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.

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.

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.

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.

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 V2 and V3 Orders in North-American Icelandic

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir ◽  
Höskuldur Thráinsson ◽  
Iris Edda Nowenstein
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
North American ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Group Position ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Finite Verb

The finite verb typically occurs in second position in main clauses in Germanic languages other than English. Hence they are often referred to as ʽverb-second languagesʼ or V2-languages for short. The difference between a V2-language and a non-V2 language is shown in (i)–(ii) with Icelandic examples and English glosses (the finite verb is highlighted): In example (i) the finite verb occurs in second position in Icelandic, immediately following the subject María in Icelandic but in the English gloss it occurs in third position, following the adverb never. In (ii) the finite verb immediately follows the fronted (topicalized) object Maríu in Icelandic but in the English gloss the finite verb again occurs in third position, this time following the subject. This article discusses the influence of intense language contact (English/Icelandic) on the two V2-order types in North American Icelandic (NAmIce), a heritage language spoken in former Icelandic conclaves in North America. We show that the subject-first V2-order is more robust in NAmIce than the topic-first V2-order and less vulnerable to English influence, although both types are affected to some extent. This is interesting for two reasons. First, it has been argued that word order is typically less prone to cross-linguistic influence than for instance morphology. Second, these results suggest that, contrary to common assumption, the two types of V2-orders discussed here may have different syntactic sources in Icelandic syntax.

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.

On the Subject of Negative Auxiliary Inversion

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Blanchette ◽  
Chris Collins
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Polarity Items ◽  
West Texas ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scope Freezing

AbstractThis article presents a novel analysis ofNegative Auxiliary Inversion(NAI) constructions such asdidn't many people eat, in which a negated auxiliary appears in pre-subject position. NAI, found in varieties including Appalachian, African American, and West Texas English, has a word order identical to a yes/no question, but is pronounced and interpreted as a declarative. We propose that NAI subjects are negative DPs, and that the negation raises from the subject DP to adjoin to Fin (a functional head in the left periphery). Three properties of NAI motivate this analysis: (i) scope freezing effects, (ii) the various possible and impossible NAI subject types, and (iii) the incompatibility of NAI constructions with true Double-Negation interpretations. Implications for theories of Negative Concord, Negative Polarity Items, and the representation of negation are discussed.

Borrowing non-canonical inverse between Kabardian and Abaza

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-173
Author(s):  
Peter M. Arkadiev
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Close Relative ◽  
First Person ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Person Hierarchy ◽  
Distant Relative

Abaza, a polysynthetic ergative Northwest Caucasian language, shares with its neighbour and distant relative Kabardian a typologically peculiar use of the deictic directional prefixes monitoring the relative ranking of the subject and indirect object on the person hierarchy. In both languages, the cislocative (‘hither’) prefixes are used if the indirect object outranks the subject on the person hierarchy, and the translocative (‘thither’) prefixes are used in combinations of first person subjects with second person singular indirect objects. This pattern, reminiscent of the more familiar inverse marking and hence called ‘quasi-inverse’, is observed with ditransitive and bivalent intransitive verbs and is almost fully redundant, since all participants are unequivocally indexed on verbs by pronominal prefixes. I argue that this isogloss, shared by West Circassian (a close relative to Kabardian) but not with Abkhaz, the sister-language of Abaza, is a result of pattern replication under intense language contact, which has led to an increase of both paradigmatic and syntagmatic complexity of Abaza verbal morphology.

An Analysis of Students Problem To Pronounce Aspirated /P/, /T/, /K/ at Initial Position of English Words

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-98
Author(s):  
Widya Juli Astria
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
English Department ◽  
Final Position ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Learning English

The purpose of this research was to analyze the third semester students’ problem in learning English basic sounds pronunciation. The research design was case study. The data were collected by recording the students’ pronunciation. The subject of the research were the third Semester Students of English Department at Universitas Ekasakti). The result of the research was found that Each aspirated /p/, /t/, /k/ have two allophones, [ph] and [p], [th] and [t], [kh] and [k]. Then, all instances of [ph] occured immediately before a stressed vowel. It can be said that the following rule: /p/ becomes [ph] when it occured before a stressed vowel or initial position of English words. Moreover, aspirated /p/, /t/, /k/ sounds were really pronounced in two different ways. First, when these sounds came at the beginning of the word they are always followed by a puff of breath. Second, if aspirated /p/, /t/, and /k/ occur at the end of final position of English words, it is not necessary to pronounce them by following a puff of breath. In following there is a chart of aspirated /p/, /t/, /k/ sounds at initial position of English words

Constructional change in Germanic

2021 ◽  
pp. 197-224
Author(s):  
Peter W. Culicover
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
German Word ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Verb Clusters

This chapter tracks several of the major changes in English and German word order and accounts for them in terms of constructional change as formulated in Chapter 3. It argues that the changes are relatively simple in constructional terms, although the superficial results are quite dramatic. Topics include clause-initial position, V2, VP-initial and VP-final verb position, the loss of V2 and case marking in English, and verb clusters in Continental West Germanic.

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