Possessor Raising in Nuu-chah-nulth

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 167-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Ravinski
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Possessor Raising ◽  
Subject Agreement ◽  
Minimal Link Condition ◽  
Syntactic Dependency

AbstractNuu-chah-nulth possessor raising is semantically unrestricted and affects only subjects: subject agreement matches the person and number of the possessor (rather than the possessed subject), and the possessive-marking clitic attaches to the head of the clause (rather than to the possessum). Nuu-chah-nulth possessor raising is analyzed as a syntactic dependency between the possessive clitic in the main clause and the base-generated possessor position within DP. A Possessive Phrase can appear in either the DP or the clausal domain, and the possessive clitic may be generated in either position. When the possessive clitic is generated in the main clause, a possessor may raise out of subject position via feature-driven movement; the Minimal Link Condition prevents such movement from occurring out of object position.

scholarly journals Processing cataphors: Active antecedent search is persistent

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Giskes ◽  
Dave Kush
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Argument Position ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Incremental Processing ◽  
Active Search ◽  
The Subject

AbstractCataphors precede their antecedents, so they cannot be fully interpreted until those antecedents are encountered. Some researchers propose that cataphors trigger an active search during incremental processing in which the parser predictively posits potential antecedents in upcoming syntactic positions (Kazanina et al., Journal of Memory and Language, 56[3], 384–409, 2007). One characteristic of active search is that it is persistent: If a prediction is disconfirmed in an earlier position, the parser should iteratively search later positions until the predicted element is found. Previous research has assumed, but not established, that antecedent search is persistent. In four experiments in English and Norwegian, we test this hypothesis. Two sentence completion experiments show a strong off-line preference for coreference between a fronted cataphor and the first available argument position (the main subject). When the main subject cannot be the antecedent, participants posit the antecedent in the next closest position: object position. Two self-paced reading studies demonstrate that comprehenders actively expect the antecedent of a fronted cataphor to appear in the main clause subject position, and then successively in object position if the subject does not match the cataphor in gender. Our results therefore support the claim that antecedent search is active and persistent.

scholarly journals Re-examining the relationship between the subject agreement morpheme and (in)definiteness in Northern Sotho

Literator ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mampaka L. Mojapelo
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Northern Sotho ◽  
Class 1 ◽  
Subject Noun ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Subject Agreement

The grammatical position of the subject noun phrase in Northern Sotho is to the left of the predicate. The subject agreement morpheme is a compulsory link between the subject noun phrase and the predicate. Scholars have examined the role of this morpheme from various perspectives. It is also extensively documented that the morpheme has dual functions. Its primary function is to mark agreement between the subject and the predicate. Its secondary function is pronominal, whereby it is co-referenced to some antecedent. This article reexamined the primary role of the subject agreement morpheme in Northern Sotho in relation to the interpretation of a subject noun phrase as definite or indefinite. This was accomplished by (1) revisiting existing works that are directly or indirectly linked to (in)definiteness and subject agreement, (2) analysing texts that may facilitate discussion on the issue, and (3) relating the findings from previous works to current analyses. The first hypothesis in this article was that when some class 9 subject noun phrases, denoting persons, agree with the verb stem by a class 1 agreement morpheme, the noun phrases are interpreted as definite. The second hypothesis was that although the subject position is considered predominantly topical and definite it may not categorically exclude indefinite noun phrases. Therefore some indefinite noun phrases may also agree with predicates by means of this morpheme.

Measuring the alternation strength of causative verbs

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 219-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Romain
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Causative Alternation ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Causative Construction ◽  
Qualitative Analyses ◽  
Causative Verbs

Abstract This paper presents a method for quantitative and qualitative analyses of the causative alternation in English, where verbs may alternate between a transitive (causative) construction (Santa crinkled his eyes) and an intransitive (non-causative) construction (His eyes crinkled).1 The aim of this paper is to present a method designed to measure the alternation strength of causative verbs, i.e. the extent to which they alternate between the two constructions. One of the central elements this paper investigates is the Theme, i.e. the participant that is in subject position in the intransitive construction and object position in the transitive construction. A distinctive collostructional analysis (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004) shows that certain verbs are significantly attracted to one of either two constructions while others are equivalently distributed in the two constructions. However, after careful analysis it appears that very few Themes actually overlap between the two constructions (Lemmens forthcoming) which indicates that each construction seems to be rather restrictive regarding which Themes they recruit. The low degree of alternation of the Themes leads us to ask ourselves the extent to which the alternation is part of a speaker’s knowledge of their language.

Here's Looking at Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist*

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 556-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary D. Garrard
Keyword(s):  
Women Artists ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Sofonisba Anguissola ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Art And Society

An Unusual Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola has gained new prominence from its illustration in color in a recent publication. In her Women, Art, and Society (1990), Whitney Chadwick claims of the portrait in question, Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola (fig. 1), that in presenting herself in the guise of a portrait being painted by her teacher, Anguissola produced “the first historical example of the woman artist consciously collapsing the subject-object position.” Chadwick's succinct observation opens up the possibility of understanding the painting in a new way, for she points to the peculiar conflation of subject and object that uniquely befell women artists in the Renaissance and complicates their art, especially their self-portraits. From this starting point, I will here explore the form of self-presentation offered by Anguissola in the Siena portrait and several other works in the context of what was a fundamental problem for the Renaissance female artist: the differentiation of herself as artist (the subject position) from her self as trope and theme for the male artist (the object position).

Un effet du principe C chez l’enfant francophone

2000 ◽  
Vol 45 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
Helen Goodluck ◽  
Lawrence Solan
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Object Position ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done

AbstractWe report a study that tests children’s knowledge of an effect of Principle C of the binding theory: In the adult grammar of English and French, coreference between a main clause object pronoun and a non-pronominal subject of a sentence-final temporal clause is permitted, whereas coreference between a subject pronoun and the subject of a temporal clause is blocked. In an act-out task, both French-speaking adults and children aged 3–7 were found to be sensitive to the position of a main clause pronoun (subject vs object) in selecting a referent for the subject of a temporal clause, permitting coreference more frequently when the pronoun was in object position. This result replicates earlier work done on English. A sentence judgement task produced clear results only for adults. Results from the act-out suggest that children are relatively inept at integrating non-mentioned participants into their interpretation of sentences. We suggest that children’s knowledge of the principle C effect we tested constitutes a “poverty of the stimulus” argument for innateness.

scholarly journals The negation of cualquier NP

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Polakof
Keyword(s):  
Free Choice ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Original Proposal ◽  
Syntactic Approach ◽  
The Subject

Even though the interpretation of Free Choice Items such as any has been on debate for more than 50 years (Vendler, 1974, Dayal, 1998, Horn, 2000, etc.), it is relatively more recent in Spanish (Menéndez-Benito, 2005, Giannakidou and Quer, 2013, among others). Some have analyzed it as a universal quantifier, neither taking its free choiceness into account nor contexts which seem to be problematic for the universal account (see, for instance, Etxepare and Uribe-Etxebarria, 2011). In this article, we defend that cualquier is a universal indeterminate pronoun which involves freedom of choice (as in the original proposal by Vendler, 1974). We will take into account data (taken from https://www.corpusdelespanol.org/web-dial) which has not been properly considered. We will analyze the interaction of negation and cualquier in Rioplantese Spanish in the subject position of negative generic statements, in the object position in negative episodic statements, and in a non argumental position. We will combine an alternative semantics approach to the analysis of the FCI cualquier, inspired in Menéndez-Benito (2010) and Aloni (2019), with a syntactic approach to negation inspired in Etxepare and Uribe-Etxebarria (2011).  

Perception verb complements in Spanish: same or different?

1978 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Suñer
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Causative Construction

Introduction. In Spanish, pairs of sentences like the following are found: (1)a.Oigo que Juan toca la guitarra.I-hear that John is-playing the the guitar.b.Oigo a Juan que toca la guitarra.I-hear John that (he) is-playing the guitar.(2)a.Vio que María estaba de regreso.He-saw that Mary had returned.b.Vio a María que estaba de regreso.He-saw Mary that (she) had returned.(3)a.Veo que el río trae mucha agua.I-see that the river carries a-lot-of waterb.Veo el río que trae mucha agua.I-see the river that (it) carries a-lot-of water.In general, it appears that in sentences with verbs of perception which introduce a que clause, the embedded subject (see a. sentences) is able to move upwards to the object position in the main clause (see b. sentences). This pattern also occurs in the causative construction with dejar.(4)a.Dejé que Juan saliera.I-let that John leave (Subjunctive)b.Dejé a Juan que saliera.I-let John that (he) leave (Subjunctive)

scholarly journals The Leaf Fell (the Leaf): The Online Processing of Unaccusatives

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Friedmann ◽  
Gina Taranto ◽  
Lewis P. Shapiro ◽  
David Swinney
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Lexical Priming ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Mixed Pattern ◽  
Priming Technique

According to the Unaccusative Hypothesis, unaccusative subjects are base-generated in object position and move to subject position. We examined this hypothesis using the cross-modal lexical priming technique, which tests whether and when an antecedent is reactivated during the online processing of a sentence. We compared sentences containing unergative verbs with sentences containing unaccusatives, both alternating and nonalternating, and found that subjects of unaccusatives reactivate after the verb, while subjects of unergatives do not. Alternating unaccusatives showed a mixed pattern of reactivation. The research directly supports the Unaccusative Hypothesis.

scholarly journals Interpretation of Korean Null Pronouns in subject and object position: Comparing native and non-native speakers

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 981
Author(s):  
Silvia Kim ◽  
Elsi Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Null Pronouns ◽  
Coherence Relations ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
Korean Speakers ◽  
Native Korean Speakers

We report an experiment that investigates how native and non-native Korean speakers’ interpretation of null pronouns in subject and object position is influenced by structural and discourse-level factors. We compare native Korean speakers to L2 Korean learners whose L1, Spanish, only has null pronouns in subject position. We find that native Korean speakers’ interpretation of subject and object null pronouns is guided by structural factors as well as discourse-level coherence relations, with subject nulls being more sensitive to coherence relations than object nulls. In contrast, our results suggest that L2 speakers’ interpretation of null pronouns in Korean is less influenced by coherence relations. Our results support claims that interface phenomena are challenging in L2 acquisition and provide new evidence that this occurs with null pronouns in L2 even when the L1 has null pronouns.

scholarly journals Critical discourse analysis on women’s position in prohaba daily news texts

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-285
Author(s):  
Eva Evianda ◽  
Ramli Ramli ◽  
Mohd Harun
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Daily News ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Position Analysis ◽  
Subject And Object

This research aimed to describe women’s position in Prohaba Daily News texts based on Sara Mills and Theo van Leeuwen perspective of critical discourse analysis, especially the analysis of actor position, exclusion and inclusion. This is a descriptive qualitative research in which data were collected by documentation technique. The data were Prohaba Daily News texts during 2018. The data were analyzed using Sara Mills’ actor position analysis model and Theo van Leeuwen’s exclusion and inclusion analysis. Actor position analysis included subject position and object position. Exclusion analysis included the passivation, nominalization, and substitution of clauses. While the inclusion analysis included differentiation-indifferentiation, objectivity-abstraction, nomination-identification, nomination-categorization, determination-indetermination, assimilation-individualization, and association-disassociation. The results showed that Prohaba Daily News texts positioned female actors in subject and object position in their news texts. Women as non-marginalized subject found in three news texts. Women as non-marginalized objects found in two news texts. Women in the marginalized object position found in eight news texts. Marginalization was conducted by using exclusion and inclusion strategies. The exclusion strategy used includes the nomination and substitution of clauses. Inclusion strategies used were differentiation-indifferentiation, objectivity-abstraction, nomination-identification, nomination-categorization, and association-disassociation. In addition, the use of certain vocabularies can marginalize the position of women in the daily news text Prohaba.

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