by Hua Dongfan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references. / Acknowledgments --- p.i / Abstract --- p.i i / Table of Contents --- p.iv / List of tables --- p.vii / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1. --- The English Dative --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2. --- The Learnability Problem --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3. --- Aims of the Present Study --- p.8 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Approaches to the Acquisition of the English Dative --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1. --- Approaches to the Acquisition of the English Dative --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.1. --- An Item-by-item Approach --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.2. --- A Semantic and Morphophonological Approach --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.3. --- A Formal Approach --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2. --- Empirical Studies on the Acquisition of the English Dative --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.1. --- L1 Acquisition of the English Dative --- p.22 / Chapter (a) --- Mazurkewich and White (1984) --- p.22 / Chapter (b) --- White ( 1987 ) --- p.23 / Chapter (c) --- Gropen et al . (1989) --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2.2. --- L2 Acquisition of the English Dative --- p.27 / Chapter (a) --- Mazurkewich ( 1984 ) --- p.27 / Chapter (b) --- Le Compagnon (1984) --- p.28 / Chapter (c) --- Hawkins ( 1987 ) --- p.31 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Research Design and Procedure --- p.36 / Chapter 3.1. --- Test Design --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1.1. --- Test 1 --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1.2. --- Hypotheses --- p.44 / Chapter 3.2. --- Test 2 --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3. --- Test 3 and Test 4 --- p.47 / Chapter 3.4. --- Cloze Test --- p.50 / Chapter 3.5. --- Subjects --- p.50 / Chapter 3.6. --- Test Procedure --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- . Results --- p.54 / Chapter 4.1. --- Scoring Method --- p.54 / Chapter 4.2. --- Results of Test 1 --- p.55 / Chapter 4.2.1. --- Subjects' Judgments of Prepositional Datives --- p.55 / Chapter 4.2.2. --- Subjects' Judgments of Double-object Datives --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2.2.1. --- Performance of Native Speakers --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2.2.2. --- Performance of Secondary Students --- p.57 / Chapter 4.2.2.3. --- Performance of University Students --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2.2.4. --- The Effect of L1 --- p.62 / Chapter 4.3. --- Results of Test 2 --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4. --- Results of Test 3 and Test 4 --- p.64 / Chapter 4.5. --- Summary --- p.67 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Discussion --- p.71 / Chapter 5.1. --- The Semantic Constraint on the English Dative --- p.71 / Chapter 5.2. --- Overgeneralization and the Learnability Problem --- p.76 / Chapter 5.3. --- L1 Influence on Dative Acquisition by Chinese ESL Learners --- p.81 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusions --- p.85 / References --- p.89 / Chapter Appendix I. --- Verb Check List --- p.93 / Chapter Appendix IIa. --- Instruction for Test 1 --- p.94 / Chapter Appendix IIb. --- Test Sentences for Test 1 --- p.96 / Chapter Appendix IIIa. --- Instruction for Test 2 --- p.103 / Chapter Appendix IIIb. --- Test Sentences for Test 2 --- p.104 / Chapter Appendix IVa. --- Instruction for Test 3 --- p.107 / Chapter Appendix IVb. --- Test Sentences for Test 3 --- p.108 / Chapter Appendix Va. --- Instruction for Test 4 --- p.110 / Chapter Appendix Vb. --- Test Sentences for Test 4 --- p.111 / Chapter Appendix VI. --- Cloze Test --- p.114

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of for-to complements in several dialects, focusing primarily on Appalachian English, though Belfast English and Ottawa Valley English are also examined. Following Chomsky's Government and Binding theory, we develop an analysis of for-to that predicts the distribution of for-to complements based on the requirements of Case, and the varieties of licit movement of features allowed by each dialect. To do this, we propose a Revised Case Filter which requires functional categories bearing Case features to discharge Case. We also show that the features of functional categories can move either by head movement (allowing movement of to into for) or by feature transmission (allowing for to move into to). / Each of these mechanisms generates a specific range of well-formed for-to complements; the distribution of these complements can be predicted by the ways in which the dialects allow features to move. Appalachian English and Ottawa Valley English allow head movement of features only, while Belfast English allows features to move via head movement and feature transmission. Thus for-to complements are more wide-spread in Belfast English than in the other for-to dialects. Standard English, which does not allow features to move unless they are accompanied by lexical material, does not exhibit for-to complements at all.

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by Choi Lai Kun, Annie. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [122]-125). / Acknowledgements / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Second Language Acquisition Research: Background and the Present Study / Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Rationale for the Present Study --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Literature Background --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Finiteness in Verb Complementation as the Target for Research --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- Differences between L1 (Cantonese) and L2 (English) --- p.12 / Chapter 1.2.4 --- Minimal Effect of Formal Instruction and Negative Evidence --- p.18 / Chapter 1.2.5 --- Research Issues --- p.19 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Grammatical Analysis and Theoretical Issues / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2 --- Definition of Finiteness --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Properties of Finiteness --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Tense of the That-Clause and the Infinitival Clause --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The Infinitival Particle TO --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Modality of the That-Clause and the Infinitival Clause --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3 --- Classification of Clausal Complement Taking Verbs --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- A Syntactic Classification --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- A Semantic Classification --- p.32 / Chapter 2.4 --- Theoretical Issues on Syntactic-Semantic Mappings --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Canonical Structural Realization (Grimshaw 1981) --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Correspondence between Syntactic Structure and Conceptual Structure (Jackendoff 1991) --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Bootstrapping Proposals on the Acquisition of Verb Meaning --- p.43 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Syntactic-Semantic Mappings of Clausal Complements --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5 --- Review of SLA Literature --- p.48 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- L1 Transfer in L2 Verb Lexis --- p.48 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Semantics-Syntax Correspondence in SLA (Juffs 1994) --- p.51 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Language Transfer (Martohardjono & Flynn 1993) --- p.56 / Chapter 2.5.4 --- Argument Structure in SLA (White 1991) --- p.59 / Chapter 2.6 --- Hypotheses to the Research Issues --- p.62 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- The Experiments / Chapter 3.1 --- Experiment I --- p.69 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Introduction --- p.69 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Subjects --- p.71 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Procedure --- p.71 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Logic and Hypotheses of the Test --- p.72 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- Results of the Experiment --- p.82 / Chapter 3.1.6 --- Analysis of the Results --- p.87 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Follow-up Test --- p.100 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- The Test --- p.100 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Subjects --- p.105 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Procedure --- p.106 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Analysis of the Results --- p.106 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Conclusion / Chapter 4.1 --- Conclusion --- p.112 / Chapter 4.2 --- Future Research --- p.121 / References / Appendix I / Appendix II