scholarly journals The discourse motivation for split-ergative alignment in Dutch nominalisations (and elsewhere)

Pragmatics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freek Van de Velde
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Natural Consequence ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Discourse Grammar ◽  
Grammar Model

Dutch nominalisations of the type het eten van vlees (‘the eating of meat’) have ergative alignment. The alignment is functionally motivated, in that it is a natural consequence of the flow of discourse. The functional account that is put forward here draws on the notion of Preferred Argument Structure (Du Bois 1987) and on the distinction between foregrounded and backgrounded discourse (Hopper & Thompson 1980). Support for this account comes from other domains of ergativity in Dutch, such as causativised predicates and participial constructions and from the observation that the alignment in Dutch nominalisations is in fact split-ergative. The present study adduces corpus evidence to corroborate the claims. In the last section, the analysis is cast in a Functional Discourse Grammar model (Hengeveld & Mackenzie 2008), including its hitherto underdescribed Contextual Component.

Spoken Narrative and Preferred Clause Structure

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Sutherland-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Information Flow ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Du Bois

This study examines the spontaneous oral narrative of three native speakers of Hebrew for overall clause structure in terms of number and type of arguments per clause, following DuBois' (1985) theory of Preferred Argument Structure. The results indicate that there exists a preferred shape for narrative clauses in Hebrew and that it strongly parallels that which has been found in the ergative Mayan language, Sacapultec, upon which Du Bois' study is based. As Hebrew is a nominative-accusative language, the results point to the universality of pragmatic-cognitive factors and information flow in discourse.

Blackfoot causative formation between lexicon and grammar

Linguistics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inge Genee
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Morphological Type ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
States Of Affairs ◽  
Lexical Unit ◽  
Causative Constructions ◽  
Discourse Grammar ◽  
Synthetic Construction ◽  
Causative Construction ◽  
Semantic Properties

AbstractThis article considers the treatment of causatives in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) in relation to questions regarding the division of labor between the Grammar and the Lexicon in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). The focus is on causative constructions in which the causativizer affixes to the verb in so-called polysynthetic languages. In this respect the article also contributes to the treatment of polysynthesis in FDG. The central question is whether the causative construction is a derived lexeme created in the lexicon and inserted into the grammatical structure as a single lexical unit, or whether it is created in the grammar as a synthetic construction involving two lexical units. The article describes the pertinent morphosyntactic and semantic properties of causative constructions in Blackfoot, a polysynthetic language belonging to the Algonquian language family. I show that such constructions contain two events, each with their own semantic properties including argument structure and modifiability. In FDG this is accounted for by analyzing the semantic configuration at the Representational Level of analysis as a complex Episode consisting of two States-of-Affairs, while analyzing the morphosyntactic configuration at the Morphosyntactic Level as a complex verbal Word containing two verbal Roots, one of which is the causativizer. The causativizer is analyzed as an independent verbal lexeme stored in the lexicon rather than as derivational morpheme. This analysis follows logically from the way in which FDG conceptualizes polysynthesis, namely as a morphological type which allows the presence of more than one lexical element within a single word.

scholarly journals Diachronic Aspects of Preferred Argument Structure in English and Broader Implications

2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reijirou Shibasaki
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Old French ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
History Of

Building on speculations from preceding studies, this study aims to determine whether Preferred Argument Structure (PAS, Du Bois 1987) holds for early stages of English. As Ashby & Bentivoglio (to appear) concede in their concluding remarks, a simple comparison of PAS, in Old French and Modem French for example, is not sufficient for uncovering and understanding the nature of PAS. Therefore, this study aims to show the gradual transition of PAS in the history of English.

English prepositions in Functional Discourse Grammar

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelien Keizer
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Morphological Evidence ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Alternative Treatments ◽  
Referring Expressions ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Discourse Grammar

Adpositions have always been problematic in terms of analysis and representation: should they be regarded as lexical elements, with an argument structure, or as semantically empty grammatical elements, i.e. as operators or functions? Or could it be that some adpositions are lexical and others grammatical, or even that one and the same adposition can be either, dependent on its use in a particular context? In Functional Grammar (Dik 1997a,b) adpositions are analysed as grammatical elements, represented as functions expressing relations between terms (referring expressions). Various alternative treatments have been proposed within FG, all of which, however, fail to solve all the problems, or address all the relevant questions involved. This article offers an analysis of English prepositions within the model of Functional Discourse Grammar (Hengeveld and Mackenzie 2006, 2008), based on the semantic, syntactic and morphological evidence available and fully exploiting the novel features of this model.

scholarly journals Referential Choices in Narratives of 4-Year-Old Thai-Speaking Children

MANUSYA ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59
Author(s):  
Theeraporn Ratitamkul
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Children's Narratives ◽  
Selection Of

This paper examines how 4-year-old Thaispeaking children made referential choices when referring to animate entities in a story. The aim is to answer two questions. First, do young Thai children’s narratives exhibit Preferred Argument Structure (PAS) patterns (Du Bois 1987)? And, second, do young Thai children differentiate their choice of referential forms based on discourse contexts? It was found that children’s selection of referential forms generally followed the PAS constraints. The only constraint that was not strictly observed was the Non-lexical A constraint. Furthermore, children were found to be influenced by discourse contexts when they expressed arguments in subject positions. The evidence also showed that, at 4 years of age, children showed a preference for lexical forms and were not yet fully capable of using referential forms to create coherence in narratives.

Overcoming preferred argument structure in written French

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Mazur-Palandre
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
Production Part

Spoken and written French contrast in many ways. Our goal here is to show how later language development is profoundly impacted by experience with written language. More than 120 French-speakers/ writers, one group of children (mean age: 10;9) and two groups of adolescents (mean age: 12;7 and 15;2), participated in this study. Our analysis of noun phrases is inspired by the hypothesis of Preferred Argument Structure (Du Bois 1987) and examines referential cohesion in texts produced in contexts differing in modality (spoken – written) and text type (expository – narrative). Our aim is to demonstrate: (a) that spoken language production is governed by discursive constraints which control the flow of information; and (b) these discursive constraints differ for written and spoken production. Part of learning to become a literate user of French involves overcoming the discourse constraints governing spoken language production.

A reconsideration of the motivations for preferred argument structure

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb Everett
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Cognitive Motivations ◽  
Basic Semantic ◽  
General Restriction

Previous studies on Preferred Argument Structure have suggested (Du Bois 1987, 2002) and accepted (e.g. Goldberg 2004) specific cognitive motivations for PAS, namely that the general restriction of lexical arguments and new referents to the S and O roles facilitates the conceptually onerous task of referent introduction. In this paper, conversation data from English and Portuguese are analyzed. The data are generally inconsistent with the putative cognitive motivations for PAS presented in the literature. They suggest instead that PAS is most likely epiphenomenal and due to basic semantic and pragmatic factors, for example the correlation between human referents and given/non-lexical arguments, and the correlation between human referents and the A role.

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