Argument structure change, reanalysis and lexicalization: Grammaticalization of transitive verbs into ditransitive verbs in Chinese, Japanese and English

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-fu Tsao
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Structure Change ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

Sentience-based event structure

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-96
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Ritter
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Event Structure ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs ◽  
Feature Checking

In Blackfoot, a Plains Algonquian language spoken in Alberta, Canada, and Montana, USA, sentience, rather than telicity, is a primary determinant of argument structure. Subjects of transitive verbs, non-core objects of transitive verbs (benefactives, malefactives, sources, etc.), and primary objects of ditransitive verbs are all subject to a strict sentience requirement. This chapter follows Ritter and Wiltschko (2015) in assuming that the strict sentience requirements on argument structure are part of the grammar (i.e. part of the “narrow syntax”) of Blackfoot, and formalizes sentience as a feature that is subject to selection, a feature-checking operation, much like AGREE. This proposal correctly predicts that (a) not only agents but also causers must be sentient in Blackfoot; (b) sentient objects (not bounded ones) serve as both initiators and delimiters of events; (c) like event types, nominal types are distinguished by sentience, rather than boundedness; and (d) eventiveness is correlated with sentience, rather than dynamicity.

scholarly journals Nanai argument structure: Russian influence

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-130
Author(s):  
Ksenia Shagal
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Russian Far East ◽  
Far East ◽  
Structure Change ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Original Number ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs ◽  
Encoding Strategies ◽  
The Russian Far East

The paper investigates two classes of verbs in the Naikhin dialect of Nanai (Tungusic; spoken mostly in the Russian Far East) that demonstrate a certain instability with respect to their argument structure in a situation where there is contact with Russian, the dominating language of the region. The avalent verbs tend to acquire a subject, thus turning into intransitives, while ditransitive verbs reduce the original number of possible argument encoding strategies and preserve the dative-accusative pattern only. The general claim of this article is that although there might be some other reasons (structural, typological, etc.) for the argument structure change in an endangered language, language contact also contributes to the process.

Do simple syntactic heuristics to verb meaning hold up? Testing the structure mapping account over spontaneous speech to Spanish-learning children

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-582
Author(s):  
Cynthia Pamela Audisio ◽  
Maia Julieta Migdalek
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Structure Mapping ◽  
Analogical Mapping ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Mapping Mechanism ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs ◽  
Agreement Morphology ◽  
Verb Meaning

AbstractExperimental research has shown that English-learning children as young as 19 months, as well as children learning other languages (e.g., Mandarin), infer some aspects of verb meanings by mapping the nominal elements in the utterance onto participants in the event expressed by the verb. The present study assessed this structure or analogical mapping mechanism (SAMM) on naturalistic speech in the linguistic environment of 20 Spanish-learning infants from Argentina (average age 19 months). This study showed that the SAMM performs poorly – at chance level – especially when only noun phrases (NPs) included in experimental studies of the SAMM were parsed. If agreement morphology is considered, the performance is slightly above chance but still very poor. In addition, it was found that the SAMM performs better on intransitive and transitive verbs, compared to ditransitives. Agreement morphology has a beneficial effect only on transitive and ditransitive verbs. On the whole, concerns are raised about the role of the SAMM in infants’ interpretation of verb meaning in natural exchanges.

scholarly journals Argument Structure of Slide Verb in English

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 327
Author(s):  
Ni Wayan Manik Septianiari Putri
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Structure Functions ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
The World ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Verb Classification

Various languages in the world have their own systems, especially in terms of verb classification. It can determine argument in the structure. This paper is intended to analyze the interaction between syntax and semantics in terms of the argument structure of the slide verb in English. The main theory used in this study was the theory of argument structure proposed by Kim & Sells (2008). The result of analysis showed that two kinds of slide verb: bounce and slide are intransitive and transitive verbs. The specifier (SPR) of the sentence structure functions as the agent; the Complement (COMPS) of the verb bounce serves as the patient and the COMPS of the verb slide functions as the theme.

scholarly journals Argument Structure and Ditransitive Verbs in Japanese

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Miyagawa ◽  
Takae Tsujioka
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

scholarly journals Predicate Argument Structure in Haitian Creole

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Terms ◽  
Haitian Creole ◽  
Lexical Conceptual Structure ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs ◽  
The Many ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure

AbstractThis paper outlines the argument properties of Haitian Creole verbs, including intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive verbs, within a lexical framework which includes a level of Lexical Conceptual Structure and a level of Predicate Argument Structure. There is assumed to be a relatively free mapping relation between these two levels in order to explain the many possible variations in argument structure that most verbs exhibit. We see that there are at least two detransitivizing operations in Haitian Creole: one which operates freely and one which must be adverb-licensed. Transitive and ditransitive verbs are classified in terms of which of these operations they may undergo. The paper presents a description of Haitian Creole verb-types in Government and Binding theoretical terms and highlights several problems which Haitian Creole poses for future research.

scholarly journals The gradual acquisition of clitic “se” in Spanish L2

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Escobar ◽  
Ismael Teomiro
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Research Hypothesis ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Reflexive Verbs ◽  
L1 English

AbstractIn this study, we analyse the nature of clitic “se” and low applicatives in Spanish L2 through the study of the non-native acquisition of this clitic by L1 English adult learners. In particular, we are going to discuss the question of how English adults acquire this clitic in the different syntactic configurations where it appears (anticausative inchoative verbs, inherent reflexive verbs, transitive verbs implying an inalienable possession relation, consumption verbs and non-anticausative inchoative verbs). Our main research hypothesis is that the acquisition of clitic “se” with some types of applicatives takes place in the later stages of the learning process, since it requires exposure to certain linguistic evidence to acquire a certain type of argument structure proper to applicatives. This study is going to be based on how our subjects perform using Grammaticality Judgment Tests (GJTs).

scholarly journals Siladang Syntax: A Study of Grammar Typology

2021 ◽  
pp. 541-549
Author(s):  
Purwanto Siwi
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Grammatical Subject ◽  
Alignment System ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

The analysis of basic clause structures shows that clauses in Bahasa Siladang consist of verbal and non-verbal predication. The non-verbal predicate can be filled by an adjective, noun, numeral or prepositional phrase. The analysis of the argument structure shows that the intransitive predicate requires one NP argument as the only argument functioning as the grammatical subject, which can be an agent or a patient. Meanwhile, the transitive verb predicate requires two or more arguments. The presence of these arguments in the predicate in transitive sentences is mandatory. The conclusion from the analysis of the grammatical behavior in syntactic construction is that SL is a language which has a grammatical alignment system which gives the same treatment to A and S, and a different treatment to P. It can be categorized as an accusative language, marking the direct object of transitive verbs, making them different from the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs. Keywords: clause structure, argument structure, syntactic typology

scholarly journals On the relationship between argument structure change and semantic change

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Bethany J. Christiansen ◽  
Brian D. Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Structure Change ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
The Relationship

Argument structure (AS) and meaning are closely related, but the nature of the relationship is disputed. It is not entirely deterministic, as not all aspects of AS and meaning necessarily match up. Most discussion has focused on theory-internal issues and/or synchronic analysis of argument alternations. We, however, take a diachronic perspective, addressing how change in a verb’s AS correlates with meaning and vice-versa, and specifically asking if AS changes first, giving new semantics, or if meaning change triggers a different AS. We study these issues empirically via corpus work on the verb babysit, since it shows interesting changes involving AS and semantics in the relatively shallow diachrony of modern English.

scholarly journals Reconstructing the ditransitive construction for Proto-Germanic: Gothic, Old English and Old Norse-Icelandic

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan G. Vázquez-González ◽  
Jóhanna Barðdal
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Semantic Verb Classes ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
East West

Abstract The semantic range of ditransitive verbs in Modern English has been at the center of linguistic attention ever since the pioneering work of Pinker (1989. Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press). At the same time, historical research on how the semantics of the ditransitive construction has changed over time has seriously lagged behind. In order to address this issue for the Germanic languages, the Indo-European subbranch to which Modern English belongs, we systematically investigate the narrowly defined semantic verb classes occurring in the ditransitive construction in Gothic, Old English and Old Norse-Icelandic. On the basis of data handed down from Proto-Germanic and documented in the oldest layers of the three Germanic subbranches, East, West and North Germanic, respectively, we show that the constructional range of the ditransitive construction was considerably broader in the earlier historical stages than now; several subclasses of verbs that could instantiate the ditransitive in early Germanic are infelicitous in the ditransitive construction in, for instance, Modern English. Taking the oldest surviving evidence from Germanic as point of departure, we reconstruct the ditransitive construction for an earlier proto-stage, using the formalism of Construction Grammar and incorporating narrowly defined semantic verb classes and higher level conceptual domains. We thus reconstruct the internal structure of the ditransitive construction in Proto-Germanic, including different levels of schematicity.

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