Rethinking Depictive Secondary Predicates A Pair- Merge approach and the Adjunct Condition

In this article I will propose a new analysis of depictive secondary predication structures. Previous studies of these structures are framed within different approaches: C-command / categorial approaches (Williams 1980, Rothstein 1983, 2001, Demonte 1988, Mallén 1991, Bowers 1993, among others), C-command and Multiple Agree approaches (McNulty 1988, Irimia 2012), linearization after ‘Lateral Movement’ and attachment of identical eventive heads (Gallar 2017), or Parallel-Merge approaches (Irimia 2012, You 2016). Following Chomsky (2019) and Bošković (2020), among others, I will claim here, first, that adjunct depictive secondary predicates start as members of a Pair-MERGE(d) conjunction/ adjunction structure which is unlabeled. There are as many members of these pair merged phrases as modifiers in a sentence, and they are unbounded and unstructured. Pair merged structures are in principle opaque and non-sensible to syntactic operations. However, since they are semantically and syntactically conjoined phrases they have each a Link element. This Link merges at the edge of the phase at which the modifier is conjoined thus allowing extraction out of the opaque domain. I will suggest that perhaps Tagalog expresses overtly these links. I will previously present a detailed description of the properties of DPS in Spanish

The asymmetric behavior of English negative quantifiers in negative sentences

In this paper, the unexpected behavior of object negative quantifiers in some diagnostic tests of sentential negation is accounted for within a Minimalist framework assuming that: (i) negative quantifiers decompose into negation and an existential quantifier; (ii) negative quantifiers are multidominant phrase markers, as Parallel Merge allows the verb to c-select their existential part but not their negative part, thus giving negation remerge flexibility; (iii) tag questions involve or-coordination of TPs, and neither/so clauses involve and-coordination of TPs; (iv) two positions for sentential negation are available in English, one below TP (PolP2), and one above TP (PolP1). Activation of either PolP1 or PolP2 in the absence of other scope-taking operators corresponds to two distinct grammars. If PolP1 is active, the negative part of an object negative quantifier remerges in its Specifier valuing the [upol: ] feature of Pol1 as negative ([upol:neg]) while skipping the TP-domain. As no negative formal feature is present in the TP, a negative question tag is required, as well as so-coordination, too-licensing and Yes, I guess so ‘expression of agreement’. Conversely, if PolP2 is active, the negative part of the object negative quantifier remerges in the TP-domain (in Spec, PolP2), thus requiring a positive question tag, neither-coordination, either-licensing, and No, I guess not.

Fully Flexible Parallel Merge Sort for Multicore Architectures

The development in multicore architectures gives a new line of processors that can flexibly distribute tasks between their logical cores. These need flexible models of efficient algorithms, both fast and stable. A new line of efficient sorting algorithms can support these systems to efficiently use all available resources. Processes and calculations shall be flexibly distributed between cores to make the performance as high as possible. In this article we present a fully flexible sorting method designed for parallel processing. The idea we describe in this article is based on modified merge sort, which in parallel form is designed for multicore architectures. The novelty of this idea is in particular way of processing. We have developed a fully flexible method that can be implemented for a number of processors. The tasks are flexibly distributed between logical cores to increase the efficiency of sorting. The method preserves separation of concerns; therefore, each of the processors works separately without any cross actions and interruptions. The proposed method was described in theoretical way, examined in tests, and compared to other methods. The results confirm high efficiency and show that with each newly added processor sorting becomes faster and more efficient.

Parallel Derivation of Spanish Depictive Secondary Predication

The depictive secondary predication construction has two subject-predicate relationships in one clause, providing two propositional interpretations. This article proposes that the primary predication, which consists of a main verb, and the secondary predication, made up of a secondary predicate, are simultaneously derived in separate derivational planes; this proposal reflects a property of the secondary predicate that is not included in the θ-grid of the primary predicate. The idea of using Parallel Merge to merge these two planes that share a common element allows us to understand the secondary predication construction in a novel way.