scholarly journals Antisymmetry and word order in double object constructions in Zarma

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waheed Ayisa Jayeola
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Canonical Order ◽  
Salient Features ◽  
Feature Checking

Double Object Construction in Zarma sometimes allows alternations in the order of its internal arguments and the order in some cases may also be fixed. This tendency does not make predictions about a canonical order for the occurrence of Theme and Recipient objects within the VP simple. The same condition applies to monotransitive structures which vary between a complement-head and a head-complement order. It is the aim of this paper to present and analyse the most salient features of the kind of variations found in Zarma word order, particularly the ones associated with the verb that encodes three-participant events. The paper adopts the minimalist program proposed by Chomsky and is complemented with the Antisymmetry Hypothesis proposed by Kayne (1994). The study shows that the language has a uniform linear order where the recipient canonically precedes the theme on the basis of animacy factor. This is particularly common with the pronoun as the recipient in double object structures. Employing different diagnostics, the paper concludes that the recipient only follows the theme when the theme is associated with a more prominent discourse status. It is also argued that asymmetric C-command always occurs between the theme and the recipient. It implies that the language symmetry is altered by movement to designated positions for the purpose of feature checking.

Double Object Constructions Disguised as Prepositional Datives

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bruening
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Variable Binding ◽  
Weak Crossover ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Scope Interactions ◽  
The Right ◽  
Locative Inversion

Recent work by Bresnan and colleagues (Bresnan 2007, Bresnan et al. 2007, Bresnan and Nikitina 2007) has argued that double object and prepositional dative constructions are essentially identical, the choice between them being conditioned by various factors. I argue against this conclusion, showing that the grammar clearly distinguishes double object from prepositional dative constructions. Under certain circumstances, the first object of a double object construction can shift to the right, with the preposition to appearing, but the grammar still distinguishes this from a prepositional dative construction that looks identical on the surface. The phenomena that I investigate are scope interactions with quantifiers and locative inversion. In addition, the rightward reordering operations investigated here indicate that constraints on variable binding, including weak crossover, must be formulated in terms of linear order rather than hierarchy.

scholarly journals Locating variation in the dative alternation

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Double Object ◽  
British English ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Main Variety ◽  
Syntactic Properties

This paper investigates the structure of the dative alternation in dialects of Northwest British English. This includes theme passivization of apparent Double Object Constructions (It was given her). Detailed investigation shows that different dialects use distinct licensing strategies to derive the Theme passive structure. The main variety discussed is Liverpool English, where Theme passivisation is shown to derive from a prepositional dative with a null preposition. In contrast, Manchester English, a neighbouring variety, derives Theme passives of the Double Object Construction, via an Applicative configuration (Haddican 2010, Haddican and Holmberg 2012). The study shows that a range of syntactic properties and restrictions on a structure can be traced back to variation in the functional lexicon.

Exploring epicentres empirically

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Th. Gries ◽  
Tobias Bernaisch
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Random Effects ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Indian English ◽  
British English ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Deviation Analysis ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction

The present paper studies the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction (e.g. John gave Mary a book) and the prepositional dative (e.g. John gave a book to Mary), in relation to the norms underlying this constructional choice in six South Asian Englishes. Via Multifactorial Prediction and Deviation Analysis with Regression (MuPDAR) including random effects, we identify (i) factors triggering different constructional choices in South Asian Englishes in comparison to British English and (ii) the linguistic epicentre of English in South Asia with regard to the dative alternation. We are able to show that discourse accessibility of patient and recipient as well as pronominality of recipient are actuators of structural nativisation in South Asian Englishes and — in agreement with a more general sociolinguistic approach — find via a bottom-up approach that Indian English may be regarded as the linguistic epicentre of English for South Asia.

Ditransitives in Middle English: on semantic specialisation and the rise of the dative alternation

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 149-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVA ZEHENTNER
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Causal Relation ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

This article discusses the plausibility of a correlation or even a causal relation between two phenomena that can be observed in the history of English ditransitives. The changes concerned are: first, the emergence of the ‘dative alternation’, i.e. the establishment of a link between the double object construction (DOC) and its prepositional paraphrase, and second, a reduction in the range of verb classes associated with the DOC, with the construction's semantics becoming specialised to basic transfer senses. Empirically, the article is based on a quantitative analysis of the occurrences of the DOC as well as its prepositional competitors in thePenn–Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English, 2nd edition (PPCME2). On the basis of these results, it will be argued that the semantic narrowing and the increasing ability of ditransitive verbs to be paraphrased by ato-prepositional construction (to-POC) interacted in a bi-directional causal manner.

A smuggling approach to the dative alternation

2020 ◽  
pp. 96-107
Author(s):  
Chris Collins
Keyword(s):  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction

This chapter proposes a smuggling approach to the dative alternation. On the basis of traditional c-command tests, it is argued that the prepositional dative example in (ii) is derived from the structure underlying the double object construction in (i). i. John gave Mary the car (Double Object Construction). ii. John gave the car to Mary (Prepositional Dative). A smuggling analysis is motivated for the derivation of (ii). Once the VP containing the theme is moved over the goal, the theme then moves to a higher A position c-commanding the goal. Lastly, it is shown how the distribution of particles provides support for the smuggling analysis.

Lexical preference and variation in the complementation of provide

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-84
Author(s):  
Hans Martin Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Viable Option ◽  
Data Set ◽  
British English ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Lexical Choice ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Grammatical Variation ◽  
Syntactic Annotation

Abstract This paper investigates grammatical variation in the complementation of the verb provide. It describes the distribution of the four possible patterns with two internal arguments and the interaction between pattern choice and lexical choice. The study finds and documents significant differences in the preferred complementation patterns for American and British English as well as for spoken and written news genres. It also establishes the double object construction as a viable option for American English. Methodologically, this study is based on robust automatic syntactic annotation and computerized retrieval from a data-set comprising 2.5 billion words. It is this large amount of data that permits the observation of strong preferences in terms of pattern choice at the interface between grammar and lexis.

I blackberried him twice and skyped him a happy Father’s day

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-306
Author(s):  
Filip Verroens ◽  
B. De Clerck ◽  
D. Willems
Keyword(s):  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Significant Frequency ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Semantic Frames ◽  
Zoom In ◽  
Syntactic Differences

In this article we zoom in on the Verbs of Instrument of Communication (B. Levin 1993) in English and French and address a number of interesting issues. We examine the structural possibilities of the old and new Verbs of Instrument of Communication in comparison with one another and across the two languages. First, despite the creative uses of these verbs, some structural differences between the languages still prevail in the old and new Verbs of Instrument of Communication. For instance, while English allows non-pronominal realisation of object and recipient in the so called double-object construction, this is not the case for French. Secondly, it can be observed that some verbs are more frequent in one construction than in another. For instance, while ‘fax someone something’ does occur with significant frequency in English and French, ‘telephone someone something’ occurs much less frequently. The observed cross-linguistic syntactic differences are explained in terms of a different conceptualisation of the communicative event where the structural possibilities correspond to different semantic frames.

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