Abstract While linguistic research on sign languages is getting larger and larger impact in the linguistic community, much less is known about languages in the tactile modality, namely the languages used by DeafBlind signers. These languages are originally adapted from their visual counterpart, although after that, they witness independent evolution. In this work, we present a detailed overview of the properties of tactile languages showing their degree of autonomy from visual sign languages and how these properties allow to re-assess some foundational aspects of human language, including the role of native users in driving linguistic change, and the impact of iconicity in transmitting meaning. The evidence discussed in the paper will give the tools to provide an informed answer to the question whether languages in the tactile-gestural modality should be considered as an autonomous externalization of human language.
This paper examines the identity condition on clausal ellipsis based on previously unnoticed data from Japanese why-stripping. We show that why-stripping in Japanese exhibits a mismatch similar to verb phrase ellipsis in English observed by Stockwell (2020. Contrast and verb phrase ellipsis: Triviality, symmetry, and competition. Los Angeles, CA: University of California PhD dissertation) and van Craenenbroeck and Johnson (2025. Sloppy symmetry under ellipsis. The Linguistic Review 42(3). 443-463). These authors point out that the mismatch under verb phrase ellipsis in English is allowed only for symmetric predicates; for example, John can meet Mary, but Mary can't meet John ./John should meet Mary, but they can't meet . This study shows that the mismatch under why-stripping in Japanese is also limited to cases involving symmetric predicates; for example, John-to Mary-ga kekkonsita 'John and Mary got married' - naze John-ga? 'Why John (nominative)?' We then demonstrate that why-stripping in Japanese is not merely the Japanese counterpart of verb phrase ellipsis in English but it involves clausal ellipsis. As for why-stripping in English, Weir (2014. Why-stripping targets voice phrase. In Proceedings of NELS, vol. 43, 235-248) claims that it is not a type of clausal ellipsis but rather an ellipsis of Voice Phrase and that it lacks the TP-layer. We contend that Weir's TP-less analysis cannot be extended to why-stripping in Japanese. We also argue that why-stripping in Japanese is not always derivationally related to either a copular structure with a pronominal subject or a cleft, contrary to Nakao et al.'s (2013. On the structure of Japanese 'why' stripping. In Proceedings of GLOW in Asia IX, 199-212) claim. We finally argue that the mismatch under why-stripping in Japanese is best analyzed in terms of the vP-level argument-structure identity with the antecedent, which is in line with the proposal that clausal ellipsis, such as Sluicing, can be licensed based on the identity of some proper subdomain of the elided clause and its antecedent (Anand et al. 2025. The domain of formal matching in sluicing. Linguistic Inquiry 56(2). 353-373; Rudin. 2019. Head-based syntactic identity in sluicing. Linguistic Inquiry 50(2). 253-284; Stockwell. 2025. Be and the domain of matching in ellipsis. ms. Ulster University).
Locality of dislocation has been one of the central issues in linguistics since Ross's (1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation) seminal paper. One of the locality conditions that Ross describes is the Left Branch Condition, which prohibits the left-branching element in a nominal domain from being extracted. However, Bo & scaron;kovi & cacute; (2005. Left branch extraction, structure of NP, and scrambling. In Joachim Sabel & Mamoru Saito (eds.), The free word order phenomenon: Its syntactic sources and diversity, 13-73. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter) documents languages that allow Left Branch Extraction (LBE) and lays out three prerequisites for it: the absence of a definite article, the availability of scrambling, and the presence of agreement. If agreement is strictly required, languages lacking phi-agreement should disallow LBE; if agreement is merely the default option, alternative strategies may be available. This paper examines Japanese, which satisfies the first two conditions but not the third, and which nonetheless permits LBE with considerable speaker variation. We argue that Japanese LBE is licensed at the syntax-phonology interface: the operator-variable chain created by LBE must be reflected in prosody, either by being contained within a single intonational phrase or by the extracted element forming an independent intonational phrase marked by comma intonation. Prosodic licensing thus serves as a last-resort alternative to phi-agreement, suggesting that cross-linguistic variation in the availability of LBE is in part a matter of externalization.
External arguments have long been argued to hold a special status in the literature on argument structure. Recent works have converged on the view that their thematic interpretations are post-syntactic derivatives. However, most of these studies focus exclusively on arguments serving as the highest arguments within certain domains, leaving the thematic interpretations of intermediate external arguments understudied. This study aims to address this research gap by exploring the different causee interpretations in the Teochew mue-causative and ke-causative. I demonstrate that, like other external arguments, intermediate ones also have their thematic interpretations contextualized through syntactically-oriented event structural interpretation as post-syntactic derivatives. However, intermediate external arguments, such as causees, require a more complex two-step contextualization mechanism. In this mechanism, the complement-oriented approach, widely adopted to analyze the highest external arguments, provides only the initial interpretation, which is further modified during subsequent syntactico-semantic derivations.
This paper examines Mandarin nominal headless relatives, with a focus on how they obtain their lexical categories. I argue that Mandarin headless relatives represent a distinct subtype of [-wh] headless relatives, characterized by two key properties: (i) relativization involves movement, akin to their [+wh] counterparts, and (ii) an additional nominalizer is required, distinguishing them from their [+wh] counterparts. Building on the (re)labeling analysis of headless relatives, I propose that, because dislocated null-operators do not move along with their categorial feature [N], Mandarin [-wh] nominal headless relatives obtain their lexical categories through an external nominalizer that supplies the [N] feature. This contrasts with [+wh] nominal headless relatives, where the overtly fronted wh-word directly provides the [N] feature to the headless-relative node. Besides, I explore how the semantic asymmetries between [+wh] and [-wh] nominal headless relatives can be explained under the proposed analysis.
