Initial observations on complex predicates in Qaqet children’s language

First Language ◽

10.1177/0142723720922004 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 014272372092200

Author(s):

Birgit Hellwig

Keyword(s):

Papua New Guinea ◽

Language Learner ◽

Complex Predicates ◽

Remote Areas ◽

West Germanic ◽

Particle Verbs ◽

Complex Verbs ◽

Verb Lexicon ◽

Children's Speech ◽

Cover Up

This article focuses on complex predicates in Qaqet, a Papuan (Baining) language of Papua New Guinea, spoken by 15,000 people and still being acquired monolingually in remote areas. A large part of the Qaqet verb lexicon is compositional, consisting of simple verb roots that combine with prepositions or particles/suffixes, jointly contributing to the overall meaning of the expression. While patterns can be discerned, the resulting meanings are only partly transparent, thus presenting challenges to the language learner. This article is a first study tracing the distribution of these complex expressions in Qaqet children’s speech, drawing on a subset (31 hours) of a longitudinal corpus of children aged 2–6 (with a focus on the ages 2–4). The Qaqet complex verbs are reminiscent of West Germanic prefix and particle verbs (such as uncover and cover up), and this study therefore takes Heike Behrens’ pioneering study as its point of reference.

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Serialization in Complex Predicates in MalakMalak

LSA Annual Meeting Extended Abstracts ◽

10.3765/exabs.v0i0.3020 ◽

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>

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Stefan Müller, Complex Predicates: Verbal Complexes, Resultative Constructions, and Particle Verbs in German. Studies in Constraint-Based Lexicalism 13, Stanford: CSLI Publications, 2002, 468 pp. ISBN 1-57586-386-3

The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics ◽

10.1007/s10828-006-9000-7 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 143-160

Author(s):

Martin Haiden

Keyword(s):

German Studies ◽

Complex Predicates ◽

Resultative Constructions ◽

Particle Verbs

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Limits on P: filling in holes vs. falling in holes

Nordlyd ◽

10.7557/12.13 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Peter Svenonius

Keyword(s):

Distinct Type ◽

External Argument ◽

Alternative Source ◽

Internal Argument ◽

Verb Phrase ◽

West Germanic ◽

Particle Verbs ◽

Germanic Languages

All Germanic languages make extensive use of verb-particle combinations (known as separable-prefix verbs in the OV languages). I show some basic differences here distinguishing the Scandinavian type from the OV West Germanic languages, with English superficially patterning with Scandinavian but actually manifesting a distinct type. Specifically, I argue that the P projection is split into p and P (in accordance with earlier work), roughly analogous to v and V in the verb phrase. In English, p is always present in PP, and enables P to assign case, if P has an internal argument (as it does in "fall in the hole"). The arguments of particle verbs are then arguments of p, external arguments of the particle (as in "throw the rock in"). OV West Germanic allows p to be missing completely, thus having a type of unaccusative particle whose inner argument must receive case from the verb (corresponding to "fall the hole in," impossible in English). Scandinavian allows p to be missing, so that there is no external argument of the particle, but provides an alternative source for case for the internal argument (giving examples corresponding to "pour in the glass"). Thus English and Scandinavian are different from OV West Germanic in lacking the unaccusative type of particle, while Scandinavian differs from OV West Germanic and English in having an alternative source of case.

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Towards an explanation of the syntax of West Germanic particle verbs: A cognitive-pragmatic view

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

10.1515/cog-2017-0069 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 703-728 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas Berg

Keyword(s):

Prototype Theory ◽

West Germanic ◽

Unusual Behaviour ◽

Subordinate Clauses ◽

Particle Verbs ◽

Grammatical Categories ◽

The Subject ◽

Syntactic Constraints

AbstractWhile the unusual behaviour of particle verbs in West Germanic has been the subject of much debate, it still awaits a substantive explanation. These verbs undergo reversal and/or intercalation subject to such syntactic constraints as finiteness and clause type. Situated within Prototype Theory, this study defines the relevant grammatical categories in terms of varying degrees of syntacticity (i.e., sentence-likeness vs. word-likeness) of which cohesiveness is a major indicator. The higher the cohesiveness of a given category, the more resistant it is to syntactic processes. The following scale of increasing cohesiveness is proposed: main clauses, finite verbs, subordinate clauses, non-finite verbs, nouns. Thus, reversal and intercalation are found in the leftward, though not in the rightward categories. This scale is pragmatically motivated. Generally speaking, main clauses are communicatively more important than subordinate clauses. Therefore, the former require a wider choice of expressive means such as reversal and intercalation than the latter. The availability of syntactic options is argued to be an iconic reflection of communicative needs.

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