scholarly journals The roles of verb semantics, entrenchment, and morphophonology in the retreat from dative argument-structure overgeneralization errors

Language ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Ambridge ◽  
Julian M. Pine ◽  
Caroline F. Rowland ◽  
Franklin Chang
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Verb Semantics

The acquisition of the active transitive construction in English: A detailed case study

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna L. Theakston, ◽  
Robert Maslen, ◽  
Elena V. M. Lieven, ◽  
Michael Tomasello,
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Event Semantics ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Levels Of Use ◽  
Simultaneous Move ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractIn this study, we test a number of predictions concerning children's knowledge of the transitive Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) construction between two and three years on one child (Thomas) for whom we have densely collected data. The data show that the earliest SVO utterances reflect earlier use of those same verbs, and that verbs acquired before 2;7 show an earlier move towards adult-like levels of use in the SVO construction and in object argument complexity than later acquired verbs. There is not a close relation with the input in the types of subject and object referents used, nor a close adherence to Preferred Argument Structure (PAS) before 2;7, but both early and late acquired verbs show a simultaneous move towards PAS patterns in selection of referent type at 2;9. The event semantics underpinning early transitive utterances do not straightforwardly fit prototype (high or inalienable) notions of transitivity, but rather may reflect sensitivity to animacy and intentionality in a way that mirrors the input. We conclude that children's knowledge of the transitive construction continues to undergo significant development between 2;0 and 3;0, reflecting the gradual abstraction and integration of the SVO and VO constructions, verb semantics, discourse pragmatics, and the interactions between these factors. These factors are considered in the context of a prototype for the transitive construction.

Rules and construction effects in learning the argument structure of verbs

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE DEMUTH ◽  
'MALILLO MACHOBANE ◽  
FRANCINA MOLOI
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Rule Learning ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Learning Problem ◽  
Order Restrictions ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Applicative Constructions

Theorists of language acquisition have long debated the means by which children learn the argument structure of verbs (e.g. Bowerman, 1974, 1990; Pinker, 1984, 1989; Tomasello, 1992). Central to this controversy has been the possible role of verb semantics, especially in learning which verbs undergo dative-shift alternation in languages like English. The learning problem is somewhat simplified in Bantu double object constructions, where all applicative verbs show the same order of postverbal objects. However, Bantu languages differ as to what that order is, some placing the benefactive argument first, and others placing the animate argument first. Learning the language-specific word-order restrictions on Bantu double object applicative constructions is therefore more akin to setting a parameter (cf. Hyams, 1986). This study examined 100 three- to eight-year-old children's knowledge of word order restrictions in Sesotho double object applicatives. Performance on forced choice elicited production tasks found that four-year-olds showed evidence of rule learning, although eight-year-olds had not yet attained adult levels of performance. Further investigation found lexical construction effects for three-year-olds. These findings suggest that learning the argument structure of verbs, even when lexical semantics is not involved, may be more sensitive to lexical construction effects than previously thought.

Roles of verb and construction cues

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-362
Author(s):  
Gyu-Ho Shin ◽  
Hyunwoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Sentence Meaning ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Constructionist Approach

Abstract This study investigates how speakers of English and Korean, two typologically distinct languages, derive information from a verb and a construction to achieve sentence comprehension. In a sentence-sorting task, we manipulated verb semantics (real versus nonce) in each language. The results showed that participants from both languages were less inclined to sort sentences by a verb cue when the lexical-semantic information about a verb was obscured (i.e., nonce verb). In addition, the Korean-speaking participants were less likely affected by the verb semantics conditions than the English-speaking participants. These findings suggest the role of an argument structure construction in sentence comprehension as a co-contributor of sentence meaning, supporting the constructionist approach. The findings also imply language-specific mechanisms of sentence comprehension, contingent upon the varied impact of a verb on sentence meaning in English and Korean.

scholarly journals Separation events in Tafi language and culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Mercy Bobuafor
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Separation events differ in lexicalisation patterns (Talmy 2000) and in argument realisation (Levin and Rappaport Hovav 2005) cross-linguistically. There are different types of separation events. “Cutting” and “breaking” events involve a non-reversible change in object integrity and have been systematically researched cross-linguistically in recent times (Guerssel et al 1985; Bohnemeyer 2008; Majid et al. 2008; Schaefer and Egbokhare 2012). In this paper, some of the generalisations that have been made concerning CUT and BREAK verbs are tested based on data from Tafi, a Ghana-Togo Mountain language. I investigate the morpho-syntactic properties of Tafi CUT and BREAK verbs in relation to a suggested generalisation by Guerssel et al. that BREAK verbs have a transitive/intransitive argument structure and participate in the causative/inchoative alternation; while CUT verbs are transitive and they are not expected to occur without their external argument. The types of events referred to by the CUT and BREAK verbs and the combinatorial capacity of the individual verbs are also explored. Based on an analysis of stimulus-elicitations and spontaneous language performances recorded in the field, I show that the Tafi verb bhui ‘cut’ can be used in an intransitive/resultative construction in which the theme, the internal argument, occurs as the subject. Drawing on the behaviour of bhui ‘cut’ I interrogate the explanations that have been offered in the literature with respect to such deviations from the generalisation. I argue that the verb argument alternation potential of a verb depends on the verb semantics as well as the type of (internal) argument it collocates with. Moreover, I explore the semantic interpretations of the verb when it combines with non-typical objects such as ‘water’. I show that such patterns and collocations such as ‘the water cut’ = ‘the water stopped running’, ‘cut a village’ = ‘establish a village’ are areal in nature (cf. Huttar et al. 2007).

Verb Semantics and a Reversed ACE

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Xu ◽  
Megan Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Verb Semantics

Niuean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Noun Incorporation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Theta Role ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure

This book presents a detailed descriptive and theoretical examination of predicate-argument structure in Niuean, a Polynesian language within the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, spoken mainly on the Pacific island of Niue and in New Zealand. Niuean has VSO word order and an ergative case-marking system, both of which raise questions for a subject-predicate view of sentence structure. Working within a broadly Minimalist framework, this volume develops an analysis in which syntactic arguments are not merged locally to their thematic sources, but instead are merged high, above an inverted extended predicate which serves syntactically as the Niuean verb, later undergoing movement into the left periphery of the clause. The thematically lowest argument merges as an absolutive inner subject, with higher arguments merging as applicatives. The proposal relates Niuean word order and ergativity to its isolating morphology, by equating the absence of inflection with the absence of IP in Niuean, which impacts many aspects of its grammar. As well as developing a novel analysis of clause and argument structure, word order, ergative case, and theta role assignment, the volume argues for an expanded understanding of subjecthood. Throughout the volume, many other topics are also treated, such as noun incorporation, word formation, the parallel internal structure of predicates and arguments, null arguments, displacement typology, the role of determiners, and the structure of the left periphery.

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