Vowel dominance in overregularizations

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Paul Stemberger
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Several Variables ◽  
Base Form

ABSTRACTWhen children produce regularizations likecomed, not all verbs are equally likely to be regularized. Several variables (e.g. lexical frequency) have been shown to be relevant, but not all the variability between verbs is understood. It is argued here that one predictor is which vowels are present in the base form vs. the past tense form. Using a notion of recessive vs. dominant vowel (where recessive vowels are more likely to be replaced by dominant vowels than vice versa) based on adult phonological processing, it is predicted that regularizations should be likely when the base vowel is dominant and unlikely when the past tense vowel is dominant. Data from 17 children reported in the literature, aged 1;6–5;6, show that this prediction is correct. Implications for the role of phonological variables in the processing of irregular past tense forms are discussed.

scholarly journals Subjunctive Mood in the Altai Language

2019 ◽  
pp. 74-83
Author(s):  
A. A. Ozonova
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Base Form ◽  
The Future ◽  
Turkic Languages ◽  
Simple Sentences ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

Semantics of subjunctive mood are expressed in most Turkic languages, however, subjunctive mood itself is not always included in the system of grammatical mood forms in descriptive grammars of specific languages. Analytical forms consisting of future tense participles of the main verbs and past tense forms of the auxiliary verbs serve as subjunctive mood markers in Turkic languages (excluding Khakas). In the following article, we analyze the structure, semantics, and functioning of the Altai subjunctive mood. The following analytical forms serve as subjunctive mood markers: -ar/-bas edi и -ɣaj/-baɣaj edi. The first form consists of the future-present tense participial form with -ar/-bas and the auxiliary verb e- ‘to be, to become’ in the past tense form with -di; the second one consists of the desiderative form -ɣaj and the same auxiliary verb e- ‘to be, to become’ in the past tense form with -di. The form -ar/-bas edi is the base form actively functioning as expression of subjunctive mood. In the Altai language, subjunctive mood functions actively in conditional and, less commonly, in conditional-concessive constructions. Subjunctive mood marks the main parts of these constructions and predicates in simple sentences. Subjunctive mood denotes contrafactive situations in the past, and hypothetical situations in the future. Contrafactive situations are not real. They never happened in the past, do not exist in the present, and will not take place in the future. The subjunctive form -ar/-bas edi as a finite predicate in simple sentences also expresses the meaning of non- categoricalness, which is used in dialogues in order to soften the speaker\s declaration of intent or to make a statement less categorical.

A New Perspective on the Syriac Hwayt Qāṭēl in a Non-Past Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-431
Author(s):  
Lidia Napiórkowska
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Cognitive Framework ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
And Function ◽  
Meaning And Function

Abstract This article presents a new perspective on the meaning and function of the Syriac construction hwayt qāṭēl used with a non-past reference. Beginning with the traditional method of cross-linguistic comparison, the author contextualizes the construction in question within a pragmatic- cognitive framework of general linguistics, an approach that has so far been largely overlooked in Syriac studies. The language used here for comparison is the literary Christian of Urmi, a modern dialect of Aramaic, whose verbal system presents itself as a valid typological parallel for Syriac. Thus, through analysing the renditions of hwayt qāṭēl in Christian Urmi Neo-Aramaic within the corpus of the New Testament, the semantics and function of the Syriac hwayt qāṭēl receive precise characteristics, followed by an attempt to explain the use of the past tense form hwayt (perfect) for the present-future reference. An additional brief treatment of other command-related forms in Syriac, such as the imperative and imperative-derived constructions, contributes further, more detailed observations on the Syriac verbal system.

De (on) Verklaarbaarheid Van Fossilisatie

1998 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 101-109
Author(s):  
Elisabeth van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
The Past ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Past Tenses ◽  
Different Levels

In the literature about fossilization, several definitions have been given and several explanations have been suggested for this phenomenon. I see fossilization as a long-time stagnation in the T2 learning process, leading to errors based on transfer. Fossilization is caused by sociolinguistic, pyscholinguistic and purely linguistic factors. In this paper I concentrate on the acquisition of syntactic structures and on the role of input and instruction in that process. I argue that, although in the acquisition of some syntactic structures, UG plays an important role, this does not account for the whole learning process: learners have not only to reset parameters when acquiring T2 but have to proceduralize knowledge based on the surface structure of sentences. In the case of the use of past tenses in French, many of the Dutch advanced learners of three different levels of proficiency do not acquire native-like intuitions about the use of these tenses, although input as well as instruction are thorough on this point. I suggest that the past tense system is not UG-dependent and that the instruction does not allow proceduralization of the knowledge.

scholarly journals Lexical Aspect and the Use of Simple Past Tense by Thai Learners of English

MANUSYA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-77
Author(s):  
Suriya Sriphrom ◽  
Theeraporn Ratitamkul
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Cloze Test

This cross-sectional study investigated the use of the simple past tense form by twenty Thai learners of English at two levels of proficiency. A cloze test developed by Ayoun and Salaberry (2008) was adopted. The findings showed that the learners in the high proficiency group used the past tense form more accurately than the learners in the low proficiency group. When verbs were categorized according to lexical aspect, both groups of learners were found to use the simple past tense form most often with telic events as well as with states. This did not correspond to the prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis, which asserts that low-level learners tend to use the simple past tense form with telic events first. The distributional bias in the input could account for the pattern found in this study.

The Referentiality of Tenses

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 209-228
Author(s):  
Theo Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Old Irish ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Context Of Situation

Abstract. This article assumes that tenses in English and Dutch are non-time-based. A verb in the present tense form signals 'verb-in-this-context-of-situation', whereas a verb in the past tense form signals 'verb-in-that-context-of-situation'. It is argued here that the non-time-based analysis of tenses is particularly relevant in cases in which two tense forms should indicate the same time, but have to be interpreted as indicating different times. This discrepancy may occur in the relative use of tenses in various languages (e.g. Classical Greek, Old Irish, Ngiti, and Russian).

scholarly journals Real tense and real aspect in mirativity

2015 ◽  
pp. 347
Author(s):  
Teresa Torres Bustamante
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
Time Argument ◽  
Modal Base ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Lifetime Effects ◽  
Usual Interpretation

The goal of this paper is an account of the role of tense and aspect in mirative constructions in Spanish. I propose that the past tense morphology and the imperfect/perfect morphology in Spanish miratives contribute their standard meanings to the semantics of mirativity. I define mirativity as the clash between the speaker’s previous beliefs and the current state of affairs asserted by the proposition. I propose a M operator that relates the speaker’s beliefs and the proposition by ranking the worlds in which the proposition doesn’t hold in the speaker’s previous beliefs as better ones. The past tense is interpreted outside the proposition, and constitutes the time argument of the modal base (doxastic domain). Aspect gets its usual interpretation in the proposition but also in the alternative propositions that order the worlds in the modal base. This way, differences regarding the imperfect mirative and the pluperfect one are accounted for. Finally, the paper also discusses stative miratives, which apparently challenge part of the analysis. I claim that these are not counter examples, but rather confirmation of the analysis, once we account for the interaction between miratives, statives and lifetime effects.

scholarly journals QUOTATIVE USE ACROSS LANGUAGES: THE CASE OF NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH AND GERMAN

2019 ◽  
pp. 041
Author(s):  
Agnes Terraschke
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Variable Content ◽  
German Data

Quotatives, the representation of speech, thought, sound effects or embodiments in spoken language, are a common feature of interpersonal communication. Linguistic descriptions of quotatives have predominantly focused on their use within an individual language or language variety. Little is known about how quotative use differs across languages with regard to their forms, variable content and linguistic features. Based on two datasets of informal dyadic interactions, the present research compares how quotatives are used in New Zealand English (NZE) and Standard German by describing the features of quotative use both overall and in relation to the three most commonly used forms in each dataset. The results highlight marked differences in the way quotatives are used in the two languages. Thus, in the German data, quotatives were mostly used for first person singular speakers in the past tense form to convey internal dialogue, while NZE speakers favoured the use of quotatives for direct speech in the past without clear subject preferences.

scholarly journals Backshift and tense decomposition

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Costa ◽  
António Branco
Keyword(s):  
General Analysis ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Indirect Speech ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Speech Time ◽  
Event Times ◽  
Embedded Contexts ◽  
Verb Tense

Backshift is a phenomenon affecting verb tense that is visible as a mismatch between some specific embedded contexts and other environments. For instance, the indirect speech equivalent of a sentence like 'Kim likes reading', with a present tense verb, may show the same verb in a past tense form, as in 'Sandy said Kim liked reading'. We present a general analysis of backshift, pooling data from English and Romance languages. Our analysis acknowledges that tense morphology is ambiguous between different temporal meanings, explicitly models the role of the speech time and the event times involved and takes the aspectual constraints of tenses into consideration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document