Main Clause Research Articles

Long extraction in German: banned, but still alive

Long extraction, that is, the displacement of a constituent across a clause boundary, is considered a process of broad applicability. This view is challenged by the claim that extracting a phrase from a that-clause into a relative clause is ungrammatical in German. Since the evidence for this claim is extremely limited, we ran three acceptability experiments investigating long extraction in German. As expected from a large range of studies on long extraction in German, long extraction was judged as less acceptable than corresponding sentences without long extraction. Importantly, long extraction was equally acceptable across the three contexts that were tested—relative clauses, embedded questions and main clause questions. Our experiments, thus, show that long extraction applies across different structural contexts in German, as expected if long extraction is a general syntactic process. In addition, this paper presents new evidence concerning the sources of individual variation with regard to the acceptability of long extraction. First, we confirm that long extraction gets less acceptable when going from the South to the North of the German speaking area. Second, we tested whether individual participants differ with regard to how easily they accept non-standard constructions. To this end, we ran an additional experiment on verb-cluster formation, including sentences that are ungrammatical according to prescriptive grammar but that are, nevertheless, accepted by many speakers of German. The acceptability of long extraction correlates with the acceptability of non-standard verb clusters even when regional background is controlled for.

Born digitals entry mode choice from a target market institutional and digitalization perspective

Purpose The rise of digital technologies has led to the emergence of born digitals, which are firms distinguished by their digital business models and an early digitalization of their value chains. Despite the growing importance of these firms, their internationalization strategies, including the crucial choice of the most-suited foreign entry mode, have only been analyzed marginally by the extant literature. This paper aims to examine how born digitals select their entry mode and which context-specific modes are preferred. Design/methodology/approach By advancing the institutional entry mode approach of Meyer et al. (2009) with the digitalization conditions of the target market, the authors propose a theoretical entry mode framework for born digitals, in which the institutional market support and the digitalization degree simultaneously affect the entry mode decision. Findings The authors conclude with two main propositions, arguing that a joint venture and a digital entry are preferable under weak institutions and acquisitions and greenfield projects otherwise. Depending on a high digitalization degree, digital and greenfield entry modes are beneficial. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by creating an entry mode framework for born digitals and by introducing a digital entry mode.

Structural and Functional Analysis of Complex Compound Sentences in Russian Syntax

This article examines the role of complex compound sentences (сложносочинённые предложения, or SSPs) in Russian syntax, focusing on their significance in expressing nuanced relationships between independent clauses. Utilizing both traditional and non-traditional linguistic frameworks, the study categorizes SSPs based on their coordinating conjunctions—connective, adversative, and disjunctive—and explores how each conjunction type impacts sentence meaning and structure. The findings highlight the syntactic independence of clauses within SSPs, which provides flexibility in creating cohesive, multi-layered sentences. The study also addresses pedagogical challenges for non-native learners, including punctuation errors and semantic misinterpretations, suggesting targeted teaching strategies to enhance learners’ proficiency. Recommendations for educators include exercises on differentiating SSPs from simple sentences with homogeneous parts and targeted practice with conjunction functions. Finally, the article suggests directions for future research on complex syntactic structures in Russian and their acquisition by learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

ON STRUCTURAL-SEMANTIC FEATURES OF COMPLEX SENTENCES OF HETEROGENEOUS SUBORDINATION WITH A CAUSAL COMPONENT IN THE SCIENTIFIC STYLE OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE (based on mathematical texts)

All works of scientific style, in particular, in the style of exact sciences, contain a large number of complex sentences. Many of them are multi-component. Of particular interest for the study are the constructions of heterogeneous subordination. They have large “pictorial” means, making it possible to convey the author’s complicated thought in a form that is easy enough for perception. The complex structure breaks down into separate components, allowing the reader to follow the course of logical reasoning, which is of key importance when reading and thinking about sophisticated mathematised texts. However, it would be a mistake to imagine the studied constructions as simply separate predicative parts composed with each other. A complex sentence, built from many components, is a complex “organism” with its own syntactic relations, with a common modality and a predominant connection of structural parts. The subject of this article is constructions consisting of only three components – the main part, the causal subordinate clause and the subordinate clause of the indivisible type. In the style of exact sciences, the causal component makes it possible to clearly establish the cause-and-effect relationship between phenomena, and the entire structure promotes an adequate understanding of complex scientific thought, focusing the reader’s attention on the important points of the presentation of the material. The study was conducted on a number of works by famous modern mathematicians. Their books and textbooks are written in classical mathematical language and are deservedly popular with students and young scientists. In the studied constructions, the causal component can be combined with the component of the indivisible type in different ways. Almost always, the causal component precedes the subordinate clause of the indivisible type and is joined by the conjunctions as and since. When a pronominal-conjunctional correlative subordinate clause acts as a component of the indivisible type, the causal meaning of the entire construction is significantly enhanced. Explanatory and substantive-attributive subordinate clauses lose their independence and are strongly united with the main one in structure and meaning. The construction of the studied constructions turns out to be harmonious: the theme-rheme division of a sentence almost always corresponds to the division of the construction into a subordinate causal clause and a complex main clause. This helps the reader correctly determine the vector of movement of the author’s thought.

Tracce d’uso del pronome dimostrativo espletivo nelle varietà d’italiano vernacolare fiorentino e pistoiese

This research into the expletive demonstrative pronouns consists of a comparison between the varieties of Italian language in Florence and Pistoia and the dialect of Salerno. The linguistic analysis points out the use of this pronouns like extra-phrasal elements with explicative semantic function. They are used only during the conversations, but not in the monologues. unlike the expletive pronouns in the non-pro-drop languages like English, French and Northern Italian dialects, in which these pronouns are expressed in both situations. The form quello, I have observed in the varieties of Italian Language of Florence and Pistoia, as well as chello/chillo I have observed in the dialectal variety of Salerno, correspond to the expressions il fatto è che.../sta di fatto che… In italian language spoken in Florence and Pistoia the expletive demonstrative pronoun quello is exclusively used in the initial position of the main clauses, otherwise in the dialect of Salerno it can occur also in the causal, temporal and completive clauses, in which the expletive demonstrative pronouns occupy the subject (or topic) position between the complementizer and the verb and they are used with explicative semantic function and their use is optional and limited to the conversation.

COGNITIVE PROCESS IN COMPREHENSION OF SENTENCE PROPOSITIONS AMONG THE UNDERGRADUATE EFL STUDENTS

English acquired by EFL learners is categorized as interlanguage, which means that their English is developing towards native like competence. In Indonesian context, the EFL learners’ vocabulary and sentence structure mastery is insufficient. Comprehending main propositions or sentence meanings require cognitive process of both semantic and structural construction. Within such insufficient mastery of English, the researchers intend to uncover the cognitive process EFL learners applied to comprehend main propositions of complex sentences. For this purpose of the study, the researches obtained the main propositions that the learners comprehended from three complex sentences assigned to them to read. Soon after completing the comprehension, the learners were assigned to write their retrospective introspection (mental process they were experiencing during the comprehension). The two types of data were analyzed qualitatively. The research findings show that 65.24% of the EFL learners applied semantic construction, 25.24% used discourse analysis, and 9.52% applied syntactical construction. This indicated that in comprehending sentence meaning, 90.48% EFL learners relied more on words and discourse meanings rather than on sentence structure or on their combination.

Processing Chinese object-topicalization structures in simple and complex sentences

Abstract Chinese has the basic word order of Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), yet it is also known as a topic-prominent language, where an object can be topicalized from within a relative clause as well as from a main clause. In parsing Topic-Subject-Verb (TSV) structures, will a Chinese comprehender have difficulties in recognizing the second noun phrase (NP2) as the subject and in integrating the initial topic noun with the verb? Experience/surprisal-based theories and memory-based theories make testable predications at the NP2 and critically, at the verb. Focusing on these two regions in three self-paced reading experiments, we compared reading time patterns between TSVs and canonical SVOs in simple or complex sentences. Converging evidence showed processing costs at or prior to the NP2 in TSVs compared to SVOs, but no retrieval or integration costs at the verb regardless of dependency lengths. Our results are not predicted by memory-based theories, but are consistent with the predictions of experience/surprisal-based theories, suggesting that Chinese TSV processing is guided by structural frequencies and a universal subject-reading bias, with completion of dependency between topic and the verb (or empty category) likely to be fundamentally semantic.

Chartalism in Ancient China: A Retrospective of Monetary Thought

Abstract Chartalism is an influential and continuous tradition of monetary thought in ancient China. It dates back to the earliest Chinese text on monetary thought and continued into the Qing Dynasty. A vast body of related literature can be found across ancient Chinese dynasties. Chartalism in ancient China had the following main propositions. First, money originated as an invention of ancient monarchs and is a creature of the state. The second is the nominal theory of money: useless metal can function as money and become a tool of state intervention in the economy through state support. Third, the right to issue money should be monopolized by the state; otherwise, the state's monetary policy will be interfered with by other currencies. Fourth, an important monetary policy is the government's buying and selling of commodities countercyclically by issuing and receiving money, thus stabilizing prices. Fifth, the circulation process of sovereign money consists of two parts: the state's minting of coins (or issuing of paper money) and spending are the outflow of money, and levying monetary taxes (or selling goods) is the inflow of money. The state stabilizes the value of money by intervening in the circulation process.

Exploring the Construction of Angela Merkel's Identity by Global Print Media across International Platforms

This study is an attempt to observe and analyze the intricate operations of media discourses in the identity construction of “world leader” i.e. Angela Merkel. It highlights that how through the explicit and implicit discourse layers’ construction, the macro and micro semantic structures are created in a newspaper, for portraying the desired positive or negative image of a world leader. The theoretical framework has been structured over the basics of the Van Dijk’s (1980) The Theory of Semantic Macrostructures. The macro- level analysis focuses the core themes and main propositions publicized in the selected data. The micro-level analysis concentrates on the lexicalization and syntactic patterns employed by media experts in creating the larger positive image as world leader through smaller level discourse language constructions, focusing her social and political posterities. Furthermore, the study highlights the gradually constructed personal, social and political identities’ portrayal of Angela Merkel as a powerful world leader, through the world newspaper articles discourse and discursive practices.

A completive adverbial as a subordinator sequencing two (sub)events: TSIT-E in Taiwanese Southern Min

As a completive adverbial meaning ‘in a short time’, the Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM) ts̍ıt ‘one’ plus the verbal classifier ē sequence can be used in a preverbal but post-subject position to encode clausal dependency. This usage of ts̍ıt-ē is often translated as ‘immediately after’ or ‘as soon as’. While Adverbial ts̍ıt-ē(-á) (ts̍ıt-ē + the delimitative suffix -á) and tsin kín ‘very quickly’ in the sentence-initial position of an independent sentence establish backward linking with the preceding sentence, the subordinator ts̍ıt-ē regulates forward linking of two successive (sub)events. As a completive adverbial, the subordinator ts̍ıt-ē is subject to the telicity requirement, and it also encodes a speaker’s subjective evaluation that marks (un)expectedness. The low attachment of the subordinator ts̍ıt-ē in the subordinate clause accounts for the asymmetries observed in the three environments for how the telicity requirement is satisfied (e.g., whether completion or inchoativity has to be overtly marked): (a) an independent sentence with completive ts̍ıt-ē(-á), (b) a SUB ts̍ıt-ē clause, and (c) the main clause following a SUB ts̍ıt-ē clause. Finally, the fact that a SUB ts̍ıt-ē clause can only precede the main clause, and must be lower than a reason clause calls for further investigation.

At the Edge of Language - An Investigation into the Limits of Human Gramma

Researchers at the University of Aarhus are looking at how people process different types of sentence structures and probing the limits of grammar. The focus of this research is the possibility of extracting elements across long distances from embedded clauses to the left edge of main clauses in Danish and English, as Professor Anne Mette Nyvad explains.

Clausal Postpositioning in German Regional Language

This article presents the results of a corpus study of clausal postpositioning, that is, the occurrence of a sentential constituent in the postfield of the matrix clause to which it is syntactically linked, in German regional language. Analysis of 11,027 clauses from 60 spoken regiolect and dialect texts reveals that clausal postpositionings occur most frequently as non-relative finite clauses, followed by relative clauses, and lastly, infinitival constructions. Notably, while non-relative finite clauses comprise a smaller proportion of postpositionings in regiolect compared to dialect, relative clauses and infinitival constructions show the opposite trend. Adjunct clauses occur most frequently, followed by complement clauses, in both regiolect and dialect. Furthermore, in both varieties, postpositioning is more prevalent in verb-first and verb-second clauses than in verb-final clauses. This finding is attributed to restrictions on syntactic subordination. Finally, non-relative finite clause and relative clause types that may be embedded in both the postfield and inner field are center-embedded at mean relative frequencies of 13.42% and 28.17%, respectively. These findings shed light on contradictory claims in the literature regarding the possibility and frequency of clausal embedding in the inner field.

Incremental Discourse-Update Constrains Number Agreement Attraction Effect.

While a large body of work in sentence comprehension has explored how different types of linguistic information are used to guide syntactic parsing, less is known about the effect of discourse structure. This study investigates this question, focusing on the main and subordinate discourse contrast manifested in the distinction between restrictive relative clauses (RRCs) and appositive relative clauses (ARCs) in American English. In three self-paced reading experiments, we examined whether both RRCs and ARCs interfere with the matrix clause content and give rise to the agreement attraction effect. While the standard attraction effect was consistently observed in the baseline RRC structures, the effect varied in the ARC structures. These results collectively suggest that discourse structure indeed constrains syntactic dependency resolution. Most importantly, we argue that what is at stake is not the static discourse structure properties at the global sentence level. Instead, attention should be given to the incremental update of the discourse structure in terms of which discourse questions are active at any given moment of a discourse. The current findings have implications for understanding the way discourse structure, specifically the active state of discourse questions, constrains memoryretrieval.

The emergence of a tailored multidimensional model for evaluating efficiency in teaching hospitals: main challenges and proposition of a theoretical framework

Background: Teaching hospitals serve as training grounds for students and residents across various specialties, while also providing more complex healthcare services that contribute to research production and advancements in health technologies. Considering all their functions, the efficiency evaluation of these institutions warrants special attention in the literature. This study aims to review the existing literature, identify the main challenges faced by previous studies, and establish new guidelines to address flaws in models assessing teaching hospitals' efficiency. Methods: An integrative review was conducted across five major databases: Springer Link, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Inderscience. The search yielded 384 records, and after removing duplicates and following PRISMA guidelines, 28 studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. Results: The review reveals a scarcity of evaluation models specifically tailored to teaching hospitals. Data envelopment analysis is the most frequently used method in this field but exhibits several weaknesses. Key challenges identified include the lack of literature on the positive relationship between increased inputs and quality, proving the reliability of DEA, addressing its limitations in handling numerous input and output variables, improving communication with hospital managers, refining the categorization of healthcare professionals, and enhancing the understanding of productivity differences between medical residents and senior physicians. Conclusions: We propose a theoretical framework to guide future studies on the efficiency assessment of teaching hospitals, emphasizing the need for a multidimensional approach. This model should incorporate economic-financial, quality, and educational dimensions, alongside commonly applied dimensions such as healthcare, staff, and physical and technological infrastructure. Moreover, the challenges pointed out based on the integrative review suggest a rich agenda for upcoming studies, encourage the development of management tools to assess efficiency in teaching hospitals and contribute to formulating an agenda to orient public policies related to efficient resource management in teaching hospitals and educational and health systems.

Argument structure affects relative clause extraposition: corpus evidence from Persian

The extraposition of a relative clause creates a discontinuous dependency between the relative clause and its host noun phrase, as in A man just entered the bank who claimed to have a gun. Since discontinuous dependencies are known to increase processing effort, a key question is why speakers produce them in the first place. Some factors known to affect extraposition – for example, the length of the relative clause and the main verb phrase – have received processing-based explanations, but others haven’t. We focus on two factors described by previous research: verb type and the grammatical function of the noun phrase hosting the relative clause. Specifically, extraposition from grammatical subjects is more common with unaccusative and passive verbs in English; further, extraposition is more common from grammatical objects than subjects in Dutch and German. We replicate these findings using corpus data from Persian. Further, we propose that verb type and grammatical function can be linked to a single underlying notion: argument structure. We demonstrate that argument structure modulates the likelihood of extraposition in Persian. We suggest that this occurs because speakers choose to extrapose relative clauses in order to keep the main clause verb close to its internal arguments. This explanation extends previous findings in psycholinguistics on the role of argument structure in speech planning during language production.

The expression of quantity in Oneida: a study in syntactic and semantic variation

Abstract One of the questions linguists try to answer is to what extent conceptual content is expressed similarly across languages. The null hypothesis is that languages express the same sorts of things but may differ in the particular morphological and syntactic constructions they use. This paper describes one semantic domain, quantification over objects in Oneida (Northern Iroquoian), where there is both variation in expression and variation in expressibility. Through a detailed and comprehensive description of quantificational expressions, we show that in Oneida quantification is pervasively and almost exclusively expressed by productive verb forms that are not number words; moreover, these verb forms head clauses (count clauses) adjoined to main clauses. We argue that to this morphosyntactic difference between Oneida and most languages corresponds a semantic difference, namely that in Oneida quantificational expressions denote properties of sets, whereas in most other languages they denote relations between sets (or between entities and sets), and this difference accounts for the systematic absence of proportional and partitive quantifiers in Oneida.

Adverbial Adjunct Clause Found in The Novel “The Happy Prince and Other Tales”: A Syntax Analysis

In the novel "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" by Oscar Wilde, published in 1888, adverbial adjunct clauses are frequently used to qualify the main clause process concerning agencies such as time, means, causes, and ends, often with elements that determine the nature of their relationship (Langacker 2008: 419–420). There are 93 sentences using adverbial adjuncts of different types, including time, place, reason or cause, manner, degree, and frequency. The novel is colorful with the use of these subordinate clauses. This analysis focuses on the use of adverbial adjunct clauses in the novel to convey the philosophical and idealistic meaning of human life and society. "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" is interesting to analyze because the language is very easy to understand and consists of no more than one hundred pages.

Insubordination and what happens after it

Abstract One of the sources of irrealis markers is former markers of conditional sentences, both protases and apodoses, both factual and counterfactual. The development, amply documented cross-linguistically, is that of insubordination: a former marker of subordination is used as an irrealis marker in main clauses. However, the next stage of development is not commonly observed: when irrealis markers that came into being as the result of insubordination and are used in main clauses spread back to their original locus, conditional sentences. The paper deals with a clear attestation of this pattern in Hittite, an extinct Indo-European language. It is argued that the development is part of a linguistic cycle of the ‘broken’ kind, i.e., that the cycle changed by other processes simultaneously operating in the language.

The Significance of Τοῦτο in Act 2:16 to the Eschatology of Acts

Abstract The demonstrative pronoun “τοῦτό” in Acts 2:16 carries pragmatic weight, suggesting markedness and emphasizing the eschaton (v. 17). Despite scholarly oversight, verse 16’s syntactical placement within the main clause underscores its significance. This article seeks to rectify this neglect by examining Acts 2:16’s theological and syntactical importance, particularly the usage of “Τοῦτο” and its implications for understanding Acts’ eschatological framework. Through linguistic analysis, theological exploration, and intertextual connections, this study aims to reveal the profound implications of Acts 2:16 for the eschatological discourse in Luke’s narrative.

From the History of “Ultimatum” Conjunctions ne to and a ne to ‛or else’ (According to the Russian National Corpus)

The article examines the semantic history of the connectors ne to and a ne to ‛or else’ used as so-called “threat” conjunctions, that is, used to express a threat in a situation that can be defined as a proposal of an ultimatum (Give me back my money, or else [“ne to”“a ne to”] I’ll sue!). The study is based on materials of the Russian National Corpus (RNC). According to the RNC, a ne to is primary in relation to ne to; the first one has been recorded since the 16th century and initially has in its meaning the components ‘hypothetical’ and ‘mutual exclusion’. The main clause, following the clause with a ne to and attached to it by a correlate, indicates a consequence — both negative and positive — from the situation described by the clause with a ne to; then a ne to is fixed in contexts where the main clause indicates a negative consequence and, in particular, a negative situation caused by a person (threat contexts). Gradually, the correlate in the main clause becomes more and more optional, the boundary between clauses is erased, and a ne to begins to be conceptualized as a connector that introduces a clause indicating a negative consequence. The binomial connector ne to was once recorded in the RNC in the 17th century; with one exception in this unique context, a correlate is never used. Since the 19th century, in all the considered cases, it turns out to be completely synonymous with a ne to and can be considered as its variant.