We assessed whether and under what conditions noncanonical agreement patterns occur in Russian, with the goal of understanding the factors involved in normal agreement. Russian is a morphosyntactically rich language in which agreement involves features for number, gender, and case. If consistent, overt specification of number and gender agreement…

This paper proposes that resultative verb-particle constructions (VPCs) have an underlyingly different structure from idiomatic VPCs; both structures differ from the Small Clause analysis of R. Kayne (1985) et al and the verb-particle complex analysis of K. Johnson (1991). Empirical support for the new proposal comes from anaphor deletion facts…

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…

Examined data for two Danish children to determine subject omission, verb usage, and sentence subjects. Found that children exhibit asymmetry in subject omission according to verb type as subjects are omitted from main verb utterances more frequently than from copula utterances. Concluded that treatment of child subject omission should involve…

Explains how grammars and textbooks can present the formal tense relations of English in a concise, uncomplicated way. (PM)

Why Not V?'' refers to the grammatical structure Why Not (plus) Verb?'' (RS)

Author presents a system of grammar similar to generative-transformational grammar, but including structural variations characteristic of other levels of usage (including dialects). Flow charts are used, and implications for computer programs are briefly mentioned. (Author/SP)

Grammatical agreement flags the parts of sentences that belong together regardless of whether the parts appear together. In English, the major agreement controller is the sentence subject, the major agreement targets are verbs and pronouns, and the major agreement category is number. The authors expand an account of number agreement whose tenets…

Based on a paper presented at a Conference of the Institute for the German Language (Institut fur deutsche Sprache) December 3, 1971, in Freiburg/Breisgau, West Germany. (RS)

Four experiments are presented in which adults learned to comprehend a new syntactic construction in their native language. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that adults quickly learn to comprehend the new construction and generalize it to new verbs. Experiment 3 shows that experience with the novel construction affects the processing of a…

The major targets of number agreement in English are pronouns and verbs. To examine the factors that control pronoun number and to test pronouns against a psycholinguistic account of how verb number arises during language production, we varied the meaningful and grammatical number properties of agreement controllers and examined the impact of…

A deep structure underlying sentences with modal adverbs and verbs in English is discussed. Semantic and syntactic similarities are pointed out in support of a suggestion that both surface structures have a common deep structure source. Possible ways of dealing with modality in a generative grammar are presented. (Available from: See FL 508 214.)…

At the beginning of this study a chart is given to illustrate the 13 basic verb forms of Dari (the term given to Persian spoken in Afghanistan). The verbs are then described individually in terms of their usage in sentences. The approach combines form and function to an extent not normally attempted in grammar. Two hundred forty-four verb…