Several factors have been identified in the recent literature to explain variation in the selection of sentential complements in recent English, and the article begins with a survey of such factors. ...The article then offers a case study of the impact of such factors on non-finite complements of the adjective afraid on the basis of the Strathy Corpus of Canadian English. Attention is paid for instance to the Extraction and Choice Principles, passive lower predicates, and text type. Multivariate analysis is applied to compare and to shed light on such different explanatory principles. The Choice Principle proves to be by far the most significant predictor of the alternation, while the heavily correlated syntactic feature of Voice appears non-significant. Fiction, as opposed to the informative registers, shows a notable preference for to infinitives, though this finding needs to be replicated in datasets where controlling for author idiolect is possible. Theoretically plausible odds ratios are observed on the Extraction Principle and negation of the predicate, but they are not statistically significant. In the former case, this may well be due to the variable's collinearity with the Choice Principle and its low overall frequency, resulting in a low effective sample size.
This work reports the results of quantitative, variationist analyses of two typologically unusual constructions in order to explore the grammatical conditioning of subject expression in non-finite ...clauses. Both constructions, Galician inflected infinitives and (Puerto Rican) Spanish preposed, nominative infinitival subjects, have not been widely studied. As a result, variable expression/omission of subject marking in these constructions is not yet fully understood. Using corpora of oral data, we extract 732 examples of infinitives in purpose clauses (headed by para) and employ a logistic mixed effect model to explore the linguistic conditioning of the overt/null variants. We find the appearance of overt subject marking to be conditioned nearly identically across the two distinct languages as well as across finite/non-finite clauses. We utilize this lack of difference to propose that the two construction types may be manifestations of one grammaticalization process. As such, we propose the Puerto Rican Spanish variation may provide a new synchronic source of data with which to explore the diachronic source of (Galician) inflected infinitives.
The embedded verb in North Sámi ECM-constructions can appear in one of three different forms: past participle, progressive and infinitive. The existing descriptions of North Sámi say that the past ...participle places the embedded event before the higher event, that the progressive (traditionally called aktio essive) expresses temporal coincidence with the higher event, and that the infinitive normally gets a future interpretation, but it might also coincide temporally with the higher clause. This paper shows that although these generalisations are mostly correct, variation in the temporal interpretation of ECM complement clauses can be caused by a number of factors. In particular, the semantics of the matrix verb and the aspectual properties of the lower verb can influence the temporal relation between the matrix event and the embedded event. In addition, temporal adverbials can shift or fix the time of the embedded event.
The study describes the works that have been published in Slovenská reč since the 1930s until now. It closely characterizes the tendencies of the development in Slovak syntax and heterogenous ...syntactic issues presented in the works throughout all decades during the ninety years of the existence of the journal. The study is divided into several thematic sections. The first part deals with linguistic papers investigating various topics connected with sentence elements and syntagmas. Due to the long-term tradition of valency research in the Slovak context, special attention is paid to valency research in Slovak linguistic works. The linguistic phenomena of a two-fold nature – both syntactic and morphological, lexical and orthographic – are closely described in a separate section. The following part focuses on works that analyze compound and complex sentences and questions related to the functioning of non-finite clauses. Finally, the papers dealing with textual syntax phenomena including marked syntactic constructions close the study. The summary brings a recapitulation of the findings and highlights the most prominent figures and the most crucial issues of the syntactic research. At the same time, it points to the challenges that have to be taken on by the linguistic community in the future.
本文重新探討「被」的句法地位以及長短被字句之間的句法衍生關係，提出三個假 設：（a)「被」爲動詞，這一觀點得到來自反身代詞「自己」、漢語片段語結構以及被字 句的控制-提升變換特性三方面新證據的支持；（b)長被字句有近距離長被字句和遠距離 長被字句之分。前者與其相應的短被字句可以具有同一底層結構，而後者沒有短被字句 形式；（c)通過重新分析一些否定測試，文章假設「被」選擇非限定性子句爲補足語， ...其中不含AspP或CrsP, This paper revisits the categorial status of the Mandarin passive marker bei and the derivational relationship between long and short bei passives. In regard to its categorial status, there have been three major analyses: bei is a preposition, or is a verb, or it has the dual status of being both a verb and a preposition. This paper reviews these views, especially the latter two, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. On this basis, it makes three claims. (a) Bei is a verb, which is supported by the new evidence from reflexive ziji tests, Chinese fragmentary constructions, and the chameleonic properties of the bei passive alternating between control and raising structures. (b) As for the structures of the long and short passives, by reviewing the uniform and non-uniform approaches, we provide the third approach, arguing that long passives can be further divided into local long and long-distance passives. The local long passive and its corresponding short form may be derivationally related, while the long-distance passive does not have a short form. (c) By reinterpreting the facts from some negation tests, we argue that the semi-lexical verb bei subcategorizes for a non-finite clause that does not involve Aspect phrase (AspP) or Currently Relevant State phrase (CrsP).
PRO is considered as a substructure in linguistic studies that was first expressed by linguists in 1970s. Cognitive linguists also have conducted plenty of studies in this field. The current study ...aims at finding the Persian verbal treatment in active and passive voices of finite and non-finite clauses confronting PRO according to cognitive linguistics. To do so, at the beginning, each classification of Persian verbs is introduced and studied. The main hypothesis of this research is that all Persian verbs treat equally while facing PRO. Then, the verbs are compared and contrasted and the table of treatment is presented. At the end, all Persian verbs are compared and in the concluding table, the treatment of Persian verbs facing PRO is drawn. The results of this study indicate that Persian verbs have shown different treatment confronting PRO and they don’t act similarly. The most significant conclusions of this paper indicate that Persian verbs in finite active voices react positively to PRO which means that the existence of PRO is possible in this clause while in non-finite active voices, no PRO was found that means in under this condition, Persian verbs react negatively to PRO. And finally, Persian verbs have non-stable treatment in passive voices and treated differently. In finite passive voices of Persian verbs except one classification of verbs that treated negatively to PRO, the other groups took both positive and negative position which means in some cases, they permitted the existence of PRO and in some other cases, PRO wasn't observed in the clause. And finally, in non-finite passive voices of Persian verbs, except one group of verbs, the other classification of verbs took negative position against PRO which means PRO wasn't found in these types of clauses but one group of verbs, took neutral position against PRO.
A number of constructions in English are hard to classify as clause or clause complex when they contain non-finite components. The key to identifying their status is to decide whether the non-finite ...component constitutes a non-finite clause. This paper uses insights drawn from Systemic Functional Grammar to suggest some criteria for non-finite clause identification. Consideration is given first to criteria from the ideational perspective (process, participant and relator) and second to criteria from the interpersonal. It is concluded that these criteria are helpful in a number of problem cases, but they are not a solution for all types of clauses with non-finite components, and more studies are needed to provide better generalization.
In
this paper, we present a diachronic and synchronic analysis of raising and
extraposition constructions in the historical
Brown Corpus
and the more contemporary
English Web Corpus
2015
.
We begin ...by establishing two diachronic facts: first, raising constructions are
used much more frequently than their semantically equivalent extraposition
variants, and second, the distribution of raising and extraposition remains –
rather exceptionally in comparison to other structures allowing for
finite/non-finite variation – diachronically consistent from the beginning of
the 20th century to 2015. We then supplement this unique diachronic
distribution with an analysis of the most recent corpus data, which shows that
the choice between the two semantically equivalent constructions is governed by
distinct structural factors unique to each construction. Concretely, we show
that the raising construction is frequently used as a relative clause, whereas
the extraposition variant generally resists such a syntactic role. By contrast,
we show that a prominent factor in favour of extraposition relates to the
negative marker, which is placed with similar frequency both in the matrix and
in the embedded clause of the extraposition construction in contrast to the
raising variant, which uses the negative marker almost exclusively in the
matrix clause. Lastly, we show that extraposition constructions contain modal
verbs in the matrix clause more frequently than the raising variants and we tie
this observation to the idea that the clausal composition of the extraposition
construction is structurally more suited for expressing tentativeness.
U ovome radu predstavljamo dijakronijsku i
sinkronijsku analizu konstrukcija s uzdižućim predikatima (
raising predicates
) i konstrukcija s ekstrapozicijom u povijesnoj
bazi
Brown Corpus
i suvremenijoj
English Web Corpus 2015
.
Počinjemo utvrđivanjem dviju dijakronijskih činjenica: 1. uzdižuće (
raising
) konstrukcije koriste se puno
češće od semantički ekvivalentnih inačica s ekstrapozicijom, i 2. distribucija
uzdižućih konstrukcija i ekstrapozicije – prilično iznimno u usporedbi s drugim
strukturama koje dopuštaju varijaciju finitno/nefinitno – dijakronijski je
dosljedna od početka 20. stoljeća sve do 2015. godine. Ovu jedinstvenu
dijakronijsku distribuciju potom dopunjavamo analizom suvremenijega korpusa
koja pokazuje da izborom između ovih dviju semantički ekvivalentnih konstrukcija
upravljaju različiti strukturalni čimbenici svojstveni svakoj od njih.
Konkretno, pokazujemo da se uzdižuća konstrukcija često koristi kao relativna
rečenica, dok se inačica s ekstrapozicijom u toj sintaktičkoj ulozi rijetko
javlja. Nasuprot tomu pokazujemo da se istaknut čimbenik u korist
ekstrapozicije odnosi na oznaku niječnosti koja se podjednako često smješta i u
glavnu i u uklopljenu rečenicu u slučaju konstrukcije s ekstrapozicijom,
nasuprot uzdižuće inčice u kojoj se oznaka niječnosti javlja gotovo isključivo
u glavnoj rečenici. Konačno, pokazujemo da konstrukcije s ekstrapozicijom češće
sadrže modalne glagole u glavnoj rečenici nego li uzdižuće inačice te tu
opservaciju povezujemo s idejom da je rečenična struktura konstrukcija s
ekstrapozicijom strukturalno prikladnija za izražavanje
nesigurnosti/uvjetnosti.
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