Postmodifying verb-second clauses in spoken German

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-264
Author(s):  
Regina Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Language Model ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Clause Combining

This usage-based and corpus-based study examines the use of verb-second clauses as restrictive postmodifiers of noun phrases in spoken German (ich kenn leute die haben immer pech ‘I know people they are always unlucky’) in relation to verb-final relative clauses. Previous accounts largely work with de-contextualised and constructed data and stop short of accounting for the discourse function of verb-second postmodifying structures. The ratio of verb-final relative clauses to postmodifying verb-second clauses does not indicate a shift towards main clause syntax. Rather, the verb-second clauses form part of a set of existential or presentational and ascriptive copular constructions which serve to highlight properties of entities and/or introduce discourse topics. Relative clauses can be used for such functions, but this is not as common. The syntactic and semantic features associated with postmodifying verb-second clauses can be seen as a direct result of their discourse function, which only a corpus analysis could reveal. The paper also comments on the wider related aspects of verb position, clause combining and pronoun use in spoken German from the perspective of a usage-based language model.

scholarly journals A multi-dimensional contrastive study of English abstracts by native and non-native writers

Corpora ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Cao ◽  
Richard Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
English Abstract ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Communicative Functions

This article takes the multi-dimensional (MD) analysis approach to explore the textual variations between native and non-native English abstracts on the basis of a balanced corpus containing English abstracts written by native English and native Chinese writers from twelve academic disciplines. A total of 47 out of 163 linguistic features are retained after factor analysis, which underlies a seven-dimension framework representing seven communicative functions. The results show that the two types of abstracts demonstrate significant differences in five out of the seven dimensions. To be more specific, native English writers display a more active involvement and commitment in presenting their ideas than Chinese writers. They also use intensifying devices more frequently. In contrast, Chinese writers show stronger preferences for conceptual elaboration, passives and abstract noun phrases no matter whether the two types of data are examined as a whole or whether variations across disciplines are taken into account. The results are discussed in relation to the possible reasons and suggestions for English abstract writing in China. Methodologically, this study innovatively expands on Biber's (1988) MD analytical framework by integrating colligation in addition to grammatical and semantic features.

scholarly journals The concepts of «reality» and «statement» in the analysis of modal alternation in Spanish relative subordinate clauses

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 129-134
Author(s):  
Alexandra I. Makarova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Subordinate Clauses

The article analyzes theoretical works that raise the problem of analyzing the use of the subjunctive mood in subordinate relatives in Spanish based on the concept of «reality». This topic is relevant and widely discussed among Spanish researchers. Earlier, the author has already attempted to study a different concept – the concept of «statement». This concept, based on the hidden semantics of the whole sentence, is applicable to the analysis of subordinate object sentences. The aim of the study is to determine the features of the subjunctive mood use in subordinate relative sentences in the Spanish language, based on the semantic features of the concepts of «statement» and «reality». This article attempts to implement the concept of «statement» in the analysis of subordinate relative clauses. The author concludes that this concept is not always applicable to the analysis of this type of subordinate clauses. However, we cannot completely exclude it from the analysis. The concept of «reality», which is in its own way a consequence of the concept of «statement», helps to explain the modal alternation in subordinate relative clauses. The subjunctive mood indicates the abstractness of the antecedent or the speaker's doubts about the existence of the antecedent in reality. The indicative mood, on the contrary, indicates the reality of the object or the speaker's belief in its existence. The materials of this study raise questions related to the application of concepts within other types of subordinate clauses and in other closely related languages (French).

Punctuation and syntactic structure in obwohl and weil clauses in nonstandard written German

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Schäfer ◽  
Ulrike Sayatz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Insight Into

In this paper, we analyze written sentences containing the German particles obwohl (“although”) and weil (“because”). In standard written German, these particles embed clauses in verb-last constituent order, which is characteristic of subordinated clauses. In spoken and – as we show – nonstandard written German, they embed clauses in verb-second constituent order, which is characteristic of independent sentences. Our usage-based approach to the syntax – graphemics interface includes a large-scale corpus analysis of the patterns of punctuation in the nonstandard variants that provides clues to the syntactic structure and degree of sentential independence of the nonstandard variants. Our corpus study confirms and refines hypotheses from existing theoretical approaches by clearly showing that writers mark obwohl clauses with verb-second order systematically as independent sentences, whereas weil clauses with verb-second order are much less strongly marked as independent. This work suggests that similar corpus studies could provide deeper insight into the interplay between syntax and graphemics.

Un análisis cognitivo-funcional de la concordancia verbal con construcciones (pseudo)partitivas del tipo [N1 + de + N2]

Revue Romane ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrien Verveckken ◽  
Bert Cornillie
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Verbal Agreement ◽  
Linguistic Account

In this paper we present a corpus-based, cognitive-linguistic account of the singular/plural agreement alternation with binominal constructions belonging to the [N1singular + de + N2plural]-type. From a syntagmatic point of view, plural agreement reflects a shift from N1 as the head of the Noun Phrase towards N1 being a quantifier to N2. This view is in line with grammaticalization theory and holds for many examples, yet there are important counterexamples where we find a singular verb despite N1 being used as a quantifier. The Hispanic linguistic literature mentions several factors that would favor plural agreement with N2 such as an indefinite article, the distance between the verb and the subject, the position of the subject and pseudopartitive rather than partitive use. The corpus analysis will show that these factors are not conclusive. Our alternative account has recourse to the concept of lexical persistence and shows to what extent the quantifier use of N1 retains semantic features associated with the head use of N1. We argue that verbal agreement phenomena can be motivated by the interaction between lexical persistence and the morpho-syntactic and semantic criteria listed in literature. Lexical persistence is thus not a side effect of the grammaticalization process, but a crucial dimension of binominal constructions in that it allows us to explain quantifier uses of N1 with a singular verb.

Negation in discourse: a text world approach to Joseph Heller’s Catch-22

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hidalgo-Downing
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Joseph Heller ◽  
Form Part ◽  
The Common ◽  
Catch 22 ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
The Way

This article presents a discourse-based approach to negation by applying text world theory to the analysis of negation in the novel Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (1986 [1961]), The model developed for the analysis of negation is based on Werth’s (1999) notion of negation as a subworld which modifies information which is present in the common ground of the discourse. By so doing, negation contributes to the general discourse function of updating information in the text world. Additionally, negation may form part of contradictory structures which, being self-contained units, do not contribute to the updating discourse function but, rather, seem to block the flow of information. The analysis of the functions of negation is framed within a broader framework of stylistic analysis, where the objective is to discuss how the foregrounded nature of negation as a recursive feature in Catch-22 may have a defamiliarizing effect. The argument put forward in this article is that negation plays a crucial role in the expression of a conflict between what is presented as real and what is presented as not real in the fictional world; this conflict, in its turn, has important consequences for the way the story develops and the way major themes of the novel are treated.

scholarly journals The limits of grammar: Clause combining in Finnish and Japanese conversation

Pragmatics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritva Laury ◽  
Tsuyoshi Ono
Keyword(s):  
Nonverbal Cues ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Verbal Cues ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Fixed Expressions ◽  
Clause Combining

Our paper concerns the grammar of clause combining in Finnish and Japanese conversation. We consider the patterns of clause combining in our data and focus on the verbal and non-verbal cues which allow participants to determine whether, after the end of a clause-sized unit, the turn will end or continue with another clause-sized unit, resulting in a clause combination. We conclude that morphosyntax alone cannot account for the patterns found in our data, but that the participants orient to, at least, prosodic and nonverbal cues in determining the boundaries of clauses and projecting continuation in the form of another clause. Also important for projection are fixed expressions or ‘prefabs’. In addition, semantic and pragmatic factors play a role. In that sense, we explore the question of where the limits of grammar for interaction, understood as the knowledge which speakers share and which forms the basis for the creation and processing of novel utterances, should be drawn, and whether grammar should include, beyond morphosyntax, not only prosodic, pragmatic and semantic features but also bodily behavior.

scholarly journals Relativization Strategies of Sasak Ngeno Ngene Dialect in Lombok

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Nurachman Hanafi ◽  
Udin Udin ◽  
Eni Djuhaeni ◽  
Edy Syahrial
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
Coding Strategy ◽  
The Right

Relative clauses (RC), in whatever the languages, are essential for investigation especially on how noun phrases as nuclear and oblique relations are workable in Keenan & Comrie’s (1977) Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy. In this paper, Relativization Strategies of Sasak Ngeno-Ngene Dialect in Lombok is presented with the aims are (1) describing the ability of these relations in direct relativization, (2) analyzing the strategies used when indirect relativization occurs, and (3) formulating the right orderings of these relations in the hierarchy. The data on relativization strategies were taken by elicitations, an interview with some informants and documentation of the previous related studies. Then, a careful analysis was made with reference to common linguistic typological approach. The results of this study showed that: (1) gap strategy underlines direct relativization for S (subject) of SVO, O (object) of OVS and OBL of destination, (2) case-coding strategy is preferred by OBL of locative, and (3) passivization strategy is suitable for all indirect relativizations for O (object) of SVO and OBL of benefactive, recipient, and instrumental. The hierarchy of nuclear and oblique relations were formulated: S (SVO) > O (OVS) > OBL (DES > LOC) in direct relativization. Conversely, the hierarchy of O (SVO) > OBL (BEN > RECIP > INST) is shown in indirect relativization.

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