Clause Combination Research Articles

Coding all clauses in L2 data: A call for consistency

Linguistic complexity is considered a hallmark of language proficiency (Norris & Ortega, 2009), and it is often a focus of second language (L2) research (Pallotti, 2015). Within the construct of complexity, syntactic complexity considers the combination of words and clauses. The term clause, however, is underspecified in the field, and L2 researchers only occasionally define how clause is operationalized in the coding. After a review of the importance of consistent clause coding, this commentary argues that coordinated verb phrases, nonfinite clauses, and verbal small clauses can reach the complexity of finite clauses by the production of another element, making these constructions commensurate with subordinate finite clauses. Since these constructions are structurally similar to accepted clauses (e.g., imperatives), their exclusion from the clausal complexity calculation threatens the validity and reliability of the coding. Because a narrow definition requires an arbitrary division along a continuum of complex verbal constructions, the field should adopt this broader definition of clause. Further, researchers should clarify their methodology choices and acknowledge coding challenges, which are common in L2 data, especially L2 speech data. The increased transparency in research methodology supports the interpretation of research results and facilitates comparisons across L2 studies.

Correlative and Free Relative constructions in Odia and English

The present paper investigates multiple Correlative Constructions (CC) in Odia and sketches a combined semantic and syntactic analysis. The paper describes Correlative Constructions and related constructions in Odia, with a view especially to its quantificational systems, one residing in lexical quantifiers, and one in the clause combinations which constitute CCs. Over the last decades, a growing literature has addressed similarities between CCs as instantiated in languages on the Indian subcontinent and types of Free Relatives, e.g., in English, as they occur in positions adjoined to clauses, here to be called Adjoined Free Relatives (AFRs). AFR constructions supplement lexical quantification in English in a parallel way to CCs in Odia, and we explore possibilities of representing CCs and AFR constructions within a common semantico-syntactic frame of analysis. We show how the quantificational effects of CCs can be derived from their character as relative constructions, residing in what we call co-targeted predicates, as opposed to lexical encoding of quantificational meaning through items such as ‘each’, ‘every’ and the like. We thereby describe two distinct strategies for obtaining partially similar quantificational effects, a finding which applies to CC/AFR constructions cross-linguistically.

Subordinative Construction of Tamiang Malay Language: Syntactic Typology Study

This study aims to identify the syntactic typology of Tamiang Malay, focusing specifically on the co-referential patterns of grammatical relations to its arguments, including S, A and P in subordinative construction. This research is qualitative research. This study used a descriptive research design to investigate the syntactic typology of Tamiang Malay language. Data collection was conducted through a fieldwork in Tamiang Malay-speaking communities in Batu Lapan Sub-Village, Rantau Sub-District, Rantau Pauh Village, Aceh Tamiang District, Aceh Province, Indonesia. Tamiang Malay exhibits a unique syntactic structure that combines different types of clauses, including intransitive and transitive clause. The findings demonstrate the existence of several co-referential patterns, such as S = S, S = P, S = A, A = S, P = S, A = A, A = P, and P = A, within the combined clauses. The results of the research also show that Tamiang Malay exhibits a combination of accusative and ergative alignment patterns in its syntactic typology. In Tamiang Malay, the alignment pattern is primarily accusative, where the subject of an intransitive clause is marked the same way as the agent of a transitive clause, while the patient of a transitive clause is marked differently. However, Tamiang Malay also displays instances of ergative alignment that mark the subject of an intransitive clause the same way as the patient of a transitive clause, while the agent of a transitive clause is marked differently.

Modelling the structure and evolution of cultural information as quasispecies

We present a novel mode of cultural evolution whereby some forms of transmission may be modelled as quasispecies. The model incorporates the effect of high rates of error in certain forms of communication; while also building on the structural similarities between biological molecules and written language. Firstly, both written language and key biological molecules, such as RNA and proteins, are modular. Within these molecules, structural domains may be recombined, while retaining their function. Likewise, sentences are structured as combinations of clauses, in which each clause contains a domain of information. The clausal structure permits the recombination of information to adopt different meanings, while allowing each unit to retain its identity. Secondly, by virtue of intrinsically-high error rates, we show that some, but not all, aspects of communicated culture information exists as rapidly evolving clouds within the population. These clouds of cultural information behave as quasispecies, which we model with varying mutation rates and suitable selection coefficients. We then integrate these ideas with the application of Shannon Diversity Index to produce a more holistic view of culture that is centred on the evolution of its information. Re-imagining culture, as evolving clouds of information, unifies the mode in which information is stored culturally and biologically, and opens up new avenues of comparative analysis.

Kalimat Subordinasi Bahasa Batak Toba: Kajian Tipologi Sintaksis

This research aims to describe the types of subordinate sentences in the Batak Toba language and test the pivot of the Toba Batak language in subordinating constructions. The data used is written data. The data is a combination of transitive clauses and substantive clauses contained in the book 'Turi-turian Ni Halak Batak'. This research is qualitative descriptive research. Data were analyzed using the agih method with changing and changing forms techniques. Replacement techniques are used to replace words in a sentence with words that have the same syntactic function. Meanwhile, the change of form technique is used to change the form of a word in a sentence into a different sentence form but still has the same syntactic function. The results of the research show that grammatically the Toba Batak language is included in the accusative language typology. The pivot test shows that the release of FN in the Toba Batak language can be done directly if the FN is in the S or A function. If the FN is in the P function the release cannot be done directly, but one of the clauses must be passivized or topicalized first. Based on this pattern, it can be concluded that the Toba Batak language is included in the accusative language type with an S/A pivot pattern.

Attracting Gen Z workforce: the effects of organizational social media policy

ObjetivoTeniendo en cuenta la experiencia formativa única de la Generación Z con los medios sociales, este estudio aplica la teoría de la utilización de señales para investigar los efectos de la política de medios sociales como indicio organizativo para atraer a esta cohorte a las empresas de hostelería y turismo.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueSe realizó un experimento de 2x2 (marco de la política: promoción vs prevención) x (límite de la política: distinto vs permeable) con 243 personas de la Generación Z en busca de empleo en hostelería y turismo. Se aplicaron análisis ANCOVA para analizar los efectos del marco de política y el límite en el atractivo percibido de la organización y la intención de búsqueda, respectivamente.ResultadosEste estudio descubrió que cuando la política de una empresa promovía el uso de los medios sociales, los solicitantes de empleo de la Generación Z declaraban un mayor atractivo y una mayor intención de búsqueda en la condición de límite diferenciado. Sin embargo, cuando la política de medios sociales de una empresa hacía hincapié en un marco de prevención, los solicitantes de empleo de la Generación Z informaron de un nivel similar de atractivo percibido e intención de búsqueda, independientemente de las condiciones de límite de la política.Originalidad/valorEste estudio abordó las lagunas en la literatura debido a la investigación limitada sobre la fuerza laboral de la Generación Z y los efectos de las políticas de redes sociales en la atracción de talento. Basado en la teoría de utilización de señales, el estudio identificó las combinaciones de cláusulas de política que generaron impactos positivos en la contratación entre miembros de la Generación Z. El estudio proporcionó implicaciones teóricas y prácticas únicas para que los gerentes de hostelería y turismo utilicen las políticas de redes sociales como una herramienta novedosa y rentable para atraer talento de la Generación Z.

Struktur koordinasi bahasa Aceh: kajian tipologi sintaksis

This study aims to describe the types of coordination in the Acehnese language at the clause level and determine whether the language can be classified as accusative or ergative. The research utilizes a qualitative descriptive approach to outline the pivot system in Acehnese and formulate applicable patterns using coordination structures as a combination of clauses in testing the pivot system. The findings of this study reveal four types of coordination in Acehnese: intransitive-intransitive, intransitive-transitive, transitive-intransitive, and transitive-transitive. Furthermore, the presence of syntactic ergativity properties can be observed in coordinated sentences in Acehnese, resulting from the elision of referential arguments when they function as patients and subjects. Additionally, Acehnese also exhibits syntactic accusative properties, where arguments from intransitive clauses are elided and co-referenced with agents. Keywords: Coordination Structure, Pivot, Aceh Language, Typology

Grammar Sketch of Tawang Monpa

Tawang Monpa, also known as Dakpa, is an East Bodish language spoken in Arunachal Pradesh in India, and in Trashigang in Bhutan. This article is a brief description of the main grammatical features of the language. In the section about nouns and the noun phrase the use of the case markers and a topic marker will be discussed in detail, in addition to other features related to the noun phrase. In the section about verbs and the verb phrase negation and various adverbial suffixes will be discussed in detail, as well as a set of tense, aspect, modality, evidentiality suffixes. Pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and deictic expression will also be described, in addition to sections about the structure of the simple clause and clause combination.

Making it clearer: Elaboration strategies in Gĩkũyũ, a Bantu language

Typically, spontaneous language comprises sequences of logically joined clauses. Studies have revealed that such structures contribute to fluency in speech or writing as they reduce the use of simple structures. Simple structures have been found to make texts more disjointed. The combined clauses, which Systemic Functional linguistics calls clause complexes, are fundamentally held together by two forms of logico-semantic relations: expansion and projection. These relations are achieved through different strategies, among them conjunctive resources. An individual’s knowledge of conjunctive patterns of a language, and logico-semantic relations by extension, influences one’s selection of conjunctive resources. This article aims at exploring the logico-semantic relation of elaboration, a mode of expansion, in Gĩkũyũ clause complexes. Its data, Gĩkũyũ clause complexes, were purposively sampled majorly from spoken and written sources. The findings reveal different categories of paratactic and hypotactic elaboration in Gĩkũyũ. The different categories were found to employ varied elaboration strategies such as overt conjunctive expressions that mark certain relations, acting as linkers and binders in the clause complexes. The strategies are significant in promoting communicative competence as they have previously been noted to contribute to cohesion in Gĩkũyũ texts.

Do ‘say’ verbs really grammaticalize into complementizers through clause combination?

AbstractWhen a ‘say’ clause is combined with a quoted-speech clause, one of two hypothetical pathways may be followed: (a) a complementation pathway on which the ‘say’ clause takes the quoted-speech clause as its complement clause and thus becomes its matrix clause; (b) a conjoining pathway which involves no syntactic operation but rather the loss of a prosodic gap between the two. Following the second pathway, ‘say’ may become grammaticalized into a quotative particle. On neither pathway is ‘say’ grammaticalized into a complementizer. It is proposed that cross-linguistically so-called ‘say’ complementizers, including the alleged Chinese complementizershuō, are more likely to be not complementizers but rather quotative particles.

Avtal mellan samebyar och exploatörer

In Sweden, there is a growing trend for Sámi reindeer herding districts and developers to enter into negotiated agreements on projects that aim to exploit land and natural resources. These agreements can be viewed as a way for the involved parties to fill a gap in state regulation of environmental licensing and land use planning; specifically the inability of regulation to address the property rights of reindeer herding districts (known as reindeer herding rights). Research conducted in other countries has demonstrated that such private agreements can potentially play a role in integrating Indigenous rights and perspectives into resource governance. The research also demonstrates that they carry considerable risks. Little is known, however, about the consequences of negotiated agreements in the Sámi homeland. This report offers, for the first time, an evaluation of the content of a selection of agreements between Sámi reindeer herding districts and developers in Sweden. The evaluation was conducted from a Sámi perspective, applying a scale and a set of criteria focused on how the agreements affect the ability of herding districts to safeguard reindeer wellbeing. The scale consisted of five levels (+1 to -4) and the criteria were ranked according to views gathered from 12 people, who were either experts on negotiations or holders of traditional knowledge. The study collected 15 agreements from five reindeer herding districts. These agreements concern the following activities: wind power, tourism, car testing, hydropower, quarry mining, and outdoor sporting. To protect the integrity of the reindeer herding districts and respect the confidentiality of the agreements all results are anonymised, which means none of the information disclosed in this report can be traced to specific herding districts, companies, or projects. The results demonstrate that few of the agreements contain clauses that, from the perspective of herding districts, are preferrable for the wellbeing of the reindeer (levels +1, 0 or -1). Instead, agreements are dominated by clauses that are the worst for reindeer wellbeing (levels -3 and -4). The overall conclusion is that the agreements provide limited benefits to reindeer herding, and instead contribute considerable risks. This was especially clear in the agreements on wind power, which contained a high-risk combination of clauses on open consent (allowing undefined projects), gag clauses (wherein the herding districts give up their right to appeal to government or courts), and confidentiality clauses (preventing herding districts from publicly communicating about their experiences). These results support a view that the agreements cement unequal power relations, largely to the benefit of companies. They also indicate that agreements most often, if not always, reflect a “manufactured consent” – that is, herding districts enter agreements because they do not see other alternatives. A challenge that commonly confronts Indigenous groups, globally, is that they do not know what they can legitimately claim in negotiations of agreements. It is therefore critical to highlight positive examples, even if these so far are few. In this study, there are examples where herding districts negotiated the right to potentially pause activities if there is a need to protect reindeer wellbeing, as well as a simple type of revenue sharing. About half of the agreements also contained clauses that required the developers to implement significant measures to minimize harm to reindeer herding, and all five herding districts avoided harmful formulations in the agreements that give the pretence of relinquishing reindeer herding rights. Yet none of the agreements contained clauses meaningfully compensated for the loss of pastures. Clauses about cooperation between the parties focused on information sharing, without requirements placed on the companies to consider the views of the reindeer herders. Moreover, clauses exist that give the companies a unilateral right to renegotiate or terminate the agreement. Clauses also commonly place demands on the herding districts to contribute their time and knowledge without financial compensation. This means, in effect, that reindeer herders are expected to help promote the economic interest of the companies for free. A central conclusion of this report is that reindeer herding districts must widen their perspective on what can be included in agreements. There is no reason why agreements must be limited to issues of economic compensation, as is the case today. There are cases around the world, for instance in Australia and Canada, where agreements include extensive forms of revenue sharing, rights for Indigenous groups to veto potential changes in a project, and rights for communities to bring about the closure of a project if conditions in the agreement are not fulfilled. It is typically in the interests of companies to delimit the ambition of agreements, with arguments such as, “this cannot be included in an agreement”. However, Sámi reindeer herding districts that opt to enter negotiations on private agreements ought to challenge such claims, based on their rights to self-determination, and broaden the scope of what should legitimately be included in agreements.

Levels of Integration in Children’s Early Clause Combining in Hebrew

ABSTRACT The study examines phases in developing specification of grammatical marking of emergent clause-combining (CC) as indicative of children’s growing ability to integrate two or more independent predications. To this end, both intra- and inter-clausal analyses were applied to all CC utterances produced by three Hebrew-acquiring children aged 2;0–3;0, covering both child autonomous productions and adult-child co-constructed CC. Based on four phases in CC construction shared by the three children, the following developmental trends were identified for both coordination and subordination in our database. First, children start combining two predications with lexical verbs early on, but these are confined to non-marked or adult-supported constructions. Second, early connective-marked CC involves mainly verbless copular or existential clauses. And autonomously produced lexical-verb combinations marked by connectives emerge several months later. This initial “trade-off” and gradual progression in grammatical specificity to full-fledged, lexically marked CC is interpreted as reflecting the developmental route of children’s early clause integration in interactive discourse.

COERÊNCIA REFERENCIAL E ORDEM ORACIONAL

Tomando por base o fenômeno da coerência referencial tal como entendido por Givón (1995; 2001b), analisamos suas consequências sintáticas na combinação de cláusulas. Com apoio em teorias funcionalistas que defendem a articulação de cláusulas em termos de gradiência (HAIMAN; THOMPSON, 1984; HOPPER; TRAUGOTT, 2003; GIVÓN, 2001b), descrevemos e analisamos 596 Cláusulas Hipotáticas Temporais do Corpus Sociolingüístico de la Ciudad de México (CSCM) e testamos a hipótese de Givón (1995; 2001b) sobre continuidade referencial em cláusulas mais integradas às que se articulam, observando a posição (anteposta, intercalada, posposta), seu tipo (desenvolvida, reduzida) e seus sujeitos (correferenciais ou não aos de suas nucleares). Nossos resultados mostram a atuação do princípio de marcação e sua dependência ao contexto (GIVÓN, 1995; 2001a) e do princípio de expressividade (DUBOIS; VOTRE, 2012), principalmente no uso de cláusulas intercaladas, formas menos marcadas nesse contexto, por expressarem maior coerência referencial do que as antepostas e pospostas. Concluímos que a combinação de orações serve a propósitos discursivos, mobilizando a coerência referencial no discurso, cujos meios sintáticos são expressos em cláusulas mais integradas à sua nuclear.

CONSTRUING EXPERIENCE THROUGH THE TACTIC AND LOGICO-SEMANTIC SYSTEMS

This article aims at exploring the lexico-grammatical systems that account for the relations between clauses forming clause complexes. Earlier theories of grammar such as traditional grammar had little to offer in terms of these relations. Their explanation does not provide a sufficient information about the functions of clauses in naturally occurring text. A simplified analysis provided by earlier grammars could be sufficient only in the analysis of sentences taken out of their contexts; however, such an analysis could not account adequately for larger stretches of texts where clause combinations are “more syntactically complex and less semantically explicit.” Halliday has taken a different approach to the study of clause combining within the SFL tradition. He proposes two intersecting dimensions for making clause complex combinations, i.e. the tactic and the logico-semantic systems. These systems will be looked at in more detail. This is followed by a summary of complementary perspectives to the clause complex proposed within the SFL circles.

The Syntax and Semantics of Clause-Chaining in Toposa

Some languages make extensive use of clause-chaining. According to Payne (1997: 312), clause-chaining has been documented for languages in the highlands of New Guinea, Australia and the Americas. In Africa it is found in Ethiopia (Völlmin et al. 2007), in Kiswahili, a Bantu language (Hopper 1979: 213-215, Mungania 2018), in Anuak, a Western Nilotic language (Longacre 1990: 88-90 and 2007: 418) and in Toposa, a VSO language of South Sudan (Schröder 2011). Clause-chaining is characterized by a long combination of non-finite clauses that have operator dependency on a finite clause, and it usually signals foregrounded information in discourse (see also Dooley 2010: 3). Besides its discourse function, clause-chaining exhibits morpho-syntactic and semantic properties as demonstrated in this paper with examples from Toposa, an Eastern Nilotic language.

Clause Chaining and Discourse Continuity in Turkish Children's Narratives.

The present study examines the development of complex sentences with non-finite clause combining with particular focus on clause chaining, in narratives of 40 Turkish-speaking 4- to 11-year-olds and six adults elicited by a wordless picture book. Results show a gradual increase by age in the variety of clauses combined, the length of the complex sentences and their frequency of use. Clause chains formed with converbal clauses are the earliest and most frequent type of clause combinations, already present in 4-year-olds' complex sentences with 1-non-finite clause. Older children's and adults' 2- or 3-non-finite clause complex sentences consist of some combinations of adverbial, complement, relative and converbal clauses. Developmentally, clause chains establish first, aspectual-temporal continuity, then temporal-causal continuity. Sentence-internal and cross-sentence-boundary referential continuities are present early, from age 4 onwards. These findings are discussed in terms of the demands of narrative organization as well as the syntactic and semantic complexity of the clause combination devices in Turkish.

Cameroon Pidgin English: A comprehensive grammar by Miriam Ayafor and Melanie J. Green

Reviewed by: Cameroon Pidgin English: A comprehensive grammar by Miriam Ayafor and Melanie J. Green Kofi Yakpo Cameroon Pidgin English: A comprehensive grammar. By Miriam Ayafor and Melanie J. Green. (London Oriental and African language library 20.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2017. Pp. xxi, 314. ISBN 9789027262400. $54. Cameroon Pidgin English, by Miriam Ayafor and Melanie Green, is the latest and, as the subtitle 'A comprehensive grammar' suggests, most extensive work yet on the African English-lexifier creole language Cameroon Pidgin English (CPE). CPE is the second-largest English-lexifier contact language in the world after Nigerian Pidgin, and it belongs to a chain of closely related, mutually intelligible varieties spoken in the West African littoral zone in The Gambia (Aku), Sierra Leone (Krio), Ghana (Ghanaian Pidgin English), Equatorial Guinea (Pichi), and Nigeria (Nigerian Pidgin, also referred to as Naijá). Both authors are well placed for the task of describing CPE. A, a native speaker of CPE, has done significant work on the language (e.g. Ayafor 2008), and G is an Africanist linguist who has conducted work on Hausa (e.g. Green 1997). The linguistic examples and texts in the grammar are almost without exception extracted from a 240,000-word corpus compiled by the authors themselves, which is, to my knowledge, the largest publicly accessible corpus of any African English-lexifier contact language so far (Green, Ayafor, & Ozón 2016). Two introductory chapters provide a state of the art and a typological and sociohistorical overview of the language. Subsequent chapters cover phonetics, phonology, and orthography (Ch. 3), the lexicon (Ch. 4), the noun phrase and pronouns (Chs. 3–6), and tense, mood, modality, aspect, and negation (Ch. 7). An overview of basic clause types (Ch. 8) is followed by a description of more complex structures, including serial verb and light verb constructions (Ch. 9) and combined clauses (Ch. 10). A final chapter (Ch. 11) deals with aspects of information structure, including topic and focus. Cameroon Pidgin English covers all of the central aspects of the language, including in-depth treatments of topics that have occupied creolists for decades, like serial verb constructions and tense and aspect. There are some aspects, however, that could have been addressed differently, and I focus here on three of these, namely the orthography, the treatment of tone, and glossing. The often contentious nature of the graphization of oral languages has received some attention in the literature, including the specific case of creoles (see Deuber & Hinrichs 2007). CPE is no exception in this regard. Suggestions for the orthographic standardization of CPE have alternated between more etymological (hence English-oriented) and more phonemic systems (see Sala 2009 for an overview). As in other cases, the wide range of opinions within a small group of experts and the general absence of polity-driven codification are therefore at least partly responsible for the absence of a widely accepted orthography of CPE. The orthography used in this book therefore represents one of various individual graphization initiatives (see Ayafor 1996 for a precursor). The authors state their wish to adopt a transcription system that is 'as accessible as possible to CPE speakers' (43). This is, however, contradicted by the opaque nature of some of the graphization choices made. Although the authors' system employs distinctions in line with earlier phonemic approaches to graphization (e.g. de Féral 1989), it also introduces some idiosyncratic distinctions (e.g. dey /dè/ '3sg.sbj' vs. de /dé/ 'day' vs. deiy /dé/ 'locative copula; there' and wey /wé/ 'way' vs. weiy /wé/ 'relativizer'). In other instances, the system is (partly) etymological in relying on standard English orthographic principles for representing the distinction between the high /o/ (e.g. gote /gót/ 'goat', stone /stón/ 'stone') and the low /ɔ/ (e.g. jos // 'just'). This, in turn, leads to inconsistencies between monosyllabic words, such as noe /nó/ 'negator' and foe /fó/ 'associative preposition', and polysyllabic words containing the same vowel where the spelling is phonemic, such as folo /fólò/ 'accompany' (which should be foeloe, if consistent) or kola /kólà/ 'kola nut' (which should be koela). Further complications are introduced by the use of graphemic [End Page 562] distinctions where...

Effective contracting for high operational performance in projects

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine combinations of contract clauses in order to ascertain which combinations correlate to high operational performance (OP).Design/methodology/approachTwo hypotheses were formulated from contracting theory and tested on data collected from 45 projects. Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis was used and validated with multiple regression and simulation.FindingsThe hypotheses were tested to determine whether combinations of classical, relational, and/or associational contract clauses correlate to high OP. The results show that whereas high OP correlates to combinations of relational and associational contract clauses, classical and relational clauses should not be combined.Research limitations/implicationsDirections are proposed to guide future research in order to produce a more nuanced testing of contractual complementarity.Practical implicationsThe managerial implications of the findings include a more thorough understanding of the use of contract clauses and of which clauses managers should combine to achieve high OP.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the theory of contractual incompleteness and complementarity, specifically in the context of project contracting. The analysis produced two theoretical implications: first, that better performing contracts are created when combining relational and associational contract clauses; and second, that in projects, relational and classical contract clauses are not complementary with regards to realizing high OP.

Proficiency‐related variation in syntactic complexity: A study of English L1 and L2 oral descriptive discourse

This cross‐sectional study compares the discourse of Japanese learners of English at different proficiency levels with their native English‐speaking peers in completing six communication tasks in order to better understand the emergence of syntactic complexity in relationship to developing second language (L2) proficiency. The study investigates four clause combination strategies (coordination, nominal subordination, adverbial subordination, and relative subordination) in relationship to lexical selection and compensation strategies in order to gain insight into how and why syntactic complexity at the clausal and phrasal levels varied between groups. Results indicate that the four types of clause combination strategies investigated varied systematically with proficiency level as argued in previous theory and research and might be productively distinguished in future analysis of L2 learner language. The study also identifies how L2 noun phrase complexity was moderated by lexical compensation. The results of the study have important implications for the coding of syntactic complexity in L2 learner language.

The adversative connectives aber and but in conversational corpora.

We analyzed the conversational corpora of two German and two English children to investigate how the different use types of the adversative connectives aber and but influence the probability of monologically versus dialogically constructed utterances in the first year of use. Our findings show that children produce adversative connectives mainly in dialogic structures for illocutionary and theme-management purposes, but that the use types of adversative connectives lead to a different distribution of monologic and dialogic clause combinations. The results suggest that monologic and dialogic realizations as a function of text type must be considered when describing the developmental trajectory of the different use types of adversative connectives.