scholarly journals Comparative constructions in old Romanian

Diacronia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Brăescu
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Comparative Constructions

In this paper, we analyse degree adjectival constructions in old Romanian texts. We focus on the comparative of superiority, taking into account in the first place the grammaticalization stage of the degree markers. The structures from the old texts contain polyfunctional units in competition; some of them enter a complex process of specialisation (mai ‘more’), while others disappear (camai). Afterwards, we focus on the realizations of the comparative complement in the corpus analysed: prepositional phrases headed by the prepositions ca, decît, de ‘than’. We want to see if we can establish any constraints in the use of these prepositions. We pay attention to the word order disharmonies encountered in the old texts. The configurations with pre-adjectival complements are related to the existence of certain relics of the non-configurational syntax in old Romanian.

Morphologie und Semantik der n-Erweiterung bei Muttern und Vatern im Deutschen

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-79
Author(s):  
Alexander Werth
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Low German ◽  
German Dialects ◽  
Semantic Concepts ◽  
Formation Pattern ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Comparative Constructions

Abstract: This paper deals with German kinship terms ending with the form n (Muttern, Vatern). Firstly, data from newspapers are presented that show that especially Muttern denotes very special meanings that can only be derived to a limited extent from the lexical base: a) Muttern referring to a home where mother cares for you, b) Muttern standing for overprotection, and c) Muttern representing a special food style (often embedded in prepositional phrases and/or comparative constructions like wie bei or wie von Muttern). Secondly, it is argued that the addition of n to kinship terms is not a word-formation pattern, but that these word forms are instead lexicalized and idiomatized in contemporary German. Hence, a diachronic scenario is applied to account for the data. It is argued in the present paper that the n-forms have been borrowed from Low German dialects, especially from constructional idioms of the type ‘X-wie bei Muttern’ and that forms were enriched by semantic concepts associated with the dialect.

Developing pro-drop

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ermenegildo Bidese ◽  
Alessandra Tomaselli
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Linear Restriction ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
System P ◽  
Feature Sharing ◽  
Traditional Assumption ◽  
Subject Agreement ◽  
The One

The syntax of Cimbrian, a Germanic heritage language, is at a peculiar developmental stage: on the one hand it has lost the V2 linear restriction, but still maintains both pronominal subject inversion and a residual root-embedded word order asymmetry; on the other, it is characterized by both ‘free’ subject inversion (VP DP) and the systematic violation of the ‘that-trace’ filter, but does not allow null subjects (NSs). This specific mixture of both V2- and pro-drop properties gives us an opportunity to revisit the traditional assumption that Germanic V2 is incompatible with full pro-drop. In this work, we propose that the development of pro-drop crucially depends on the loss of V-to-Fin movement and, consequently, on the lowering of structural subject agreement within TP so that the whole complex process of feature sharing (KEEP, SHARE, DONATE) between C and I is restructured, changing from a C-dominant system to an I-dominant system.

Linearization and typology

2019 ◽  
pp. 497-522
Author(s):  
D. Gary Miller
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
Default Position ◽  
Object Pronouns

This chapter focuses on the linear order of phrasal constituents. Subject pronouns preferentially precede the verb directly. Object pronouns generally follow the verb. Reflexives with few exceptions follow the verb and precede non-reflexives. D-words generally precede nouns and adjectives. Only prepositional phrases occur, from which non-deictic Ds are excluded. Attributive and possessive adjectives tend to follow the noun, quantifiers to precede. The default position for genitives is postnominal. Partitive genitives are nearly always postposed. Discourse particles belong to the left periphery. Some force their host to sentence-initial, especially V1, position. In native Gothic, verbs follow predicate adjectives and auxiliaries follow verbs, as is typical of verb-final languages. Imperatives raise to the left periphery. The negator ni forms a tight constituent with the verb. The chapter closes with a brief overview of Gothic in the context of Germanic word order typology.

De plaats van het voorzetselvoorwerp

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Hoeksema
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Regular Position ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This paper presents the results of a corpus study of Dutch complement PPs. On the basis of a collection of 3400 occurrences in negative sentences, the four major word order patterns (regular position, scrambling order, topicalization and extraposition) are studied, both in main and subordinate clauses, and linked to the properties of the prepositional phrases, in particular weight and definiteness. Greater weight corresponds to higher likelihood of extraposition, and definiteness to higher likelihood of scrambling and topicalization. This corresponds well with earlier studies of word order variation in Dutch, but had not been established for the class of complement PPs. Among definite phrases, PPs with so-called R-pronouns, such as hieraan ‘here-on’ and daarvan ‘thereof’ showed especially high preferences for topicalization and scrambling. Negative sentences were selected for this study to avoid cases where regular order and scrambling order could not be distinguished due to lack of adverbial elements in the middle field. The data set is temporally stratified. This made it possible to study changes over time, and the most robust finding was a continuous retreat of the scrambling order throughout the period 1700-2014.

Afrikaans circumpositions

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Erin Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Structural Components ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Structural Relation ◽  
Particle Verbs ◽  
Structural Positions

Abstract Circumpositions in Afrikaans present several puzzles: (i) they always encode spatial paths, but spatial paths can also be encoded by prepositional phrases; (ii) they can be doubling or non-doubling, and (iii) they exhibit disharmonic word order of the kind that appears to violate the Final-over-Final Condition (FOFC). In this paper, I argue that circumpositions offer support for the existence of a directional head [dir] in the fine structure of the Afrikaans verbal domain, and that this head is lexicalised by adpositional material in circumpositional expressions. I show that Afrikaans grammar distinguishes Route-paths from Goal-/Source-paths, and argue that whereas [dir] selects a [pathP] in the structure underlying Goal-/Source-paths (circumpositional expressions), Route-paths (prepositional expressions) are ‘bare’ [pathP] structures. I argue that since circumpositions identify structural components in different Spellout Domains, double-insertion of adposition-like material is required to exhaustively lexicalise the structure, and the disharmonic word order is understood as a direct consequence of the fact that [dir] is located in Afrikaans’ head-final verbal, which addresses the concern arising around FOFC. Finally, given that the adpositions in circumpositional expressions are shown to occupy structural positions that are distinct from that of de-adpositional V-particles, the paper also addresses the structural relation between circumpositions and particle verbs in which adposition-like material lexicalises a resultative [res] node in the verbal domain.

Word order typology and comparative constructions

Lingua ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 70 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 200-205
Author(s):  
Winfred P. Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Comparative Constructions

An event-semantic account of spatial modification in the acquisition of Mandarin

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangjun DENG ◽  
Virginia YIP
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Word Order ◽  
The Other ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Semantic Account ◽  
Distributional Properties ◽  
Production Techniques ◽  
Event Semantic

AbstractThis study investigates Mandarin-speaking children's knowledge of event semantics in interpreting spatial modifiers withzai‘at’ after a posture verb or before a placement verb. The event-semantic principles investigated include subevent modification (Parsons, 1990) and aspect shift (Fong, 1997). We conducted an experimental study using modified forced choice, video choice, and elicited production techniques with five groups of children (two- to six-year-olds) and an adult control group. Three-year-olds were sensitive to the ambiguity ofzai-PPs with placement verbs and posture verbs, suggesting guidance from principles of aspect shift and subevent modification. On the other hand, distributional properties of the input play a role in acquiring the interpretation and word order ofzai: e.g., four-year-olds significantly differed from adults in accepting non-target V-zaisentences, as some verb classes can take postverbal prepositional phrases withzaiwhile others cannot in adult usage.

scholarly journals Word Order in Epigraphic Gǝ’ǝz

Aethiopica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 136-175
Author(s):  
Maria Bulakh
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Prepositional Phrases

The paper offers the results of analysis of word order throughout the epigraphic corpus of Gǝʿǝz. This evidence is mostly in agreement with the data from Classical Gǝʿǝz and confirms that early Gǝʿǝz represents the classical Semitic type of a right-branching language: objects and prepositional phrases mostly follow the verbs, and relative clauses and genitive complements usually follow the head nouns. At the same time, some differences between the syntax of Classical Gǝʿǝz and Epigraphic Gǝʿǝz have been registered, notably in the behaviour of numerals. 

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