scholarly journals Clitic doubling of the proposed direct object in Bulgarian

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilyana Ovcharova

Clitic doubling of the proposed direct object in Bulgarian The presence or absence of accusative clitic doubling in Bulgarian clauses with direct object preposing serves grammatical or pragmatic purposes and falls within the discussion on word order, in particular the analysis of clauses exhibiting marked word order.Grammatical doubling occurs in clauses where the clitics are part of the verb’s morphological make-up and in clauses where the clitics serve as case markers for disambiguating the syntactic function of the initial noun phrase (NP). Pragmatic clitic doubling does not affect the clause grammaticality or in terms of semantics: it serves as a topicality marker, signaling the discourse-old status of the preposed NPs’ referents or is used to activate such referents. Pragmatic clitic doubling may occur with focused discourse-old NPs, which at first sight may appear as an inconsistency: one would expect that the topic and focus should be identified differently. In Bulgarian pragmatic accusative clitic doubling is not admissible only when the preposed NP realizes contrastive, emphatic focus. Podwajanie klityki zaimkowej dopełnienia bliższego w języku bułgarskim Podwajanie klityki zaimkowej dopełnienia bliższego w języku bułgarskim (jej obecność lub brak) służy funkcji gramatycznej lub pragmatycznej i wiąże się z zagadnieniem szyku wyrazów, zwłaszcza we frazach nacechowanych na szyk.Repryza występuje w funkcji gramatycznej w wyrażeniach, w których klityki stanowią część frazy werbalnej i służą ujednoznacznieniu funkcji składniowej frazy nominalnej, występującej w pozycji inicjalnej w zdaniu. Czynniki pragmatyczne nie naruszają kształtu gramatycznego czy semantyki frazy: pragmatyczne podwajanie służy topikalizacji, sygnalizując status referenta poprzedzającej frazy nominalnej, lub służy do aktywacji takiego referenta. Pragmatyczna repryza może wystąpić po frazie nominalnej, która jest specjalnie wyróżniona (in focus), co na pierwszy rzut oka może się wydawać niekonsekwencją: oczekiwalibyśmy raczej, że temat (topic) i fokus (specjalny akcent) powinny być identyfikowane językowo w sposób różny. W języku bułgarskim pragmatyczne podwajanie obiektu jest niedopuszczalne jedynie wówczas, gdy poprzedzająca fraza nominalna służy funkcji kontrastywnej, tj. wyrażaniu specjalnej emfazy.

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-148
Author(s):  
Amitabh Vikram DWIVEDI

This paper is a summary of some phonological and morphosyntactice features of the Bhadarwahi language of Indo-Aryan family. Bhadarwahi is a lesser known and less documented language spoken in district of Doda of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State in India. Typologically it is a subject dominant language with an SOV word order (SV if without object) and its verb agrees with a noun phrase which is not followed by an overt post-position. These noun phrases can move freely in the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence. The indirect object generally precedes the direct object. Aspiration, like any other Indo-Aryan languages, is a prominent feature of Bhadarwahi. Nasalization is a distinctive feature, and vowel and consonant contrasts are commonly observed. Infinitive and participle forms are formed by suffixation while infixation is also found in causative formation. Tense is carried by auxiliary and aspect and mood is marked by the main verb.


Revue Romane ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-206
Author(s):  
Natalia Pericchi ◽  
Bert Cornillie ◽  
Freek Van de Velde ◽  
Kristin Davidse

Abstract Clitic doubling is the phenomenon in which, in a clause, a NP or a stressed pronoun and a clitic pronoun refer to the same entity and have the same syntactic function. Previous studies on this phenomenon in Spanish observe that it takes place when the elements involved have features such as +preposition and +definiteness that make them prone to topicalization, such as with stressed pronouns (Silva-Corvalán, 1984; Melis and Flores, 2009; Vázquez Rozas and García Salido, 2012). However, we have found that in 19th and 20th Century Spanish, doubling often occurs with elements that are not typically topical, such as indefinite NPs. On the basis of a sample of the Argentinian variety from the CORDE and CREA corpora we found that doubling in ditransitive clauses has two functions: it can mark topical indirect objects, but it can also flag inverse distributions which have unexpected promotion of the direct object and demotion of the indirect object in the accessibility scale.


Author(s):  
Steven N. Dworkin

This chapter describes selected issues of noun phrase, verb phrase, and sentential syntax. It emphasizes differences between the selected constructions in Old Spanish and in the modern standard language. Specific issues discussed include the function of determiners, the use of subject pronouns, the preverbal or postverbal placement of clitic object pronouns, direct object marking, and issues involving subject-verb-object and noun-adjective word order. The section on verbal syntax examines the use of the present, imperfect, and preterit tenses in medieval Hispano-Romance, the syntax of analytic or compound tenses, the syntactic differences between the synthetic and analytic futures, the syntax and semantics of the subjunctive, and the syntax of aver/tener and ser/estar.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Tseden Otgonsuren

This paper focuses on the capacity of the case markers in the Mongolian language, as a relative element, to generate any finite noun phrase or relative clause based on their syntactic function or relationship. In Mongolian, there are two different approaches to generate noun phrases: parataxis and hypotaxis. According to my early observation, if the noun phrase generated through the parataxis, is the complement of the postpositional phrase, the head word of the relevant noun phrase can be truncated. In other words, since this head noun is governed by case marker in its null form to generate the postpositional phrase, the head noun can be encoded.  The second approach generates two different types of noun phrases in their structures: free structured and non-free structured noun phrases. Of them, the free structured noun phrase allows any syntactic transformations in their internal structure based on the senses of the case markers which denote a relation. That is to say, the null constituents in this type of noun phrases can be encoded to generate an extended alternative of the noun phrase and a relative clause.    


Author(s):  
A. M. Devine ◽  
Laurence D. Stephens

Latin is often described as a free word order language, but in general each word order encodes a particular information structure: in that sense, each word order has a different meaning. This book provides a descriptive analysis of Latin information structure based on detailed philological evidence and elaborates a syntax-pragmatics interface that formalizes the informational content of the various different word orders. The book covers a wide ranges of issues including broad scope focus, narrow scope focus, double focus, topicalization, tails, focus alternates, association with focus, scrambling, informational structure inside the noun phrase and hyperbaton (discontinuous constituency). Using a slightly adjusted version of the structured meanings theory, the book shows how the pragmatic meanings matching the different word orders arise naturally and spontaneously out of the compositional process as an integral part of a single semantic derivation covering denotational and informational meaning at one and the same time.


Author(s):  
Hiroki Fujita ◽  
Ian Cunnings

Abstract We report two offline and two eye-movement experiments examining non-native (L2) sentence processing during and after reanalysis of temporarily ambiguous sentences like “While Mary dressed the baby laughed happily”. Such sentences cause reanalysis at the main clause verb (“laughed”), as the temporarily ambiguous noun phrase (“the baby”) may initially be misanalysed as the direct object of the subordinate clause verb (“dressed”). The offline experiments revealed that L2ers have difficulty reanalysing temporarily ambiguous sentences with a greater persistence of the initially assigned misinterpretation than native (L1) speakers. In the eye-movement experiments, we found that L2ers complete reanalysis similarly to L1ers but fail to fully erase the memory trace of the initially assigned interpretation. Our results suggested that the source of L2 reanalysis difficulty is a failure to erase the initially assigned misinterpretation from memory rather than a failure to conduct syntactic reanalysis.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 695-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Carmen Parafita Couto ◽  
Marianne Gullberg

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study aims to improve our understanding of common switching patterns by examining determiner–noun–adjective complexes in code-switching (CS) in three language pairs (Welsh–English, Spanish–English and Papiamento–Dutch). The languages differ in gender and noun–adjective word order in the noun phrase (NP): (a) Spanish, Welsh, and Dutch have gender; English and Papiamento do not; (b) Spanish, Welsh, and Papiamento prefer post-nominal adjectives; Dutch and English, prenominal ones. We test predictions on determiner language and adjective order derived from generativist accounts and the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) approach. Design/methodology/approach: We draw on three publicly available spoken corpora. For the purposes of these analyses, we re-coded all three datasets identically. From the three re-coded corpora we extracted all monolingual and mixed simplex NPs (DetN) and complex NPs with determiners (determiner–adjective–noun (DetAN/NA)). We then examined the surrounding clause for each to determine the matrix language based on the finite verb. Data and analysis: We analysed the data using a linear regression model in R statistical software to examine the distribution of languages across word class and word order in the corpora. Findings/conclusions: Overall, the generativist predictions are borne out regarding adjective positions but not determiners and the MLF accounts for more of the data. We explore extra-linguistic explanations for the patterns observed. Originality: The current study has provided new empirical data on nominal CS from language pairs not previously considered. Significance/implications: This study has revealed robust patterns across three corpora and taken a step towards disentangling two theoretical accounts. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of comparing multiple language pairs using similar coding.


1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-326
Author(s):  
Videa P. De Guzman

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.


Author(s):  
Nick Henry

Abstract Previous research has suggested that L2 learners often use non-target processing strategies to understand sentences, but that these strategies can be changed through targeted instruction that directs their attention to different linguistic forms or structures. The present study explores the effects of pretraining ‘blocking’ practice—a novel type of training designed to help learners inhibit the application of a strict word-order based processing strategy—prior to receiving a traditional Structured Input (SI) training focused on OVS word order and accusative case markers in German. The study compares three groups of third-semester German learners who completed three different activities in one training session: (1) SI with blocking practice (+BP), (2) SI preceded by explicit information (+EI), and (3) SI without EI or blocking practice (−EI). The effects of training were measured by sentence-level interpretation and production tasks administered as a pretest, posttest, and four-week delayed posttest. Learner performance was also assessed during training. Results in all assessment measures indicated that EI was most effective, but that blocking practice lent a slight advantage over −EI groups during and after training. These results are discussed in the context of studies on processing instruction and learned attention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-174
Author(s):  
Suzan Alamin

Abstract This study provides a detailed description of word order types, agreement patterns and alternations found in Tagoi, a Kordofanian language traditionally spoken in South Kordofan. After a brief presentation of the language (section 1), the noun class system is introduced (section 2) and the word order and agreement patterns are examined at the noun phrase level (section 3). Section 4 gives information about the constituent order at clause and sentence level, while Section 5 summarizes the findings and conclusion of the paper. All in all, the paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the grammar, structure and typological features of Tagoi.


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