Subject Preference, Head Animacy and Lexical Cues: A Corpus Study of Relative Clauses in Chinese

2010 ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuyun Wu ◽  
Elsi Kaiser ◽  
Elaine Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Lexical Cues

scholarly journals ¬Learning Island-insensitivity from the input: A corpus analysis of child- and youth-directed text in Norwegian

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Kush ◽  
Charlotte Sant ◽  
Sunniva Briså Strætkvern
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Embedded Questions ◽  
Reading Material

Norwegian allows filler-gap dependencies into relative clauses (RCs) and embedded questions (EQs) – domains that are usually considered islands. We conducted a corpus study on youth-directed reading material to assess what direct evidence Norwegian children receive for filler-gap dependencies into islands. Results suggest that the input contains examples of Filler-gap dependencies into both RCs and EQs, but such examples are significantly less frequent than long-distance filler-gap dependencies into non-island clauses. Moreover, evidence for island violations is characterized by the absence of forms that are, in principle, acceptable in the target grammar. Thus, although they encounter dependencies into islands, children must generalize beyond the fine-grained distributional characteristics of the input to acquire the full pattern of island-insensitivity in their target language. We conclude by considering how different learning models would fare on acquiring the target generalizations.

scholarly journals On the acquisition of maximality in free relative clauses and plural definite descriptions

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 508
Author(s):  
Ivano Caponigro ◽  
Lisa Pearl ◽  
Neon Brooks ◽  
David Barner
Keyword(s):  
Maximal Element ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Relative Delay ◽  
Syntactic Differences

Plural definite descriptions (e.g. 'the things on the plate') and free relative clauses (e.g. 'what is on the plate') have been argued to share the same semantic properties, despite their syntactic differences: both are non-quantificational expressions referring to the maximal element of a given set (e.g. the set of things on the plate). Experimental support for this semantic analysis is provided by the first investigation ever of children's interpretation of both constructions. A Truth-Value Judgment task, an Act-Out task, and a corpus study of children's linguistic input show that children are aware that the two constructions are different from quantificational nominals (e.g. 'all the things on the plate', 'some of the things on the plate') very early on (4 years old), despite the major difference in frequency in the input. Children acquire the adult interpretation of both constructions at the very same time, around 6-7 years old. We suggest that this relative delay depends on children's difficulties with the concept of the maximal element of a set or its association with specific linguistic constructions.

scholarly journals Mood Alternations in Old High German Subordinate Clauses

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Coniglio ◽  
Roland Hinterhölzl ◽  
Svetlana Petrova
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Different Types

In this paper, Old High German mood alternations in the different types of subordinate clauses (complement, adverbial and relative clauses) are discussed. The use of the subjunctive in subordinate clauses is notoriously more frequent than in Modern German and has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Based on a comprehensive corpus study, the paper will show that the licensing conditions for the subjunctive in Old High German are determined by notions such as veridicality and – in relative contexts – specificity. These conditions are thus similar (but not always identical) to those observed for Modern Greek and Romance languages. Furthermore, a syntactic analysis is provided in order to account for the licensing of the subjunctive in each type of subordinate clause.

Rethinking child difficulty: The effect of NP type on children's processing of relative clauses in Hebrew

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
INBAL ARNON
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Distributional Information ◽  
Poor Comprehension ◽  
Object Relative

ABSTRACTChildren find object relative clauses difficult. They show poor comprehension that lags behind production into their fifth year. This finding has shaped models of relative clause acquisition, with appeals to processing heuristics or syntactic preferences to explain why object relatives are more difficult than subject relatives. Two studies here suggest that children (age 4 ; 6) do not find all object relatives difficult: a corpus study shows that children most often hear and produce object relatives with pronominal subjects. But they are most often tested on ones with lexical-NP subjects (e.g. The nurse thatthe girlis drawing). When tested on object relatives with pronominal subjects (e.g. The nurse thatIam drawing), similar to those they actually hear and produce, Hebrew speakers aged 4 ; 6 show good comprehension (85% accuracy) that matches their production ability. This suggests a different path of relative clause acquisition, one that is sensitive to fine-grained distributional information.

scholarly journals On the acquisition of maximality in free relative clauses and plural definite descriptions

2015 ◽  
pp. 508
Author(s):  
Ivano Caponigro ◽  
Lisa Pearl ◽  
Neon Brooks ◽  
David Barner
Keyword(s):  
Maximal Element ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Relative Delay ◽  
Syntactic Differences

Plural definite descriptions (e.g. 'the things on the plate') and free relative clauses (e.g. 'what is on the plate') have been argued to share the same semantic properties, despite their syntactic differences: both are non-quantificational expressions referring to the maximal element of a given set (e.g. the set of things on the plate). Experimental support for this semantic analysis is provided by the first investigation ever of children's interpretation of both constructions. A Truth-Value Judgment task, an Act-Out task, and a corpus study of children's linguistic input show that children are aware that the two constructions are different from quantificational nominals (e.g. 'all the things on the plate', 'some of the things on the plate') very early on (4 years old), despite the major difference in frequency in the input. Children acquire the adult interpretation of both constructions at the very same time, around 6-7 years old. We suggest that this relative delay depends on children's difficulties with the concept of the maximal element of a set or its association with specific linguistic constructions.

scholarly journals Syntactic complexity and language contact: A corpus-based study of relative clauses in British English and Indian English

2017 ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Iván Tamaredo
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
British English ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
L1 And L2

The aim of the present paper is to test the claim that contact simplifies language (cf. Kusters, 2008) by comparing the domain of relative clause formation in British English, a L1 variety, and Indian English, a L2 variety. According to Hawkins (1999), the processing cost of relativizing a noun phrase increases down the Accessibility Hierarchy (Subject > Direct Object> Indirect Object > Oblique > Genitive> Object of Comparison) proposed by Keenan and Comrie (1977). Subject relative clauses are thus easier to process than direct object relatives, and so on. The results of a corpus study of the British and Indian components of the International Corpus of English show that the Accessibility Hierarchy has an indirect effect on the production of relative clauses in British English and Indian English: whereas the distribution of relative clauses with respect to the hierarchy is very similar in both varieties, the number of complex relatives, i.e., with coordination or further embedding, decreases in the lower positions in Indian English. These results thus suggest that language contact plays a significant role in relative clause use and accounts for certain differences between L1 and L2 varieties of English in this grammatical domain.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document