Verb Classes Research Articles

Стяженные формы аналитической конструкции -(ы)п ий- в чалканском языке

Analytical verb constructions in the Chalkan language undergo phonetic changes during the contraction process. In this paper, the analytical construction with the auxiliary verb iy- ‘to send’ is considered for the first time in comparison with the conjugation paradigm of a simple verb. This methodology enabled us to comprehensively depict the phonetic alterations observed in the paradigmatic structures of verbal analytical constructions. It was found that the Chalkan language exhibits the merging of not only analytical constructions into one word but also contractions within verb forms. Therefore, it is possible for temporal and personal indicators to be completely or partially omitted, and the lexical basis may be subject to reduction. The synthesis processes lead to the simplification of the outer phonetic structure of verbal word forms while simultaneously complicating the system of morphological forms of the verb. When verb analytic constructions are contracted depending on the tense markers, the auxiliary verb iy- ‘to send’ preserves its full or contracted form. When being conjugated, the verbs in the past tense on -gyn and the future tense on -yr in a positive form retain only the anlaut narrow vowel i- from the auxiliary verb iy- ‘to send.’ In the past tense forms on -dy, -tyr and the present tense forms on -yp tʹyt-, two variants can be used: the first, with full retention of the auxiliary verb iy-‘to send’ and the second, with partial retention of only the anlaut vowel i-.

Current ways of expressing voice in Ukrainian language

The article covers consideration and analysis of syntactic rules for the category of voice in modern Ukrainian language, particularly in the sphere of professional communication. The proposed study traces the definitions of active and passive voice constructions, introduces definitions of direct and indirect subject, and also analyzes the formation of the indirect subject, indicating its belonging to the class of animate and inanimate objects. The article considers various ways of correct conveying of thoughts, accurate and logical presentation of the context, which can be achieved through particular syntactic norms of different styles in professional speech, using such verb voices as active and passive, as well as the reflexive voice, which is inherent, in particular, to Ukrainian language. Therefore, the author analyzes semantic structure of a clause from the point of view on reflecting transient process. Indicating the direct order of words in the sentence, it is manifested that subject in a sentence expresses a person or an object, a phenomenon that performs certain action, an object or a person that is in specific texts like natural, technical or social narratives, where subjects may be animate and inanimate ones. Formulating the idea through linguistic means in such clauses, statements, etc., it is affirmed that the semantic structure of the sentence is to be structured by definite syntactical model. Also, through the study it has been defined the status of verbs with the postfix -sia (ukr. -ся) in contemporary Ukrainian language. Its uncertainty of usage is sometimes observed mentioning passive and reflexive voices in Ukrainian. This postfix historical development of applying within the morphological structure of the word, word combination and clause has been analyzed. The author believes that it indicates the action is accomplished by the subject itself. The characteristic features of the development of reflexive verbs used for various semantic connotations are distinguished considering relationship between subject and object in action, which allowed the author to distinguish at least their six qualifications keeping in mind much broader verb classification within reflexive constructions. Taking into consideration that the mentioned verbs with postfix -sia are referred to the reflexive voice. It is emphasized that verbs with the mentioned postfix are derived from transitive verbs. In conclusion it is emphasized that in modern Ukrainian literary language, and especially professional one, two-part active and passive constructions are commonly used, and the usage of reflexive voice needs further scientific investigation and study.

Towards a typology of demonstrative verbs

Demonstratives have traditionally been recognized as a semantic category in which different members are classified as belonging to certain lexical or syntactic categories. Current research suggests there are at least 7 different distinct lexical categories: determiners, pronouns, adverbs, non-verbal predicators, verbs, adpositions, and articles. This study looks at one of the aforementioned category of demonstratives, demonstrative verbs, based on a sample of 101 languages with demonstrative verbs out of a total of 1182 languages examined. We present a typological classification of demonstrative verbs based on semantics, an exploration on the morphosyntactic properties of demonstrative verbs and their use in different pragmatic functions, and vast illustrative data in support of our analysis.

L’infisso -sc- e il doppio paradigma verbale nella grammaticografia italiana dal Cinquecento al Settecento

The present article aims at reconstructing the historical framework of grammatical reflection on the Italian third verbal conjugation, more precisely on verbs that present the -sc- interfix in their inflection. The aim of the investigation is to verify the conditions in which certain ideas around the subject matured, as well as to trace the trajectory of the changes that the verb forms of our interest underwent over time. For this purpose I will present results from an empirical piece of research based on the corpus of 29 grammar texts from the 16th century to the 18th century.

Experimental research on argument structure

The paper describes key areas in current experimental research on argument structure. We discuss the experiments that compare verb classes in order to test the argument structure complexity hypotheses and to highlight common argument structure features. Then we present research on argument structure alternations, carried out both on groups of various verbs and on single verb root appearing in various syntactic contexts. Finally, we examine the experiments that focus on the role of argument structure in incremental sentence production.

The Processing of Phi-features in Sentences with Third-person Pronoun: An ERP Study in Turkish

The relationship between Person and Number features is often addressed in both theoretical and experimental studies. It is noteworthy that the discussion on how these features are processed has evolved over time towards how Person and Number features are structured in constructions with different persons (first person, second person, third person). While some studies state that Person and Number features can only be tested with third-person sentences (Manchini et al., 2011; Mancini et al., 2014), other studies state that these features can be tested with all person pronouns except R-expressions (regular noun phrases) (Ackema & Neeleman, 2019). In the literature, it is noteworthy that the relationship between the processing of Person and Number features has been tested with first- and second-person pronouns and R-expressions, but there is no study testing the issue with third-person pronouns. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in the processing of Person and Number features in sentences with third-person pronouns in Turkish using Event-related Brain Potentials (ERPs). In this study, three conditions, namely Grammatical, Person Mismatch and Number Mismatch, were presented visually in words to 33 participants. In the study, a widespread N400 component was observed in both the processing of the Person feature and the processing of the Number feature. It was found that there was no difference between the two features in the corresponding time window. However, in the next time window, a late N400 component was observed in the processing of the Number feature, while a positivity (P600) was observed in the processing of the Person feature. In this time window, there is a difference in the processing of the Person and Number features. In conclusion, this study found that there is a difference in the processing of the Person and Number features in sentences with third-person pronouns in Turkish. It is suggested that the P600 finding in the processing of the Person feature reflects the difficulty in processing this feature. It is suggested that the late N400 finding in the processing of the Number feature may be due to the load it imposes on the processing process due to the fact that the morphological appearance of the Number feature in verb conjugation is parallel to nominal pluralisation, and the greater demand on working memory as the resolution of the Number mismatch involves more alternatives than the Person mismatch.

Introduction to Lexical constraints in grammar: Minority verb classes and restricted alternations

Abstract This is an introduction to the Special Issue Lexical constraints in grammar: Minority verb classes and restricted alternations. In many languages, grammatical relations are subject to lexical constraints. These constraints can be manifested in different morphosyntactic domains, for instance, through deviation from canonical case frames or different argument indexation patterns. Other constructions that have been studied through this lens are voice and valency constructions and some clause-combining constructions. The types of oppositions established by lexical constraints vary: some absolute restrictions entail the obligatory presence or absence of a grammatical marker, while others entail the ability of a lexical item to alternate. In the latter instance, differences in the statistical preferences for one construction over another may be observed. In some cases, verb classes can be easily identified based on a common semantic feature; however, various other factors can also lead to the formation of minority verb classes and restrictions on alternations. This article introduces a collection of four articles investigating lexical constraints in a variety of morphosyntactic domains, adopting different perspectives and methodologies. It sets out a framework for considering different opposition types formed by the differing behaviour of different verb classes and outlines a number of different factors that motivate the formation of verb classes. This introductory article shows that lexical constraints provide fertile ground for typologists adopting a token-based approach seeking to compare languages at ever-greater levels of specification.

გვარის გრამატიკული კატეგორიისათვის მეგრულ-ლაზურში

Verbal voice is topical not only from the Kartvelian but also from a general linguistics viewpoint. It is discussed differently in the European and the Georgian linguistic literature. In Georgian, e.g., voice is considered as a lexical-grammatical (A. Shanidze), morphological (A. Chikobava), syntactic-morphological (B. Jorbenadze) or semantical (D. Melikishvili) category. The issue of establishing systems of opposition in the category of voice is also controversial and topical. Such unresolved problems related to verbal voice require a new understanding of the category and approaches that take into account the specifics of the given research language.In Megrelian-Laz, voice is considered as a grammatical category and according to their morphosyntactic behaviour, two voices are distinguished: The type R-AUX as in avǯiluġi ikips ‘does hunting (= hunts)’ is characteristic only of Laz. It is created as an analogy to Turkish formations (avcılık etmek).The present classification is based on a structured database of verb forms created by the author, which comprises up to 10,000 entries. Directly transitive, indirectly transitive, and intransitive forms of active semantics are grouped together in the database (Laz: o-xvec’-ap-s ‘begs’, Megr: u-per-u-an-s ‘is affectionate to sb/sth’, Zan: ġarġal-ap-s / ragad-an-s ‘speaks’): According to their formation, two types of passives can be distinguished in Megrelian-Laz: independent and conversive.A passive is independent if it is not derived from an active stem via conversion. However, according to the nature of passive, its formation can also be secondary; in particular, in most forms it is based on nominal stems (cf. Zan xomu ‘dried’ > xomu-u-n ‘gets dry’, Laz č’itoni ‘reddish’ > Megr. č’iton-d-u-n ‘gets reddish’). This is why the present author strictly differentiates voice and transitivity. From the category of voice, she separates reflexives of more archaic formation (e.g. i-gurgin-u-n ‘it thunders’, i-rdgabal-u-n ‘talks a lot of rubbish’) which often cause confusion.The typological analysis of Zan verbal forms confirms that, structurally, Megrelian-Laz and Georgian belong to the same type although the formal characteristics of the voice category developed independently in Zan. The patterns can even be different between Megrelian and Laz, but in most cases, content and grammatical form are in complete harmony with each other in Zan. The morphology of Megrelian and Laz is much more regular than that of Svan and Georgian.Despite the high degree of correspondences, grammatical voice cannot be regarded only as a lexical property of a given verb since the verbal voices do not include all realisable forms in Megrelian-Laz. Voice permits the classification of verbs and their division into two categories only according to grammatical (or morphosyntactical) properties.

The impact of questioning strategies on target language production and learner confidence

AbstractThis study investigated how questioning strategies impact language learner performance. Specifically, it explored how questioning strategies influence (i) verb production and subject–verb agreement in the target language, and (ii) learner confidence in completing tasks without translation software. Sixty‐eight novice language learners enrolled in a high school Spanish I course participated. The students were divided into two groups. After a pretest, one group completed an activity with divergent (open‐ended) questions, while the other group did the same activity with contingent (either/or) questions. Participants then completed a posttest and rated their temptation to use translation software. Writing on the pre‐ and posttests was evaluated for verb production, verb conjugation, and subject–verb agreement. Results show that as compared with divergent questions, contingent questions (i) help students produce significantly more conjugated verbs and more accurate subject/verb agreement, and (ii) significantly reduce the temptation to rely on translation software.

The Conundrum of Aspectual Suppletion in Istro-Romanian

In Istro-Romanian, there are two main groups of verbs, one inherited from Romance, one borrowed from the co-territorial Chakavian Croatian variety. The Croatian-derived verbs are specified for aspect, while the Romance ones are not. Generally, these groups do not interact. However, for a number of verbs previous scholars have claimed that they form suppletive aspectual pairs consisting of a prefixed Croatian-derived perfective verb and a simplex Romance imperfective. Given the anaspectual status of most Romance verbs such an analysis deserves scrutinous empirical verification. In this paper, we survey a comprehensive corpus of Istro-Romanian spanning from the second half of the 19th century to the 21st century with respect to seven alleged suppletive pairs. After describing their behaviour with respect to Vendlerian verb classes, as well as the semantics of their arguments, we come to the conclusion that we cannot speak of aspectual suppletion in the case of these seven verbs. Rather, some verbs are semantically specialized, so that they cannot conceivably form a pair. Where there is no obvious specialization, the prefixed Croatian verb focuses telicity, while the Romance one does not.

Markedness can’t explain replacement patterns in suppletive paradigms

Claims that markedness influences morphological change do not fit attested patterns of suppletive replacement in verb paradigms. Examination of all suppletion types and sources reveals that markedness considerations are weaker predictors of suppletion patterns than interparadigmatic relationships, intraparadigmatic relationships, and semantic connections.

Demystifying the Morphosyntactic Features of the Tagalog and English Languages: A Contrastive Analysis

This study was conducted to analyze the morphological, syntactical, and morpho syntactical features of the Tagalog and English languages. This study employed a qualitative contrastive analysis research design. According to the findings, the two languages are made up of distinct morphological components: grammatical inflection is comprised of inherent inflections, pronoun and adjective inflections, and declensions; derivational affixation is comprised of verb conjugations; and grammatical markers are comprised of bound morphemes. When it comes to the syntactic patterns, Tagalog adheres to the predicate-initial pattern, also known as the V-S-O syntactic pattern, whereas English adheres to the S-V-O pattern. In contrast, in terms of morphosyntactic feature, the subject does not have a direct effect on the verb in Tagalog, whereas in English, the subject has a significant impact on the verb. Constructions using the active and passive voices are also different between the two.

Base Form and Other Forms of the Estonian Verb

The article discusses the implicational patterns present in the Estonian verb paradigm: which paradigm slot acts as the base form, which slots act as other principal parts, and what does their dependency hierarchy look like. The argument relies on data from three different types of source: acquisition of Estonian as the first language by children; verbal inflectional classes that are reconstructed from the 17th century Tallinn variety of Estonian; and statistics from different contemporary corpora. The article arrives at a different implicational schema than that which is generally accepted in the Estonian grammar tradition. The article suggests that the base form is the bare stem (which is used as the 2nd person imperative and prohibitive, as well as the negation of present indicative), and that the other three principal parts are: the infinitive; the wordform representing simultaneously the past participle impersonal and past indicative negative impersonal; and third-person singular past indicative. The supine, which is traditionally regarded as the base form, is relegated to being dependent on the third-person singular past indicative. The article acknowledges that the proposed schema causes difficulties with the algorithm of generating paradigm slots for words that now exhibit strengthening gradation pattern, traditionally considered to be unproductive for Estonian words, and even completely missing for verbs.

The paradigmaticity of evidentials in the Tibetic languages of Khams

Abstract This article argues that the evidential system of Khams Tibetan, a cluster of Tibetic languages spoken in the south-eastern Tibetosphere, should be considered a verb paradigm. We propose a paradigm with six evidential categories (egophoric, statemental, visual sensory, nonvisual sensory, sensory inferential, and logical inferential) for all the verb classes. We focus on two varieties – rGyalthang and Lhagang – and examine how these evidential categories are encoded with distinct morphemes. We then discuss the main evidential forms of the copulative and existential verbs available in Khams Tibetan varieties as a whole, as well as their morphological relationship. Our analyses lead us to argue against a differential treatment of evidentiality depending on verb categories. The article concludes that describing the evidential paradigm may be the first essential task in writing a grammar of a Tibetic language.

Elaborazione e cambio linguistico: considerazioni sulle ‘lingue minori’ sull’esempio della scritturalità friulana

Abstract Since Friulian has been recognized as a minority language by the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia (1996) and by the Italian Republic (Law 482/1999), the elaboration process has been accelerated and intensified. Friulian has advanced into text types in which it had not been used before, such as scientific papers, administrative texts, journal articles, etc. In order to fulfill the needs of these new communicative purposes, an extensive and intensive elaboration of language is needed. This happens on the one side through a conscious codification process, especially by intense lexicographical activity, and on the other side “by doing”. In both cases, the influence of more elaborated languages – mainly of Italian, but partially also of other languages, especially English – plays a central role. Lexical items, but also morphological processes and syntactical structures are borrowed from these languages. This fact has structural consequences on Friulian, and, in the long run, could cause a typological change. After a brief outline of the recent history of the elaboration of Friulian and its legal framework, I will focus on some morphological and syntactical structures: the formation of relational (denominal) adjectives instead of prepositional phrases (which also triggers some less productive morphophonological patterns) and the borrowing of Italian adjectives and nouns derived from a present participle, provoking Friulian loan formations, although in Friulian present participles are no usual grammatical structures. In the end, I will focus on stâ+gerund periphrases, which are built on the Italian model. These are compatible with some aktionsart verb classes that the ‘genuine’ Friulian aspectual periphrases jessi che+indicative present or imperfect and jessi daûr a+infinitive cannot be used with and therefore it can be seen as a change in the semantic-syntactic system of Friulian.

Stem overgeneralizations in the acquisition of Croatian verbal morphology: Evidence from parental questionnaires

Studies on verbal overgeneralization often focus on languages with low morphological complexity. The Croatian conjugational system exhibits varying degrees of complexity, and this complexity is not primarily based on the number of inflectional morphemes, but on an elaborate system of stem changes. During early language development, children face the difficult task of acquiring this system, using overgeneralized forms to overcome its complexity. To date, studies have used a corpus-based method to retrieve overgeneralizations in child language, which has had limited success in capturing this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to investigate the production of overgeneralized verb forms in Croatian monolingual children aged 2;6 to 5;11 using a questionnaire in which parents report overgeneralizations used by their children. We tested the relationship between the production of overgeneralized forms and features of the input language (token frequency and class size). We hypothesized that the rate of overgeneralizations will depend on input language features, i.e. a higher rate of overgeneralizations for infrequent verbs and for verbs with smaller class size. The items selected for the questionnaire are the verbs with stem change used by parents in the longitudinal Croatian corpus of child language. Parents report overgeneralized forms in all verb classes, and verb frequency and class size negatively correlate with the proportion of overgeneralizations. Our results show that children gradually abstract morphological systems in a way that is highly sensitive to the properties of the input.

Insights from the Meaning First Approach and cognition into denominal verbs in child language: <em>Cherrying</em> means ‘eating cherries’, not ‘becoming like a cherry’

We experimentally investigate the meaning of denominal verbs in child and adult Romanian using a semi-artificial/semi-nonce denominal verb (SAD) paradigm, i.e., using non-existent verbs derived from familiar nouns (a cireşi ‘to cherry’). Importantly, the SAD paradigm allows us to probe into meaning formation without the lexical bias of existing verbs. To see whether children have difficulties understanding SAD verbs in linguistic contexts, we conducted a Contextual Denominal Task. Children were asked to select a matching picture after hearing sentences with SAD verbs in linguistic contexts biasing them for a particular interpretation. Children generally opted for a literal interpretation of a cireşi ‘to cherry’, involving the actual object cherry (‘to pick/eat cherries’), over a figurative interpretation such as a deveni (roşie) ca cireaşa ‘to become (red) like a cherry’, i.e., ‘to blush’ even in figurative-biasing contexts (like Mary cherried when John told her she was beautiful). In order to see whether children perform better when the meaning is made explicit or whether they have a general difficulty with figurative meanings (whether implicit or explicit), we also conducted an Explicit Denominal Paraphrase Task, where children were instead exposed to the corresponding denominal paraphrases (e.g., a deveni ca cireaşa ‘to become like a cherry’). Children performed almost adult-like when the figurative meaning was more explicit. We account for our findings within a Meaning First Approach (Sauerland & Alexiadou 2020; Guasti, Alexiadou & Sauerland 2023), which assumes that compressed meaning is hard, and that decompressing words is subject to two possible principles: (structural and conceptual) simplicity and plausibility. While adults tend to observe plausibility, children prefer simplicity more, generally opting for literal readings, which merge the light verb DO or similar verbs with nouns (Hale & Keyser 2002; Kiparsky 1997).

Особенности глаголов с деструктивным значением в русском и сербском языках

The relevance of the study is proved by the fact that the category of destructiveness and the means of its implementation have not received any detailed analysis in linguistics so far. The object of the study is comprised of the verbs with destructive meaning in the Russian and Serbian languages, since these units form the core of the lexical-semantic field of destructiveness. The purpose of the article is to give a comprehensive (multi-level) description of verbs with the semantics of destructiveness, to highlight their specificity in the languages compared. It has been established that in the Russian and Serbian languages, verbs with the semantics of destructiveness fall into four groups: verbs with the meaning of damage; disappearance; destruction, decomposition; harm. It is shown that destructive verbs are characterized by a specific paradigmatic defect caused by semantic barriers. The comparison of the paradigms of verbs with a destructive meaning in the Russian and Serbian languages revealed that in both languages these units are characterized by two-term paradigms, in the Russian language there are verbs with a five-term paradigm, in the Serbian language such units are not represented. It has been revealed that the filling of zero paradigmatic positions in verbs with a five-term paradigm occurs through analytical constructions; verbs with a two-term paradigm do not need to be replaced, since they denote destructive actions, which do not require the forms of the 1 st or 2 nd person.

러시아어 가공 동사 그룹의 의미 분석과 유형화

In Russian, the class of verbs that express physical impact on objects stands out as the one exhibiting actionality meanings most distinctly. While there are differences in classification among scholars, based on behavioral characteristics, these verbs can be broadly divided into two categories: creation and destruction. Furthermore, they can be further categorized into sub-groups, including contact, position change, removal (cleaning), processing, creation, damage, destruction, and separation.
 The verbs that indicate the material processing of the object dealt with in this paper primarily emphasize actions aimed at functionalizing the object in the future. Whenever a material processing action is applied to an object, its state is invariably altered in the direction desired by the Agent. However, when considering verb groups associated with creation or destruction, they are assumed to represent the final stages of an object's transformation. This sets apart the actions signified by material processing verbs, as they are specifically oriented towards productive or constructive outcomes, as desired by the speaker or Agent. The act of destroying an object causes a qualitative change in the object, ultimately resulting in the creation of a new one. Hence, the material processing verb group plays a pivotal role as a semantic bridge, connecting the two extremes of destruction and creation, exhibiting multifaceted characteristics that are seldom found in other lexical semantic groups. Consequently, it becomes crucial to closely examine this group among the various classes of physical action verbs.

Exploring the Influence of L1 Chinese on L2 English Acquisition

The impact of L1 Chinese on L2 English acquisition has received more attention as more Chinese students study English as a second language. This paper reviews previous research on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and introduces some factors that can influence language transfer. The writers focus on three linguistic aspects, syntax, lexicon, and phonology, to explore how English as Second Language (ESL) learners L1 Chinese has influenced their English acquisitions. Results found that: 1) Syntax: The syntax structure includes many factors influencing Chinese learners English acquisition, such as subjects, verbs, and adverbs. English requires an issue while Chinese tend to omit the subject; English has a verb conjugation system while Chinese does not; and English adverbs can be placed in different positions according to the type while Chinese adverbs are mainly set in the middle; 2) Lexicon: Lexical errors may occur when ESL learners may make errors when they meet the differences in linguistic features such as polysemy, part of speech and word collocations between the two languages.; 3) Phonology: As Chinese is a tonal language and English is a non-tonal language, their tones of phonology are, to some extent, different, which might cause ESL learners confusion. These features of Chinese and English differ, and how these disparities have prevented positive language transfer from Chinese to English is explored. As a result, this study can inform second language instructors of the distinctions between the two languages and offer resources for future instruction of ESL students.