scholarly journals BASIC WORD ORDER IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE: A HYBRID EXTENDED PROJECTION PRINCIPLE (EPP) | A ORDEM BÁSICA DE PALAVRAS NO PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO: UM PRINCÍPIO DA PROJEÇÃO ESTENDIDO (EPP) HÍBRIDO

2017 ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Michelle Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Explanatory Account ◽  
Extended Projection ◽  
The Subject

<p>This paper proposes a novel analysis of word order in Brazilian Portuguese (BP), based on a hybrid model of EPP satisfaction. It is proposed that the subject requirement or EPP is a [uD] feature on T which can be satisfied either by DP movement or by movement of an inflected verb bearing a [D] feature in BP. This, it is claimed, offers an explanatory account of basic word order patterns in BP.  External argument DPs, merged above V, are closer to T than V, meaning that they must raise to satisfy the EPP, predicting SV(O) order with transitive and unergative predicates, including transitive psych-predicates. Internal arguments are merged below V, however, and so with unaccusatives, it is movement of the verb bearing a [uD] feature which satisfies the EPP, giving rise to VS order. With copular verbs which take small clause complements, a similar affect holds, as the copular verb can satisfy the EPP. Verb movement can also satisfy the EPP in impersonal contexts, hence the fact that BP lacks overt expletives.</p><p>Resumo: Este artigo propõe uma nova análise da ordem de palavras no Português Brasileiro (PB), baseada num modelo hibrido de satisfação do Princípio da Projeção Extendido (PPE). Propõe-se que o requisito de sujeito ou PPE é um rasgo [uD] no núcleo T, que se pode satisfazer ou por alçamento de um DP ou por movimento de um verbo flexionado com um traço [D] no PB. Esta abordagem oferece uma análise explanatória da ordem básica das palavras no PB. Os argumentos externos (dos verbos transitivos e inergativos) que originam acima do verbo, são mais perto de T, assim que devem mover para satisfazer o PPE, o que prediz corretamente a ordem SV(O) com estes verbos (incluso os predicados psicológicos transitivos).  Os argumentos internos originam abaixo do verbo, assim que com os verbos inacusativos, e o verbo com um traco [D] que deve satisfazer o PPE, ocasionando a ordem VS. Com os verbos copulares com clausulas pequenas como complemento, observamos algo parecido porque a verbo copulativo também pode satisfazer o PPE. O alçamento do verbo também pode satisfazer o PPE em contextos impessoais, por isso a falta de expletivos no PB. </p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Resilient grammars: On VO/OV in Germanic linguistic islands in Northern Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-355
Author(s):  
Cecilia Poletto ◽  
Günther Grewendorf
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Specific Property ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Common Path ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Linguistic Islands

In this work we consider some residual cases of OV order in Cimbrian and show that this is due to the interaction between verb movement, a language specific property, and the syntax of bare quantifiers. This has consequences on a general theory on the change of the basic word order, since it shows that the passage from OV to VO can involve different structures in different languages depending on other properties, hence it is not possible to trace a common path in the diachronic change for all languages that have undergone this mutation.

Word order in Croatian Sign Language

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 169-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Milković ◽  
Sandra Bradarić-Jončić ◽  
Ronnie B. Wilbur
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
New Information ◽  
Information Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Head Positions

This paper focuses on the basic word order of Croatian Sign Language (HZJ) and factors that permit alternative word orders to occur in sentences and in context. Although they are unrelated languages, the basic word order in HZJ is the same as in spoken Croatian: SVO. One of the factors allowing alternative word orders in context is information status (old or new), which influences constituent placement, as in other languages. HZJ has a tendency to omit old, previously mentioned information, usually the Subject, and the part that is expressed is the new information (Rheme). When old information is expressed, it appears at the beginning of the sentence, preceding the Rheme. Like other languages, HZJ word order can be influenced by the nature of the arguments (Subject, Object) as well as the type of Verb. Sentences with ‘reversible’ arguments (i.e. both are animate and could be agents) tend to use the basic word order, whereas those with nonreversible arguments allow more variable word order. Basic word order also occurs more often with plain verbs (those that do not agree with their arguments). Agreeing and spatial verbs use other word orders in addition to SVO, including the tendency to position Verbs at the end of sentences. Investigation on the interaction of word order and the grammatical usage of facial expressions and head positions (nonmanual marking) indicates that nonmanual markings have pragmatic roles, and could have syntactic functions which await further research.

scholarly journals The Interaction of Input and UG in the Acquisition of Verb Movement in a Dialect of Norwegian

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.61 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit R. Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Early Production ◽  
The Subject

In this paper it is argued that a principle of information structure provided by Universal Grammar (UG) may interact with input in the acquisition of word order. In a study which investigates three children from the age of approximately 1;9 to 3 acquiring a Northern dialect of Norwegian, it has previously been shown that word order patterns in certain types of wh-questions which are sensitive to subtle distinctions in the information value of the subject (given vs. new) are acquired extremely early (Westergaard 2003a). This paper presents a study of the same children’s topicalization constructions, and it is shown that, although these patterns of information structure do not appear in the input, the children nevertheless show traces of these patterns in the non-target forms that they occasionally produce. Thus, in their very early production of topicalization constructions the children seem to be guided by a word order principle based on information structure, which could be taken as support for this as a word order preferred by UG.

Analyticization and the syntax of the synthetic residue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris H. Reintges ◽  
Sonia Cyrino
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Parameter Change ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Auxiliary Verb ◽  
High Degree

Current understanding of syntactic variation and change relies on the notion of parameters of varying magnitude (micro- and macroparameters). This chapter focuses on the flipside of parameter change, namely the retention and survival of synthetic morphological structure in a context of widespread analyticization. The global effects of synthetic-to-analytic drift are examined in two diachronic scenarios: one in which the process has almost, though not entirely been completed (Coptic Egyptian), and another one in which the process is still under way (Brazilian Portuguese). Coptic has gone very far in abandoning its former synthetic features and thus exhibits a high degree of analyticity. In Brazilian Portuguese, the analyticization process is an advanced state, with synthetically inflected tenses exhibiting a decreasing productivity and gradually being replaced by the corresponding auxiliary verb constructions in the spoken language. The restriction on verb movement is a side effect of ongoing analyticization that affects language’s word order.

Tenetehára: A predicate-fronting language

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Bonfim Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Remnant Movement

AbstractThis article investigates whether Tenetehára is a predicate-raising language. The purpose is to determine whether VSO order results from verb movement to the heads T0 or C0 only, or whether Tenetehára exhibits VP remnant movement, similarly to languages like Niuean, Choi, Malagasy, and Seediq. The analysis concludes that Tenetehára does allow predicate movement, to Spec-CP or Spec-TP. Either option depends on particles related to tense and complementation, in sentence-final position. Additionally, assuming Kayne’s antisymmetry theory, in which all movement occurs to the left, and the predicate-raising hypothesis, it is proposed that final tense particle orders are derived from the basic word order [Tense [SVO]]. To derive the fact that T0 can be head-final, the analysis holds that the predicate, represented by the v-VP complex, must move to the specifier position of TP. Finally, it is proposed that the syntactic trigger for predicate-raising is the presence of a [+PRED] feature both in the head C0 and in the head T0, a fact that explains why Tenetehára grammar systematically strands tense and complementizer particles in clause-final position.

scholarly journals O sujeito pré-verbal focalizado em português: prosódia e posição sintática (The preverbal focused subject in Portuguese: Prosody and syntactical position)

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Flaviane Romani Fernandes-Svartman
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
The Subject

Este trabalho visa à análise comparativa, em português brasileiro (PB) e europeu (PE), da estrutura sintática e prosódica das sentenças na ordem sujeito-verbo-objeto, nas quais o sujeito porta foco informacional e a proeminência principal da sentença (doravante, sentenças SVO). Nossos resultados, apoiados em evidências sintáticas e prosódicas, revelam que, nas sentenças SVO, o sujeito focalizado ocupa posições sintáticas diferentes nas duas variedades de português: enquanto ele ocupa a posição de especificador de IP em PE, em PB, encontra-se fora de IP.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Língua Portuguesa. Sujeito Focalizado. Sintaxe e Prosódia.ABSTRACT This paper aims the comparative analysis between the syntactical and prosodic structure of the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) SVO sentences (subject-verb-object word order sentences in which the subject carries the informational focus and the principal prominence) and the syntactical and prosodic structure of the same type of sentences of European Portuguese (EP). Our results, which are supported by syntactical and prosodic evidences, show that the focused subject occupies different positions in SVO sentences of these two Portuguese varieties: whereas in EP, the focused subject occupies the IP Specifier position, in BP, the focused subject is out of IP. KEYWORDS: Portuguese. Focused Subject. Syntax and Prosody.

scholarly journals ON THE WORD ORDER OF SIMPLE SENTENCES IN TELEUT

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Денис Михайлович Токмашев
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
Linear Distribution ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Simple Sentences

Типология порядка слов относится к слабо разработанной области тюркского синтаксиса. Телеутский язык относится к SOV-языкам левого ветвления. Глагол-сказуемое располагается в конце простого предложения, содержащего одну пропозицию, с непосредственно примыкающим к нему прямым дополнением. Позиция косвенного дополнения и обстоятельства может варьировать в зависимости от коммуникативной перспективы (информационной структуры) предложения. В придаточных клаузах порядок слов стремится к порядку в главных. Функционально порядок слов отвечает за линейную дистрибуцию вершины-сказуемого и его зависимых. Базовый порядок слов регламентирует дистрибуцию аргументов глагола без учета позиции адъюнктов. Семантические роли аргументов не влияют на их синтаксические функции и их позицию в предложении. Изменение SOV-порядка слов в телеутском языке возможно при изменении его информационной структуры, например, рематизации субъекта и тематизации предиката. На современном этапе под влиянием русского языка отмечается прагматически не обусловленное построение предложения по модели SVO. Word order typology can be referred to as a poorly developed area of Turkic syntax. The Teleut language belongs to the SOV-type of the left-branching languages. The predicate verb is located at the end of a simple sentence containing one proposition, with a direct object directly adjacent to it. The position of the indirect object and the adverbial may vary depending on the communicative perspective (information structure) of the sentence. The word order in the subordinate clause tends to copy that in the main clause. Functionally, the word order is responsible for the linear distribution of the predicate head and its dependents. The basic word order defines the distribution of verb arguments regardless of the adjuncts’ position. The theta roles of the arguments do not affect their syntactic functions and their position within a sentence. A change in the SOV-word order in Teleut may be concurred by its information structure, for example, when the subject and the predicate become focal and topical parts of the sentence respectively. At the present stage, the influence of Russian bringing about the pragmatically unconditioned SVO-pattern model is noted.

scholarly journals Syntax and processing in Seediq: an event-related potential study

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masataka Yano ◽  
Keiyu Niikuni ◽  
Hajime Ono ◽  
Manami Sato ◽  
Apay Ai-yu Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Processing Difficulty

AbstractIn many languages with subject-before-object as a syntactically basic word order, transitive sentences in which the subject precedes the object have been reported to have a processing advantage over those in which the subject follows the object in sentence comprehension. Three sources can be considered to account for this advantage, namely, syntactic complexity (filler-gap dependency), conceptual accessibility (the order of thematic roles), and pragmatic requirement. To examine the effect of these factors on the processing of simple transitive sentences, the present study conducted two event-related potential experiments in Seediq, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan, by manipulating word orders (basic VOS vs. non-basic SVO), the order of thematic roles (actor vs. goal voice), and discourse factors (presence/absence of visual context). The results showed that, compared to VOS, SVO incurred a greater processing load (reflected by a P600) when there was no supportive context, irrespective of voice alternation; however, SVO did not incur a greater processing load when there was supportive context and the discourse requirement was satisfied. We interpreted these results as evidence that the processing difficulty of the non-basic word order in Seediq is associated with a discourse-level processing difficulty.

Word order variation in Isthmus Mixe

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Dieterman
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Subject

In the face of evidence of considerable word order variation in Mixe languages, this article posits a basic word order of SOV for Isthmus Mixe, analyzing the language as having an inverse voice category that partially explains the observed surface word order variation. Using functional criteria established for voice distinctions by Givón (1994), it is shown that the Object is higher in topicality than the Subject in inverse-transitive clauses, as attested by ellipsis of the Subject and by topicality measures of Referential Distance and Topic Persistence. When inverse-clause word orders are separated out from direct-clause word orders, and when discourse considerations are taken into account, the basic SOV order of the Isthmus Mixe direct clause becomes apparent.

Mismatching nominals and the small clause hypothesis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
PAUL ROGER BASSONG
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Split Topicalization ◽  
Feature Checking

I propose a comprehensive analysis of what has been commonly referred in the literature to as split, discontinuous noun phrases or split topicalization. Based on data from Basaá, a Narrow Bantu language spoken in Cameroon, I partly capitalize on previous authors such as Mathieu (2004), Mathieu & Sitaridou (2005) and Ott (2015a), who propose that this morphosyntactic phenomenon involves two syntactically unrelated constituents which are only linked semantically in a predication relation in a small clause (Moro 1997, 2000; Den Dikken 1998). According to these analyses, split noun phrases are obtained as a result of predicate inversion across the subject of the small clause. Contrary to/but not against these views, I suggest that what raises in the same context in Basaá is rather the subject of the small clause as a consequence of feature-checking under closest c-command (Chomsky 2000, 2001), and for the purpose of labelling and asymmetrizing an originally symmetric syntactic structure on the surface (Ott 2015a and related work). The fact that the target of movement is the subject and not the predicate of the small clause follows from agreement and ellipsis factors. Given that the subject of predication is a full DP while the predicate is a reduced DP with a null head modifier, the surface word order is attributed to the fact that noun/noun phrase ellipsis is possible if the elided noun is given in the discourse and is recoverable from the morphology of the stranded modifier. This paper offers a theoretical contribution from an understudied language to our understanding of this puzzling nominal construction.

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