Impersonal Sentences Research Articles

The Case of an (S)VO Language: Subjectless Constructions in Modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew is examined as an instance of an (S)VO language-in that, like Russian (but unlike English or French), it has a wide range of sentence-types lacking an overt grammatical subject. These include (a) the semantically and structurally related classes of existential and possessive sentences; (b) impersonal sentences with 3pl. verbs which may function in place of agentless passives; (c) dative-marked experiential sentences with predicates such as 'cold' or 'sad'; and (d) environmental comments about time, weather etc. Typological correlates of a language's tolerance for subjectless constructions are then suggested: thus Hebrew, while basically SVO, makes wide use of verb-initial constructions; the language is not 'subject-dominant', either structurally or pragmatically; and it tolerates numerous fronting operations. It is concluded that the class of constructions which may be subjectless across languages is not random, but predictable along the lines suggested for Hebrew.*

Sentence Comprehension in Preschool Children: Testing an Adaptive Egocentrism Hypothesis

A hypothesis proposing that preoperational egocentrism serves an adaptive function was used to predict the comprehension behavior of preschool children presented with sentences varying on a "personal" dimension. Personal sentences containing the subject's name were contrasted at 2 levels of syntactic complexity with impersonal sentences containing other familiar nouns. Significant effects were found for age, semantics, and syntax (all p's less than .001), with no sex effects or interactions. Personal sentences were better comprehended than impersonals at both levels of syntactic complexity. A second experiment was conducted to rule out "focusing of attention" as an alternative explanation. Variations in the likelihood of occurrence of the depicted event were added to the personal-impersonal contrast. High-probability personal sentences were significantly better understood than low-probability sentences, whether personal or impersonal (p less than .001). Results supported the adaptive egocentrism hypothesis in that sentence content describing the child and his personal experience facilitates the child's comprehension.

Sentence Comprehension in Preschool Children: Testing an Adaptive Egocentrism Hypothesis

A hypothesis proposing that preoperational egocentrism serves an adaptive function was used to predict the comprehension behavior of preschool children presented with sentences varying on a "personal" dimension. Personal sentences containing the subject's name were contrasted at 2 levels of syntactic complexity with impersonal sentences containing other familiar nouns. Significant effects were found for age, semantics, and syntax (all p's less than .001), with no sex effects or interactions. Personal sentences were better comprehended than impersonals at both levels of syntactic complexity. A second experiment was conducted to rule out "focusing of attention" as an alternative explanation. Variations in the likelihood of occurrence of the depicted event were added to the personal-impersonal contrast. High-probability personal sentences were significantly better understood than low-probability sentences, whether personal or impersonal (p less than .001). Results supported the adaptive egocentrism hypothesis in that sentence content describing the child and his personal experience facilitates the child's comprehension.

Passive and Impersonal Sentences

Passive and Impersonal Sentences

Passive and impersonal sentences Edited by Vincenzo Lo Cascio (review)

Passive and impersonal sentences Edited by Vincenzo Lo Cascio (review)

Impersonal and passive sentences in serbo‐croatian (a generative study)

Impersonal and passive sentences in serbo‐croatian (a generative study)