Diagnosing Clause Structure in a Polysynthetic Language: Wh-Agreement and Parasitic Gaps in West Circassian

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Ksenia Ershova
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
The West ◽  
Parasitic Gaps ◽  
Agreement Morphology

This article identifies and tests a novel diagnostic for clause structure in West Circassian, a polysynthetic language with ergative alignment. The diagnostic concerns an unusual construction involving multiple wh-agreement in relative clauses. I argue that wh-agreement morphology uniformly tracks agreement with a wh-trace, and sentences with more than one instance of wh-agreement are surface manifestations of a parasitic gap dependency. Once multiple wh-agreement is understood in this theoretically familiar light, it can be used as a powerful tool for diagnosing asymmetries between various constituents in the West Circassian clause. By appealing to well-known constraints on parasitic gap licensing, the article demonstrates that the absolutive DP raises to a position c-commanding other clausemate DPs, and applied objects may undergo optional scrambling to a position above the ergative agent.

Syntactic comprehension in young poor readers

1989 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne T. Smith ◽  
Paul Macaruso ◽  
Donald Shankweiler ◽  
Stephen Crain
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Poor Readers ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Specific Reading Disability ◽  
Good Readers ◽  
Specific Reading ◽  
High Level ◽  
Good And Poor Readers ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects

ABSTRACTChildren with specific reading disability fail to understand some complex spoken sentences as well as good readers. This investigation sought to identify the source of poor readers' comprehension difficulties. Second-grade good and poor readers were tested on spoken sentences with restrictive relative clauses in two experiments designed to minimize demands on working memory. The methodological innovations resulted in a high level of performance by both reader groups, demonstrating knowledge of relative clause structure. The poor readers' performance closely paralleled that of the good readers both in pattern of errors and in awareness of the pragmatic aspects of relative clauses. The findings suggest that limitations in processing account for comprehension difficulties displayed by some poor readers in previous investigations.

scholarly journals When Structure Competes with Semantics: Reading Chinese Relative Clauses

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peiyun Zhou ◽  
Yun Yao ◽  
Kiel Christianson
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Role Reversal ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Reading Chinese ◽  
Semantic Plausibility ◽  
Object Relative

An ongoing debate in Chinese psycholinguistics is whether subject-relative clauses or object-relative clauses are more difficult to process. The current study asks what happens when structure and plausibility are pitted against each other in Chinese relative clause processing. Chinese relative clause structures and semantic plausibility were manipulated to create both plausible and implausible versions of subject- and object-relative clauses. This method has been used in other languages (e.g., English) to elicit thematic role reversal comprehension errors. Importantly, these errors—as well as online processing difficulties—are especially frequent in implausible versions of dispreferred (noncanoncial) structures. If one relative clause structure in Chinese is highly dispreferred, the structural factor and plausibility factor should interact additively. If, however, the structures are relatively equally difficult to process, then there should be only a main effect of plausibility. Sentence reading times as well as analyses on lexical interest areas revealed that Chinese readers used plausibility information almost exclusively when reading the sentences. Relative clause structure had no online effect and small but consistent offline effects. Taken together, the results support a slight preference in offline comprehension for Chinese subject-relative clauses, as well as a central role for semantic plausibility, which appears to be the dominant factor in online processing and a strong determinant of offline comprehension.

A participle account of Blackfoot relative clauses

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-238
Author(s):  
Sara Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Verbal Inflection ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Morphological Composition ◽  
Adjectival Modification ◽  
Agreement Morphology ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Nominal Agreement

AbstractBlackfoot verbs are marked with nominal agreement morphology in relative clauses, in place of verbal inflection. These relative clauses have previously been analyzed as nominalizations. The present study shows that a nominalization analysis makes incorrect predictions about the morphological composition of relative clauses, as well as the availability of non-agentive and possessive constructions, and adjectival modification. This study demonstrates that relative clauses can relativize subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects. Based on observations about obviation, recursion, long-distance extraction, inflection, and word order, I propose that relative clauses are participles: clausal entities with a nominal superstructure. This accounts for their mixed clausal and nominal properties, and provides an analysis of Blackfoot relative clauses similar to those proposed for related Algonquian languages.

On the syntactic differences between OE dialects: evidence from the Gospels

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTINA SUÁREZ-GÓMEZ
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
English Language ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
The West ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Syntactic Differences ◽  
Early English

Old English has traditionally been considered a period of linguistic homogeneity, since most available recorded texts are generally written in the West Saxon dialect. There are, however, isolated texts which have been ascribed to other varieties, in particular Northumbrian and Mercian. In fact, recent research on syntactic dialectology in early English (Kroch & Taylor 1997; Ogura 1999; Hogg 2004, 2006a; Ingham 2006) shows that linguistic variation has been present in the English language from the earliest times. This study reassesses the existence of variation in the syntax of texts belonging to different dialectal varieties in Old English, in particular in relative constructions. Based on an analysis of relative clauses in three versions of the Gospels from late Old English, representing West Saxon, Northumbrian and Mercian dialects, we will observe differences in the texts, regarding both the paradigm of relativizers and the position adopted by the relative clause within the main clause. I relate these differences to the existence of linguistic differences in northern and southern dialects.

scholarly journals ARGUMENT BAR MOVEMENT IN RELATIVE CLAUSES PRODUCED BY BIPA STUDENTS: AN ANALYSIS OF NOAM CHOMSKY’S GENERATIVE TRANSFORMATION

2022 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Arti Prihatini ◽  
Fauzan Fauzan ◽  
Fida Pangesti
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Theta Theory ◽  
The University

This study was intended to describe (1) the characteristics of the argument bar movement in relative clauses, (2) the characteristics of the relative clause structure, and (3) the suitability of the relative clause structure produced by BIPA students. This research was a qualitative descriptive case study. This research data were relative clauses sourced from BIPA students' speeches at the beginner and intermediate levels at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang. The data collection method used was the listening method with tapping, recording, note-taking, and hidden fishing techniques. Data analysis was carried out by identifying the predication-argument relationship with theta theory, identifying the deep structure and surface structure, analyzing movement objectives, movement traces, and movement consequences by utilizing the subjacency condition theory. The results showed that the characteristics of the argument bar movement in the relative clauses generated by 92% of BIPA students were in the form of short movements and did not exceed one bounding node. Based on the Indonesian language rules, most of the relative clauses produced by BIPA students were appropriate (75%). It shows that BIPA students have fully understood the relative clause structure.

Discontinuous noun phrases and remnant-internal relativization in the diachrony of Portuguese

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Internal Position

This chapter investigates syntactic change regarding the availability of split noun phrases in relative clauses in the diachrony of Portuguese. In earlier stages of the language an element that is thematically dependent on the head noun (either as a complement or as a modifier) may not appear adjacent to it but in a relative clause internal position. In Contemporary European Portuguese, noun phrase discontinuity also arises in relative clauses, but only with the modifier/complement in the rightmost position. The word order with the modifier/complement at the left periphery of the relative clause is not allowed. The change is explained as being due to the loss of a left-peripheral position for contrastive focus within relative clauses (and possibly other types of subordinate clauses). Hence, the contraction of clause structure and the concomitant loss of movement are taken to constrain the possibilities of phrasal discontinuity found in earlier periods.

scholarly journals On the nature of escapable relative islands

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Ramshøj Christensen ◽  
Anne Mette Nyvad
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Island Constraints ◽  
Structural Contrast

It is generally assumed that universal island constraints block extraction from relative clauses. However, it is well-known that such extractions can be acceptable in the Scandinavian languages. Kush & Lindahl (2011) argue that the acceptability in Swedish is illusory; relative clauses that allow extraction have a different structure (small clause structure) from those that block extraction (true relatives, CPs). We present data from an acceptability survey of relative clause extraction in Danish. In the survey, extraction significantly decreased acceptability but we found no statistically significant effect of the ability of the verb to take a small-clause complement. We also found no difference betweensom‘that/who/which’ andder‘that/who/which’, both of which can head a relative clause while onlysomcan head a small clause. We argue that our results do not warrant the stipulation of a structural contrast between acceptable and unacceptable extractions, and that variation in acceptability stems from processing.

Long-distance dependencies

2019 ◽  
pp. 652-725
Author(s):  
Mary Dalrymple ◽  
John J. Lowe ◽  
Louise Mycock
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Weak Crossover ◽  
Parasitic Gaps ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Syntactic Function ◽  
The One

This chapter explores the analysis of constructions in which a constituent appears in a position other than the one with which its syntactic function is usually associated. Section 17.1 discusses the syntax of long-distance dependencies, including topicalization, left- or right-dislocation constructions, relative clauses, and constituent (“wh”) questions. Section 17.2 discusses constructions in which the displaced phrase is related not to a gap within the clause, but to a resumptive pronoun. Section 17.3 discusses how a long-distance dependency construction may be marked morphologically. Section 17.4 considers evidence for and against traces, with particular attention to the phenomenon of weak crossover. Section 17.5 examines multiple-gap constructions, including “across-the-board” extraction and parasitic gaps. The semantics of constructions involving long-distance dependencies are then considered: relative clauses are discussed in Section 17.6, and constituent (“wh”) questions in Section 17.7.

Japanese EFL Learners' Sensitivity To Configurational Distinction In English Relative Clause Comprehension

2005 ◽  
Vol 147-148 ◽  
pp. 45-61
Author(s):  
Akihiro Ito
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Grammatical Relation ◽  
Japanese Learners

A variety of studies have reported that the order of Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy can be a valid predictor of difficulty of relative clauses, but it is unclear whether the difficulty of relative clauses should be attributed to the grammatical function of noun phrases (grammatical relation) or to configurational differences in the relative clause structure. A few articles have reported that learners of English are more sensitive to configurational distinctions than grammatical relation distinctions in relative clause production. However, not much research on this issue has been conducted. The results of a grammaticality judgment test conducted with 77 Japanese learners of English point toward a stronger sensitivity to configuration than to grammatical relation, favoring the configurational account.

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