Lexicalists assume that words with derivational morphology and compound words are not formed by syntactic transformation (Selkirk, 1982). The Lexicalist Hypothesis implies that the principles of universal grammar are not operative to word formation. / This thesis argues that a word is composed of lexical constituents and post-lexical constituents, and that the post-lexical constituents can incorporate into a verb, to form the complex predicate. This formational process is subject to syntactic constraints and principles. Therefore, I claim that the principles of universal grammar are also operative to word formation. This hypothesis will throw a new light upon the area of language acquisition of complex predicates.

This thesis is concerned with the syntax of productive morphological causatives in the Finno-Ugric language North Sami, within the theoretical setting of the Chomskian Principles and Parameters/Minimalist framework. Providing rich and novel data, the thesis situates North Sami in the general typology of causative constructions, demonstrating that causatives in this language invariably are of the so-called Faire Par-variety. The issues treated in this thesis are directly concerned with the anatomy of the verb phrase and the fine-grained details of its syntactic decomposition. Specifically, it is argued that the syntactic head that introduces the external argument and which provides the locus of agentivity must be distinct from the head hosting the Cause component of an agentive verb. It is shown that the Faire Par causative selects as its complement a truncated verbal projection corresponding to this Cause component. This captures a long-standing observation that the Base Verb in a Faire Par construction is restricted to a class that can descriptively be characterized as agentive. We thus take issue with other proposals that seek to constrain the formation of Faire Par causatives on other grounds. Furthermore, it is shown that the Base Object in a Faire Par causative is an argument of the causative formative, and not of the Base Verb. This conclusion is based on a number of selectional asymmetries that depend on whether the verb has undergone Faire Par-causativization or not.

本研究探討漢語母子對話中，兒童使用情態動詞(modal verb)「會」的類別、人稱主詞及語用功能。受試者分成第一組(平均兩歲十一個月)與第二組(平均四歲十個月)。研究結果發現認知(epistemic)情態動詞的「會」比動力(dynamic)情態動詞的「會」晚習得，而義務(deontic)情態動詞的「會」則很少出現。其指出不同的習得順序與認知發展有關，即認知上易理解的概念比認知上較不易理解的早習得。在情態動詞「會」的人稱主詞上，兒童在動力和義務情態動詞「會」主要是使用第一人稱當主詞，然而兒童傾向使用第三人稱當認知情態動詞「會」的主詞。而兒童很少使用第二人稱當情態動詞「會」的主詞。情態動詞「會」語句的語用功能方面，動力情態動詞「會」語句包含請求、拒絕、描述、誇耀；義務情態動詞「會」語句只發現承諾的功能；而認知情態動詞「會」語句有爭辯、疑惑、推論的功能。研究結果顯示兒童能掌握情態動詞「會」語句不同的語用功能。 / This study examined Mandarin-speaking children’s different types, person subjects, and pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances in mother-child conversations. Children were divided into Group I (mean age= 2;11) and Group II (mean age= 4;10). The results showed that the epistemic modal hui was acquired relatively late, compared with the dynamic modal hui. The deontic modal hui was a marginal use. It suggests that the different acquisition order seems to involve cognitive development, which means that the cognitively accessible concept may be acquired earlier than the less cognitively accessible one. As for the person subjects of the modal hui, children mainly used the dynamic and deontic modal hui with the first person subject; however, they tended to use the epistemic modal hui with the third person subject. Children rarely used the modal hui with the second person subject. With regard to the pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances, it was found that the functions of the dynamic hui utterances included request, refusal, reporting, and boasting. In the deontic hui utterances, only the function of promise was found. The epistemic hui utterances served the functions of argument, puzzlement, and reasoning. The results suggest that children are sensitive to the pragmatic functional aspects of the modal hui utterances.

No description available.

Previous studies on the acquisition of verb inflection in normally developing children have revealed an astonishing pattern: children use correctly inflected verbs in their own speech but fail to make use of verb inflections when comprehending sentences uttered by others. Thus, a three-year old might well be able to say something like ‘The cat sleeps on the bed’, but fails to understand that the same sentence, when uttered by another person, refers to only one sleeping cat but not more than one. The previous studies that have examined children's comprehension of verb inflections have employed a variant of a picture selection task in which the child was asked to explicitly indicate (via pointing) what semantic meaning she had inferred from the test sentence. Recent research on other linguistic structures, such as pronouns or focus particles, has indicated that earlier comprehension abilities can be found when methods are used that do not require an explicit reaction, like preferential looking tasks. This dissertation aimed to examine whether children are truly not able to understand the connection the the verb form and the meaning of the sentence subject until the age of five years or whether earlier comprehension can be found when a different measure, preferential looking, is used. Additionally, children's processing of subject-verb agreement violations was examined. The three experiments of this thesis that examined children's comprehension of verb inflections revealed the following: German-speaking three- to four-year old children looked more to a picture showing one actor when hearing a sentence with a singular inflected verb but only when their eye gaze was tracked and they did not have to perform a picture selection task. When they were asked to point to the matching picture, they performed at chance-level. This pattern indicates asymmetries in children's language performance even within the receptive modality. The fourth experiment examined sensitivity to subject-verb agreement violations and did not reveal evidence for sensitivity toward agreement violations in three- and four-year old children, but only found that children's looking patterns were influenced by the grammatical violations at the age of five. The results from these experiments are discussed in relation to the existence of a production-comprehension asymmetry in the use of verb inflections and children's underlying grammatical knowledge. / Experimentelle Studien zum Erwerb der Verbflexion bei sprachunauffälligen Kindern haben ein überraschendes Muster aufgezeigt. Kinder im Alter von drei und vier Jahren verwenden Verbflexionsendungen anscheinend korrekt in ihrer eigenen Sprachproduktion, aber sie scheinen unfähig zu sein, Verbflexionen in den Äußerungen anderer zu verstehen. Ein Kind ist also problemlos in der Lage “Sie schläft auf dem Bett.” zu sagen, wenn es die Position von z. B. einer Katze beschreiben möchte. Gleichzeitig scheint es nicht zu verstehen, dass sich ein Satz wie “Sie schläft auf dem Bett” auf nur eine schlafende Katze und nicht mehrere bezieht. Das Verständnis von Sätzen, in denen der einzige Hinweis auf die Anzahl der Handelnden (den Numerus des Subjekts) die Verbflexion ist, wurde bislang nur mit ‘Zeige-Experimenten’ untersucht. In solchen Sprachtests soll das Kind durch eine Zeigegeste auf eines von zwei vorgegebenen Bildern explizit anzeigen wie es den vorgegebenen Satz verstanden hat. Aktuelle Studien, die das Verständnis von sprachlichen Elementen wie Pronomen und Fokuspartikeln bei Kindern untersucht haben, lassen erkennen, dass die Testmethodik einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die kindlichen Sprachverständnisfähigkeiten zu haben scheint. Wenn man Methoden verwendet, die keine explizite Reaktion von Seiten der Kinder verlangen, findet man korrektes Verständnis schon bei jüngeren Kindern. Das Ziel dieser Dissertation war es zu untersuchen, ob drei- und vierjährige Kinder tatsächlich nicht in der Lage sind die Beziehung zwischen Verbform (Art der Verbflexion) und Subjektbedeutung (Numerus des Subjekts) zu verstehen oder ob man korrektes Sprachverständnis in jüngeren Populationen finden kann, wenn eine alternative Testmethode, die Messung der Augenbewegungen, verwendet wird. Zusätzlich wurde untersucht ob Kinder im gleichen Alter Verletzungen der Subjekt-Verb-Kongruenz in auditiv präsentierten Sätzen entdecken. Drei Experimente dieser Dissertation, die das kindliche Sprachverständnis in Bezug auf Verbflexion untersucht haben bringen folgendes Muster zum Vorschein: Deutsch-sprachige Kinder im Alter von drei bis vier Jahren schauten mehr zu einem Bild, auf dem nur ein Akteur zu sehen war, wenn sie einen Satz mit einem singular flektierten Verb hörten (Sie streichelt eine Katze). Andererseits schauten sie mehr zu einem Bild, auf dem zwei Akteure zu sehen waren, wenn sie einen Satz mit einem plural flektierten Verb hörten (Sie streicheln eine Katze). Wenn sie hingegen gebeten wurden, auf das korrekte Bild zu zeigen, reagierten sie nicht besser als es der Zufall erwartet hätte, d.h.~sie waren nicht in der Lage einen Satz einem entsprechenden Bild zuzuordnen. Dieses Ergebnismuster deutet auf die Existenz von (methoden-abhängigen) Asymmetrien innerhalb einer sprachlichen Modalität, dem Sprach-verständnis, hin. Das vierte Experiment untersuchte die kindliche Sensitivität gegenüber der Verletzung von Subjekt-Verb-Kongruenz. Hier zeigte sich, dass das Blickverhalten von fünfjährigen Kindern von der Grammatikalität der Testsätze beeinflusst war, während keine Evidenz für das Erkennen von Grammatikalitätsverletzungen bei jüngeren Kindern gefunden werden konnte. Das asymmetrische Performanzmuster innerhalb der rezeptiven Modalität, das in dieser Arbeit gefunden wurde, erlaubt Rückschlüsse auf die Annahme einer Produktions-Verständnis-Aymmetrie und somit auch auf Theorien zur grammatischen Entwicklung bei Kindern.

This thesis explores ways in which 12 learners of Japanese as a foreign language transform morphologically complex verbs taught as whole words. Written data, collected via a grammar test, and oral data, collected via think-aloud protocols, were used to explore verb-form transformation to the gerund (-te) form. These data were analysed to determine processes participants utilised during derivations. Resulting data indicate participants (1) are largely unaware of morphology, (2) cannot identify consonant-final verb-roots, (3) focus on verb-final characters during categorisation, (4) derive the gerund using prior knowledge – generally grammar rules, (5) link to vocabulary, morphological, phonological, and grammar knowledge during derivations, and (6) differ in performance as measured by the grammar test through utilising types of knowledge differently and in combinations. This implies current pedagogy may not heed learning preferences of learners. This thesis identifies types of knowledge involved during verb transformation tasks and suggests research into task-appropriate lessons.

This thesis examines the argument structures of applicative and causative verbs in Sesotho, and proposes conditions which they must comply with. It is argued that the two conditions in question are in fact general conditions on argument structure rather than restrictions specific to the individual suffixes. The first, the Thematic Hierarchy Condition, which accounts for the unacceptability of unaccusative verbs and experiencer verbs with a Benefactive argument, follows from a universal tendency to have the highest thematic role as the external argument. The second, the Internal Argument Principle, which accounts for the unacceptability of the applicative and causative suffixes with verbs that take two obligatory internal arguments, follows from the fact that basic verbs across languages take no more than two internal arguments. It is argued that this second principle does not follow from Case Theory or Theta Theory. / This thesis also demonstrates that the distinction between structural and inherent Case plays an important role in morphology. It accounts for certain differences between causatives and applicatives, including the unacceptability of causative verbs with an S$ sp prime$ complement and the order in which the applicative and causative suffixes appear.

Typescript (photocopy) / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1980. / Bibliography: leaves 150-154. / Microfiche. / vi, 154 leaves, bound 29 cm

Zugl.: International Faith Theological Seminary (IFTS), Diss., 2009. / 979338697! ; Bd. 10.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct. Etat--Université des sciences humaines de Strasbourg, 1987.