The syntax of Mandarin dative alternation

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-222
Author(s):  
Tian Gan ◽  
Cheng-Yu Edwin Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Surface Form ◽  
Wide Scope ◽  
Structural Hierarchy ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs ◽  
Scope Interpretation

Abstract This paper investigates the syntax of dative constructions (DCs) in Mandarin from the perspective of quantifier scope interpretation. In the literature, doubly quantified DCs such as Xiaoming ji-le yi-zhang mingxinpian gei mei-yi-wei laoshi ‘Xiaoming mailed one postcard to every teacher’ have been claimed to be scopally ambiguous, and different syntactic analyses have been proposed based on this observation. Crucially, however, DCs with the universal direct object (DO) preceding the existential indirect object (IO), e.g., Xiaoming ji-le mei-yi-zhang mingxinpian gei yi-wei laoshi ‘Xiaoming mailed every postcard to one teacher’, appear to be not ambiguous, where only the existential IO seems to take wide scope. This problem, which we call the dative puzzle, has not been systematically explored, either theoretically or experimentally. To fill this gap, we conducted an experiment on the scope interpretation of dative sentences in Mandarin, which confirms the above observation. A syntactic analysis for Mandarin DCs is proposed accordingly, where it is argued that (i) DCs share the same underlying structure with shift constructions (SCs) of the form [Subj V-gei IO DO], both containing a causative vP embedded under an action verb (cf. Cheng et al. 1999); (ii) the surface form of a DC is derived by an optional, vP-internal scrambling of the DO from the lowest complement position to an adjunct position; and (iii) such scrambling does not affect scope interpretation. Our proposal suggests that, insofar as inherently ditransitive verbs are concerned, Mandarin DCs and SCs are derivationally related, and the observed dative puzzle is shown to follow from the structural hierarchy of the advocated base syntax of DCs.

scholarly journals The semantics of the aan-construction in 16th-century Dutch: A semasiological and onomasiological approach

Literator ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Rens
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

This article focuses on the semantics of the Dutch aan-construction [NP V NP aan NP], for example, Jan geeft een boek aan Piet (‘Jan gives a book to Piet’) in the 16th-century. In modern Dutch the aan-construction is used as an alternative to the Dutch double object construction, but previous research suggests that the use of ditransitive verbs in the Dutch aan-construction is only a 16th-century innovation – this alternation is called the ‘dative alternation’. However, it is not clear which ditransitive verbs initiated the dative alternation. Colleman (2010) believes that the first instances of the ditransitive use of the aan-construction are concrete physical movements of the direct object from the subject to the indirect object; however, he argues there is no quantitative proof to support those claims. In a self-compiled corpus of 16th-century Dutch, this article tries to find the evidence which is needed to underpin Colleman’s hypothesis by making use of the distinctive collexeme analysis and its diachronic variant. The results show that the first ditransitive instances of the aan-construction are indeed concrete uses, but that there is also an increase in the metaphorical use of the construction.

Ditransitive Verbs: An English Print Media based Comparison of Pakistani English and British English

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
British English ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
The Third ◽  
Qualitative Research Methodology ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

The present study highlights the ditransitive complementation between Pakistani English (PE) and British English (BE). The ditransitive verb complementation allows double objects in a sentence i.e. indirect object and direct object. Since the current study uses qualitative research methodology, a sample of 48 statements selected from these Pakistani Print Media sources: one newspaper, six daily magazines and two weekly magazines; eventually, 8 statements out of the 48 statements were only found suitable. Although, the findings of the present paper may be generalized as per the nature of study. Moreover, the retrieved data is analyzed in correspondence with the three patterns of ditransitive complementation of BE as introduced by Rahman (1990). Finally, the findings of the current study showed that PE utilizes infinitive phrase at the place of direct object; in view of second pattern PE leaves out indirect object and that clause remains the same between the two mentioned Englishes. Hence, in view of the third and last pattern, PE applies to infinitive in the place of indirect object and prepositional idiom. The study, hereby, has been successful in identifying the ditransitive complementation deviations between PE and BE

scholarly journals Which comes first in the double object construction?

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
NURIA YÁÑEZ-BOUZA ◽  
DAVID DENISON
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Late Modern

Competition between two methods of marking recipient/beneficiary and theme has figured in much recent research:(1)Jim gave the driver £5.   (indirect object before direct object)(2)Jim gave £5 to the driver.   (direct object before prepositional phrase)A reverse double object variant is often ignored or treated as a minor and highly restricted variant:(3)(a)?Jim gave £5 the driver.   (direct object before indirect object)(b)Jim gave it him.However, pattern (3) was much more widespread even in late Modern English, while there is clear dialectal variation within present-day British English.In this article we investigate the pronominal pattern (3b), mainly in relation to pattern (1), tracking its progressive restriction in distribution. We mine three of the Penn parsed corpora for the general history in English of double object patterns with two pronoun objects. We then add a further nine dialect and/or historical English corpora selected for coverage and representativeness. A usage database of examples in these corpora allows more detailed description than has been possible hitherto. The analysis focuses on verb lemmas, objects and dialect variation and offers an important corrective to the bulk of research on the so-called Dative Alternation between patterns (1) and (2). We also examine works in the normative grammatical tradition, producing a precept database that reveals the changing status of variants as dialectal or preferred. In our conclusion we show the importance of prefabricated expressions (prefabs) in the later history of (3), sketching an analysis in Construction Grammar terms.

Ditransitive Verbs: An English Print Media based Comparison of Pakistani English and British English

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
British English ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
The Third ◽  
Qualitative Research Methodology ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

The present study highlights the ditransitive complementation between Pakistani English (PE) and British English (BE). The ditransitive verb complementation allows double objects in a sentence i.e. indirect object and direct object. Since the current study uses qualitative research methodology, a sample of 48 statements selected from these Pakistani Print Media sources: one newspaper, six daily magazines and two weekly magazines; eventually, 8 statements out of the 48 statements were only found suitable. Although, the findings of the present paper may be generalized as per the nature of study. Moreover, the retrieved data is analyzed in correspondence with the three patterns of ditransitive complementation of BE as introduced by Rahman (1990). Finally, the findings of the current study showed that PE utilizes infinitive phrase at the place of direct object; in view of second pattern PE leaves out indirect object and that clause remains the same between the two mentioned Englishes. Hence, in view of the third and last pattern, PE applies to infinitive in the place of indirect object and prepositional idiom. The study, hereby, has been successful in identifying the ditransitive complementation deviations between PE and BE

scholarly journals Object inversion in Icelandic and the Risamálheild Corpus

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-199
Author(s):  
Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

This paper discusses Object Inversion in Icelandic syntax, i.e. examples where the direct object precedes the indirect object (DO-IO orders) in active clauses. In contrast to the neutral IO-DO order, Object Inversion is incredibly rare with most ditransitive verbs and more or less restricted to ditransitive verbs in the DAT-ACC class. This is shown by extensive searches in the new Risamálheild Corpus. These searches also show that Object Inversion strongly favors examples where the DO encodes old information and is phonologically lighter than the following IO. These results yield new and important insights into the study of Object Inversion but also confirm earlier claims in the literature.

scholarly journals The roots of ditransitive verbs of caused possession

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-158
Author(s):  
John Beavers ◽  
Andrew Koontz-Garboden
Keyword(s):  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

Chapter 3 examines English ditransitive verbs, which show the dative alternation between indirect object and to frames, each supposedly reflecting a different template for a single manner-describing root. It shows that these two templates are semantically highly underspecified, and it is the root that fleshes out many of the surface verb’s basic entailments. These entailments include change-of-state, possession, and co-location, all of which are independently known to be templatic meanings, arguing again against Bifurcation. The root also governs whether the verb even shows the dative alternation, a root-conditioned syntactic effect. A formal analysis of root/template composition is developed that relies on manner roots being able to impose conditions on the template’s result states in ways that predict the verb’s grammatical and semantic behavior. Counterproposals that might retain Bifurcation are also considered, though it is argued that they are dispreferred for various reasons.

scholarly journals Ditransitive Verbs: An English Print Media based Comparison of Pakistani English and British English

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-60
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
British English ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
The Third ◽  
Qualitative Research Methodology ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

The present study highlights the ditransitive complementation between Pakistani English (PE) and British English (BE). The ditransitive verb complementation allows double objects in a sentence i.e. indirect object and direct object. Since the current study uses qualitative research methodology, a sample of 48 statements selected from these Pakistani Print Media sources: one newspaper, six daily magazines and two weekly magazines; eventually, 8 statements out of the 48 statements were only found suitable. Although, the findings of the present paper may be generalized as per the nature of study. Moreover, the retrieved data is analyzed in correspondence with the three patterns of ditransitive complementation of BE as introduced by Rahman (1990). Finally, the findings of the current study showed that PE utilizes infinitive phrase at the place of direct object; in view of second pattern PE leaves out indirect object and that clause remains the same between the two mentioned Englishes. Hence, in view of the third and last pattern, PE applies to infinitive in the place of indirect object and prepositional idiom. The study, hereby, has been successful in identifying the ditransitive complementation deviations between PE and BE.

The Myth of Structural Rationality

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Kiesewetter
Keyword(s):  
Wide Scope ◽  
Structural Requirements ◽  
Rational Requirements ◽  
Narrow Scope ◽  
Scope Interpretation

While Chapters 4 and 5 suggest that structural requirements of rationality cannot be normative, Chapter 6 argues for the stronger conclusion that there are no such requirements to begin with. The argument is that both narrow- and wide-scope interpretations of structural requirements face problems independently of whether these requirements are understood as being normative. Starting with the narrow-scope interpretation, the chapter discusses the problem that it licenses bootstrapping of rational requirements (6.1), that it entails inconsistent requirements (6.2), and that it entails requirements that undermine each other in a counterintuitive way (6.3). Turning to the wide-scope interpretation, the chapter discusses the charge that wide-scope requirements cannot capture an important asymmetry involved in structural irrationality (6.4–6.5), and that they are incapable of guiding our responses (6.6). It is argued that all of these objections pose serious problems for the respective accounts. This supports the conclusion that there are no structural requirements of rationality (6.7).

Indirect objects in Siswati

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-326
Author(s):  
Videa P. De Guzman
Keyword(s):  
Object Relations ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Object Properties ◽  
Relational Grammar ◽  
Ditransitive Constructions

Contrary to the view that in Bantu languages the two unmarked nominals following the verb in ditransitive constructions need not be distinguished because both possess the same object properties, this paper shows the necessity of making a distinction between the direct object and the indirect object relations. Evidence comes from SiSwati, the language of Swaziland, and the analysis of the data is cast in the Relational Grammar framework. The arguments presented refer to word order, object concord (or pronominal copy) and the interaction between object concord and some syntactic phenomena such as passivization, topicalization, relativization, and clefting. By distinguishing the direct object from the indirect object in Siswati, the grammar is able to provide a more natural account for a number of related double object constructions.

scholarly journals Penggunaan Ungkapan Beri-Terima Bahasa Jepang dalam Novel Shiro no Naka no Hito Karya Hoshi Shin’ichi

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-197
Author(s):  
Ana Wuri Retnaningrum
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Vertical Distance ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Data Source

This paper discusses the use of yari-morai phrase (jujuhyougen) found in a novel data source titled Shiro no Naka no Hito. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of expressions of acceptance using Natsuko Tsujimura's theory. The items analyzed in this study are the function, role, and social distance of each argument. From the data analysis, it is found that when analyzed in a syntactic way, each argument functions as a subject and is a direct object or an indirect object. In semantic analysis, from the use of his verb, every argument plays the role of agent and beneficiary. Whereas from the use of passive expressions, each argument acts as a source and a goal. If pragmatic analysis is used, the use of the expressions is influenced by the vertical distance. However, formal situations are more important than existing vertical distances. So that also affects the use of proper expressions.

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