A Study of the Middle Construction in English with Special Reference to Learner’s Dictionaries

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-421
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Zhu ◽  
Guohua Chen
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Significant Attention

Abstract Although the middle construction has attracted significant attention from syntacticians, its identity still remains controversial and it is not treated as a separate grammatical category in any English learner’s dictionary. This article, based on the data collected from three English learner’s dictionaries, investigates the middle construction in terms of its syntactic and semantic properties and the constraints on its use. It shows that the three learner’s dictionaries treat the middle construction in inconsistent and problematic manners. The middle use of a verb is not distinguished from either transitive verbs with an implicit object or intransitive verbs, which may hinder English learners’ acquisition of the construction. The article proposes that middle verbs should be treated as a separate subcategory of verbs on a par with transitive and intransitive verbs so that learners will become more aware of them and learn to use them correctly.

Transitivity and Intransitivity in English and Arabic: A Comparative Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Yasir Bdaiwi Jasim Al-Shujairi ◽  
Ahlam Muhammed ◽  
Yazan Shaker Okla Almahammed
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

<p>English and Arabic are two major languages which have many differences and similarities in grammar. One of the issues which is of great importance in the two languages is transitivity and intransitivity.  Therefore, this study compares and contrasts transitivity and intransitivity in English and Arabic. This study reports the results of the analysis of transitivity and intransitivity in the two respective languages. The current study is a qualitative one; in nature, a descriptive study. The findings showed that English and Arabic are similar in having transitive and intransitive verbs, and in having verbs which can go transitive or intransitive according to context. By contrast Arabic is different from English in its ability to change intransitive verbs into transitive ones by applying inflections on the main verb. Additionally, Arabic is different from English in the fact that some Arabic transitive verbs can take up to three objects.</p>

scholarly journals Functions of valency operators in Kamas

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-206
Author(s):  
Gerson Klumpp
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The One ◽  
Order Increase

AbstractThis article provides an account of the functional range of Kamas valency operators. Kamas is an extinct South Siberian language of the Samoyed branch of Uralic, which was in close contact with Turkic for many centuries. In the early 20th century, Kamas had two valency operators: (i) -Tə derived transitive from intransitive verbs as well as causative from transitive verbs; and (ii) -Ō derived intransitive from transitive verbs; in addition the intransitivizer, probably departing from pairs like edə- ‘hang up (tr.)’ > ed-ȫ- ‘hang (itr.)’, had acquired the function of specifying imperfective state-of-affairs, e.g. iʔbə- ‘lie down, lie’ > iʔb-ȫ- ‘lie’. The two markers may occur in combination in the order “increase-decrease” (-T-Ō), but not vice versa. While on the one hand the valency operators may be understood as verb derivation morphemes proper, i.e. verbs derived with the suffixes -Tə- and -Ō- are considered new lexical entries, their functional range also covers combinations with participles otherwise unspecified for voice. The valency decreaser -Ō occurs with participles of transitive verbs in order to specify P-orientation. The valency increaser -Tə has a variety of causative readings, among them causative-reflexive, causative-permissive, and causative-instrumental, and it also qualifies as a marker of control and/or characterizing activity. The discussion in this article is focused mainly on classificational issues.

scholarly journals AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENT WORDS USED IN A SCHOOL TEXTBOOK, TEAM UP ENGLISH 3, USED FOR GRADE 9 STUDENTS

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-153
Author(s):  
Sukontip Pijarnsarid ◽  
Prommintra Kongkaew
Keyword(s):  
School Textbook ◽  
Compound Nouns ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

The purpose of this study were to study the content words used in a school textbook, Team Up in English 3, used for Grade 9 students and to study the frequency of content words used in a school textbook, Team Up in English 3, used for Grade 9 students. The study found that nouns is used with the highest frequency (79), followed by verb (58), adjective (46), and adverb (24).With the nouns analyzed, it was found that the Modifiers + N used with the highest frequency (92.40%), the compound nouns were ranked in second (7.59 %). Considering the verbs used in the text, it was found that transitive verbs were most commonly used (77.58%), followed by intransitive verbs (12.06%), linking verbs (10.34%). As regards the adjectives used in the text, there were 46 adjectives in total, 30 adjectives were used as attributive (65.21 %) and 16 adjectives were used as predicative (34.78%). As for the adverbs, it was found that adverbs of times were used with the highest frequency (37.5 % ), followed by the adverbs of purpose and degree (33.33%) , the adverbs of  frequency (12.5 %) , the adverbs of place  ( 8.33% ) and the adverbs of manner ( 8.33 % ).

scholarly journals Reflexive derivations in Thulung

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimée Lahaussois
Keyword(s):  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Limited Distribution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

Thulung Rai, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Eastern Nepal, presents two derivational suffixes associated with reflexivization: -si and -s. The first, -si, is quite productive, found in complete paradigms, and derives reflexives, reciprocals, antipassives and anticausatives from transitive verbs (and occasionally from intransitive verbs). The second marker, -s, is more difficult to analyze: it has a limited distribution in verb paradigms, only appearing with 1pi and 3sg forms, and appears in a number of different contexts: it is found with the same types of derivations as -si but also — in some cases obligatorily, in others optionally — with verbs that do not have reflexive (or related) functions. It is even found with some transitive verbs. In this presentation, I will propose an analysis of the phenomena above based on elicited and narrative data I have collected in the field. The -s in fact has multiple, albeit related, origins: it is a phonological reduction of -si in certain circumstances, while in others it appears to be an older reflexivizing suffix which has been integrated, to different degrees, into verb morphology. With transitives, it appears to be a trace reflecting the complex derivational history of verbs which are derived from intransitives.

scholarly journals A SURVEY OF ERRORS INVOLVING JAPANESE TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS AMONG INTERMEDIATE VIETNAMESE LEARNERS - IMPLICATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING METHODS

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tran Thi Minh Phuong
Keyword(s):  
Effective Teaching ◽  
Real World ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Negative Transfer ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
The Real ◽  
Causative Constructions ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Word Translation ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

This study investigates the use of Japanese intransitive and transitive verbs among the Vietnamese using KY Corpus. It identifies major features of errors committed by the Vietnamese in their use of Japanese intransitive and transitive verbs, namely (1) errors due to confusion of verb transformation, which account for a high proportion; (2) errors because of the Vietnamese learners' failure in recognizing perspectives that result in construal of the real world, which may rely on the speakers' own perspective or on that of the perceived entities; (3) errors resulting from negative transfer or word-for-word translation from L1 to L2 involving the passive voice, causative constructions; and (4) errors related to the use of auxiliaries in sentences with intransitive and transitive verbs.

scholarly journals Selected Aspects of the Semantics and Syntax of De-verbal Nominalizations in English, Polish and Irish

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 157-182
Author(s):  
Maria Bloch-Trojnar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Nouns ◽  
Intensive Research ◽  
Formal Derivation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Functional Complexity ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Semantic Properties

Bearing in mind the formal and functional complexity of the category of verbal nouns in Irish (henceforth VNs), it is not surprising that it continues to be the subject of intensive research. Much has been written on the syntax of VNs proper, i.e. verbal nouns employed in participle and infinitive constructions, and linguists are so absorbed in the debate about whether to regard them as nouns or verbs (e.g. McCloskey (1983) and Duffield (1995) are representatives of the two opposing views), that the area of de-verbal nominalizations has been neglected. This paper is meant as a modest attempt to amend this situation and present some aspects of their syntax, semantics and formal derivation. In the course of our discussion we will raise the following issues. First, we will concentrate on their argument taking properties. We will try to find out whether the binary distinction process vs. result nominals (which is considered in all studies of nominalizations) can be found in nominals derived from transitive and intransitive verbs alike. Most studies of nominalizations (Rozwadowska (1997) being a notable exception) disregard or openly exclude intransitives from the scope of their interest. Secondly, we will also consider two alternative views on the process of nominalization i.e. whether to treat result nominals as products of semantic drift (as does e.g. Malicka-Kleparska (1988)) or as products of a separate derivational process producing countable nominalizations (cf. a similar analysis proposed for English in Bloch-Trojnar (2007)). The syntactic and semantic properties of nominalizations in Irish will be compared to their Polish and English opposite numbers. Finally, we will also consider their morphophonological exponents and argue that the model of LMBM developed by Beard (1995), which separates the formal and syntactico-semantic facets of derivation, is best equipped to account for the data in question.

It’s a split, but is it unaccusativity?

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 525-568
Author(s):  
Friederike Lüpke
Keyword(s):  
Intransitive Verb ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Single Argument ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

Jalonke, a Mande language of Guinea, exhibits a formal split of intransitive verbs with respect to the possessive construction in which they appear. Whenever the single argument of a nominalized intransitive verb is linked to the possessor of the nominalized verb, an inalienable possessive construction is used with some verbs, and an alienable possessive construction with others. The inalienable possessive construction is also used for nominalized transitive verbs when possessed by their object participants, while the alienable possessive construction is used for transitive verbs possessed by their subject participants. Although synchronically not fully productive, this split points towards a diachronic explanation in terms of unaccusativity. It can be explained, however, without recurrence to different initial grammatical relations, but by relying on semantic differences only.

Passive and grammaticalization in Hausa

2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahamane Laoualy Abdoulaye
Keyword(s):  
General Situation ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Passive Verbs

Hausa uses a (...)LH-u verbal morphology to derive (i) typical passive forms with an optional intensive/completive meaning, and (ii) some non-passive verbs with an obligatory intensive meaning and which are based on intransitive verbs. After a detailed description of the two forms, I propose that originally, the (...)LH-u morphology was only applied to intransitive middle verbs to derive intensive forms. Later however, the (...)LH-u morphology was grammaticalized and applied to transitive verbs to derive passive forms. I will show that the Hausa passive has continued its grammaticalization process, weakening its intensive and stative semantics, and allowing non-patient nominals to be passive subjects. This analysis implies that previously, Hausa had no passive, and this fits with the general situation in Chadic languages where indeed passive is a rare construction.

Zur koreanischen Entsprechung für deutsche deverbale Substantivgruppen

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 430-456
Author(s):  
Han Yong Nam
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Correct Choice ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Korean Language ◽  
Semantic Relationships ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

Abstract This paper deals with the morphological, syntactic and semantic features of the German deverbal noun phrases. It also examines important aspects to be considered for the correct choice of the Korean equivalents for the German deverbal noun phrases. The focus was on the semantic relationships between the head word and the dependent word in the noun phrases derived from transitive verbs, case-governing intransitive verbs and intransitive verbs without case-governing, and the method of finding equivalents in Korean language.

Grammatical category influences lateralized imagery for sentences

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
SOFIA STROUSTRUP ◽  
MIKKEL WALLENTIN
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Functional Role ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Female Character ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Grammatical Subject ◽  
Reading Direction ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Figure Drawings ◽  
Natural Language Syntax

abstractNatural language syntax has previously been thought to reflect abstract processing rules independent of meaning construction. However, grammatical categories may serve a functional role by allocating attention towards recurrent topics in discourse. Here, we show that listeners incorporate grammatical category into imagery when producing stick figure drawings from heard sentences, supporting the latter view. Participants listened to sentences with transitive verbs that independently varied whether a male or a female character (1) was mentioned first, (2) was the agent or recipient of an action, and (3) was the grammatical subject or object of the sentence. Replicating previous findings, we show that the first named character as well as the agent of the sentence tends to be drawn to the left in the image, probably reflecting left-to-right reading direction. But we also find that the grammatical subject of the sentence has a propensity to be drawn to the left of the object. We interpret this to suggest that grammatical category carries discursive meaning as an attention allocator. Our findings also highlight how language influences processes hitherto thought to be non-linguistic.

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