We study the learnability problem concerning the dative alternations in English (Baker, 1979; Pinker, 1989). We consider how first language learners productively apply the double-object and to-dative constructions ("give the book to library"/"give the library the book"), while excluding negative exceptions ("donate the…

In the past, linguistic descriptions of the relationships common to passive sentences have not been universally applicable. Junction grammar, a type of generative grammar, is a model that may provide a means of describing universal passive relationships. Junction grammar differs from transformational grammar in that its rules (1) claim other…

This paper uses a discussion of experiments with aphasics' use of verbally derived nouns to illustrate how one linguistic model may be superior to another in accounting for the facts of verbal behavior. The models involved are the transformational, which relates derived nominals to their source verb and lists only the verb in the lexicon, and the…

The linguistic literature contains many studies of the structure of the noun phrase. Syntactic structures that occupy NP position but which don't have the internal characteristics of a substantive (infinitives and THAT clauses, for example) are distinguished from lexical structures that occupy NP position and do have the internal characteristics…

This grammar describes the word structure of a Nahuat dialect of Southern Mexico. The model used for this description is an eclectic one based on "the morphological principles of Nida, Pike's tagmeme, transforms as delineated by Lees, the syntagmeme of Longacre, and the transformational relationships as specified by Gleason." The study…