scholarly journals Breaking Up Verb Clusters: Two-Verb Constructions in Moundridge Schweitzer German

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyoun-A Joo
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Essential Characteristic ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Verb Clusters ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
Verbal Complex

Verb clusters are a linguistic phenomenon where two or more verbs align in adjacent order. This paper discusses the structure of a certain type of verb cluster, namely modal infinitivo pro participio (IPP) structures, in main clauses of a moribund heritage variety of German, Moundridge Schweitzer German (MSG), spoken in Kansas. An acceptability judgment task was conducted with twelve participants to investigate two aspects of verb clusters in MSG. The first question concerned the integration of non-verbal elements, here the direct object (DO) and the negation particle (neg), in the verbal complex. The second question investigates whether MSG modal IPPs show variability in verb order, which is an essential characteristic of this type of verb cluster in other verb-cluster languages. The results show that modal IPP constructions in MSG have a fixed 2–3 verb order but allow object scrambling to some degree. Thus, while the ordering of verbs lacks syntactic variability, flexibility and variation are attested in the placement of the non-verbal constituents within the verbal complex. This is interpreted as the retention of an archaic dialectal trait.

scholarly journals Control Stimuli in Experimental Code-Switching Research

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Koronkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Auxiliary Verb ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

The current study investigates whether there is variation among different types of control stimuli in code-switching (CS) research, how such stimuli can be used to accommodate heterogeneity, and how they can also be used as a baseline comparison of acceptability. A group of native Spanish–English bilinguals (n = 20) completed a written acceptability judgment task with a 7-point Likert scale. Five different types of control stimuli were included, with three types considered to be completely acceptable (complex-sentence switches, direct-object switches, and subject–predicate switches) and two types considered to be completely unacceptable (pronoun switches and present–perfect switches). Additionally, a set of present–progressive switches were included as a comparison, as their acceptability status is still actively debated. The participants as a whole exhibited the expected grammatical distinctions among the control stimuli, but with a high degree of individual variability. Pronoun switches and auxiliary verb switches were rated significantly lower than the complex-sentence switches, direct-object switches, and subject–predicate switches. These results show that control stimuli can also establish a baseline comparison of acceptability, and recommendations for inclusion in experimental CS research are provided.

scholarly journals Relativas cortadoras: mover e cortar? Ou cortar antes de mover?

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-175
Author(s):  
Ana Espírito Santo
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Null Element ◽  
Syntactic Derivation ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
Object Relative

With this article, we aim at providing an answer to two main theoretical questions: what is the syntactic derivation of European Portuguese P-chopping relative clauses? And what is the nature of the phonetically and semantically null element that integrates them? We also attempt to identify constants that allow us to predict other lexical contexts for the occurrence of P-chopping relative clauses other than the ones already described in the literature. We support our conclusions with the data collected in an acceptability judgment task that included 76 native speakers. Our proposal is a derivation for P-chopping relative clauses similar to the existing one for direct object relative clauses, assuming that the null element that integrates them has the properties of a variable.

Verbi a supporto nel latino tardo: il caso di facio

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 145-160
Author(s):  
Giovanbattista Galdi
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Verbal Noun ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Semantic Evolution

SummarySupport verb constructions are documented throughout the history of Latin. These syntagms are characterized by the presence of a support verb with a more or less reduced semantic force, and a predicative (abstract or verbal) noun that often constitutes its direct object. The present contribution deals, specifically, with the use of facio as a support verb (as in bellum facere, iter facere, insidias facere etc.), focussing on the post-classical and late period. Two main questions shall be discussed: (a) whether, and if so, how facio becomes more productive in later centuries in both non-Christian and Christian sources; (b) what type of semantic evolution the verb undergoes in later Latin and whether, in this respect, continuity or rupture should be assumed with regard to the earlier period. This last point will enable us to suggest a more convincing explanation of an often-quoted passage of Cicero (Phil. 3. 22), in which the expression contumeliam facere is found.

scholarly journals Intonational effects on English scopally-ambiguous sentences

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Mien-Jen Wu ◽  
Tania Ionin
Keyword(s):  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

This paper examines the effect of intonation contour on two types of scopally ambiguous constructions in English: configurations with a universal quantifier in subject position and sentential negation (e.g., Every horse didn’t jump) and configurations with quantifiers in both subject and object positions (e.g., A girl saw every boy). There is much prior literature on the relationship between the fall-rise intonation and availability of inverse scope with quantifier-negation configurations. The present study has two objectives: (1) to examine whether the role of intonation in facilitating inverse scope is restricted to this configuration, or whether it extends to double-quantifier configurations as well; and (2) to examine whether fall-rise intonation fully disambiguates the sentence, or only facilitates inverse scope. These questions were investigated experimentally, via an auditory acceptability judgment task, in which native English speakers rated the acceptability of auditorily presented sentences in contexts matching surface-scope vs. inverse-scope readings. The results provide evidence that fall-rise intonation facilitates the inverse-scope readings of English quantifier-negation configurations (supporting findings from prior literature), but not those of double-quantifier configurations.

Null Direct Object Clitics in Basque Spanish: A Study Across Four Generations

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-384
Author(s):  
Ager Gondra
Keyword(s):  
Formal Education ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Differential Behavior ◽  
Generational Effects ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract The null direct object clitic is described as one of the distinctive morphosyntactic features of Basque Spanish (e.g., compré el libro i , pero se me ha olvidado traer øi). However, no study to date has explored the variable usage of this form in cross-generational terms. The present inquiry aims to fill this void by analyzing and contrasting the results of two studies by four generations of Spanish-Basque bilinguals with the following age ranges: 85–96 (Generation 1), 55–75 (Generation 2), 35–45 (Generation 3), 18–25 (Generation 4). The education level of the participants was also taken into consideration. The first study consisted of an acceptability judgment task, in which the participants rated the acceptability of sentences with a null direct object using a 5-point Likert scale. The independent linguistic variables in this study were the semantic features [+/-definiteness] and [+/-specificity]. The acceptance rate of null direct object clitics was significantly higher among Generation 1 and 2 speakers than among those of Generation 3 and 4, with no effect of definiteness or specificity. In the second study, based on an elicitation task, older speakers (Generation 1 and 2) produced significantly more null direct object clitics than their younger counterparts (Generation 3 and 4). By contrasting the differential behavior of the participants across and within the same generation, it is shown that the generational effects observed are mainly due to the participants’ different levels of formal education.

Limits on semantic prediction in the processing of extraction from adjunct clauses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin Alfonso Chacón
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Maze Task ◽  
Serial Search ◽  
Conceptual Semantic ◽  
Syntactic Islands ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Processing filler-gap dependencies (‘extraction’) depends on complex top-down predictions. This is observed in comprehenders’ ability to avoid resolving filler-gap dependencies in syntactic island contexts, and in the immediate sensitivity to the plausibility of the resulting interpretation. How complex can these predictions be? In this paper, we examine the processing of extraction from adjunct clauses. Adjunct clauses are argued to be syntactic islands, however, extraction is permitted if the adjunct clause and main clause satisfy specific compositional and conceptual semantic criteria. In an acceptability judgment task, we found that this generalization is robust. Additionally, our results show that this is a property specific to adjunct clauses by comparing adjunct clauses to conjunct VPs, which are similarly argued to permit extraction depending on semantic factors. However, in an A-Maze task, we found no evidence that this knowledge is deployed in real-time sentence processing. Instead, we found that comprehenders attempted to resolve a filler-gap dependency in an adjunct clause regardless of its island status. We propose that this is because deploying this linguistic constraint depends on a second-order serial search over event schemata, which is likely costly and time-consuming. Thus, comprehenders opt for a riskier strategy and attempt resolution into adjunct clauses categorically.

The time-course of morphological constraints

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Cunnings ◽  
Harald Clahsen
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
General Constraint ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Eye Movements During Reading ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

The avoidance of regular but not irregular plurals inside compounds (e.g., *rats eater vs. mice eater) has been one of the most widely studied morphological phenomena in the psycholinguistics literature. To examine whether the constraints that are responsible for this contrast have any general significance beyond compounding, we investigated derived word forms containing regular and irregular plurals in two experiments. Experiment 1 was an offline acceptability judgment task, and Experiment 2 measured eye movements during reading derived words containing regular and irregular plurals and uninflected base nouns. The results from both experiments show that the constraint against regular plurals inside compounds generalizes to derived words. We argue that this constraint cannot be reduced to phonological properties, but is instead morphological in nature. The eye-movement data provide detailed information on the time-course of processing derived word forms indicating that early stages of processing are affected by a general constraint that disallows inflected words from feeding derivational processes, and that the more specific constraint against regular plurals comes in at a subsequent later stage of processing. We argue that these results are consistent with stage-based models of language processing.

Present/future tense variation in contemporary Italian

Revue Romane ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Mark R. Hoff
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
The Future ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract According to normative descriptions of Italian future-framed adverbial clauses, the future tense is the only option (Quando verrai [F], ti presterò il libro ‘When you come, I’ll lend you the book’). However, the present tense may also be used (Quando vieni [P], ti presto il libro). I demonstrate that choice and acceptance of the present in future-framed adverbials are conditioned by the speaker’s presumption of settledness; that is, in every future world compatible with the speaker’s beliefs the eventuality necessarily occurs. The data come from an online questionnaire consisting of a forced-choice and an acceptability judgment task completed by 429 native speakers of Italian, and were analyzed using mixed-effects regression. Results show that the present is chosen most and rated highest when the future eventuality is presumed settled ([+certain, +immediate, +temporally specific]). These findings demonstrate that speakers use the present to express confidence in the realization of future eventualities.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document