scholarly journals Extending Hawkins’ comparative typology: Case, word order, and verb agreement in the Germanic languages

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.93 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunther De Vogelaer
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Original Idea ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Extra Parameter

In a well-known book, Hawkins (1986), expanding on an original idea by Sapir (1921), attributes a number of typological differences between German and English to the fact that German uses morphological means (i.e. case) to distinguish grammatical relations, whereas English makes use of a strict-SVO word order. Dutch seems problematic to Hawkins’ generalisation, in that neither case nor word order can be used consistently to express the basic grammatical relations. Using verb agreement as an extra parameter, Dutch can be integrated in Hawkins’ typology. In addition, data from Scandinavian languages and Afrikaans indicate that Hawkins’ notion of ‘grammatical word order’ can be replaced by a more precise word order feature, viz. the possibility to place verbs in between subjects and objects in all sentence types.

scholarly journals Decoding Middle Welsh clauses or “Avoid Ambiguity”

2014 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-148
Author(s):  
Axel Harlos ◽  
Erich Poppe ◽  
Paul Widmer
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguity ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Narrative Context ◽  
Free Word

Abstract Middle Welsh is a language with a restricted set of morphosyntactic distinctions for grammatical relations and with relatively free word order in positive main declarative causes. However, syntactic ambiguity rarely, if ever, arises in natural texts. The present article shows in a corpus-based study how syntactic ambiguity is prevented and how morphological features interact with two referential properties, namely animacy and accessibility, in order to successfully identify grammatical relations in Middle Welsh. Further lower-tier factors are the semantics of the verb and the wider narrative context. The article complements recent insights suggesting that subject-verb agreement is not only determined by wordorder patterns, but also by referential properties of subjects.

The mosaic acquisition of grammatical relations

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Rispoli
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Role And Reference Grammar ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Reference Grammar ◽  
Discrete Structures ◽  
Focus Marking ◽  
Logical Semantic

ABSTRACTThe view that grammatical relations have substantial essence, designated as ‘subject’ or ‘object’ has difficulty in accounting for the variety of naturally acquirable grammatical relations. The acquisition of grammatical relations is examined from a theoretical framework, ROLE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR, in which grammatical relations are decomposed into two separate types of structure: logical (semantic) structure and information (pragmatic) structure. The acquisition of grammatical relations from four languages is compared: (1) the definite accusative suffix and pragmatically motivated word order of Turkish; (2) Kaluli verb agreement, case and focus marking postpositions, and pragmatically motivated word order; (3) Hungarian definite and indefinite verb conjunction; and (4) Italian participial agreement and anaphoric, accusative case pronouns. Two conditions on structures are found to cause difficulty: the neutralization of a semantic or pragmatic distinction by interfering structures (e.g. Kaluli and Italian), and global case marking which forces the child to discover relevant semantic characteristics of both the actor and the undergoer (e.g. Hungarian and Kaluli). Structures that encode semantic or pragmatic distinctions independently are more easily acquired (e.g. Turkish). Piecing together discrete structures in a mosaic fashion, the child can acquire the great variety of grammatical relations that exist in human languages.

scholarly journals On the dating and nature of verb agreement in Tibeto-Burman

1992 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy J. LaPolla
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
The Many

This paper is part of an ongoing investigation into the nature of grammatical relations in the Sino-Tibetan language family. The ultimate goal of this investigation is to develop a hypothesis on the typological nature of word order and grammatical relations in the mother language which gave rise to all of the many languages within the Sino Tibetan language family. As the verb agreement (pronominalization) systems of Tibeto-Burman have been said to be a type of ergative marking, and to have been a part of Proto-Tibeto-Burman grammatical relations, the questions of the dating and nature of the agreement systems in Tibeto-Burman are relevant to the discussion of the nature of grammatical relations in Proto-Sino-Tibetan.

The OV/VO alternation in early German

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Fuß
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Germanic Languages

This chapter discusses a set of theoretical approaches to the OV/VO alternation in Early German (with an emphasis on OHG), focusing on the question of whether it is possible to identify a basic serialization pattern that underlies the ‘mixed’ word order properties found at the syntactic surface. Based on a review of a set of OV/VO diagnostics, including for example the placement of elements that resist extraposition, properties of verbal complexes, and the significance of deviations from the source text in translations, it is argued that—despite some notable exceptions—OHG exhibits a more consistent verb-final nature than other Early Germanic languages (OE, in particular). This conclusion is supported by the observation that OV qualifies as the unmarked surface word order, which is compatible with a larger set of pragmatic contexts.

Word-order change in progress: the case of Slovene and Serbo-Croat and its relevance for Germanic

1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Related Language ◽  
Slavonic Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Order Change ◽  
The One ◽  
Word Order Change ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Fresh Insight

It will be suggested in this article that Slovene, a South Slavonic language, is on the way to acquiring verb-second (V2) word order. In providing evidence in support of this view I shall compare Slovene, on the one hand, with the closely related language Serbo-Croat and, on the other hand, with relevant details from the history of the Germanic languages. The point of comparing it with Serbo-Croat is to discover the respects in which the word order of these two languages has diverged. Taken together with what is known about the word order of Common Slavonic, the facts emerging from this comparison allow us to identify one major respect in which Slovene has changed and two respects in which it is still changing. At the same time, they reveal a major respect in which Serbo-Croat word order is also changing. The point of comparing Slovene with the Germanic languages is twofold. First, since all the present-day Germanic languages either have or have had V2 word order (Haiman, 1974), it is possible that their history can help us to understand the changes currently taking place in Slovene and to predict how Slovene might change in the future. Secondly, where details of the history of the Germanic languages are poorly understood, the possibility exists of gaining fresh insight into them in the light of the changes that have taken place more recently, or indeed are still taking place, in Slovene. In this connection we shall assess the plausibility of two theories concerning the adoption of V2 word order by the Germanic languages, those of Vennemann (1975) and Wackernagel (1892).

scholarly journals Honorifics: A sociocultural verb agreement cue in Japanese sentence processing

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUKI YOSHIMURA ◽  
BRIAN MACWHINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Role Assignment ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
New Type

ABSTRACTCase marking is the major cue to sentence interpretation in Japanese, whereas animacy and word order are much weaker. However, when subjects and their cases markers are omitted, Japanese honorific and humble verbs can provide information that compensates for the missing case role markers. This study examined the usage of honorific and humble verbs as cues to case role assignment by Japanese native speakers and second-language learners of Japanese. The results for native speakers replicated earlier findings regarding the predominant strength of case marking. However, when case marking was missing, native speakers relied more on honorific marking than word order. In these sentences, the processing that relied on the honorific cue was delayed by about 100 ms in comparison to processing that relied on the case-marking cue. Learners made extensive use of the honorific agreement cue, but their use of the cue was much less accurate than that of native speakers. In particular, they failed to systematically invoke the agreement cue when case marking was missing. Overall, the findings support the predictions of the model and extend its coverage to a new type of culturally determined cue.

UG or not UG, that is the question: a reply to Clahsen and Muysken

1987 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean duPlessis ◽  
Doreen Solin ◽  
Lisa Travis ◽  
Lydia White
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
German Word ◽  
Germanic Languages

In a recent paper, Clahsen and Muysken (1986) argue that adult second lan guage (L2) learners no longer have access to Universal Grammar (UG) and acquire the L2 by means of learning strategies and ad hoc rules. They use evidence from adult L2 acquisition of German word order to argue that the rules that adults use are not natural language rules. In this paper, we argue that this is not the case. We explain properties of Germanic word order in terms of three parameters (to do with head position, proper government and adjunc tion). We reanalyse Clahsen and Muysken's data in terms of these parameters and show that the stages that adult learners go through, the errors that they make and the rules that they adopt are perfectly consistent with a UG incor porating such parameters. We suggest that errors are the result of some of the parameters being set inappropriately for German. The settings chosen are nevertheless those of existing natural languages. We also discuss additional data, from our own research on the acquisition of German and Afrikaans, which support our analysis of adult L2 acquisition of Germanic languages.

scholarly journals Errors in the Use of English Grammar

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Anju Giri
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Word Order ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Question Formation ◽  
Target Languages ◽  
Comprehensive Study

By systematically studying the errors committed by learners one can get a lot of hints about the learning strategies and mechanisms which they are employing in learning their target languages. Such hints have provided insights to the teachers, textbook writers, curriculum designers and many applied linguists and enable them to contribute to their fields. This article seeks to present a comprehensive study of grammatical errors committed by the bachelor level university students of Nepal learning English which followed the established stages of error analysis. It was found that the bachelor level students in Nepal did commit all sorts of grammatical errors in the use of the English language. For them, the error prone grammatical units were Sentence and Clause and the error prone grammatical categories were Conditionals, Mood, V-Form, Tense/Aspect, Main Verb, Subject-Verb Agreement, Question Formation, Auxiliary/Modal,Miscellaneous forms, 'So' Form, Determiner, Verb+Participle, Word Order, and Noun.Key words: Correct forms; Incorrect forms/mistakes; ErrorsJournal of NELTAVol. 15 No. 1-2 December 2010Page: 54-63Uploaded date: 4 May, 2011DOI: 10.3126/nelta.v15i1-2.4610

scholarly journals Translating Arabic Into English: Basic Considerations in Word Order

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Menacere
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Arabic Word ◽  
Cognitive Meaning

Abstract This paper attempts to discuss the potential difficulties in translating Arabic into English with regard to word order. Arabic has a richer morphology than English and this enables morphological discrimination of surface grammatical relations in a way that is usually impossible in English. As a result, Arabic word order is freer than English with Arabic in general allowing any permutation of the major constituents without loss of grammatically or change in the basic cognitive meaning of the sentence. This paper looks at whether this flexibility in Arabic word order constitutes a translating problem.

The effects of word order on subject–verb and object–verb agreement: Evidence from Basque

2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikel Santesteban ◽  
Martin J. Pickering ◽  
Holly P. Branigan
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Agreement
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document