User:Joribella/Coordination (linguistics)

== The universal coordinators: and, or, but == There are three universal coordinators used for constituency tests, which are, and, or and but.

Conjunction coordination
 'and'  is the universal conjunctive coordinator. Conjunctive coordinators are used when the conjuncts form a single unit, and when they are thought of as separate entities. The conjunctive coordinator  'and'  is used to form a single unit such as in the following sentence:"'[DP [DP The dog] and [DP the cat]] are running around.'|undefined"In this sentence, "the dog" and "the cat" are two separate entities, but are combined by  'and'  to form a single DP unit.

Disjunction coordination
 'or'  is the universal disjunctive coordinator. Disjunctive coordinators are used when two alternatives are presented, but are combined by the disjunctive coordinator to form a single unit. This is seen in the following sentence:"'I want to eat [DP [DP the red apple] or [DP the green apple]].'|undefined"In this sentence, "the red apple" and "the green apple" are presented as two alternatives by the coordination of  'or'.

Adversative coordination
 'but'  is the universal adversative coordinator. Adversative coordinators are used to express contrast between two statements, but are combined be the adversative coordinator to form a single unit. The use of an adversative coordinator is seen in the following sentence:"'[TP [TP After the meeting ended] but [TP before the show started]], I ate dinner.'|undefined"In this sentence, "after the meeting ended" and "before the show started", are presented as two contrasting statements, but form a single TP unit by the adversative coordinator,  'but'.

Coordination in English
In English, there are more than the three universal coordinators. In total there are 7 types of coordinators in English: and, but, for, nor/or, so, and yet.

English uses the three universal coordinators as seen in these examples:


 * [The dog] and [the cat] are running around in the backyard. = DP coordination
 * [After the meeting ended] but [before the show started], I ate dinner. = PP Coordination
 * I want to eat [the red apple] or [the green apple]. = AP coordination

Additionally, the four additional coordinators are not used for constituency tests. Examples of how the other English coordinators

are used in sentences:


 * [TP The line at the train station was long] for [TP I waited five hours].
 * I [VP stretch everyday] so I [VP practice yoga everyday].
 * I am [A happy] yet [A sad].
 * The dog was not [AP black] nor [AP white].

In these sentences, the universal coordinators are not used. Regardless, using the four additional coordinators show evidence of depicting the correct constituents from the sentence.

Examples of XP (DP, NP, AP, VP, TP, PP, CP)

 * [DP Sam] and [DP I] worked on a project together.
 * The [NP small cat] and [NP big dog] are very cute.
 * The [APred apple] and the [APgreen apple] tasted delicious.
 * Sam will [VP run a marathon] and [VP bike the seawall] this week.
 * I enjoy [CP this show about dogs] and [CP this show about cats]
 * I would like to travel [PP to Singapore] and [PP to Australia]
 * [TP Sam ate a lot of food] and [TP I drank a lot of water]

Examples of X0 (D, N, P, V, T, C)

 * I like [D these] and [D those] sweaters.
 * The small [N cat] and [N dog] are cute.
 * I keep going [P up] and [P down] the stairs.
 * Sam [V ran] and [V biked] today.
 * Sam [T can] and [T will] run a marathon today.
 * I don’t know [C if] or [C whether] I will go out tonight.

Syntactic ambiguity
The above examples illustrate that both phrases and heads of a sentence can be coordinated. The ability to coordinate between phrasal constituents and head constituents aids in the ability to resolve syntactic ambiguity. Syntactic ambiguity arises when a reader or listener of a language is unable to identify which words group together to form a phrase. Thus, by using coordination to coordinate between different phrases or heads of a sentence, syntactic ambiguity can be avoided. An example of using coordination to resolve syntactic ambiguity in English is illustrated below with the following sentence: The use of a coordination test will contribute to resolving this syntactic ambiguity, as one can use either phrasal coordination to determine if the constituent of this sentence is the whole phrase, [black cab drivers], or is only the head, [black cab]. A coordination test for this sentence is shown below. The speaker of this sentence will view either coordination of the sentence as more correct, depending on what they intended for the sentence to mean. This example of syntactic ambiguity in English illustrates how coordinating a phrase or a head can reveal what the true meaning of an ambiguous sentence is. Thus, coordination aids in resolving syntactic ambiguity, through the ability for coordination to occur between a phrase of a sentence, or the head of a sentence.
 * 1) Black cab drivers went on strike yesterday. This sentence illustrates syntactic ambiguity as a reader or listener of this sentence may be unable to determine whether the adjective, black, is modifying the noun cab, or modifying the whole phrase, cab drivers. The two different readings of this sentence are exemplified below, using square brackets, [ ], to illustrate the different constituents formed in each of the readings.
 * 2) [Black cab drivers] went on strike yesterday.
 * 3) [Black cab] [drivers] went on strike yesterday.
 * 1) [Black cab drivers] and [Asian cab drivers] went on strike yesterday. = Phrasal coordination
 * 2) [Black cab] and [green cab] [drivers] went on strike yesterday. = Head coordination

== Coordination in Hakha Lai: Tibeto Burman ==

Conjunction coordination
Conjunction coordination is marked by a postclitic element =ií attached to each non-final coordinated clause. This element directly translates to the English word, "and", and is used to coordinate two conjuncts of the same syntactic type, that is, a tense phrase, in this example. This is seen in the following example: Example (1) successfully picks out the constituents, "there was a avalanche" and "during that avalanche..."

Conjunction coordination can additionally be marked by a postclitic element =leé, attached to each non-final NP. This element also translates directly to the English word, "and", but is used differently in this example, as it is used to coordinate between two DP's, "a bear" and "a rabbit". This is seen in the following example:

Disjunction coordination
There is no corresponding construction for disjunction in Hakha Lai, but is rather accomplished by multi-causal constructions. This means that in order present two alternatives in Hakha Lai, it would be accomplished by using multiple constructions, rather that one form, such as "or" in English. The example below coordinates between two DP's, "a pig" or "a chicken". A construction as such is seen in the following example (3): In example (3), the translation of the Hakha Lai sentence would be interpreted as "the farmer bought a pig or a chicken", however, the literal translation of this sentence would be: "The farmer, if it wasn't a pig, bought a chicken". Thus, instead of using the word "but" to present an alternative to the pig, a multi-causal construction is formed, by adding the marker =leè, to create, "if it wasn't..."

Adversative coordination
Hakha Lai lacks a coordination construction that expresses an adversative coordination, which is denoted by the word, ‘but’, in English. Its meaning is expressed by concessive subordinate clauses. This type of concessive subordinate clause is seen in the following example (5), In this example, adversative coordination is used through the concessive subordinate clause, "although her little sister knew", is used to express a contrast between the two statements being "Nuùnnuu and that big snake who they called Khuàŋthlariit were in love" and "she didn't dare tell on her to her father". In English, the entire subordinate clause acting as the adversative coordinator could be replace by "but" to express the same meaning.

Conjunction 'and': “y/e” - coordinator for nominals, adjectives, and verbs
The article y means and in English. When y comes before a word that begins with a i- or hi-, it changes to an e.

Nominals

 * 1) Mary likes peaches and mangoes

A María le gustan los melocotones y mangos


 * 1) Mary speaks Spanish and English

María habla español e inglés

Adjectives

 * 1) Mary is kind and smart

María es amable e inteligente

Verbs

 * 1) Mary wants and needs new shoes

María quiere y necesita zapatos nuevos

Disjunction 'or': “o/u” - coordinator for nominals, adjectives, and verbs
The article o means or in English. When o comes before a word that begins with a o- or ho-, it changes to an u.

Nominals

 * 1) Mary wants coffee or tea

María quiere café o té


 * 1) Do you want to go to Los Angeles or Orlando?

¿Quieres ir a Los Ángeles u Orlando?

Adjectives

 * 1) Is Mary organized or disorganized?

¿María está organizada o desorganizada?

Verbs

 * 1) Mary wants to learn how to sing or dance

María quiere aprender a cantar o bailar

The interchangeability between 'y' with 'e' with 'o' in these sentences illustrate that coordination in Spanish is dependent on phonological environment, specifically concerning the aspect of naturalness. Naturalness describes the process of when phonological rules occur in order for the process of pronouncing a phonological string of words occurs easily, and without awkwardness or struggle. Thus, these example of Spanish shows that coordination of words behaves differently than English, as it possesses different coordinators to contribute to the naturalness of pronouncing strings of words.

Adversative 'but': “pero/sino/mas” - coordinator for nominals, adjectives, and verbs
The three articles pero, sino, mas can all be translated as but. The articles pero and mas are used to contrast two statements. The article mas is more formal than pero. The article sino is used to introduce an affirmative statement that contrasts the previous negative statement. Therefore, pero and mas are not interchangeable with sino.

Nominals

 * 1) Mary likes peaches, but not mangoes

A María le gustan los melocotones, pero no los mangos


 * 1) Mary is young, but not naïve

María es joven, mas no ingenua."In this sentence, 'pero' and 'mas' are shown to be interchangeable, however, depending on the formality of the sentence. Formality can be determined based on who one is talking to, (i.e. an authoritative figure vs. a friend) or the environment in which one is speaking (i.e. a formal presentation vs. a story to one's friends). Coordination in English and Spanish differ, in that English does not contain obligatory coordinators for a more or less formal environment."

Adjectives

 * 1) Mary is not tall, but short

María no es alta, sino baja"In this sentence, 'sino' is used because there is a previous negative statement before the coordinator, 'Mary is not tall'."

Verbs

 * 1) Mary went to school, but she skipped her second class

María fue a la escuela, pero se saltó su segunda clase

In the examples for adjectives and verbs, the use of coordinators is further differentiated from English as the interchangeability between 'pero/sino/mas' is dependent on pragmatics, being the aspect of linguistics that concerns the aspect of context that contributes to meaning. As each of the words, 'pero/sino/mas' are used in contrasting environments, these examples display that they cannot be used interchangeably.

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