7 Clause structure

2021 ◽  
pp. 269-314
Keyword(s):  
Clause Structure

Clause Structure and Word Order in the History of German

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

Over roughly the last decade, there has been a notable rise in new research on historical German syntax in a generative perspective. This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of this thriving new line of research by leading scholars in the field, combining it with new insights into the syntax of historical German. It is the first comprehensive and concise generative historical syntax of German covering numerous central aspects of clause structure and word order, tracing them throughout various historical stages. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis and valid descriptive generalizations with reference also to the more traditional topological model of the German clause with a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. The volume is divided into three parts according to the main parts of the clause: the left periphery dealing with verbal placement and the filling of the prefield (verb second, verb first, verb third orders) as well as adverbial connectives; the middle field including discussion of pronominal syntax, order of full NPs and the history of negation; and the right periphery with chapters on basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex including the development of periphrastic verb forms and the phenomena of IPP (infinitivus pro participio) and ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo). This book thus provides a convenient overview of current research on the major issues concerning historical German clause structure both for scholars interested in more traditional description and for those interested in formal accounts of diachronic syntax.

A Computer Corpus-Based Study of Subject Raising in Modern Portuguese

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-400
Author(s):  
Mark Davies
Keyword(s):  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Comprehensive Data ◽  
Production Strategies ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Subject Raising

This study is the first comprehensive, data-based examination of subject raising in Portuguese, and is based on 4500+ tokens in more than 26,500,000 words of text from both the written and spoken registers of Brazilian and European Portuguese. We have suggested that there are important differences in raising between the spoken and written registers, which are related to presumably universal production strategies for the two registers. Evidence suggests that morphological factors such as subject-verb agreement play an important role in determining whether raising occurs with first, second, and third person subjects. In terms of differences between the European and Brazilian dialects, we find that split agreement (eles parece saberem) and obligatory coreference {me parece ver um fantasma) are both more common in European Portuguese. Finally, these last two facts, along with a number of related phenomena, suggest that there are important differences in the underlying clause structure of European and Brazilian Portuguese, which can further be extended to include other languages such as Spanish.

Clause structure, case and agreement in Polish existential, possessive and locative sentences: A phase-based account

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-696
Author(s):  
Joanna Błaszczak
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Case Alternation ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
Existential Sentences ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Event Variable

Abstract In this paper it will be argued that the difference between existential and locative sentences is primarily structurally encoded at the vP/VP level (at the first phase of a derivation). The crucial question is which argument of the verb BE (the Location or the nominal argument (“Theme”)) is projected as the “external argument”, i.e., which argument is the subject of inner predication. In the case of existential sentences it is the Location argument which is the subject of inner predication, and in the case of locative sentences it is the nominal argument. The subject of inner predication becomes by default also the subject of outer predication, i.e., the topic of the sentence. Hence, in the case of locative sentences the nominal argument is the subject of outer predication, i.e., the topic of the sentence, and in the case of existential sentences it is the Location which becomes the topic. (Or, alternatively, the actual topic (the subject of outer predication) might be the situational/ event variable, and the Location functions as a restriction on it.) However, the actual arrangement of constituents in the sentences under discussion, as in any other Polish sentence, is determined by the pragmatic/communicative principles. Given this, it is reasonable to think that the NOM/GEN case alternation in negated existential/locative sentences is primarily a matter of syntax, and not one of information structure or scope of negation. The analysis will be modeled in accordance with the phasal model of Chomsky (2000 et seq.).

scholarly journals The Negation Phrase in Búlu

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyrille Christal ONDOUA ENGON
Keyword(s):  
Clause Structure ◽  
Split Cp

Following the split CP analysis (Rizzi 1997), it is admitted that the highest position of the clause structure is the Force Phrase. This paper describes and analyses the structure of the negation phrase in Búlu and shows that the behaviour of some negation markers go against this proposal. Therefore, it is shown that the data attested in Búlu, enriches the cartography of the Force-Finiteness system by displaying a negation phrase above Force Phrase.

scholarly journals Sætningsstruktur og strukturelle flertydigheder

2019 ◽  
pp. 176-190
Author(s):  
Sten Vikner
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Ambiguity ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Structural Ambiguity

There is agreement across different approaches that although sentences consist of words, they are much more than strings of words: They also have structure. Section 1 shows how clause structure is analysed very differently across different approaches. The rest of the paper addresses ambiguity: lexical ambiguity in section 2, morphological structural ambiguity in section 3, and syntactic structural ambiguity in section 4. Subsections 4.1-4.2 analyse the ambiguity arising when a constituent, e.g. a PP, is interpretable either as the sister of one constituent or of another constituent. Subsection 4.3 argues that the ambiguous examples analysed in all of section 4 cannot be accounted for within approaches that do not recognise a constituent that contains a verb and its complement (i.e. a VP).

scholarly journals Language MOOD system in the old Javanese “Asta Kosali” text: a study of functional systemic linguistics

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S1) ◽  
pp. 997-1008
Author(s):  
I Putu Permana Mahardika ◽  
Ketut Artawa ◽  
Made Budiarsa ◽  
I Nyoman Arya Wibawa
Keyword(s):  
Clause Structure

This study aims to analyze the MOOD system, clause structures, as well as the polarity and modality of the Old Javanese language in an Asta Kosali Text (AKT). The data in this study were taken from the Asta Kosali text stored at the Cultural Office of Bali Province. The theory employed in this study is the theory of functional systemic linguistics, especially in the sub-theory of clause as an exchange of meaning, put forward by Halliday, Halliday and Matthiessen. The results of the study showed that the types of MOOD used in the AKT were the indicative-declarative and the imperative ones. In the indicative-declarative clause structure, the elements that must be present are Subj^Finite, or Subj^Polar/Predicator, while in the imperative clause structure, the element that must be present is the Predicator. The polarity of the Old Javanese language in AKT can be identified by affixing the words tan, nora, and haywa.

Nominal group heads and clause structure

WORD ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill Francis
Keyword(s):  
Nominal Group ◽  
Clause Structure
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