It is shown that internal argument sharing is a necessary property of serial verb constructions in Ewe. Data involving the marking of oblique/default Case in Ewe show that argument sharing is mediated by the presence of empty categories, contra proposals by Baker (1989, 1991). Serial verb constructions are analyzed as control structures where the second verb incorporates into the first verb at LF

The phenomenon of grammaticalization - the historical process whereby new grammatical material is created - has attracted a great deal of attention within linguistics. This is an attempt to provide a general account of this phenomenon in terms of a formal theory of syntax. Using Chomsky's Minimalist Program for linguistic theory, Roberts and Roussou show how this approach gives rise to a number of important conceptual and theoretical issues concerning the nature of functional categories and the form of parameters, as well as the relation of both of these to language change. Drawing on examples from a wide range of languages, they construct a general account of grammaticalization with implications for linguistic theory and language acquisition.

Argument sharing in serial verb constructions

Syntactic Change: A Minimalist Approach to Grammaticalization

This paper provides a new perspective on the options available to languages for encoding directed motion events. Talmy (2000) introduces an influential two-way typology, proposing that languages adopt either verb- or satellite-framed encoding of motion events. This typology is augmented by Slobin (2004b) and Zlatev & Yangklang (2004) with a third class of equipollently-framed languages. We propose that the observed options can instead be attributed to: (i) the motion-independent morphological, lexical, and syntactic resources languages make available for encoding manner and path of motion, (ii) the role of the verb as the single clause-obligatory lexical category that can encode either manner or path, and (iii) extra-grammatical factors that yield preferences for certain options. Our approach accommodates the growing recognition that most languages straddle more than one of the previously proposed typological categories: a language may show both verb- and satelliteframed patterns, or if it allows equipollent-framing, even all three patterns. We further show that even purported verb-framed languages may not only allow but actually prefer satellite-framed patterns when appropriate contextual support is available, a situation unexpected if a two- or three-way typology is assumed. Finally, we explain the appeal of previously proposed two- and three-way typologies: they capture the encoding options predicted to be preferred once certain external factors are recognized, including complexity of expression and biases in lexical inventories.

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The typology of motion expressions revisited

Phonological mean length of utterance (PMLU) is a whole word measure for measuring phonological proficiency. It measures the length of a child’s word and the number of correct consonants. The present study investigated the phonological length of utterance in native Kannada speaking children of 3 to 7 years age. A total of 400 subjects in the age range of 3-7 years participated in the study. Spontaneous speech samples were elicited from each child and analyzed for PMLU as per the rules suggested by Ingram. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test were employed to compare the differences between the means of PMLU scores across the gender and the age respectively. The result revealed increase in PMLU score as the age increased suggesting a developmental trend in PMLU acquisition. No statistically significant differences were observed between the means of PMLU scores across the gender.

/pdf/language-in-india-strength-for-today-and-bright-hope-for-dfy0rj03tc.pdf

LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

This book introduces beginning students and non-specialists to the diversity and richness of African languages In addition to providing a solid background to the study of African languages, the book presents linguistic phenomena not found in European languages A goal of this book is to stimulate interest in African languages and address the question: What makes African languages so fascinating? The orientation adopted throughout the book is a descriptive one, which seeks to characterize African languages in a relatively succinct and neutral manner, and to make the facts accessible to a wide variety of readers The author’s lengthy acquaintance with the continent and field experiences in western, eastern, and southern Africa allow for both a broad perspective and considerable depth in selected areas The original examples are often the author’s own but also come from other sources and languages not often referenced in the literature This text also includes a set of sound files illustrating the phenomena under discussion, be they the clicks of Khoisan, talking drums, or the ideophones (words like English lickety-split ) found almost everywhere, which will make this book a valuable resource for teacher and student alike

An Introduction to African Languages

The present article aims to give a survey of the typology of serial verb constructions (SVCs) and the criteria that are needed for defining them. For that purpose, it starts with a detailed account of Aikhenvald and Dixon (2006) and their comprehensive cross-linguistic account of SVCs. In a critical discussion of this approach, this article will then address the following three issues. (i) The concept of single eventhood is a more general concept from which a number of Aikhenvald and Dixon's (2006) criteria can be iconically derived. The macro-event property and time-positional operators (Bohnemeyer et al. 2007) provide a good basis for a more coherent definition of what makes an event as far as events are independent of cultural factors. (ii) Some languages like Kalam also use the morphosyntactic expression format of serialization for discourse purposes. Because the narrative use of that construction clearly violates single eventhood, it should not be discussed as an instance of SVC. (iii) Historically, the unmarked juxtaposition of verbs can induce processes of grammaticalization and lexicalization. This article ends with the question of how far the label of ‘serial verb construction’ actually refers to a cross-linguistically coherent phenomenon.

Argument sharing in serial verb constructions

Citations

Syntactic Change: A Minimalist Approach to Grammaticalization

The typology of motion expressions revisited

LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

An Introduction to African Languages

Serial Verb Constructions

Related Papers (5)

The Minimalist Program

Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing

On the double object construction

The antisymmetry of syntax

Derivation by phase