Possessive Research Articles

Modelling incipient probabilistic grammar change in real time: the grammaticalisation of possessive pronouns in European Spanish locative adverbial constructions

AbstractThe present paper provides a methodological case study on how underlying incipient grammar change might be discerned even when frequencies of the incoming variant are apparently marginal and stable. Analysing the spread of tonic possessive pronouns in complements of locative adverbial constructions in European Spanish from a probabilistic perspective, more than 11,000 locative constructions from 1900 to 2004 were compiled, and probabilistic grammar change was operationalised as an interactive function between language-internal predictors and real time. The results reveal that numerous intralinguistic factors have been and are active in constraining the variation, with the innovation spreading significantly in spite of apparent stability in frequency. Crucially, the findings demonstrate that, even in a relatively standardised written language where the innovation has a considerably low frequency, the innovation grammaticalises along the same pathway as in colloquial vernaculars where the incoming variant is employed much more frequently.

Проявление межъязыковой интерференции в речевых ошибках венгерских студентов: выражение посессивных отношений

Cross-linguistic interference in Hungarian students’ language mistakes: representation of possessiveness. The article deals with grammatical mistakes associated with representation of possessiveness in the Russian written language of students speaking Hungarian as their native language. There are differences in representations of the possessive relation in two languages such as absence of personal possessive suffixation of names, absence of an indicator of absolute possession, the limited use of the Hungarian possessive pronouns in comparison with the Russian ones. All these form a basis for interference and cause the following mistakes: the excessive use of a possessive pronoun, nondistinction of possession and belonging meanings, wrong choice of the possessive means when expressing procedurality and locality, the excessive use of an incoordinate possessor in the form of the genitive case. Revealing of typical mistakes is aimed at their timely prevention, as well as the development of exercises to correct them.

Binding Relations and Their Implications for Word Order in Arabic

This study aims at investigating the distribution of the possessive pronouns in Modern Standard Arabic. It shows that when the possessive pronouns are used as reflexives they have implications for the word order. The different positions occupied by the objects are determined by the presence of these pronouns and the binding relations within the c-commanding domain. Building on the basic assumptions of Binding Theory, possessive pronouns are best treated as normal pronominal elements which are subject to condition B. However, when they are used as anaphoric elements in certain contexts, they have to be c-commanded by their antecedents. Depending on the derivational level at which c-command relation is established between the reflexive possessive pronoun and its antecedent, movement of the possessive pronoun along with the phrase containing is optional in certain structures or, in other structures, the pronoun becomes frozen in the position in which it is base-generated.

Noun Class System in Ikhin, an Edoid Language

This paper examines the noun class system in Ikhin, an Edoid language in South-South, Nigeria. Unlike other related Edoid languages examined and investigated by various scholars, nothing has been said on the noun class system in Ikhin. The paper establishes noun prefixes and concord prefixes in modifiers such as demonstrative and possessive pronouns. Although inherited, this paper confirms that majority of the nouns are inflected for number by means of prefix vowel alternation. The study also confirms that the language maintains most of the noun class distinctions in Edoid languages. The paper examines morphological alternations and their implications for phonology. It is argued that vestiges of vowel harmony appear in the patterning of vowels in nouns and in the way vowels alternate in prefixes. Vestigial evidence of concord which is normally the hallmark of a noun class system in Edoid languages was discovered in modifiers such as demonstrative and possessive pronouns.

Animacy, Anaphora and Language Change in Swedish

This paper considers the role of animacy in the overt marking of indirect anaphors, i.e., noun phrases (NP), which introduce new discourse referents, that are grounded in the preceding discourse by means of a grounding element, an anchor. The indirect anaphors are considered in a diachronic perspective with reference to the emergent definite article and the variation between the article and other marking elements, in particular possessive pronouns. The study is based on an annotated corpus of Swedish prosaic texts from 1200–1550, which is a period of time when the definite article undergoes the process of grammaticalization in this language. The material was sorted according to the different combinations of the animacy of the anchor and the anaphor.The indirect anaphors which are anchored by means of expressions referring to animate entities show more variation of expression than those expressions referring to inanimate entities at the onset of definite article grammaticalization, but as the grammaticalization progresses, all indirect anaphors are by default expressed by the definite article. This is connected with the ongoing grammaticalization of the definite article and its extended use in new contexts. Keywords animacy; indirect anaphora; language change; definite article; Swedish

Korean wave’s influences on Indonesian beauty standard depicted in skincare advertisements: Critical discourse analysis

This research aims to disclose the influence of the Korean wave toward the Indonesian beauty standards reflected in the skincare advertisements. A descriptive qualitative method with the approach of critical discourse analysis is employed to obtain the research objective. The media are Viva moisturizer advertisement appeared in the early 2000s, Wardah White Treatment Essence advertisement published in 2019, and Laneige BB Cushion Korean advertisement as a part of intertextuality. The 19 year-publication gaps is deliberately presented to show how the shift of beauty myth takes place. The data taken were in words, phrases, and sentences, which were then analyzed using Fairclough's three-dimensional approach. The results showed that Viva attracted consumers’ attention using similes, simple present tense, keywords repetition, and positive adjectives. On the other side, Wardah used hyperbole, possessive pronoun, and scientific terminology to convince the consumers of their product’s superiority, in line with Laneige's advertisement. Regarding the discursive features, these three advertisements were similar in that they used logos, flattery, puffery, and positive image representation. Lastly, the analysis of social practice indicated that the influence of the Korean wave was clearly seen on Wardah’s commercial, which portrayed beauty as Laneige did. They tried shaping consumers’ beliefs that beauty means having a white, flawless, and glowing face. Thus, the beauty myth had changed from the previous era. This resembles Bourdieu’s notion of field, capital, and Doxa.

On the interpretation of possessives in Czech: An experimental approach

This paper presents first findings from an offline study of Czech native speakers’ use and interpretation of reflexive and non-reflexive possessive pronouns. The study is part of a larger possessive project outlined by Fabricius-Hansen et al. (2017), leaning on the comprehension experiment presented in Pitz et al. (2017). The study encompasses questionnaire data collected from 259 informants who were tested under four different conditions on two competing pronouns: the reflexive possessive (svůj) and the 3rd person non-reflexive possessive (jeho). The results revealed that Czech native speakers show a strong uncertainty when interpreting constructions with a cataphoric non-reflexive possessive. This shows that even for native speakers, the establishment of the anaphoric and cataphoric relations under certain syntactic conditions is a challenging and highly complex task. With these results, several hypotheses are formulated in various target-source-language pairs concerning the processing of reflexive and non-reflexive possessives in L2.

To Have and to Hold: The Possessive Spectator, the Spinster Narrative, and Katharine Hepburn in David Lean’sSummertime(1955)

To Have and to Hold: The Possessive Spectator, the Spinster Narrative, and Katharine Hepburn in David Lean’s<i>Summertime</i>(1955)

Remarques sur les versions paléographique et critique du Cantar de Mio Cid

Notes on Paleographic and Critical Versions of the Cantar de Mio Cid According to Yakov Malkiel, Old Spanish forms vide &lt; Latin vīdī and vido &lt; vīdit are to be accounted for by what he calls “paradigmatic resistance to sound change”. The present writer believes that such a phenomenon does not exist, he examined all forms of the verb ver &lt; vidēre in Cantar de Mio Cid and arrived at the conclusion that in the original version of the poem there were no forms with intervocalic -d-, while the forms vide, vido were arbitrarily introduced by Menéndez Pidal. The article also deals with the possessive pronouns mi/mio, su/so and forms like cuemo/quomo.

Errors of Pronoun Usage among Nigerian Secondary School Students

This study examined the errors of pronoun usage among Nigerian Secondary School Students. The study looked specifically at pronoun types, and identified and examined the errors that secondary school students make in their use. The research subjects were students of public secondary schools in Oyo West Local Government Area. There are fifteen (15) public secondary schools in the Local Government Area. However, out of the fifteen (15) public secondary schools, five (5) were chosen. The researcher made use of stratified sampling technique in order to classify the respondents’ view into different characteristics for clear and better results. A total of one hundred (100) students were selected for the study, with twenty (20) students selected from each school. Test questions with options were designed specifically for the students in the selected schools. The test questions focused on all the aspects of pronoun usage, especially the areas where students make errors such as subjective case pronouns, objective case pronouns, possessive case pronouns and tactic pronouns. The test was adequately supervised to see that the respondents did not consult their mates for any assistance before they could respond to the test. It was administered in the classroom for their convenience and proper supervision. There were twenty (20) questions in the test, four questions each were on the subjective case, objective case, possessive case, problematic pronouns usages and unique pronouns types (indefinite pronoun and reciprocal pronouns). At the end, the test scripts were collected and marked. The errors made were identified and categorised and examined. The study clearly showed that secondary school students in Nigeria use pronouns that are inaccurate or incorrect in their expressions. In this vein, the study showed that these errors occur because the students have not fully learned the correct use of the pronouns. The study also found that the teaching method applied in the teaching of English grammar in secondary schools is not very effective and English language teachers need to set up a workable teaching and evaluation method that will show how well a learner has learned. The study concluded that the students need constant exposure to the English language to fully develop communicative competence in it.

The Use of Sing along Song in the learning of the Possessive Adjective and Possessive Pronoun

The pupils at a rural school were struggling to master the usage of Possessive Adjective and Possessive Pronoun .This action research was done to improve the usage of the Possessive adjective (PA) and Possessive pronoun (PP) among the pupils of a rural school with the use of the sing along song. This action research involved 16 year 4 low proficiency pupils of a rural school. The data was collected by using the test score of their pretest,post test and structured interview.This action research adopt the Kemmis and Mctaggart cyclic process.The finding shows that the sing along song helped in improving the usage of Possessive Adjective and Possessive Pronoun among the pupils.The pupils retain the improvement in their ability to identify and differentiate each types of the pronouns when the pupil’s score increase in their post test and also in their score for the second interview.

ANALYSIS THE USE OF PERSONAL PRONOUN IN “THE SIGN OF FOUR” NOVEL BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

The study's objectives are to know what kinds of personal pronoun used in the novel and know which personal pronoun has the highest distribution. This article focuses on the personal pronoun. Frank (1972: 19) states that personal pronouns are divided into five, namely subjective pronouns, objective pronouns, possessive pronouns, possessive adjective pronouns, and reflexive pronouns. The function of a personal pronoun is to identify or refer to someone or the gender of that person. In writing, this can help readers understand the storyline more easily, to whom it is pointing, and the gender of the person without needing to tell him. This research is qualitative research designed in a descriptive study. The source of data is from the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four." The writer will analyze the use of the personal pronoun in the novel. It is found that the use of the personal pronoun in a novel is varies depending on the function.

WRITING STYLE COMPARISON BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS IN WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

Male and female students have different and similar writing styles. These differences and similarities make them have their own characteristics in writing. The differences that occur can be seen in terms of lexical and grammatical features. This research aimed to compare writing style between male and female students in writing argumentative essay. This research was conducted at English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences, Pakuan University. There were four male and four female students from 4A in this research as the participants. To gain the research data, the researcher used three research instruments: documentation, questionnaire, and interview. Documentation instrument was used to analyze students’ work. Questionnaire instrument was distributed two times for each student. Interview was conducted once for each student. According to the data analysis, it was found that there are two similarities and three differences between male and female students in writing argumentative essay. The similarities are the use of psychological processes and the use of sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization. The differences are the way to express the opinion, the use of words, and the use of certain possessive pronouns more frequently

Possessive pronouns, Condition C and Anti-Cataphora Effects

This presentation addresses the following research questions: (a) does Binding Condition C, prohibiting pronouns from occupying positions c-commanding coindexed names, operate in the same manner in the grammars of English and Polish (Slavic)? (b) why do possessive pronouns in Slavic languages cause an effect similar to Condition C?, and (c) which syntactic relation is responsible for the Anti-Cataphora Effect (ACE)? The question of why Condition C does not subsume the Anti-Cataphora Effect is addressed in detail and it is shown to what extent pronominal possessives in Polish and English occupy different structural positions. Other structural factors that influence the ACE are also analysed, such as the depth of embedding of the possessive, the grammatical function of the NP containing the possessive (subject vs. object), the distance between the proximate possessive and the coindexed name and intervention by other possessive NPs. Current theory of syntax relies on two basic structural relations driving morpho-syntacic operations: Agree and Move (Chomsky, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2013). In the context of the ACE, both of these relations will be tested for their accuracy in licensing this effect. In prominent recent accounts (La Terza, 2016; Franks, 2019) the ACE results from movement of the proximate possessive pronoun to some position from which it c-commands the coindexed name. It is argued below that the ACE is rather caused by an instantiation of Agree which presupposes little movement on the part of the proximate possessive.

The interaction of grammatically distinct agreement dependencies in predictive processing

ABSTRACT Previous research has found that comprehenders sometimes predict information that is grammatically unlicensed by sentence constraints. An open question is why such grammatically unlicensed predictions occur. We examined the possibility that unlicensed predictions arise in situations of information conflict, for instance when comprehenders try to predict upcoming words while simultaneously building dependencies with previously encountered elements in memory. German possessive pronouns are a good testing ground for this hypothesis because they encode two grammatically distinct agreement dependencies: a retrospective one between the possessive and its previously mentioned referent, and a prospective one between the possessive and its following nominal head. In two visual world eye-tracking experiments, we estimated the onset of predictive effects in participants’ fixations. The results showed that the retrospective dependency affected resolution of the prospective dependency by shifting the onset of predictive effects. We attribute this effect to an interaction between predictive and memory retrieval processes.

ГРЕШКИ ПРИ УПОТРЕБАТА НА ВЪЗВРАТНИТЕ ПРИТЕЖАТЕЛНИ МЕСТОИМЕНИЯ / ERRORS IN THE USE OF REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Some cases in which mistakes are made in the use of the reflexive possessive pronouns svoj / si in the Bulgarian language instead of the ordinary possessive pronouns are considered. The reasons for the errors are explained and the correct options are presented.

Kashmiri to English Machine Translation: A Study in Translation Divergence Issues of Personal and Possessive Pronouns

Machine translation (MT) as a sub-field of computational linguistics represents one of the most advanced and applied translation dimensions as a research field. Translation divergence occurs when structurally similar sentences of the source language do not translate into sentences that are similar in structure in the target language" (Dorr, 1993). The sophistication in the domain of MT depends mainly on the identification of divergence patterns in a language pair. Many researchers in MT field including Dorr (1990, 1994) have emphasized that the best quality in MT can be achieved when an individual language pair in a particular context is described in detail. This paper attempts to explore the divergence patterns that characterize the translation of Kashmiri pronouns into English. The analysis in this paper has been restricted to the class of personal and possessive pronouns. Kashmiri has rich inflections and pronouns are marked for case, number, tense and gender and show complex agreement patterns. The paper identifies and outlines a wide variety of divergence patterns that characterize the Kashmiri English language pair. These divergence patterns are identified and summarized in order to improve the quality of the MT system that may be developed for Kashmiri English language pair in the near future and can also be utilized for other language pairs that are similar in terms of their structure and typological features.

The male bias of a generically-intended masculine pronoun: Evidence from eye-tracking and sentence evaluation.

Two experiments tested whether the Dutch possessive pronoun zijn 'his' gives rise to a gender inference and thus causes a male bias when used generically in sentences such as Everyone was putting on his shoes. Experiment 1 (N = 120, 48 male) was a conceptual replication of a previous eye-tracking study that had not found evidence of a male bias. The results of the current eye-tracking experiment showed the generically-intended masculine pronoun to trigger a gender inference and cause a male bias, but for male participants and in stereotypically neutral stereotype contexts only. No evidence for a male bias was thus found in stereotypically female and male context nor for female participants altogether. Experiment 2 (N = 80, 40 male) used the same stimuli as Experiment 1, but employed the sentence evaluation paradigm. No evidence of a male bias was found in Experiment 2. Taken together, the results suggest that the generically-intended masculine pronoun zijn 'his' can cause a male bias for male participants even when the referents are previously introduced by inclusive and grammatically gender-unmarked iedereen 'everyone'. This male bias surfaces with eye-tracking, which taps directly into early language processing, but not in offline sentence evaluations. Furthermore, the results suggest that the intended generic reading of the masculine possessive pronoun zijn 'his' is more readily available for women than for men.

РЕФЕРЕНЦИЯ И ЕЕ СВЯЗУЮЩИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ В БЛОГОВОМ ТЕКСТЕ

Reference as a logical-semantic category is implemented in the blog text based on a variety of lexical and grammatical means (personal, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, definite article, nominative phrases). At the same time, we consistently differentiate the functional and formal level of analysis (connectivity relations – means of expressing connectivity). The conceptual difference between the functional category and the formal implementation of this category reveals some implications that are important for our study. First, the noun or nominative phrase that acts as a segment of the propositional stimulus message is repeatedly replaced by a certain range of formal (and contextual) anaphoric means. Responding to this message, the interlocutor constructs a mental representation of the relationship of formal or contextual connectivity between the antecedent and the substitute. At the same time, the connectivity tool performs a specific referential function in the mental map of blog communication participants. If the referential interdependence between the antecedent and the substitute becomes contextual, the blogger and respondents identify the similarity of the concepts manifested by these components of the stimulus and reaction, establish not only formal equivalence, but also semantic and pragmatic similarity of the conceptual meanings of the associated language units. In the developed blog, there is a contextual relationship between the indicators of connectivity of thematically correlated constituents and the pragmatic consistency of messages of participants in computermediated communication. In the blogosphere, lexical and grammatical tools that function in an anaphoric or cataphoric function are endowed with such semantics that acquire relevant meaning for the interlocutors only taking into account the previous or subsequent messages. These messages, in turn, turn out to be the context against which these units are identified and interpreted by the blogger and respondents. The relationship of connectedness is manifested not so much in the blog text, but at the moment of perception by the interlocutors of each other’s discursive works. The category of connectedness is a value proportional to the communicative ability of the interlocutors to compare and coordinate the semantics of discursive elements, taking into account the referential schemes activated in their minds.

Licensing of nominal ellipsis in Hungarian possessives

We argue, based on novel data, that the possessor head (Poss) can license ellipsis of its complement in Hungarian. That is, contra existing claims in the literature, possessor morphology can survive nominal ellipsis and be stranded on the remnant. Adopting Saab &amp; Lipták (2016)’s of ellipsis licensing, we propose that there is variation in the size of the ellipsis site in Hungarian: nominal ellipsis can be licensed by either Num or Poss. We further propose that nominal ellipsis licensed by Poss can capture a previously unanalyzed variation in the Hungarian possessive pronoun paradigm. Specifically, the two variants of possessive pronouns correspond to two different structures: one is the anaphoric possessive (see Dékány 2015), while the other exists only as a consequence of nominal ellipsis, which, as we show, is a productive possibility.