scholarly journals French missing object constructions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Aguila-Multner ◽  
Berthold Crysmann
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Logical Object ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Logical Subject

This paper discusses a class of French à-infinitival constructions, where the missing direct object corresponds to an external argument, either being the antecedent noun in an attributive use, or else a raised argument in a subject or object predication or in the tough construction.  We investigate the internal and external properties of these constructions and show that (i) the construction displays passive-like properties and (ii) control and raising verbs may intervene between the marker à and the missing object verb, as shown on the basis of a corpus study. We observe that while the construction as a whole behaves like a passive where the erstwhile logical object ends up being promoted to external argument, the logical subject is still accessible for control, both from within the à-infinitive and from outside. Building on Grover (1995), we analyse these double subjects by way of a two-step passivisation, where the direct object valency is lexically promoted to subject without concomitant subject demotion. Raising of the missing object as a secondary subject will make it available on the marker à, which finally promotes it to external argument, thereby completing the passivisation effect. The present analysis thus captures the full set of à-infinitival missing object constructions in a unified fashion, capturing its passive-like properties and the extended domain of locality.

scholarly journals Argument-Structure-Reducing Operations in Standard Arabic: An Exploratory Comparative Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Abdellatif ED-DARRAJI
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Change Of State

This paper attempts to examine some argument-structure-reducing operations in Standard Arabic (SA for short). It is proposed here that some affixes (viz. prefixes and infixes) can decrease the argument structure (or valence) of the subclass of change-of-state (COS for short) verbs in the language under study. More specifically, these affixes function as unaccusativizers or decausativizers in that they can derive unaccusative COS verbs from causative COS verbs by suppressing the external argument of the latter verbs and syntactically promoting the direct object to subject position. Crucially, the ability of these affixes to affect the argument structure and the morphosyntactic realization of arguments is not limited to SA, but it has been attested in some other languages, such as Italian, Russian, Chichewa, Spanish, French, Eastern Armenian, West Greenlandic, and Tzutujil, among others.            

Children's ability to answer different types of questions

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
DOROTHÉ SALOMO ◽  
ELENA LIEVEN ◽  
MICHAEL TOMASELLO
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Single Element ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Focus Questions

ABSTRACTYoung children answer many questions every day. The extent to which they do this in an adult-like way – following Grice's Maxim of Quantity by providing the requested information, no more no less – has been studied very little. In an experiment, we found that two-, three- and four-year-old children are quite skilled at answering argument-focus questions and predicate-focus questions with intransitives in which their response requires only a single element. But predicate-focus questions for transitives – requiring both the predicate and the direct object – are difficult for children below four years of age. Even more difficult for children this young are sentence-focus questions such as “What's happening?”, which give the child no anchor in given information around which to structure their answer. In addition, in a corpus study, we found that parents ask their children predicate-focus and sentence-focus questions very infrequently, thus giving children little experience with them.

Antipassive

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Logical Object ◽  
Noun Incorporation

This chapter presents typical properties of the antipassive, addresses its cross-linguistic distribution, and discusses main existing analyses. “Antipassives” are constructions in which the logical object of a transitive (two-place) predicate is not realized as a direct object, but instead appears as a non-core argument or left unexpressed (but presupposed). The morphological realization of the antipassive is more varied than is usually assumed; in particular, pseudo noun incorporation, true noun incorporation, and bi-absolutive constructions can instantiate the antipassive. The antipassive and the passive are not mutually exclusive; a number of examples in this chapter provide empirical evidence in support of antipassive/passive compatibility. The antipassive is not limited to ergative languages, although it may be more noticeable under ergative configuration.

Ergativity and Transitivity

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Woolford
Keyword(s):  
Type A ◽  
The Other ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Nez Perce ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Object Shift ◽  
Shift Type ◽  
Ordinary Notion ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

Ergative case is said to mark transitive subjects, and it is widely assumed that this is true under the ordinary definition of transitive; however, Bittner and Hale (1996) propose that ergative languages fall into two types, neither of which is based on the ordinary notion of transitivity. In one, a direct object is not necessary for ergative case: any verb with an external argument counts as transitive, following Hale and Keyser 1993 (e.g., Warlpiri). In the other, a direct object is necessary, but not sufficient: the subject gets ergative case only if the object moves out of the VP (e.g., Inuit). This article argues that Niuean, Dyirbal, and Nez Perce are also of this object shift type. A search yielded no language where ergative case is clearly governed only by ordinary transitivity; languages that do fit the stereotype have only ergative agreement. A formal account of the correlation between object shift and ergative case is proposed, under which ergative case can be used as a ‘‘last resort,’’ as one of three ways to avoid the locality violation that object shift creates.

The ACI construction in the history of German

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Augustin Speyer
Keyword(s):  
Structural Difference ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Perception Verbs ◽  
Logical Subject ◽  
History Of

The ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo) in Modern German is governed almost exclusively by perception verbs. For genuine OHG, the same can be said. In MHG and ENHG authors began to experiment with other verb classes as potentially governing ACIs, probably influenced by Latin, but this usage never made its way in ‘normal’ grammar. The tenacity of the exclusive association of ACI with perception verbs hints at an analysis in which the logical subject of the ACI is a constituent on its own, the predicate part of the ACI being a separate constituent. Other tests, e.g. tests for constituency, point in the same direction. This is different from Latin; here the ACI as a whole counts as constituent and can therefore as a whole function as direct object. The structural difference might account for the fact that the syntactic loan of an extended usage of the ACI never came to fruition.

scholarly journals Accessibility and word order: The case of ditransitive constructions in Persian

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pegah Faghiri ◽  
Pollet Samvelian ◽  
Barbara Hemforth
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Length ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Ditransitive Constructions

In a most recent corpus study on Persian, Faghiri & Samvelian (2014) found a significant effect of relative length in the ordering preferences between the direct and indirect objects in the preverbal domain corresponding to "long-before-short". They furthermore showed that the position of the direct object mainly depends on its degree of determination, and put into question the broadly accepted dual view based solely on differential object marking. In this paper, we provide experimental evidence in support of these corpus findings and further propose a unified account of ordering preferences between the two objects on the basis of conceptual accessibility.

scholarly journals ANIMACY AND DIRECT OBJECT MARKING IN THE BESERMAN CORPUS

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-215
Author(s):  
Natalia Vadimovna Serdobolskaya
Keyword(s):  
Field Data ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

In Standard Udmurt, the marking of direct objects is mostly influenced by their definiteness (referential properties), animacy and quantification. According to my field data, in Beserman the referential properties are most significant for the choice between the accusative and the non-marked form. This paper presents the results of a corpus study of direct object marking: it is aimed at revealing, how exactly animacy and referential properties interact in the algorithm of choosing direct object marking. For each value of both parameters different rules are formulated.

A corpus study of child heritage speakers’ Spanish gender agreement

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1088-1104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Goebel-Mahrle ◽  
Naomi L. Shin
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Younger Child ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
Form Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gender Matching

Objectives: This study investigates (a) whether child heritage speakers produce more gender mismatches in Spanish ( un piedra “a-masc. stone-fem.”) than monolingual children, (b) whether older child heritage speakers mismatch more than younger ones, and (c) linguistic contexts in which mismatches occur. Methodology: 3893 agreement forms were extracted from corpora of Spanish spoken by six monolingual children, ages 5–6 years, and three groups of US child heritage speakers: ten 5–6-year-olds, fifteen 7–8-year-olds, and twenty-one 9–11-year-olds. Data and analysis: Logistic regressions measured the impact of agreement form type, noun gender, noncanonical noun ending, and noun frequency on gender matching. One regression included 5–6-year-olds only (monolingual and heritage); the second included child heritage speakers only (5–11-year-olds). Findings: There were no significant differences between monolingual and heritage 5–6-year-olds; for these children, adjectives, direct object clitics, noncanonical nouns, and feminine nouns increased the likelihood of mismatches. Among the 5–11-year-old heritage speakers, direct object clitics referring to feminine nouns and noncanonical nouns increased the likelihood of mismatches. The 9–11-year-olds produced more gender mismatches referring to feminine nouns than the younger child heritage speakers, especially with direct object clitics. Originality: This corpus study provides evidence for high rates of gender matching and clarifies the contexts that increase the likelihood that children will mismatch. Implications: Gender matching remains an intact part of child heritage speakers’ Spanish grammars. The distribution of mismatches found provides evidence of a strong article–noun association and a weaker noun–direct object clitic association. The oldest child heritage speakers’ use of masculine clitic lo to refer to feminine nouns may reflect an association between English “it” and Spanish lo. More generally, the finding that mismatches tend to involve masculine forms referring to feminine nouns supports the idea that masculine is the default, unmarked form in Spanish.

Remembering Complex Sentences

1972 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Wearing
Keyword(s):  
Logical Object ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Logical Subject ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Retention Intervals ◽  
Adverbial Phrase ◽  
Better Than

Recall of complex sentences at two retention intervals was examined, using sentences which varied simultaneously in three ways, being either active or passive, of low or high Yngve depth, and predictable or unpredictable. Recall of any particular sentence was cued with either the logical subject, logical object, verb or adverbial phrase noun. In general, unpredictable sentences were recollected better than predictable ones, low Yngve depth sentences were recalled better than high Yngve depth ones, and passive sentences were retained better than active ones. The most effective cue was the object, followed in turn by the subject and the adverbial phrase noun, with the verb being least effective. Implications of these findings are discussed.

What is happened may not be what appears to be happening: a corpus study of ‘passive’ unaccusatives in L2 English

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Oshita
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
First Language ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Plausible Account ◽  
Logical Subject ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
Adjectival Passive ◽  
Large Corpus ◽  
English I

Second Language (L2) researchers have been studying ‘passive’ unaccusative errors such as What was happened?, but have not yet reached a consensus about the ultimate cause of this unique interlanguage structure. This article critically reviews five major accounts proposed in the literature, namely: • transfer of a compound tense/aspect structure in the learner's first language (L1); • overgeneralization of adjectival passive formation in English; • nontarget lexical causativization; • identification of the passive morphosyntax with the lack of a logical subject; and • nontarget overt marking of syntactic NP movement. By analysing each account in terms of its ramifications in light of the data already available in the literature and additional data from a large corpus of nonnative English, I demonstrate that the most plausible account of the ‘passive’ unaccusative structure is to regard it as an overt marker of NP movement, an overgeneralization of the passive morphosyntax of the target English.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document