Information structure in canonical and scrambled dative orders in L2 Korean

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyae-Sung Park
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Given ◽  
L1 English

AbstractThe Given-before-New Principle holds in adult speech: Given information tends to precede new information. For instance, in the English dative alternation, the given-theme – i.e., the direct object [DO] – tends to precede the new-recipient – i.e., the indirect object [IO] – in the prepositional dative (e.g., John gave the books to some children), while the given-recipient tends to precede the new-theme in the double object dative (e.g., John gave the children some books). Likewise, in Korean datives, the given-recipient tends to occur earlier in the canonical [IO–DO] order, while the given-theme tends to occur earlier in the scrambled [DO–IO] order. This study investigates whether L1-English adult L2ers of Korean, who have knowledge of the Given-before-New Principle in their L1, automatically adhere to it in their interlanguage. L2ers’ choices between canonical and scrambled dative orders were tested using novel oral contextualized preference tasks. The native speakers of Korean overwhelmingly complied with the Given-before-New Principle. However, the intermediate-to-advanced L2ers exhibited a strong bias for the (default) canonical [IO–DO] order, which apparently overrode the Given-before-New Principle. The findings of analyses by group and by individual are discussed in terms of frequency, syntactic complexity, processing, and null arguments.

scholarly journals Discourse Intonation and Information Structure: An Empirical Study of Existential There Constructions in Non-native Spontaneous Speech

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Judit Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
New Information ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Discourse Intonation ◽  
Problematic Area ◽  
Accented English ◽  
The Given

Abstract The management of given and new information is one of the key components of accomplishing coherence in oral discourse, which is claimed to be a problematic area for language learners (Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei, and Thurrell 1995: 14). Research on discourse intonation proposes that instead of the given/new dichotomy, givenness should be viewed as a continuum, with different types of accessibility (Baumann & Grice 2006). Moreover, Prince (1992) previously categorized information structure into Hearer-old/Hearer-new and Discourse-old/Discourse-new information. There is consensus on the fact that focus or prominence associated with new information is marked with nuclear pitch accent, and its main acoustic cue, fundamental frequency (f0) (Ward & Birner 2001: 120). Non-native intonation has been reported to display numerous differences in f0 range and patterns compared to native speech (Wennerstrom 1994; Baker 2010). This study is an attempt to address the issue of marking information structure in existential there sentences by means of f0 in non-native spontaneous speech. Data originates from task-based interactions in the Wildcat Corpus of Native- and Foreign-Accented English (Van Engen et al. 2010). This paper examines two issues: (1) information structure in relation to the notions of givenness and different types of accessibility (Baumann & Grice 2006) and to Prince’s (1992) multidimensional taxonomy and (2) the use of f0 peaks to mark the prominence of new information. Several differences were measured among native speakers regarding the use of f0, sentence type, and complexity.

scholarly journals Simple vs. complex transitive constructions in the acquisition of English structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
Silvia Sánchez Calderón
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Spontaneous Production ◽  
The Difference ◽  
English Monolingual

This study examines the acquisition of English simple monotransitive and complex dative alternation (DA) structures (double object constructions (DOC) and to/for-datives) in the longitudinal spontaneous production of monolingual children. In order to address these issues, we analyzed data from twelve English monolingual children and from adults’ child-directed speech, as available in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000). The findings revealed that simple monotransitive constructions started being produced earlier and showed a higher incidence when compared to complex DA constructions, which suggests that the degree of syntactic complexity has had an effect on the acquisition of transitives. However, the two complex DA constructions emerged at an approximately similar age, which could be explained by the Case assigning related properties. Furthermore, the chronological progression and the difference regarding the incidence of the three constructions (monotransitives > DOCs > to/for-datives) could be attributed to the amount of exposure to these structures in the adult input.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition of the English Dative Alternation by Native Speakers of Arabic

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-88
Author(s):  
Anwar S. Aljadani
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Semantic Properties

Abstract This paper reports on an experimental study that investigates the influence of the disparity between English and Arabic on second language acquisition, namely the phenomenon of the acquisition of the English dative alternation by Arab learners. The disallowance of certain Arabic verbs to occur in the double object dative structure causes difficulty for Arab learners to acquire English as far as the acquisition of the dative alternation is concerned. The experiment is devised to examine whether Arab learners are sensitive to syntactic and semantic properties associated with the English dative alternation. The experiment involved picture tasks with two structures: the prepositional dative structure and the double object dative structure. Overall, the results of the experiment show that the L2 learners failed to acquire the double object dative structure which does not exist in their L1. Based on these results, it is argued that L1 has an important effect on the acquisition of L2.

scholarly journals Pragmatische aspecten van de datiefalternering in het Nederlands

1970 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 87-107
Author(s):  
Timothy Colleman
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Trivalent Verbs

The majority of Dutch trivalent verbs taking both a Patient and a Recipientargument allow for two different complementation patterns: theRecipient is either encoded as a bare NP in a double object pattern (Jefgeeft Piet een boek) or as a PP headed by aan (Jef geeft een boek aanPiet). As for the function of this variation (known as Dative Alternation),various authors have suggested semantic explanations, often basedupon the notion of affectedness. lt is clear, however, that the hypotheticalsubtle semantic differences between the two constructions may beoverridden by pragmatic factors . This paper presents the results of aninvestigation into the correlation between information structure andDative Alternation in Dutch.

A multivariate analysis of the Old English ACC+DAT double object alternation

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovic De Cuypere
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Old English ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Double Object ◽  
British English ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation

AbstractIn Old English, the ditransitive construction with an accusative (direct) object and a dative (indirect) object occurred with two alternating object orders: ACC-DAT vs. DAT-ACC. This study examines the motivations behind the OE speakers’ choice for one of both orders. The effect of 16 factors was evaluated based on a corpus sample of N = 2409 sentences drawn from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose (Taylor et al. 2003). The data was analysed by means of a mixed-effects logistic regression analysis. The results indicate that the ACC+DAT alternation was largely driven by the same factors that motivate the dative alternation in later stages of British English. However, no evidence was found for specific verb preferences in Old English, which suggests that the OE object alternation was less driven by semantics than the dative alternation in PDE. It is argued that the results further substantiate Wolk et al.’s (2012) claim that the cognitive mechanisms underlying present-day probabilistic patterns also underlie past variation.

scholarly journals Double object constructions and dative / accusative alternations in Spanish and Catalan: A unified account

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Pineda
Keyword(s):  
Font Size ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Clitic Doubling ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Transitivity Alternations ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Ditransitive Constructions

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" lang="EN-US">This paper has a twofold aim: to present a unified analysis of ditransitive constructions and transitivity alternations (dative/accusative alternations) in Spanish. As for the first phenomenon, and more concretely the purported existence in Spanish of something comparable to the English dative alternation, we will show the weaknesses of what we consider an analysis fruit of the tendency consisting of finding in the Romance area an exact reflex of English facts. Therefore, we will refute the hypothesis defended by several authors (Masullo 1992, Demonte 1995, Romero 1997, Cuervo 2003a,b) according to which Spanish ditransitive constructions with dative clitic doubling correspond to double object constructions (DOC), whereas non-doubled constructions correspond to the so-called prepositional constructions (PC), or <em>to-</em>dative, in English. After a careful and exhaustive examination of the data, we will argue that Spanish (and Catalan) ditransitive constructions instantiate DOC, whether they bear clitic doubling or not. &nbsp;Pronominalization facts in Catalan, a language which preserves prepositional clitics, will support this analysis, based on the postulation of an affectedness/possession restriction with gradual implementation. As for the second phenomenon of study, the existence of true case alternations in Spanish, we will argue that we are dealing with a kind of variation constrained by the same restriction (or a version of it) which acts in the realm of ditransitive predicates. Here, also, Catalan data will reveal crucial for our analysis. Crucially, we will show that what lies behind Spanish and Catalan dative/accusative alternation is an instance of Differential Indirect Object Marking (DIOM</span>

Thematic Organization and the Analysis of Selected Online Academic Scientific Journals' Site

2010 ◽  
pp. 376-388
Author(s):  
Foluke Olayinka
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Scientific Journals ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Given

This chapter analyses the thematic organization of the instruction to authors’ section of selected online academic scientific journals’ sites. Fifteen scientific journals were selected randomly from different fields in the sciences. The theoretical framework for the study is provided by Systemic Functional Linguistics. The results showed that the marked theme had a higher occurrence than the unmarked theme. The marked themes were realized by adverbials and grammatical subjects. The unmarked themes were realized by subjects and predicates. Simple themes had a higher occurrence than multiple themes while interpersonal themes had more frequency than textual themes. The editors observed the given-new information structure as there was a low occurrence of entirely new information. The derived theme pattern was mostly used while the split-theme pattern had the least occurrence. The results show that the editors of these journals made use of these structures to organize their message logically and coherently.

scholarly journals The semantics of the aan-construction in 16th-century Dutch: A semasiological and onomasiological approach

Literator ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Rens
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

This article focuses on the semantics of the Dutch aan-construction [NP V NP aan NP], for example, Jan geeft een boek aan Piet (‘Jan gives a book to Piet’) in the 16th-century. In modern Dutch the aan-construction is used as an alternative to the Dutch double object construction, but previous research suggests that the use of ditransitive verbs in the Dutch aan-construction is only a 16th-century innovation – this alternation is called the ‘dative alternation’. However, it is not clear which ditransitive verbs initiated the dative alternation. Colleman (2010) believes that the first instances of the ditransitive use of the aan-construction are concrete physical movements of the direct object from the subject to the indirect object; however, he argues there is no quantitative proof to support those claims. In a self-compiled corpus of 16th-century Dutch, this article tries to find the evidence which is needed to underpin Colleman’s hypothesis by making use of the distinctive collexeme analysis and its diachronic variant. The results show that the first ditransitive instances of the aan-construction are indeed concrete uses, but that there is also an increase in the metaphorical use of the construction.

scholarly journals Which comes first in the double object construction?

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
NURIA YÁÑEZ-BOUZA ◽  
DAVID DENISON
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Late Modern

Competition between two methods of marking recipient/beneficiary and theme has figured in much recent research:(1)Jim gave the driver £5.   (indirect object before direct object)(2)Jim gave £5 to the driver.   (direct object before prepositional phrase)A reverse double object variant is often ignored or treated as a minor and highly restricted variant:(3)(a)?Jim gave £5 the driver.   (direct object before indirect object)(b)Jim gave it him.However, pattern (3) was much more widespread even in late Modern English, while there is clear dialectal variation within present-day British English.In this article we investigate the pronominal pattern (3b), mainly in relation to pattern (1), tracking its progressive restriction in distribution. We mine three of the Penn parsed corpora for the general history in English of double object patterns with two pronoun objects. We then add a further nine dialect and/or historical English corpora selected for coverage and representativeness. A usage database of examples in these corpora allows more detailed description than has been possible hitherto. The analysis focuses on verb lemmas, objects and dialect variation and offers an important corrective to the bulk of research on the so-called Dative Alternation between patterns (1) and (2). We also examine works in the normative grammatical tradition, producing a precept database that reveals the changing status of variants as dialectal or preferred. In our conclusion we show the importance of prefabricated expressions (prefabs) in the later history of (3), sketching an analysis in Construction Grammar terms.

scholarly journals Di-transitive Constructions in Persian Based on the Minimalist Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Azam Shahsavari
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
The Other ◽  
Major Goal ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Minimalist Approach ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Transitive System

<p>This article studies the structure of double-object constructions, a challenging structure in Persian, based on Bowers’ (1993, 2001) minimalist approach. The major goal here is to evaluate the effectiveness of Bowers’ approach in analyzing such constructions. First, we reviewed the Persian grammarians’ analyses of transitivity and the continuity of the transitive system which claims that there are verbs with one object at one side of this continuum and verbs with two objects at the other side. Based on this analysis, transitivity differs from verb to verb. In other words, di-transitive verbs are more transitive than other verbs because they have to get two objects so that the omission of one of these objects makes the construction ungrammatical. In this study we used Bowers’ approach (1993, 2001), i.e., double predication phrase design, to analyze the above mentioned structures in Persian. Later the sequence of the direct-indirect object was identified to be the unmarked grammatical sequence in Persian based on native speakers’ language intuition.</p>

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