Adverbial Adjuncts Research Articles

Habituality Markers in Jordanian Arabic

Objectives: This study investigates the grammatical encoding of habituality within Jordanian Arabic. This linguistic phenomenon is expressed through specific markers for different tenses in the dialect. Methods: Our research employs a qualitative, theory-driven methodology rooted in truth-conditional semantics instead of a corpus-based approach. We base our findings on constructed utterances that are placed within specific contexts. Results: In the present tense, habituality is expressed using the copular verb bi-ku:n 'Pres-be'. The copula occurs within nominal sentences, serving as a marker that indicates the habitual nature of the action. The obligatory presence of the copula exclusively enforces a habitual interpretation. Conversely, the obligatory absence of the copula allows for two interpretations: episodic and habitual. Event plurality in the past tense, however, is constructed using the past auxiliary ka:n 'used to'. These constructions are known as periphrastic forms or retrospective habituals (Boneh and Doron, 2008). Conclusions: The periphrastic forms in Jordanian Arabic behave similarly to the perfective aspect, yet they are interpreted imperfectively. These periphrastic habituals are formed using both stage-level and individual-level predicates. However, the periphrastic forms incorporating stage-level predicates without an adverbial adjunct are ambiguous between a habitual and a non-habitual reading. The context serves to differentiate between the two readings.

Adverbial Adjunct Clause Found in The Novel “The Happy Prince and Other Tales”: A Syntax Analysis

In the novel "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" by Oscar Wilde, published in 1888, adverbial adjunct clauses are frequently used to qualify the main clause process concerning agencies such as time, means, causes, and ends, often with elements that determine the nature of their relationship (Langacker 2008: 419–420). There are 93 sentences using adverbial adjuncts of different types, including time, place, reason or cause, manner, degree, and frequency. The novel is colorful with the use of these subordinate clauses. This analysis focuses on the use of adverbial adjunct clauses in the novel to convey the philosophical and idealistic meaning of human life and society. "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" is interesting to analyze because the language is very easy to understand and consists of no more than one hundred pages.

An Analysis of Using Prepositional Phrase in Students’ Writing

Prepositional phrase is a group of words consisting of a preposition and its object that modify the object. This research focused on prepositional phrase that found on students’ writing made by fifth semester students of English Education Study Program, Tadulako University. The objectives of this research were to identify functions of prepositional phrase occur in the students’ writings and to find out the most dominant prepositional phrase used by the students in their writing. This research used descriptive qualitative design. The subject of this research was 10% of total subject (about 19 students). The subject was chosen by using purposive sampling technique. The data of this research were the sentences contain prepositional phrase in students’ writings. Based on the theory used, the researchers identified the functions of prepositional phrase in the data, and discovered the most dominant function of prepositional phrase. From the analysis, there are two functions of prepositional phrase found in the students’ writings. They are complement and adjunct. If it is adjunct, it can be adjectival adjunct and adverbial adjunct The most dominant function is complement which is 62%.

Dogon pseudo-subjects with or without true subjects

Abstract Dogon pseudo-subjects are bare meteorological, temporal-environmental, and partonymic nouns of low referentiality/specificity that occur in fixed noun-verb collocations. The pseudo-subject controls the choice of verb in all cases, but it fails to behave like a true subject in linear position, in a quotative-subject construction, or in pronominal-subject agreement. The pseudo-subject is the sole nominal in these meteorological and temporal collocations, but in partonymic collocations it co-occurs with a true subject denoting the possessor-experiencer. The latter has all of the clear subject properties except controlling the choice of verb. Pseudo-subjects have some similarities with, but are distinct from, a range of typologically familiar phenomena including impersonal subjects, direct objects, possessums stranded by possessor raising, East Asian-style second subjects or post-topic subjects, incorporated nouns, and adverbial adjuncts. They can be classified as pseudo-incorporated nominals if this category is broad enough to include subject-like as well as object-like nominals. The relevant constructions are easily modelled in construction grammars, but not in arboreal syntax.

A finer-grained linguistic profile of Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Linguistic measures in spontaneous speech have shown promise in the early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it remains unknown which specific linguistic variables show sensitivity and how language decline relates to primary memory deficits. We hypothesized that a set of fine-grained linguistic variables relating specifically to forms of syntactic complexity involved in referencing objects and events as part of episodes would show sensitivity. We tested this in speech samples obtained from a picture description task, maximally isolating language deficits from the confound of episodic memory (EM) demands. 105 participants were split into Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Mild-to-Moderate AD, and healthy controls (HC). Results showed that groups did not differ on generic linguistic variables such as number or length of utterances. However, AD relative to HC produced fewer embedded adjunct clauses, indefinite noun phrases, and Aspect marking, with moderate-to-large effect sizes. MCI compared to HC produced fewer adjunct clauses as well as fewer adverbial adjuncts. Together, these results confirm language impairment in AD and MCI at the level of specific linguistic variables relating to structures required for endowing narrative with specificity and episodic richness, independently of EM demands. • We measured language changes in spontaneous connected speech in MCI and AD. • Hypothesis-driven variables revealed group differences relative to controls. • Linguistic changes were related to specificity in referencing objects and events. • Spontaneous speech reveals and allows the tracking of cognitive decline.

Parallelism Between Sentence Structure and Nominal Phrases in Japanese: Evidence from Scrambled Instrumental and Locative Adverbial Phrases

The present study investigated the canonical position of instrumental and locative adverbial phrases in both Japanese sentences and noun phrases to determine whether the canonical positions are parallel. A series of sentence/phrase decision tasks were used to compare sentences with different word-orders, including sentences with SAdvOV (S is subject phrase, Adv adverb, O object phrase and V verb), AdvSOV, SAdvOV and SOAdvV word orders. SAdvOV word order was found to be the most quickly processed, for both instrumental adverbial (Experiment 1) and locative adverbial phrases (Experiment 2). Thus, the canonical position for these adverbial phrases is identified as the position immediately preceding the object (Theme argument). This finding was replicated when the same experimental methods were applied to event-denoting noun phrases. Adverbial adjuncts in the initial position (AdvON, N is noun phrase) were processed more quickly and accurately than noun phrases with adverbial phrases in the second position (OAdvN), for both instrumental adverbial (Experiment 3) and locative adverbial phrases (Experiment 4). Therefore, the position immediately preceding the object is the canonical position for both instrumental and locative adverbial phrases in sentences and in noun phrases. In conclusion, this indicates that the base structure of a sentence is shared by its related noun phrase.

The adjunct condition and the nature of adjuncts

Abstract This paper proposes a Minimalist analysis of the Adjunct Condition. It shows that extraction from adverbial adjuncts is common, and it reviews and extends (Truswell, Robert. 2011. Events, phrases, and questions. Oxford: Oxford University Press analysis), which holds that extractions are grammatical when the adjunct and matrix predicates together constitute a macro-event. Syntactically, a UI feature (representing “unintegration”) on adjuncts must be active at either LF or PF; where it is active ill-formedness results. However, if a macro-event is possible, UI is inactivated at LF, allowing extraction; and though an active UI at PF normally causes ill-formedness, this is repairable by sluicing. This analysis improves on existing analyses by accounting for possible extractions, island repair by sluicing, and the basic conception of adjuncts as relatively unintegrated phrases.

Expressão do valor genérico nos provérbios portugueses e croatas

Starting from the hypothesis that proverbs represent prototypes of generic sentences and considering that, in our view, they have not been properly studied in the field of linguistics (especially Croatian linguistics), we propose in this work to reflect on the mechanisms that convey the generic value of proverbs. We believe that the generic interpretation in a proverbial context arises from the interaction of several factors – from the linguistic (semantic-pragmatic) ones to certain conceptual mechanisms. At the linguistic level, genericity is actualized in the behavior of several grammatical categories, from nouns and noun phrases, adverbial adjuncts, determiners and quantifiers, and temporal, aspectual and modal values, to the interpropositional relations that represent “type-situations”. For the purposes of this work, we focused on the noun phrase (in the subject position), an aspect that we find relevant even in terms of comparing Portuguese and Croatian proverbial texts, due to the differences between these two languages in the expression of the category (in)determination. The problematization of the properties of the subject noun phrase necessarily requires considering the semantic nature of predications. Since genericity is a linguistic, but also a logical and conceptual “universal”, we propose to investigate the mechanisms in which it is actualized in (European) Portuguese and Croatian proverbs

Adverbial adjuncts in Late Archaic Chinese

Adverbial adjuncts in Late Archaic Chinese

Depictive secondary predicates in Turkish

This paper provides an overview of depictive secondary predicates within the Turkish language, particularly surrounding the small clause phenomenon. These constructions function as adjuncts in the matrix clause. However, it may be difficult to distinguish between depictives and adverbial adjuncts in Turkish because of their morphosyntactic shape. Primarily, I will address the distinction between depictives and adverbial adjuncts based on studies founded by Schultze-Berndt & Himmelmann (2004) and Himmelmann & Schultze-Berndt (2006) based on a description of the depictive secondary predicates in Turkish. Furthermore, I will specifically focus on the adjectivals as a depictive secondary predicate. These establish a predicative relationship with their controllers, which are the subject or object of the main clause. In this context, I will also analyze this predicative relationship at a semantical, syntactical and morphosyntactical level. I will then analyze the difficulties faced when referring to these structures as constituents in an analysis of the complex sentence as a whole.

És «back to my point» un marcador pragmàtic? Una investigació sobre el desenvolupament històric d’alguns marcadors de gestió del discurs metatextual en anglès

Els marcadors de gestió del discurs (DMM) que “assenyalen un metacomentari sobre l’estructura del discurs” (Fraser 2009) estan àmpliament provats per les dades històriques. La majoria de marcadors de gestió del discurs (per exemple, and, anyway, by the way, but, now, then) compleixen criteris ben coneguts per als marcadors pragmàtics com la multifuncionalitat, l’opacitat, l’opcionalitat, la (inter)subjectivitat, la freqüència relativament alta i la brevetat. Tanmateix, diversos casos citats a Fraser (2009), molts d’aquests marcadors d’orientació temàtica, no els compleixen (per exemple, back to my original point, to return to my previous topic, if I might continue). Proposo que un acostament al desenvolupament dels DMM faci una distinció entre adverbis adjunts, adverbis conjunts i marcadors pragmàtics (per exemple, Hasselgård 2010). Hipotèticament, el canvi pot seguir la tendència: adverbis adjunts > adverbis conjunts (> DMM). Aquest enfocament explica canvis graduals de forma i significat, i és coherent amb una perspectiva d’ús del llenguatge com a sistema dinàmic basat en esdeveniments d’ús (Kemmer & Barlow 1999; Langacker 2008).

Sistema temporo-aspetual: Um estudo comparativo entre Português europeu e Mandarim

Sendo os dois parâmetros distintos, o tempo e o aspeto podem ser codificados em diferentes formas entre línguas humanas, bem como as relações internas subjacentes a estas duas categorias. Este artigo apresenta uma análise descritiva dos sistemas temporo-aspetuais do Português Europeu (PE) e do Mandarim, tendo como objetivo detetar algumas diferenças e semelhanças entre as duas línguas a este respeito. O estudo demostra que, apesar de existirem várias diferenças notáveis, ainda se destacam certas semelhanças entre o PE e o Mandarim relativamente a como se veiculam as informações temporais e aspetuais, especialmente no que se referem ao uso de adjuntos adverbiais e à expressão dos valores de perfetividade e de imperfetividade.

Dialogic constructions and discourse units:

Abstract Adopting a constructionally-oriented analysis, the present paper examines the pattern ‘think again’ (i.e., an instance of a mental state verb + adverbial adjunct) in synchronic, corpus-derived data. On the basis of both qualitative and quantitative analyses we show that think again merits constructional status in language; while it inherits features of fully-compositional meaning from its constituents it has also developed its own idiosyncratic properties. We further argue that think again may ultimately function as a discourse marker of challenge that regulates the relationship between Speaker (S) and Addressee (A), correlating with certain contextual regularities and interdependencies. It thus qualifies as a discourse construction that imposes a dialogic construal on its context and contributes fundamentally to discourse unit delimitation.

Icelandic V3 orders with temporal adjuncts

Although Icelandic is a verb second language (V2), it sometimes allows for V3 orders. In this paper, I focus on a type of Icelandic V3 which consists of an adverbial adjunct occurring in front of wh-questions and present the results of a pilot study that investigated the effects of the length of prosodic break and clause type in relation to V3 structures. Participants were presented with an adverbial clause sandwiched between two sentences (A and B), of which the latter varied between a wh-question and a subject-initial sentence. The breaks between the adverbial and the sentences varied in length. The task was to judge which sentence (A or B) was longer, with the response reflecting which sentence the adverbial clause was parsed with. The results indicate that both the clause type of the B sentence and the length of the prosodic break between the adverbial and the B sentence had a significant effect on how the sentences were parsed.

Verb Phrase in Tamil

The verb phrase is built up of a verb, which is the head of the construction. Verb occurs as predicate in the rightmost position of a clause. As a predicate it selects arguments (Ex. Subject, Direct object, Indirect object and Locative NPs) and assigns case to its arguments and adverbial adjuncts. Another syntactic property of verbs in Tamil is that they can govern subordinate verb forms. Verb occurring as finite verbs in clause final position can be complemented by non-finite verbs proceeding them. The latter with respect to the interpretation of tense or subject governs these non-finite forms, being subordinate to the finite verb form. If we follow the traditional idea of having a VP node for Tamil, then all the elements, except the subject NP, will have to be grouped under VP.

Cognate Object Constructions in Arabic

This paper aims to explore Cognate Object constructions in Modern Standard Arabic and addresses the question of whether they are arguments or adjuncts. It examines in detail the properties of these constructions. The facts related to Cognate Objects suggest that they are best seen as arguments and not as some sort of adverbial adjuncts. Unlike English and many other languages, the use of cognate objects in Modern Standard Arabic is very productive. They occur with almost all types of verbs: intransitive, unergative, unaccusative, monotransitive and ditransitive verbs. Moreover, they can be passivized, pronominalized and topicalized. The paper also presents more evidence in favour of the argument analysis and against the adjunct analysis for cognate objects in Modern Standard Arabic.

Floating quantifiers are autonomous phrases: A movement analysis

Quantifier float (Q-float) is a phenomenon in which a quantifier is separated from the nominal it associates with (The cookies will all have been eaten up by then!). The phenomenon has received two major analyses: stranding and adjunction. The stranding analysis argues that the associate moves leftward out of a complex constituent that contains both it and the floating quantifier. The adjunction analysis considers floating quantifiers to be adverbial adjuncts. This paper investigates Q-float in Arabic and shows that neither of the existing accounts perfectly captures the facts. Adopting Ott’s (2012; 2015) analysis of split topics and Q-float in German, the paper proposes that in Arabic, a floating quantifier and its associate are merged together in a particular syntactic position as a set of autonomous phrases; the associate moves out of the set to allow the set to be labeled and integrated in the structure. It will be shown that this labeling analysis captures many of the peculiarities of Q-float, among which are two apparently conflicting facts: the locality restrictions on floating quantifiers and, in many cases, the impossibility for the floating quantifier and the associate to have formed a continuous constituent at any stage of the derivation. The facts and analysis presented contribute to the debate on whether floating quantifiers mark the positions of lower copies of displaced nominals (np traces in pre-minimalist terms), providing an argument that, at least for Arabic, the answer is ‘yes’. It also provides additional support for the labeling framework that emerged from Chomsky (2013) and related work.

The syntax and semantics of descriptive V-deconstructions

AbstractThis paper tackles the long-standing problem of the phrase structure of the descriptive V-deconstruction in Mandarin, and proposes a variant of the Primary Predication analysis. I argue that the suffix -deis a nominalizing head that turns the verb to which it attaches into a nominal event argument, which is in turn predicated over by the descriptive adjectival phrase, the primary predicate of the construction. This syntactic analysis allows for a straightforward explanation for the presupposition-focus semantics of this construction based on structured event quantification. In addition, it is shown that previous arguments that go against the Primary Predication hypothesis (including the distribution of the A-not-A form and negation, and the scope relation between an IP-level element and the adjectival phrase) either do not constitute counterevidence or are simply irrelevant. Further support for the proposal is provided that draws on a number of syntactic properties of the descriptive V-deconstruction and on the distinction between the descriptive adjectival phrase on the one hand and secondary predicates and adverbial adjuncts on the other hand.

The Negation of the so-called ‘the Second Tense’ in Middle Egyptian

In linguistic dictionaries (English, French, German, Arabic, etc..), there is no existence for the second tense, this term was established by Polotsky (Polotsky, H.J., Etudes de syntaxe copte, Publications de la Societe d' Archeologie Copte, Le Caire, 1944), according to his theory, the second tense is a nominalized verb form, and usually used as a noun clause; referring to the subject before the focused adverbial phrase. On one hand, the second tense form is a special case of ‘relative forms’ use. Therefore, on the other hand, it is actually not a tense, but rather use of grammar element. It is simple, one can say the second tense is equal to (Restriction form by innama) in Arabic. As for Arabic and Ancient Egyptian are relating to the same Language family ‘Afro-asiatic family’, one expected that they at least have more or less the same main linguistic terms. In the article, I try to give a general idea about the meaning of the so-called ‘Second Tense’, and its important usages. Moreover, the article focuses on the negation of the so-called Second Tense. The point of departure of the article was an investigation of the negative particles according to their appearance in various sentence patterns, I found that some particles are limited to negate the adverbial adjunct of the sentence, whereas others negate the verb itself.

Aquisição da correferência pronominal catafórica no português europeu por aprendentes chineses

This paper aims to investigate how Chinese learners of European Portuguese as second language acquire backward anaphora in this language, analyzing the interpretation of overt pronoun in left-dislocated temporal adverbial adjunct. Two experiments were administered to test if the syntactic position and the proximity of antecedent are main factors to determine the interpretation by the native speakers of Portuguese and the Chinese learners, as well as if the learners are influenced by their first language. The first test illustrates that in Chinese the native speakers may fluctuate between three possible interpretations in backward anaphora structures, namely the matrix subject, matrix object and the antecedent in context. The second test demonstrates that the native speakers of European Portuguese also fluctuate between the three interpretations, while the Chinese learners do not tend to accept an antecedent in the context. The test also shows that the C1 level learners are more likely to accept the matrix subject as the antecedent of the embedded overt pronoun than the B2 level learners.