scholarly journals Children develop causatives despite pervasive ellipsis: Evidence from Turkish

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanghao You ◽  
Ebru Ger ◽  
Moritz M. Daum ◽  
Sabine Stoll
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Lower Proportion ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Test Case ◽  
General Development ◽  
Causative Verbs

Children use causative verbs in language to express causality. The learning of causatives relies on cues in children's interaction with caregivers. Argument structure has been widely posited as a facilitative cue for learning causatives. However, it may lack reliability due to ellipsis allowed in many languages, thus affecting children's acquisition of causatives. In this study, we investigate the role of object ellipsis in the learning of two prevalent types of causatives, namely lexical and morphological causatives. We take Turkish as a test case, which employs both types of causatives. The results show that the ellipsis in child-directed speech is pervasive in both causatives, with morphological causatives exhibiting a substantially lower proportion of ellipsis. However, by examining children's developmental trajectory, we show that lexical causatives develop with a pattern strikingly similar to the general development of verbs, whereas morphological causatives develop more slowly, despite less object ellipsis and explicit morphological marking. The findings suggest that argument structure may not play a major role in the learning of causatives. Our general conclusion is that children acquire causatives despite the challenge posed by pervasive ellipsis.

On the Event Structural Properties of the English Get-Passive

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-74
Author(s):  
Alison Biggs ◽  
David Embick
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Event Structure ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Event Structures ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Responsible Party

An important ongoing discussion in theories of argument structure concerns the explanatory division of labor between thematic properties and event structure. In this context, the English get-passive provides an interesting test case. Much previous work has analyzed get-passives as differing thematically from be-passives. Yet many get-passive properties remain poorly understood. We present an analysis of the get-passive centered on the proposal that it contains additional event structure (realized as get) relative to its be counterpart. We employ by-adjuncts to identify the event structures in passive types, and demonstrate that the behavior of this and other diagnostics support the conclusion that get- and be-passives differ systematically in ways that accord with our analysis. Further discussion considers the prominent proposal from previous studies that get-passives differ thematically from be-passives in (sometimes) assigning an Agent role to their surface subjects. We show that there is no evidence for such an analysis. Instead, intuitions about the interpretation of the get-passive surface subject arise from how an event’s Responsible Party is identified: contrasts between get and be on this dimension are a consequence of event structural differences between the two. The overall result is a unified analysis of the get-passive, one that has implications for the role of event structure in understanding the syntax and interpretation of arguments.

First-language-constrained variability in the second-language acquisition of argument-structure-changing morphology with causative verbs

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Morphological Expression ◽  
Causative Verbs

This article presents three related experiments on the acquisition of two classes of causative verbs: physical change of state verbs with agentive subjects (e.g., English break) and psychological change of state verbs with experiencer objects (e.g., English frighten) in English, Spanish and Turkish as second languages by speakers whose native languages are English, Spanish, Turkish and Japanese. These verbs participate in the causative/inchoative alternation crosslinguistically, but the morphological expression of the alternation varies in the four languages. English has predominantly zero-morphology, Spanish has anticausative morphology, and Turkish and Japanese both have causative and anticausative morphology. Assuming the tenets of the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1996), results of a picture judgement task testing transitive and intransitive sentences and manipulating overt/non-overt morphology on the verbs show that morphological errors in the three languages are constrained by the morphological patterns of the learners’ first language (L1s). In addition to showing that formal features of morphemes transfer but morphophonological matrices do not, this study refines the role of L1 influence in the morphological domain by showing that the morphophonological shape of affixes transfers as well.

Niuean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Noun Incorporation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Theta Role ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure

This book presents a detailed descriptive and theoretical examination of predicate-argument structure in Niuean, a Polynesian language within the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, spoken mainly on the Pacific island of Niue and in New Zealand. Niuean has VSO word order and an ergative case-marking system, both of which raise questions for a subject-predicate view of sentence structure. Working within a broadly Minimalist framework, this volume develops an analysis in which syntactic arguments are not merged locally to their thematic sources, but instead are merged high, above an inverted extended predicate which serves syntactically as the Niuean verb, later undergoing movement into the left periphery of the clause. The thematically lowest argument merges as an absolutive inner subject, with higher arguments merging as applicatives. The proposal relates Niuean word order and ergativity to its isolating morphology, by equating the absence of inflection with the absence of IP in Niuean, which impacts many aspects of its grammar. As well as developing a novel analysis of clause and argument structure, word order, ergative case, and theta role assignment, the volume argues for an expanded understanding of subjecthood. Throughout the volume, many other topics are also treated, such as noun incorporation, word formation, the parallel internal structure of predicates and arguments, null arguments, displacement typology, the role of determiners, and the structure of the left periphery.

scholarly journals The role of cognitive load in modulating social looking: a mobile eye tracking study

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Bianchi ◽  
Alan Kingstone ◽  
Evan F. Risko
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Lower Proportion ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Video Experiment ◽  
Back Task

Abstract The effect of cognitive load on social attention was examined across three experiments in a live pedestrian passing scenario (Experiments 1 and 2) and with the same scenario presented as a video (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, the load was manipulated using an auditory 2-back task. While the participant was wearing a mobile eye-tracker, the participant’s fixation behavior toward a confederate was recorded and analyzed based on temporal proximity from the confederate (near or far) and the specific regions of the confederate being observed (i.e., head or body). In Experiment 1 we demonstrated an effect of cognitive load such that there was a lower proportion of fixations and time spent fixating toward the confederate in the load condition. A similar pattern of results was found in Experiment 2 when a within-subject design was used. In Experiment 3, which employed a less authentic social situation (i.e., video), a similar effect of cognitive load was observed. Collectively, these results suggest attentional resources play a central role in social attentional behaviors in both authentic (real-world) and less authentic (video recorded) situations.

scholarly journals The role of rumination in illness trajectories in youth: linking trans-diagnostic processes with clinical staging models

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 2467-2484 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Grierson ◽  
I. B. Hickie ◽  
S. L. Naismith ◽  
J. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Clinical Staging ◽  
Neurocognitive Deficits ◽  
Illness Onset ◽  
Co Morbidity

Research in developmental psychopathology and clinical staging models has increasingly sought to identify trans-diagnostic biomarkers or neurocognitive deficits that may play a role in the onset and trajectory of mental disorders and could represent modifiable treatment targets. Less attention has been directed at the potential role of cognitive-emotional regulation processes such as ruminative response style. Maladaptive rumination (toxic brooding) is a known mediator of the association between gender and internalizing disorders in adolescents and is increased in individuals with a history of early adversity. Furthermore, rumination shows moderate levels of genetic heritability and is linked to abnormalities in neural networks associated with emotional regulation and executive functioning. This review explores the potential role of rumination in exacerbating the symptoms of alcohol and substance misuse, and bipolar and psychotic disorders during the peak age range for illness onset. Evidence shows that rumination not only amplifies levels of distress and suicidal ideation, but also extends physiological responses to stress, which may partly explain the high prevalence of physical and mental co-morbidity in youth presenting to mental health services. In summary, the normative developmental trajectory of rumination and its role in the evolution of mental disorders and physical illness demonstrates that rumination presents a detectable, modifiable trans-diagnostic risk factor in youth.

Innovation in SMEs: the role of employee training in German SMEs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irem Demirkan ◽  
Ravi Srinivasan ◽  
Alka Nand
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Product Innovation ◽  
Employee Training ◽  
Lower Proportion ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper explores the role of effective resource and knowledge management capabilities on product innovation capabilities of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the authors research the role of the human resource investments in the form of employee training in developing firm's innovation capabilities and how SMEs manage these investments when we account for the boundary conditions such as the level of employee education, SME size and the frequency of investments in research and development (R&D).Design/methodology/approachThe authors use survey data conducted by The Centre for European Economic Research (Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung – ZEW). The final sample for analysis includes 983 SMEs from Germany that belong to 13 different industries. The authors use hierarchical OLS regression to test the hypotheses presented in this paper.FindingsThe authors find a positive association between increased investments in employee training and product innovation capabilities in the context of SMEs. More specifically, the authors’ findings support that (1) the relationship between employee training and innovation capabilities is weaker in industries with greater proportion of employees with university degrees, (2) the effectiveness of investments in employee training is lower among larger SMEs than smaller SMEs, and (3) continuous R&D weakens the relationship between training expenditure and innovation capabilities. While on the one hand the authors’ findings contribute to the debate of whether employee training is necessary for SMEs by affirming this notion, on the other hand the authors show that investments in employee training have differing implications for small and large SMEs within boundary conditions. Moreover, these findings have practical implications for the managers of all SMEs in terms of management of their knowledge resources.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors’ research makes important contributions to the study of innovation in SMEs. First, the authors contribute evidence to the debate whether employee training is necessary for SMEs by showing that employee training is particularly important for SMEs that are smaller in size, have lower proportion of employees with university degrees and when they invest in research and development in a targeted manner. The authors also demonstrate that investments in employee training is not a waste, rather such investments can increase the likelihood of survival for many of these firms through its positive impact on product innovation.Practical implicationsFor managers of SMEs, the authors’ findings suggest that while investments in employee training are important, the managers of particular SMEs with above-mentioned qualities should be persistent in such investments and must make deliberate efforts to reap the benefits in terms of innovative capabilities. Unlike large firms, who have the financial means to carry out investments in an abundant manner, SMEs appear to be more enterprising with their scarce resources when we also consider the role of investments in human resources.Originality/valueThe authors’ research makes important contributions to the study of innovation in SMEs. First, the authors contribute evidence to the debate whether employee training is necessary for SMEs by finding that employee training is particularly important for SMEs that are smaller in size, have lower proportion of employees with university degrees and when they do not invest in R&D continuously. The authors also demonstrate that investments in employee training is not a waste, but such investments can increase the likelihood of survival for many of these firms.

scholarly journals A New Argument for the Lexical Underspecification of Causers

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 803-824
Author(s):  
James E. Lavine ◽  
Leonard H. Babby
Keyword(s):  
Large Class ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Nominative Case ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Causative Verbs

This article shows how a systematic impersonalization alternation in Russian provides additional evidence for underspecification in argument structure. In the case of a large class of lexically causative verbs, the causer is realized either as a volitional Agent in the nominative case or as an oblique-marked, nonvolitional causer, depending on how the event is construed. A causative theory of accusative is advanced, according to which the mere presence of external causation is a sufficient condition for accusative licensing, including those cases that lack an external argument altogether. The analysis is extended to explain accusative preservation in the Icelandic “fate accusative” construction.

scholarly journals Transcriptional, Electrophysiological, and Metabolic Characterizations of hESC-Derived First and Second Heart Fields Demonstrate a Potential Role of TBX5 in Cardiomyocyte Maturation

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Pezhouman ◽  
Ngoc B. Nguyen ◽  
Alexander J. Sercel ◽  
Thang L. Nguyen ◽  
Ali Daraei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Calcium Handling ◽  
Hesc Line ◽  
Functional Difference ◽  
Quantitative Phase ◽  
Phase Microscopy ◽  
Quantitative Phase Microscopy ◽  
Atomic Force ◽  
Heart Field

Background: Human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) can be used as a source for cell delivery to remuscularize the heart after myocardial infarction. Despite their therapeutic potential, the emergence of ventricular arrhythmias has limited their application. We previously developed a double reporter hESC line to isolate first heart field (FHF: TBX5+NKX2-5+) and second heart field (SHF: TBX5-NKX2-5+) CMs. Herein, we explore the role of TBX5 and its effects on underlying gene regulatory networks driving phenotypical and functional differences between these two populations.Methods: We used a combination of tools and techniques for rapid and unsupervised profiling of FHF and SHF populations at the transcriptional, translational, and functional level including single cell RNA (scRNA) and bulk RNA sequencing, atomic force and quantitative phase microscopy, respirometry, and electrophysiology.Results: Gene ontology analysis revealed three biological processes attributed to TBX5 expression: sarcomeric structure, oxidative phosphorylation, and calcium ion handling. Interestingly, migratory pathways were enriched in SHF population. SHF-like CMs display less sarcomeric organization compared to FHF-like CMs, despite prolonged in vitro culture. Atomic force and quantitative phase microscopy showed increased cellular stiffness and decreased mass distribution over time in FHF compared to SHF populations, respectively. Electrophysiological studies showed longer plateau in action potentials recorded from FHF-like CMs, consistent with their increased expression of calcium handling genes. Interestingly, both populations showed nearly identical respiratory profiles with the only significant functional difference being higher ATP generation-linked oxygen consumption rate in FHF-like CMs. Our findings suggest that FHF-like CMs display more mature features given their enhanced sarcomeric alignment, calcium handling, and decreased migratory characteristics. Finally, pseudotime analyses revealed a closer association of the FHF population to human fetal CMs along the developmental trajectory.Conclusion: Our studies reveal that distinguishing FHF and SHF populations based on TBX5 expression leads to a significant impact on their downstream functional properties. FHF CMs display more mature characteristics such as enhanced sarcomeric organization and improved calcium handling, with closer positioning along the differentiation trajectory to human fetal hearts. These data suggest that the FHF CMs may be a more suitable candidate for cardiac regeneration.

scholarly journals Przyczynek do obrazu szlachty Inflant Polskich w łotewskich źródłach i opracowaniach historycznych początku XX w.

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Beata Biesiadowska-Magdziarz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
General Development ◽  
Folk Culture ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Native Culture ◽  
Village People ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Polish Culture

A contribution to the image of Polish Livonia nobility in the Latvian historical sources and studies of the early Twentieth CenturyPolish literature devoted to the role of the Poles in shaping Latvian culture presents unanimity as far as the positive role and results of this influence are concerned. However diametrically opposite Latvian perspective particularly clear in the first years of the existence of independent Latvia needs to be highlighted here.Contacts between the Latvians and Poles and their cultures  differed in different parts of Latvia since the beginning of the Polish presence in this country. The period called ‘the Polish times in Latvia’ in Latvian historical sources lasted the longest in Latgale (1561-1772), i.e. in the so called Polish Livonia. The Polish influence on Latvian folk culture was the strongest there.This period, especially the scale of the influence of Polish culture on Latvian native culture as well as general development of this region, was strongly criticized by numerous Latvian historians.The interest of the Polish noblemen in developing Latgale was subjected to criticism, too. Considering these lands as their own the Poles were not interested in propagating national ideas among  local village people who, according to the Polish nobles, were to succumb to complete polonisation.Great influence of the Polish nobility on culture, economy and creating the national identity of the Latgalian Latvians, the policy of the Polish clergy and polonisation of the local people resulted in a negative opinion of the Polish influence in the Latvian lands.The study is an attempt to outline the issue which Polish researchers have not paid attention to so far. Nevertheless, regarding rich material it needs detailed research on a large scale. Przyczynek do obrazu szlachty Inflant Polskich w łotewskich źródłach i opracowaniach historycznych początku XX w.W literaturze polskiej poświęconej roli Polaków w kształtowaniu kultury Łotwy panuje jednomyślność co do pozytywnej roli i skutków tych wpływów. Nie można jednak pomijać milczeniem istnienia diametralnie różnej perspektywy łotewskiej, która szczególnie wyraźnie zarysowała się w pierwszych latach istnienia niepodległego państwa łotewskiego.Od początku obecności Polaków na Łotwie kontakty Łotyszy z Polakami i ich kulturą różnie wyglądały w poszczególnych regionach Łotwy. Okres, nazywany w historycznych źródłach łotewskich „polskimi czasami na Łotwie”, najdłużej trwał właśnie w Łatgalii (1561–1772), czyli w tzw. Inflantach Polskich. Tam też zauważalny był największy wpływ kultury polskiej na ludową kulturę łotewską.Okres ten był negatywnie oceniany przez wielu historyków łotewskich. Krytyce poddawana była skala oddziaływania kultury polskiej na rodzimą kulturę łotewską, a także na ogólny rozwój ziem dawnych Inflant Polskich.Negatywnie był też oceniany udział szlachty polskiej w rozwoju Łatgalii. Uważając te ziemie za swoje, nie była ona zainteresowana krzewieniem idei narodowych wśród miejscowej ludności chłopskiej, która, według możnowładztwa polskiego, już w niedługim czasie miała ulec całkowitej polonizacji.Ogromny wpływ inflanckiej szlachty polskiej na kulturę, gospodarkę, a także na kreowanie tożsamości narodowej łatgalskich Łotyszy, programowe działania duchowieństwa polskiego oraz polonizacja miejscowej ludności przyczyniły się do negatywnej oceny wpływów polskich na ziemiach łotewskich.Przedstawione opracowanie jest próbą naszkicowania zagadnienia, któremu dotychczas badacze polscy nie poświęcili większej uwagi, a które to ze względu na bogaty materiał wymaga szczegółowych i szeroko zakrojonych badań.

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