The main purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of a third language’s possible effect on learners’ second language acquisition. There is research how a first language affects the acquisition of a second language and that research has shown that a first language does affect the learning of an additional language in different ways. Even though  it is proven that languages do influence each other in learning processes there is very little previous research that studies if and how a third language can be affected by or affect a learner’s second language. To investigate possible differences in error-making, the first research question is to investigate what kind of errors the students make. The most common errors that students make are when subject-verb agreement is noncontiguous. The second research question is to see if Swedish students who know Spanish make different errors in English subject-verb agreement than Swedish students who do not know Spanish. This study finds that there are slight differences in how Swedish students who know Spanish and students who do not know Spanish make errors with English subject-verb agreement. The difference is that the students who know Spanish make fewer errors with noncontiguous subject-verb agreement, especially in relative clauses and with coordinated verb phrases. The fact that these students make fewer errors with noncontiguous subject-verb agreement may be an indication that they have a greater understanding of this grammatical feature. / Lokalt ID: 2011vt4810

Every language have some modal expression what express the possibility and necessity, for example there are modal verbs and modal adverbs in English, and modal verbs, modal adverbs and possible complement for Mandarin Chinese. However in Mandarin Chinese, some modal expressions have similar semantic functions, as ¡§¯à(neng)¡¨, ¡§·|(hui)¡¨, ¡§¥i¥H(keyi)¡¨and possible complement, it could cause confusions to the learners. Furthermore, all of these modal expressions could translated as ¡§할 수 있다¡]hal su itda¡^¡¨ in Korean, so Korean learner would feel that is very difficult. Therefore, this study will contrast the modal expressions of Mandarin Chinese and Korean, and contrast novel¡m¶É«°¤§ÅÊ(Love of the beautiful women)¡nin Mandarin Chinese and Korean, try to explain the problems what the Korean learners could have when they acquire the modal expressions in Mandarin Chinese. Palmer¡]1986¡^classify the modality as epistemic modality, deontic modality and dynamic modality. And he classify the deontic modality as permission, obligation and promise, classify the dynamic modality as volition and ability. Hofmann(1993) classify the dynamic modality as ability and capability, and Porter(2009) classify as ability and opportunity. Present paper would accept the classification of Palmer mainly and refer to the classification of Hofmann and Portner, classify the modality as epistemic modality, deontic modality and dynamic modality, the deontic modality include obligation and permission, and the dynamic modality include volition, ability, capability and opportunity. The result of the study, the counterparts of modal expressions in Mandarin Chinese and Korean is very complicated. The ¡§¯à(neng)¡¨, ¡§·|(hui)¡¨, ¡§¥i¥H(keyi)¡¨and possible complement are equivalent to ¡§¡]으¡^ㄹ 수 있다¡]eul su itda¡^¡¨ altogether, but only negation of ¡§¯à(neng)¡¨, ¡§¥i¥H(keyi)¡¨and possible complement are equivalent to the negation of ¡§¡]으¡^ㄹ 수 있다¡]eul su itda¡^¡¨ , it will cause the difficulty of Korean learners.

Proefschrift--Letteren--Universiteit Leiden, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 383-402.

This dissertation describes six syntactic complex predicates in Q'anjob'al (Maya) spoken in Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala: the Directional Construction (DIRC), Verbal Resultative Predicate (resultative V1V2), Causative Predicate (causative V1V2), Complement-like Predicate (complement-like V1V2), Preverbal Resultative Predicate (R2°P), and Positional Resultative Construction (PRC). They resemble resultatives, serial verbs, and causatives in other languages. The dissertation describes their monoclausal structure, meaning, event and argument structure, and lexical restrictions. These translate into five parameters: (a) they have a single value of time, aspect, modality and polarity, (b) they have a single set of arguments, (c) they have one intonational contour, (d) the elements denote a single event or subparts of a macro event, and (e) the elements minimally involve argument sharing, but could also involve argument fusion, or composition. Q'anjob'al complex predicates have two main features: (a) they are of an asymmetric type in that one element functions as the 'primary' element, and (b) they always have a verbal element (V) with another element that can be verbal or nonverbal (NV). Thus, these complex predicates always have a verbal 'primary' element. Regarding their structure, complex predicates involve four constructions: (a) a nonverbal-verbal construction used by the R2°P and shared by depictives (where it is a non-complex predicate and multi-headed clause), (b) a verb-verb construction used for causative, resultative, and complement-like V1V2s and shared by DIRCs, (c) a verbdirectional construction, a serial verb type, where V is the main verb and DIR corresponds to up to three motion verbs, and (d) a verb-positional construction used by the PRC. In their argument structure, resultatives and causative V1V2s, PRCs, and R2°Ps involve argument fusion, complement-like V1V2s involve raising, and DIRCs may involve argument sharing or fusion depending on the particular type. Regarding event structure, resultative V1V2s, and aspectual DIRCs denote a single event, and other complex predicates denote macro events. Finally, lexical semantics is central for distinguishing complex predicates from each other and from other multi-headed clauses. This dissertation contributes to the documentation of Q'anjob'al and advances the syntactic and semantic analysis of Mayan languages. It also contributes to our understanding of complex predicates through a case study. / text

This dissertation is an exploration of Chinese middle constructions, which starts with distinguishing the middle construction from the middle voice, considering that these two terms have long been used interchangeably with different connotations. Consequently, middle data presented in the literature vary tremendously, both intra-linguistically and inter-linguistically. In order to delineate a clear boundary for the middle construction, this study defines it as a generic semantic category with the obligatory non-realization of a verb’s highest argument. By contrast, the middle voice is a morphological category with various syntactic and semantic features. Starting from the working definition arrived at, the study identifies several middle constructions, viz., the qilai middle, the hao middle, the rongyi/nan middle, the de middle (and the te middles in Chengdu Chinese), the bu middle and transitive middles. Most of these middle constructions come with middle markers, though these are both morphologically and syntactically diversified. In the case of transitive middles, middle formation depends on an idiosyncratic argument realization of a small group of verbs and does not include markers. In this sense, the presence of middle markers is not a design feature of Chinese middles. Moreover, the occurrence of the identified middle markers does not necessarily lead to a middle analysis, because they can also mark other constructions, e.g., the qilai unaccusative construction, the rongyi/nan tough construction, and the de-resultative unaccusative construction. Syntax-wise, Chinese middles can have both complex predicates (e.g., [V-qilai AP] and [rongyi/nan V]) and simple predicates (e.g., hao-V, V-de-A, V-bu-A, V-te-A, V-te), both of which are proved to be unergative in nature. Consequently, these middle constructions are collectively termed “unergative middles”, which stand in contrast with “transitive middles” in terms of transitivity. However, “unergative middles” and “transitive middles” share one property: they do not involve any movement mechanisms. Therefore, both of them are subsumed under the rubric of “lexical middles”, which in addition exhibit the cross-linguistic lexical middle properties proposed by both Marelj (2004) and Lekakou (2005). This study is the first to adopt a parametric approach to Chinese middle constructions. It adds Chinese to languages like English, Dutch and German on the list of lexical middle languages, to be distinguished from syntactic middle languages like French, Italian, Portuguese, and Serbian/Croatian. / published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis studies word order variations in Swiss-German sentences that contain infinitival complements. Such sentences exhibit interesting word order. Verbs can be in different orders and the objects selected by these verbs can be in different positions relative to them. The aim of this thesis is to give a general account of these word order facts based solely on structural properties of the complements in the underlying structure. In particular, it is claimed that Swiss-German verbs that take infinitival complements do not all select the same type of complements. Some verbs (like modals, perception verbs and causatives) select VPs, others (like raising verbs) select IPs and others (like control verbs) select IPs or CPs. Mechanisms such as extraposition, verb raising and proliticization then apply to different structures in order for the sentence to satisfy T-linking. Extraposition applies to IPs and CPs, verb raising to IPs and VPs and procliticization to verbs that are sister to VPs.

The translation of Denominal verbs is not enough analyze in Lithania, thus, the work specifies some definitions of the phenomena, provides its derivation and classifications as well as emphasizes the pecularities of denominal verb in translation process. The subject of the research is based on contrastive analyzes of source and target languages by reffering to Ken Kesey‘s novel ‚ One Flew over Cuckoo‘s Nest‘. The aim of the work is point out pecularities of denominal verbs in tralslation of the novel from English into Lithuanian. / Denominatyvinių veiksmažodžių vertimas mažai tyrinėtas Lietuvoje, todėl darbe supažindinama su šių veiksmažodžių definicijomis, kilme ir klasifikacijomis, bei išryškinami vertimo ypatumai.Tyrimo objektu pasirinkta gretinamoji Keno Kizio romano ‚Skrydis virš gegutės lizdo‘ originalo kalbos ir vertimo kalbos analizė. Tyrimo tikslu siekiama nustatyti denominatyvinių veiksmažodžių ypatumus verčiant šį romaną iš anglų kalbos į lietuvių kalbą.

Šiame darbe analizuojamas sakinio sandaros ir turinio pamatą sudarantys dviejų skirtingo tipo kalbų sintaksiniai predikatai ir jų struktūrinių tipų morfosintaksinis realizavimas daug tyrinėtas anglų kalbos gramatikos darbuose, tačiau ligi šiol mažai aptartas lietuvių kalbos moksliniuose techniniuose tekstuose. Sintaksinio predikato pamatas negali būti vertinamas tik funkciniu požiūriu. Labai svarbus veiksmažodžio (SP) struktūrinės sandaros vertinimas, lemiantis sintaksinės struktūros specifiką, kai veiksmažodis (SP) skaidomas iš vidaus (pvz., pagrindas [head] ir priklausomi rodikliai, linksniai). Veiksmažodžio sandara taip pat turi ir morfologinių, ir sintaksinių aspektų. / The predicate constitutes the basis of a sentence structure and content. The predicate has been researched at length and in depth in the works of English grammars, but is still little discussed in Lithuanian academic works, especially in those concerning scientific and technical texts. The structure of the predicate cannot be approached only functionally. The characterization of the internal division and morphosyntactic structure of the verb as the predicate is quite challenging (e.g. the verb as the head and affixes as dependent indicators in the VP). Accordingly, the morphosyntactic expression of a verb form and the structure inside the predicate is very complicated.

The predicate constitutes the basis of a sentence structure and content. The predicate has been researched at length and in depth in the works of English grammars, but is still little discussed in Lithuanian academic works, especially in those concerning scientific and technical texts. The structure of the predicate cannot be approached only functionally. The characterization of the internal division and morphosyntactic structure of the verb as the predicate is quite challenging (e.g. the verb as the head and affixes as dependent indicators in the VP). Accordingly, the morphosyntactic expression of a verb form and the structure inside the predicate is very complicated. / Šiame darbe analizuojamas sakinio sandaros ir turinio pamatą sudarantys dviejų skirtingo tipo kalbų sintaksiniai predikatai ir jų struktūrinių tipų morfosintaksinis realizavimas daug tyrinėtas anglų kalbos gramatikos darbuose, tačiau ligi šiol mažai aptartas lietuvių kalbos moksliniuose techniniuose tekstuose. Sintaksinio predikato pamatas negali būti vertinamas tik funkciniu požiūriu. Labai svarbus veiksmažodžio (SP) struktūrinės sandaros vertinimas, lemiantis sintaksinės struktūros specifiką, kai veiksmažodis (SP) skaidomas iš vidaus (pvz., pagrindas [head] ir priklausomi rodikliai, linksniai). Veiksmažodžio sandara taip pat turi ir morfologinių, ir sintaksinių aspektų.