Intransitive Subject Research Articles

Transitivity and non-uniform subjecthood in agreement attraction.

Research on human language converges on a view in which a grammatical "subject" is the most saliently encoded entity in mental representation. However, subjecthood is not a syntactically uniform phenomenon. Notably, many languages encode morphological distinctions between subjects of transitive verbs (i.e., verbs that require an object) and subjects of intransitive verbs. We ask how this typological pattern manifests in a language like English (which does not morphologically signal it) by examining the "distinctiveness" of transitive versus intransitive subjects in memory during online sentence processing. We conducted a self-paced reading experiment that tested for "attraction" effects (Dillon et al., Journal of Memory and Language, 69(2), 85-103, 2013; Wagers et al., Journal of Memory and Language, 61, 206-237, 2009) in the processing of subject-verb number agreement. We find that transitive subjects trigger attraction effects, but that these effects are mitigated for intransitive subject attractors (independently of the number of other noun phrases present in the intervening clause). We interpret this as indicating that transitive subjects are less distinctive and therefore less representationally salient than intransitive subjects: This is because a transitive subject must compete with another clause-mate core argument (i.e., a direct object), which draws on resources from the same pool of memory resources. On the other hand, an intransitive subject minimally only competes with a non-core argument (i.e., an oblique noun phrase); this consumes fewer memory resources, leaving the subject to enjoy greater spoils.

A subject relative clause preference in a split-ergative language: ERP evidence from Georgian

A fascinating descriptive property of human language processing whose explanation is still debated is that subject-gap relative clauses are easier to process than object-gap relative clauses, across a broad range of languages with different properties. However, recent work suggests that this generalization does not hold in Basque, an ergative language, and has motivated an alternative generalization in which the preference is for gaps in morphologically unmarked positions—subjects in nominative-accusative languages, and objects and intransitive subjects in ergative-absolutive languages. Here we examined whether this generalization extends to another ergative-absolutive language, Georgian. ERP and self-paced reading results show a large anterior negativity and slower reading times when a relative clause is disambiguated to an object relative vs a subject relative. These data thus suggest that in at least some ergative-absolutive languages, the classic descriptive generalization—that object relative clauses are more costly than subject relative clauses—still holds.

Morphological Split Ergative Alignment and Syntactic Nominative-Accusative Alignment in Pesh

Pesh (Chibchan, Honduras) has until now been described as having a morphological nominative-accusative alignment. This paper argues that Pesh displays a bilevel split ergative pattern for morphological alignment. On the first level of the system, Pesh features a split alignment that is conditioned by the way the arguments are expressed. It has a nominative-accusative alignment for the obligatory indexing of arguments on the verb and three systems of alignment for flagging case. The distribution of these three systems shapes the second level, where ergative-absolutive, tripartite, and nominative-accusative are seen depending on the types of clause and the varieties spoken. On the other hand, Pesh shows a syntactic nominative-accusative alignment. Cross-clausal behaviors in two constructions show a subject/agent pivot. This is seen in the possibility of deletion of the intransitive subject or the transitive subject in the second conjoined clause and the control of coreference with core arguments in a purpose clause.

Verbal Number and Grammatical Relations in Tagle

Abstract In Tagle, verbal number, as realized by singular and plural stems, has not only aspectual functions in expressing single and multiple events. Verbal number also serves as a morphosyntactic device encoding specific grammatical relations : The selection of a singular or plural stem is sensitive to the number of the intransitive subject (S) and the transitive object (P) participant. In derived ditransitive applicative constructions, the stem selection depends on the semantic roles of the two object participants. When they are assigned the roles of Beneficiary (B) and Theme (T), it is the number of the direct object T (rather than the indirect/applied object B) which selects a singular or plural stem. When assigned the roles of Experiencer (Exp) and T, however, the Exp (rather than T) interacts with verbal number. When comparing the two ditransitive objects of the Beneficiary construction, B and T, to the object P and when taking their interaction with verbal number as parameter of the comparison, one finds that T and P (rather than B) interact with verbal number. The alignment of T with P and the non-alignment of B can be identified as indirect object construction, T = P ≠ B. However, when the Exp role is assigned to the indirect/applied object and the T role to the direct object, Exp (rather than T) selects the singular or plural stem, i.e. Exp behaves like P. This alignment pattern, Exp = P ≠ T, is known as secondary-object construction.

Relative clauses in Agul from a corpus-based perspective

AbstractThis paper gives an account of participial clauses in Agul (Lezgic, Nakh-Daghestanian), based on a sample of 858 headed noun-modifying clauses taken from two text corpora, one spoken and one written. Noun-modifying clauses in Agul do not show syntactic restrictions on what can be relativized, and hence they instantiate the type known as GNMCCs, or general noun-modifying clause constructions. As the text counts show, intransitive verbs are more frequent than transitives and experiencer verbs in participial clauses, and among intransitive verbs, locative statives with the roots ‘be’ and ‘stay, remain’ account for half of all the uses. The asymmetry between the different relativization targets is also significant. Among the core arguments, the intransitive subject (S) is the most frequent target, patient (P) occupies second place, and agent (A) is comparatively rare. The preference of S and, in general, of S and P over A also holds true for most other Nakh-Daghestanian languages for which comparable counts are available. At the same time, Agul stands apart from the other languages by its high ratio of non-core relativization which accounts for 42% of all participial clauses. Addressee, arguments and adjuncts encoded with a locative case, as well as more generalplaceandtimerelativizations show especially high frequency, outnumbering such arguments as experiencers, recipients, and predicative and adnominal possessors. Possible reasons for the high ratio of non-argument relativization are discussed in the paper.

Fluid intransitivity in Old Finnish

Fluid intransitivity designates the phenomenon that the intransitive subject (S) may be marked like a transitive subject (A) or an object (O) depending on the syntactic construction where it occurs. In Finnish, the S of existential and possessive clauses is marked like O in terms of case-marking and agreement.
 This paper examines fluid intransitivity in Old Finnish through a corpus of intransitive clauses with indefinite subjects from Agricola's New Testament and the NT portion of the 1642 Biblia. I will examine various factor groups that may influence the variation found between A-like and O-like subjects in these clauses, such as polarity, quantity, clause type and others. I will then examine the relative strength of these factor groups by a multivariate analysis.
 Results are that polarity is a stronger factor than quantity, and that possessive clauses exhibit O-like subjects to a greater degree than other clauses. Possible explanations for these results will be discussed.

Hacia un sujeto intransitivo.

La cuestión del sujeto hace referencia al impasse del concepto en la filosofía contemporánea, e incluso su eliminación. Hay posiciones diferentes, sin embargo, que plantean que sigue allí, pero que no se trata del mismo sujeto. Ya no es, sin duda, fuente de la verdad o garantía de una experiencia, porque ha dejado de constituirse como respuesta a objetos e interpelaciones diversos. Es un sujeto virtual que no actúa «para algo», ni recibe de ese algo significación ni identidad, pero no por eso es menos verdadero. Este trabajo yuxtapone reflexiones recientemente publicadas de Alain Badiou sobre el sujeto a Philip Seymour Hoffman, por ejemplo (2017) la obra belga de Rafael Spregelburd, que sugiere que aunque el sujeto no crea en identidades suyas o ajenas, ellas existen como ficciones, tema belga si los hay. Si las ficciones no tienen referente es porque son en sí mismas reales, forman parte de lo existente. Philip sabe que un papel que elige desempeñar es para él, porque encierra en sí mismo su propio propósito. Aparece así un sujeto intransitivo: fiel a su propio acto.

The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome.

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability and memory and impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33).The three groups did not differ on raw scores on a test of non-verbalcognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability and memory and impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33). The three groups did not differ on raw scores on a test of non-verbal cognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Parameterizing split ergativity in Mayan

The purpose of this paper is to explain the variation of Case alignment in the accusative side of the ergative split of Kaqchikel, Chol and Q’anjob’al (Mayan). In particular, I will address contrastive alignments found in their accusative side. In the accusative side of Kaqchikel, the intransitive subject and the transitive subject alike are cross-referenced by the absolutive morpheme (also known as the set B marker in Mayan linguistics). On the other hand, the object of a transitive verb is cross-referenced by the ergative morpheme (or the set A marker). In the accusative side of Chol and Q’anjob’al, by contrast, both the intransitive subject and the transitive subject are cross-referenced by the set A marker, while the set B marker cross-references the transitive object. This contrast is unexpected, given that these languages have a (nearly) identical biclausal structure for their accusative side, as I will claim building on Laka (2006) and Coon (2010a, 2013a): the aspectual predicate forms a biclausal structure with a nominalized clause. I will argue that the contrastive alignments found in Kaqchikel, Chol and Q’anjob’al follow from a parametric difference regarding the nominalization involved in the accusative side of these languages. It will be proposed that the Restriction on Nominalization (RON) holds for Kaqchikel, whereas it does not apply to Chol and Q’anjob’al: the nominalized verb must lack a syntactically projected external argument. The RON will be developed, based on a similar observation made for nominalizations in Greek and some Indo-European languages among others (Alexiadou 2001). As will be demonstrated, the presence or absence of the RON and the type of alignment patterns in the accusative side of the ergative split are causally connected.

Los sujetos transitivos e intransitivos con núcleo nominal común en español. Estructura y evolución (siglos XIII, XVI y XIX)

Este trabajo ofrece una descripción del proceso de evolución sintáctica y semántica de los sujetos transitivos e intransitivos con núcleo nominal común en español. Con material español del siglo XIII, y español y mexicano de los siglos XVI y XIX, mostraré que, teniendo como punto de partida el orden más frecuente para ambos tipos de sujeto en el XIII, a saber, VS, el XVI ya presenta para el sujeto transitivo un orden dominante SV, en tanto que para el sujeto intransitivo, aunque el orden VS se mantiene como dominante, su productividad ha disminuido drásticamente. Finalmente, el siglo XIX exhibe el inicio de la consolidación del orden SV para ambos tipos de sujeto, dado que dicho orden ya constituye regla en ese momento en el caso del sujeto transitivo, y ya excede el 60% de aparición en el caso del sujeto intransitivo. Este último comportamiento nos proporciona, además, un nuevo argumento en favor de asumir el siglo XIX como el momento de inicio de una tercera etapa evolutiva en la historia del español, de acuerdo con la hipótesis de Melis, Flores y Bogard 2003.

The Verbal Syntax of Hattian

Abstract There is much controversy over the question of the syntactic alignment of Hattian. A resolution is complicated by the fact that Hattian has a poor case morphology. This investigation into the functions of the prefixes waa= and eš= (with various allomorphs), which occur both as plural prefixes to nouns and as verbal prefixes expressing third person plural actants, attempts to resolve the issue on the basis of a detailed study of the relevant material. As it turns out, Hattian has a split system, with an accusative base in verbal forms that do not contain the prefix tu= and an ergative base in verbal forms that do contain that prefix. Intransitive subject, transitive subject and object are all morphosyntactically distinguished, so that it can be argued that Hattian has a split three-way system of alignment. This complicated system is typologically similar to alignment in Sumerian.

The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome.

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability, memory and hearing level impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33). Both groups were matched to those with DS on cognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Effects of subject-case marking on agreement processing: ERP evidence from Basque

Previous cross-linguistic research has found that comprehenders are immediately sensitive to various kinds of agreement violations across languages. We focused on Basque, a verb-final ergative language with both subject–verb (SV) and object–verb (OV) agreement. We compared the effects of SV agreement violations on comprehenders' event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in transitive sentences (where OV agreement is present, and the subject is ergative) and intransitive sentences (where OV agreement is absent, and the subject is absolutive). We observed a P600 effect in both cases, but only violations with intransitive subjects elicited an early posterior negativity. Such a qualitative difference suggests that distinct neurocognitive mechanisms are involved in processing agreement with transitive subjects (which are marked with ergative case) versus intransitive subjects (which bear absolutive case). Building on theoretical proposals that in languages such as Basque, true agreement occurs with absolutive subjects but not with ergative subjects, we submit that the early posterior negativity may be an electrophysiological signature for true agreement.

Adverbs and variability in Kaqchikel Agent Focus

In many languages with ergative morphology, transitive subjects (i.e. ergatives) are unable to undergo A’-extraction. This extraction asymmetry is a common hallmark of “syntactic ergativity,” and is found in a range of typologically diverse languages (see e.g. Deal 2016; Polinsky 2017, and works cited there). In Kaqchikel, the A’-extraction of transitive subjects requires a special verb form, known in Mayanist literature as Agent Focus (AF). In a recent paper, Erlewine (2016) argues that the restriction on A’-extracting transitive subjects in Kaqchikel is the result of an Anti-Locality effect: transitive subjects are not permitted to extract because they are too close to C0. This analysis relies crucially on Erlewine’s proposal that transitive subjects undergo movement to Spec,IP while intransitive subjects remain low. For Erlewine, this derives the fact that transitive (ergative) subjects, but not intransitive (absolutive) subjects are subject to extraction restrictions. Furthermore, it makes the strong prediction that phrasal material intervening between IP and CP should obviate the need for AF in clauses with subject extraction. In this paper, we argue against the Anti-Locality analysis of ergative A’-extraction restrictions along two lines. First, we raise concerns with the proposal that transitive, but not intransitive subjects, move to Spec,IP. Our second, and main goal, is to show that there is variation in whether AF is observed in configurations with intervening phrasal material, with a primary focus on intervening adverbs. We propose an alternative account for the variation in whether AF is observed in the presence of adverbs and discuss consequences for accounts of ergative extraction asymmetries more generally.

Distributed Representations of Lexical Sets and Prototypes in Causal Alternation Verbs

Lexical sets contain the words filling an argument slot of a verb, and are in part determined by selectional preferences. The purpose of this paper is to unravel the properties of lexical sets through distributional semantics. We investigate 1) whether lexical set behave as prototypical categories with a centre and a periphery; 2) whether they are polymorphic, i.e. composed by subcategories; 3) whether the distance between lexical sets of different arguments is explanatory of verb properties. In particular, our case study are lexical sets of causative-inchoative verbs in Italian. Having studied several vector models, we find that 1) based on spatial distance from the centroid, object fillers are scattered uniformly across the category, whereas intransitive subject fillers lie on its edge; 2) a correlation exists between the amount of verb senses and that of clusters discovered automatically, especially for intransitive subjects; 3) the distance between the centroids of object and intransitive subject is correlated with other properties of verbs, such as their cross-lingual tendency to appear in the intransitive pattern rather than transitive one. This paper is noncommittal with respect to the hypothesis that this connection is underpinned by a semantic reason, namely the spontaneity of the event denoted by the verb.

Verbal number in Goemai (West Chadic)

Abstract Chadic languages are known for marking verbal number, and Goemai is no exception. When comparing Goemai to other Chadic languages, however, several differences emerge: the inventory is exceptionally large; the verbs come from all lexical fields; and they are used to indicate participant number rather than event number. Contrary to expectations, the marking of participant number does not only cover intransitive subjects and transitive objects, but also some transitive subjects and peripheral arguments. These patterns have a semantic basis, and this chapter explores the interaction of verbal number, transitivity and semantic roles in Goemai.

Verbal number and transitivity in Karko (Kordofan Nubian)

Abstract The present paper is concerned with Karko, a Kordofan Nubian language of Sudan. The paper tries to show how verbal number formally interacts with the encoding of grammatical relations. Verbal number – as realized by singular stems and plural stems – is sensitive to the number of the intransitive subject, the number of the transitive object and the number of the direct object in a ditransitive clause. Moreover, the paper provides evidence of passive and anti-passive constructions being based on plural (rather than singular) verb stems. This suggests that plural verb stems are associated with reduced transitivity.

Parallelism in Arandic Song-Poetry

Parallelism in Arandic Song-Poetry Myfany Turpin (bio) Introduction The song-poetry performed by the Arandic people of central Australia is characterized by parallelism of sound, form, and meaning in both auditory and visual modalities. Parallelism here refers to the organized co-occurrence of elements to the extent that each resembles the other, but the elements are not identical to one another (for example, Frog 2014 and Fabb this volume). In Arandic song-poetry we find that adjacent elements as well as elements presented simultaneously in different modalities like song and dance, often resemble each other in a variety of ways. Consider the Anmatyerr couplet below, whose lines A and B exhibit parallelism in both form and meaning: (1). 1 (w-ilkew25)2 The rhythm in both lines of the couplet is identical, but the text differs, albeit minimally. The syntax and vocabulary are largely the same, with both lines ending with the verb "to make a whooshing sound." Only the initial words differ in lines A and B, though both have the same number of syllables and refer to the same intransitive subject. Line A begins with a poetic word for a ceremonial headband, lyerlkarr. This term is replaced in Line B with an indirect expression, iltya-kenh, literally "belonging to the hands," a metonym for a hand-held ceremonial dancing prop. Each line thus concatenates different semantic aspects of a single argument: "a ceremonial headband held by dancers." This couplet is accompanied by a dance in which the performers hold both ends of a headband while moving it through the air to create a whooshing sound. Here semantic parallelism spills into the visual domain, as the objects and sounds lexicalized in the text are enacted through the hands and movements of the dancers. A similar dance to the one that accompanies the couplet in (1) is performed by other Arandic groups who have their own set of songs, differing in form but having similar themes (see Fig. 1): Click for larger view View full resolution Fig 1. Lena Ngal and Rosie Ngwarray performing the accompanying dance for the Alyawarr Antarrengeny verse "The headbands made it glisten / The shimmering horizon" (Turpin and Ross 2013:33). (w-ntarr 14) Photo by M. Carew, 2011. Parallelism thus does not only operate at the level of the verse, but also at the level of the "song," that is, the set of inherited verses that belong to each land-holding group (often called "song sets" or "song series"). Across these land-holding groups that span multiple languages there are recurrent themes, dances, and poetic form. In traditional central Australian society, establishing far-reaching social networks was crucial to survival. Parallelism across the song sets of different linguistic groups may have helped create relationships and cohesion at a broad societal level, since a shared poetic-musical style may have contributed to a sense of shared identity. This essay shows that parallelism of form and meaning is a pervasive feature in Arandic song-poetry. As a point of departure, I take Jakobson's (1966) cross-linguistic survey of parallelism, in which he notes that there are gaps in many parts of the world (1966:103). Since the publication of this study, there have been numerous studies of parallelism in poetry from the Pacific (Fox 2014), Papua New Guinea (Rumsy and Niles 2011), and the Americas (Gossen 1974; Sherzer 1983; Sherzer and Urban 1986; and Epps et al. 2017), yet very little from Australia (although see Walsh 2010). Building on the work of Jakobson (1966), I show that parallelism operates at all levels of the structure of Arandic song-poetry (hemistich, line, couplet, verse, song, genre) and activates all aspects of language, including the visual domain of communication. I also consider the functions of parallelism, drawing on Jakobson's (1960) notion of the "poetic function," the use of language to draw attention to itself. One role of the poetic function is to delimit or constrain the interpretation of Arandic song poetry. For example, in (1) above, the line in a couplet acts as a guide or reference point for how to interpret the other line (compare with Jakobson 1966:102). Another role of the poetic function...

The discourse basis of ergativity revisited

Since Du Bois’s (1987b) seminal paper, ergative alignment in morphosyntax has been claimed to correlate with a characteristic constellation of argument realization in discourse: both intransitive subjects (S) and transitive objects (P) serve to introduce new referents via full noun phrases (NPs), while transitive subjects (A) are dispreferred for this function and are thus mostly realized as pronouns or zero (e.g. Dixon 1995, Du Bois et al. 2003, Goldberg 2004). This ergative patterning in discourse is generally accounted for in terms of information-management strategies employed by speakers in dealing with the cognitive demands of introducing and monitoring referents in discourse. These claims have recently been questioned by Everett (2009), whose data (English and Portuguese) show no support for the claimed ergative bias in discourse and raise doubts about explanations in terms of information management. The present article subjects the claims of an ergative bias in discourse to more rigorous testing, drawing on the largest database compiled to date (nineteen spoken-language corpora from fifteen typologically diverse languages), and assesses the explanatory frameworks. We find that, with the exception of Du Bois’s original Sakapultek data, there is very little evidence for the postulated ergative pattern in natural spoken-language discourse crosslinguistically. Although our findings do confirm low levels of full NPs in the A role (Du Bois’s ‘Non-lexical A’ constraint), we concur with Everett (2009) that the semantic feature [±human] provides an empirically more sound and conceptually more economical account than earlier explanations framed in terms of information management. Finally, we address the plausibility of emergentist claims for a diachronic link between ergative alignment in morphosyntax and information flow in discourse. The raw data used in this article and extensive exemplification of the methodology employed are available as online supplementary materials.