Distinguishing causative and permissive readings of the Swedish verb låta

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gudrun Rawoens ◽  
Thomas Egan
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Construction Type ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper an account is given of the semantics of the Present-day Swedish verb låta ‘let’ in constructions with an infinitival complement. It is generally assumed that the verb låta in this construction type can encode either causation or permission. From a synchronic perspective, the relationship between the two meanings has been described by some scholars as inclusive, whereas others have adduced possible criteria for distinguishing between them. Using corpus data, it is shown that the two semantic categories can be disentangled by means of a number of syntactic and semantic criteria, the most important of which relates to the semantic features of the central arguments in the sequence. Other criteria have to do with the occurrence of an object in the matrix clause, the Aktionsart of the complement predicate and the various degrees of autonomy of the object. The outcome of the empirical study reveals that the two constructions constitute comparably substantial categories in Present-day Swedish.

scholarly journals Coreference relations in complex sentence with a complement clause

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 187-202
Author(s):  
Jasmina Moskovljevic-Popovic
Keyword(s):  
Shared Control ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Complement Clause ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
The Relationship

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze different co reference relations which can be established in a complex sentence between one of the arguments of the matrix clause and the understood/implicit subject of the complement clause introduced by the complementizer ?da?. Various patterns of control relations which are present in contemporary Serbian - obligatory, non-obligatory, and shared control - have been enumerated and exemplified. Different types of constructions and different classes of verbs which introduce (or may introduce) control relations have been identified and patterns of control instantiated by them have been described. It has been argued that the analysis of the Serbian data indicates that a type of the matrix predicate is not the only factor which determines the control relations established in a complex sentence, but that a type of situation/event described in the complement clause, as well as the relationship between the events denoted by the matrix and the complement clauses have their influence too.

scholarly journals Vom Matrixsatz zum Diskursmaker: Die Grammatikalisierung von Hauptsache

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Ferran Robles Sabater
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Functional Characteristics ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The One ◽  
Discourse Particle ◽  
Conceptual Meaning

<p>This paper has a double purpose. On the one hand, it intends to prove the existence of a discourse marker (DM) Hauptsache. This element preserves the core conceptual meaning of the homonymous noun, but differs from it with regard to its morphosyntactic and semantic features as well as to its discourse-organizing, information structuring, and modal functions. On the other hand, the emergence of Hauptsache as a discourse particle is explained on the grounds of a grammaticalization process similar to the ones described for the prototypical German DMs. Evidence drawn from a corpus of German and Austrian parliamentary protocols will show in which ways the six fundamental processes implied in the grammaticalization of DMs (decategorization, scope expansion, subjectification, persistence, syntactic fixation, phonetic and/or morphosyntactic reduction) can be found in the evolution from the matrix clause die Hauptsache is to the monolexematic Hauptsache. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the formal, semantical, and functional characteristics of Hauptsache.</p>

scholarly journals The Syntactic and Semantiс Properties of Modal Words in German

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
A. Averina
Keyword(s):  
Transformation Method ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Modal Semantics ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Third Person ◽  
Source Of Information

The aim of the article is to examine the semantic and syntactic properties of modal words in German. The paper analyzes the types of modal semantics which are encoded in modal words; the peculiarities of the syntactic use of modal words are shown; the relationship between the type of modal semantics and their syntactic use is revealed, and the question which words with evaluative semantics can be classified as modal is considered. The relevance of this kind of work is determined by the following circumstances: firstly, it is necessary to describe the syntax and the semantics of modal words and their grammar features; secondly, it is important to reveal the relationship between modality and evaluativity and, thirdly, to define the conditions under which modal words can encode not one but several modal meanings. By using the transformation method and the method of component analysis the following groups of modal words were identified: modal words with alethic semantics; modal words with epistemic semantics; modal words with evidential semantics. Some modal words build separate groups: The modal word angeblich has evidential semantics, because it indicates the third person as a source of information; the modal word wahrscheinlich can have epistemic or evidential or alethic and evidential semantics; the modal word leider is able to express an emotional attitude of the speaker. The identification of different types of modal words is possible through the research of their syntactic properties, namely: the usage in dependent object clauses with the epistemic and factive predicate in the matrix clause; in conditional sentences as well as the ability to have independent usage as an answer to a question without a question word.

Langeafstandsverplaatsing in het Nederlands, Engels en Duits* : De sandwich ontleed

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-78
Author(s):  
Ankelien Schippers ◽  
Jack Hoeksema
Keyword(s):  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Diachronic Development ◽  
Long Distance Movement ◽  
Dependent Clause

Abstract In this article, we present corpus data from Dutch and English on long-distance movement and discuss its diachronic development in Dutch, English and German. Long-distance movement is the displacement phenomenon characterized by the appearance of a part of a dependent clause in a higher clause (e.g. What crimes did the FBI discover he had committed?). It has played a central role within generative grammar over the past few decades. The picture that emerges is that long-distance movement appears to be currently most productive in English and least productive in German, whereas Dutch occupies an in-between position. As we will argue, the productivity of long-distance movement is strongly tied to the availability of functional alternatives. German has at least three of such alternatives that are fully productive, whereas Dutch has one particularly productive one. The alternative constructions do not involve long-distance movement: the dependency between the constituent in the matrix clause and the position in the embedded clause where it is interpreted is formed indirectly, in the semantics, and not via syntactic movement. In English, long-distance movement is most productive when the complementizer is deleted. This is not just the case for subject movement but also for non-subject movement. Special attention is paid to the so-called that-trace effect and its alleged absence in German and Dutch. The general conclusion is that long-distance movement is possible in all languages under consideration, but more restricted than commonly assumed.

scholarly journals English Raising Predicates and (Non-)Finite Clauses

Fluminensia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-59
Author(s):  
Jakob Lenardič ◽  
Gašper Ilc
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Finite Variation ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Similar Frequency ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Negative Marker ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Embedded Clause

In this paper, we present a diachronic and synchronic analysis of raising and extraposition constructions in the historical Brown Corpus and the more contemporary English Web Corpus 2015. We begin by establishing two diachronic facts: first, raising constructions are used much more frequently than their semantically equivalent extraposition variants, and second, the distribution of raising and extraposition remains – rather exceptionally in comparison to other structures allowing for finite/non-finite variation – diachronically consistent from the beginning of the 20th century to 2015. We then supplement this unique diachronic distribution with an analysis of the most recent corpus data, which shows that the choice between the two semantically equivalent constructions is governed by distinct structural factors unique to each construction. Concretely, we show that the raising construction is frequently used as a relative clause, whereas the extraposition variant generally resists such a syntactic role. By contrast, we show that a prominent factor in favour of extraposition relates to the negative marker, which is placed with similar frequency both in the matrix and in the embedded clause of the extraposition construction in contrast to the raising variant, which uses the negative marker almost exclusively in the matrix clause. Lastly, we show that extraposition constructions contain modal verbs in the matrix clause more frequently than the raising variants and we tie this observation to the idea that the clausal composition of the extraposition construction is structurally more suited for expressing tentativeness.

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