Verbal Structure Research Articles

ВІДОБРАЖЕННЯ ПРОЦЕСУ АНАПЛАЗІЇ ПРИ ФОРМУВАННІ МАЙБУТНЬОГО ЧАСУ ГЕРМАНСЬКИХ МОВ

The purpose of this article is to separate grammatical structures that demonstrate the development of the future tense forms in the Germanic languages. The first step of research includes the identification of word forms for temporal description. Gradual identification of primitive analytical forms gives the possibility of tracing the gradual analytisation of the corresponding word combinations and their further transformation into stable analytical verb structures. Finding out latent features helps to recognize differentiated grammatical forms that are used to create and build the set of the formal Germanic future tense structures. The subject of the research is the components used to form temporal verb forms that project the action into the future. The Gothic language, which is understood as the initial, primary stage for the research, used forms of the present tense to describe the future action involving a phrase or an upper phrase context. Within the present tense forms a prefixal word-formation model was found. The Gothic optative was involved to render the future tense. The weak models of Gothic analytisation are connected with the infinitive phrase and auxiliary verb haban. Combination of auxiliary verbs with verbals (infinitive or participle I) were found in the North and West Germanic languages. These verb combinations involved a very restricted set of notional verbs used in two verbal forms. The first element of the phrase that falls under the process of future grammaticalization was preterite-present verbs, inchoative and some durative verbs. Stability of primary analytical temporal forms was created by using only two variants of verbals (infinitive or participle I). The first component of analytical temporal forms gradually lost its primary lexical meaning through its transformation into the auxiliary element. In the process of further differentiation of the Germanic languages some peculiarities were traced. The German language did not develop individual analytical forms with preterite-present (modal) verbs. Other West Germanic and Scandinavian languages used preterite-present (modal) verbs as a leading mechanism for temporal analytisation. Creation of analytical temporal forms happened within twofold formats.

Symbolic nature, cultural codes and media functionality of “The Russian warship” meme. Part one

The purpose of the research is to analyze the symbolism, cultural codes of miscellaneous modifications of one of the most widespread Ukrainian memes in 2022 — the Russian warship meme, its role in the creation and development of the latest media discourses; it also specifies the tendencies concerning the meme use in mass media publications. The subject of the study is “the Russian warship” meme and a group of its modifications spread in the media environment after January 24, 2022. It is stated that the media area of the meme’s functioning is extremely wide, it is not only spread verbally but also visually, represented by a range of media and mass media genres: from posts on social networks from the state public officers to individual media projects and media branding. A peculiarity of this meme is also the fact that it crosses the borders of a nationally-oriented media environment by the rules of news-related genres as topical and socially important information. Another peculiarity of the meme’s circulation is the fact that its verbal core is an obscene expression, the use of which is exceptionally limited according to the standards of numerous lingual cultures. Thanks to the methods of narrative analysis, generalization and interpretation the author of the article determines the meme’s role in the formation of new kinds of discourse of heroics and immortality, which are important in the conditions of hybrid war and information confrontation. As a result of our research, we explain that the meme becomes a symbol of brave and desperate resistance to unjustified military aggression, a violation of the world order established after World War II. Studying an ironic philological media discourse of the Russian warship meme exhibits its transgressive nature on one hand, i. e. the function of prohibitions overcoming during critical extremal situations and on the other hand, demonstrates the significance of the meme for national self-identification processes. The article specifies the tendencies for change in meme’s media functionality, which lies in the gradual down-toning of the obscene categorical nature of a verbal structure through its substitution with ellipsed options, metaphoric euphemisms, allusive expressions, etc. The novelty lies in the study of the functionality of the meme in various media discourses, in particular professional journalistic, heroic mythological, ironic philological, etc. Further study of the meme at different stages of its media lifecycle can be perspective. The article is presented in two parts. This issue deal with the nature and discourse of this meme.

Symbolic nature, cultural codes and media functionality of “The Russian warship” meme. (Part two)

The purpose of the research is to analyze the symbolism, cultural codes of miscellaneous modifications of one of the most widespread Ukrainian memes in 2022 — the Russian warship meme, its role in the creation and development of the latest media discourses; it also specifies the tendencies concerning the meme use in mass media publications. The subject of the study is “the Russian warship” meme and a group of its modifications spread in the media environment after January 24, 2022. It is stated that the media area of the meme’s functioning is extremely wide, it is not only spread verbally but also visually, represented by a range of media and mass media genres: from posts on social networks from the state public officers to individual media projects and media branding. A peculiarity of this meme is also the fact that it crosses the borders of a nationally-oriented media environment by the rules of news-related genres as topical and socially important information. Another peculiarity of the meme’s circulation is the fact that its verbal core is an obscene expression, the use of which is exceptionally limited according to the standards of numerous lingual cultures. Thanks to the methods of narrative analysis, generalization and interpretation the author of the article determines the meme’s role in the formation of new kinds of discourse of heroics and immortality, which are important in the conditions of hybrid war and information confrontation. As a result of our research, we explain that the meme becomes a symbol of brave and desperate resistance to unjustified military aggression, a violation of the world order established after World War II. Studying an ironic philological media discourse of the Russian warship meme exhibits its transgressive nature on one hand, i. e. the function of prohibitions overcoming during critical extremal situations and on the other hand, demonstrates the significance of the meme for national self-identification processes. The article specifies the tendencies for change in meme’s media functionality, which lies in the gradual down-toning of the obscene categorical nature of a verbal structure through its substitution with ellipsed options, metaphoric euphemisms, allusive expressions, etc. The novelty lies in the study of the functionality of the meme in various media discourses, in particular professional journalistic, heroic mythological, ironic philological, etc. Further study of the meme at different stages of its media lifecycle can be perspective. The article is presented in two parts. This issue deal with the linguacultural code of this meme.

The Argument Structure of Intransitive Verbs in Pashto

The Argument Structure of Intransitive Verbs in Pashto

Locatum and location verbs in Italian

AbstractIn this paper I claim that Italianlocationandlocatumverbs constitute two syntactically distinct classes of verbs.Locationverbs are derived from a noun corresponding to a location, and behave similarly tostandardverbs of caused motion.Locatumverbs are derived from a noun corresponding to the located entity, and behave similarly tocroisésverbs. Despite these similarities, the derivational structure oflocatumandlocationverbs has an impact on their syntactic structure. For this reasonlocatumandlocationverbs cannot be included in the classes ofcroisésandstandardverbs, respectively. They deserve a separate classification.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

A Comparative Study of Locative, Source, Goal and Instrumentive Thematic Relations in English and Sindhi

This research aims to determine the argument/thematic structure of Sindhi verbs. In English and Sindhi, it examines the Locative, Source, Goal, and Instrumentive Thematic Relations. The argument/thematic structure of Locative, Source, Goal and Instrumentive thematic relations in English and Sindhi has been compared in this study. The data are in oral Sindhi: daily life conversation. The information has been gathered via means of unstructured interviews. Thematic Structure has been applied to analyze Sindhi verb phrases in order to determine the Locative, Source, Goal, and Instrumentive thematic relations in the two languages. The theory of 'Theta Roles and Thematic Relations' (Carnie, 2006; Radford, 2009; Ouhalla, 2010) was employed to analyze the data both theoretically and analytically. It is discovered that Sindhi Locatives, Sources, Goals, and Instrumentives are all connected in some way. In terms of function and importance, they are similar to the English ones. Furthermore, the above-mentioned thematic relations in Sindhi are the same as those in English in the written form of the language; they have a set placement/position in a sentence, e.g. initial, middle, or final. However, the semantic/thematic relations in Sindhi are different from those in English in terms of the position/placement in the oral form. Sindhi Sources, Goals, and Locatives are more flexible in terms of placement than English Sources, Goals, and Locatives. Goals and locatives in Sindhi sources are more flexible in terms of location and position than in English; they can be employed at the beginning, middle, or end of sentences.

Infinite Singletons and the Logic of Freudian Theory

The aim of this paper is to advance a formal description of the implicit logic grounding of the psychoanalytic theory. We therefore propose a new interpretation of the logical features of the Freudian unconscious process, starting from the Bi-logic formulation put forward by the Chilean psychoanalyst Matte Blanco. We conceive the universal undifferentiated state of the deep psychoanalytic Unconscious in terms of particular sets named infinite singletons, and we show how they can represent the logical foundations for a formal description of the Primary process. We first disclose some implicit assumptions underlying the common logical language. In doing so, we discover an unexpected presence of symmetry even in the most basic of logical and verbal structures. In the approach derived, we show that infiniteness, not finiteness, is the primary mode of sets, and therefore, of thinking. The pivotal consequence of this model is that the unconscious elements cannot be characterised in the absence of external reality, which produces the collapse of infinite sets and allows for the emergence of linguistic representations. Finally, we discuss how the model could represent a platform to formalise further developments of psychoanalytic theory, in particular with respect to the shift from the First to the Second Topics in Freudian theory.

Analyzing the Phenomenon of English-Chinese Intransitive Verbs with Objects

Academics have paid close attention to intransitive verbs with objects as a unique language phenomenon. This article aims to examine the phenomenon of intransitive verbs carrying objects in Chinese from the standpoints of syntactic structure and cognitive linguistic theory. The object of intransitive verbs is categorized, as well as the syntactic structure of intransitive verbs with objects. Additionally, a comparison of English and Chinese intransitive verbs with objects is made, and the structure of intransitive verbs with objects is analyzed for rationality. The analysis of 38 international students' actual learning situations, as well as valid questionnaires and corpora, is used to determine whether second language learners from various language systems can comprehend and master the structure of "intransitive verbs with object" in Chinese despite significant language system differences. Finally, despite the impact of COVID-19 on the project survey, we discovered that students whose first language was not Chinese had varying levels of bias in their perception and acquisition of intransitive verbs with objects, owing to the negative effects of their mother tongue and different teaching methods. Most notably, the versatility of the syntactic structure of "intransitive verbs with objects" complicates learning Chinese syntax, which is already difficult in comparison to English. This leads us to believe that more study is required to further our understanding of the peculiar grammatical phenomenon known as "intransitive verbs with objects" and to apply our findings to the study of contemporary Chinese and language learning.

Verbal Extensions and Valency in Limbum

The objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which verbal extensions in Limbum affect valency. Limbum is a Grassfield Bantu language of the Northern group, spoken by the population who occupy a greater part of the Nkambe plateau in Donga-Mantung Division of the North West Region of Cameroon Binan Bikoi (ed) (2012). To attain my set objective, I carry out an analysis of those affixes (in the case of Limbum, they are suffixes), which are usually attached to verbs and the effect the addition of these suffixes has on the number of arguments in the sentence. Some of these suffixes have a valency decreasing effect, while some have a valency increasing effect on the verbs. The orientation of the discussions here centres on the description of the morpho-syntactic structure of the Limbum verb. In this regard, the analysis herein draws inspiration from the theory of Valency as proposed by Tesnière in 1959 and his followers and the Structuralist Framework as propounded by De Saussure and his disciples who hold that linguistic unit: words, phrases and sentences are perceived as a concatenation of smaller units which hold a close relationship between them. The structure of the Limbum sentence containing verbal extensions that express aspectual meanings have three consequences on the number of arguments that the verb takes: the discussions here show that, while the morphemes -ri, -Si, and -se marking the attenuative, the pluractional, and the distributive aspects respectively have no effect on the number of arguments taken by the verb to which they are suffixed, the causative morpheme -si, has a valency increasing effect on the verb to which it is affixed. In the same light, the reciprocative -ni, the separative -ti and the iterative -Nger, when suffixed to a verb, have the tendency of increasing the number of arguments that the verb takes. In a bid to clarify the structural cartography of verbal extensions in Limbum, the last part of this paper is dedicated to a presentation of some suffixes like -ri and -si, which has, with the evolution of the language, fossilized with the verb root to the extent that they have become an integral part of the verb in a way that they cannot be detached from each other. Conclusively, the paper shows that verbal extensions in Limbum are, for the most part, suffixal morphemes. While some of these suffixes have no effect on the number of arguments the verb subcategorizes for, some have a valency decreasing effect on the verb while others, on the other hand, have a valency increasing effect. Others have outrightly merged with the verb root.

When Language Contact Says Nothing: A Contrastive Analysis of Queísta Structures in Two Varieties of Peninsular Spanish

Abstract Based on the existence of some structural conflict between Spanish and Catalan in certain points of the syntax, this study tests the hypothesis about the influence of the latter on the distribution of queísmo uses (‘Me alegro que vengas’ [‘I’m glad you come’]) in the Spanish spoken in an eastern peninsular variety in contact with Catalan. Using the tools of comparative sociolinguistics, and the analysis of three corpora of contemporary Spanish, the study exhaustively examines the conditioning of this variable. The starting hypothesis is that the influence of the contact can be inferred from the comparison between different magnitudes derived from a multivariable statistical analysis. In addition to several linguistic and extra-linguistic predictors previously analysed in the literature, we also take into account other factor groups that may be particularly informative about that potential influence. Thus, from a structural point of view, we consider the contrast between: a) conjunctive queísmo in verbal structures, in which the structural conflict with Spanish is more evident (‘me acuerdo (de) que vino con su mujer/em recorde Ø que va vindre amb la seua dona’ [‘I remember that he came with his wife’]; and b) pronominal queísmo in relative sentences, in which the coincidence between both languages is greater (‘el día (en) que nos conocimos / el día (en) què ens vam conéixer’). From an extralinguistic perspective, the incidence of two additional factors is also examined: a) the speech community (without contact (Madrid/Alcalá) vs. in contact (Castellón), and b) the main language of the speakers (Spanish/Catalan-Valencian). The results of several mixed-effect regression analyses performed do not support the hypothesis of contact. The distributional differences between the above-mentioned groups are minimal, and in no case significant. On the other hand, the variation is basically affected by the same structural and non-structural predictors, regardless of the speech community or the ethnolinguistic group examined. Even the few divergences that are observed point in a direction contrary to that expected by the contact hypothesis. The study concludes with some potential explanations about these results and the contrast with other cases of syntactic convergence with Catalan.

Bilingual speech in Jaru–Kriol conversations: Codeswitching, codemixing, and grammatical fusion

Aims and objectives:Language contact in the Yaruman community of Western Australia has led to prevalent bilingual practices between the endangered language Jaru and the creole language Kriol. This study examines ordinary conversations in the community and investigates whether the observable bilingual practices are interactionally relevant, and whether codemixing has led to the emergence of a conventionalised mixed language.Approach:The research is based on a qualitative analysis of bilingual speech in natural conversation. The approach combines the methodological framework of interactional linguistics with an analysis of the grammatical structures of conversational data.Data and analysis:The analysed data consist of two hours and thirty minutes of transcribed video recordings, comprising 13 casual multi-party conversations involving all generations in the Yaruman community. The recordings were made using lapel microphones and two high-definition cameras.Findings:Bilingual Jaru–Kriol speakers use codeswitching as an interactional resource for a range of conversational activities. In many cases, however, speakers’ code choices are not interactionally relevant. Instead, codemixing is often oriented to as a normative way of speaking and participants exploit their full linguistic repertoire by relatively freely combining elements from both languages. There are also signs of morphological fusion in the mixed speech of younger Jaru speakers, who more frequently combine Kriol verb structure and Jaru nominal morphology. However, this morphological split is not fully conventionalised and variation is still substantial.Originality:The bilingual speech continuum is supported by the analysis of conversational data in a situation of language shift. This article shows that fusion involving core grammatical categories can occur among a subgroup of speakers without developing into a community-wide mixed language.Significance:The study contributes to a better understanding of community bilingualism and bilingual practices in a situation of language shift. It demonstrates how codeswitching, codemixing, and grammatical fusion can co-exist in a bilingual community.

The acquisition of argument structures of intransitive and transitive verbs in Japanese: The role of parental input

The present study investigated the role of morphosyntactic information in the acquisition of transitive and intransitive verb argument structures (VAS) in the Japanese language, which allows massive omissions of arguments and case markers. In particular, we investigated how the ‘variation sets’ proposed by Küntay and Slobin work in Japanese. Longitudinal interaction data from three Japanese-speaking mother–child pairs were collected at five different times between the ages of 0;10 and 3;01. Children’s acquisition of VAS and mothers’ use of verbs were examined, including morphologically related verbs in a variety of sentence frames with null and overt arguments. The results indicate that all three mothers showed an increase in overt arguments in different syntactic roles as well as lexical given arguments around the time that children started uttering words. However, the use of a variety of sentence frames with null and overt arguments was not uniform among the mothers, and such individual differences were related to the acquisition of VAS among children. These findings support the role of ‘variation sets’ in the acquisition of VAS in Japanese and suggest that the availability of morphosyntactic information in the input helps children to reconstruct VAS.

Do Verbal Meanings Have a Radial Organization?

Abstract The paper presents a cognitive-functional analysis of two Hungarian verbs, eszik ‘eat’ and táplál ‘feed’, with the aim of providing a sample for an exhaustive semantic description of verbal polysemy and of relations between verbal meanings. The hypothesis of the study was that a radial category description of the internal semantic structure of both verbs is possible. The assumption, however, was not confirmed by the analysis; not all meanings of the verb eszik ‘eat’ can be described as deriving from the prototypical eating situation. Some show cases of conceptual blending, while others have a source domain other than the prototypical eating situation. Nonetheless, many figurative meanings seem to be the result of metaphorical meaning shift trigged by common components we experience in the prototypical eating situation and other perceptions. These common components show resemblance on a schematic base.

Serial verbs in modern standard Arabic

This paper aims to discuss serial verb constructions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). It argues against the claim that this structure does not exist in MSA. We examined parallel structures in this paper: being verbs and what is called albadal ‘apposition’ in the traditional grammar of the Arabic language. This paper argues that the first structure should be analyzed as an auxiliary structure that contains two clauses, while the second structure should be analyzed as a serial verb structure as it denotes, among others, a complex situation, shares the same subject, and contains one clause. Finally, this paper provides a brief syntactic analysis for being verbs and serial verbs in MSA within the lexical functional grammar (LFG) framework, showing the differences between the two structures.

Decomposition of activity verbal event and implication on their combinatory syntax

This paper aims to give account of the grammatical behavior of past participle and gerund when these non-finite verb forms appear with activity verbs in the main predicate. To this end, I adopt the constructivist perspective assuming that morphosyntax and semantics correlate with each other in such a way that the first module determines the systematicity of lexical meaning. Concretely, the notion of event, conventionally associated to the properties of lexical items such as verbs, is split into different functional categories of subeventive nature. I argue on the basis of this assumption that past participle joins the constructions with activity verbs as complement, while gerund is adjunct, which hinges on the event structure of the aforementioned verbs.

Root infinitives in Jamaican Creole

This paper addresses the question of the existence and manifestation of Root Infinitives (RIs) in the acquisition of a creole language, Jamaican Creole (JC). It examines JC children’s omission of progressive and prospective aspectual markers in the clausal map in order to determine if early JC includes a root infinitive (RI) stage. Non-target-consistent bare verb structures in child JC are shown to have distributional properties which have been claimed to be hallmarks of RIs: in particular, they occur in declaratives (and in yes-no questions), but not in wh-questions, and they typically co-occur with null subjects, whereas overt subjects are required in clauses with fully specified aspectual markers. We argue that these properties are expected under a truncation approach (Rizzi 1993/4; De Lisser et al. 2016), rather than other approaches to RI. Additionally, truncation is compared to the “growing trees” approach introduced in Friedmann, Belletti and Rizzi (this volume), according to which learners’ productions start with minimal structures in a bottom up fashion, and then higher zones get added on top of the structure as development proceeds, following the hierarchical organization uncovered by cartographic work. We conclude that these approaches are compatible, and possibly reflect different stages in language development.

Nonunitary structure of unergative verbs in Georgian

Nonunitary structure of unergative verbs in Georgian

Experimental study of the influence of family structure on the development of creativity of children of preschool age


 
 
 The article presents theoretical substantiation and empirical research of the problem of the influence of the family structure on the development of creativity of children of preschool age. The relationship between creativity and family type, number of children in the family, birth order, and intervals between births is analyzed. Peculiarities of influence of family structure (by the number of children) for the development of creativity of children of preschool age are researched. The absence of significant differences in partial (productivity, flexibility, originality) and a general indicator of verbal creativity of children with one child, small and large families has been experimentally established. Research of figurative creativity allowed to identify significant differences in partial indicators of productivity and originality, and the general indicator of figurative creativity: the highest arithmetic mean values are determined in the group of children from small families, and the lowest - in the group of children from large families. In children brought up in single children families, the highest arithmetic mean value is revealed by the partial indicator of the name, and the lowest - in children from large families. In children of preschool age from single, small, and large families no significant differences by partial indicators of the development and resistance to the closure were found. The heterogeneity of verbal and figurative creativity structure is determined in children of preschool age in all types of families. Significant differences were found in the general indicators of creativity: the highest arithmetic mean value was determined in the group of children from small families, and the lowest - in children from large families. Conclusions are made that children from small families are the most creative, and children from large families - the least.
 
 

Quantitative Distribution of Verbal Structures with Reference to the Authorship Factor in Legal Stylistics

Abstract The paper aims at describing the findings and conclusions formulated in the analysis of the authorship factor in legal discourse. It is hypothesised that verbal structures show systemically varied distribution across legal discourse and the relevant distinctions run through the authorship categories. When it comes to the aim of the research it draws on the tradition of sociolinguistic methodology targeting issues related to language variation which follows the basic assumptions of functional grammar. From the point of view of the material covered by the analysis it contributes to the research on legal discourse and specifically on its specialised domain referred to as corporate, company or business discourse. It provides additional empirical data pointing to the non-homogeneity of the legal style and formal distinctions originating from rich contextual background. The study is conducted on the material of a custom-designed corpus of English legal texts, classified as secondary genres. Methodologically, the study makes use of the tenets of supervised search of digitalised corpora and automatic data extraction based on discrete units, subsequent identification of recurring longer contiguous and/or non-contiguous sequences, if any, built around the axis of specific verbal structures and finally qualitative comparative analysis (characterisation) of the material. The discussion presents sample data and focuses on the most salient categories, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The inductive approach confirms the formal divergencies in the communicative situation covered by the analysis. The findings encapsulate patterns and tendencies in the quantitative distribution of verbal structures depending on the authorship category. It may be concluded that authorship is a factor delineating distinctions as regards (i) the repertoire of grammatical instruments exploited (verbal structures), which contributes to the specific stylistic profile of given authors. This shows that the thesis posed is verified positively and the study shows further, more detailed distinctions running through groups of subcategories distinguished within the authorship categories specified upon the start of the research.