Verb verb complex predicates in Old and Middle Japanese

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-69
Author(s):  
Hirofumi Aoki ◽  
Bjarke Frellesvig
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

This chapter describes the main features of Verb Verb complex predicates in Old and Middle Japanese (8th to 16th centuries) and discusses changes that took place between Old Japanese and Modern Japanese. Old Japanese had complex verbal predicate constructions which resemble the Modern Japanese Types 1–3, and in addition a V1 aktionsart verb construction, which is not found in later stages and which is hypothesized to have played a crucial role in the development of complex predicates in Japanese. The wordhood of complex verbal predicates is addressed. Verb Verb complex predicates did not constitute tight morphological units in Old and Early Middle Japanese, but developed into morphological words in Late Middle and Modern Japanese. It is proposed that the loss of subordinating function of the infinitive played an important part in this change. It is also observed that the Modern Japanese Type 4 (Vte V) is a Late Middle Japanese innovation which is not a prototypical complex predicate verb construction but rather an auxiliary verb construction.

Simple Monotransitive and Complex Dative Alternation Predicates in Spanish Monolingual Child Acquisition Data

Probus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Sánchez Calderón
Keyword(s):  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This work analyzes the acquisition of simple and complex constructions in Spanish monolingual children’s data. It examines the emergence and the role played by adult input in child production of simple monotransitive constructions when compared to two types of complex predicates that undergo dative alternation (DA), namely, a/para-datives and dative-clitic doubled (DCLD) structures. In order to shed light on these issues, we have analyzed data from Spanish monolingual children and from the adults that they interact with, as available in CHILDES (MacWhinney, Brian. 2000. The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk [Dataset], 3rd edn. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. http://childes.talkbank.org (accessed 20 October 2019)). The results show that there is an order in the onset of simple and complex predicate constructions, as reflected in the earlier emergence of monotransitives when compared to DA constructions. The latter also show a subsequent order of first occurrence, namely, DCLDs before a/para-datives. Thus, the degree of syntactic complexity seems to have played a role in the acquisition of simple and complex constructions, as measured by the number of Case assignment relations between the verb and its internal argument(s). Moreover, the differences in the Spanish monolingual children’s incidence of the three structures under analysis do not appear to be explained by the relative frequency of exposure in the adult input.

L-syntax and phono-symbolism: on the status of ideophones in complex predicates

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovico Franco
Keyword(s):  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
The Status ◽  
Adjacent Position ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Direct Objects

AbstractIn this article, the author demonstrates that verbal compound constructions involving an ideophone and a light verb represent a widespread syntactic device in the world's languages. The author provides evidence that phono-symbolic morphemes cannot be treated as ‘bare’ direct objects in such constructions. Ideophones appearing in the light verb-adjacent position form a semantic unit with the verbal predicate, despite the fact that in some languages they can be syntacticized as (bare) nouns and appear in argumental position. Specifically, ideophones in complex predicates are part of the verbal domain with which they ‘blend’ (yielding a single predicate) through the mechanism of conflation, along the lines of Hale and Keyser (1993, 2002), and building on Ramchand (2008).

Old and Middle Japanese

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjarke Frellesvig
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Language ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
System P ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
History Of ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Pronominal System

Old and Middle Japanese are the pre-modern periods of the attested history of the Japanese language. Old Japanese (OJ) is largely the language of the 8th century, with a modest, but still significant number of written sources, most of which is poetry. Middle Japanese is divided into two distinct periods, Early Middle Japanese (EMJ, 800–1200) and Late Middle Japanese (LMJ, 1200–1600). EMJ saw most of the significant sound changes that took place in the language, as well as profound influence from Chinese, whereas most grammatical changes took place between the end of EMJ and the end of LMJ. By the end of LMJ, the Japanese language had reached a form that is not significantly different from present-day Japanese. OJ phonology was simple, both in terms of phoneme inventory and syllable structure, with a total of only 88 different syllables. In EMJ, the language became quantity sensitive, with the introduction of a long versus short syllables. OJ and EMJ had obligatory verb inflection for a number of modal and syntactic categories (including an important distinction between a conclusive and an (ad)nominalizing form), whereas the expression of aspect and tense was optional. Through late EMJ and LMJ this system changed completely to one without nominalizing inflection, but obligatory inflection for tense. The morphological pronominal system of OJ was lost in EMJ, which developed a range of lexical and lexically based terms of speaker and hearer reference. OJ had a two-way (speaker–nonspeaker) demonstrative system, which in EMJ was replaced by a three-way (proximal–mesial–distal) system. OJ had a system of differential object marking, based on specificity, as well as a word order rule that placed accusative marked objects before most subjects; both of these features were lost in EMJ. OJ and EMJ had genitive subject marking in subordinate clauses and in focused, interrogative and exclamative main clauses, but no case marking of subjects in declarative, optative, or imperative main clauses and no nominative marker. Through LMJ genitive subject marking was gradually circumscribed and a nominative case particle was acquired which could mark subjects in all types of clauses. OJ had a well-developed system of complex predicates, in which two verbs jointly formed the predicate of a single clause, which is the source of the LMJ and NJ (Modern Japanese) verb–verb compound complex predicates. OJ and EMJ also had mono-clausal focus constructions that functionally were similar to clefts in English; these constructions were lost in LMJ.

scholarly journals Serialization in Complex Predicates in MalakMalak

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothea Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Closed Class ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Complex Verbs ◽  
Australian Languages

<p>While complex verbs are well attested in Australian languages and elsewhere, in MalakMalak two systems of multi-verb constructions combine in a typologically rare setup: First, complex predicates consist of an uninflecting open-classed coverb and an inflecting verb (IV) of a closed class of six. Second, coverbs combine in serial constructions as part of a complex predicate with up to four coverbs encoding multiple or single events. This overlap provides a unique opportunity to examine shared and distinctive features. I argue for an analysis of MalakMalak’s complex predicates’ argument structure in terms of argument unification (Bowern 2010) of coverb and IV. </p>

scholarly journals On romance syntactic complex predicates: why Brazilian Portuguese is different

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Maria Lazzarini Cyrino
Keyword(s):  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
T System ◽  
Finite Verb

I analyze clitic climbing as the effect of Romance syntactic complex predicate formation: the non-finite verb phrase moves to the specifier of the upper V. This movement forms a complex predicate so as to allow for a configuration where clitics can climb. Crucial for this movement is the presence of a defective C-T. The lack of clitic climbing in Brazilian Portuguese is but one consequence of a non-defective C-T system in these structures. As a consequence, we have the possibility for certain constructions to occur in the language; in fact, they are presented as additional evidence for the proposal.KEYWORDS: Clitic climbing. Syntactic complex predicates. ECM. Inflected infinitives. Brazilian Portuguese. Principles & Parameters Theory.

scholarly journals Hindi aspectual complex predicates

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakthi Poornima ◽  
Jean-Pierre Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Syntax Of Aspect

This paper discusses ergative case assignment in Hindi and its interaction with aspectual verb complexes or complex predicate constructions. It is shown that ergative case is assigned by the last head in the aspectual verb complex and that ergative case on the subject of intransitive verbs denoting bodily-functions is associated with a counter-to-expectation meaning. It is then shown that aspect complex predicates in Hindi involve two distinct syntactic structures, which have similar semantics. While one syntactic structure involves argument composition, the other involves a head-modifier structure. It is argued that the existence of two structures favor approaches to the interface between syntax and semantics which do not require a uniform isomorphism between the semantics and syntax of aspect.

Simple Monotransitive and Complex Dative Alternation Predicates in Spanish Monolingual Child Acquisition Data

Probus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-179
Author(s):  
Silvia Sánchez Calderón
Keyword(s):  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This work analyzes the acquisition of simple and complex constructions in Spanish monolingual children’s data. It examines the emergence and the role played by adult input in child production of simple monotransitive constructions when compared to two types of complex predicates that undergo dative alternation (DA), namely, a/para-datives and dative-clitic doubled (DCLD) structures. In order to shed light on these issues, we have analyzed data from Spanish monolingual children and from the adults that they interact with, as available in CHILDES (MacWhinney, Brian. 2000. The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk [Dataset], 3rd edn. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. http://childes.talkbank.org (accessed 20 October 2019)). The results show that there is an order in the onset of simple and complex predicate constructions, as reflected in the earlier emergence of monotransitives when compared to DA constructions. The latter also show a subsequent order of first occurrence, namely, DCLDs before a/para-datives. Thus, the degree of syntactic complexity seems to have played a role in the acquisition of simple and complex constructions, as measured by the number of Case assignment relations between the verb and its internal argument(s). Moreover, the differences in the Spanish monolingual children’s incidence of the three structures under analysis do not appear to be explained by the relative frequency of exposure in the adult input.

The scope interpretation of complex predicates in Japanese: A unified lexicalist analysis

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUSUKE KUBOTA
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Quantifier Scope ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Scope Ambiguity ◽  
Verbal Noun ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Scope Interpretation

This paper proposes a unified analysis of adverb scope and quantifier scope phenomena in a lexicalist approach to complex predicates. I first observe that the availability of scope ambiguity for adverbs and for quantifiers always coincides for a given type of complex predicate, drawing on data from different kinds of compound verb constructions, the verbal noun-taking predicates and the nominative object construction. The challenge for a unified treatment in lexicalist frameworks comes from the fact that syntactic structures cannot be taken as the locus for representing the scope of adverbs and quantifiers, unlike in derivational frameworks where such an analysis is the most natural. Thus, a previous lexicalist analysis by Manning, Sag & Iida (1999) makes use of completely different mechanisms to account for adverb scope and quantifier scope, failing to capture the close parallel between them. I remedy this problem of Manning et al.'s analysis by proposing a unified account of adverb scope and quantifier scope that crucially makes use of a slightly enriched semantic representation explicitly encoding the property of mono-/biclausality with respect to scopal phenomena.

La distribuzione diatopica di alcuni predicati complessi sardi

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-81
Author(s):  
Francesco Casti
Keyword(s):  
Past Participle ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Future Time ◽  
Progressive Aspect ◽  
Morphosyntactic Variation ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Causative Constructions ◽  
Different Types

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to examine the diatopic variation of some Sardinian complex predicates, mainly from a morphosyntactic (and, secondarily, a semantic) perspective. I will discuss (i) the distribution of Camp(idanese) ai / Log(udorese)-Nu(orese) àere a + inf(initive), lit. ‘to have to’ + inf., and of the agglutinated and univerbated forms of Log.-Nu. dèvere/dèppere + inf., lit. ‘must’ + inf., both constructions expressing (different types of) future time reference; (ii) the diffusion of person and number in the modal complex predicate Camp. fai / Log.-Nu. fàghere/fàchere a + inf., lit. ‘to do to’ + inf., with the sense of ‘being able/allowed to do something’; (iii) cases of double accusative marking of clitic pronouns expressing causee/beneficiary and undergoer, and agreement between these pronouns and the past participle of ‘make’/‘let’ in the causative constructions Camp. fai / Log.-Nu. fàghere/fàchere + inf., lit. ‘to make’ + inf., and Camp. lassai / Log.-Nu. lassare/(dassare) + inf., lit. ‘to let’ + inf.; (iv) the ongoing diffusion of the reiterative and/or purposive values of Camp. torrai a/po / Log.-Nu. torrare a/pro + inf., lit. ‘to return to’ + inf.; (v) the ongoing diffusion of the aspectual complex predicate Camp. (am)megai / Log.-Nu. (am)megare de/a + inf., conveying progressive aspect, according to Blasco Ferrer (1991; 2002) and my data. In conclusion, I will argue that isoglosses of morphosyntactic variation of Sardinian complex predicates seem to be more ‘conservative’ (in the sense of Virdis 1988) and to englobe wider and more homogenous areas, if compared to phonological isoglosses.

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