. I review previous parametric analyses of missing subjects and present a new learning model built upon a more recent version of the Null Subject Parameter (Holmberg, 2010a). Parametric analyses of the phenomenon have the advantage of giving a simple answer to why children omit subjects and how they reach an adult grammar: the problem is reduced to a matter of parameter missetting and resetting. However, early parametric analyses of missing subjects (Hyams, 1986, 1991) were challenged by empirical findings (Valian, 1991; Wang et al., 1992). The pattern of subject omission in child English also cannot be explained by the new parametric learning model presented in this article. I conclude that missing subjects in English are best analyzed as subject ellipsis (i.e., ‘diary drop’), an option available for English-speaking adults.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract There has been a surge of syntactic research on compounding, joining a large literature on the nature of roots and phase theory. In an attempt to probe into the syntactic domain for idiosyncratic interpretation and to account for categorial exocentricity, disappearance of subcategorization, and lexical integrity effects, some recent studies on compounding have argued that root compounds are made up of two free acategorial roots directly merged in syntax, without undergoing categorization. The main goal of such an approach is to extend the phase domain in order to maintain two uncategorized roots awaiting further Merge operations. When a category head is merged on the top of this structure, it will trigger its Spell-Out, and as a result, both roots will (i) receive a single category status, (ii) be identified as a single syntactic object for the purposes of extraction and binding, and (iii) be assigned a non-compositional interpretation. In this article, we argue that root categorization should not be analyzed as an optional derivational step. By exploring compounding in Brazilian Portuguese, we identify a handful of phenomena that challenge the assumption that root compounds are made up of two bare roots. We propose that categorial exocentricity, subcategorization, and lexical integrity effects can be straightforwardly accounted if we assume that the unifying characteristic of compounds is the presence of a category head merged on the top of two categorized roots. We claim that non-compositional domains are not determined by categorization. Following Harley (2014), we admit that non-compositionality is assigned at LF through a set of LF instructions associated with roots in a particular syntactic environment.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Using English data, I show that Head Movement Constraint violations cannot be repaired by deletion and compare this result with cases of both salvation and non-salvation by ellipsis from previous literature. I then consider two possible sources for this lack of repair. The first is to take the Head Movement Constraint as a derivational constraint, and the second is to assimilate it into the Empty Category Principle (Chomsky, 1986).

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The present paper is a reassessment of the empirical and theoretical arguments presented by some minimalist accounts for binding. Some of them assume that the binding principles are conditions on LF representations, while others argue that they are derived by narrow syntax computations. I present some observations indicating that there is not yet a satisfactory account for binding. Despite that, the amounted evidence indicates that binding is derivational. Nevertheless, pragmatics seems also engaged in building coreferentiality.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Preschool children acquiring English and Brazilian Portuguese display a peculiar behavior when prompted to produce multi-clause wh-questions. In elicited production tasks, structures with an extra wh-element in medial position are sometimes produced. Such medial questions are impossible in the adult languages being acquired. Following a hypothesis put forth by Grolla & Lidz (2018), we propose that children’s productions are not generated by children’s grammar, but reflect difficulties of their developing cognitive system. More specifically, we propose that children’s more limited inhibition control capacity leads them to pronounce elements with high activation levels in wrong places of the structure. Experimental data on both languages are provided which corroborate this claim. These data show that children with more limited inhibition control capacity are more likely to produce medial wh-questions.

Resumo em Português:

Resumo Neste trabalho, investigamos o efeito da instrução explícita de pronúncia no desenvolvimento do padrão de Voice Onset Time (VOT) das oclusivas surdas iniciais do inglês como língua não nativa por aprendizes soteropolitanos. O estudo contou com três coletas de dados, um pré-teste, um pós-teste imediato e um pós-teste postergado, de 16 aprendizes soteropolitanos, divididos em grupos controle e experimental, e com uma sessão de instrução sobre a produção das oclusivas surdas iniciais do inglês. Análises acústicas do VOT são reportadas. Os resultados revelaram que o grupo controle, que não recebeu instrução, não produziu o padrão de VOT esperado para o inglês em nenhuma das coletas. Por outro lado, no grupo experimental, que recebeu instrução explícita, pudemos notar um aumento considerável na duração das oclusivas da L2. Nossos dados revelam efeitos positivos da instrução explícita de pronúncia para o desenvolvimento do VOT da L2 e vão ao encontro de Sancier e Fowler (1997) e Kupske (2016), os quais afirmam que brasileiros são capazes de atingir produções estatisticamente próximas ao esperado para o inglês, ao menos no que concerne ao VOT.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract In this work, we investigate the effect of explicit pronunciation instruction on the development of the Voice Onset Time (VOT) pattern of initial voiceless English stops by learners from Salvador, Brazil. The study included three data collections, a pre-test, an immediate post-test and a postponed post-test, from 16 learners, divided into control and experimental groups, and with an explicit instruction session on the production of the English stops. Acoustic analyses of VOT are reported. The results revealed that the control group, which received no instruction, did not produce the expected VOT pattern for English at any time of the study. On the other hand, in the experimental group, which received explicit instruction, we could perceive a considerable increase in the duration of the L2 stops. Our data reveal positive effects of explicit pronunciation instruction for the development of English VOT and are in line with Sancier and Fowler (1997) and Kupske (2016), who state that BP speakers are able to achieve productions that are statistically close to what is expected for English, at least as far as VOT is concerned.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The study investigated the effect of stimulus type on L2 English vowel perception and it also examined the relation between subject factors and L2 learners’ performance. Twenty-nine adult Portuguese learners of English were tested on six English vowels (/i: i ε ≈ 3 : λ/) with two tasks, differing in stimulus type: real and pseudo words. The language background data was collected with a questionnaire. Results confirmed the Portuguese learners’ difficulties in accurately categorizing the target vowels, particularly when identifying the L2 vowel sounds embedded in pseudo words, which suggests that L2 phonological categories may be established after lexical forms. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between L2 language use and accurate perception of four of the target vowels, which indicates that the more frequently learners use the target language, the more accurate is their L2 English vowel perception.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The present study discusses how experienced raters use different types of scales to assess the development of oral proficiency in English as a second language (L2). Raters assigned rates to speech samples first using a holistic scale (CEFR, 2018) and then assigning rates for pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and fluency performance using individual scales. The speech samples were recorded by five Brazilians. There were two data collection sessions, with the second one occurring 7-8 months after the first one. The results indicate high levels of agreement among raters for all scales. Furthermore, the raters detected changes in speakers’ performance in four out of five scales: L2 oral proficiency, vocabulary, grammar, and fluency, and these differences in rates across time were significant for oral proficiency, vocabulary, and fluency. Thus, the different types of scale allow detecting L2 oral proficiency development.