Predicative Constructions Research Articles

Semantic Characteristics of Complex Predicate 'hada'

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the semantic characteristics of complex predicate hada . That s because the semantic characteristics have not been discussed a lot. Also the reason why the subject of study is confined to complex predicate hada is to be accepted as complex predicate in most studies for complex predicate to be discussed. Complex predicate constructions have the internal separation and independent argument structure. Though the preceding constituent of complex predicate has predicative, that s not absolutely the case. However the preceding constituent must have not argument hada but other argument. If not so, a new argument must be realized. In case that asyntactic root, adverb or bound noun is used as the preceding constituent, complex predicate can not be realized. Light verb is its lexical meaning is not meaningless but very abstract, so light verb performs a role that sense subject of preceding constituent can be realized as the subject of complex predicate construction. However it is verb which can t confine the semantic role the subject of complex predicate construction has . Therefore hada was set differently compared to existing light verbs in this thesis. Hada is heavily dependent since its meaning is very abstract in the process of forming complex predicate. Thus it can not have the independent argument structure. However it can have the dependent argument structure as it is combined with the meaning of preceding constituent and forms complex predicate. Syntactic intimacy and semantic relationship among associating constituent can t be the core characteristic to distinguish complex predicate.

Diachronic and Synchronic Analysis - the Case of the Indirect Object in Spanish

This review article deals with a monograph on the indirect object in Spanish. The book offers a many-faceted analysis of the indirect object, as it, on the one hand, gives a detailed diachronic analysis of what is known as clitic-doubled constructions and, on the other, a synchronic analysis of both predicative constructions with an indirect object and the relationship between the notion of perspective and the indirect object. The general impression is that the author has produced an impressive analytical work, which, however, is not easily accessible.

Sentence Pattern and the Usage of the adjective predicative construction for "Kankaku"

This article is written for investigating and analyzing the relationship between sentence construction and meaning of words in adjective predicative sentence that express "Kankaku", a kind of "sense" or "feeling". As a result, major usages and pattern of the sentences including "Kankaku" expression were as follows. ① There are 7 kind of meaning range that describe "Kankaku" ; "Sikaku, Thyoukaku, Kyuukaku, Mikaku, Zaisitsukankaku, Kisyoukankaku, Isikikankaku". ② The patterns of 「N1ha · ga＋A」 and 「N2ha(ga)＋N1ga＋A」 are the basic sentence pattern that express "Kanaku". This pattern is used in all range of "Sikaku, Thyoukaku, Kyuukaku, Mikaku, Zaisitsukankaku, Kisyoukankaku, Isikikankaku". ③「N2ha · ga＋N1ni＋A」 sentence pattern is used in the meaning range of "Sikaku, Mikaku, Zaisitsukankaku, Isikikankaku". Preposition 「ni」 means the window of the judgement. ④ 「N2ha · ga＋N1de＋A」 sentence pattern is used in the meaning range of "Sikaku, Kyuukaku, Isikikankaku". Preposition 「de」 means the cause of the judgement. ⑤ 「N2ni＋N1ha · ga＋A」 sentence pattern is used in the meaning range of "Sikaku, Kyuukaku, Mikaku, Kisyoukankaku, Isikikankaku". Preposition 「ni」 means the main subject that feel the judgement of "Kankaku". ⑥ There are many points of contact that coincide each other in the meaning range of "Sikaku, Mikaku, Zaisitsukankaku, Kisyoukankaku, Isikikankaku".

A Complex Predicate Constructions and Passiveness

A Complex Predicate Constructions and Passiveness

The development of the as-Secondary Predicate Construction: constructionalization and internalization

The English Secondary Predicate Construction (SPC) establishes a predicative relation between a Noun Phrase and a Secondary Predicate XP (I consider himNPintelligentXP). This relation can be left unmarked in the zero-SPC (I find it Ø complicated), or it can be signalled by as in the as-SPC (I regard him as my friend). While the developments of the zero-SPC have been well documented, much remains to be said about the evolution of the as-SPC and its diachronic relation with the zero-SPC. This paper aims to examine this issue by means of a corpus-based study of the development of the as-SPC from Middle English to Late Modern English, and it compares this development with the evolution of the zero-SPC. It is argued that the as-SPC was established as a result of grammatical constructionalization of the preposition as to a predicative marker, thus paving the way for an internalization process in the as-SPC. This internalization process is similar to the one described for the zero-SPC, which may suggest influence from one development on the other. In particular, it is argued that the zero-SPC functioned as the model construction, whose distribution was to a large extent copied by the as-SPC. These findings shed new light on diachronic relations in the case of functionally similar constructions.

A study of dialogic expansion and contraction in spoken discourse using corpus and experimental techniques

This study examines the dialogic functions of expansion and contraction of first-person epistemic and evidential Complement-Taking Predicate (CTP) constructions, such as I think complement, I suppose complement and I know complement, in spoken discourse. It combines corpus and experimental methods (i) to investigate whether CTP constructions are used to open up the dialogic space for new ideas or counterarguments, or to fend off alternative views, and (ii) to identify what contextual factors play a role in determining the dialogic force of the constructions. First, an exploratory analysis of CTP constructions in the London–Lund Corpus (LLC) of spoken British English is carried out with the aim to identify important contextual factors and generate hypotheses about their dialogic effects. Then, a laboratory experiment is conducted to test the impact of the three most prominent factors for speakers' interpretations of utterances containing CTPs. The results indicate that CTP constructions do not only serve to expand the dialogic context in which they occur, but also to restrict alternative views. Interlocutor status, the co-occurrence of other stance markers and prosodic marking of first-person CTP are shown to have a significant effect on the dialogic function of the expressions. These findings call into question some claims in appraisal theory about the role of CTP constructions in discourse, and highlight the need for a flexible approach to the analysis of these poly-functional stance expressions.

Disclaiming understanding? Hebrew ˈani lo mevin/a (‘I don’t understand’) in everyday conversation

This study focuses on the Hebrew negative subject+predicate construction ˈani lo mevin/a (lit. ‘I not understand.sg.m/f’, ‘I don’t understand’) in a corpus of over 11hours of casual conversation. Taking an interactional linguistics approach, we show that employment of this construction is highly fixed and formulaic and does not necessarily refer to the process of understanding or to epistemicity. Furthermore, we show that there is correlation between the formal features of the construction in terms of its prosody, morphophonology, and syntax, on the one hand, and the particular activities in which participants engage in interaction while employing it, on the other. Based on a synchronic analysis, we suggest a grammaticization path followed by this construction from an epistemic verb phrase conveying literal lack of understanding, to a fixed chunk expressing puzzled stance, often disaffiliative, and finally to a crystallized modal construction conveying criticism. We found correlation between the structural properties of the construction and the weakening of its epistemic strength: the further away the construction has drifted from the literal meaning, the more reduced its morphophonological features and the more autonomous its syntactic and prosodic nature, thus revealing the interlaced nature of interaction and grammar.

Modeling Abrupt Changes in Population Dynamics with Two Threshold States*

The paper solves the problem of modeling an outbreak of the species, which begins with the achievement of a specific nontrivial state of a dynamic system. Population process is divided into a sequence of substantially different stages. The model simulates the effect of spontaneous transition from weak fluctuations through accelerated reproductive activity to exceeded ecological capacity of the environment followed by the phase of rapid spontaneous decay. To describe the transition between final stages of the outbreak, the method of controlled functional realization of metamorphoses of trajectory behavior are used. Differential equations are combined with predicative constructions in software environment. The original computational unit is based on discrete-continuous time and allows us to apply the scenario approach to the consideration of environmental situations. The significance of the results is justified by the analysis of the data about outbreaks of small insect pests that eat on a limited number of suitable plants and, under certain conditions, can get out of control of parasitic wasps.

‘It's mine!’. Re-thinking the conceptual semantics of “possession” through NSM

This study has two main parts. It begins with a conceptual and semantic analysis in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework (Wierzbicka, 1996; Peeters, 2006) Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2002, 2014a) of what linguists term “true possession” or “ownership”. The requirements of the NSM framework force the analysis to be conducted using very simple expressions that are available not only in English, but (ideally) in all languages. The main proposal is that true possession is anchored in a semantic prime with an egocentric perspective that occurs in a predicative construction, i.e. (is) mine. It is argued that expressions like ‘This is mine’ are semantically irreducible and (very likely) universally expressible across the diversity of the world's languages. In the second part of the study, three semantically and grammatically complex “possession verbs” are examined: steal, give, and own. Intricate (but coherent) explications for the English versions of these words are proposed, using (is) mine and a range of other semantic components. Though no claim is made that all languages possess precisely these meanings, this study hopes to help pave the way for a lexical semantic typology of “ownership-related” concepts in the languages of the world.

A study note on the state-denoting 個 ge “GE” construction

This short paper investigates a colloquial construction in Mandarin Chinese in which a secondary predicate may be preceded by the enclitic ta (它 ta “it”) and the classifier 個 ge “GE.” The paper argues that ge heads a dependent clause, where the enclitic is the subject of the secondary predicate. Therefore, first, the classifier is not used as a counting unit in this numeral classifier language; and second, in addition to PRO, another form of the subject for a dependent clause is attested in secondary predicate construction in this language.

A study on the sub-types and distribution of Korean possessive predicative constructions

This study aims to examine the distribution of possessive predicative constructions such as ‘있-, 가지-, 지니-, 소유하-’ in terms of sub_types of possessive concepts, in order to unveil characteristics of Korean possessive predicative constructions. In chapter 2, some criteria are given for selecting possessive predicates. In chapter 3, two steps of data analysis are divided in order to maintain objectivity of this study. In chapter 4, we gain the following conclusive results. Firstly, possessive predicative constructions are realized by various possessive predicatives. Therefore, the approach to deal only with ‘있-’ as Korean possessive predicative can not be justified. Secondly, possessive predicative ‘있-’ has the right to represent Korean possessive predicative construction due to the various appearance of the sub_type distribution. Finally, other predicatives other than ‘있-’ have showed in restricted subtypes. Especially, ‘소유하-’ mostly shows in subtype 1 and 9. As we mention in this article, subtype 1 is the prototypical subtype of possessive predicative construction.

The Usage of ｢N2ha(ga)＋N1ga＋A｣ Sentence Pattern of Adjective Predicative Construction

The Usage of ｢N2ha(ga)＋N1ga＋A｣ Sentence Pattern of Adjective Predicative Construction

The Types of ‘NP－Josa Deulda’ Complex Predicate Constructions

The Types of ‘NP－Josa Deulda’ Complex Predicate Constructions

Robustness and efficiency of geometric programs: The Predicate Construction Kit (PCK)

In this article, I focus on the robustness of geometric programs (e.g., Delaunay triangulation, intersection between surfacic or volumetric meshes, Voronoi-based meshing …) w.r.t. numerical degeneracies. Some of these geometric programs require “exotic” predicates, not available in standard libraries (e.g., J.-R. Shewchuk’s implementation and CGAL). I propose a complete methodology and a sample Open Source implementation of a toolset (PCK: Predicate Construction Kit) that makes it reasonably easy to design geometric programs free of numerical errors. The C++ code of the predicates is automatically generated from its formula, written in a simple specification language. Robustness is obtained through a combination of arithmetic filters, expansion arithmetics and symbolic perturbation.As an example of my approach, I give the formulas and PCK source-code for the 4 predicates used to compute the intersection between a 3d Voronoi diagram and a tetrahedral mesh, as well as symbolic perturbations that provably escapes the corner cases. This allows to robustly compute the intersection between a Voronoi diagram and a triangle mesh, or the intersection between a Voronoi diagram and a tetrahedral mesh. Such an algorithm may have several applications, including surface and volume meshing based on Lloyd relaxation.

Semantic variation and the grammar of property concepts

This article discusses the effects of variation in the meaning of property concept (PC) lexemes (Dixon 1982) on the form of predicative and comparative constructions. We demonstrate the existence of two kinds of PC lexeme, which differ systematically in how they participate in constructions expressing the truth conditions of PC predication. The first kind of lexeme is used in canonical predicative constructions, the other in predicative constructions that invoke possessive morphology or syntax. The differences between the two classes are observable both within a single language and crosslinguistically. The article argues that the morphosyntactic differences in the behavior of the two lexeme types are predictable from their lexical semantics. Specifically, we argue that some PC lexemes denote mass substances (in a technical sense) and therefore require possessive semantics to achieve the relevant truth conditions. A semantic theory for substance-denoting lexemes is developed, and a compositional analysis of the relevant constructions is presented for Ulwa, an endangered Misumalpan language of Nicaragua. We argue that assuming semantic variation is necessary, since the observed generalizations cannot be captured by extending existing semantic analyses of gradable adjectives to all PC lexemes.

A Comprehensive Syntactic Analysis of Korean [... V ... V] Expressions I: Auxiliary Predicate Constructions and Case Alternation

A Comprehensive Syntactic Analysis of Korean [... V ... V] Expressions I: Auxiliary Predicate Constructions and Case Alternation

A constructional account of the ‘optional’ quotative marking on Japanese mimetics

This paper proposes a constructional account of the longstanding issue of the optional quotativeto-marking on manner-adverbial mimetics (or ideophones) in Japanese. We argue that this optionality comes from the availability of two morphological constructions – the bare-mimetic predicate construction and the quotative-adverbial construction – to a set of mimetics. On the one hand, the bare-mimetic predicate construction incorporates previously identified phonological, syntactic, and semantic conditions of the bare realization of mimetics. This construction is instantiated by bare mimetics (e.g.pyókopyoko‘jumping around quickly’) in combination with their typical host predicates (e.g.hane-‘jump’), and they behave as loose complex predicates with more or less abstract meanings. As with ‘say’- and ‘do’-verbs, these complex predicates involve quasi-incorporation, which is a constructional strategy for the morphosyntactic integration of mimetics into sentence structures. On the other hand, the quotative-adverbial construction introduces mimetics to sentences with a minimal loss of their imitative semiotics. This fundamental function is consistent with the wide distribution of quotative-marked mimetics.

Complex Predicate Constructions in Uzbek Language

Complex predicates are defined as constructions consisting of preverb/converb/coverb + ‘light verb’ (Bowern 2006). Each component of the complex construction contributes to the internal argument structure. The typology of complex predicates exhibits cross-linguistic similarities and differences. This study investigates the complex predicate constructions in Uzbek, which possesses a rich variety of light verb constructions. Novel data from Uzbek is provided, and it is analyzed on the basis of proposed criteria in the government and binding theory (GB) literature for complex predicates. The analysis reveals that these constructions express simultaneity, cause and effect, and consecutivity. Both verbs in complex constructions share the same subject, and they describe a single event. However, the object may or may not be shared by both verbs. What is significant about Uzbek light verbs is that they both host inflection, and contribute to the event structure. That is, tense and agreement markers, as well as aspectual markers are carried by the light verb. The constituency is strict in complex predicates, and there cannot be an intervention between the converb and the light verb by such elements as interrogatives, negation, or temporal adverbs. Key words: Complex predicates, light verbs, Uzbek language, construction, derivation

THE INFLUENCE OF “METAI” BY KRISTIJONAS DONELAITIS ON SIMONAS DAUKANTAS’ TEXTS

The article analyses Simonas Daukantas’ autograph “Donelejtisa poratuj kolejno“ which consists of 200 words from Kristijonas Donetaitis’ poem “Metai” (The Seasons) and has never been studied by linguists. The author of the article brings forward and tries to prove the hypothesis that Metai is the main Lithuanian prototext of Daukantas. The purpose of the article is to discuss the influence of Donelaitis’s Metai on the language of Daukantas early historical texts. It introduces the manuscript of Daukantas “Donelejtisa poratuj kolejno“, never studied before, inquires its history and determines the nature of influence exerted by Donelaitis’ Metai on the language of Daukantas’ historical texts. Since the heritage of Daukantas’s publications is relatively large, the article commences with the earliest of his works: Darbay senuju Lituwiu yr Zemaycziu (about 1822–1825), Istoryje Ƶemaytyszka (prieš 1834), BUDĄ Senowęs–Letuwiu Kalnienu ir Ƶamajtiu (1845). In their analysis, the text lignuistics and some principles of intertextual theory are applied.In the article, the following questions are discussed: why could Daukantas be considered as an exemplary reader of Donelaitis’s Metai, what writings formed his attitude towards the history, religion and culture of Prussia. Daukantas knew the writings of the 17–19th century Prussia’s historians and the theoreticians of early German Romantism. It is supposed that the study of Prussia’s history and 18th century German authors’ ideas concerning the value of the native language and significance of the national spirit greatly influenced Daukantas’s worldview. He believed that the Lithuanian language had an equal right to exist along with the languages of big nations. His attitude towards the Lithuanian language coincides with that of Donelaitis. Both authors based their creativity on the examples of the Lithuanian language and were in opposition to the policy of Russification and Germanisation correspondingly. Daukantas and Donelatis were similar to each other in many aspects.In the beginning, the article analyses and comes to conclusion that it was written before 1838; then it investigates the influence of Metai on Daukantas’ historical texts. In the Darbai (Works) and Istorija Žemaitiška (Samogitian History), both written before 1838, there are many words found in the autograph. This fact allows us to conclude that the above mentioned collection of words was intended not so much for the composition of some text but rather for a new dictionary. Moreover, the study shows that Daukantas not only borrowed amply from Donelaitis’ lexicon but also developed it making neologisms. He frequently used secondary predication constructions characteristic of Donelaitis. The rhythmical structureof his sentences and word intonation was influenced by Donelaitis’ hexameter. Metai determinedthe nature of artistic and rhetoric means used by Daukantas in his historic works.

PREDICATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS WITH GERUNDS IN EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE DIALECTS

This study analyzes dialectal data collected from CORDIAL - SIN, an annotated corpus of Portuguese dialects, and addresses predicative constructions with gerunds: a non - standard construction found in some European Portuguese dialects, which is equivalent to the standard Portuguese structure where a preposition followed by an infinitive is used. I show that this non - standard construction is geographically confined to the south of Portugal and some insular dialects. This type of geographic distribution has been identified in previous works on dialect syntax, and my data now brings additional evidence to support the hypothesis that it seems to correspond to a basic division of Portuguese dialects. This geographic distribution highlights that predicative gerunds a re, along with progressive gerunds with estar ‘to be’, a clear example of syntactic alternation in European Portuguese between gerunds and prepositional infinitives.