Abstract The present article purported to gain insights about English as a second language (ESL) learners’ knowledge of grammatical functions at the declarative and the procedural levels in the higher education context, and argued that the dialogue between the types of knowledge calls for more attention. The study utilised a Words-in-Sentences Test that was administered to 841 ESL students in seven colleges and universities in three Arab countries: United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Oman. The test was used to measure the participants’ declarative knowledge of grammatical functions. The participants’ test scores were then correlated with their essay writing scores to find if there is a significant correlation between the two, and thus gain insight into the relationship between the declarative knowledge and the procedural knowledge of grammatical functions. Finally, a qualitative analysis was conducted on nine essays to gain an in-depth understanding of this relationship. The findings indicated that the university participants’ declarative knowledge of grammatical functions was below the expected level and that there was a significant correlation between the learners’ test scores and writing scores. In addition, intriguing themes emerged from the qualitative analysis. Together, the findings are anticipated to spark more research on grammatical function knowledge among university students in ESL contexts.
{"title":"The declarative–procedural knowledge of grammatical functions in higher education ESL contexts: Fiction and reality","authors":"Emad A. S. Abu-Ayyash, Doaa Hamam","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0242","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present article purported to gain insights about English as a second language (ESL) learners’ knowledge of grammatical functions at the declarative and the procedural levels in the higher education context, and argued that the dialogue between the types of knowledge calls for more attention. The study utilised a Words-in-Sentences Test that was administered to 841 ESL students in seven colleges and universities in three Arab countries: United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Oman. The test was used to measure the participants’ declarative knowledge of grammatical functions. The participants’ test scores were then correlated with their essay writing scores to find if there is a significant correlation between the two, and thus gain insight into the relationship between the declarative knowledge and the procedural knowledge of grammatical functions. Finally, a qualitative analysis was conducted on nine essays to gain an in-depth understanding of this relationship. The findings indicated that the university participants’ declarative knowledge of grammatical functions was below the expected level and that there was a significant correlation between the learners’ test scores and writing scores. In addition, intriguing themes emerged from the qualitative analysis. Together, the findings are anticipated to spark more research on grammatical function knowledge among university students in ESL contexts.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45848751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This Critical Discourse Analysis examines hedging as a linguistic device at the intersection of scientific discourse and women’s language. Hedging has been identified as a marker of scientific discourse where it is valued for expanding dialogic space for the promulgation of knowledge. It is also a recognised marker of women’s common language, where it is purported to align with discriminatory gender norms that women should not impose their views but could also be construed as a lack of clear thinking, conviction, or confidence. This could be limiting, especially in professional domains, however, the particular value attached to hedging in scientific discourse challenges this hypothesis and provides the focus of this study of gender differences in hedging with modal auxiliary verbs in the context of scientific discourse. The findings confirm hedging as a marker of scientific discourse and reflect modal auxiliaries being used with similar frequency by women and men, although with subtle, but significant differences in the specific modals that were used, and how. This provides a nuanced picture of women hedging in ways that mostly exemplify the standards of scientific discourse while also integrating some of the socially normative hedging practices that are associated with women’s language.
{"title":"Hedging with modal auxiliary verbs in scientific discourse and women’s language","authors":"Lindsay Susannah Schmauss, Kelly Kilian","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0229","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This Critical Discourse Analysis examines hedging as a linguistic device at the intersection of scientific discourse and women’s language. Hedging has been identified as a marker of scientific discourse where it is valued for expanding dialogic space for the promulgation of knowledge. It is also a recognised marker of women’s common language, where it is purported to align with discriminatory gender norms that women should not impose their views but could also be construed as a lack of clear thinking, conviction, or confidence. This could be limiting, especially in professional domains, however, the particular value attached to hedging in scientific discourse challenges this hypothesis and provides the focus of this study of gender differences in hedging with modal auxiliary verbs in the context of scientific discourse. The findings confirm hedging as a marker of scientific discourse and reflect modal auxiliaries being used with similar frequency by women and men, although with subtle, but significant differences in the specific modals that were used, and how. This provides a nuanced picture of women hedging in ways that mostly exemplify the standards of scientific discourse while also integrating some of the socially normative hedging practices that are associated with women’s language.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45947920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article investigates a case of lexical restrictions on a voice construction, specifically Danish past-tense passives. Present-Day Danish has both a periphrastic and an inflectional passive construction, but in the past tense, most ablaut (strong) verbs cannot form the inflectional passive (e.g. ∗ ast skreves ‘was written’, ∗ ast bares ‘was carried’). Various explanations for these restrictions have been proposed in the literature, but their historical background has not been investigated in any detail. This article focusses on the passive restrictions in Late Modern Danish, using various sources mainly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is shown that while lexical restrictions on the past-tense s-passive are already mentioned in eighteenth and nineteenth-century grammars, the grammaticality of the individual forms has changed; for instance, the now obsolete form skreves ‘was written’ is attested in several Late Modern Danish sources. Furthermore, the primary sources differ greatly with respect to their use of the passive in the past tense. I suggest that sociolinguistic variables, such as level of education and formality of the texts, must be taken into account when trying to explain the development of the Danish passive, and that the lexical restrictions on past-tense s-passives may in fact be a side effect of standardization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
{"title":"Restrictions on past-tense passives in Late Modern Danish","authors":"Sune Gregersen","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0196","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article investigates a case of lexical restrictions on a voice construction, specifically Danish past-tense passives. Present-Day Danish has both a periphrastic and an inflectional passive construction, but in the past tense, most ablaut (strong) verbs cannot form the inflectional passive (e.g. ∗ ast skreves ‘was written’, ∗ ast bares ‘was carried’). Various explanations for these restrictions have been proposed in the literature, but their historical background has not been investigated in any detail. This article focusses on the passive restrictions in Late Modern Danish, using various sources mainly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is shown that while lexical restrictions on the past-tense s-passive are already mentioned in eighteenth and nineteenth-century grammars, the grammaticality of the individual forms has changed; for instance, the now obsolete form skreves ‘was written’ is attested in several Late Modern Danish sources. Furthermore, the primary sources differ greatly with respect to their use of the passive in the past tense. I suggest that sociolinguistic variables, such as level of education and formality of the texts, must be taken into account when trying to explain the development of the Danish passive, and that the lexical restrictions on past-tense s-passives may in fact be a side effect of standardization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45229118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article investigates the pragmatic and functional aspects of an interrogative question pattern in Estonian: questions introduced by the adjective huvitav (‘interesting’). Despite appearances, this question is usually not used to elicit an answer in an information request. Instead, its uses vary from self-addressed to rhetorical questions, also allowing the addition of a biased (critical, ironical) positioning to the interrogation. It can be related to subjective as well as intersubjective dimensions of language use. Examples primarily from two corpora are discussed: fiction texts and their translations (Estonian–French) from the Estonian–French bilingual corpus; excerpts from the debates of the Estonian Parliament; and to a lesser extent, examples from conversations are also included in the analysis. Like similar devices described in other languages (vajon in Hungarian, oare in Romanian), this pattern is impossible to use in situations where a clearly competent addressee is in a position to answer the question directly and the speaker is aware of it; instead, it is especially for cases where, for different reasons, the competence of the addressee is not questioned or challenged directly: asking tentative questions, using rhetorically designed questions to convey critics, or other biased meanings.
{"title":"Between rhetorical questions and information requests: A versatile interrogative clause in Estonian","authors":"Marri Amon","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0235","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0235","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article investigates the pragmatic and functional aspects of an interrogative question pattern in Estonian: questions introduced by the adjective huvitav (‘interesting’). Despite appearances, this question is usually not used to elicit an answer in an information request. Instead, its uses vary from self-addressed to rhetorical questions, also allowing the addition of a biased (critical, ironical) positioning to the interrogation. It can be related to subjective as well as intersubjective dimensions of language use. Examples primarily from two corpora are discussed: fiction texts and their translations (Estonian–French) from the Estonian–French bilingual corpus; excerpts from the debates of the Estonian Parliament; and to a lesser extent, examples from conversations are also included in the analysis. Like similar devices described in other languages (vajon in Hungarian, oare in Romanian), this pattern is impossible to use in situations where a clearly competent addressee is in a position to answer the question directly and the speaker is aware of it; instead, it is especially for cases where, for different reasons, the competence of the addressee is not questioned or challenged directly: asking tentative questions, using rhetorically designed questions to convey critics, or other biased meanings.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46240074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract After a period of space-centred description of demonstratives, recent research has highlighted the role of attention, psychological proximity and shared knowledge in determining deictic choice. While convincing evidence has been presented that mental states may define deictic reference (e.g. in Turkish, Jahai or Kogi), there is also neuroscientific data suggesting that spatial cognition is often drawn upon in the process and that spatial and attentional perspectives may interact with each other. Pragmatic analysis of deictic usage in some languages (e.g. Yucatec or Lao) suggests that demonstrative systems may respond to multidimensional search spaces that include not only spatial but also embodied, perceptual and social access to referents. On the basis of observational data from Phola, a Tibeto-Burman language of Southwest China, the present article contributes to these research endeavours by explicitly exploring how speaker and addressee demonstratives may independently respond to both spatial and sociocognitive modes of access to a referent. Advancing the notion of spheres of interest as a descriptive heuristics to capture this fluidity, it is shown how deictic choice not only passively reflects aspects of context but also actively projects intersubjective appraisals and expectations onto material and social reality.
{"title":"Spheres of interest: Space and social cognition in Phola deixis","authors":"Manuel David González Pérez","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0215","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0215","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract After a period of space-centred description of demonstratives, recent research has highlighted the role of attention, psychological proximity and shared knowledge in determining deictic choice. While convincing evidence has been presented that mental states may define deictic reference (e.g. in Turkish, Jahai or Kogi), there is also neuroscientific data suggesting that spatial cognition is often drawn upon in the process and that spatial and attentional perspectives may interact with each other. Pragmatic analysis of deictic usage in some languages (e.g. Yucatec or Lao) suggests that demonstrative systems may respond to multidimensional search spaces that include not only spatial but also embodied, perceptual and social access to referents. On the basis of observational data from Phola, a Tibeto-Burman language of Southwest China, the present article contributes to these research endeavours by explicitly exploring how speaker and addressee demonstratives may independently respond to both spatial and sociocognitive modes of access to a referent. Advancing the notion of spheres of interest as a descriptive heuristics to capture this fluidity, it is shown how deictic choice not only passively reflects aspects of context but also actively projects intersubjective appraisals and expectations onto material and social reality.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43146740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The dominance of English in academic discourses is well established, with increased English publication used to evidence its increasing use at the expense of national language publication. However, while English publication frequency has increased over time, few studies have examined how university faculties outside higher education’s Anglophone center have changed their language of publication frequency. Thus, in this investigation, we analyzed a Japanese national university’s medical faculty’s overall frequency of publication along with publication frequency by language medium, expanding on an earlier diachronic analysis of university publication reports. We previously found English language publications largely replaced Japanese language publications for journal articles and that overall publication frequency dramatically increased. However, that initial diachronic analysis did not show when those changes manifested. The current investigation explores this through a decennial time trend historical document analysis of publication reports from 1979 to 2020. This analysis elucidates how publication frequency, type, and language medium have changed. Specifically, we find that the largest change in the overall frequency of publication is between 1989–1990 and 1999–2000. These changes are primarily driven by conference papers and other publications, publication types not typically examined in analyses of journal citation databases. Our findings establish a foundation to discuss potential causes of the trends we identify in this Japanese national university’s medical faculty’s publications.
{"title":"Japanese national university faculty publication: A time trend analysis","authors":"Nicole Gallagher, Theron Muller","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0244","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0244","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The dominance of English in academic discourses is well established, with increased English publication used to evidence its increasing use at the expense of national language publication. However, while English publication frequency has increased over time, few studies have examined how university faculties outside higher education’s Anglophone center have changed their language of publication frequency. Thus, in this investigation, we analyzed a Japanese national university’s medical faculty’s overall frequency of publication along with publication frequency by language medium, expanding on an earlier diachronic analysis of university publication reports. We previously found English language publications largely replaced Japanese language publications for journal articles and that overall publication frequency dramatically increased. However, that initial diachronic analysis did not show when those changes manifested. The current investigation explores this through a decennial time trend historical document analysis of publication reports from 1979 to 2020. This analysis elucidates how publication frequency, type, and language medium have changed. Specifically, we find that the largest change in the overall frequency of publication is between 1989–1990 and 1999–2000. These changes are primarily driven by conference papers and other publications, publication types not typically examined in analyses of journal citation databases. Our findings establish a foundation to discuss potential causes of the trends we identify in this Japanese national university’s medical faculty’s publications.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135402020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This study examines the linguistic metadiscourse on expressions perceived as ‘annoying’ and the strategies used to justify this perception. Two different types of data are examined in which verbal hygiene is practised in interaction: language biography interviews and anonymous online discussions. In the examined datasets, the discussion begins with an explicit question regarding annoying words and phrases. The themes discussed and the delegitimisation strategies adopted by a participant are affected by other participants. In interviews, minor reformulations of the question can be leading, and in online discussions, other writers regulate the debate with counter-arguments, which leads to a wider variety of delegitimisation strategies. The analysis also shows a counter-discourse to verbal hygiene.
{"title":"Constructing the perception of ‘annoying’ words and phrases in interaction: An analysis of delegitimisation strategies used in interviews and online discussions in Finnish","authors":"Katri Priiki","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0248","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study examines the linguistic metadiscourse on expressions perceived as ‘annoying’ and the strategies used to justify this perception. Two different types of data are examined in which verbal hygiene is practised in interaction: language biography interviews and anonymous online discussions. In the examined datasets, the discussion begins with an explicit question regarding annoying words and phrases. The themes discussed and the delegitimisation strategies adopted by a participant are affected by other participants. In interviews, minor reformulations of the question can be leading, and in online discussions, other writers regulate the debate with counter-arguments, which leads to a wider variety of delegitimisation strategies. The analysis also shows a counter-discourse to verbal hygiene.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135105570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Among varied syntactic and semantic functions of the dative case in Latvian, the attitude dative or dativus ethicus is a less studied one. As an optional pronominal clitic, it serves two broad functions: first, it expresses the speaker’s authority and affectedness of the speaker or the addressee in a speech-act situation, and second, it expresses the speaker’s stance towards the contents of the utterance. In terms of register, the attitude dative normally occurs in informal interaction. The current study examines three basic types of attitude datives in Latvian and their functions in different syntactic constructions and speech acts. The examples are extracted from corpora as well as Latvian fiction and everyday speech. It follows from the examples that the attitude dative has different meanings in certain speech acts and syntactic constructions. The attitude dative is used in giving orders, expressing prohibition and threats, as well as showing disagreement, disappointment, and regret. The study suggests that the attitude dative tends to be used in lexicalized syntactic constructions (set expressions) including specific lexemes and grammatical forms, and its functions are emphasized with particles.
{"title":"Attitude dative (dativus ethicus) as an interpersonal pragmatic marker in Latvian","authors":"Andra Kalnača, Ilze Lokmane","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0240","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Among varied syntactic and semantic functions of the dative case in Latvian, the attitude dative or dativus ethicus is a less studied one. As an optional pronominal clitic, it serves two broad functions: first, it expresses the speaker’s authority and affectedness of the speaker or the addressee in a speech-act situation, and second, it expresses the speaker’s stance towards the contents of the utterance. In terms of register, the attitude dative normally occurs in informal interaction. The current study examines three basic types of attitude datives in Latvian and their functions in different syntactic constructions and speech acts. The examples are extracted from corpora as well as Latvian fiction and everyday speech. It follows from the examples that the attitude dative has different meanings in certain speech acts and syntactic constructions. The attitude dative is used in giving orders, expressing prohibition and threats, as well as showing disagreement, disappointment, and regret. The study suggests that the attitude dative tends to be used in lexicalized syntactic constructions (set expressions) including specific lexemes and grammatical forms, and its functions are emphasized with particles.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45685903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article discusses Latinate Modern Greek (MG) terminology in the light of language planning, language contact, transliteration, registers, and speakers’ attitudes. It starts by describing sociolinguistic aspects of MG with respect to borrowing and proceeds with case studies of Latinate MG terms and their Greek-based synonyms from various science, arts, social, and technical fields. Focusing on phonological, morphological, semantic, and terminological issues such as semantic intra- and inter-linguistic transparency and consistency in the light of the long-standing cultural ties between Greece and the West, an updated approach to the form and utility of MG Latinate terms is attempted, aiming at influencing eventual language planning in Greek-speaking areas.
{"title":"Latinate terminology in Modern Greek: An “intruder” or an “asset”?","authors":"P. Krimpas","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0233","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article discusses Latinate Modern Greek (MG) terminology in the light of language planning, language contact, transliteration, registers, and speakers’ attitudes. It starts by describing sociolinguistic aspects of MG with respect to borrowing and proceeds with case studies of Latinate MG terms and their Greek-based synonyms from various science, arts, social, and technical fields. Focusing on phonological, morphological, semantic, and terminological issues such as semantic intra- and inter-linguistic transparency and consistency in the light of the long-standing cultural ties between Greece and the West, an updated approach to the form and utility of MG Latinate terms is attempted, aiming at influencing eventual language planning in Greek-speaking areas.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49128253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article examines two types of lexical effects in the voice system of Kanakanavu, an Austronesian language of Taiwan. The first concerns a well-attested phenomenon in the Austronesian literature: interactions between the semantic transitivity of verbs and their ability (or lack thereof) to undergo voice alternation. The second concerns a phenomenon that is typologically and areally rare in the western Austronesian context – differential agent marking. The pronominal agent in Kanakanavu’s patient-/undergoer-voice construction is differentially case-marked depending on the tense-aspect value of the clause. However, lexical effects are found in how the differentially marked agent is interpreted. When dynamic verbs are used, omitted agents in perfective clauses are interpreted as coreferential with a specific referent mentioned in prior discourse, but those in non-perfective clauses are interpreted as having generic reference, backgrounded, and/or not centrally involved in the situation expressed by the verb. When stative verbs are used, alternation between perfective and imperfective verb forms may have various effects on the interpretation of the agent. In some stative verbs, the agent is interpreted as a prototypical semantic agent in the perfective, but as a semantic experiencer in the imperfective. In other stative verbs, the perfective/non-perfective alternation has to do with whether a change of state is involved, without having any effects on agent interpretation. This study explores how lexical effects manifest across both elicited and natural discourse data. It also presents the phenomenon of differential agent marking in Kanakanavu as neither typical nor representative in the western Austronesian context.
{"title":"Tense-aspect conditioned agent marking in Kanakanavu, an Austronesian language of Taiwan","authors":"Yi-Yang Cheng","doi":"10.1515/opli-2022-0234","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0234","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines two types of lexical effects in the voice system of Kanakanavu, an Austronesian language of Taiwan. The first concerns a well-attested phenomenon in the Austronesian literature: interactions between the semantic transitivity of verbs and their ability (or lack thereof) to undergo voice alternation. The second concerns a phenomenon that is typologically and areally rare in the western Austronesian context – differential agent marking. The pronominal agent in Kanakanavu’s patient-/undergoer-voice construction is differentially case-marked depending on the tense-aspect value of the clause. However, lexical effects are found in how the differentially marked agent is interpreted. When dynamic verbs are used, omitted agents in perfective clauses are interpreted as coreferential with a specific referent mentioned in prior discourse, but those in non-perfective clauses are interpreted as having generic reference, backgrounded, and/or not centrally involved in the situation expressed by the verb. When stative verbs are used, alternation between perfective and imperfective verb forms may have various effects on the interpretation of the agent. In some stative verbs, the agent is interpreted as a prototypical semantic agent in the perfective, but as a semantic experiencer in the imperfective. In other stative verbs, the perfective/non-perfective alternation has to do with whether a change of state is involved, without having any effects on agent interpretation. This study explores how lexical effects manifest across both elicited and natural discourse data. It also presents the phenomenon of differential agent marking in Kanakanavu as neither typical nor representative in the western Austronesian context.","PeriodicalId":43803,"journal":{"name":"Open Linguistics","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41520123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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