scholarly journals Discourse and Form Constraints on Licensing Object-First Sentences in German

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Markus Bader ◽  
Yvonne Portele

In German, the subject usually precedes the object (SO order), but, under certain discourse conditions, the object is allowed to precede the subject (OS order). This paper focuses on main clauses in which either the subject or a discourse-given object occurs in clause-initial position. Two acceptability experiments show that OS sentences with a given object are generally acceptable, but the precise degree of acceptability varies both with the object‘s referential form (demonstrative objects leading to higher acceptability than other types of objects) and with formal properties of the subject (pronominal subjects leading to higher acceptability than non-pronominal subjects). For SO sentences, acceptability was reduced when the object was a d-pronoun, which contrasts with the high acceptability of OS sentences with a d-pronoun object. This finding was explored in a third acceptability experiment comparing d-pronouns in subject and object function. This experiment provides evidence that a reduction in acceptability due to a prescriptive bias against d-pronouns is suspended when the d-pronoun occurs as object in the prefield. We discuss the experimental results with respect to theories of German clause structure that claim that OS sentences with different information-structural properties are derived by different types of movement.

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-39
Author(s):  
Markus Bader

From the perspective of language production, this chapter discusses the question of whether to move the subject or the object to the clause-initial position in a German Verb Second clause. A review of experimental investigations of language production shows that speakers of German tend to order arguments in such a way that the most accessible argument comes first, with accessibility defined in terms like animacy (‘animate before inanimate’) and discourse status (e.g. ‘given before new’). Speakers of German thus obey the same ordering principles that have been found to be at work in English and other languages. Despite the relative free word order of German, speakers rarely produce sentences with object-before-subject word order in experimental investigations. Instead, they behave like speakers of English and mostly use passivization in order to bring the underlying object argument in front of the underlying subject argument when the object is more accessible than the subject. Corpus data, however, show that object-initial clauses are not so infrequent after all. The second part of the chapter, therefore, discusses new findings concerning the discourse conditions that favour the production of object-initial clauses. These findings indicate, among other things, that the clausal position of an object is affected not only by its referent’s discourse status but also by its referential form. Objects occur in clause-initial position most frequently when referring to a given referent in the form of a demonstrative pronoun or NP.


Author(s):  
Thao A. Nguyen

It is well known that the large deviations from stoichiometry in iron sulfide compounds, Fe1-xS (0≤x≤0.125), are accommodated by iron vacancies which order and form superstructures at low temperatures. Although the ordering of the iron vacancies has been well established, the modes of vacancy ordering, hence superstructures, as a function of composition and temperature are still the subject of much controversy. This investigation gives direct evidence from many-beam lattice images of Fe1-xS that the 4C superstructure transforms into the 3C superstructure (Fig. 1) rather than the MC phase as previously suggested. Also observed are an intrinsic stacking fault in the sulfur sublattice and two different types of vacancy-ordering antiphase boundaries. Evidence from selective area optical diffractograms suggests that these planar defects complicate the diffraction pattern greatly.


Author(s):  
Matthew J. Genge

Drawings, illustrations, and field sketches play an important role in Earth Science since they are used to record field observations, develop interpretations, and communicate results in reports and scientific publications. Drawing geology in the field furthermore facilitates observation and maximizes the value of fieldwork. Every geologist, whether a student, academic, professional, or amateur enthusiast, will benefit from the ability to draw geological features accurately. This book describes how and what to draw in geology. Essential drawing techniques, together with practical advice in creating high quality diagrams, are described the opening chapters. How to draw different types of geology, including faults, folds, metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks, and fossils, are the subjects of separate chapters, and include descriptions of what are the important features to draw and describe. Different types of sketch, such as drawings of three-dimensional outcrops, landscapes, thin-sections, and hand-specimens of rocks, crystals, and minerals, are discussed. The methods used to create technical diagrams such as geological maps and cross-sections are also covered. Finally, modern techniques in the acquisition and recording of field data, including photogrammetry and aerial surveys, and digital methods of illustration, are the subject of the final chapter of the book. Throughout, worked examples of field sketches and illustrations are provided as well as descriptions of the common mistakes to be avoided.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 741
Author(s):  
Yuseok Ban ◽  
Kyungjae Lee

Many researchers have suggested improving the retention of a user in the digital platform using a recommender system. Recent studies show that there are many potential ways to assist users to find interesting items, other than high-precision rating predictions. In this paper, we study how the diverse types of information suggested to a user can influence their behavior. The types have been divided into visual information, evaluative information, categorial information, and narrational information. Based on our experimental results, we analyze how different types of supplementary information affect the performance of a recommender in terms of encouraging users to click more items or spend more time in the digital platform.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-437
Author(s):  
Markus Bader

Abstract In German, a verb selected by another verb normally precedes the selecting verb. Modal verbs in the perfect tense provide an exception to this generalization because they require the perfective auxiliary to occur in cluster-initial position according to prescriptive grammars. Bader and Schmid (2009b) have shown, however, that native speakers accept the auxiliary in all positions except the cluster-final one. Experimental results as well as corpus data indicate that verb cluster serialization is a case of free variation. I discuss how this variation can be accounted for, focusing on two mismatches between acceptability and frequency: First, slight acceptability advantages can turn into strong frequency advantages. Second, syntactic variants with basically zero frequency can still vary substantially in acceptability. These mismatches remain unaccounted for if acceptability is related to frequency on the level of whole sentence structures, as in Stochastic OT (Boersma and Hayes2001). However, when the acceptability-frequency relationship is modeled on the level of individual weighted constraints, using harmony as link (see Pater2009, for different harmony based frameworks), the two mismatches follow given appropriate linking assumptions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
pp. 1154-1176
Author(s):  
Alice Bodoc ◽  
Mihaela Gheorghe

Abstract The present paper aims to present an inventory of Romanian middle contructions (se‑verbal constructions), and to extend the analysis to other structures (with or without se) that were not previously investigated, but exhibit the same characteristics, and seem to allow middle reading (adjunct middles). Since Jespersen (1927), middles were attested cross-linguistically, and the focus on middles is justified if we consider the fact that this is an interesting testing ground for theories of syntax, semantics and their interaction (Fagan 1992). Starting from Grahek’s definition (2008, 44), in this paper, middles are a heterogeneous class of constructions that share formal properties of both active and passive structures: on the one hand, they have active verb forms, but, on the other hand, like passives, they have understood subjects and normally display promoted objects. The corpus analysis will focus on the particular contexts in which the middle reading is triggered: i) the adverbial modification; ii) the modal/procedural interpretation of the event; iii) the responsibility of the subject; iv) the arbitrary interpretation of the implicit argument which follows from the generic interpretation (Steinbach 2002).


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 215-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTEO BROGGI ◽  
ADRIANO CALVI ◽  
GERHART I. SCHUËLLER

Cylindrical shells under axial compression are susceptible to buckling and hence require the development of enhanced underlying mathematical models in order to accurately predict the buckling load. Imperfections of the geometry of the cylinders may cause a drastic decrease of the buckling load and give rise to the need of advanced techniques in order to consider these imperfections in a buckling analysis. A deterministic buckling analysis is based on the use of the so-called knockdown factors, which specifies the reduction of the buckling load of the perfect shell in order to account for the inherent uncertainties in the geometry. In this paper, it is shown that these knockdown factors are overly conservative and that the fields of probability and statistics provide a mathematical vehicle for realistically modeling the imperfections. Furthermore, the influence of different types of imperfection on the buckling load are examined and validated with experimental results.


1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 400-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Le Narvor ◽  
Pierre Saumagne

The ir spectra of mixtures of methyl propionate/water and methyl propionate/Ba2+ in dimethylsulfoxide and in acetonitrile have been recorded in the region of the νCO mode of the ester. Evidence is presented to indicate the presence of different types of complexes; their concentration was determined as a function of the composition of the medium. The spectroscopic results are compared to those from the kinetics of the alkaline hydrolysis in the same conditions. It is demonstrated that the orbital control explains the experimental results better than does the charge density on the carbon of the carbonyl group. [Journal translation]


1950 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. O. Hinze ◽  
H. Milborn

Abstract Liquid, supplied through a stationary tube to the inner part of a rotating cup widening toward a brim, flows viscously in a thin layer toward this brim and is then flung off, all by centrifugal action. The flow within this layer and the disintegration phenomena occurring beyond the brim have been studied, experimentally as well as theoretically. A formula has been derived for the thickness and for the radial velocity of the liquid layer within the cup, which proved to agree reasonably well with experimental results. Three essentially different types of disintegration may take place around and beyond the edge of the cup designated, respectively, by: (a) the state of direct drop formation; (b) the state of ligament formation; and (c) the state of film formation. Which one of these is realized depends upon working conditions. Transition from state (a) into (b), or of state (b) into state (c) is promoted by an increased quantity of supply, an increased angular speed, a decreased diameter of the cup, an increased density, an increased viscosity, and a decreased surface tension of the liquid. The experimental results have been expressed in relationships between relevant dimensionless groups. For the state of ligament formation a semiempirical relationship has been derived between the number of ligaments and dimensionless groups determining the working conditions of the cup. Results of drop-size measurements made for the state of ligament formation as well as for the state of film formation show that atomization by mere rotation of the cup is much more uniform than commonly achieved with pressure atomizers.


Author(s):  
Thomas A. Whittle ◽  
Christopher J. Howard ◽  
Siegbert Schmid

The room-temperature structure of the filled tetragonal tungsten bronze, Ba2NaNb5O15 (BNN), has been the subject of a number of studies, and these studies have given an almost corresponding number of different results. From a group theoretical examination of the different possibilities and a review of the published experimental results we conclude that the room-temperature structure is that proposed by Labbé et al. [J. Phys. Condens. Matter (1989), 2, 25–43] in the space group Bbm2 (Ama2 in standard setting) on a 2\sqrt{2}a × \sqrt{2}a × 2c cell. Upon heating, the structure remains ferroelectric but becomes tetragonal (space group P4bm) at 550 K, then paraelectric (space group P4/mbm) at and above 860 K.


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