Syntax

The Sentence as a River: What is Information Structure?

This isn't just about grammar; it's about information structure, the art of packaging 'old' and 'new' information to guide your…

4 months ago

The Sentence That Attacks Itself: Center-Embedding

The sentence "The rat the cat the dog chased ate died" is perfectly grammatical, yet it feels like a cognitive…

5 months ago

More Than a Suffix: The World of Clitics

What do 'll in "we'll" and 's in "cat's" have in common? They are clitics—phonologically weak words that can't stand…

5 months ago

The Double Negatives of Afrikaans

Ever heard an Afrikaans speaker say "Ek praat nie Afrikaans nie" and wondered about that extra "nie"? This seemingly redundant…

5 months ago

The Case of the Missing ‘Is’ in Russian

In Russian, "My brother is a doctor" becomes "Мой брат – врач" (My brother – doctor). This isn't a mistake…

5 months ago

Forgetting the Subject: The Case of Pro-Drop in Italian

Ever wonder why an Italian speaker says "Vado al cinema" instead of "Io vado al cinema"? This linguistic magic trick…

5 months ago

Why Do Some Languages Use Postpositions?

Ever wondered why Japanese speakers say "box in" instead of "in the box"? This seemingly small difference is no accident;…

5 months ago

Who Did What? Case vs. Word Order

Ever wonder why you can't scramble an English sentence, but you can in languages like Latin or Russian? This analysis…

5 months ago

Building Sentences Backwards: The Verb-Final World

Ever felt like you're waiting for the punchline of a sentence? In languages like Japanese, German, and Hindi, that's the…

5 months ago

The Grammar of Nothing: Null Subjects

Ever wonder why you can say "Piove" in Italian for "It's raining", but "Is raining" is wrong in English? This…

5 months ago

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