It follows from the ordering principles that are applied in Functional Discourse Grammar that the positional possibilities of markers of agreement and those of cross-reference are different. Markers of cross reference are predicted to occur closer to the verb stem, while markers of agreement would occupy peripheral positions. This paper tests…

Usage-based approaches to language acquisition argue that children acquire the grammar of their target language using general-cognitive learning principles. The current paper reports on an experiment that tested a central assumption of the usage-based approach: argument structure patterns are connected to high frequency verbs that facilitate…

This paper outlines key tone and voice quality properties in Phuthi, a Nguni (Bantu) language spoken in southern Lesotho and the northern Transkei (South Africa). The focus is the phonological presence of high tone (H) in Phuthi, and its interaction with other tones, both H and L. From verbs that employ a single H tone sponsor (lexical paradigms),…

This study examines Spanish [Verb + Noun (V + N)] compounds based on insights drawn from Construction Grammar. In contrast to previous studies that treat Spanish [V + N] compounds as having one common structural and semantic property, this study proposes two types of [V + N] compound constructions in Spanish, each with its own respective…

In many languages there are words that behave like lexical verbs and on the one hand and like functional categories expressing distinctions of tense, aspect, modality, etc. on the other. The grammatical status of such words is frequently controversial; while some authors treat them as belonging to one and the same grammatical category, others…

Semantic accounts of verb pattern alternations often rely on observations about "verb disposition": the preference of verbs with particular lexical semantic characteristics for one of two competing constructions is taken as a clue to the semantic differences between the two constructions. For instance, it has been observed with regard to the…

This article focuses on the syntax of a number of subcategories of verb in French which are compatible with a following bare infinitive and which express various kinds of grammatical tense, mood, modality, aspect and voice, as well as such (more lexical?) notions as perception, causation and locomotion. The article starts by cataloguing a number…

Rappaport Hovav and Levin [Rappaport Hovav, M., Levin, B., 1998. "Building verb meanings." In: Butt, M., Geuder, W. (Eds.), "The Projection of Arguments: Lexical and Compositional Factors." CSLI Publications, Stanford, pp. 97-134] contend that result verbs disallow object deletion because of their lexical semantic properties. Their point is that…

Most linguistic studies of subject-verb agreement have thus far attempted to account for this phenomenon in terms of either syntax or semantics. Kim (2004) [Kim, J., 2004. Hybrid agreement in English. Linguistics 42 (6), 1105-1128] proposes a "hybrid analysis", which allows for a morphosyntactic agreement and a semantic agreement within the same…

Examines grammaticalization of English "would" over an extended period of time. Offers an analysis that accounts for evidence of both the first Gricean Maxim of Quantity (in which an unrestricted quantity of information is understood to have a restricted representation) and the second (which holds that a restricted quantity of information is…

Earlier version of the paper was read at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, April 1971. (VM)

Traces the origin of the grammatical rule that strong verbs should distinguish between past tense and past participle forms. The rule, credited to Robert Lowth, did not in fact originate from Lowth nor did it reflect his usage as found in his private unpublished letters. (Author/VWL)

Accounts for the observation that in a broad range of genetically unrelated languages two classes of direct objects are found that are based on their semantic and syntactic properties. Specifically, splits are found in case marking, object position, and the ability of the object to trigger verb agreement. Proposes that this split in object…

The factive nominal construction of Spanish shows to what extent semantic notions and syntactic constraints are mutually influential. Positive presupposition on the part of the speaker as to truth or falsehood of a subordinate proposition is reflected by the use of the indicative mood; negative or indefinite presupposition by use of the…

Argues that the nonfuture use of "will" has exactly the same semantic structure as the future "will," and that the basic meaning of "will" is potential rather than future. (Author/HP)