Cross – Methodological Approaches to Syntax and Semantics (XMASS) minilab

Research project :  Modelling the question-statement opposition in Slavic languages/QueSlav

The XMASS minilab was initiated thanks to the Primus program of the Charles University and its Faculty of Arts (2019-2022). Its aim is to study natural language syntax and semantics without any a priori methodological or framework-based bias. Members of the XMASS minilab come from different theoretical backgrounds (from generative to usage-based) and use a variety of methods (experiment, corpus, typology, fieldwork). The cross-methodological concept of the minilab has crystalized from the conviction that different methods and even frameworks are complementary and can be fruitfully combined in the quest for the understanding of various linguistic phenomena.

The QueSlav project is funded jointly by the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). It is a collaboration between the Charles University (PI: Radek Šimík) and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (PI: Roland Meyer).

The project started in October 2022.

The project investigates various types of polar questions and focuses on languages which, despite their genealogical closeness, make use of a whole range of question-encoding strategies, including sentence-initial verb/auxiliary placement (Czech), use of particles (Polish, Russian), placement of prosodic prominence on the verb (Russian), and use of boundary tones (all languages). In addition, the languages under investigation have a rich repertoire of discourse particles, polarity items, and question tags which are often sensitive to the statement–question (or declarative–interrogative) distinction, as well as different bias inferences, and which can be exploited for diagnosing the relevant properties of the investigated utterance/sentence types. Our leading research question is whether the type of form used for the expression of polar or bias meanings influences the conveyed semantics and pragmatics. According to the null hypothesis, question semantics is universal. The competing hypothesis we put forth is that the type of form correlates with different semantics. Syntactic strategies – which are by assumption more deeply entrenched in the grammatical system – lead to more specified semantics than prosodic strategies, which in turn exhibit stronger reliance on pragmatic and contextual cues. Polar questions are thus used as a window into the general issue of the semantics–pragmatics divide. Our approach to addressing the theoretical question is distinctly empirical. We plan on a series of experimental studies of acceptability, offline and online management of polar questions, their answers, and their contextual bias. Besides informing current theories, we wish to attain a better understanding of polar question formation and bias in questions in Slavic, to foster experimental semantic/pragmatic methods in general and to contribute to a more adequate cross-linguistic typology of polar questions.

Team leader & members

• Dr. Radek Šimík (PI)
• Maria Onoeva (semantics, Russian)
• Anna Staňková (syntax-semantics, Czech)
• Kateřina Hrdinková (experimental semantics/pragmatics, Czech)
• Klára Matiasovitsová (L1 acquisition)
• Adam Pospíšil (Arabic, fieldwork)
• Jakub Sláma (corpus, usage-based)
• Hana Stachoňová (sign language)

Selected publications

• Šimík, Radek, Petr Biskup, Kateřina Bartasová, Markéta Dančová, Eliška Dostálková, Kateřina Hrdinková, Gabriela Kosková, Jaromír Kozák, Klára Lupoměská, Albert Maršík, Edita Schejbalová, and Illia Yekimov. in press. Extraction from clausal adjuncts in Czech: A rating study. In Breanna Pratley, Özge Bakay, Eva Neu, and Peyton Deal (eds.), NELS 52: Proceedings of the Fifty-Second Annual Meeting of the Norht East Linguistic Society. Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications. https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/006632
• Strachoňová, Hana. 2022. On question words in Czech Sign Language. Sign Language & Linguistics 25(1), 58-91. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.21001.str

Contact

Charles University
Faculty of Arts
Mgr. Radek Šimík, Ph.D.
E: radek.simik@ff.cuni.cz
T:  (+420) 221 619 213

More information

https://www.radeksimik.eu/minilab.html

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