scholarly journals Explanatory constructions in the Altai language (in literary and academic texts)

2020 ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
A. A. Ozonova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Models ◽  
Strategy Choice ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Semantic Types

We analyze the structural and semantic types of Altai polypredicative explanatory construc-tions (in literary and academic texts). Explanatory relations are expressed by two types of constructions: monofinite (with the infinite predicate in the subordinate clause) and bifinite (with the finite predicate in the main and subordinate clauses and their relation being analyti-cally indicated by the linking unit or connector dep). The semantic-grammatical type of the predicate in the main clause defines the semantic distinctiveness of explanatory sentences and the structural models of constructions corresponding to the semantic types. The strategy choice of the subordinate sentence structure primarily depends on the semantics of the main predicate. The verbs of three lexical-semantic groups (thought, speech, and emotion) predom-inantly function as a predicate of the main predicate unit. These verbs have their peculiarities in semantics and usage. For example, speech verbs are actively used in bifinite poly- predicative constructions and much less in monofinite constructions. Verbs of perception sug-gest only sensory interpretations in monofinite constructions. However, in bifinite construc-tions, they also contain epistemic elements. The academic text specificity is characterized by the wide use of the verbs of thought and speech, deductive evaluative predicates as main pred-icates in polypredicative constructions. The functionally subordinate clauses may serve as ei-ther a subject or an object. In the Altai language, the subordinate clause, as a predicate object, contains possessive and case affixes of the accusative, dative, ablative, instrumental, and loca-tive cases. When being a predicative subject, a subordinate clause takes the form of a nomina-tive sentence with possessive affixes denoting the grammatical meaning of the action per-former person. Bifinite constructions with verbs from various lexical-semantic groups share a subordinate subject in nominative or accusative cases, while the monofinite construction subordinate subjects have genitive or nominative cases.

Examining individual variation in learner production data: A few programmatic pointers for corpus-based analyses using the example of adverbial clause ordering

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Stefan Th. Gries ◽  
Stefanie Wulff
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clause ◽  
Temporal Adverbial

ABSTRACT This study examines the variable positioning of a finite adverbial subordinate clause and its main clause with the subordinate clause either preceding or following the main clause in native versus nonnative English. Specifically, we contrast causal, concessive, conditional, and temporal adverbial clauses produced by German and Chinese learners of English with those produced by native speakers. We examined 2,362 attestations from the Chinese and German subsections of the International Corpus of Learner English (Granger, Dagneaux, Meunier, & Paquot, 2009) and from the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (Granger, 1998). All instances were annotated for the ordering, the subordinate clause type, the lengths of the main and subordinate clauses, the first language of the speakers, the conjunction used, and the file it originated from (as a proxy for the speaker producing the sentence so as to be able to study individual and lexical variation). The results of a two-step regression modeling protocol suggest that learners behave most nativelike with causal clauses and struggle most with conditional and concessive clauses; in addition, learners make more non-nativelike choices when the main and subordinate clause are of about equal length.

Foregrounding of subordinate clauses by word order: Psycholinguistic evidence of the function of V>Adv (V2) word order in Danish

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-273
Author(s):  
Marie Herget Christensen ◽  
Tanya Karoli Christensen ◽  
Torben Juel Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
The Other ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Clause Complex

AbstractIn modern Danish, main clauses have the word order X>Verb>Adverb (i. e., V2) whereas subordinate clauses are generally characterized by the “subordinate clause” word order Subject>Adverb>Verb. Spoken Danish has a high frequency of “main clause” word order in subordinate clauses, however, and in the article we argue that this “Main Clause Phenomena” (cf. Aelbrecht et  al. 2012) functions as a foregrounding device, signaling that the more important information of the clause complex is to be found in the subordinate clause instead of in its matrix clause.A prediction from the foregrounding hypothesis is that a subordinate clause with Verb>Adverb word order will attract more attention than a clause with Adverb>Verb word order. To test this, we conducted an experiment under the text change paradigm. 59 students each read 24 constructions twice, each containing a subordinate clause with either Verb>Adverb or Adverb>Verb word order. Half of the subordinate clauses were governed by a semifactive predicate (open to both word orders) and the other half by a semantically secondary sentence (in itself strongly favoring Verb>Adverb word order). Attention to the subordinate clause was tested by measuring how disinclined the participants were to notice change of a word in the subordinate clause when re-reading it.Results showed significantly more attention to Verb>Adverb clauses than to Adverb>Verb clauses (though only under semifactive predicates), and more attention to subordinate clauses under semantically secondary than semifactive predicates. We consider this as strongly supporting the hypothesis that Verb>Adv word order functions as a foregrounding signal in subordinate clauses.

On Expletive Negation Some Remarks With Regard to Catalan

1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Teresa Espinal
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Item ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Especial Reference ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Comparative Structure ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Logical Specifications

The aim of this paper is to identify which syntactic structures allow the interpretation of meaningless or expletive negation and under what conditions formal negation appears in the syntax of natural languages, with especial reference to Central Catalan. I shall describe two syntactic environments: (a) the negation which occurs at the subordinate clause of a comparative structure of inequality, and (b) the negation which occurs at the subordinate clause in the subjunctive tense-mood of certain predicates. In both structures I shall assume that there is a lexical item at the main clause which subcategorizes, among other possible complements, for a que (than, that) clause. At D-structure there is, furthermore, a NegP which is the complement of this conjunction. At the level of LF no expletive is specified, because the logical specifications of the lexical items which subcategorize for these subordinate clauses absorb the value of the negative operator.

Subordinate and interrogative clause negation in Iquito

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Negative Particle ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Peruvian Amazonia

Abstract This paper describes a specific non-standard negation strategy in Iquito, a moribund Zaparoan language spoken in northern Peruvian Amazonia. This strategy is used in finite subordinate clauses (namely adverbial dependent clauses and relative clauses), as well as information questions, and it utilizes two negative markers: a negative particle which is also found in standard negation, and a verbal affix which does not function as a negator in any other context. Using existing typological characterizations of subordinate clause negation, we see that Iquito exhibits the following attested traits: it uses the standard negator in a different position, it also utilizes a distinct negator, and it employs more negators in the subordinate clause than in the main clause. But unlike the languages presented in the literature, Iquito utilizes these parameters simultaneously. Additionally, the position of the standard negator changes within the subordinate clause, depending on the reality status of the clause. Using Iquito as a case study, I propose a set of parameters for comparing subordinate clause and interrogative negation strategies to standard negation strategies, which include the type of negator used, its position, the overall number of negators, the potential for interaction with other grammatical categories, such as reality status, and the resulting word order of the clause. This set of parameters expands the initial typological characterizations of subordinate clause negation strategies.

scholarly journals On adverbial clauses in spoken Lithuanian

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Erika Jasionytė-Mikučionienė
Keyword(s):  
Spoken Language ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Private Communication ◽  
Semantic Relationship ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Pragmatic Inference ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clause

The aim of the paper is to investigate adverbial clauses of time, cause, condition and concession in spontaneous private communication. The study explores semantic relations between the main and subordinate clauses, grammatical features and predominant conjunctions.The data for the research was collected from the morphologically annotated Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian, namely, its sub-corpus of spontaneous private speech which is used at home, at friends’ place, or which is produced by close friends.The analysis of spontaneous private communication shows that the finite adverbial clauses of time, cause, condition and concession are related to a set of conjunctions, but other indicators such as the use of verbal categories (especially tense, aspect and mood), contextual lexical markers as well as pragmatic inference also help to determine the semantic relationship between the main and the subordinate clause.In a spoken language, temporal clauses are usually combined with the conjunctions kai, kaip ‘when’, kol ‘while’, less frequently – with kada ‘when’; causal clauses are combined with the conjunction nes ‘because; since’, less frequently – with kad and kadangi ‘because’; conditional clauses are typically combined with the conjunction jeigu ‘if’, less frequently – with jei ‘if’, concessive clauses – with the conjunction nors ‘though’. The conjunctions kai ‘when’, kol ‘while’, kadangi ‘because’, jeigu and jei ‘if’ correlate with the particle tai that is very frequent in a spoken language, while the conjunction nors ‘though’ – with the contrastive conjunction bet ‘but’.In the natural language flow, the structure of adverbial sentences is modified: other sentential and discourse units can intervene between the main and the subordinate clauses, and the adverbial conjunction moves from the initial to the medial position.Traditional Lithuanian grammars emphasise that the position of adverbial clauses is undefined: they can appear before or after the main clause. However, the analysis of spontaneous speech shows that the position of a subordinate clause is influenced by the semantic relationship between the clauses. If a subordinate clause refers to a previous action or event, then it dominates in a preposition. Besides, the position of an adverbial clause is also influenced by correlative conjunctions: the main clause with the correlative particle tai dominates in the postposition.The research also revealed that Lithuanian adverbial clauses could function at the discourse level: in dialogues, the structure of a complex sentence is broken down and subordinate adverbial clauses can acquire additional – discourse – functions. Adverbial conjunctions, in their turn, can indicate relations with a previous discourse. 

scholarly journals Subordinate clauses of time with conjunctions referring to limito r boundary

2009 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jūratė Pajėdienė
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Structural Peculiarities ◽  
Action Verbs ◽  
Selection Of

  Subordinate clauses of time with the conjunctions referring to a limit or boundary kol, iki, ligi can express not only relations of a sequence of events/situations or simultaneity, but also highlight duration and indicate efforts put into the performance of the action. Verbs in the main and subordinate clauses can make certain combinations of tense forms. The selection of a subordinate clause structure depends on the modality of the predicate in the main clause. In cases of epistemic modality, main and subordinate clauses are based on verb forms expressed by the same tense. Cases, when tense forms differ, in such sentences are concerned with the de dicto semantic relation. When the predicate of the main clause expresses deontic modality, for the subordinate clause of time the following type of structure is selected: a conjunction referring to a temporal limit or boundary + negation + verb in the past simple tense. Clauses of time are characterised by specific structural peculiarities and a higher degree of grammaticality, semantically they are related to a need to describe a situation of imminent change or a situation set against the background of the other situation.

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES IN ADULTERY NOVEL

JURNAL SPHOTA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Wahyu Nugraha ◽  
I Komang Sulatra ◽  
Purwati
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Complement Clause ◽  
English Syntax ◽  
Adverbial Clause ◽  
Dependent Clause

A subordinate clause (dependent clause) is a clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because it does not express a complete thought. It explains and gives more information to the main clause. There are three major types of subordinate clause such as: Complement Clause, Relative Clause, and Adverbial Clause (Miller, 2002:63). This research is a library research that aims to find out types and functions of subordinate clause found in Adultery. This research uses several theories from expert in other to analyze the problems in this study. The book written by Jim Miller (2002) entitled An Introduction to English Syntax and the book written by Bas Aarts (2001) entitled English Syntax and Argumentation, Second Edition are used. It is stated that there are three major types of subordinate clause that can be recognized as Complement clause, Relative clause, and Adverbial Clause. Then, the clause functions such as Clauses Functioning as Subject, Clause Functioning as Direct Object, Clauses Functioning as Adjunct and Clauses Functioning as Complements within Phrases.  The result of this research shows that three major types of subordinate clause are found. Furthermore, the clause functions are also found as well, however only Clauses Functioning as Subject weren’t found in this research.

Finiteness, mood, and morphosyntax

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN M. ANDERSON
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clauses

The approach adopted here identifies finiteness with the capacity to license an independent predication. The prototypical independent predication is positive and declarative; other ‘moods’, or main-clause types, while finite, may fail to display the morphosyntactic properties associated with this prototype. These properties vary from language to language, but the recurrent core properties are verbal, since the verb is the prototypical predicator. Some constructions that occur in both main and subordinate clauses, such as the infinitival in English, differ in interpretation in these two different circumstances; this may be the only difference between finite (main-clause) and non-finite (subordinate-clause) use. This general approach is contrasted with one in which finiteness is identified with the presence of a particular set of morphosyntactic properties: such a view as the latter can be maintained, if at all, only on the basis of massive recourse to covert categories.

The Learner and the Latin Period

1942 ◽  
Vol 11 (32) ◽  
pp. 84-91
Author(s):  
Eric Laughton
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Single Sentence ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Single Voice

The observations which follow will to some appear heretical and perhaps dangerous; but I believe that they are worth making, if only to draw attention to a tendency in the present teaching of Latin prose which seems more dangerous still. When the beginner, having covered the field of essential grammar and syntax, is first introduced to the writing of continuous prose, he is rightly reminded of the disjointed style which is often encountered in English. This, he is told, was foreign to the Roman, who preferred to express his ideas in the form of a ‘period’, that is to say, a complex, architectural sentence-structure in which several subordinate clauses are made to depend in various ways upon the main clause. This period, he learns, is central to Latin prose, and an example or two from Cicero and Livy will be given to illustrate its use; he is then advised to emulate these models. His first exercise may well be nine or ten lines of English, to be turned into a single Latin ‘period’. The result is rarely satisfactory. The unhappy learner, in his attempt to produce the required composite sentence, upsets the natural order of clauses, presses phrases into strained and alien constructions, and probably achieves confusion. Here, for instance, is one of the first exercises in Bradley's Aids to Latin Prose; the passage, it is stated, ‘should be fused into a single sentence by the aid of participles, relatives, and conjunctions’:‘Both sides had exhausted their ammunition. The fight had raged at close quarters for three hours without any result. The carnage was horrible. The soldiers were suffocated with the heat and dust, and could scarcely keep their feet on the bloody and slippery soil; but no one could say that he had seen the back of a single foe, or heard a single voice asking for quarter. It seemed as though the gods of Mexico had inspired the nation with superhuman strength, and a courage proof against wounds or death.’

scholarly journals Syntactic Traits of Russian Complex Sentences with Subordinate Clauses with Reverse Subordinative Relations and Ways of Their Translation into Korean

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Wongnam Li
Keyword(s):  
Russian Language ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
The Russian Language

Russian complex with reverse subordinative relations between clauses are characterized by asymmetric relations between their form and content: the main clause is formed as a subordinate one because it includes the relation marker, namely the subordinate conjunction or conjunction-like word; the formally subordinate clause is in reality the main one according to its meaning. In the Russian language, this serves as syntactic means of expressiveness (sudden and unexpected change in circumstances, etc.), implicit modus meanings, or actualization of various relations. To preserve these meanings, various expanded means of expression of all meanings are used to translate such sentences into Korean: implicit modus meanings are made explicit with the help of independent predicative units, relations of immediate consecution are expressed via special lexical units, and some parts of Russian complex sentences may sometimes be represented as separate sentences in Korean in order to actualize the rhematic parts.

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