LINGUIST List 15.1903

Wed Jun 23 2004

Qs: Verbless Configurations;Lang Acquisition Theory

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  • Francisco Gonz�lvez-Garc�a, Counterfactual verbless configurations across lgs
  • Naicker Suren, question

    Message 1: Counterfactual verbless configurations across lgs

     Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 21:04:24 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Francisco Gonz�lvez-Garc�a <fgonzaual.es>
    Subject: Counterfactual verbless configurations across lgs


    Dear members of the LINGUIST list,

    I am currently investigating the effects of coercion (as in Michaelis 2002, 2003) in low-level configurations of the type in (1) and (2)for Spanish:

    (1) Te hac�a en Londres You-ACCUSATIVE made-IMPERFECT 1stPERS.SG in London (2) Te cre�a en Par�s You-ACCUSATIVE believed-IMPERFECT 1stPERS.SG in Paris

    These configurations activate coercion (i) when the verb takes the form of the imperfect preterite, not the indefinite preterite (*hice ('made')/*cre� ('believed') and (ii) require a prepositional phrase or an adverbial phrase as XP after the intervening nominal with a literal (usually locative) meaning. Otherwise, the configuration is not acceptable (e.g. ''Yo te creo en Londres :: I you believe in London 'I believe you in London'). Moreover, they carry the implication that the speaker's prior prediction about the state of affairs encoded in the postverbal sequence is actually wrong, something of which the speaker has first-hand evidence. I would very much appreciate if native linguists from the list could let me know if these configurations are acceptable in their respective language in the verbless clause configuration (as in (1)-(2) above), or whether, by contrast, a finite complement clause must be used instead, as in English (i.e. * I thought you in London :: I thought you were in London). I would be more than happy to post a summary with the contributions from the members of the list.

    Thank you in advance for your time and cooperation. All best, Francisco.

    Message 2: question

     Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 09:05:31 -0700 (PDT)
    From: Naicker Suren <suren1946yahoo.com>
    Subject: question


    I was wondering if anyone has any critical comments on Geoffrey Sampson's theory on language acquisition, as outlined in his Educating Eve??

    Suren Naicker, BA (Hons.) (Wits) School of Literature and Language Studies Wits University Johannesburg South Africa