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.

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.

The acquisition of the active transitive construction in English: A detailed case study

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna L. Theakston, ◽  
Robert Maslen, ◽  
Elena V. M. Lieven, ◽  
Michael Tomasello,
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Event Semantics ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Levels Of Use ◽  
Simultaneous Move ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractIn this study, we test a number of predictions concerning children's knowledge of the transitive Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) construction between two and three years on one child (Thomas) for whom we have densely collected data. The data show that the earliest SVO utterances reflect earlier use of those same verbs, and that verbs acquired before 2;7 show an earlier move towards adult-like levels of use in the SVO construction and in object argument complexity than later acquired verbs. There is not a close relation with the input in the types of subject and object referents used, nor a close adherence to Preferred Argument Structure (PAS) before 2;7, but both early and late acquired verbs show a simultaneous move towards PAS patterns in selection of referent type at 2;9. The event semantics underpinning early transitive utterances do not straightforwardly fit prototype (high or inalienable) notions of transitivity, but rather may reflect sensitivity to animacy and intentionality in a way that mirrors the input. We conclude that children's knowledge of the transitive construction continues to undergo significant development between 2;0 and 3;0, reflecting the gradual abstraction and integration of the SVO and VO constructions, verb semantics, discourse pragmatics, and the interactions between these factors. These factors are considered in the context of a prototype for the transitive construction.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Replacing “Whole Limbs with Borrowed Ones”: Whiteness, Decolonization, and Early Nationalist Identification

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-14
Author(s):  
Raquel Baker
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Cultural Nationalism ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
British Colonization ◽  
Selection Of

In this essay, I center an examination of the satirical play “The Blinkards,” written by Kobina Sekyi in 1915 in the context of British colonization of the Gold Coast in West Africa, present-day Ghana. I show that postcolonial modes of identification emerged within the conceptual framework of cultural nationalism. As such, I argue that emergent postcolonial practices of identification are grounded in transnational modes of modernity. My examination of a selection of Sekyi’s texts shows how whiteness structures oppositional self-making practices within a colonial context, positioning whiteness itself as a key ground of transnational subject positions that develop in modernity.

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.

scholarly journals SELECTION OF PLUS TREES FOR GENETICALLY IMPROVED TEAK VARIETIES PRODUCED IN BENIN AND TOGO

2017 ◽  
Vol 328 (328) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adzo Dzifa Kokutse ◽  
Afiwa Dzigbodi Akpenè ◽  
Olivier Monteuuis ◽  
Arcadius Akossou ◽  
Patrick Langbour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Du Bois ◽  
Module D’Élasticité ◽  
Densité Du Bois ◽  
Bois De Cœur ◽  
Genetically Improved ◽  
Propriétés Du Bois ◽  
Qualité Du Bois ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Module D'élasticité

Cette  étude  vise  la  sélection d’arbres« plus » sur la base des caractères den- drométriques et des propriétés du bois dans des plantations de teck  au  Bénin  et au Togo. La croissance de 569 arbres dans 5 forêts au Togo et 90 arbres dans  3 forêts au Bénin a été évaluée en mesu- rant le diamètre à hauteur de poitrine, la hauteur totale et la hauteur du fût. Les propriétés suivantes du bois ont été éva- luées et prises en compte pour la sélec- tion finale d’arbres « plus » : densité, pourcentage de bois de cœur et couleur. La durabilité naturelle du bois de cœur, le point de saturation des fibres, le module d’élasticité et les retraits ont été évalués sur la base de modèles spectroscopiques dans le proche infrarouge, préalablement construits. Nos résultats montrent qu’au Togo la variabilité inter-arbres en forêt est assez forte pour l’accroissement annuel en hauteur (0,81 ± 0,27 m), en circonfé- rence (2,95 ± 1,02 cm) et en hauteur des fûts (10,64 ± 3,51m). Au Bénin, si les per- formances dendrométriques des arbres ne varient pas de façon significative  entre les forêts, pour la hauteur des fûts (10,99 ± 3,80 m), les valeurs du coeffi- cient de variation sont plus élevées (40 %) pour la forêt de Koto. Prenant en compte les propriétés du bois, la sélection finale multicritères montre que les peuplements d’Avétonou et de Tchorogo au Togo consti- tuent un groupe homogène affichant les plus fortes valeurs pour la densité du bois et le pourcentage de bois de cœur. Les arbres des forêts de Haho-Baloe et Eto ont des valeurs plus faibles pour la dura- bilité naturelle, le module d’élasticité, le pourcentage de bois de cœur et la densité du bois. Au Bénin, les arbres de la forêt d’Agrimey ont une densité plus élevée mais les valeurs pour le point de satu- ration des fibres,  la  durabilité  naturelle et le retrait du bois sont similaires pour les trois forêts. La variabilité des perfor- mances dendrométriques et de la qualité du bois des arbres-candidat nous ont per- mis de sélectionner 33 arbres « plus ». 

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.

Cognitive gadgets and cognitive priors

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gian Domenico Iannetti ◽  
Giorgio Vallortigara
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Some of the foundations of Heyes’ radical reasoning seem to be based on a fractional selection of available evidence. Using an ethological perspective, we argue against Heyes’ rapid dismissal of innate cognitive instincts. Heyes’ use of fMRI studies of literacy to claim that culture assembles pieces of mental technology seems an example of incorrect reverse inferences and overlap theories pervasive in cognitive neuroscience.

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