Object relative clauses in Archaic Chinese

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Aldridge
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Archaic Chinese ◽  
Genitive Case ◽  
Object Relative

AbstractThis article proposes that Late Archaic Chinese object relative clauses were reduced relative clauses consisting of a TP dominated by DP. They contained a functional morpheme suo, which attracted an operator to the edge of the vP before moving to T in order to provide T with an [N] feature that could be selected by D. The embedded subject moved to the specifier of the nominalized T, where it valued genitive case with D under Agree. The reduced nature of SUO relative clauses accounts for the fact that a unique strategy was required for relativization on VP-internal positions, as opposed to subject position, since the lack of a CP layer denied the clause a uniform landing site for operators originating internal and external to vP. This analysis also accounts for the loss of the relativization asymmetry by correlating it with the loss of nominalizing morphology such as genitive case.

Two types of alignment change in nominalizations

Diachronica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Aldridge ◽  
Yuko Yanagida
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Genitive Case ◽  
Object Relative

Abstract This paper investigates two instances of alignment change, both of which resulted from reanalysis of a nominalized embedded clause type, in which the external argument was marked with genitive case and the internal argument was focused. We show that a subject marked with genitive case in the early development of Austronesian languages became ergative-marked when object relative clauses in cleft constructions were reanalyzed as transitive root clauses. In contrast to this, the genitive case in Old Japanese nominalized clauses, marking an external argument, was extended to mark all subjects. This occurred after adnominal clauses were reanalyzed as root clauses. Japanese underwent one more step in order for genitive to be reanalyzed as nominative: the reanalysis of impersonal psych transitive constructions as intransitives. With these two case studies of Austronesian and Japanese, we show that reanalysis of nominalization goes in either direction, ergative or accusative, depending on the syntactic conditions involved in the reanalysis.

scholarly journals Inherent case in Archaic Chinese

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Edith Aldridge
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
First Person ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Nominative Case ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Archaic Chinese ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Inherent Case ◽  
Operator Movement

This paper proposes an analysis of subject case in Late Archaic Chinese (LAC). By examining the distribution of first person pronominal subjects, I conclude that there were two distinct morphological cases for subjects in LAC. One of these pronouns, 我 wǒ, valued structural nominative case, while the other one, 吾 wú, was marked with a different case. The occurrence of 吾 wú as the external argument of experiencer and modal predicates clearly suggests that this case was at least sometimes inherent case assigned to the external argument in [Spec, vP]. 吾 wú also functioned as the subject of relative clauses, embedded subjunctive clauses, and irrealis matrix clauses. Since the case valued in these clause types was not sensitive to predicate types, I propose that the source of the case valued by the subject in these environments was T. Working within Chomsky’s (2008) C-T Inheritance framework, I propose that Inheritance did not take place in indicative clauses, so the subject moved to [Spec, CP] to value nominative case. A first person pronoun with nominative case was spelled out as 我 wǒ. But Inheritance was forced if another constituent needed to occupy [Spec, CP]. I propose that relative clauses and irrealis/subjunctive clauses are all derived through operator movement. Because the operator must occupy [Spec, CP], C-T Inheritance must also take place, forcing the subject to move to [Spec, TP] to value its case. The case valued in this position was also the non-nominative form exemplified by the first person pronoun 吾 wú.

scholarly journals Comprehension and Eye Movements in the Processing of Subject- and Object-Relative Clauses: Evidence from Dyslexia and Individual Differences

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 915
Author(s):  
Marianna Stella ◽  
Paul E. Engelhardt
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Processing Difficulty ◽  
Object Relative

In this study, we examined eye movements and comprehension in sentences containing a relative clause. To date, few studies have focused on syntactic processing in dyslexia and so one goal of the study is to contribute to this gap in the experimental literature. A second goal is to contribute to theoretical psycholinguistic debate concerning the cause and the location of the processing difficulty associated with object-relative clauses. We compared dyslexic readers (n = 50) to a group of non-dyslexic controls (n = 50). We also assessed two key individual differences variables (working memory and verbal intelligence), which have been theorised to impact reading times and comprehension of subject- and object-relative clauses. The results showed that dyslexics and controls had similar comprehension accuracy. However, reading times showed participants with dyslexia spent significantly longer reading the sentences compared to controls (i.e., a main effect of dyslexia). In general, sentence type did not interact with dyslexia status. With respect to individual differences and the theoretical debate, we found that processing difficulty between the subject and object relatives was no longer significant when individual differences in working memory were controlled. Thus, our findings support theories, which assume that working memory demands are responsible for the processing difficulty incurred by (1) individuals with dyslexia and (2) object-relative clauses as compared to subject relative clauses.

A SUBJECT-OBJECT ASYMMETRY IN THE ACQUISITION OF RELATIVE CLAUSES IN KOREAN AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O'Grady ◽  
Miseon Lee ◽  
Miho Choo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Strong Preference ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Structural Account ◽  
Linear Distance ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Object Relative

A variety of studies have reported that learners of English as a second language find subject relative clauses easier to produce and comprehend than direct object relatives, but it is unclear whether this preference should be attributed to structural factors or to a linear distance effect. This paper seeks to resolve this issue and to extend our understanding of SLA in general by investigating the interpretation of subject and direct object relative clauses by English-speaking learners of Korean, a left-branching language in which subject gaps in relative clauses are more distant from the head than are object gaps. The results of a comprehension task conducted with 53 beginning and intermediate learners point toward a strong preference for subject relative clauses, favoring the structural account.

scholarly journals Similarity-based interference and relative clauses in second language processing

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110635
Author(s):  
Ian Cunnings ◽  
Hiroki Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Interference Effects ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Relative Disadvantage ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Object Relative

Relative clauses have long been examined in research on first (L1) and second (L2) language acquisition and processing, and a large body of research has shown that object relative clauses (e.g. ‘The boy that the girl saw’) are more difficult to process than subject relative clauses (e.g. ‘The boy that saw the girl’). Although there are different accounts of this finding, memory-based factors have been argued to play a role in explaining the object relative disadvantage. Evidence of memory-based factors in relative clause processing comes from studies indicating that representational similarity influences the difficulty associated with object relatives as a result of a phenomenon known as similarity-based interference. Although similarity-based interference has been well studied in L1 processing, less is known about how it influences L2 processing. We report two studies – an eye-tracking experiment and a comprehension task – investigating interference in the comprehension of relative clauses in L1 and L2 readers. Our results indicated similarity-based interference in the processing of object relative clauses in both L1 and L2 readers, with no significant differences in the size of interference effects between the two groups. These results highlight the importance of considering memory-based factors when examining L2 processing.

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