scholarly journals Temporally Underspecified Bare Clauses in Mandarin

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Hang Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Temporal Interpretation ◽  
Context Of Use ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Abstract This study shows that the temporal interpretation of Mandarin bare clauses is fully underspecified when these clauses describe scheduled, preprogrammed events. The paper defines the key syntactic properties of such bare clauses and their context of use. On the basis of this definition, the paper proposes that these clauses are copular constructions, which in all relevant respects behave like regular copular constructions. Bare clauses contain a subject and a predicate, related by the (sometimes covert) copula shì, expressing a paired relation between them. The fact that bare clauses have a simple predicative structure underlyingly is further supported by observations from the realm of gapping and negation. Crucially, it is proposed that there is no temporal projection immediately above the verb phrase in these sentences. The underspecification of the temporal interpretation is accordingly accounted for.

On the syntactic status of sentential adverbs and modal particles

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Cruschina
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Role ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Modal Particles ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Syntactic Status ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Modal Adverbs

AbstractThis paper sets out a number of reasons for establishing a distinction between sentential (modal) adverbs and modal particles. Adverbs and particles are generally difficult to define as two distinct and independent word classes in terms of unitary criteria and distinctive properties. The traditional role of an adverb is that of modifying a verb or a verb phrase. In reality, adverbs also modify adjectives, sentences, and other adverbs. Particles also serve a sort of ‘modification’ function. Modal particles, for example, take the whole sentence as their object and fit its content to the context of speech. This ‘vague’ similarity, though, should not be interpreted as a motivation for assimilating the two categories, especially when other syntactic properties, such as the sentential position, the distribution, and the sensitivity to sentence types, together with their correlated semantic interpretations, are taken into consideration.

Conjonctions de subordination et adverbes conjonctifs «  focalisateurs  »

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-328
Author(s):  
Mireille Piot
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Syntactic Properties

SummaryIn this paper, we present a unified hypothesis about «focusing» conjunctional adverbs and subordinating conjunctions in French. A similar hypothesis is to be taken to hold at all romance languages as we argue after Piot (2003) mentioned above. At first, differences are to be observed between this case (with “focus”) and another case in which the same conjunctional items are purely conjunctions (coordinating or subordinating, but without “focus”). Then, we point out which are the common semantic and syntactic properties of the global “focus” operation related to all these items (parallelism between sentences and nominal phrases correlated by these conjunctional items, inclusion or union semantic relations between nominal phrases in some respects ensembles theory relations alike: the addition of syntactic-semantic specific items shares this inclusion or union relation). In particular, this study highlights, as a result, the role of the subject nature of the conjoined first sentence and the syntactic-semantic nature of the verb-phrase in the second sentence. Another study (to appear) will present the results about distinctions in this operation according to the particular significance of each different item.

V(P)-fronting in Asante Twi and Limbum

2021 ◽  
pp. 96-130
Author(s):  
Johannes Hein
Keyword(s):  
Head Movement ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Reverse Pattern ◽  
Vp Fronting ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Verb Doubling

When a verb or verb phrase is fronted from a clause lacking any other verbs either a copy of the displaced verb occurs or a dummy verb ‘do’ is inserted. Most languages employ the same strategy for both verb and verb phrase fronting. Here, I present two African languages, Asante Twi and Limbum, where displacement of a single verb results in a verb copy while a full verb phrase triggers do-support when fronted. Both V and VP-fronting show the same syntactic properties within each language. A reverse pattern of verb doubling with VP-fronting but do-support with V-fronting is unattested. I propose an analysis of both strategies in terms of different orders of application between post-syntactic head movement and copy deletion. In interaction with the type of V-movement, remnant VP or head-to-spec movement, this derives all three attested patterns to the exclusion of the unattested one.

Knowledge of English verb phrase ellipsis by speakers of Arabic and Chinese

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 404-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Verb Phrase Ellipsis ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
English Verb

English verb phrase ellipsis (VPE) involves both syntactic and discourse information. The present study investigates knowledge of these properties by L1 speakers of Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. Three issues are addressed. Can the participants acquire syntactic properties of VPE that differ from their L1s and are under-determined by positive evidence? Can they acquire all of the syntactic properties of VPE that differ from their L1s? Can they successfully integrate their knowledge of the syntax of VPE with discourse information determining felicity? Results from a sentence completion judgement task are broadly consistent with the L2 participants having Universal Grammar (UG)-constrained grammars for VPE, and with their being able to successfully integrate syntactic representations with discourse information. A persistent problem with an uninterpretable feature is discussed, as are the implications of the findings for the claim that VPE involves gradient grammaticality.

Sentence Repetition: A Clinical Marker for Developmental Language Disorder in Danish

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4450-4463
Author(s):  
Rikke Vang Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Language Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Likelihood Ratios ◽  
Clinical Marker ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Good Identification ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Purpose The aim of the study was to explore the potential of performance on a Danish sentence repetition (SR) task—including specific morphological and syntactic properties—to identify difficulties in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) relative to typically developing (TD) children. Furthermore, the potential of the task as a clinical marker for Danish DLD was explored. Method SR performance of children with DLD aged 5;10–14;1 (years;months; n = 27) and TD children aged 5;3–13;4 ( n = 87) was investigated. Results Compared to TD same-age peers, children with DLD were less likely to repeat the sentences accurately but more likely to make ungrammatical errors with respect to verb inflection and use of determiners and personal pronouns. Younger children with DLD also produced more word order errors that their TD peers. Furthermore, older children with DLD performed less accurately than younger TD peers, indicating that the SR task taps into morphosyntactic areas of particular difficulty for Danish children with DLD. The classification accuracy associated with SR performance showed high levels of sensitivity and specificity (> 90%) and likelihood ratios indicating good identification potential for clinical and future research purposes. Conclusion SR performance has a strong potential for identifying children with DLD, also in Danish, and with a carefully designed SR task, performance has potential for revealing morphosyntactic difficulties. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.10314437

A Code Mixing Analysis of Javanese Community at Karang Anyar

Metahumaniora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Merina Devira
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Syntactic Pattern ◽  
The Subject

ABSTRAKTujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menggambarkan tentang faktor-faktor yangmempengaruhi penggunaan code mixing pada komunitas suku Jawa di desa Karang Anyar,Langsa, serta untuk menjelaskan pola sintaks yang terbentuk pada percakapan code mixingtersebut melalui diagaram pohon. Untuk mengumpulkan data, penelitian ini menggunakantiga metode: observasi, rekaman, dan wawancara. Subjek penelitian ini adalah 15 orangbersuku Jawa yang berumur 20-60 tahun. Data dalam penelitian ini adalah rekaman wawancarapara subjek dan rekaman percakapan para subjek yang terdapat tuturan code mixing. Hasildari penelitian ini menunjukkan tentang faktor yang mempengaruhi code mixing di desatersebut dan pola sintaks pada percakapan komunitas Jawa yang mengandung code mixingdalam hal penggunaan fase kata kerja, kata benda, kata bantu, dan kata seru.Kata kunci: code mixing, analisis, komunitas suku Jawa, pola sintaksABSTRACTThe aims of this research are to describe the factors influencing the use of code mixingin the Javanese community at Karang Anyar Village, Langsa, then to describe the syntacticpatterns in the code mixing of conversations uttered in that community by using a treediagram. To collect data, this study used three methods: observation, recording, and interviewmethod. The subjects of this study are 15 people of Javanese community aged 20-60 yearsold. The data in this research are the subject interview recordings and the subjects speechJavanese community at Karang Anyar Village Langsa in which code mixing are found. Theresult of this study showed two findings about the factors influencing the use of code mixing inthe Javanese community and the syntactic pattern in the conversation of Javanese communityin terms of the use of verb phrase (VP), noun phrase (NP), auxiliary, and interjection.Keywords: A Code Mixing, Analysis, Javanese Community, Syntactic Pattern

Focus Position for Stripping Remnant

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Al Zahrani ◽  
Khulud Helal Al Thagafi
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Focus Position ◽  
Focus Movement ◽  
The One ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Pf Deletion ◽  
Minimalist Framework

The current paper examines the syntactic properties of HA stripping: a type of ellipsis. Within the Minimalist framework, the paper adopts the PF-Deletion approach to show that stripping in HA is derived firstly by the movement of the remnant constituent from TP to Focus Position (FP), and, secondly, by the deletion of the TP. These two operations are licensed by the Ellipsis feature (E) located in the focus head F°. Thus, on the one hand, the paper contributes to the existing body of literature supporting the hotly-debated issues on the movement of the stripping remnants, and on the other, enriches the very minimal HA studies on ellipsis. The findings show that HA stripped constituents must move to Spec, FP, before the TP- deletion process. Two pieces of evidence in support of the focus movement to FP spring from Island sensitivity and p-stranding facts in HA.

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