[pt] Investiga-se a compreensão de orações interrogativas QU e QUmaisN e relativas de objeto no Português Brasileiro, as quais demandam alto custo de processamento e, por conseguinte, acarretam dificuldades de compreensão, especialmente para crianças DEL. Custo de processamento é caracterizado a partir de um modelo de computação em tempo real de base minimalista. A hipótese de trabalho é a de que o custo de processamento daquelas estruturas pode ser diferenciado em função da natureza dos traços dos elementos envolvidos na computação sintática, e da possibilidade de integração imediata de DPs com informação prévia. Um elemento do mesmo tipo do constituinte movido, quando situado entre a posição canônica e a posição final deste, acarretaria alto custo de processamento, conforme o Princípio Estendido de Minimalidade Relativizada. Previu-se que a presença de um DP pronominal interveniente facilitaria a compreensão. Além disso, considerou-se a possibilidade de o elemento interveniente permitir antecipar a relação verbo/objeto antes de a posição de objeto ser encontrada e o antecedente reativado, prevendo-se, com isso, custo relativamente baixo. 71 crianças (7-10 anos) foram testadas por meio do MABILIN. 20 crianças identificadas com suspeita de DEL e 20 de um grupo-controle participaram de um experimento com vistas a verificar as previsões acima. Os resultados apontam para uma melhora significativa na compreensão quando o elemento interveniente é constituído de um DP pronominal, particularmente no grupo suspeito de DEL, e quando a integração com informação prévia é possível. Apresenta-se material de leitura dirigido a crianças com dificuldades de linguagem a partir desses resultados. / [en] The comprehension of object relative clauses and objects WH-questions in Brazilian Portuguese is investigated. Being the processing of these sentences highly costly, it causes comprehension difficulties, especially for SLI children. Processing cost is characterized on the basis of an integrated model of on-line linguistic computation, incorporating minimalist assumptions. The working hypothesis is that the processing cost of such structures can be differentiated as a function of the type of features of the elements involved in the syntactic computation, and the possibility of the immediate mapping of DPs onto background information. An element of the same kind of the moved constituent, when situated between the canonical and the final position of the latter, would lead to high processing cost, in the light of the Extended Relativized Minimality Principle. It was then predicted that the presence of an intervening pronominal DP would facilitate comprehension. Moreover, the possibility was considered of an intervening element to allow the anticipation of a verb/object relation before the object position was found and the antecedent reactivated, thereby facilitating processing. 71 children (aged 7–10) were tested by means of MABILIN. An experiment aiming at verifying those predictions was conducted with 20 children identified as language impaired and 20 typically developing children. A significant improvement in performance could be attested when the intervening element was a pronominal DP, particularly in the SLI group, and when integration with background information was possible. Reading material to children with language difficulties is presented, which is based on these results.

This thesis investigates the second language acquisition of Japanese relative clauses (RCs) by native speakers of English or Korean. Researchers have argued that Universal Grammar (UG) can be accessed in adult second language (L2) acquisition. The Full Transfer Full Access (FTFA) Hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse 1994, 1996) claims that after initial transfer from L1, learners reset their parameter values and are able to acquire L2 properties that are different from their L1. Japanese and English relativization: while Japanese relativization does not involve movement in the syntax (Kuno 1973, Saito 1985, etc.), English relativization involves obligatory operator movement and is subject to movement constraints like Subjacency. Because of Subjacency, certain RC structures are prohibited in English. In Japanese, on the other hand, a zero pronominal, pro, is base-generated in the gap position of an RC and coindexed with the relative head noun, and thus long distance relativization is possible. I argue that the presence or absence of pro is also a parametric difference between Japanese and English; pro is present in Japanese, but not in English. In order for English speakers to acquire Japanese RCs, they need to reset the values of these two parameters. / Experimental studies were conducted with high-intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese (15 English speakers and 18 Korean speakers). Tests examined the learners' knowledge of the two grammatical properties in Japanese---namely, the lack of wh-movement and the presence of pro. Korean is different from English but similar to Japanese with respect to the parameters in question. Following FTFA, it is hypothesized that English-speaking learners initially transfer their L1 values, and that eventually they are able to switch parameters to the L2 values by accessing UG. The results of several tasks (including interpretation tasks and judgment tasks) confirm this hypothesis; while Korean speakers generally performed well irrespective of proficiency levels, English-speaking intermediate learners transferred their L1 values, failing to accept grammatical Japanese sentences that are not possible in English. English-speaking advanced learners, on the other hand, performed better than intermediate learners, and exhibited evidence that they had acquired the two properties of Japanese, supporting FTFA.

This dissertation investigates the structure of Internally Headed Relative Clauses (henceforth, IHRCs) within the framework of Government and Binding Theory. I propose that the structure of IHRCs involves a modifying clause predicted of a head. We provide empirical as well as conceptual arguments showing that the head of an IHRC is a pro licensed by coindexation with the internal head. Following Safir's (1986) LCR, this licensing must be mediated by A$ sp prime$-Binding, which is effected by operator-movement to COMP within the modifying clause. Island Constraints provide evidence for operator-movement in IHRCs. IHRCs pattern with other Wh-constructions in this way. Correlatively, if there are no Island effects in IHRCs, there are no Island effects with other Wh-constructions (cf. Lakhota, Mojave). In this case an Unselective Binding relation is established in the language. Other properties such as the Definiteness Effect and the occurence of Switch-reference markers in IHRCs in Choctaw are also shown to follow from independent parameters. / The consequences of our analysis for Baker's (to appear) theory of Configurationality are explored. We propose to expand Baker's theory to allow "discontinuous" constituents of the type (Wh$ sb1$ ... OP$ sb1$) to account for Island effects in IHRCs of pronominal languages like Mohawk and Navajo. / No special rules for the interpretation of IHRCs are required. The LF-Raising rule proposed in Williamson (1987), which raises the internal head at LF to the COMP of the IHRC is shown to derive from the LCR as it is required to create an operator-variable (A$ sp prime$-Binding) relation. We provide further independent evidence for this rule in Chapter 2.

O objetivo desta dissertação é comparar o uso ou a omissão de preposições e artigos nas orações relativas de estudantes brasileiros de ELE e nativos de E. O estudo buscou verificar se os estudantes brasileiros de ELE utilizam o relativo acompanhado de preposição e artigo, quando o usam e como o fazem; quais contextos favorecem a elipse de preposição + artigo; se o comportamento sintático entre os estudantes brasileiros e os nativos se assemelha e quais as possibilidades para essas semelhanças / diferenças. Para tanto, analisamos um corpus recolhido de testes escritos de reformulação de orações de três grupos de estudantes brasileiros adultos de ELE e o comparamos às produções de reformulações de um grupo de nativos de E argentinos. De acordo com nossas hipóteses iniciais e bibliografia consultada, as orações cortadoras seriam as mais produzidas pelos estudantes, mas de acordo com nossos dados, essa não foi a opção mais usada, e sim a opção sem o artigo com preposição. Pensamos que isso se deve ao caráter mais formal (escrito) dos testes. Concluímos que os brasileiros, em sua língua nativa, não usariam tal estrutura, mas quando têm que lidar com o E, preferem cortar o artigo em vez de produzir uma estrutura que seja mais comum em PB como a cortadora. Em contrapartida, os nativos usaram com mais frequência as orações padrão, que quase não apareceram nos resultados dos estudantes brasileiros. Ou seja, o comportamento sintático dos estudantes brasileiros e dos nativos foram evidentemente diferentes. Os estudantes brasileiros nem sempre preferiram o uso de relativas com quien para antecedente [+animado], como predizem as gramáticas. Aliás, o uso das duas orações padrão (prep. + quien e prep.+ art. + que) foi bastante equilibrado. Os nativos de E, para o mesmo tipo de antecedente, usaram a oração padrão com o relativo que com maior frequência. Quando a oração relativa apresentou caráter causal, os informantes brasileiros e nativos foram levados a expressar essa relação causal e evitaram a oração relativa. / The objective of this dissertation is to compare the use or omission of prepositions in relative clauses and articles of Brazilian students of ELE and native E speakers. The study aimed at verifing whether the Brazilian students use prepositions, accompanied by the relative pronoun and articles, when they use and how they do that; contexts which favor the ellipse \"preposition + article\"; if the syntactic behavior among Brazilian students matches the native speakers and the possibilities for these similarities / differences. To this end, we collected a corpus reformulation\'s sentences of written tests of three groups of Brazilian adult students of ELE and compared to the production of reformulations of a group of Argentinian E. native speakers. According to our initial hypotheses and consulted literature, students produce more often pp-chopping sentences, but according to our data, this was not the preferred option, but the one without article and with preposition. We think this is due to the more formal nature of the (written) tests. We concluded that Brazilian students in their native language would not use such a structure, but when they have to deal with E, they prefer to cut the article instead of producing a structure that is more common in PB - like the pp-chopping. In contrast, the native speakers used standard sentences more often, which hardly ever appeared in the results of Brazilian students. That is, the syntactic behavior of Brazilian students and native speakers were evidently different. Brazilian students do not always preferred the use of relative pronoun using \"quien\" for the antecedent [+ animate], as grammatically expected. In fact, the use of two standard sentences (\"prep. + quien\" and \"prep. + art. + que) was fairly balanced. The native speakers of E, for the same type antecedent, used the standard sentence with the relative \"que\" with more frequency. When the relative clause introduced causal character, Brazilians and native speaker informants were led to express this causal relationship and avoided the relative clause.

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No description available.

The purpose of this research was to test the predictions of the Accessibility Hierarchy (AH) theory (Keenan & Comrie, 1977) applying it to the Russian language. According to this theory, relative clauses (RC) are acquired in a fixed unidirectional order: from subject (S) - the highest (unmarked) and more susceptible to relativization position - to object of comparative (OCOM) - the lowest (marked) and less susceptible to relativization position. Since some researchers (Hamilton, 1994) claim that the AH is multidirectional rather than unidirectional, this study takes into consideration these findings as well. The present study attempts to determine (a) if learners of the Russian language are able to make generalizations about more unmarked RC positions after receiving instruction only on a relatively marked relative clause position (in this study it is OPR - object of a preposition), and (b) if instruction on unmarked relative clause position facilitates learners' ability to generalize that learning to marked relative clauses. Participants of the study were Brigham Young University students studying Russian as a second language. Two groups, the basic treatment group (BG) and the complex treatment group (CG) with a total of fifty-four subjects, completed pretests and posttests, each of which included two elicitation tasks: a combination test (CT) and a grammaticality judgment test (GJT). Both groups received instruction between the tests. The BG received instruction on the subject (S), the direct object (DO), and the indirect object (IO) RC positions. The CG received instruction only on the OPR position. Three types of error, incorrect adjacency, incorrect morphological RC ending, and pronoun retention, were analyzed separately. In addition, the CT investigated the acquisition of pied-piping structure in the OPR and GEN types. The results of the research support Hamilton's (1994) findings and suggest that generalization is clearly not unidirectional. Regardless of type of instruction the subjects of both groups generalized their learning in both directions.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study focused on three descriptive nominal modifiers which specify the attributes of nouns, i.e. the morphological adjective, the relative clause and the descriptive possessive. The morphological adjective appears in an adjectival phrase, which has to consist of a determiner and an adjective. The adjective must have agreement with the head noun in an NP. The adjective root may appear with nominal suffixes such as -ana and -gadi, it can be reduplicated, it may be transposed to other categories and it may even be compounded. The AP may also occur in predicative position as well as in comparative clauses. The relative clause may have the same semantic properties as the adjective. The relative clause in Setswana consists of a determiner in the position of the complementizer followed by an lP. Such an lP may have a copulative or non-copulative verb. Attention in this study has focused on the nominal relative, which appears as a complement of a copulative verb. These nominal relative stems have been divided into two sections, i.e. a section in which the nominal relative stems may not appear in a descriptive possessive construction and a second section where these stems may also appear as a complement of the possessive [a]. The semantic features of these nominal relative stems have been isolated and it is clear that they show a wide variety of semantic features. This type of relative clause represents the most prolific category, which specifies the attributes of nouns. The third category, which displays the semantic feature of an attribute of a noun, is the descriptive possessive construction. The syntactic and semantic structure of this type of phrase has been investigated. A wide variety of complements of the possessive [a] have been isolated in Setswana and some semantic features have received specific attention, i.e. group nouns and partitives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie fokus op drie deskriptiewe nominale bepalers wat die attribute van naamwoorde spesifiseer nl. die morfologiese adjektief, die relatief en die deskriptiewe possessief. Die morfologiese adjektief kom voor in 'n adjektieffrase wat bestaan uit 'n bepaler en 'n adjektief. Die adjektief moet klasooreenstemming hê met die kernnaamwoord in 'n naamwoordfrase. Die adjektiefstam kan voorkom met nominale suffikse soos ana en gadi, dit kan geredupliseer word, oorgeplaas word na ander kategorieë en selfs samestellings vorm. Die adjektieffrase kan ook voorkom in 'n predikatiewe posisie sowel as in vergelykings. Die relatief kan dieselfde semantiese eienskappe hê as die adjektief. Die relatief in Setswana bestaan uit 'n bepaler in die posisie van die komplementeerder gevolg deur 'n infleksiefrase. So 'n infleksiefrase kan 'n kopulatiewe of nie-kopulatiewe werkwoord bevat. Die aandag in hierdie studie het gekonsentreer op die nominale relatief wat voorkom as 'n komplement van 'n kopulatiewe werkwoord. Hierdie nominale relatiewe stamme is verdeel in twee afdelings nl. 'n afdeling waarin die nominale relatiewe stamme nie kan voorkom in 'n deskriptiewe possessiewe konstruksie en 'n tweede afdeling waar hierdie stamme ook kan voorkom as 'n komplement van die possessiewe [a]. Die semantiese kenmerke van hierdie nominale relatiewe stamme is geïsoleer en dit is duidelik dat hulle 'n wye verskeidenheid van semantiese kenmerke het. Hierdie tipe relatief verteenwoordig In baie wye keuse t.o.v. die attribute van naamwoorde. Die derde kategorie wat die semantiese kenmerk van 'n attribuut van 'n naamwoord vertoon, is die deskriptiewe possessiewe konstruksie. Die sintaktiese en semantiese struktuur van hierdie tipe frase is nagegaan. 'n Groot verskeidenheid komplemente van die possessiewe [a] is geïsoleer in Setswana en sommige semantiese kenmerke het spesifieke aandag gekry nl. groepnaamwoorde en partitiiewe.

[pt] Esta dissertação aborda um fenômeno pouco estudado do Português Brasileiro (PB): o caso dos verbos meteorológicos (v.g. chover, ventar, nevar, trovejar) flexionados no plural em aparente concordância com um tópico de natureza locativa/temporal, especialmente em contextos sintáticos de orações relativas. Esses verbos são investigados à luz de uma proposta de integração entre a teoria linguística de vertente gerativista e modelos procedimentais de natureza serial, a qual tem caracterizado as pesquisas desenvolvidas no Laboratório de Psicolinguística e Aquisição da Linguagem da PUC-Rio (LAPAL). A concordância entre sujeito e verbo é um processo robusto nas línguas naturais e a não compatibilidade entre as marcas de número desses elementos é comumente associada, nas pesquisas que abordam o assunto, aos chamados lapsos de concordância. A fim de investigar se verbos plurais nessas estruturas não passam de instâncias encontradas ao acaso, foram inicialmente, realizados, em ambiente controlado, dois experimentos: um de produção eliciada e um de compreensão envolvendo leitura automonitorada. Os resultados indicam (i) que verbos meteorológicos no plural, quando em orações relativas cortadoras, são efetivamente produzidos por falantes de PB; e (ii) que os falantes de PB não são sensíveis, na compreensão, a tais marcas plurais, num indicativo de que a concordância entre verbo e um locativo/temporal faria parte da gramática da língua, não se configurando como lapso de concordância. Lapsos, segundo resultados do experimento de produção eliciada, poderiam ser postulados apenas para o caso das sentenças relativas padrão. Propostas gerativistas para a caracterização da gramática do PB são consideradas a fim de se prover, a partir delas, uma análise integrada que possa explicar o fenômeno sob investigação. Essa análise é compatível com os resultados de um terceiro experimento, de julgamento de gramaticalidade em tarefa de leitura automonitorada. Verificou-se a taxa de aceitabilidade para verbos meteorológicos no singular e no plural, contrastada a de outros três tipos de verbos (inergativos, inacusativos monoargumentais e inacusativos biargumentais), sempre em orações relativas cortadoras. Os resultados indicam que os verbos meteorológicos se distinguem dos verbos inergativos (que não aceitam concordância com o tópico locativo/temporal) e se aproximam dos verbos inacusativos (que efetivamente licenciam a concordância com tópico). Os lapsos associados a relativas padrão e a concordância com verbos meteorológicos em relativas cortadoras sao explicados à luz do Modelo Integrado da Computação On-Line (MINC), desenvolvido no âmbito das pesquisas do LAPAL. Considera-se que a concordância dos verbos meteorológicos com tópico faria parte da gramática inovadora do PB, podendo-se explicar os resultados experimentais segundo a noção de uma gramática nuclear na qual haveria uma periferia marcada. / [en] This dissertation addresses a recently attested phenomenon in Brazilian Portuguese (BP): plural agreement between climate verbs (v.g. chover, ventar, nevar, trovejar) and locative/temporal topics within relative clauses. This phenomenon is investigated in the light of a proposal that aims at integrating generative linguistics and psycholinguistics procedural models, a line of investigation that has characterized the research developed at the Laboratory of Psycholinguistics and Language Acquisition at PUC-Rio (LAPAL). Subject-verb agreement is a robust process in natural languages and failures in the implementation of agreement have been treated in the psycholinguistics literature in terms of speech errors, not related to grammar knowledge. In order to investigate if agreement with climate verbs is occasional or licensed by the rules of BP, two experiments were initially conducted: an elicited production study and a self-paced reading test. The results indicate that (i) speakers really produce plural climate verbs in the context of relative clauses and (ii) the BP speakers accept the occurrence of these verbs in the plural within relative clauses (specially within non-standard relatives), what favors analysing it as a grammar option and not a mere speech error. Generative proposals are considered in order to provide an integrated analysis that can explain the phenomenon under investigation. This analysis seems to be consistent with the results of a grammaticality judgment task realized as part of a self-paced reading experiment. The rate of acceptability for climate verbs in the singular and plural has been contrasted to the rate of other three types of verbs (unergative, monoargumental and biargumental unaccusative verbs), always in the context of relative clauses. The results indicate that climate verbs differ from unergative ones (which will not allow agreement with locative / temporal topics) and are similar to unaccusative verbs (which effectively license agreement with a topic). The results are explained in the light of an Integrated Model of On- Line Computation (MINC). It is considered that plural agreement of climate verbs with a topic would be compatible to the notion of a core grammar with a marked periphery, characterizing an innovative BP grammar.