1) Marc TANG (唐威洋) (Université d'Uppsala)

A Statistical Explanation of the Distribution of Sortal Classifiers in Languages of the World via Computational Classifiers
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09296174.2018.1523777?needAccess=true

Previous studies demonstrate that morphosyntactic plural markers and the structure of numeral systems have individually strong predictive power with regard to the usage of sortal classifiers in languages. We use these two factors as explanatory variables to train the computational classifier of random forests and evaluate the accuracy of their predictive power when selecting the existence/absence of sortal classifiers as response variable. Our results show that these two factors result in an excellent discrimination performance of random forests, even when taking into account sortal classifiers as an areal feature. However, the correlation between morphosyntactic plural markers and multiplicative bases is weaker than the correlation between sortal classifiers and plural markers plus multiplicative bases. We are thus able to provide novel insights with regard to probabilistic universals on sortal classifiers, and suggest an innovative cross-disciplinary approach to test the effect of implicational universals with computational methods.

Marc Tang’s PhD dissertation is available online at:
http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1265009&dswid=-6399

2) XU Xiaoxian 徐晓娴 (Université Sun Yat-sen (Canton)-CRLAO)（中山大学，东亚语言研究所）

潮州话中表不定的“（一）量（名）”短语

提要：潮州话的“（一）量（名）”短语在谓前和谓后都可解读为不定指，量词可单独充当论元。本文认为“（一）量（名）”短语在潮州话中存在三种不同的声调模式，分别以单字调（A式）、前变调（B1式）、后变调（B2式）结尾。A式在谓前位置只能解读为特指。B1式在谓前可表特指或非特指，且具有数量义，相当于“……其中之一”。B2式在谓后只能作非特指解读，与B1式在句法位置上呈互补分布。

 

Contact: Christine Lamarre, Inalco-CRLAO (christine.lamarre@inalco.fr)