scholarly journals Cleft as a Marker of a Thetic Sentence: Evidence from Irish and Russian

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 51-63
Author(s):  
Maria Shkapa ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Normal Position ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Sentence Construction ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
Celtic Languages ◽  
Verbal Statement ◽  
The Subject

P. Mac Cana in his paper on Celtic word order notes that modern Celtic languages preserving VSO have a special construction where “the emphasis expressed by the abnormal word-order applies to the whole verbal statement and not merely, or especially, to the subject or object which takes the initial position” (Mac Cana 1973: 102). He gives examples from Welsh and Irish: ‘Faoi Dhia, goidé tháinig ort?’ ars an t-athair. by God what.it happened to.you said the father “In God's name, what happened to you?” asked the father. ‘Micheál Rua a bhuail mé,’ ars an mac. Micheál Rua rel hit me said the son “Micheál Rua gave me a beating,” said the son. In recent literature sentences of this kind acquired the name thetic. Thetic (Sentence Focus) construction is a “sentence construction formally marked as expressing a pragmatically structured proposition in which both the subject and the predicate are in focus; the focus domain is the sentence, minus any topical non-subject arguments” (Lambrecht 1997: 190). Cleft construction “designed” for focussing one XP of a clause is used in the sentence above to mark the whole clause as focussed. The effect is achieved by extracting the usual topic of a sentence – its subject – from its normal position and thus ascribing to it and to the whole clause a new pragmatic function. Such usage of cleft is by no means universal (e.g. it is not possible in English) but meets a parallel in Russian eto-cleft which has the same two meanings – focussing an XP and forming a thetic sentence. These two usages are generally regarded as two different constructions having different syntactic structures (see [Kimmelmann 2007] and literature cited there). However, existence of a typological parallel enables us to view it as a case of pragmatic homonymy.

Objects in the German prefield

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-39
Author(s):  
Markus Bader
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Experimental Investigations ◽  
Demonstrative Pronoun ◽  
New Findings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Referential Form ◽  
Free Word

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.

scholarly journals Locative Inversion as an Alternation Phenomenon in Setswana: The Case of Lexical Functional Grammar Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Setumile Morapedi
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Structure Approach ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Locative Inversion

The paper has examined locative inversion constructions in Setswana, showing that the pre-posed locative phrase in these constructions is not the subject as it is viewed by other linguists in the literature. It has been argued, in this paper, that locative phrase occurs in the sentence initial position to perform the topic function which sets the scene for the focused noun phrase that alternates with it (locative phrase). The analysis has been achieved through information structure approach, showing the locative phrase that occurs in sentence initial position is a discourse phenomenon showing given information, and that the focused post-verbal noun phrase is new information that is emphasised on. Also, an appeal is made to Lexical Functional Grammar Approach to explain different ways of representing syntactic structures such as constituent structure and the functional structure.

Relative inversion and non-verb-initial imperatives in Early Modern Swedish

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Magnusson Petzell
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Additional Assumption ◽  
Structural Difference ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Syntactic Differences

This article deals with two syntactic differences between Present-Day Swedish (PDSw) and Early Modern Swedish (EMSw): first, only EMSw allows VS and XVS word order to occur in relative clauses; second, only EMSw permits non-verb-initial imperatives. One structural difference between the varieties is assumed to be a prerequisite for all these word order differences: the subject position was spec-TP in EMSw but is spec-FinP in PDSw. Only the lower position (spec-TP) is compatible with inversion (VS) and fronting of non-subjects (XVS) in relative clauses as well as with imperative clauses having elements other than the imperative verb in the initial position. To be able to account for the latter phenomenon, however, an additional assumption is needed: the imperative type-feature, [imp], always accompanies the verb in PDSw but is tied to an operator in EMSw. The first assumption about differing subject positions is independently motivated by findings already in the previous literature. The second assumption about the differing behaviour of [imp] in the two varieties is supported by the distribution of imperative verbs over a wider range of syntactic contexts in EMSw than in PDSw.

Surface cues and the development of given/new interpretation

1998 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-Hui Eileen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Normal Stress ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Interaction Effects ◽  
Competition Model ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
New Information ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
New Interpretation

ABSTRACTAs children develop language, they also acquire strategies to utilize surface forms to interpret the meaning and functions of sentences. This study investigated how Chinese-speaking children (aged 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13) and adults utilize structural and prosodic cues to interpret the pragmatic function of given and new information intrasententially. The results revealed that: (a) children did not utilize word order cues effectively in NVN sentences with normal stress; (b) children utilized the marked grammatical structure of passives and pseudoclefts more effectively than clefts; (c) when stress converged or competed with word order or syntactic structures, children responded nonuniformly; and (d) animacy was a factor that affected children's interpretation of given versus new. Interaction effects are discussed in light of the Competition Model.

Tarifit Berber

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-330
Author(s):  
Abdelhak El Hankari
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Embedded Clauses

This paper is concerned with the word order of Tarifit Berber. It is argued that this variety has now shifted from VSO to a topic-prominent system. The topic is realised by the subject when all arguments are lexical or by VP-Topicalisation (V + object clitic) when the object is a pronominal clitic. The syntax of wh-/operator and some embedded clauses, which typically require a Verb-first structure, is also investigated. A careful consideration of these clauses reveals that the surface position of the verb is the result of V-to-C movement, which is motivated by focus. Topic and focus are investigated within the current debate as to whether discourse features are syntactic or phonological. Several pieces of evidence are presented, which suggest that these features are likely to be phonological in Tarifit. The object clitic, which is specified for topic, cannot move alone to the initial position of the clause, presumably due to its prosodic deficiency. So, it must pied-pipe the verb with it yielding VP-Topicalisation. Similarly, focus in C can only be valued by an independent phonological item. If the complementiser does not meet this condition, the main verb must move to C, giving rise to a strict VS ordering.

scholarly journals A Typological Study of Lower Sorbian and Breton Word Order

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 175-202
Author(s):  
Till Vogt ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Specific Position ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Actual Word

In the case of Breton, lots of attempts were made to determine its historically grown word order. Proposals in this regard range from VSO (Timm) over V2 (Schafer) to SVO (Varin). This paper shows that traditional Breton has a preference for V2 positioning within a VSO-type framework. Lower Sorbian is a language with a rich morphology and consequently shows a relatively flexible word order. However, in unmarked declarative sentences it is normally the subject which occurs in sentence-initial position whereas the verb does not seem to prefer any specific position. Having determined the word order in the traditional varieties of Breton and Lower Sorbian, an outlook will be given on potential changes of their actual word order under language contact.

Cross-linguistic structural priming in bilinguals: priming of the subject-to-object raising construction between English and Korean

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62
Author(s):  
YOONSANG SONG ◽  
YOUNGAH DO
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Korean And English ◽  
The Subject

A cross-linguistic structural priming experiment explores the issue of whether parallel syntactic constructions of the two languages in bilinguals share a representation when the surface word orders of the constructions differ. The target population was early balanced bilinguals of Korean and English; the tested constructions were structures relevant to the subject-to-object raising (STOR) operation, which until this study have not been used for structural priming research in cross-linguistic contexts (e.g., STOR: Mary believes Jerry to be trustworthy; non-STOR: Mary believes that Jerry is trustworthy). These syntactic structures exist in both English and Korean, but with different surface word orders. The results show that cross-linguistic priming of the STOR construction occurred, suggesting that parallel syntactic constructions of the languages in bilinguals can share a representation independent of surface word order.

scholarly journals L’apposition en français et en slovène

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-65
Author(s):  
Adriana Mezeg
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Nominal Group ◽  
Initial Structure ◽  
Context Word ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Source Structure ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Newspaper Articles

This article first gives an overview of the different uses of French apposition and then focuses on nominal appositions, a kind of supplementive clause introduced by a nominal group (NG) without an article. Only translations of initial nominal appositions are examined, i.e. those which are placed at the beginning of the sentence and where the content of the initial structure is expressed by an apposition or NG as the subject. In this context, word order and the use of commas are discussed, which are often of importance for Slovenian language users. Based on the FraSloK corpus, the following conclusions can be drawn: (a) sentence-initial position is maintained much more often in novels than in newspaper articles; (b) the expression of the content of initial structures with an apposition and an NG, which functions as a subject, is fairly evenly represented in more than half of the cases from newspaper articles, while in novels the subject function is prominent; (c) apart from the change in sentence position, Slovenian apposition corresponds to the source structure, and when its content is expressed by an NG with subject function, there are changes at different levels compared to French; (d) the (non-)use of the comma cannot be satisfactorily justified on the basis of the present corpus, but the examples suggest that it is based on translators’ personal choices and also depends on the possibilities of expression in the target language. Suggestions have already been made to change the rules and usage examples, which are not tenable in our cases, and would require further consideration.

Materials for Electron Beam Information Storage

1969 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 152-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Speliotis
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Electron Beams ◽  
Information Storage ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Magnetic Field

The interaction of electron beams with a large variety of materials for information storage has been the subject of numerous proposals and studies in the recent literature. The materials range from photographic to thermoplastic and magnetic, and the interactions with the electron beam for writing and reading the information utilize the energy, or the current, or even the magnetic field associated with the electron beam.

Salience and shift in salience as means of creating discourse coherence

Pragmatics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Hannß
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Coherence ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
The Subject

Abstract The Chipaya language, an endangered isolate of the Bolivian highlands, has a set of three enclitics, =l, =m and =ʐ, which are coreferential with the subject of a clause but are not necessarily attached to it and are not obligatory. In this paper, I investigate the pragmatic function of these forms. The salience-marking enclitics (henceforth SMEs) occur at paratactic and hypotactic discourse transitions, where they indicate a shift in salience, thereby contributing to creating discourse coherence. Discourse transitions without a shift in salience are not accompanied by the enclitics. Those enclitics that occur at paratactic transitions have scope over at least the segment whose beginning and/or end they occur in, whereas SMEs at hypotactic transitions have scope over the clause they appear in. Use of the SMEs is genre-specific.

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