Nonfinite Clauses

2014 ◽  
pp. 211-216
Author(s):  
Chris Collins ◽  
Paul M. Postal
Keyword(s):  
Nonfinite Clauses

scholarly journals The influence of first language on the processing of wh-movement in English as a second language

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Juffs
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Nonnative Speaker ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Reading Technique ◽  
Island Constraints ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses

Adult learners of English as a second language who speak Chinese ( n = 30), Japanese ( n = 28) or Spanish ( n = 46) as a first language (L1), and a comparison group of native speakers ( n = 22) read sentences that contain: (a) ungrammatical wh-extractions that violate island constraints; and (b) grammatical long-distance Subject and Object extractions from finite and nonfinite clauses. Word-by-word reading times for each sentence were collected using the self-paced reading technique. Results suggest that the presence or absence of wh-movement in the L1 and the headedness of the verb phrase in the L1 are unable to explain all of the variation between the nonnative speaker groups. Severe garden path effects were observed in Subject extractions from finite clauses, but not in extractions from nonfinite clauses, suggesting that two finite verbs next to one another may be an important factor in causing parsing break-down. Individual variation in reading time was not predictable from measures of reading span or word span in either the first or second language.

scholarly journals Linguistic change: the grammatical environment of participial non-finite clauses in Old English and in present-day English

1999 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 99-109
Author(s):  
Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Syntactic Change ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses

The following paper reports on the final results 1 of the author's study of the use of participial nonfinite clauses and dependent clauses in Old English (OE) and in present-day English (PE), in relation to the nature of their respective grammatical environment. It ensues from the research into the early stages of syntactic change, which started as team work at the universities of Ljubljana and Maribor in 1986, under the guidance and coordination of Janez Orešnik.

scholarly journals Linguistic change: the grammatical environment of participial non-finite clauses in Old English and in present-day English

1999 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 99-109
Author(s):  
Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Syntactic Change ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses

The following paper reports on the final results 1 of the author's study of the use of participial nonfinite clauses and dependent clauses in Old English (OE) and in present-day English (PE), in relation to the nature of their respective grammatical environment. It ensues from the research into the early stages of syntactic change, which started as team work at the universities of Ljubljana and Maribor in 1986, under the guidance and coordination of Janez Orešnik.

scholarly journals On pseudo-non-finite clauses in Welsh

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Bonami ◽  
Robert D. Borsley ◽  
Maggie Tallerman
Keyword(s):  
Similar Distribution ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses

Languages differ in how they employ finite and non-finite clauses. Welsh finite and non-finite clauses have a similar distribution to their counterparts in English. However, it doesn’t look like this because Welsh has certain finite clauses which look rather like non-finite clauses. We examine two types of pseudo-non-finite clauses: finite "bod" clauses and finite "i" clauses. We argue that both cases are instances of a mismatch between syntax and morphology, while the latter only involves periphrasis. We provide an HPSG analysis capturing similarities and differences between these two constructions and canonical finite and nonfinite clauses.

The Syntax and Semantics of Nonfinite Forms

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-328
Author(s):  
John J. Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Finite Clause ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses ◽  
Verb Categories ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Finite Verb

The syntactic and semantic properties of nonfinite verb categories can best be understood in relation to and distinction from the corresponding properties of finite verb categories. In order to explore these issues, it is necessary to provide a crosslinguistically valid characterization of finiteness. Finiteness is a prototypical notion, understood in relation to a language-specific finite verb prototype; nonfiniteness is therefore understood in terms of degrees of deviation from this prototype. The syntactic properties of nonfinite verb categories, so defined, can be considered from two perspectives: the functions of nonfinite clauses within superordinate clauses (e.g., argument and adjunct functions) and the internal structure of nonfinite verb phrases. Typical of the second aspect is that nonfinite phrases tend to be defective in one or another respect, relative to finite phrases, which may be understood in terms of lacking functional projections or features which are an obligatory part of finite phrases. This defectiveness relative to the finite prototype plays out also in the semantics; typically, certain aspects of the meaning of nonfinite phrases are not independently specified, but must be derived from semantic properties of a superordinate finite clause.

Impersonal se Constructions in Romance and the Passivization of Unergatives

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin
Keyword(s):  
Nonfinite Clauses

Romance constructions of the type SE Vunerg (e.g., si dorme) are shown to rely not only on nominative SE, as in Italian finite clauses, but also on accusative middle-passive SE. The latter analysis is needed for Romanian, because this language does not have nominative SE, as well as for Italian nonfinite clauses, in which nominative SE is illegitimate. According to my restatement of Cinque's (1988) generalizations, [+/−1arg] features are not needed. I assume a constrained theory of passivization, according to which the suspended Agent role cannot surface in the syntax as either -en or SE. The passivization of unergatives depends on analyzing unergatives as transitives with null cognate objects.

scholarly journals The typology of Mandarin infinitives

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cherlon Ussery ◽  
Lydia Ding ◽  
Yining Rebecca Liu
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Partial Control ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Infinitival Clauses ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Nonfinite Clauses

There has been a long-standing debate in the literature about whether Mandarin has infinitival clauses. Since there is no verbal morphology to distinguish finite and nonfinite clauses, this is an open question. Researchers have used diagnostics such as the availability of an overt embedded subject and the interpretation of aspect markers to argue both for and against the presence of infinitival clauses in Mandarin. Using some of these diagnostics, in addition to the availability of partial control interpretations, Grano (2012/2015) argues that the distinction between types of clauses in Mandarin is not based on finiteness, but rather based on whether there is restructuring: some complement clauses are vPs, while others are CPs. We provide new data based on the distribution and interpretation of the reflexive ziji, which suggests that there is a finite/nonfinite distinction. We argue for the existence of nonfinite control complements in Mandarin. Further, we evaluate the diagnostics used by previous researchers and illustrate that some of them are not reliable indicators of finiteness or of clause size.

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