This chapter examines the tone sandhi domains for pronouns, classifiers, and adverbs in TSM. Traditional X-bar theory projects pronouns under the noun phrase (NP). In this framework, a single pronoun forms a non-branching NP, which does not constitute a phonological phrase. Conversely, [Adj pronoun] constructions and coordinated pronouns form branching NPs, each establishing a phonological phrase. This approach, however, encounters a theoretical dilemma: a non-branching NP formed from a full noun constitutes a phonological phrase, while one formed from a pronoun does not.

The functional projection determiner phrase (DP) more accurately characterizes the phonological phrasing of pronouns: only a branching DP forms a phonological phrase, whereas an NP constitutes a phonological phrase regardless of branching status. In the analysis of classifiers, contemporary theories posit the classifier as the head of a classifier phrase (ClP), with the following noun as its complement, meaning [Num Cl] does not form an independent XP. This contrasts with the traditional view, which treats [Num Cl] as a modifier of the noun. In either case, [Num Cl] is not marked by a phonological phrase boundary. In contexts of nominal absence or topicalization, [Num Cl] may occupy the final position of the phonological phrase or undergo restructuring as a verbal adjunct if subject to semantic attenuation.

In 1934, Pablo Neruda arrived in Barcelona as a Chilean diplomat, and in February 1935, he became the Chilean consul in Madrid. Living in Spain during the Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War marked a turning point in Neruda’s poetry. The Spanish Civil War provoked a historical awakening in Neruda’s poetics – as exemplified in España en el corazón – that paved the way to his ambitious poetic project of Canto general, as he aimed to historicize and politicize his portrayal of Latin American ruins. This essay on how the Spanish Civil War marks Neruda’s poetics examines how the use of the apostrophe throughout España en el corazón reveals the dialogic nature of his poetic project, which intends both to speak to a Republican Spain, with its dead soldiers and poets, and to defy the fascist leaders of the war.

This chapter analyzes Pablo Neruda’s engagement with the English-speaking world. Neruda’s presence made an indelible mark on the cultural spheres in the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries where English is used, notably through his English translations, international travels, and engagement with Anglophone literature. His Nobel Prize in 1971 solidified his status globally, yet his reception in the United States and United Kingdom was affected by Cold War politics. Neruda’s vast literary network, knowledge of Anglophone poetry, and cultural exchanges shaped his impact in the United States and United Kingdom, in particular. Exploring these aspects, supported by the poet’s own memoirs, literary studies, translations, and lasting influence in popular culture, highlights his legacy in the English-speaking realm. Neruda’s intercultural interactions therein emphasize the complex political atmosphere during many major events of the twentieth century in which Neruda played a crucial role and became well-known as both Chile’s greatest poet and a hero for the political Left.

Chapter Six delves into the intricate dynamics of the “second transformation” of the Safavid Empire, which was characterized by the deliberate erosion of the authority of the Qizilbash elite within the Safavid state apparatus. The chapter outlines how the gradual sidelining of Qizilbash notables from prominent positions in the Safavid political landscape had far-reaching consequences, not only for the Safavid Empire itself but also for its relationship with the Ottoman Qizilbash. By the 1650s, Safavid attempts to exert influence within Ottoman territories had significantly waned. Concurrently, Qizilbash subjects residing within the Ottoman Empire transitioned from being active participants in interimperial politics to becoming an increasingly isolated and marginalized community. This transformation in both Safavid Iran and the Ottoman Empire carried profound implications for the broader geopolitical landscape of the region, reshaping power dynamics and contributing to a more stable regional order for more than a century.

The so-called dispersed Nerudiana, composed of interviews, speeches, prologues, notes, and letters, provides a necessary horizon to rescue, organize, and disseminate. Nerudian letters, in particular, are a privileged source that has not been cataloged or collected in a single corpus. This surprising daily life of a famous writer, a sort of parallel itinerary, lies vast and dispersed in libraries, private archives, and documentary repositories awaiting a systematic effort that allows the long-awaited “deployment of the self-portrait” (à la Boersner), the ultimate goal of historical-literary research. Without his correspondence, in short, his self-portrait is impoverished, leaving room for criticism, speculation, and political dithyramb.

Chapter 5 compares Wilhelmine Germany with Edwardian England and arrives at an unconventional conclusion about their relative stability. There is a scholarly tradition of viewing the Second Reich, particularly after the fall of Bismarck and the political ascension of King Wilhelm II, as so ridden with internal contradictions that it was in near-permanent crisis. More recently, scholars have argued that Germany was in fact democratizing, suggesting again that this major historical case of competitive authoritarianism was volatile. I find instead that the balance of evidence indicates that Imperial Germany is a good case of institutionalized competitive authoritarianism, and that it was Edwardian England rather than Wilhelmine Germany where the most serious threat of regime change existed. I contest two widely held misconceptions: (1) that the UK had transitioned to democracy significantly before the outbreak of WWI and (2) that the landed elite acquiesced in this transition. I argue instead that the UK was not only a prototypical competitive oligarchy before WWI but also that it was in a constitutional crisis and close to civil war.

This chapter explores tone sandhi and tonal mutations in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM). Each base tone corresponds to a specific sandhi tone, resulting from smooth or checked tone chain shifts that modify either register or pitch, but not both simultaneously. Despite some studies suggesting low productivity, real-word experiments and corpus analysis show high rates of tonal alternations, indicating that productivity is the primary mechanism. Future models of TSM tone sandhi should focus on productive phonological processes, with lexical storage for exceptional cases.

In diminutive suffixation, the pre-á syllable tone changes through register or pitch spreading from the -á suffix, forming a tone cluster. In neutral tone operations, spreading may lead to a default low tone.

Syllable contraction creates tone clusters from various tonal melodies, simplifying while preserving tonal information, typically through edge-in association and mora addition.

Trisyllabic reduplication involves an emphatic -á suffix on the leftmost syllable, with its high tone preserved as a floating tone if absent. Tetrasyllabic reduplication shows patterns of semantic emphasis. Some patterns form a single tone sandhi domain, while others split into two domains. The ABCC pattern, consisting of a subject NP and predicate VP, forms separate tonal domains.

Chapter 4 turns to France between 1848 and 1870. It examines how the first competitive authoritarian regime in Europe – the Second Empire (1851–1870) – emerged from the collapse of Europe’s first modern democracy, the French Second Republic (1848–1851). Louis Napoleon tilted the playing field in otherwise competitive elections through legal chicanery and media dominance, and the Bonapartist party he created has a legitimate claim to the mantle of the world’s first hegemonic political party. This system was quite stable and was brought down by a disastrous international war and not through internal opposition to it; elections reinforced competitive authoritarianism rather than undermining the regime. Bonapartism was also the model for Europe’s second competitive authoritarian regime: Imperial Germany from 1870 to 1918. Bismarck’s observation of, and extensive personal experience in, Bonapartist France changed his hitherto arch-reactionary views on universal suffrage and led him to see the electorate as a conservative rather than liberalizing force.

This chapter examines the period of Patrick Walker’s tenure as British consul general on the Mosquito Shore, which saw the beginning of the struggle over the Nicaragua Canal route through the clash over control of the harbor of San Juan del Norte, the eastern terminus of the proposed canal. It also examines the paradox that as Walker’s policies progressively stripped Miskitus of their role in governance, so also it became ever more important to project the legitimacy of the Mosquito Kingdom in the context of a growing interest in the transisthmian canal.

Chapter 5 introduces the main ways in which local history was written in the early Islamic centuries. As wide as possible a snapshot is offered, based on extant works and what we know about many now-lost works, of early Islamic local history-writing, with the works divided for the most part into four different models: conquest histories; biographical (or prosopographical) histories; chronologically organised histories of events; and histories that focus on topography or on the particular distinctions (faḍāʾil) of a town or region. The aim is not to provide a comprehensive list of known works, but rather to draw attention to the main ways local history was written/compiled and what kinds of topics local historians were interested in.

This chapter encompasses Neruda’s poetic production during his latest years, which has been divided into two sections: late and posthumous poems published in books. Neruda’s literary fame was cemented in his previous work, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, 1924), Residencia en la tierra (Residence on Earth, 1933, 1935, 1947), Canto general (1950), and Odas elementales (Elemental Odes, 1954–57). In general, critics and general readers have overlooked Neruda’s late body of work, which reflected a post-millennial futurity. He announced this visionary approach in both Aún (Still Another Day, 1969) and Fin de mundo (World’s End, 1969), but the best summary of his take on futurity can be found in his posthumous 2000 (1974).

In one of the celebrations of his fiftieth birthday, Neruda stated that the poet has two duties: “to leave and to return.” He later named one of his books Navigations and Returns. His life was that of a traveler who always returned, in real life and imaginatively, to his starting point: the southern territory of his childhood. This chapter examines the reasons for the journey and return in the life and work of Neruda, as well as other themes associated with his travels, such as the antipodes. He also alludes to the use of travel as a metaphor in some of his texts.