LINGUIST List 10.1614

Wed Oct 27 1999

Qs: Markedness, Negative/Adjectives and Markedness

Editor for this issue: James Yuells <jameslinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Geraldine De Visscher, Markedness
2. dave gough, Negatives/Adjectives and Markedness

Hallo,

I am a Belgian researcher at the VUB [Vrije Universiteit Brussel], Brussels. I 
have just started a PhD on the Efficacy of Explicit Instruction in Second 
Language Acquisition.I am now studying the influence of linguistic-typological
and contrastive markedness of structures on the efficacy of
instruction.I have already read several theoretical works on
Markedness. But I still haven't found an operational definition for
structural markedness.

Does anybody have some suggestions?
Thanks in advance

G�raldine De Visscher

hi

have got a couple of questions regarding negation of adjectives

1. Are adjectives in predicative constructions such as ' I am not big' in
other languages more, or, less marked for negation than verbs (if there is a
difference e.g. marked prefixally for adjectives, but both prefixally and
suffixally for verbs)?

2. Are there languages out there in which the negative in adj structures
such as 'I am not big' require a form of auxiliary support not required in
the positive?

3. Are there languages out there in which code mixed adjectives are treated
quite specifically in their negation (different to other 'native'
adjectives)?

4. i work with a language (xhosa) in which one variant of the negative of
adjectival predicates (e.g. I am not big) uses the past tense suffix of
verbs as one of its (two) markers of negation on this form. Are there any
languages out there that use a 'past' or 'perfective' tense form for this
purpose too?

THANKS

DAVE GOUGH