scholarly journals THE ANALOGUES OF TENSE INTERPRETATION IN RUSSIAN EMBEDDED CLAUSES: ABSOLUTE VS. RELATIVE MODALITY, ABSOLUTE VS. RELATIVE ASPECT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Letuchiy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Relative Interpretation ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Free Variation

The paper adresses parallels between tense, aspect and modality marking in Russian embedded clauses. It is widely known that tense forms of embedded verbs can be interpreted relatively or absolutely, and in some cases, the relative and absolute use seem to be in free variation. It turns out that the interpretation of modality and aspect can be described along the same lines and classified into the relative and absolute uses. For instance, subjunctive mood—one of the main instruments of irreality marking—can be interpreted as less real than the main event (relative interpretation) or less real than the moment of speech (and to the same degree as the main event; absolute interpretation). Similarly, aspect forms, depending on their interpretation, can describe the structure of the situation compared to the speech act or to the main event. I show that the parallelism between the three categories is not full: for instance, relative modality is mainly observed in triclausal constructions. Modality interpretation is sensitive to the opposition of clausal adjuncts vs. relative clauses. For the aspect interpretation, the contrast between finite forms and infinitive is relevant: infinitive allows for relative use of perfective aspect use much easier than finite forms. Finally, interpretations of the three categories are related to each other. For example, in complement clauses, the relative interpretation is perfectly acceptable for all the three categories.

scholarly journals Embedded Imperatives in Kajkavian Dialects of Croatian

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-400
Author(s):  
Josip Galić
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Minimalist Approach ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Embedded Clauses

Embedded imperatives are cross-linguistically very rare. They are attested, for instance, in modern languages such as Slovenian and High German and historical languages such as Ancient Greek and Old Scandinavian. In the literature, it has long been established that imperatives can also be embedded in some Kajkavian dialects of Croatian, but to date, this phenomenon has not been thoroughly analyzed. The paper deals with the material collected by field research and analyses it within the framework of Medeiros’ (2015) minimalist approach to embedded imperatives, according to which the embedding of imperatives is possible only in the languages in which imperative morphology does not depend on the directive operator. In the researched Kajkavian dialects, embedded imperatives can occur only in complement clauses, but older texts show that in the written language, embedded imperatives are also possible in relative clauses. Unlike many other languages in which imperatives may be embedded, in the researched Kajkavian dialects, embedding is relatively free. Both true and surrogate imperatives may be embedded, the subject of embedded clauses can be null and overt and does not necessarily have to co-refer to the internal argument of the matrix predicate.

Embedded root phenomena and indirect speech reports

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
José María García Núñez
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Indirect Speech ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Speech Reports

Abstract This article analyzes the occurrence of performative root phenomena in complement clauses. I show that the clauses that host this kind of phenomena have the same distribution as direct speech complements. I argue that the correspondence is based on the fact that, due to their rich syntactic left periphery, these embedded clauses convey speech acts. This assumption receives further support by the grammatical behavior of what I argue are the two major classes of verbs subordinating direct speech and ERP-hosting embedded clauses: locutionary and illocutionary embedding verbs. I analyze illocutionary verbs as bearing an abstract illocutionary predicate selecting either a propositional or a speech-act type, and locutionary verbs as ordinary relational predicates selecting a speech-act type. Taken together, these elements allow for a straightforward syntax-semantics interface and explain the differentiated behavior of root phenomena in complements to locutionary and illocutionary verbs.

scholarly journals The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Frizelle ◽  
Paul A. Thompson ◽  
Mihaela Duta ◽  
Dorothy V. M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Complex Syntax ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Digit Recall

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability and memory and impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33). The three groups did not differ on raw scores on a test of non-verbal cognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

scholarly journals The concepts of «reality» and «statement» in the analysis of modal alternation in Spanish relative subordinate clauses

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 129-134
Author(s):  
Alexandra I. Makarova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Subordinate Clauses

The article analyzes theoretical works that raise the problem of analyzing the use of the subjunctive mood in subordinate relatives in Spanish based on the concept of «reality». This topic is relevant and widely discussed among Spanish researchers. Earlier, the author has already attempted to study a different concept – the concept of «statement». This concept, based on the hidden semantics of the whole sentence, is applicable to the analysis of subordinate object sentences. The aim of the study is to determine the features of the subjunctive mood use in subordinate relative sentences in the Spanish language, based on the semantic features of the concepts of «statement» and «reality». This article attempts to implement the concept of «statement» in the analysis of subordinate relative clauses. The author concludes that this concept is not always applicable to the analysis of this type of subordinate clauses. However, we cannot completely exclude it from the analysis. The concept of «reality», which is in its own way a consequence of the concept of «statement», helps to explain the modal alternation in subordinate relative clauses. The subjunctive mood indicates the abstractness of the antecedent or the speaker's doubts about the existence of the antecedent in reality. The indicative mood, on the contrary, indicates the reality of the object or the speaker's belief in its existence. The materials of this study raise questions related to the application of concepts within other types of subordinate clauses and in other closely related languages (French).

Two subjunctives or three?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Guajardo
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Prediction Accuracy ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
The Past ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Peninsular Spanish

Abstract This paper examines the use of the three non-periphrastic subjunctives in Spanish in embedded clauses under obligatory subjunctive predicates in the past tense in three Spanish varieties: Argentinean, Mexican and Peninsular Spanish. By means of random forest and logistic regression analyses, I demonstrate that a grammar where the two “past” subjunctives make up one group, such that the variation can be modeled on a binary opposition between (morphologically) past vs. (morphologically) present, achieves better prediction accuracy and goodness-of-fit parameters than a grammar with a three-way split. The results suggest that, at least in complement clauses of obligatory subjunctive predicates, there appear to be no semantic differences between the two past subjunctives but there are still relatively large differences in how the three subjunctive forms are used across the three Spanish varieties studied.1

Headless Relative Clauses in Southeastern Tepehuan (O'dam)

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-78
Author(s):  
Gabriela García Salido
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Innovative Strategy ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Interrogative Clauses ◽  
Finite Clause ◽  
Ritual Speech

Varieties of headless relative clauses in the Uto-Aztecan language Southeastern Tepehuan (O’dam) are discussed, together with two related constructions: wh- interrogative clauses and headed relative clauses. O’dam encodes relative clauses using two strategies: nominalization and finite clause formation. Unlike most of the Uto-Aztecan family, O’dam uses the nominalization strategy only in ritual speech. Elsewhere, the language uses the general subordinator particle na to introduce all types of embedded clauses: adverbial, completive, and relative. This mode of subordination is typologically interesting for the Uto-Aztecan family because it results in an innovative strategy: finite clauses instead of nominalization. O’dam distinguishes between headed and headless relative clauses. Unlike headed relative clauses, headless relative clauses in O’dam lack a nominal head and require a wh-word. Two main varieties are attested: free relative clauses (maximal and existential, but not free choice) and light-headed relative clauses.

Turkish and the Southwestern Turkic (Oghuz) languages

2020 ◽  
pp. 392-410
Author(s):  
Jaklin Kornfilt
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Modern Standard

The Southwestern (Oghuz) branch of Turkic consists of languages that are largely mutually intelligible, and are similar with respect to their structural properties. Because Turkish is the most prominent member of this branch with respect to number of speakers, and because it is the best-studied language in this group, this chapter describes modern standard Turkish as the representative of that branch and limits itself to describing Turkish. The morphology of Oghuz languages is agglutinative and suffixing; their phonology has vowel harmony for the features of backness and rounding; their basic word order is SOV, but most are quite free in their word order and are wh-in-situ languages; their relative clauses exhibit gaps corresponding to the clause-external head, and most embedded clauses are nominalized. Fully verbal embedded clauses are found, too. The lexicon, while largely Turkic, also has borrowings from Arabic, Persian, French, English, and Modern Greek and Italian.

scholarly journals The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Frizelle ◽  
Paul A. Thompson ◽  
Mihaela Duta ◽  
Dorothy V. M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Hearing Level ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Digit Recall

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability, memory and hearing level impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33). Both groups were matched to those with DS on cognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

English Speakers’ Comprehension of Embedded Relative Clauses in L2 Japanese

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 841
Author(s):  
Shinichi Shoji
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Type A ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Type B ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Accuracy Rates

This study investigated native English speakers’ comprehension of Japanese sentences in which relative clauses are embedded. Specifically, this study contrasted between (a) short-before-long sentences with center-embedded relative clauses and (b) long-before-short sentences with non-center-embedded relative clauses. Sentence-type (a) indicates a sentence that includes a short phrase before a long phrase and includes a relative clause that is embedded in the middle of the sentence, e.g., Onna-ga Ken-ga kiratteiru giin-o hometa ‘The woman praised the senator who Ken hated’. Sentence-type (b) indicates a sentence with a long phrase before a short phrase and includes a relative clause that is embedded peripherally, e.g., Ken-ga kiratteiru onna-ga giin-o hometa ‘The woman who Ken hated praised the senator’. Experiment 1 revealed that native English speakers, who are learners of Japanese, comprehended the type (b) sentences with long-before-short phrases and with non-center-embedded relative clauses more accurately than the type (a) sentences with short-before-long phrases with center-embedded relative clauses. The results indicate that the preference for the non-center-embedded clauses to center-embedded clauses is universal across languages, while the preference for short-before-long phrases is language-specific. However, Experiment 2 indicated that the different accuracy rates in comprehensions of (a) and (b) disappeared when the matrix subjects are marked by the topic-morpheme wa. The outcome indicated that the topic phrases are immediately interpreted as a part of main clauses.

Subordination in 15th- and 16th-Century Judeo-Arabic

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-164
Author(s):  
Esther-Miriam Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Classical Arabic

Judeo-Arabic sources from the 15th and 16th centuries are of great interest for research into subordinate syntax, as they are written in a repertoire that echoes the Classical Arabic elements of Medieval Judeo-Arabic as much as the colloquial forms of Late Judeo-Arabic. The most interesting phenomena concern the adverbial clauses, which show a great variation of adverbial connectives. It is also notable that compounds of prepositions and relativizers or complementizers appear to have become very popular, whereas few of the inherited non-prepositional Classical Arabic adverbial connectives occur. This article also raises the possibility that adverbial clauses may have only developed in the course of the codification of the Semitic languages, and perhaps of languages in general. Relative and complement clauses in the 15th- and 16th-century sources are less conspicuous, but in relative clauses, the form ʾan, homophonous with the complementizer and originating from constructions using thetanwīn, may occur as relativizer after indefinite antecedent. A noteworthy point regarding complement clauses is the lack of asyndetical constructions as compared with earlier Judeo-Arabic documentary material.

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