Verb Phrase Research Articles

Interrogatives of reason in Tibeto-Burman languages of Sichuan

Abstract This is a typological study of the why-interrogative expressions in Tibeto-Burman languages, or the non-Chinese Sino-Tibetan languages, in Sichuan, southwest China. After examining 22 languages/dialects, the interrogative category of reason is grouped into three types, viz. the distinct why-type, the how-type, and the what-type, according to the interrogative categories from which they are derived. It is discovered that the what-type is the dominant strategy for languages in Sichuan to derive the reason category. It is also common for Tibeto-Burman languages to use verbal interrogatives, namely interrogative verb phrases and interrogative words with verbal origins, dominantly in the sense of ‘to do what’ and ‘to become what’, to ask for reason. After a focused investigation of the verbal interrogatives, it is found that Tibeto-Burman languages in Sichuan distinguish purpose from cause via word/phrase distinction, sentential positions and semantic differences. A path of grammaticalization of the verbal interrogatives is thus proposed and analyzed. Finally, the derivation maps of interrogatives in Cysouw (2005) and Hölzl (2018) are complemented with a refined distinction between purpose and cause.

The inconsistency of sentential subjects’ analysis in English

The article presents a critical analysis of approaches to defining sentential subjects as non-canonical syntactic units consisting of a finite or a non-finite clause. The major issue discussed is the position of the sentential subject in the tree structure debating whether it lands in subject position as a result of movement or it is base-generated in the subject position. Additionally, a claim is made that sentential subjects are not true subjects, but rather topics, suggesting that a different constituent occupies the canonical subject position. Therefore, sentential subjects appear to behave akin to both topics and regular subjects. They cannot generally occur in subject positions in embedded clauses, subject-auxiliary inversions and after topicalised units, yet they trigger subject-verb agreement. When considering these two alternatives, the author finds it important to distinguish between the pragmatic function and the syntactic position. Though subjects have been studied in various linguistic schools, a common consistent opinion on the sentential subject status has not been reached. The discrepancies in existing views are revealed in similar examples analyzed as grammatical or ungrammatical within different scientific frameworks. Distributional and transformational tests, along with the study of the information structure of the utterance aimed at proving the acceptability / unacceptability of sentential subjects show mixed results and sometimes contradictory analyses. The research suggests that ungrammatical sentential units are normally neutralised by alternative structures that function as syntactic blockers. To address the complexity in exploring sentential subject,the author advocates for a multifactor approach, which takes into account structural, distributional, weight ratio, semantic, pragmatic and psycholinguistic characteristics of subjects in a variety of configurations to ensure understanding the degree of subjecthood of syntactic structures and their systemic arrangement from the core to the periphery. In conclusion, the article emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to studying sentential subjects, acknowledging their multifaceted nature and aiming for a systemic understanding of subjecthood within linguistic frameworks.

PHRASEOLOGISMS ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROFESSION

Although Chinese and Uzbek languages belong to different language families, they have similar aspects in terms of grammatical features and phraseology. The basis of our article is to reveal the feature in the process of variation of the unit of analysis of uniqueness among languages, in pronunciation, within the content. It is worth noting that the unifying feature of the concepts of the uniqueness of verb phraseology and phrases is that linguistic objects are approached from the point of view of the integrity of the linguistic structure, as well as the unity of form and content. Also, the role of the use of professional phraseology is partially explained.

Phrasal Verbs with “Around” and “About” as a Grammatical Pattern

Phrasal Verbs with “Around” and “About” as a Grammatical Pattern

Constituent Structure of the Simple Sentences Found in Peter Pan Novel

The study aims to analyse the constituent structure of the simple sentences which were constructed in the “Peter Pan” novel. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The steps in taking and collecting the data were reading the novel, underlining the simple sentences, and analysis the constituent structures. The theory of Brown and Miller (1991) to represented the tree diagram and constituent structures. And used the theory of Quirk et al (1973) to support the analysis. Based on the results, this research found that there were 182 data of simple sentences which were used in the “Peter Pan” novel by J. M. Barrie. The sentences which were found divided into two branches, those are Noun Phrase (NP) and Verb Phrase (VP). Most of the Noun Phrase (NP) that was found in the sentences have the daughter of Determiner, Noun and Pronoun. Meanwhile, the Verb Phrase have the daughters, there were Auxiliary, Verb, Noun Phrase, Prepositional Phrase, Adjective Phrase and Adverbial Phrase.

Exploring Optionality

The following paper considers the potential for optionality of anaphoric null objects in two early Romance languages: Old French and Old Tuscan. In both languages, anaphoric objects can be omitted in different syntactic contexts (e.g., in coordination with prepositional infinitives or in adjunct non-finite clauses). However, overt objects can be found in almost all contexts which also allow null objects. The current paper argues that null objects in both Old French and Old Tuscan were optional, in the sense that they were never the only option for objects, and that having a null or an overt object did not have bearing in the interpretation of the sentence.

Differential effects of EFL proficiency and mode on noun phrase use

This study extends the existing research on phrasal elaboration by investigating the independent and interactive effects of English as a foreign language (EFL) proficiency and mode (speaking and writing) on the overall and individual use of five distinct types of noun phrase modifiers. These modifiers include premodifiers, prepositional phrases, non-finite verb phrases, relative clauses, and nominal clauses. A total of 7676 second-year English majors were instructed to produce both oral and written argumentative essays on the same topic. Robust ANOVAs showed that EFL proficiency exhibited neither a significant main effect nor a significant interaction with mode with regard to the overall use of noun phrase modifiers or the specific use of premodifiers and prepositional phrases. However, a significant effect of mode was detected for different EFL proficiency levels. Mode did not yield a significant effect, whilst EFL proficiency demonstrated a significant impact on the use of non-finite verb phrases. No significant main effects or interactions were observed for EFL proficiency and mode in terms of the use of relative clauses or nominal clauses. These findings suggest the pedagogical need to prioritize the learners’ procedural knowledge of noun phrases, with specific attention to the nuances of EFL speaking versus writing.

Marked Themes in academic writing: a comparative look at the sciences and humanities

Abstract Differences between science writing and humanities writing often appear as glosses in guidebooks, but empirical studies comparing these two genres of writing are uncommon. This study investigated the use of a highlighting mechanism – the Hallidayan notion of the marked Theme (MT) – to understand how the sciences and humanities foreground contextual information, and what this implies about the nature of writing in these two broad disciplines. The corpus comprised 80 research articles, 40 each from the sciences and humanities. MTs were analyzed for their grammatical forms and functions using the Hallidayan framework. The findings revealed that while both genres of writing had roughly the same proportions of MTs used, they differed in their use of thematized clauses. More non-finite clauses were found in science writing, and more finite clauses in humanities writing. Science writing favored the use of Cause MTs, whereas humanities writing used more Contingency and Angle MTs. These findings suggest that science writing values brevity and authorial presence. Humanities writing, by contrast, prefers a more elaborate writing style, with a focus on establishing the conditions needed for the authors’ interpretations, and integrating the viewpoints from other scholars. Suggestions for further research involving other disciplines and multi-disciplinary fields of study are recommended.

Translatabilitas Phrasal Verbs ke dalam Bahasa Indonesia

This qualitative study focuses on the translatability of phrasal verbs by exploring the problem of their untranslatability into Indonesian, strategies for overcoming this issue and achieving meaning equivalence between the source and the target texts. The issue of untranslatability of phrasal verbs can arise due to the lack of equivalents with the same meaning as the source text, target language equivalents that are too formal and not commonly used in informal conversations, the absence of specific equivalents for the phrasal verbs, target language equivalents that are too lengthy and may result in inefficient sentences, and the phrasal verb’s meaning being too specific for its equivalents to be used in all contexts. This problem of untranslatability can be addressed by implementing strategies such as paraphrasing, offering additional information to complete the target text meaning, and applying modulation. Equivalence between the two texts is attained by using equivalents that can function in the same situation as the source text, providing equivalents in the form of explanations or additional information, using equivalents that explain the meaning from a different perspective. Additionally, equivalents have to be determined based on context in which the phrasal verbs are used, and the selection of equivalents should not be limited to the verb category only. Although there are no phrasal verbs in Indonesian, they can still be translated because the transfer is of the meaning rather than the language form. When both texts are equivalent, it suggests that the translator has a strong grasp of the source and target languages and has made appropriate adjustments to convey the intended meaning. This study aims to enhance the field of translation studies, specifically in regards to the translatability of phrasal verbs.

Challenging Traditional EFL Writing Classroom Using Al Mediated Tool: A Paradigm Shift

Students usually find the traditional writing classroom cumbersome due to its teacher centered approach that hardly allows learners take charge of their own learning. As a result of not being actively engaged in the classroom and nature of writing requiring a rigorous practice, students lag behind in developing writing skills including the paraphrasing ones. In order to deal with this situation, this study employs QuillBot, an AI-mediated and learner-centered tool, in a group pre/post quasi-experimental research to mend EFL students' writing and paraphrase skillsSpecific focus areas include summarization, grammar and spelling, rewriting sentences, sequencing sentences, identifying correct sentences, and matching phrasal verbs. 25 EFL students enrolled in the Technical Report Writing course and using QuillBot, an AI-mediated tool, comprised the research sample. Through pre- and post-experimental assessments, researchers assessed how well the students' writing skills performed both before and after the experiment. The dependent-sample t-test affected the post-test results. It was shown that the AI-mediated tool QuillBot significantly enhanced the writing skills of EFL students. Furthermore, a semi-structured interview was carried out to cross-validate the information gathered from the written samples. The semi-structured interview included questions about the students' observations and experiences using the instrument. The researchers suggested using QuillBot in a writing class to help students master writing and paraphrasing techniques in light of the findings. The results of the present research into the AI-mediated tool QuillBot may have ramifications for addressing other EFL teaching and learning issues.

Pronominal Adverbs in German: A Grammaticalization Account

Pronominal adverbs in German, which consist of da ‘there’, hier ‘here’, or wo ‘where’ as first element and a preposition as second element, like davor ‘before’, hierbei ‘hereby’, worin ‘wherein’, have often been explained by a movement of the first element out of the complement position of the preposition. This article points out some of the problems of movement analyses and presents an alternative account based on the diachronic development of pronominal adverbs. It is argued that the pattern after which pronominal adverbs are formed can be traced back to the univerbation of two adverbs with spatial meaning. This is accompanied by processes often associated with grammaticalization, such as semantic bleaching, phonological reduction, and a loss of separability in the standard variety. Some of the reduced forms are obligatory in phrasemes and particle verbs, thus constituting a split which can occur during grammaticalization. The reduction of the first element of pronominal adverbs and a doubling of the first element can be seen as part of a grammaticalization cycle.

Ellipsis, contradiction and voice mismatch

Previous research has attributed differences in the acceptability of verb phrase ellipsis (VPE) with voice mismatches to processing effects (Arregui et al. 2006, Grant et al. 2012). This paper argues that they can instead be accounted for in terms of a standard, focus-based condition on ellipsis (Rooth 1992a,b), supplemented with the principle that accommodated antecedents cannot contradict an elliptical sentence. This perspective is compatible with voice mismatched VPE being fundamentally grammatical (Merchant 2013, cf. Hardt 1993) rather than ungrammatical (e.g. Kim & Runner 2018). It also encompasses other focus-based factors modulating voice mismatches, which in turn reveal that implicit arguments do not count for contrast in VPE (cf. Overfelt to appear). The account here aligns with a reappraisal of the ‘mismatch asymmetry’ (Arregui et al. 2006) as being driven by a penalty against passive ellipsis in subject focus environments (Poppels & Kehler 2019).

How Cognitive Linguistics Affect Indonesian Students’ Understanding on Learning Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verb is one aspect of English that is often avoided by EFL learners, including students in Indonesia. This is usually due to the method of learning phrasal verbs that tends to make it difficult for learners. Hence, this research tries to present how cognitive linguistics affects Indonesian students’ understanding of learning phrasal verbs. This research takes about 50 students of Padang State Polytechnic, Indonesia as the research subject. The students were divided into two groups: those who learned phrasal verbs with the traditional method and those with the cognitive linguistics method. Each group of students was taught by different lecturers who used cognitive linguistics and traditional methods. Then, the students were tested on their understanding of phrasal verbs. This study employed a quasi-experimental causal-comparative research design; this research revealed that learning phrasal verbs with the cognitive linguistics method is able to produce a significant understanding of students’ ability to understand phrasal verbs. The results of the test found that students who learned phrasal verbs with the cognitive linguistics method had a score of 80 in understanding the meaning of phrasal verbs and a score of 76.8 in applying phrasal verbs in English sentences. While the test results of the traditional method group showed less good results. In-depth interviews, and questionnaires from this research show that cognitive linguistics method helps students in understanding the meaning of phrasal verbs although there are weaknesses in applying phrasal verbs into English sentences. The implication of this research finding is that cognitive linguistics method can be an effective approach for teaching phrasal verbs to EFL students.

On the rapid use of verb-control information in sentence processing.

A central topic in psycholinguistics is the study of how and when the parser assigns an antecedent to referentially-dependent elements. One such referentially-dependent element is the null subject of non-finite clauses. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of verb control information in the assignment of an antecedent to such a null subject. The results so far are inconclusive. Some authors argue that verb control information has a late influence, whereas others argue that such verb-specific information has a very rapid influence. We report a self-paced reading study in Spanish in which verb type (subject vs. object control) and grammaticality (grammatical vs. ungrammatical) were manipulated. The grammaticality manipulation was carried out by introducing a person anomaly at the infinitive itself, and not at a later word (e.g., "Te prometí/aconsejé adelgazarme/adelgazarte cinco quilos en un mes." Literal translation, "I to you promised/advised to losemyself/yourself five kilos in a month"). With such a manipulation we can examine whether at the first possible point (i.e., the infinitive) verb control information was used to assign the correct antecedent (i.e., the subject in sentences with a subject-control verb, and the object in sentences with an object-control verb) to PRO. The results showed that at the infinitive there was a main effect of grammaticality, meaning that the correct antecedent has already been assigned to PRO. The present findings are consistent with models that assume that verb-specific information plays an important role in the initial stages of sentence processing.

The exploration of syntactic links: subject-verb agreement defilement in Sesotho

The article explores the violation of grammatical agreement in Sesotho. Grammatical agreement is a significant characteristic in sentence construction. There should be covariance relations between the noun phrase (NP) subject and the device that links it with the verb phrase. However, I have observed that language users violate this agreement relation in their daily conversation. Using the Minimalist Program, sentences collected from native speakers casual conversations were analysed to identify the type of NPs that are commonly associated with the non-corresponding agreement device. The collected sentences were further examined to investigate factors that contribute to the phenomenon. The analysed data reveal that NPs that comprise titles and metaphoric nouns are the ones mostly used in sentences that violate the agreement relation, while lack of knowledge of syntactic rules, semanticity of noun classification and negligence are the contributing factors.

КОРПУСНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ ФРАЗОВЫХ ГЛАГОЛОВ В ВАРИАНТАХ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Corpus-based studies of phrasal verbs have pointed to different features of phrasal verbs. The aim of this research is to compare phrasal verbs functioning in different varieties of the English language – the varieties from the Inner Circle and the varieties from the Expanding Circle. For this purpose, the corpus data are used. Statistical analysis is carried out with the help of R software environment for statistical computing. The results show that phrasal verbs are used less frequently in the Russian corpus in comparison with native (British and American) corpora. Besides, it is found out that some phrasal verbs are used in the Russian corpus differently from native corpora.

AN ANALYSIS OF MORPHOSYNTACTIC CONSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH WRITING TEXT PRODUCED BY THE POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS AT UNISMUH MAKASSAR

This research aimed to find out the most frequent types of inflectional suffixes, derivational suffixes, noun phrases and verb phrases produced by the Postgraduate Students in writing argumentative text. This research used Descriptive Quantitative Research. The data were obtained by using writing test. The samples of this research were 16 Postgraduate Students of English Education Master Program in Academic Year 2023 selected by using Total Sampling Technique. The results of data analysis from 16 samples found that 1) The inflectional suffixes of plurality {-s} were 46,06%, 3rd person singular {s/es} were 8.33%, past tense/passive {-ed} were 14.58%, participle {-ing} were 17.59 %, possessive {-s} were 3,93%, and comparative/ superlative degrees {er/est} were 3.47%. 2) The derivational suffixes forming noun were 52.4%, forming verb were 3.2%, forming adjective were 23.92%, and forming adverb were 19.28%. 3) The constructions of simple noun phrases were 18.86%, rather complex noun phrases were 23.58 %, and very complex noun phrases were 56.83%. 4) The constructions of simple verb phrases were 82.5% and rather complex verb phrases were 16.87%. Thus, it can be concluded that the most frequent types of inflectional suffixes used by the students were plurality {-s}, the type of derivational suffixes was noun formation, the type of noun phrases was very complex noun phrases, and the type of verb phrases was simple verb phrases.

Verbele cu particulă adverbială şi verbele prepoziţionale din limba engleză: dificultăți și capcane din perspectiva vorbitorului nativ de limbă română

The aim of this study is to investigate the multi-word verbs, which are very common in English, but are acknowledged as difficult to acquire by non- native learners of English. Phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs serve an idiomatic purpose. Therefore, they should not be taken literally; rather, they have a figurative or metaphorical meaning. The existence of a simple notional verb in a synonymic relationship with a verb with an adverbial particle determines the non-native English speakers to avoid the latter. From the perspective of the Romanian language, where such constructions do not exist, it is obvious that the attempt to avoid verbs with an adverbial particle and the preference for simple verbs will be more significant as the semantic transparency of the English verbal construction is reduced.

Https://medialing.ru/proekt-povorota-sibirskih-rek-dinamika-prezentacii-v-tekstah-sovetskih-smi/

This article discusses how US and UK liberal media slowly but surely created a skewed representation of 45th US President Donald Trump. Asserting that the media are biase and the images of Donald Trump in print media show political slant of the newspapers, the research analyzes partisan media and image portraying words therein. Usage labels enable identification of the ever-powerful lexical instrument used by the media to create a distorted image of the politician and manipulate the citizens; therefore, the paper aims to analyze evaluative lexical items used in media texts to mould required images of Donald Trump. The research examines the articles on Donald Trump’s key activities in early 2020 in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the Independent. The methodological framework includes the data of the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), which is evenly divided between the five genres of spoken discourse, fiction, popular magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. Analyzing words in terms of their usage frequency in each of these genres provides a clear picture of the target audience. The Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners provides the most precise and comprehensive classification of the style labels, including “formal”, “informal”, “literary”, “impolite”, “showing disapproval”, “journalism”, and “phrasal verbs”. This combination of the corpus-based approach and the dictionary-based approach resulted from the need to supplement the research with quantitative and qualitative data to study manifestations of political slant in the media holistically. Analyzing image portraying words in the media enables us to describe the key evaluative vocabulary, study Donald Trump’s profile and interpretations of his activities in the liberal media, identify political bias and distortion of facts in mass communications, and define new trends in journalism, medialinguistics, and political communication.

THE ROLE OF FORMULAIC SEQUENCES IN ORAL FLUENCY: AN ETHNOGRAPHY

Oral fluency is an essential aspect of language proficiency that is often neglected in communicative language classrooms. Formulaic sequences, which are fixed expressions or structured sentence chunks, can aid in achieving higher levels of fluency. This study explores various forms of formulaic sequences that non-native English speakers use in their oral discourse to measure fluency. These include phrasal verbs, lexical bundles, collocations, idioms/phrases, and song lyrics/titles. The researchers immersed in the field and observed forty (40) senior high school students to determine the most commonly used formulaic sequences in their speeches. The data was triangulated to validate and analyze nuances of the speech, including focus group discussions, classroom observations, and individual interviews. The findings indicated that phrasal verbs were the students' most commonly used type of formulaic sequence, followed by lexical bundles, collocations, idioms/phrases, and oxymora. Songs were the least common source of formulaic sequences. The individual interviews revealed that exposure to formulaic sequences improved oral fluency, even with some irregularities in phrasing and pauses. Overall, the study suggests that formulaic sequences play a vital role in enhancing oral fluency among non-native English speakers. The results also recommend encouraging learners to use formulaic expressions in all aspects of their language learning.