While English modal verbs have been studied extensively, Chinese modal verbs have only been analyzed in a general way. A discussion of the six properties of Chinese modal verbs by Li and Thompson (1981, 1997) examined this area, though some of the properties that they proposed appear to be inaccurate or flawed. This paper concentrates on one of…

The importance of repetition in the acquisition of lexical items has been widely acknowledged in single-word vocabulary research but has been relatively neglected in collocation studies. Since collocations are considered one key to achieving language fluency, and because learners spend a great amount of time interacting with their textbooks, the…

Analysis of the interaction of the grammatical and copulative aspects of the Spanish verbs "era,""estaba,""fue," and "estuvo" revealed that for most of the data obtained, copulative and grammatical aspect operate independently, with syntactic-semantic constraints selecting one copula and grammatical aspect…

The acquisition order of four Japanese verbs for the act of clothing was investigated. Each of the verbs investigated corresponds to the act of clothing different body parts. There are two theories for the prediction of acquisition order: the checklist and the prototype theories of word meaning. According to the checklist view, word meanings…

Five types of Verb Phrase (VP) anaphors which appear to exist in free variation actually have specific grammatical, semantic, and rhetorical functions which account for the existence of some to the exclusion of others in certain syntactic environments. The five anaphors are: "do so,""do it," Verb Phrase Deletion (VPD), VPD with…

This article focuses on the structural and semantic analysis of the sentences containing the pronoun "it" as a formal object. Although at first sight "it" seems to have no meaning whatsoever, it actually plays an important role in the semantic structure of the sentence. The formal object "it" changes the…

A case study of the use of reflexive constructions by a Spanish-speaking child from age 2;5.2 to 3;5.2 is presented. Sixty hours of audiotaped utterances were recorded monthly over a one year period. The utterances are analyzed in terms of self-induced actions, impersonal constructions, and two-argument predicates. The data show the regular…

In addition to componential aspects of verb meaning, children must also acquire a representation of each verb's combinatorial properties or propositional schema, i.e., the number of arguments with which it is obligatorily or optionally associated. The present study investigated developmental changes in children's awareness of the combinatorial…

The articulation in recent years of Optimality Theory (OT) has paved the way for a reanalysis of linguistic phenomena that were previously accounted for by derivational theories through various modes of rule interaction. The theory has been shown to offer insightful accounts of various processes involving segmental and prosodic structure and has…

A discussion of verb intransitivization in English grammar looks at different verb classes that allow or do not allow this phenomenon. The semantic primitive of involvement is a phenomenon that attempts to find related features in sentences where intransitivization occurs. Semantic involvement patterns are assigned in the subject or direct object…

Transitivity in the English verb is examined from the perspectives of the linguistic theorist and the second language instructor. English verbs can be assigned to one of six categories: pure intransitives, causative-inchoative verbs, psych-movement verbs, cross-classification verbs, direct object deletions, and pure transitives. Both syntacticians…

A categorical difference between the verbal groups of English and German is discussed. The English verbal group is analyzed as consisting of a lexical constituent and modifiers. The latter divide into four groups of (full) auxiliaries (passive, aspect, time relation, and epistemic modals) and into the two main classes of verbal and non-verbal…

This semantic analysis assumes the overall framework of an extended standard theory of grammar, focusing on the lexicon and making a case for semantic mapping. It assumes Chomsky's (1986) theory that the projection of a verb and its arguments into syntax is determined by its lexical specifications. It further accepts the arguments of Williams…

A study investigated the validity of a linking rule of object affectedness; the rule states that an argument is expressed as the direct object of a verb if its referent is specified as affected in a specific way in the semantic representation of the verb. Specifically, the study examined whether the principle determines which argument will be…

Two instances of unaccusative verb mismatches in Japanese are examined. An unaccusative mismatch is the situation in which a different accusative diagnostic singles out different classes of intransitive verbs within and across languages. One type of unaccusative mismatch has to do with group C verbs, or verbs of manner with protagonist control.…