Grammatical Behavior Research Articles

Bare singular names and genericity

Abstract Predicativists hold that proper names are count nouns with a predicative meaning, and treat bare singular names as predicative DPs headed by an unpronounced definite. However, bare singular names exhibit differences in grammatical behavior from ordinary definite singulars. One difference, it has been argued, is that while ordinary definite singulars can be interpreted generically, bare singular names cannot. This is not right: bare singular names can have generic uses. I present the evidence and offer an argument that generics with bare singular names are good news for predicativists.

El retorno civilizatorio de los “ritos y música” orientales y la “ética” occidental en la educación musical moderna

Abstract: Civilization is a symbol of culture, and only music education with the spirit of civilization has the core of culture. To meet the needs of the times and promote the reform of the educational system, this study analyzes the Eastern rites and music civilization, and Western ethical civilization. The similarities and differences between them were compared. It was found that both affirm the moral-emotional-aesthetic value of music, but they consider the internal and external nature of its role different. The philosophical foundations of the music education system in modern society are analyzed, and the current state of music education is reflected. Aiming at the problems of lack of subjectivity, lack of understanding and lack of musical identity in music education, the study proposes an innovative path for modern music education in the way of the return of the civilizations of oriental “rites and music” and western “ethics,” i.e., resetting the norms of the musical grammatical behavior, penetrating the humanistic connotations and defining the position of subjectivity.

Concatenação de afixos em Bantu: algumas leituras a partir da Fonologia Lexical

Bantu languages from Mozambique exhibit a grammatical behavior distinct from Portuguese, from which they coexist. Noun morphology is one of the domains that offers notable differences in functioning between these languages. The object of this work is the affixes in Bantu, i.e., noun prefixes, suffixes and locative circumfixes of Ciyaawo (P21), Xichangana (S53) and Emakhuwa (P31) languages, (Ciyaawo and Emakhuwa) spoken i n t he N orth a nd ( Xichangana) in t he S outh o f the country. Based on the theoretical support of standard Lexical Phonology (Kiparsky 1982 and Mohanan 1982) and the Booij & Rubach (1987) model, we seek to understand the behavior of morphemes that are linked to nominal themes and, with that, determine the occurrence of morphophonological processes and constraints arising from the interweaving between morphology and phonology. The data analyzed were obtained from a personal database built through instruments for collecting basic vocabulary from the Núcleo de Estudos de Línguas Moçambicanas(NELIMO), applied to higher education students, between 2013 and 2017 on one hand, and from two secondary sources (Langa 2012 and Ngunga 2014), on the other hand. The research results seem to confirm the existence of two components of the lexicon, namely, a. the cyclic – where morphological rules act, and b. the post-cyclic – where phonological rules operate, as proposed by Booij & Rubach (1987).

The subjunctive in Renaissance French

AbstractThe aim of this study was to explore why the subjunctive, despite its lack of modal productivity, might persist in French. I argue that the subjunctive is a modally void fossil, persisting due to repeated usage following highly entrenched constructions. The focus here is on the behaviour of the subjunctive in Renaissance French, specifically in the sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries. Content analysis of personal correspondence identified the real subjunctive usage that lies beneath the French polish applied by standardisation. Through analysis of the structures that trigger the subjunctive in complement clause environments, I explore the grammatical behaviour of the subjunctive. The subjunctive was routinised after regularly occurring verbal and non-verbal constructions, strengthening the subjunctive’s position in certain complement clause environments. This study has diachronic importance in identifying which salient forms might persist in French. There are insights into the behaviour – perhaps the foundations – of the subjunctive paradigm in French as it stands today.

Word sketches of descriptive modifiers in children's short stories for teacher training in teaching English as a foreign language

Stories have proved to be an important didactic resource in language teaching; therefore, teacher trainees are often encouraged to design story-based tasks. However, they may find difficulties in identifying the language typically found in children's stories. For this reason, the present paper aims at exploring a relevant feature of this genre, descriptive modifiers, in order to raise student teachers’ genre awareness and prompt them to use high-frequency words and phrases. In this corpus-based study, a number of key elements were first identified, then classified, and finally, their occurrences were analyzed to obtain patterns in their grammatical behavior and an inventory of their most common collocates. SketchEngine was used both to compile the corpus and to retrieve word sketches of each modifier. Gaining more insight into the language of stories can contribute to helping teacher trainees to perceive characteristic language in children-oriented text types and to develop their own storytelling abilities.

Decomposition of activity verbal event and implication on their combinatory syntax

This paper aims to give account of the grammatical behavior of past participle and gerund when these non-finite verb forms appear with activity verbs in the main predicate. To this end, I adopt the constructivist perspective assuming that morphosyntax and semantics correlate with each other in such a way that the first module determines the systematicity of lexical meaning. Concretely, the notion of event, conventionally associated to the properties of lexical items such as verbs, is split into different functional categories of subeventive nature. I argue on the basis of this assumption that past participle joins the constructions with activity verbs as complement, while gerund is adjunct, which hinges on the event structure of the aforementioned verbs.

Adverbial -s as last resort

This article examines the grammatical behavior of Dutch adverbs featuring so-called adverbial -s. This will be done on the basis of three questions: Firstly, what is the grammatical nature of adverbial -s? Secondly, in which structural configurations does it appear? Thirdly, what does adverbial -s tell us about the existence of adverbs as a separate part of speech? The article provides the following three answers to these questions: Firstly, adverbial -s is an affixal manifestation of the categorizing heads n and a (so-called -s-Support). Secondly, n and a externalize as -s when the raised root that forms an amalgam with the categorizing head is silent or a bound root. Thirdly, “adverbs” featuring adverbial -s are nominal, adjectival or adpositional expressions with an articulated syntactic structure. Some of these syntactic structures correspond to the so-called construct state. In short, linguistic expressions featuring adverbial -s do not support the idea that adverbs form a separate part of speech.

Embedded root phenomena and indirect speech reports

Abstract This article analyzes the occurrence of performative root phenomena in complement clauses. I show that the clauses that host this kind of phenomena have the same distribution as direct speech complements. I argue that the correspondence is based on the fact that, due to their rich syntactic left periphery, these embedded clauses convey speech acts. This assumption receives further support by the grammatical behavior of what I argue are the two major classes of verbs subordinating direct speech and ERP-hosting embedded clauses: locutionary and illocutionary embedding verbs. I analyze illocutionary verbs as bearing an abstract illocutionary predicate selecting either a propositional or a speech-act type, and locutionary verbs as ordinary relational predicates selecting a speech-act type. Taken together, these elements allow for a straightforward syntax-semantics interface and explain the differentiated behavior of root phenomena in complements to locutionary and illocutionary verbs.

Old English verbs of learning: Information and knowledge acquisition

The aim of this article is to provide an inventory of Old English verbs belonging to the class of learning on the grounds of their common semantic components and shared grammatical behavior. The framework of verb classes and alternations and Role and Reference Grammar provide the theoretical basis for this study. Both textual and lexicographical sources have been used to select the data for the analysis of the linking between semantics and syntax with these verbs. The main conclusion of the article is that, considering the constructions and alternations in which they are found in Old English, the verbs (ge)frignan, (ge)leornian, ofācsian, and onfindan are the best candidates for membership of the class of verbs of learning.

Old English verbs of depriving: the semantics and syntax of possession transfer

ABSTRACT This article aims at providing an inventory of Old English verbs of depriving that is motivated not only by the shared meaning components but also by grammatical behaviour. The theoretical basis of this work combines the framework of verb classes and alternations and Role and Reference Grammar. The main conclusion is that the verbs āniman, bedǣlan, beniman, berēafian, berȳpan, bescierian and (ge)rēafian are the best candidates for class membership, considering the constructions and the morpho-syntactic alternations on which they are found.

Old English verbs of increasing: the semantics and syntax of change in size

<span lang="EN-US">This article aims at defining a class of Old English verbs of increasing based on both their common semantic components and grammatical behavior. On the theoretical side, the framework of verb classes and alternations is combined with Role and Reference Grammar. The data selected for this study have been extracted from both textual and lexicographical sources. After the analysis of the linking between syntax and semantics in this set of verbs, the conclusion is reached that </span><span lang="EN-US"><em>āðindan</em>, <em>āweaxan</em>, <em>ēacan</em>, <em>(ge)ēacnian</em> and <em>(ge)weaxan</em></span><span lang="EN-US"> are the best candidates for membership of the verbal class of increasing, considering the constructions and alternations that they present.</span>

Old English verbs of increasing: the semantics and syntax of change in size

This article aims at defining a class of Old English verbs of increasing based on both their common semantic components and grammatical behavior. On the theoretical side, the framework of verb classes and alternations is combined with Role and Reference Grammar. The data selected for this study have been extracted from both textual and lexicographical sources. After the analysis of the linking between syntax and semantics in this set of verbs, the conclusion is reached that āðindan, āweaxan, ēacan, (ge)ēacnian and (ge)weaxan are the best candidates for membership of the verbal class of increasing, considering the constructions and alternations that they present.

Old English Try verbs: grammatical behaviour and class membership

ABSTRACT This article deals with the syntax and semantics of Old English Try verbs within the framework of verb classes and alternations and the theory of Role and Reference Grammar. The analysis focuses on class membership and includes meaning components and argument realization (linking in simplex and complex constructions and alternations). The inventory of verbs under analysis comprises (ge) cneordlǣcan, (ge)fandian, fundian, hīgian, onginnan and (ge)tilian. The main conclusion is that the class of Old English Try verbs is syntactically and semantically consistent, even though evidence for the nominalisation alternation has been found for hīgian only.

Siladang Syntax: A Study of Grammar Typology

The analysis of basic clause structures shows that clauses in Bahasa Siladang consist of verbal and non-verbal predication. The non-verbal predicate can be filled by an adjective, noun, numeral or prepositional phrase. The analysis of the argument structure shows that the intransitive predicate requires one NP argument as the only argument functioning as the grammatical subject, which can be an agent or a patient. Meanwhile, the transitive verb predicate requires two or more arguments. The presence of these arguments in the predicate in transitive sentences is mandatory. The conclusion from the analysis of the grammatical behavior in syntactic construction is that SL is a language which has a grammatical alignment system which gives the same treatment to A and S, and a different treatment to P. It can be categorized as an accusative language, marking the direct object of transitive verbs, making them different from the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs.
 Keywords: clause structure, argument structure, syntactic typology

‘’t is ça va dan he’

Abstract This article discusses the adjectivization of the Dutch interjections ça va and ok. argues that this adjectivization process was driven by analogical relations based on broad syntactic categories. A corpus investigation and acceptability judgements show (i) that the adjectival use of ça va and ok has become more frequent since Lemmens’s research, but that their adjectivization is not (yet) completed, (ii) that not only abstract generalizations, but also lower-level generalizations and specific constructions play a crucial role in the adjectivization of both interjections, and, (iii) that ça va and ok already as interjections showed limited grammatical behaviour, making them more susceptible to adjectivization. We argue – contra – that not (only) reinterpretation has led to the adjectivization of both interjections, buth rather their lexical and horizontal links in the constructional network.

Preposições Introdutoras de Orações Infinitivas em Português Brasileiro

Este artigo tem como objetivo discutir a análise tradicional de marcador de Caso para as preposições gramaticais/funcionais no âmbito da Teoria Gerativa, bem como investigar as suas propriedades semânticas e sintáticas em contextos de oração infinitiva, em oposição aos contextos de complementação por sintagma determinante. Já se demonstrou em trabalhos anteriores (SALLES, 1992; MACHADO, 2013) que a preposição introdutora de oração infinitiva em contexto de complementação está mais sujeita a flutuações entre a preposição de e em e, por vezes, com do que a preposição que licencia o sintagma determinante. Dessa forma, este artigo toma como base essa diferença de comportamento gramatical para reforçar as análises de não marcação de Caso em relação às preposições diante de orações não finitas, estendendo a análise à preposição para, que carrega uma semântica específica nesses mesmos contextos.

Greece, the Netherlands and (the) Ukraine: A Corpus-Based Study of Definite Article Use with Country Names

This study investigates the grammatical behavior of English country names based on corpus linguistic evidence. An overview of the basic patterns of definite article use with country names as commonly described in English reference grammars and of the morphological structures of English country names is presented. Against this backdrop, the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) is used to explore which (groups of) country names occur more or less frequently with a definite article. The data analysis reveals that virtually all of the English country names examined are, to some extent, used in the syntactic position following a definite article. It is shown that certain grammatical constructions call for the use of a definite article in connection with country names. However, the morphology of the country names also has a strong influence on how often they are used with a definite article. Furthermore, it is argued that the minority of English country names that do not fit this morphological pattern may differ because they derive from other place name types that generally take a definite article.

Old English verbs of prohibition. Grammatical behaviour and class membership

The aim of this article is to determine if the Old English verbs bewerian, forbēodan, foresacan, forwiernan, stīeran and tōcweþān constitute a unified class of prohibition. The theoretical model is provided by the framework of verb classes and alternations, as well as by Role and Reference Grammar. Class membership requires not only similar meaning components but also shared grammatical behaviour. While bewerian, forbēodan and forwyrnan are found in three syntactic configurations, and in the Nominalisation and Undergoer alternations, foresacan, stīeran and tōcweþān occur in one syntactic configuration only and do not take part in these alternations. The main conclusion of this article is that these verbs do not show a similar grammatical behaviour and, therefore, cannot be said to represent a consistent verbal class.Keywords: Old English; verb classes; alternations; Role and Reference Grammar

Patterns, constructions, and applied linguistics

AbstractThis paper proposes an alignment between aspects of pattern grammar (Francis, 1993;Hunston & Francis, 2000) and construction grammar (Goldberg, 2006). Pattern Grammar describes the grammatical behaviour of individual words at a specific level of generality. The paper claims that grammar patterns and the groups of words identified as occurring with them can be used to propose candidate constructions. This claim is illustrated with verbs and with adjectives. The paper proposes that the term ‘construction’ be used to refer to a sub-set of instances of a grammar pattern, that sub-set identified by the occurrence of a limited set of node words. It also proposes that the Pattern Grammar reference resources that are already available be reconfigured as a constructicon. The paper discusses how constructions could be presented to (English) language teachers and learners and how a constructicon might be organised.

The lexical representation of English verbs of action. Complex predicates and structures

<p>This article aims at proposing a lexical representation for a set of English verbs of action. The analysis is carried out on the grounds of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) and includes aspects like <em>Aktionsart </em>type, macrorole and syntactic function assignment, linking, as well as nexus and juncture. Against this background, the meaning components of the verbs in question are analysed, in such a way that a logical structure based on a lexical representation is defined for each verbal class. Conclusions fall on both the descriptive and the theoretical side. From the descriptive point of view, <em>Fail </em>and <em>Try </em>verbs constitute a unified verbal class as regards their meaning components and grammatical behaviour and, thus, they are represented by means of a unified logical structure. Conversely, <em>Prevent </em>verbs and <em>Forbid </em>verbs require different logical structures that account for their divergent grammatical behaviour, corresponding to the Causative Activity and Causative Achievement <em>Aktionsart </em>types respectively. On the theoretical side, the logical structures of <em>End </em>verbs, <em>Fail </em>verbs, <em>Try </em>verbs and <em>Prevent </em>verbs stick to the canonical representations of RRG, while those of <em>Hinder </em>verbs and <em>Refrain </em>verbs require complex predicates and complex logical structures which allow to incorporate extra meaning components and to combine different <em>Aktionsart </em>types.</p>