• Language and Information
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.49-75
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• 2008

English absolutes and free adjuncts, despite their abridged syntactic forms, function as full subordinating adverbial clauses, with their semantic roles varied according to the interpretation of the matrix clauses. This paper investigates how to represent the syntactic structures and semantic variability of absolutes and free adjuncts in a unified way, accounting for overlapping properties among various subtypes of the constructions on the one hand, and differences on the other. In the proposed analysis, the clausal properties of absolutes and free adjuncts are captured by the subject selecting property and the clausal meaning associated with a predicative phrase, thus not calling for a null verb or complementizer. In classifying and defining diverse subtypes of the constructions via type constraints, the present work also provides an account of different uses of with involved in absolutes and free adjuncts.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.185-200
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• 2002

The current study confirmed the existence of an ip prosodic level in French intonation structure, as previously proposed by Sun-Ah Jun & $C\acute{e}cile$cile Fougeron (2000). However, in contrast to the previous suggestion of the plateau realized in an ip in several syntactic structures, the current study supposed that the plateau doesn't come from the different type of syntactic structures but arise from the unspecified syllables without any PA in an ip. Because if we limited ip phrasal tone to the syntactic structure, it would be difficult to find the more general reasons of ip level. Besides /Hi/ and /$H^*$/ we also used /$Hi^*$/ for the focused syllable in the current study. In emphasized sentences, in general, /$Hi^*$/ appeared in the first or second syllable of a leftward AP in an ip and /$H^*$/ in the final syllable of a rightmost AP of an ip, In contrast to these PAs, /$Hi^*$/ might appear in any syllable in an ip, but not to far from /$H^*$/ because the duration time and length t of plateau realized between /$Hi^*$/ and /$H^*$/ or /Hi/ and /$H^*$/ would make an essential harmonious rhythmic unit, Therefore, the current study determined the duration time and the number of syllables realized in each plateau in an ip level composed of more than one AP. As a phrase constituent structure, there is a practical need for intermediate prosodic units to allow for generalization over the many possible combinations of prosodic patterns that can occur. Further evidence is still needed to analyze and relate the different pitch ranges of the plateau of an ip according to the syntactic structure, to identify the considerable character in the French prosodic hierarchy.