Verbs Of Communication Research Articles

The syntax–lexicon continuum in Construction Grammar

This paper offers an alternative analysis of Goldberg’s (1995) account of communication verbs appearing in the ditransitive construction. Based on a more finely-grained frame-semantic analysis of constructional phenomena, it is shown that generalizations over specific syntactic frames are possible at different levels of semantic abstraction. This, in turn, allows us to make across-the-board generalizations that hold not only between lexical units evoking the same frame, but also between lexical units belonging to different frames at different levels of abstraction. The resulting network of constructions combines Goldberg’s proposals regarding the status of abstract-schematic constructions with item-specific knowledge regarding the specific lexical units, with various midpoints in between. This approach has the advantage that there is no need for fusing lexical entries with abstract meaningful constructions, thereby avoiding some of the problems that arise due to the separation of syntax and the lexicon in some constructional approaches.

Assertion and false-belief attribution

The ability to attribute false-beliefs to others — the hallmark of a representational theory of mind — has been shown to be reliant on linguistic ability, specifically on competence in sentential complementation after verbs of communication and cognition such as ‘say that’ and ‘think that’. The reason commonly put forward for this is that these structures provide a representational format which enables the child to think about another’s thoughts. The paper offers an alternative explanation. Drawing on the work of the philosophers Michael Dummett and Robert Brandom, it argues that the available data better fits an account that grounds the notion of representation in the commitments undertaken by asserters. The competence in sentential complementation that precedes false-belief attribution is viewed as a result of the child developing a meta-awareness of the syntactic forms employed in assertion. This meta-awareness gives the child access to discourse about the commitments undertaken by speakers and the consequences of these for their behaviour. This understanding constitutes the child’s grasp of the representational nature of discourse and thought. The paper thus offers an illocutionary account of theory-of-mind development.

Cross-dialectal variation in propositional anaphora: Null objects and propositionalloin Mexican and Peninsular Spanish

AbstractDespite the interest in null direct objects in Spanish, the case of direct objects with propositional antecedents, which complement cognition and communication verbs, remains mostly uninvestigated. This article investigates, from a comparative variationist perspective, null direct objects with propositional antecedents, variably coded by the cliticlo, in Mexican and Peninsular Spanish. Variable rule analysis of six Spanish corpora reveals a big difference between the two dialects in the frequency of overt vs. null neuter pronoun yet shows that some of the linguistic constraints conditioning the variation are shared by both dialects (presence of a dative pronoun, type of antecedent, sentence type), suggesting that the null pronoun has the same grammatical role in both dialects. Some divergences in the conditioning of the null pronoun also emerge from the analysis and the sociodemographic information available suggests the existence of a change in progress in Mexican Spanish.

Czech Verbs of Communication with respect to the Types of Dependent Content Clauses

Czech Verbs of Communication with respect to the Types of Dependent Content Clauses The present paper describes a classification of Czech verbs of communication based on the information on the type of dependent content clauses which these verbs require to be complemented by. We distinguish assertive, interrogative and directive verbs of communication. Furthermore, we propose a method how to treat those verbs of communication which behave ‘neutrally’ with respect to the type of dependent content clauses.

Communication verbs in Chinese and English

This paper, using translation materials as data for analysis and based on Fillmore’s (1982) Frame Semantics Theory, presents a contrastive study of communication verbs in Chinese and English with respect to their representation of semantic components related to a communication event. In Talmy’s (1991) classification, Chinese and English fall into the same typological category as satellite-framed languages, where large numbers of verbs characteristically incorporate Manner with Motion, and the Path of motion is typically mapped onto a post-verb satellite. Previous contrastive studies of Chinese and English, however, have concluded that Chinese deviates from a typical satellite-framed language as represented by English with respect to both the conflation of Manner with Motion and the representation of the Path of motion. The present study, which examines, specifically, how communication verbs express speaking events in written narrative in Chinese and English, has found more intra-typological differences between the two languages in their representation of meanings in surface structures as well as in the narrative style in which words of a particular category are chosen for representing events. The major original findings from this study are that Chinese is by far more constrained than English in its encoding of semantic components in communication verbs, and that a translator may face a great challenge when doing Chinese-to-English translation with respect to the choice of appropriate communication verbs.

Argumentos verbales y organización textual: la dimensión discursiva del verbo

Along this work I'll try to show the relationship between textual organisation and verbal argumentative structure. The starting point is the controversial about the kind of links that clause and speech maintain and the grade in which verbs, as traditional «main word» of the clause, can tell us something about discourse configuration. In this case, such a wide researching field is going to be undertaken from a booth cognitive and textual typology perspective. To concrete this approach, we have selected two verbs «exponer» y «explicar» that share a big deal of meaning as verbal communication verbs, but that present important differences in their syntactic and semantic respective structures. We propose that those differences can be considered as relevant to define the narrow boundaries between their correspondent discursive activities: la explicación y la exposición usually confused and mixed in many textual typologies. In order to follow their historical development we have also researched in their Latin and Rhetorical origins —as verbs and as discourses— as well as in the accuracy of the definitions of the concepts along Spanish Academic Dictionaries. Short explicative texts are used to exemplify the similarities between verb and discourse.

Relative roles of general and complementation language in theory-of-mind development: evidence from Cantonese and English.

Complex complements are clausal objects containing tensed verbs (e.g., that she cried) or infinitives (e.g., to cry), following main verbs of communication or mental activities (e.g., say, want). This research examined whether English- and Cantonese-speaking 4-year-olds' complement understanding uniquely predicts their representation of other minds (i.e., theory of mind). Results showed that neither meaning of main verbs (communication vs. desire) nor complement structure (tensed vs. infinitival) affected the correlation between complement understanding and theory of mind. More important, the correlation became insignificant after controlling for general language comprehension. These findings led to the conclusion that the syntax of complement per se does not contribute uniquely to theory-of-mind development; general language comprehension is a more important factor to consider.

Role and Position of Scientific Voices: Reported Speech in the Media

The aim of this study is twofold: one, to determine the presence and function of scientific knowledge when it is required by such cases as `mad cow' disease, when the crisis breaks in the press; and two, to explore the role of scientific information through the analysis of quoted speech used by journalists in their discourse. Citation is the most explicit form of inclusion of other-discourse (D2) in one's-discourse (D1). Within the framework of the theory of énonciation (Ducrot's poliphony perspective), in combination with a critical view of discourse, we analyse the following: (1) the identity of agents of reference chosen by journalists; (2) the specific linguistic choices made in the pre-citation segment where the agents are introduced, that is, identification of discourse procedures and use of specific verbs of communication. The study shows the proportion of scientific and non-scientific voices, the different ways of representing science agents in the process of news communication as well as the use of citation by journal writers not just to confer authority and legitimation to their discourse but to set the scene of the conflict. The scientific role is not presented as a decisive social role capable on its own of reassuring public alarm and journalists fail to secure appropriate credibility for the scientific community.

Why not LF for false belief reasoning?

We argue that natural language has the right degree of representational richness for false belief reasoning, especially the complements under verbs of communication and belief. Language may indeed be necessary synchronically for cross-modular reasoning, but certain achievements in language seem necessary at least diachronically for explicit reasoning about false beliefs.

Raising control

An analysis of control phenomena is offered here based on an extension of the non‐mutative account of raising suggested in Anderson 1997. §2 presents and elaborates on that account, illustrating its crucial aspect from the point of view of the present paper: the role as host for raising of an unsubcategorised‐for unmarked semantic relation (an ‘absolutive’) which is (nevertheless) universally present in predications. In §3 it is proposed that this ‘free absolutive’ also marks the controllers in Bertrand tried to escape and the like as having to have their valency (they need to be complemented by an argument, usually nominal) also satisfied by the subject argument of the dependent infinitive. The different properties of agentive and experiencer control structures are investigated, as well as the distinctive characteristics of want‐verbs and control verbs of communication. And in §4, which mainly provides a brief retrospective overview, there is a suggestion as to how the analysis might be extended to the description of control into circumstantials like the infinitive in John went there to work.

Verbs of Communication in Colloquial Singaporean English

This article discusses the “V + (NP) + say” structure in Colloquial Singaporean English. The first verb (V) is restricted to verbs of speaking such as tell, scold, criticise or communication verbs such as write, fax, etc. Illustrations of parallels with a similar structure in Chinese are given. The article also shows variations in the structure, reflecting both substrate and superstrate influences. In addition, functions as well as variations in the use of the structure by advanced and less proficient English-knowing bilinguals are discussed.

Israel am Gottesberg: Eine Untersuchung zur Literargeschichte der vorderen Sinaiperkope Ex 19-24 und deren historischem Hintergrund

Israel am Gottesberg: Eine Untersuchung zur Literargeschichte der vorderen Sinaiperikope Ex 19-24 und deren historischem Hintergrund, by Wolfgang Oswald. OBO 159. Freiburg: Universitatsverlag; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998. Pp. x + 286. S.Fr. 89.00. The book is a dissertation written under Thomas Kruger for the University of Zurich. Oswald's aim is to reassess the literary-historical development of Exodus 19-24 and the social circumstances giving rise to the text. In chapter I Oswald eschews source criticism in favor of a supplemental or redaction approach. Current research (e.g., Blum, Dozeman, Renaud, Van Seters) from this perspective, however, has left important questions unresolved: the relationship of literary criticism and tradition history, the role of theology and theory in the interpretation of literature, and the need for clearer description of social setting to account for the formation of Exodus 19-24. These questions provide the central impetus for Oswald's study. Chapter 2 is a synchronic reading of Exodus 19-24 in the larger context of Exodus-Numbers. The itinerary structure of the exodus and the wilderness journey, the varieties of law codes (six), and the many trips by Moses up and down the mountain (nine) create degrees of literary incoherence. Close reading indicates points of tension with regard to textual topography (e.g., distinct names, locations, actions, and deitic elements surrounding Moses' trips to and from God on the mountain). Thus God lives permanently on the mountain, dwells in heaven, approaches in a cloud, and descends to the summit, while theophany also changes in location. Textual topographies provide a window into distinctive epistemologies (e.g., verbs of perception, knowledge, and communication), with the result that the content of theophany shifts between visual and auditory experiences. The synchronic study yields a variety of textual typologies in chapter 3 (YHWH-Yarad; YHWH-Mountain; YHWH-Approach; YHWH-Heaven; People-- Ascend; Visio-Dei). The process by which these typologies are interwoven and the social context out of which there were created are described in chapter 4. Oswald seeks to demonstrate in chapters 3 and 4 that incoherence in the present form of the text must be read in light of its formation, and that the process of growth must be grounded in concrete social and political contexts. The results can be summarized in three phases. Law is essential throughout the development of the literature. There is no theophany independent of law. First, a deuteronomistic perspective evolves through four stages (1) A Mountain of God Pericope (Exod 19:2b, 3a, loa-11a, 14a-15b, 16-17, 18b, 19a; 20:18b-d, 21be, 22a; 21:2-23:19; 24:3, 12-13 18be) is part of a larger narrative beginning with the exodus, the Exodus-Gottesberg-Narrative (EG). The Book of the Covenant is central to the EG, as the legal charter for an exilic community located at Mizpeh and led by Gedaliah. It indicates a break with the Davidic monarchy-the exodus and the premonarchical period become the paradigmatic time in history, law is from God independent of the king, and worship is modeled without priests. (2) Redactors, most likely from Mizpeh, add a democratizing element with the Decalogue (Exod 20:1, 2-17, 19, 21a)-Moses is now with the people in hearing the divine word. (3) The theme of covenant (Exod 19:3b-7a, 7c-8, 9f., 13f.; 20:22b-23; 21: 1; 24:48) is woven into the EG in the early postexilic (Persian) period as a result of conflicts between residents in the land and the Gola returnees from Babylon (i.e., land possession, urban vs. rural life, Mizpeh vs. Jerusalem as the religious and social center, the nature of political organization in relationship to Persia). The covenant texts emphasize an exclusive allegiance with YHWH to express opposition to Persian influence. (4) The role of the elders (Exod 24:13a-14), the messenger texts (Exod 23:20-33), and the command for Israel to ascend the mountain (Exod 19:13f. …

Matching Corpus Translations with Dictionary Senses

This paper addresses the question to what extent translations in bilingual parallel corpora match with dictionary senses. Automatic matching of corpus translation with dictionary senses depends on the quality of the lexicographic knowledge used, the quality of corpus processing, the impact of statistics to filter relevant entries from the corpora, and finally the quality of the translations in the multilingual corpora. We focus on the influence that the latter variable has on the performance of the automatic matching. Similarly to previous approaches, we relied on Machine Readable Dictionaries (MRDs), a part-of-speech tagger, and bilingual aligned corpora. Additionally, we used a shallow sentence parser for syntactic matching. Two case studies with two different corpora from different domains were conducted. Our test set was the intersection of 500 French communication verbs within the corpora. The results confirm that the performance of the automatic matching varies considerably with the translation quality of the parallel texts.

Functions of to and koto-o in speech and thought representation in Japanese written discourse

This paper explores the functional differences between to quotation, the major linguistic device for marking both direct and indirect quotation, and koto-o clause, another device for marking speech and thought representation in Japanese written discourse. After defining the notions of ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ speech, some syntactic, semantic and discoursal characteristics are discussed as we contrast the to quotation on the one hand and koto-o together with to yuu koto-o on the other. Syntactically, although koto-o clause invariably constitutes a subordinate clause, to quotation may not necessarily do so. Semantically, to quotation implies direct-orientation, often with immediate access to the verbatim speech, while o clause is more likely to co-occur with only a limited number of verbs of communication that are less directly oriented. It is argued that the availability of the to quotation and the limited usage of koto-o clause in Japanese influence the literary style where points of view can shift rather freely without disturbing the flow of discourse and where the maintenance of the point of view may be accomplished by a cross-sentential scope relation of to. In this paper, the possibilities of exploring the literary style idiosyncratic to a particular language system from a linguistic perspective are discussed.