Clitics as input to the acquisition of verbal transitivity in French

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-133
Author(s):  
Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux ◽  
Mihaela Pirvulescu ◽  
Yves Roberge ◽  
Nelleke Strik
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Verb Learning ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Pronouns

Abstract We investigate the effect of French clitic construction on verb learning. In French, object pronouns precede the verb, and the canonical direct object position remains empty. We test whether children treat such contexts as input for transitivity (since a direct object is morphologically identified) or optional transitivity (due to the empty direct object position). Forty-eight monolingual French preschoolers heard verb input with clitics and noun phrases as direct objects, in two input conditions: obligatory transitivity, and mixed optional transitivity. Results show that children are sensitive to the input, but produce more sentences with null implicit objects in the clitic conditions. This provides evidence that specific properties of a language (e.g. clitic constructions), affect the acquisition of verbal classes.

Object pronouns, clitics, and omissions in child Polish and Ukrainian

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1051-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROKSOLANA MYKHAYLYK ◽  
ALDONA SOPATA
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Child Speech ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Pronouns

ABSTRACTPolish and Ukrainian pattern together syntactically in allowing various omissions in the same discourse settings, for example, when the referring element has been mentioned in a previous context. However, Ukrainian employs full object pronouns morphologically, whereas Polish uses clitics in the same environments. We exploit this contrast to compare the acquisition of clitics versus full pronouns, enriching previous accounts of omissions in child speech. The results of an elicited production experiment reveal that, in the two languages considered, 3- to 6-year-old children make no errors in direct object realization, but prefer to use null arguments up to the age of 5. It is crucial that there is no obvious difference between the acquisition patterns for clitics versus pronouns, which suggests that the morphophonological properties of direct objects are not primary predictors of object realization in languages that allow discourse-related omissions.

scholarly journals Bhadarwahi: A Typological Sketch

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-148
Author(s):  
Amitabh Vikram DWIVEDI
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Main Verb

This paper is a summary of some phonological and morphosyntactice features of the Bhadarwahi language of Indo-Aryan family. Bhadarwahi is a lesser known and less documented language spoken in district of Doda of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State in India. Typologically it is a subject dominant language with an SOV word order (SV if without object) and its verb agrees with a noun phrase which is not followed by an overt post-position. These noun phrases can move freely in the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence. The indirect object generally precedes the direct object. Aspiration, like any other Indo-Aryan languages, is a prominent feature of Bhadarwahi. Nasalization is a distinctive feature, and vowel and consonant contrasts are commonly observed. Infinitive and participle forms are formed by suffixation while infixation is also found in causative formation. Tense is carried by auxiliary and aspect and mood is marked by the main verb.

Dialects of Written Arabic: Syntactic differences in the treatment of object pronouns in Egyptian and Levantine newspapers

Arabica ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wilmsen
Keyword(s):  
Regional Differences ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Free Object ◽  
Regional Newspapers ◽  
Syntactic Differences ◽  
Syntactic Difference ◽  
Object Pronouns

AbstractDespite the notion that written Arabic is invariable across the Arab world, a few researchers, using large corpora to discover patterns of usage, have demonstrated regional differences in Arabic writing. While most such research has focussed upon the lexicon, this corpus-based study examines a syntactic difference between Egyptian and Levantine writing: the treatment of object pronouns. A search of an entire year of writing in regional newspapers found that Levantine writers tend to use the free object pronoun iyyā-, placing the direct object after the indirect, about twice as often as Egyptian writers do, who for their part prefer to place the direct object before the indirect. A proposed reason for this is that the free object pronoun is used to mark the direct object in spoken Levantine vernaculars but not in Egyptian. This seems to indicate that local spoken vernaculars exert a fundamental influence on writing.

Differential object marking and object scrambling in the Guaraní language cluster

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55
Author(s):  
Eva-Maria Roessler
Keyword(s):  
Differential Treatment ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Base Position ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Parallel Data ◽  
Applicative Constructions ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

Abstract The parallel data discussed in this article suggest that in Guaraní languages differential objects seem far from being exclusively highlighted in morphology. Instead, the Guaraní dom systems exhibit a differential treatment of certain direct objects within narrow syntax. Focusing on [+animate] direct objects, I supply evidence that [+dom] direct objects scramble out of their base position into a higher, vP-internal, projection, namely αP (following López 2012). This short DO scrambling is derived including data from simple transitive, ditransitive, and applicative constructions as well as from object conjunction. The short scrambling within vP is followed by further direct object dislocation into a higher functional domain, an operation described in literature as triggered by φ-feature under T° and targeting a specifier in an expanded functional domain (Freitas 2011b). DOs that move out of their base position may be marked with the overt case marker, homophonous with dat case. The homophony between dat and dom is conceived as morphological opacity in the Guaraní case. Syntactically, however, [+dom] DOs pattern together with their zero-marked acc counterparts, rather than with indirect objects.

Specificity and objecthood in Tagalog

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEPH SABBAGH
Keyword(s):  
Large Body ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Semantic Function ◽  
High Position ◽  
Differential Behavior ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the semantic function of noun phrases and the way(s) in which they are realized morphosyntactically in a clause has been a topic of intensive research in the typological literature as well as for theories concerned with the syntax–semantics interface. Considering just noun phrases that function as direct objects, it has been shown for language after language that that there is a systematic relationship between the semantic function of an object (e.g. whether it is pronominal, definite, indefinite, etc.) and its morphosyntax (e.g. whether it requires special case marking, whether it triggers agreement, whether it exhibits special distribution in terms of word order, etc.). This paper aims to contribute to the already large body of evidence documenting the relationships between form and semantic function by providing a comprehensive survey of the morphosyntax of transitive constructions in Tagalog, focussing, specifically, on the relationship between the semantic function of the theme argument and the morphosyntactic strategies by which theme arguments are realized. Contrary to what previous studies have claimed, I show that specific noun phrases are attested as direct objects of active clause in Tagalog. An exception to this is pronoun and proper name themes, which must either be oblique marked to function as a direct object or be realized as a subject. Developing and expanding upon analyses in Rackowski (2002), I propose that the differential behavior of specific themes (pronoun/proper names on the one hand versus non-pronoun/proper name specific themes on the other) follows from a clausal architecture in which there are at least two VP-external positions to which specific themes must raise – a relatively high position for pronoun and proper name themes, and a position intermediate betweenvP and VP for all other specific themes. The distribution of syntactic positions available for the theme argument is claimed to follow from a proposal in Merchant (2006), pre-figured in Jelinek & Carnie (2003) and related work, that relational hierarchies of the type familiar from typological research – in particular, the definiteness hierarchy – are directly encoded in the phrase structure.

scholarly journals Generic, specific and direct object of a crime under the Article 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine

2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
V. Yu. Boichuk
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
The State ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
State Secrets ◽  
Official Information

The author has carried out the research of one of the mandatory elements of corpus delicti under the Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – its object. In the course of its analysis, the author has considered general classification of objects of a crime generally adopted in the doctrine of criminal law of Ukraine (depending on the degree of generalization of the social relations protected by the criminal law, which are the objects of various crimes) into general, generic, specific and direct ones. The concept and essence of general, generic, specific and direct objects of a crime under the Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, are determined on the basis of views on the object from the standpoint of the theory of social relations. It has been emphasized that general, generic, specific and direct objects of a crime under the Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine constitute a system, that is, they are not just a simple set, but are in interdependence. The link element through which the system of objects of this crime is formed is defined as the general sphere of social activity, where the mentioned social relations arise, develop and operate, namely, the national security of Ukraine. Thus, all social relations, which are put under the protection of Section XIV of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, arise and function in general in order to safeguard the interests of Ukraine’s national security. Generic object of a crime under the Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, has been defined as social relations existing with regard to the security of state secrets and official information gathered in the course of operative and search, counter-intelligence activities, in the field of the country defense, as well as the security of the state border of Ukraine and military security in terms of providing draft call and mobilization. Accordingly, the specific object of this crime is more narrow range of specific social relations that are associated with ensuring the state of information security. It was formulated as social relations that exist with regard to the security of state secrets and official information gathered in the process of operative and search, counter-intelligence activities, in the field of the country defense. The direct object of a criminal act under the Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, was admitted as social relations that exist with regard to the security of official information gathered in the process of operative and search, counter-intelligence activities, in the field of the country defense. The author has revealed the systemic nature of interrelations between the generic, specific and the direct object of a crime, stipulated by the Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

scholarly journals Differential object marking in Ibero-Romance languages: Explanatory models in domestic and Russian educational literature

Rhema ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 61-76
Author(s):  
N. Pakhmutova
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Explanatory Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Didactic Literature ◽  
Educational Literature ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

Differential object marking / dom is the term for the phenomenon of distinguishing two classes of direct objects, one bearing a special marker, while the other lacking it. In modern linguistics, the marker licensing is partially or fully attributed to the features of a direct object: Animacy/Inanimacy and referential status. Russian didactic literature generally contains a reduced explanatory model of Spanish dom, based on the grammar of the Royal Spanish Academy. For Catalan, the explanatory model is complicated by the usus/norm split, the latter reducing the phenomenon’s scope. The paper focuses on the improvement of dom explanatory models for Spanish and Catalan.

scholarly journals Binding German (In)direct Objects: Spell-Out Strategies for Disambiguation

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Nicholas Twiner ◽  
Vera Lee-Schoenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Binding Data ◽  
Acceptability Rating ◽  
Canonical Surface ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Idiomatic Meaning

Despite Grewendorf’s (1988) well-known German binding data with the double-object verb zeigen ‘show’, which suggests that the direct object (DO) is generated higher than the indirect object (IO), this paper argues for the canonical surface order of IO>DO as base order. Highlighting the exceptional status of Grewendorf's examples, building on Featherston & Sternefeld’s (2003) quantitative acceptability rating study, and exploiting the fact that zeigen can also be used as inherently reflexive with idiomatic meaning, and we appeal to Bruening's (2010) theory of idiom formation as well as the Encyclopedia within Distributed Morphology (Marantz 1997, Embick & Noyer 2007) and propose a flexible Spell-Out mechanism within a derivational approach to binding (e.g. Hornstein 2001 and Zwart 2002) that can override narrow syntactic case licensing by realizing nominals with different morphological case.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document