Auxiliary Selection Research Articles

Research on Laboratory Evaluation of Coalbed Methane Reservoir Water Blocking Damage Removal in Hancheng Block

Owing to factors such as production system change, pump shutdown and workover, there was sudden drop in formation fluid velocity of coalbed methane well in Hancheng block, resulting in water blocking damage, the gas production plunged after the well was reopened. In order to remove the water blocking damage of coalbed methane reservoir, this paper integrated extensive survey, initially selected two nonionic surfactants (B4-B5) and three anionic surfactants (B1-B3) as the experimental subjects. The results showed that the mixed effect of B3 and B5 is the best. In order to further improve the formula system, the experimental study on the selection of auxiliaries was conducted, the results showed that under the premise of meeting environmental protection, ethanol could play a good role in reducing surface tension and defoaming, and the effect was best when the addition amount was 3%. The formula of coal seam water blocking agent PT was determined through the laboratory water-blocking evaluation experiment, and laid the foundation for the subsequent field test.

Unaccusativity and Perfect Auxiliary Selection in Romance: Theory and an Observational Study in Second Language Acquisition

The aim of this paper is to investigate the properties associated with unaccusativity and the selection of auxiliary verbs (AUX) in the perfect tenses of the modern Romance languages. The modern languages that have a split-AUX system (such as Italian and French) operate under a principle in which some intransitive verbs select the equivalent of to be as their AUX in the compound past tenses, and others select the equivalent of to have. In research I have conducted over the past decade in the Italian language classroom, Bentley and Eythórsson’s auxiliary selection hierarchy (ASH) is best suited to explain how L2 Italian learners acquire the ability to make the appropriate surface AUX selection.

A Cross-Reference Line Method Based Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm to Enhance Population Diversity.

Multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) with higher population diversity have been extensively presented in literature studies and shown great potential in the approximate Pareto front (PF). Especially, in the recent development of MOEAs, the reference line method is increasingly favored due to its diversity enhancement nature and auxiliary selection mechanism based on the uniformly distributed reference line. However, the existing reference line method ignores the nadir point and consequently causes the Pareto incompatibility problem, which makes the algorithm convergence worse. To address this issue, a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on the adaptive cross-reference line method, called MOEA-CRL, is proposed under the framework of the indicator-based MOEAs. Based on the dominant penalty distance (DPD) indicator, the cross-reference line method can not only solve the Pareto incompatibility problem but also enhance the population diversity on the convex PF and improve the performances of MOEA-CRL for irregular PF. In addition, the MOEA-CRL adjusts the distribution of the cross-reference lines directly defined by the DPD indicator according to the contributing solutions. Therefore, the adaptation of cross-reference lines will not be affected by the population size and the uniform distribution of cross-reference lines can be maintained. The MOEA-CRL is examined and compared with other MOEAs on several benchmark problems. The experimental results show that the MOEA-CRL is superior to several advanced MOEAs, especially on the convex PF. The MOEA-CRL exhibits the flexibility in population size setting and the great versatility in various multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs) and many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs).

Accounting and evaluation of chemical footprint of cotton woven fabrics

The major environmental impacts of textile products tend to arise from emissions of toxic substances in the production phase of the life cycle. The theory of chemical footprint (ChF) can be used to study the environmental impact of textile products and leads a new way to quantitatively assess impacts of toxic substances. In this paper, environmental impacts of 1 kg cotton woven fabric were assessed from yarn to finished fabric in terms of its contributions to the ecological system. The results showed that the total ChF in the calculation boundary associated with ecotoxicity was approximately 41526.10 PAF·m3·d. The largest ChF for cotton woven fabric mainly came from weaving process, followed by cultivation and harvesting and fabric processing phases. Sizing agent and all kinds of base potentially created the large ecotoxicity and there are considerable differences in magnitude from other materials’ ecotoxicity. It also revealed that the selection of auxiliaries was more important than that of dyestuffs. ChF does well in drawing more focus on the source of industry pollution and plays an important role in improving management efficiency in assessing and choosing chemicals.

Changing alignments in the Greek of southern Italy

Abstract This article investigates a peculiar pattern of subject case-marking in the Greek of southern Italy. Recent fieldwork with native speakers, coupled with the consultation of some written sources, reveals that, alongside prototypical nominative subjects, Italo-Greek also licenses accusative subjects, despite displaying a predominantly nominative-accusative alignment. Far from being random replacements within a highly attrited grammar, the distribution of these accusative subjects obeys specific structural principles, revealing similarities with historical attestations of the so-called “extended accusative” in early Indo-European. On the basis of these data, Italo-Greek is argued to be undergoing a progressive shift towards an active-stative alignment, a claim supported by additional evidence from auxiliary selection, adverb agreement and sentential word order.

Morpho-syntactic changes in the Trentino dialect of Piracicaba

The paper focuses on two morpho-syntactic phenomena of the dialect spoken by heritage speakers of Trentino in Piracicaba, a city in the state of San Paolo, Brazil. The two investigated phenomena are: a) the selection of auxiliaries with some classes of verbs (pronominal, weak unaccusative and meteorological verbs); b) the use of the partitive clitic ne with quantified pronominal objects. To collect the relevant data, a questionnaire was administered to six speakers in Trentino and six speakers in Brazil. The results show a clear distinction between the sentences produced by Brazilian speakers older than 70 years who still use the original dialectal structures, and the sentences produced by Brazilian speakers younger than 70 years, in which both attrition and contact with the Portuguese language lead to simplified structures.

An improved GM(1,3) model combining terrain factors and neural network error correction for urban land subsidence prediction

Urban land subsidence is a slow-density geology disaster caused by the withdrawal of groundwater or the application of water at the land surface. Developing a method of effectively monitoring, predicting and preventing land subsidence has become an urgent urban disaster issue and a great challenge. Traditional mathematical statistics prediction models lack physical meaning. Thus, in this paper, an improved third-order gray prediction GM(1, 3) model that combines terrain factors and neural network error corrections is proposed for urban land subsidence prediction. First, the correlation between land subsidence and terrain factors is verified through a correlation analysis. Second, a geospatial weight matrix based on the terrain factors is presented for auxiliary variable selection. Finally, a neural network is used to model the prediction errors to improve the model accuracy. Precision levelling data for Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, China from 1999 to 2016 are used as the experimental data. The results show that the proposed method can achieve the same accuracy level as precision levelling. The average absolute error of three-phrase prediction is less than 10 mm, and the relative error can reach 0.4%. The proposed method can be expected to replace precision levelling for the prediction of long-term land subsidence and provide decision support for urban settlement disaster prevention.

Optical variability of faint quasars

AbstractThe variability properties of a quasar sample, spectroscopically complete to magnitude J = 22.0, are investigated on a time baseline of 2 yr, using three different photometric bands (U, J and F). The original sample was obtained using a combination of different selection criteria: colours, slitless spectroscopy and variability, based on a time baseline of 1 yr. The main goals of this work are two-fold: first, to derive the percentage of variable quasars on a relatively short time baseline; secondly, to search for new quasar candidates, missed by the other selection criteria, and thus to estimate the completeness of the spectroscopic sample. In order to achieve these goals, we have extracted all the candidate variable objects from a sample of about 1800 stellar or quasi-stellar objects with limiting magnitude J = 22.50 over an area of about 0.50 deg2. We find that > 65% of all the objects selected as possibly variable are either confirmed quasars or quasar candidates, on the basis of their colours. This percentage increases even further if we exclude from our lists of variable candidates a number of objects equal to that expected on the basis of ‘contamination’ induced by our photometric errors. The percentage of variable quasars in the spectroscopic sample is also high, reaching about 50%. On the basis of these results, we can estimate that the incompleteness of the original spectroscopic sample is < 12%. We conclude that variability analysis of data with small photometric errors can be successfully used as an efficient and independent (or at least auxiliary) selection method in quasar surveys, even when the time baseline is relatively short. Finally, when corrected for the different intrinsic time lags corresponding to a fixed observed time baseline, our data do not show a statistically significant correlation between variability and either absolute luminosity or redshift.

The Unaccusative-Unergative Dichotomy of Predicates. Is There an Unaccusative Mismatch in English?

The paper addresses the issue of the unaccusative-unergative dichotomy of predicates, providing a special analysis of the class status of the verb “to die” in English. First, the article opens with a view of unaccusativity in the light of the Lexicon-Syntax Interface. Further, the verb “to die” is tested against the six syntactic unaccusativity diagnostics valid for English. The results obtain reveal the fact that the first three diagnostics (auxiliary selection, causative alternation and resultative constructions) do not work for the verb “to die”, while the last three diagnostics (adjectival participle, there-insertion, locative inversion) appear to have been satisfied. This would lead us to a conclusion that the verb “to die” should be considered as a real example of an Unaccusative Mismatch (Levin, 1986).

A semantic approach to auxiliary selection with German verbs of motion. An empirical study

German manner-of-motion verbs can take both haben ‘have’ and sein ‘be’ as perfect auxiliaries. It has recently been proposed that, in these cases, auxiliary selection is determined by the feature [locomotion], where [+locomotion] triggers sein ‘be’ and [-locomotion] triggers haben ‘have’ (Randall 2007). In this paper, we explore the notion of locomotion from an empirical semantic perspective. We report the results of an acceptability judgment task and we show that some manner-of-motion verbs are more typically associated with [+locomotion] than others depending on the prominence of directionality involved in verb semantics. However, we argue that locomotion is not a property of verbs themselves but rather a property of constructions (Goldberg 1995), which impose a specific semantic construal on the verbs.

Ergative as Perfective Oblique

AbstractMany languages with ergative systems of case or agreement exhibit splits in their alignment. Viewpoint aspect is a common basis for such splits, with perfective aspect often associated with ergative alignment and imperfective with the absence of ergativity (Moravcsik , Silverstein ). Recent work has argued that splits arise from properties of the imperfective that disrupt otherwise‐available mechanisms of ergative alignment (Laka , Coon ). This article argues rather that the perfective can be a source of ergative case, and specifically that ergative alignment in Hindi‐Urdu arises from the intersection of two different ways of expressing perfective aspect, each attested independently in other languages: the first is the use of oblique case to mark perfect or perfective subjects, while the second is a morphosyntactic sensitivity to transitivity, a hallmark of auxiliary selection in Germanic and Romance languages. The result is a more unified view of the morphosyntax of perfective aspect, though at the cost of a nonunified account of aspectually split ergativity.

An investigation of unaccusativity and word order in Mexican Spanish

Abstract Studies of unaccusativity and word order in Spanish have yielded conflicting results. This study further investigates unaccusativity by testing the ability of the ‘Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy’ (Sorace 2000) to account for word orders with intransitive predicates in Mexican Spanish. The results of an oral production task show significant word order differences between verb categories and locate an unergative/unaccusative cutoff point midway along the hierarchy, situating unaccusativity in Spanish as being similar to Italian but trending in the direction of Dutch or French. Other variables affecting the word order are identified and ranked, including subject heaviness, definiteness, and the location of adverbial phrases. Greater inter-speaker variation at the syntax-discourse interface when compared with the syntax-lexicon interface shows that the Interface Hypothesis has application to native speakers of Spanish. The results of this study are important for current research on unaccusativity and syntactic interfaces.

Split intransitivity in English

This article proposes a hierarchy of functional heads encoding the features [±control], [±initiation], [±state], [±change] and [±telic] (see Ramchand 2008). It is argued that this allows for a superior analysis of split intransitivity in English than the traditional notion of ‘unaccusativity’ – the idea that there are two classes of intransitive verbs which differ in relation to the underlying status/positions of their arguments. Rather, it is shown – on the basis of a systematic consideration of a wide range of English verbs – that the proposed diagnostics for unaccusativity in English identify multiple classes, whose behaviour can be captured in terms of the proposed hierarchy. Good correlation is found between the classes identified by the English diagnostics and Sorace's (2000) Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy (ASH), providing further support for the cross-linguistic applicability of the ASH to split intransitive patterns.

Scales or features in verb meaning?

AbstractSeveral syntactic properties of verbal heads are accounted for through their semantic properties. Verbal features such as agentivity, volitionality, stativity etc. have been proven a useful tool for predicting several aspects of their syntactic behavior such as passivization, auxiliary selection etc. In the context of the empirical turn in current linguistics, the assumption of discrete features is questioned by studies based on corpora or speakers’ intuitions showing that the diagnostics of semantic features involve gradience. These findings are challenging for grammatical theory: are we justified to assume the existence of discrete verb classes or do the established properties indicate scalar dimensions of meaning? Based on two empirical studies – an acceptability study and a corpus study – the present article examines the role ofagentivityin distinguishing verb classes and in predicting the syntactic behavior of verbs in German. Acceptability data show that the diagnostics of agentivity involve gradience, which cannot be reduced to random sources of variation. However, a comparison of scalar vs. categorical models of agentivity based on these diagnostics reveals that the syntactic variation in word order found in written corpus data is best accounted for through a model that assumes a binary division into a ±agentive and a non-agentive verb class.

Lexical splits within periphrasis: mixed perfective auxiliation systems in Italo-Romance

This paper addresses the phenomenon of mixed paradigms, i.e. mixed perfective auxiliation systems, attested in a wide range of Italo-Romance varieties (cf. Loporcaro 2001, 2007a, 2014; Manzini and Savoia 2005, among others). In these varieties, two auxiliary verbs, esse and habere, alternate within one and the same (sub)paradigm, displaying various patterns which can range from morphosyntactically motivated to apparently unmotivated distributions (here termed ‘morphomic’). I propose that, in these varieties, auxiliary selection is no longer a syntactically driven phenomenon, but becomes morphologized. I draw on the notion of ‘lexical split’ (cf. Corbett 2013, 2015, 2016) and describe the attested splits induced by intraparadigmatic auxiliary alternation. Following Bonami (2015), I put forward a typology of such splits. It is shown that, apart from motivated distributions, some morphomic patterns can also be found. The typology becomes more complex insofar as patterns with free variation between both auxiliaries are taken into account, as well as patently morphomic patterns which also seem to display external syntactic relevance (cf. Corbett 2013: 174–176). The phenomena reviewed and discussed in this paper are of major interest because they demonstrate the existence of competing exponence strategies within periphrasis, thus enriching the notion of ‘possible lexeme’ (cf. Corbett 2015: 146).

Los atlas lingüísticos como fuente para estudios de sintaxis dialectal: el caso del Atles Lingüístic del Domini Català (ALDC)

El Atlas Lingüístic del Domini Català es una obra geolingüística que ha dado muy buenos frutos en el estudio de la variación fonética y léxica. En este artículo, nos acercamos a sus materiales con el interés de conseguir datos para el estudio de la variación sintáctica, a pesar de ser conscientes de que no es este el propósito para el cual fue diseñado. Partiendo de trece de sus preguntas, algunas de ellas aun inéditas, mostramos que es posible obtener datos muy interesantes sobre variación dialectal en tres cuestiones de relevancia sintáctica: la selección del auxiliar, la concordancia del participio pasado y algunas propiedades de las construcciones inacusativas. No obstante, la consulta de estudios filológicos y lingüísticos sobre estos temas hace prever que se podría llegar a un grado superior de precisión, tanto en la definición de los fenómenos sintácticos como en su distribución dialectal, si se llevaran a cabo nuevas campañas de recogida de datos planificadas específicamente para este fin. En concreto, por lo que respecta a la selección del auxiliar ésser (ser) o haver (haber) en los tiempos de perfecto, sería posible explorar: (a) el alcance del mantenimiento de ésser en alguerés según la jerarquía de selección del auxiliar de Sorace, (b) la formación en rosellonés de un sistema propio de selección basado en la persona verbal y no en el tipo de verbo, y (c) la aparición en mallorquín de construcciones mixtas en las que haver ha substituido ésser sin que ello haya comportado la pérdida de la concordancia entre el participio y el sujeto. Asimismo, en cuanto a la concordancia del participio y el CD en construcciones con haver, se podría establecer una gradación dialectal, con el norte-occidental en el extremo de mínima concordancia y el mallorquín en el de máxima, basada en una jerarquía de los distintos tipos de CD preverbales, según que estos sean sintagmas plenos, pronombres relativos o pronombres clíticos y, en este último caso, según la persona, el género y el número. Finalmente, en lo referente a las propiedades de las construcciones inacusativas, la falta de concordancia en número entre el verbo y el SN pospuesto indefinido –característica que opone el catalán norte-occidental al resto de dialectos catalanes– se podría relacionar con la clara preponderancia de la posposición del SN definido de las construcciones inacusativas en este mismo dialecto.

Electrophilic Triflyl-arylation and Triflyl-pyridylation by Unsymmetrical Aryl/Pyridyl-λ3-iodonium Salts: Synthesis of Aryl and Pyridyl Triflones.

Unsymmetrical diaryl-λ3-iodonium salts containing aryl triflone (Ar-SO2CF3) were designed and synthesized. X-ray crystal structure analysis of the salt indicated a T-shaped geometry at the iodine atom. The salts were found to be powerful electrophilic reagents for triflyl-arylation of C-, N-, and O-centered nucleophiles under mild conditions. Electrophilic transfer of pyridine triflone (Py-SO2CF3) to nucleophiles was also realized by the use of corresponding triflylpyridyl-aryl-λ3-iodonium salts. Selection of auxiliaries (dummy ligands) of unsymmetrical diaryl-λ3-iodonium salts is crucial for this transformation.

The function of supine auxiliaries in Swedish and Danish: morphology and syntax in argument assignment

Prima facie, the supine verb forms in Swedish and Danish appear almost identical in terms of morphological form and syntactic function, but a closer look reveals fundamental differences regarding their semantic coding and function. The paper examines the differences from the perspective of the auxiliary verbs with which the supine forms combine with special focus on the assignment of content (‘logical’) arguments to the verb in the supine form. The Swedish supine is inflected for voice, combines with only one true auxiliary and is used almost exclusively for retrospective tense constructions (perfect and pluperfect), and argument assignment is determined by the morphological specification of voice, while the auxiliary is redundant. The Danish supine has no voice inflection, combines with several auxiliaries and is used in a number of constructions, and argument assignment is determined primarily by auxiliary selection. The paper concludes that the Swedish auxiliary plays a peripheral role, which explains the possibility of auxiliary omission, while the Danish auxiliary set plays a crucial role in the specification of construction semantics and argument assignment, thus demonstrating a significant difference between the two languages in the interplay between morphology and syntax.

On the disappearance of the BE perfect in Late Modern English

Previous work on auxiliary selection in the history of English has revealed that perfect-like constructions in earlier stages of the language were quite distinct from those in the modern language, and furthermore that important changes in the construction with have around 1350 rendered it quite distinct semantically and syntactically from the one with be. While this led to a marked expansion of perfects with have, it did not effect a decrease in those with be, which remained quite stable up to around 1700. The current paper presents research based on more recently available corpus data, exploring what happened in the period after 1700, when the construction with be, which is no longer found in the contemporary language, finally did begin to recede. The most straightforward finding is that the inflection point of this change can now be dated to around the year 1800. Evidence is then presented showing that, contrary to appearances, the loss of be does not seem to be related to increasing lexical restrictions on the perfect construction. Finally, the mechanics of the change and its relevance for the syntactic distribution of participles are discussed, along with arguments that what underlies the loss of the be perfect is actually a restriction on the kinds of VPs that can build stative-resultative participial structures in the language.

Introduction to the special issue on variation in auxiliary selection

The paper introduces the research field of the special issue: the use of the two types of auxiliaries be and have for expressing past events, and contextualizes research in this field in general.