Enoch O Aboh
Biographic Data
| ID | 843840 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Enoch O Aboh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Enoch |
| FAMILY NAME | O Aboh |
| SIGNATURE | ABOH E O |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7765-3996 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 59 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Modelling multilingual ecologies beyond the L1-L2 Binary
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The Effect of Explicit Instruction on Implicit and Explicit Linguistic Knowledge in Kindergartners
Research consistently shows that adults engaged in tutored acquisition benefit from explicit instruction in several linguistic domains. For preschool children, it is often assumed that such explicit instruction does not make a difference. In the present study, we investigated whether explicit instruction affected young learners in acquiring a morpho-syntactic element. A total of 103 Dutch-speaking kindergartners (M = 5;7) received training in a m…
Kindergarteners Use Cross-Situational Statistics to Infer the Meaning of Grammatical Elements
Many studies demonstrate that detecting statistical regularities in linguistic input plays a key role in language acquisition. Yet, it is unclear to what extent statistical learning is involved in more naturalistic settings, when young children have to acquire meaningful grammatical elements. In the present study, we address these points, by investigating whether statistical learning is involved in acquiring a morpho-syntactic structure from inpu…
Variation Rolls the Dice: A worldwide collage in honour of Salikoko Mufwene
Variation Rolls the Dice: A worldwide collage in honour of Salikoko S. Mufwene aims to celebrate Mufwene’s ground-breaking contribution to linguistics in the past four decades. The title also encapsulates his approach to language as both systemic and socio-cultural practices, and the role of variation in determining particular evolutionary trajectories in specific linguistic ecologies. The book therefore focuses on variation within and across lan…
Variation Rolls the Dice: A Worldwide Collage in Honour of Salikoko S. Mufwene
Creole distinctiveness: A dead end
In his recent column in Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 29:1 (2014), Creolistics: Back to square one?Peter Bakker argues that: "a reduced, simplified contact vernacular that emerged to facilitate communication between different ethnic groups must have preceded the development of the world's creoles" (Bakker 2014: 177).In this creoles-from-pidgins view, the genesis of creoles explains their distinct phenotype: "they share a SET of features …
Do Kindergarteners Develop Awareness of the Statistical Regularities They Acquire
Many studies suggest that detecting statistical regularities in linguistic input plays a key role in language acquisition. Although statistical learning is not necessarily implicit in nature, it is often defined as learning that happens without awareness. This article investigates whether statistical learning in young children is indeed implicit, as often assumed. We trained 63 kindergarteners on a miniature language and assessed learning using a…
Argument structure of classifier predicates in Russian Sign Language
We analyze classifier predicates in Russian Sign Language (RSL) using a combination of naturalistic corpus and elicited data in order to determine their argument structure, and to test the generalization, based on research on other sign languages, that there is a clear relation between argument structure and classifier type (Benedicto and Brentari 2004). We propose that whole-entity classifier predicates are intransitive unaccusative, and that bo…
Argument Structure of Classifier Predicates: Canonical and Non-canonical Mappings in Four Sign Languages
We analyze argument structure of whole-entity and handling classifier predicates in four sign languages (Russian Sign Language, Sign Language of the Netherlands, German Sign Language, and Kata Kolok) using parallel datasets (retellings of the Canary Row cartoons). We find that all four languages display a systematic, or canonical, mapping between classifier type and argument structure, as previously established for several sign languages: whole-e…
Discriminating dictionaries? Feminine forms of profession nouns in dictionaries of French and German
Following societal changes, professions that were traditionally dominated by men are now open to women too, triggering the need for nouns to refer to these female professionals. Languages show differences with respect to the creation and use of these feminine profession nouns. Whereas in German, feminisation has been accepted for quite some time, in French, the use of feminine forms of profession nouns was not very common until recently, but this…
Linguistic complexity: Interfaces and processing
The emergence of hybrid grammars: A rejoinder to Peter Bakker
Peter Bakker’s review of my book The emergence of hybrid grammars: Language contact and change, published in Word 62, 4. 228–243, amounts to a catalogue of misrepresentations and misconceptions of the positions I developed there. These claim 12 of his 14-page review. In what follows, I first summarize the hypotheses I developed in the book, intended now for those who have not read it yet, and then I expose Bakker’s inability or unwillingness to i…
The Emergence of Hybrid Grammars: Language Contact and Change
Children are extremely gifted in acquiring their native languages, but languages nevertheless change over time. Why does this paradox exist? In this study of creole languages, Enoch Aboh addresses this question, arguing that language acquisition requires contact between different linguistic sub-systems that feed into the hybrid grammars that learners develop. There is no qualitative difference between a child learning their language in a multilin…
Sluicing inside relatives: The case of Gungbe
This paper contributes to current advances in the cross-linguistic variation of syntactic contexts that allow sluicing. We investigate a relatively rare sluicing strategy: TP-ellipsis inside relative clauses. We analyse this phenomenon in Gungbe based on Van Craenenbroeck and Lipták’s (2006) implementation of the [e]-feature characteristic of sluicing
Done already? A comparison of completive markers in the Gbe languages and Sranan Tongo
Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages
A Tribute to Norval Smith
n Contains fulltext :\n 94215.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)\n
Event operator movement in Factives: Some facts from Gungbe
DP-internal information structure: Some introductory remarks
Complex processes in new languages
Delete: A phase-level property
This article discusses the paper "Constraining Copy Deletion," by Tue Trinh, which addressed the practice of copy deletion. It highlights the Prosodic Condition on Deletable Chains (PCDC) introduced by the paper as an attempt to understand the operation delete. It also analyzes a proposal that centers around issues of the syntax-phonology interface. In addition, the article explores predictions concerning movement operations involving a phrase or…
Predicate doubling and parallel chains
Clause Structure and Verb Series
This article argues that in V1-XP-V2 and V1-V2-XP series, V1 merges in the functional domain of the lexical verb (V2). V2 introduces the (internal) argument and is embedded under an AspP whose head is endowed with an EPP feature. Surface word order variations in Kwa (and Khoisan) result from the EPP licensing that triggers V2-object inversion, sometimes followed by V2 movement past the shifted object
Focus and grammar: The contribution of African languages
A ‘mini’ relative clause analysis for reduplicated attributive adjectives
A 'mini' relative clause analysis for reduplicated attributive 13 the predicate raises to I and reduplicates as a 'morphological' support for licensing a null category in [spec IP]. In Saramaccan and MC IP-fronting makes the RAA emphatic
Clause Structure and Verb Series
This article argues that in V1-XP-V2 and V1-V2-XP series, V1 merges in the functional domain of the lexical verb (V2). V2 introduces the (internal) argument and is embedded under an AspP whose head is endowed with an EPP feature. Surface word order variations in Kwa (and Khoisan) result from the EPP licensing that triggers V2-object inversion, sometimes followed by V2 movement past the shifted object
Topic and focus within D
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Predicate doubling and parallel chains
Complementation in Saramaccan and Gungbe: The Case of C-type Modal Particles
DP-internal information structure: Some introductory remarks
Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages
Do Kindergarteners Develop Awareness of the Statistical Regularities They Acquire
Many studies suggest that detecting statistical regularities in linguistic input plays a key role in language acquisition. Although statistical learning is not necessarily implicit in nature, it is often defined as learning that happens without awareness. This article investigates whether statistical learning in young children is indeed implicit, as often assumed. We trained 63 kindergarteners on a miniature language and assessed learning using a…
Done already? A comparison of completive markers in the Gbe languages and Sranan Tongo
Kindergarteners Use Cross-Situational Statistics to Infer the Meaning of Grammatical Elements
Many studies demonstrate that detecting statistical regularities in linguistic input plays a key role in language acquisition. Yet, it is unclear to what extent statistical learning is involved in more naturalistic settings, when young children have to acquire meaningful grammatical elements. In the present study, we address these points, by investigating whether statistical learning is involved in acquiring a morpho-syntactic structure from inpu…
The Morphosyntax of Complement-Head Sequences: Clause structure and word order patterns in Kwa
This is the first book on the syntax of the Niger-Congo language family, which includes most of the languages of sub-Saharan Africa. Aboh, who is a native speaker of one of the languages (Gungbe) discussed, analyzes different aspects of the syntax of the Kwa language group. Aboh also suggests how grammatical pictures for these languages can shed some light on Universal Grammar in general.
Topic and focus within D
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When verbal predicates go fronting
This paper demonstrates that there are no empirical and theoretical motivations for regarding verbal predicate focus constructions as (diachronically) derived from cleft constructions. Instead, it is argued that predicate fronting for the purpose of focus or topic is comparable to verb (phrase) fronting structures in other languages (e.g., Germanic). The proposed analysis further indicates that related doubling strategies observed in certain lang…
Complementation in Saramaccan and Gungbe: The Case of C-type Modal Particles
Focus and grammar: The contribution of African languages
A ‘mini’ relative clause analysis for reduplicated attributive adjectives
A 'mini' relative clause analysis for reduplicated attributive 13 the predicate raises to I and reduplicates as a 'morphological' support for licensing a null category in [spec IP]. In Saramaccan and MC IP-fronting makes the RAA emphatic
Complex processes in new languages
Delete: A phase-level property
This article discusses the paper "Constraining Copy Deletion," by Tue Trinh, which addressed the practice of copy deletion. It highlights the Prosodic Condition on Deletable Chains (PCDC) introduced by the paper as an attempt to understand the operation delete. It also analyzes a proposal that centers around issues of the syntax-phonology interface. In addition, the article explores predictions concerning movement operations involving a phrase or…
Predicate doubling and parallel chains
Clause Structure and Verb Series
This article argues that in V1-XP-V2 and V1-V2-XP series, V1 merges in the functional domain of the lexical verb (V2). V2 introduces the (internal) argument and is embedded under an AspP whose head is endowed with an EPP feature. Surface word order variations in Kwa (and Khoisan) result from the EPP licensing that triggers V2-object inversion, sometimes followed by V2 movement past the shifted object
Event operator movement in Factives: Some facts from Gungbe
DP-internal information structure: Some introductory remarks
A Tribute to Norval Smith
n Contains fulltext :\n 94215.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)\n
Sluicing inside relatives: The case of Gungbe
This paper contributes to current advances in the cross-linguistic variation of syntactic contexts that allow sluicing. We investigate a relatively rare sluicing strategy: TP-ellipsis inside relative clauses. We analyse this phenomenon in Gungbe based on Van Craenenbroeck and Lipták’s (2006) implementation of the [e]-feature characteristic of sluicing
Done already? A comparison of completive markers in the Gbe languages and Sranan Tongo
Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages
The Emergence of Hybrid Grammars: Language Contact and Change
Children are extremely gifted in acquiring their native languages, but languages nevertheless change over time. Why does this paradox exist? In this study of creole languages, Enoch Aboh addresses this question, arguing that language acquisition requires contact between different linguistic sub-systems that feed into the hybrid grammars that learners develop. There is no qualitative difference between a child learning their language in a multilin…
Linguistic complexity: Interfaces and processing
The emergence of hybrid grammars: A rejoinder to Peter Bakker
Peter Bakker’s review of my book The emergence of hybrid grammars: Language contact and change, published in Word 62, 4. 228–243, amounts to a catalogue of misrepresentations and misconceptions of the positions I developed there. These claim 12 of his 14-page review. In what follows, I first summarize the hypotheses I developed in the book, intended now for those who have not read it yet, and then I expose Bakker’s inability or unwillingness to i…
Discriminating dictionaries? Feminine forms of profession nouns in dictionaries of French and German
Following societal changes, professions that were traditionally dominated by men are now open to women too, triggering the need for nouns to refer to these female professionals. Languages show differences with respect to the creation and use of these feminine profession nouns. Whereas in German, feminisation has been accepted for quite some time, in French, the use of feminine forms of profession nouns was not very common until recently, but this…
Argument Structure of Classifier Predicates: Canonical and Non-canonical Mappings in Four Sign Languages
We analyze argument structure of whole-entity and handling classifier predicates in four sign languages (Russian Sign Language, Sign Language of the Netherlands, German Sign Language, and Kata Kolok) using parallel datasets (retellings of the Canary Row cartoons). We find that all four languages display a systematic, or canonical, mapping between classifier type and argument structure, as previously established for several sign languages: whole-e…
Argument structure of classifier predicates in Russian Sign Language
We analyze classifier predicates in Russian Sign Language (RSL) using a combination of naturalistic corpus and elicited data in order to determine their argument structure, and to test the generalization, based on research on other sign languages, that there is a clear relation between argument structure and classifier type (Benedicto and Brentari 2004). We propose that whole-entity classifier predicates are intransitive unaccusative, and that bo…
Variation Rolls the Dice: A worldwide collage in honour of Salikoko Mufwene
Variation Rolls the Dice: A worldwide collage in honour of Salikoko S. Mufwene aims to celebrate Mufwene’s ground-breaking contribution to linguistics in the past four decades. The title also encapsulates his approach to language as both systemic and socio-cultural practices, and the role of variation in determining particular evolutionary trajectories in specific linguistic ecologies. The book therefore focuses on variation within and across lan…
Variation Rolls the Dice: A Worldwide Collage in Honour of Salikoko S. Mufwene
Creole distinctiveness: A dead end
In his recent column in Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 29:1 (2014), Creolistics: Back to square one?Peter Bakker argues that: "a reduced, simplified contact vernacular that emerged to facilitate communication between different ethnic groups must have preceded the development of the world's creoles" (Bakker 2014: 177).In this creoles-from-pidgins view, the genesis of creoles explains their distinct phenotype: "they share a SET of features …
Linguistics (22 works) · Computer Science (19 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (18 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (10 works) · Natural language processing (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Artificial Intelligence (7 works) · Mathematics (7 works) · Natural Language Processing Techniques (7 works)