Verb Usage Research Articles

A Comparative Study of Usage of Auxiliary Verb “Neng(能)”and “keyi(可以)”

A Comparative Study of Usage of Auxiliary Verb “Neng(能)”and “keyi(可以)”

Developing structural specification: Productivity in early Hebrew verb usage

The study investigates acquisition of verb inflections by four monolingual Hebrew-acquiring children from middle-class backgrounds, audio-recorded in longitudinal, weekly samples at a mean age-range of between 18 and 26 months. Productive use of inflectional morphology is shown to manifest increasing structural specification, as a function of children’s developing knowledge of morphology–syntax interfaces illustrated by Subject–Verb agreement. The verbs used by all four children evolve from non-specified stem-like forms via sporadic structural alternations to initial productivity in the use of largely under-specified inflected forms. This process of increasing structural specification is interpreted as reflecting paradigmatic/syntagmatic interfacings in developing grammatical productivity, such that eventually a full range of inflectional contrasts is manifested in all and only appropriate syntactic environments.

Verb Usage by Children Who Are Deaf: Development of the Ability to Use Verbs Differentially According to Context

Verb Usage by Children Who Are Deaf: Development of the Ability to Use Verbs Differentially According to Context

Linguistic Relativity Revisited: The Interaction between L1 and L2 in Thinking, Learning, and Production

The linguistic relativity hypothesis (LRH; a.k.a., Whorfian hypothesis) is reconsidered with respect to second language (L2) acquisition. With ebbs and flows over time, the notion of LRH went through dis- missal and resurgence in linguistics, psychology, and anthropology. Empirical evidence gleaned from the pseudo-linguistic domains, such as color categorization, time perception, spatial cognition, and number recognition, supports the weak form of LRH. This article briefly reviews the conflicting views, discusses empirical evidence, and expands the premise of LRH to L2 learning. Of interest is the interface of syntax and semantics in English language learners’ (ELLs) ergative verb usage in which ELLs tend to overpassivize English ergative verbs (e.g., appear, happen, break). The source of prevalent overpassivization errors is discussed using the LRH framework.

Non-Finiteness in Early Hebrew Verbs

The study investigates the gradual development of morphological specification, as reflected in use of early non-finite verb forms in the speech of three Hebrew-acquiring children (mean age range 1;4–2;2). Children acquiring different languages have been shown to make use of non-finite forms in their initial verb usage. Use of uninflected verbs in matrix clauses has been attributed to the Root or Optional Infinitives phenomenon in generative frameworks, or to the generally stepwise path of acquisition in developmental approaches. Analyses of the longitudinal data presented here suggest that Hebrew-acquiring children do not use infinitival forms before they begin to master inflections productively. Instead, they rely, for several months, on non-affixed “bare stems” as their initial verb forms. Prefix-marked “full” infinitives occur later, typically in well-formed syntactic contexts, alongside productive use of affixed Present-tense (benoni) participial forms. Hebrew-acquiring children thus appear to make selective use of different types of nonfinite forms (initial bare stems followed by Infinitives and benoni), each representing different levels of inflectional knowledge. It is therefore argued here that non-finiteness in early child language is in itself a developmental concept consisting of several sub-phases each of which demonstrates a particular level of linguistic knowledge, motivated by typological features of the ambient language.

일본 만화 <피안도(彼岸島(Higajima))>와 아시아적 생산 양식 아시아적 생산양식의 정치구조와 투쟁

The Vampire has relatively universal images in through the cultural and verbal usages. The comic Higajima and movie display the latest image of Japanese Vampire of asian mode of production. After the Meiji political reformation of 18th Century, Japanese had rapidly changed into European style in every places. However, the Higajima is denied the structural changes, it is insisted that the changing is only the skin deep and colour of hair but the structure of the society is same as feudal Japan. Asian mode of production is claimed by Karl Marx, according to him, it is before the historical developing model in Europe and it was controversial. The major character of modern Japanese history would be the change of hierarchy of king-shogun-samurai-peasant based on the regional ground. The feudal structure is changed by the Meiji reformation and Japan was rushed for the westernized country rather than the asian mode of production. However, Higajima argued that the changing is just the clothes of ruler but the democracy and individual citizenship was lost in that reformation. Vampire is cursed creature that cannot see the sun and it has not the functioned as a human organ. For human it is dead but this creature actively moves and stronger than human and much superior than human in every aspects. It is managed the feeding through the suck the human blood and power to seduction. Even it is not exist, it is quite symbolic phenomenon of cultural usage of superior entity of chain of feeding. The aim of this paper is display the symbolic code Vampire of Asian mode of production in Higajima and political struggling of Japan in actual. To search of the cultural meaning and possibility of the Korean solution of modernity.

Veiksmažodžio refleksyviojo posesyvumo raiška lietuvių senuosiuose raštuose

THE EXPRESSION OF VERBAL REFLEXIVE POSSESSIVENESS IN THE OLD LITHUANIAN WRITINGSSummaryThe usage of reflexive verbs to denote an action performed by the subject for his/her own sake is more appropriate, although the same meaning may be expressed by non-reflexive verbs as well. For this reason the verbal constructions under discussion are divided into two groups.The number of the constructions with reflexive verbs in the old Lithuanian writings is comparatively limited. They can be divided into the constructions with reflexive verbs with a direct meaning and into the constructions with reflexive verbs with a non-direct meaning. In the first case the action is completely within the sphere of the subject whereas in the second case the reflexive affix shows extra relations between the action and the subject.The possessive reflexive constructions with non-reflexive verbs are far more numerous and varied in the old writings. The constructions of this group are attributed to that type of verbal constructions the main meaning of which is possessiveness. Reflexiveness in this case is secondary matter. The elimination of the explicit reflexive attribute does not change the meaning of the statement, i.e. reflexiveness of the sentence may be perceived implicitly. Such constructions may be divided into several minor sub-groups.Constructions with the dative case of the reflexive pronoun sau added to the verb to stress the interest of the subject basically function in the same way as the reflexive particle. The constructions under discussion are mainly used in the sphere of the third person, the dative case sau most often is used with the verbs (imti, daryti, rinkti) denoting recipience rather than possession. The constructions with the adessive case of the reflexive pronoun are also within the third person sphere. The adessive of the reflexive pronoun is mainly used with the verb turėti. The adessive generally corresponds to the modern Lithuanian inessive in constructions of this type. Commonly the verbs (or their derivatives) imti, nešti, vesti, turėti are used in constructions with the instrumental case of the reflexive pronoun savim(i). Constructions of this type are synonymous with the combinations with reflexive verbs.In special cases reflexive possessiveness may be expressed by non-reflexive verbs where only the context reveals that the action has been performed for the sake of the subject. Such sentences are clearly ambiguous and a wider context is necessary to understand their real meaning. Reflexive verbs are more appropriate for the constructions under discussion. Therefore, they are more widely used in modern Lithuanian. In general the usage of the verb to denote reflexive possessiveness is narrower than the usage of the pronoun in the old writings, whereas in the modem Lithuanian it is the reflexive verbs which prevail to express reflexive possessiveness. The function of reflexive verbs to denote actions performed for the sake of the subject is comparatively new. The analysis of the constructions in the old writings and their comparison with the equivalents in modern Lithuanian lead to the conclusion that the expression of reflexive possessiveness in the Lithuanian language is in the process of evolving from analytical to synthetic constructions.

A Comparative Study Of The Use Of Infinitive In English And Albanian Language. Teaching English Grammar To Albanian Learners Based On A Comparison.

Today, interest in developing courses that provide interdisciplinary perspectives is increasing. In this way, we could obviously illustrate and give exact comparisons for our learners of English as a second language, in order to avoid their misconception and later incorrect usage of exact grammatical patterns. Thus a detailed study particularly upon the key patterns of each language, especially the correct usage of verbs, is necessary not even for the learner, but also for the teacher and especially for a linguist. The aim of this study is the correct usage and explanation of non-finite verbs for the learner of English as a second language. Teachers of all levels of English language have usually been confronted with this problem, while explaining grammar and trying to adjust the similarities and differences of English non-finites with the Albanian forms. This article focuses as well on the morphological and syntactical aspect and the structure of non-finite verbs within sentences in English and Albanian language, the problem of whether verbs are followed by the gerund or infinitive, especially in English but in a comparison to Albanian language and their equivalence.

Everyday talk informs toddlers’ novel verb generalizations

This study explores the effects of discourse context on a child’s ability to generalize transitively trained novel verbs in an experimental setting and the ability to diversely use intransitive constructions in everyday talk. Two- and three-year-olds participated in novel verb training and play sessions. An effect of discourse context was found; novel verbs were used most often in training, rather than elicitation. Thirty percent of the children generalized a transitively trained novel verb to an intransitive construction. The generalizing children differed from non-generalizers in the proportion with which they used familiar intransitive verbs diversely during play. Thus, the process through which children come to generalize verbs may be influenced by their everyday verb usage on a construction by construction basis.

Non-sexist Spanish policies: an attempt bound to fail?

My aim in this paper is to analyse Spanish non-sexist language reform from a language-planning perspective. Supportive of the intent of the official policy, I will first criticize it for its failure to analyze the conditions in which it is to be implemented and for the lack of provision for its implementation. I will also show the tensions between two different types of policies carried out within the State – in favour of non-sexist language but, simultaneously, in favour of complying with la Academia Española [‘the Spanish Academy’], which opposes it. I then will discuss likely reasons why, in spite of the aforementioned failures, non-sexist language policy and planning in Spain have achieved relative success, as manifested in verbal usage and in attitudes.

Verb Tense Generation

Correct usage of verb tenses is important because they encode the temporal order of events in a text. However, tense systems vary from one language to another, and are difficult to master for machines and non-native speakers alike. We present a method to predict verb tenses based on syntactic and lexical features, as well as temporal expressions in the context. A statistical model trained on Conditional Random Fields significantly outperforms the baseline. This model may be used in post-editing verbs in machine translation output and texts written by non-native speakers.

Suggestion for learning of Compound Verbs -A Survey of Japanese Speaker’s of Actual Usage of Compound Verbs-

Suggestion for learning of Compound Verbs -A Survey of Japanese Speaker’s of Actual Usage of Compound Verbs-

Honorifics: A sociocultural verb agreement cue in Japanese sentence processing

ABSTRACTCase marking is the major cue to sentence interpretation in Japanese, whereas animacy and word order are much weaker. However, when subjects and their cases markers are omitted, Japanese honorific and humble verbs can provide information that compensates for the missing case role markers. This study examined the usage of honorific and humble verbs as cues to case role assignment by Japanese native speakers and second-language learners of Japanese. The results for native speakers replicated earlier findings regarding the predominant strength of case marking. However, when case marking was missing, native speakers relied more on honorific marking than word order. In these sentences, the processing that relied on the honorific cue was delayed by about 100 ms in comparison to processing that relied on the case-marking cue. Learners made extensive use of the honorific agreement cue, but their use of the cue was much less accurate than that of native speakers. In particular, they failed to systematically invoke the agreement cue when case marking was missing. Overall, the findings support the predictions of the model and extend its coverage to a new type of culturally determined cue.

Análise da diversidade de verbos enunciados na fala espontânea de pré-escolares brasileiros

verb acquisition. to verify quantitative and qualitative verb diversity in the spontaneous speech of Brazilian Portuguese-speaking preschoolers and verb acquisition from 2 to 4 years of age. participants were sixty preschoolers equally matched on gender and age, divided into three groups: GI (2-year-old children), GII (3-year-old children) and GIII (4-year-old children). Spontaneous speech samples obtained through playing interactions, in educational contexts, were collected, and verb productions were listed. children used 167 different verbs. The quantitative analysis indicated significant statistical differences between all groups (p< .001), with gradual increase of verb usage from 2 to 4 years of age. However, no statistical difference (p= .956) was observed between genders. preschoolers improved their use of verbs during the initial stages of language acquisition, irrespective of their gender.

The Evolution of Directive Expressions : Usage of Honorifics and Benefactive Verbs

The Evolution of Directive Expressions : Usage of Honorifics and Benefactive Verbs

Modal Verb Usage at the Interface of English and a Related Creole: A Corpus-based Study of Can/Could and Will/Would in Trinidadian English

In Trinidad, English coexists with an English-based Creole in a Creole continuum. Creole could is equivalent to international Standard English can, and would to will. Previous authors have observed that the Creole exerts a strong influence on the use of these modals in Trinidadian English. This article presents a detailed analysis, based on data from the International Corpus of English, of the use of can/could and will/would in this variety. Comparisons are drawn with other varieties, especially British English. Quantitative distributions as well as uses and meanings of the modals are analyzed. It is shown that distinctions between the members of each pair of modals are not lost generally but are liable to be blurred in particular categories of uses where they are relatively weak anyway, consisting only in the degree of tentativeness or politeness implied, for example. Furthermore, the data indicate that the use of will in present habitual contexts is more prominent in Trinidadian than in British English, probably as a result of influence from the Creole marker of present habitual aspect; would is commonly used in present habitual contexts as well.

On Grammatical Differences between Daily British and American English

The grammatical differences between daily British English and American English are mainly in terms of the usage of prepositions, auxiliary verbs, articles, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, and tense and subjunctive mood. These differences exert influence on English learning and interpersonal communication. This paper tries to illustrate the differences of grammar between British and American daily English based on the authors’ teaching experience and learning experience in the UK. By comparison, English learners would understand more about the differences and be more effective while communicating with the people from the US and the UK.

A Contrastive Lexical Description of Basic Verbs

This paper aims at a lexical description of frequent uses of frequent lexical verbs in Swedish on the background of Czech, with some implications for the lexical description of such verb uses verbs in general. It results in a draft of a production lexicon of Swedish frequent verbs for advanced Czech learners of Swedish, with focus on their uses as light verbs. The introductory sections (1 and 2) discuss semantic shifts in highly frequent lexical verbs, whose most literal or ‘primary’ uses express motion, location, or physical control; e.g. stand, put, go, hold. These verbs are called basic verbs, which is a term coined by Viberg (Viberg, 1990) that suggests that they typically denote events belonging to basic level categories described by Lakoff (Lakoff, 1987). The ‘literalness’ of verb uses is judged according to how much they are the ones speakers pick first to illustrate the meaning of that given verb (cognitive salience, a term coined by Hanks in (Hanks, forthcoming). Hanks pointed out an interesting discrepancy between the cognitive salience and the actual frequency of a given verb usage in large corpora. This discrepancy is extremely significant in basic verbs. Some of their uses exhibit such a low cognitive salience, that they are not even noticed by native speakers. This has consequences in second-language acquisition. Foreign learners, even the advanced ones, often lack competence in using the most frequent lexical verbs of the second language in their most frequent patterns. Basic verbs often act as light verbs. Sections 3 to 7 are dedicated to light verbs and light verb constructions. Section 8 discusses the morphosyntactic variability in predicate nouns (i.e. the nominal components of light verb constructions) and their possible semantic impact on the entire light verb construction. Different aspects of polysemy of basic verbs are dealt with by contrasting Swedish examples to Czech in Section 9. Special attention is paid to uses of basic verbs that denote relations between abstract entities. Section 10 focuses on grammaticalizing uses of lexical verbs. It gives a Swedish example of context-induced reinterpretation – an interesting semantic shift that often leads to grammaticalization.

Event Structure in Russian: Semantic Roles, Aspect, Causation

This paper aims at a lexical description of frequent uses of frequent lexical verbs in Swedish on the background of Czech, with some implications for the lexical description of such verb uses verbs in general. It results in a draft of a production lexicon of Swedish frequent verbs for advanced Czech learners of Swedish, with focus on their uses as light verbs. The introductory sections (1 and 2) discuss semantic shifts in highly frequent lexical verbs, whose most literal or ‘primary’ uses express motion, location, or physical control; e.g. stand, put, go, hold. These verbs are called basic verbs, which is a term coined by Viberg (Viberg, 1990) that suggests that they typically denote events belonging to basic level categories described by Lakoff (Lakoff, 1987). The ‘literalness’ of verb uses is judged according to how much they are the ones speakers pick first to illustrate the meaning of that given verb (cognitive salience, a term coined by Hanks in (Hanks, forthcoming). Hanks pointed out an interesting discrepancy between the cognitive salience and the actual frequency of a given verb usage in large corpora. This discrepancy is extremely significant in basic verbs. Some of their uses exhibit such a low cognitive salience, that they are not even noticed by native speakers. This has consequences in second-language acquisition. Foreign learners, even the advanced ones, often lack competence in using the most frequent lexical verbs of the second language in their most frequent patterns. Basic verbs often act as light verbs. Sections 3 to 7 are dedicated to light verbs and light verb constructions. Section 8 discusses the morphosyntactic variability in predicate nouns (i.e. the nominal components of light verb constructions) and their possible semantic impact on the entire light verb construction. Different aspects of polysemy of basic verbs are dealt with by contrasting Swedish examples to Czech in Section 9. Special attention is paid to uses of basic verbs that denote relations between abstract entities. Section 10 focuses on grammaticalizing uses of lexical verbs. It gives a Swedish example of context-induced reinterpretation – an interesting semantic shift that often leads to grammaticalization. © 2009 PBML. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Silvie Cinkova, A Contrastive Lexical Description of Basic Verbs: Examples from Swedish and Czech. The Prague Bulletin of Mathematical Linguistics No. 92, 2009, 21–61. PBML 92 DECEMBER 2009 All the aspects of basic verbs discussed in Sections 1–10 are integrated in a structure of a Swedish-Czech lexicon, which captures verbs and predicate nouns in two respective interlinked parts. Sections 11-14 give its detailed decription.

Teaching &amp; Learning Guide for: Corpus Linguistics in the UK: Resources for Sociolinguistic Research

Linguistics has drawn on the large quantities of authentic data contained in language corpora for several decades now. While debates continue regarding the nature and interpretation of such data, it is generally accepted that corpus methodologies offer a valuable perspective on language, one that complements the introspective and elicited data used in different sub-fields of linguistics. Increasingly, language corpora can be searched or downloaded over the Internet, and are now therefore very readily accessible. Many also include demographic or textual metadata that make them invaluable as data for sociolinguistics. While existing corpora may have some drawbacks (e.g. where the corpus design is not ideally suited to the study in hand, or available corpora do not have appropriate mark-up), they offer great savings in time and effort compared to creating a new corpus. Moreover, especially given the increasing availability of spoken texts in corpora, they constitute excellent resources for students of different levels, for teachers looking for a quick way to demonstrate a feature of language, and for researchers testing linguistic hypotheses.