We explore the language production process by eliciting subject-verb agreement errors. Participants were asked to create complete sentences from sentence beginnings such as The elf's/elves' house with the tiny window/windows and The statue in the eirs/elves' gardens. These are subject noun phrases containing a head noun and controller of agreement (statue), and two nonheads, a "local noun" (window(s)/garden(s)), and a possessor noun (elf's/elves'). Past research has shown that a plural nonhead noun (an "attractor") within a subject noun phrase triggers the production of verb agreement errors, and further, that the nearer the attractor to the head noun, the greater the interference. This effect can be interpreted in terms of relative hierarchical distance from the head noun, or via a processing window account, which claims that during production, there is a window in which the head and modifying material may be co-active, and an attractor must be active at the same time as the head to give rise to errors. Using possessors attached at different heights within the same window, we are able to empirically distinguish these accounts. Possessors also allow us to explore two additional issues. First, case marking of local nouns has been shown to reduce agreement errors in languages with "rich" inflectional systems, and we explore whether English speakers attend to case. Secondly, formal syntactic analyses differ regarding the structural position of the possessive marker, and we distinguish them empirically with the relative magnitude of errors produced by possessors and local nouns. Our results show that, across the board, plural possessors are significantly less disruptive to the agreement process than plural local nouns. Proximity to the head noun matters: a possessor directly modifying the head noun induce a significant number of errors, but a possessor within a modifying prepositional phrase did not, though the local noun did. These findings suggest that proximity to a head noun is independent of a "processing window" effect. They also support a noun phrase-internal, case-like analysis of the structural position of the possessive ending and show that even speakers of inflectionally impoverished languages like English are sensitive to morphophonological case-like marking.

This thesis explores the mental representation of subject-verb agreement, and the factors that can affect the determination of agreement in language production. It reports nine experiments that used a task in which participants produced sentence completions for visually presented complex subjects such as “The greyhound which two lively rabbits were tempting”. Such completions typically agree with the head noun (greyhound) as in “A greyhound which two lively rabbits were tempting is jumping” but sometimes agree with the local noun (rabbits) as in “A greyhound which two lively rabbits were tempting are jumping”. The first experiments examined the value of the concept of markedness in subject verb number agreement to see whether it has explanatory power for languages like Slovene with more than two number values. Results from two experiments employing complex sentence preambles including a head noun post modified by a prepositional phrase or a relative clause (e.g., “The nudist(s) near the sand dune(s)”) show that Slovene number agreement differs from number agreement in languages with no dual, but that it is not possible to simply state that the singular is the least marked and the dual the most. I argue that using languages with more complex number systems allows greater insight into the processes of correct and erroneous subject-verb agreement, and shows that it is necessary to dissociate susceptibility to agreement from error-causing status. To conclude, the concept of markedness seems unable to explain my results. Semantic effects in agreement are then examined using two comparison experiments in English. Experiment 3 shows that although English has only a two value system, speakers are sensitive to semantic differences in number. Experiment 4 explores the possible influence of speakers’ native language three-value number system on their two-value second language system. It shows that native speakers of English are more sensitive to semantic number differences in English than Slovene speakers of English. Experiment 5 explores gender agreement in Slovene (which has three genders) and shows that there is a complex pattern of agreement. As with number, there is not just one number value which is problematic: neuter and masculine are most confusable, but masculine errors are also common when feminine agreement would be expected, thus suggesting that speakers revert to two different defaults, masculine and neuter. Finally, the results of four experiments examining number and gender agreement in coordinated phrases are presented. Agreement in such phrases may be resolved (i.e. the verb agrees with the whole subject) but may instead agree with one conjunct. Agreement with one conjunct is affected byword order (agreement with the nearest conjunct is most common), coordinator (e.g., single-conjunct agreement is more common after “or” than “and”) and the gender or number of the conjuncts (e.g., dual number is associated with single-conjunct agreement). Taken together, my results suggest that agreement is affected by a complex interplay of semantic and syntactic factors, and that the effects of a three-valued system are quite distinct from those of a two-valued system.

O presente trabalho discute a concordância nas construções passivas do PB e sua relação com a ordem. No primeiro capítulo, evidenciamos que há três padrões possíveis de concordância nessas construções: concordância plena, em que particípio e auxiliar concordam plenamente com o DP; concordância parcial, em que particípio e DP concordam apenas em gênero e a concordância de número no auxiliar é opcional; e concordância default, em que particípio e auxiliar manifestam traços masculinos singulares independente da especificação do argumento. Além disso, mostramos que, à exceção do padrão de concordância default, os demais padrões são possíveis tanto com DPs pré-verbais quanto pós-verbais. Fechamos o capítulo propondo que as diferenças observadas quanto à concordância são devidas a uma reanálise do particípio devido ao enfraquecimento da concordância de número no PB, e passou a contar apenas com traço de gênero. No segundo capítulo, desenvolvemos uma detalhada discussão quanto aos modelos formais de estabelecimento da concordância sentencial e sua adequação aos dados em discussão, levando em conta a hipótese delineada no capítulo 1 quanto à especificação de traços do particípio. Concluímos que tanto as abordagens de Agree propostas por Bokovi (2007) e Nunes (2007) quanto a abordagem de movimento proposta por Hornstein (2009) dão conta dos dados, mediante alguma adaptação. Também nesse capítulo, levantamos a hipótese de que a ordem pré- ou pós-verbal dos DPs nos padrões de concordância plena e parcial são definidos em PF, mediante apagamento de cópias. O capítulo 3 é dedicado a demonstrar que a ordem V DP no PB, apesar de restrita, é possível justamente com predicados passivos e inacusativos e corresponde, nesses casos, a uma diferença na estrutura informacional em relação à ordem DP V. Além disso, discutimos alguns aspectos formais do tratamento da focalização e como seriam derivadas as ordens DP V e V DP nos dados sob análise. No quarto capítulo, discutimos o efeito de definitude no PB, as diferentes interpretações dos sintagmas nominais (fracos e fortes) e que posições podem ocupar na estrutura, relacionando-as à expressão dos juízos tético e categórico no PB (BRITTO, 1998). Também nesse capítulo, defendemos que a concordância default está relacionada à atribuição de um Caso fraco, seguindo De Hoop (1996). Mostramos ainda que um singular nu nunca dispara concordância de gênero nos particípios. Por fim, o quinto capítulo é dedicado a um exame detalhado da sintaxe e semântica dos singulares nus, a fim de explicar os efeitos encontrados ao final do capítulo 4. Nesse capítulo, defendemos que o singular nu do PB não é um DP; nossa hipótese é que esse elemento é incorporado ao verbo quando aparece em posição de objeto, e é um tópico quando em posição de sujeito, seguindo Müller (2004). / The present work discusses agreement in passive constructions in BP and its relation to the ordering of constituents. In chapter 1, we show that there are three possible patterns of agreement in these constructions: full agreement, in which both participle and auxiliary fully agree with the DP; partial agreement, in which gender agreement between participle and DP is mandatory, but number agreement with the auxiliary is optional; and default agreement, in which both participle and auxiliary surface with default values for number and gender. We also show that except for the default pattern, the other ones are possible both with pre- and postverbal DPs. Our proposal is that participle heads have been reanalized due to the loss of number agreement in BP and now host only a gender feature. Chapter 2 is devoted to a detailed discussion of Agree-based and Move-based approaches to agreement. We discuss whether each agreement system can account for the data presented in chapter 1 in light of the proposal made. We conclude that both Nunes (2007) and Bokovi (2007) approaches to Agree can deal satisfactory with the data at hand. We also raise the hypothesis that the constituent order in passive constructions is derived postsyntactically, through copy deletion at PF. In chapter 3, we show that V DP order in BP, though very restricted, is possible with passive and unaccusative predicates. In these cases, we show that such order corresponds to a difference in information structure, hence motivating copy deletion at PF. Chapter 4 is devoted to a discussion of definiteness effects in BP and the different interpretations for nominals, as well as the positions that can be occupied by weak and strong nominals in BP, and relating such matters to the expression of thetic and categoric judgements (BRITTO, 1998). We also support the conclusion that default agreement is generated by a weak Case (DE HOOP, 1996), and show that bare singulars systematically fail to trigger gender agreement on participles. Finally, chapter 5 bears on the issue of bare nominals, their use and intepretation. We claim that bare singulars are not DPs in BP and cannot freely occupy argument positions. We claim instead that bare singulars in object position are incorporated, and that bare singular generic subjects are topics (MÜLLER, 2004).

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

O presente trabalho discute a concordância nas construções passivas do PB e sua relação com a ordem. No primeiro capítulo, evidenciamos que há três padrões possíveis de concordância nessas construções: concordância plena, em que particípio e auxiliar concordam plenamente com o DP; concordância parcial, em que particípio e DP concordam apenas em gênero e a concordância de número no auxiliar é opcional; e concordância default, em que particípio e auxiliar manifestam traços masculinos singulares independente da especificação do argumento. Além disso, mostramos que, à exceção do padrão de concordância default, os demais padrões são possíveis tanto com DPs pré-verbais quanto pós-verbais. Fechamos o capítulo propondo que as diferenças observadas quanto à concordância são devidas a uma reanálise do particípio devido ao enfraquecimento da concordância de número no PB, e passou a contar apenas com traço de gênero. No segundo capítulo, desenvolvemos uma detalhada discussão quanto aos modelos formais de estabelecimento da concordância sentencial e sua adequação aos dados em discussão, levando em conta a hipótese delineada no capítulo 1 quanto à especificação de traços do particípio. Concluímos que tanto as abordagens de Agree propostas por Bokovi (2007) e Nunes (2007) quanto a abordagem de movimento proposta por Hornstein (2009) dão conta dos dados, mediante alguma adaptação. Também nesse capítulo, levantamos a hipótese de que a ordem pré- ou pós-verbal dos DPs nos padrões de concordância plena e parcial são definidos em PF, mediante apagamento de cópias. O capítulo 3 é dedicado a demonstrar que a ordem V DP no PB, apesar de restrita, é possível justamente com predicados passivos e inacusativos e corresponde, nesses casos, a uma diferença na estrutura informacional em relação à ordem DP V. Além disso, discutimos alguns aspectos formais do tratamento da focalização e como seriam derivadas as ordens DP V e V DP nos dados sob análise. No quarto capítulo, discutimos o efeito de definitude no PB, as diferentes interpretações dos sintagmas nominais (fracos e fortes) e que posições podem ocupar na estrutura, relacionando-as à expressão dos juízos tético e categórico no PB (BRITTO, 1998). Também nesse capítulo, defendemos que a concordância default está relacionada à atribuição de um Caso fraco, seguindo De Hoop (1996). Mostramos ainda que um singular nu nunca dispara concordância de gênero nos particípios. Por fim, o quinto capítulo é dedicado a um exame detalhado da sintaxe e semântica dos singulares nus, a fim de explicar os efeitos encontrados ao final do capítulo 4. Nesse capítulo, defendemos que o singular nu do PB não é um DP; nossa hipótese é que esse elemento é incorporado ao verbo quando aparece em posição de objeto, e é um tópico quando em posição de sujeito, seguindo Müller (2004). / The present work discusses agreement in passive constructions in BP and its relation to the ordering of constituents. In chapter 1, we show that there are three possible patterns of agreement in these constructions: full agreement, in which both participle and auxiliary fully agree with the DP; partial agreement, in which gender agreement between participle and DP is mandatory, but number agreement with the auxiliary is optional; and default agreement, in which both participle and auxiliary surface with default values for number and gender. We also show that except for the default pattern, the other ones are possible both with pre- and postverbal DPs. Our proposal is that participle heads have been reanalized due to the loss of number agreement in BP and now host only a gender feature. Chapter 2 is devoted to a detailed discussion of Agree-based and Move-based approaches to agreement. We discuss whether each agreement system can account for the data presented in chapter 1 in light of the proposal made. We conclude that both Nunes (2007) and Bokovi (2007) approaches to Agree can deal satisfactory with the data at hand. We also raise the hypothesis that the constituent order in passive constructions is derived postsyntactically, through copy deletion at PF. In chapter 3, we show that V DP order in BP, though very restricted, is possible with passive and unaccusative predicates. In these cases, we show that such order corresponds to a difference in information structure, hence motivating copy deletion at PF. Chapter 4 is devoted to a discussion of definiteness effects in BP and the different interpretations for nominals, as well as the positions that can be occupied by weak and strong nominals in BP, and relating such matters to the expression of thetic and categoric judgements (BRITTO, 1998). We also support the conclusion that default agreement is generated by a weak Case (DE HOOP, 1996), and show that bare singulars systematically fail to trigger gender agreement on participles. Finally, chapter 5 bears on the issue of bare nominals, their use and intepretation. We claim that bare singulars are not DPs in BP and cannot freely occupy argument positions. We claim instead that bare singulars in object position are incorporated, and that bare singular generic subjects are topics (MÜLLER, 2004).

Swedish learners of English have problems in managing the subject-verb agreement rule (Källqvist and Petersson 2006, Estling Vannestål 2015). Studies show that extramural activities in English improve language acquisition and language production (Sundqvist 2009). The aim of the essay is to investigate whether extramural activities affect students’ ability to correctly apply the subject-verb agreement rule. A google questionnaire was handed out to 64 students in the course of English 5 in upper secondary school. The students were asked to answer questions about their extramural habits and to do a test on subject-verb agreement. The results indicate that students have knowledge of the subject-verb agreement rule to some extent and that extramural activities in English may possibly have some impact on the ability to correctly apply the subject-verb agreement rule. The results could also be due to the academic motivation. The results show that the difference across gender is negligible but that there is a slightly larger difference across preparatory programs and vocational programs.

The study of Spanish in contact with Wayuunaiki has received limited attention in generative and variationist analyses. In particular, the possible influence of this indigenous language on some parts of the Spanish language has not been investigated or has been only briefly addressed. This dissertation aims to fill this existing gap by studying two morpho-syntactic variables: (i) the distribution of null and overt subjects (NOS) as portrayed by the Null Subject Parameter and overt subject personal pronoun (SPP) expression as traditionally researched in variationist studies, and (ii) the issue of subject-verb agreement within the theory of features. To carry out these studies, we collected spontaneous data from 27 Wayuunaiki-Spanish bilinguals and five Spanish monolingual speakers. This Spanish monolingual group served as the vernacular benchmark. The NOS and SPP expression are among the most studied topics in Hispanic linguistics, but they have never been systematically researched in Guajiro Spanish. By analyzing these issues in our dissertation, we want to contribute new data to their study and to the properties and factors affecting them, in order to widen the knowledge of how they function in this Spanish language contact situation. In the generative analysis of the null/overt subjects we investigate whether the distinction that occurs in Wayuunaiki between stative and active verbs and the participants’ proficiency in Spanish have an impact on the distribution of NOS in Guajiro Spanish. In the variationist study, a number of independent variables widely believed to constrain variable SPP expression are factored into the investigation to find out how they behave in this particular language contact situation. These variables include person/number, TAM, switch reference, priming effects, etc. The second research topic is subject-verb agreement. This is only investigated from the generative grammar perspective, specifically by employing the concept of features to explain the nature of the subject-verb mismatches produced by the Wayuunaiki dominant Wayuunaiki-Spanish bilinguals. We specifically investigate whether the Spanish conjugation system poses a problem to the bilingual speakers’ ability to produce the native Spanish verb forms vis-à-vis the monolingual cohort and whether this ability is shaped by the participants’ proficiency in Spanish. The results of the three studies contribute to the field of Hispanic linguistics from three different perspectives. The study of NOS adds a new dimension to the pro-drop parameter: the possible role that Wayuunaiki’s double conjugation may play in the distribution of null and overt subject pronouns in Guajiro Spanish. The variationist study provides new data on the topic of SPP expression in a variety of Spanish which, in this specific case, has as contact language an understudied indigenous language. The analysis of the subject-verb mismatches that occur in Guajiro Spanish allows us to differentiate between the status of null and overt subjects with respect to subject-verb agreement and to differentiate between this contact variety and the Colombian vernacular benchmark.

The present study investigates changes in subject-verb agreement (SVA) errors in young Norwegian EFL learners’ written production from 8th to 10th grade. The study aimed to see if the frequency and type of SVA errors changed as the learners became more proficient. An error analysis was conducted on texts from the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) online corpus. The analysis included 52 texts from 26 students, giving two texts from each student, one from 8th grade (Y8) and one from 10th grade (Y10). The SVA errors in the data were identified and categorized by the variables: verb type, subject type, and distance between the subject and the verb. Errors involving the verb BE were categorized as suppletive agreement errors and sorted based on the verb tense since the verb BE marks agreement with suppletive forms in both the past and the present tense. Meanwhile, errors related to other verbs, including lexical verbs and auxiliaries HAVE and DO, were categorized as affixal agreement errors. The affixal agreement errors were further divided into omission errors where the 3rd person singular -s was missing and overgeneralization errors where the -s ending was erroneously used on a verb with a plural subject. Previous corpus-based studies on SVA errors suggest that young Scandinavian EFL learners (ages 14-16) make more overgeneralization errors than omission errors. The results from this study indicate that the students make more omission errors which can be explained by language transfer in 8th grade, and more overgeneralization errors as their English production has developed in 10th grade. Moreover, the overall frequency of the SVA errors in the data increased from 8th to 10th grade.

Persons with Swedish as their first language often find it hard to learn subject-verb agreement when studying English. In Swedish this grammatical difficulty does not exist and it is therefore hard to introduce to learners that have Swedish as their native language.This investigation is based on the texts of 28 ninth graders of whom four were interviewed. My interest was in finding out how the students reflect on their own written work with a focus on subject-verb agreement with a particular focus on the third person singular s.My study shows that the four interviewed students claim that they never reflect on grammar in their spontaneous writing and that they never consciously try to apply rules that they have studied in school through being offered grammatical explanations. Instead they make their grammatical choices intuitively, using their procedural knowledge.

A proposta desta tese é analisar os fatores lingüísticos e sociais relacionados à variação na concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural com base nas entrevistas dos 90 informantes que compõem o VarX – Banco de Dados Sociolingüísticos Variáveis por Classe Social de Pelotas/RS –, estratificados conforme gênero, classe social, faixa etária: 45 são do gênero masculino e 45 do feminino, 30 da classe social média alta, 30 da média baixa, e 30 da baixa; 30 da faixa etária entre 16 e 25 anos, 30 da faixa etária entre 26 e 49 anos e 30 da faixa etária com mais de 50 anos. Pretendemos, dessa forma, contribuir para a descrição da concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural do português popular brasileiro. Para a análise dos dados, utilizamos metodologia quantitativa com base na interface Windows para o Varbrul e em formulário de codificação de dados. Na análise, discutimos a presença versus a ausência de concordância verbal de terceira pessoa do plural; e a concordância verbal padrão versus nãopadrão de terceira pessoa do plural. Os resultados mostram que, em Pelotas, há variação de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, mas com predomínio do uso da marca, uma vez que existe presença de desinências verbais em 4.317 contextos (de um total de 5.263), perfazendo 82%, e em 945 contextos não ocorrem marcas de concordância, perfazendo 18%. Também, constatamos, com base na amostra em estudo, particularmente no resultado das variáveis sociais que há indícios de aquisição de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, visto que há um aumento gradual de emprego de marcas de concordância, cuja direção é dos informantes mais velhos para os mais novos, sendo que os mais novos apresentam maiores percentuais e peso relativo de emprego de desinências verbais de 3ª pessoa do plural. No estudo da concordância verbal padrão versus não-padrão, analisamos a distribuição das formas padrão versus não-padrão, envolvendo tanto ausência de marca quanto formas alternantes de realização da marca, enfatizando as variáveis sociais. E observamos que, em Pelotas, há altos percentuais de emprego de formas padrão, em decorrência de aspectos sociais e culturais. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the linguistic and social factors related to the variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural based on interviews of 90 informants who make up the VarX –Sociolinguistics Database Variable by Social Class of Pelotas/RS –, stratified according to gender, social class, age: 45 are males and 45 females, 30 of the upper middle class, 30 of the low middle class, and 30 of the low social class; 30 are between 16 and 25 years of age, 30 between 26 and 49 and 30 of the age group over 50 years. We intended, therefore, to contribute to the description of the verbal agreement of 3rd person plural of the popular Brazilian Portuguese. For data analysis, we used quantitative methodology based on the Windows interface for Varbrul and on data encryption form. In the analysis, we discussed the presence versus the absence of verbal agreement in the third person plural, as well as the standard verb agreement versus the non-standard third person plural. The results show that, in Pelotas, there is variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural, but with predominance of the use of the mark, since the presence of verbal endings occurs in 4317 contexts (of a total of 5263), consisting of 82%, and in 945 contexts there are no agreement marks, totaling 18%. We also found, based on the sample under study, particularly the outcome of the social variables that there is evidence of acquisition of 3rd person plural agreement, since there is a gradual increase in use of verb agreement marks, whose direction goes from the older to the younger informants, given that the younger have higher rates and relative employment of verbal endings of 3rd person plural. In the study of standard versus non-standard verbal agreement, we analyzed the distribution of standard versus non-standard forms, involving both the absence of marks as well as alternate forms of the realization of the mark, emphasizing the social variables. And we observed that in Pelotas there are high percentages of use of standard forms as a result of social and cultural aspects.