An aspectual contour of phrasal verb constructions with English think

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-193
Author(s):  
Iwona Kokorniak
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Model ◽  
Mental Process ◽  
Progressive Aspect ◽  
Additional Tool ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Phrasal Verb ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract In English, the internal constituency of an event is obligatorily expressed by means of non-progressive versus progressive aspect. It is also represented linguistically by means of lexical aspect, and thus verb semantics. The two types of distinctions are shown to lie at two different levels of schematicity in the Integrated Model of Aspect (IMA, Kokorniak 2018). Although particles constitute only an additional tool in aspectual profiling in English, they are very productive at the level of lexical aspect in profiling minor aspectual differences that main verb semantics and inflection cannot reflect. The particles that the verb think can be combined with include out, over, through and up. Monolingual learners’ dictionaries suggest that think out, think over and think through can be used interchangeably. Their definitions indicate that in all three cases the particles designate a careful and thorough mental process. The study presents an aspectual contour of think and the particles that the verb can be combined with, and displays that each particle constitutes an elaboration of the mental path in a slightly different way. Their semantic contribution to the aspectual verb profile is shown and located in the IMA continuum, while corpus examples depict their use.

Inside phrasal verb constructions

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra C. Deshors
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Association Patterns ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Mutual Attraction ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Semantic Complexity ◽  
Phrasal Verb ◽  
Different Levels

This study investigates 2,909 phrasal verbs [PVs] in (in)transitive constructions across native English and French- and German-English interlanguages (ILs). Recent work by Gilquin (2014) shows that, as verb-particle combinations, PVs associate more or less strongly with particular syntactic constructions. Further, those association patterns vary across native and learner Englishes. Building on Gilquin (2014), the present study digs deeper into PV constructions by assessing degrees of mutual attraction between verbs and particles as well as between PVs and their semantic uses. Degrees of association are measured using a co-varying collexeme analysis approach (Stefanowitsch & Gries 2005). Generally, it emerges that within given syntactic constructions (e.g. verb-particle-object constructions), different verbs and particles (i.e. bring and up in the case of build up or bring and about for bring about) combine in different degrees, suggesting that, as cognitive routines, those combinations are not equally entrenched. In addition, French and German English learners seem to operate at different levels of semantic complexity when using PVs in their L2. Ultimately, the study bears important pedagogical implications, namely the need (i) to focus on phrasal verbs’ aspectual uses to help learners develop a more confident use of PVs in completive, inceptive and continuative semantic contexts and (ii) to develop resources that help learners improve their uses of PVs in verb-object-particle constructions.

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF COMPONENT SEMANTICS IN MODAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS WITH THE MODAL VERBS OF “OBLIGATION” ON THEIR GRAMMATICAL AND STATISTICAL FEATURES (ON THE BASIS OF THE TECHNICAL DISCOURSE TEXTS)

2018 ◽  
pp. 82-99
Author(s):  
T. Borisenko ◽  
M. Tsinovaya ◽  
L. Tsapenko ◽  
T. Sirotenko
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
The United States ◽  
Statistical Characteristics ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Text Corpora ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Modal Verb ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Technical Discourse

The article presents the study of Modal verb constructions with the modal verbs of “obligation” must, have to+ Inf., be to + Inf. functioning in the scientific and technical discourse texts. The material of the research are three technical text corpora, which belong to engineering fields scientifically and technically unrelated to each other – “Electrical Engineering (Energy Supply and Power Management)”, “Automotive Industry” and “Chemical Engineering” – and compiled on the basis of scientific journals of the United States and Great Britain. This allows to obtain the results that are supposedly of a universal nature and can be applied practically to any field of scientific discourse. The goal is to consider: firstly, which semantic groups of verbs (in different grammatical forms) are attached to a particular modal verb, i.e. the following interrelationship is defined: the semantics of a modal verb – semantics and form of a main verb (the second constituent of the modal construction); secondly, to what extent this interdependence affects the usage frequency of the various semantic groups of the main verbs that make up certain MVCs. The results of the research have demonstrated that in Modal verb constructions of this type functioning in the scientific technical discourse texts the predicative meaning of modal verbs is determinant for the semantic features of main verbs connecting to them (modal verbs). The main verb semantics in its turn influences on their (main verbs) grammatical and statistical characteristics. The modal verb must has the highest frequency of use in scientific texts. It gives imperative which underlines the author’s stability of position and faultlessness of the obtained and presented results. Have to + Inf. MVC is much less frequent and it is a result of the modal component semantics of this construction. Modal verb constructions where the modal verb is be to + Inf. are used by the authors of scientific articles quite rarely, which can be also explained by semantic peculiarities of the verb be to + Inf. In Modal verb constructions with the modal verbs of “obligation” must, have to+ Inf., be to + Inf. the passive voice is more preferable than active voice because in the scientific and technical discourse texts human activity does not manifest evidently since the authors should take second place and be present indirectly through their scientific achievements.

Causation, Explanation, and the Metaphysics of Aspect

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradford Skow
Keyword(s):  
Background Condition ◽  
Structural Explanation ◽  
Levels Of Explanation ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
The Third ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
The Difference ◽  
In Virtue Of

This book aims to answer the following questions: what is the difference between a cause and a background condition? What is it to manifest a disposition? Can dispositions be extrinsic? What is the most basic kind of causation? And, what might a structural explanation be? Each chapter takes up a subset of these questions; the chapters are written to be readable independently. The answers defended rely on three ideas. Two of those ideas use a distinction from the study of lexical aspect, namely the distinction between stative verbs and non-stative verbs. The first idea is that events go with non-stative verbs, in the sense that “If S, then an event occurred in virtue of the fact that S” is true when the main verb in the clause going in for “S” is non-stative. The second is that acting, doing something, goes with non-stative verbs, in the sense that “In Ving X did something” is true iff V is a non-stative verb. The third idea is about levels of explanation: “(A because B) because C” does not entail “A because C.”

Universals and transfer in the acquisition of the progressive aspect: Evidence from L1 Chinese, German, and Spanish learners’ use of the progressive -ing in spoken English

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Zeng ◽  
Yasuhiro Shirai ◽  
Xiaoxiang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
First Language ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Progressive Aspect ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Learner Corpus

Abstract This study investigated the effects of learners’ first language (L1), lexical aspect of verbs, and proficiency levels on their use of the English progressive aspect. It analyzed spoken data from learners of three different L1s (Chinese, German, and Spanish) in an international learner corpus (LINSEI), in comparison with native speech in a comparable native speaker corpus (LOCNEC). The analysis reveals that regardless of learners’ L1 and proficiency levels, their use of progressive markings is predominantly associated with activity verbs (prototypes), supporting the association prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen, Roger W. & Yasuhiro Shirai. 1994. Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16(2). 133–156). Contrary to the fourth prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis, both intermediate and advanced learners use stative progressives, and especially intermediate L1 Spanish learners overuse stative progressives, indicating a complex interaction between L1 and proficiency on non-prototypical form-meaning associations. The results suggest that L1 effect, lexical aspect of verbs, and proficiency levels jointly drive tense-aspect acquisition.

Complex Verb Constructions in Old Dutch

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-302
Author(s):  
Evie Coussé
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Search ◽  
Past Participle ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Main Verb

Abstract This article presents a corpus study of complex verb constructions in Old Dutch. A systematic search of the Old Dutch Corpus uncovers a set of fifteen complex verb constructions which all stack two auxiliaries (one finite and one nonfinite) on top of a main verb. The oldest and most frequent complex verb construction in the corpus is a future passive construction combining finite sullan ‘shall’ with nonfinite werthan ‘be’ and a past participle. The article discusses all fifteen complex verb constructions in detail and sketches the wider linguistic context in which they are found.

The Use of the Verb Dare in Blends between the Modal and Main Verb Constructions

1992 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Duffley
Keyword(s):  
Normal Forms ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Third ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
The Third Person

It is a well-known fact that the verb dare can be used with either modal or main verb characteristics both in its inflection and in its syntax. When used as a modal, it drops the -s ending in the third person singular present indicative (She dare not mention it in his presence), has no imperative, infinitive or participial forms, takes direct negation by not, AUX-inverts in questions (Dare I ask you another question?) and is followed by the bare infinitive. In main verb use, on the other hand, it has all the normal forms of the verb, occurs with do auxiliary in negatives and interrogatives, and is construed with the to infinitive (She doesn’t dare to mention it in his presence).

scholarly journals Processing Aspectual Agreement in an Inflexionless Language: An ERP Study of Mandarin Chinese

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1236
Author(s):  
Yuxin Hao ◽  
Xun Duan ◽  
Lu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Progressive Aspect ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
Aspect Markers

This is a study of the collocation of Chinese verbs with different lexical aspects and aspect markers. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we explored the processing of aspect violation sentences. In the experiment, we combined verbs of various lexical aspect types with the progressive aspect marker zhe, and the combination of the achievement verbs and the progressive aspect marker zhe constituted the sentence’s aspect violation. The participants needed to judge whether a sentence was correct after it was presented. Finally, we observed and analyzed the components of ERPs. The results suggest that when the collocation of aspect markers and lexical aspect is ungrammatical, the N400-like and P600 are elicited on aspect markers, while the late AN is elicited by the word after the aspect marker. P600 and N400-like show that the collocation of Chinese verbs with various lexical aspects and aspect markers involve not only syntactic processing, but also the semantic processing; and the late AN may have been due to the syntax revision and the conclusion at the end of sentences.

scholarly journals Developing an integrated model for quelling illegal mining in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbekezeli Comfort Mkhize
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Integrated Model ◽  
Mining Activities ◽  
Significant Contributor ◽  
Illegal Mining ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Collaborative Efforts ◽  
Different Levels

Despite being recognised as a significant contributor in the South African economy, the mining industry is riddled with illegal mining activities. Though it remains difficult to precisely measure the extent of the activities in financial terms, it is estimated that more than R72 Billion have been lost. Lack of research on illegal mining partly compounds the problem. In view of this knowledge-gap, this article argues that whilst there is a multiplicity of stakeholders who deal directly with unlawful activities, poor integration of capacities at different levels remain discernible. The article assesses available literature and employs two theoretical perspectives as lenses through which to view the underlying reasons and the measures that can be put in place to quell illegal mining. The article concludes that an integrated model needs to be put in place in order to quell illegal mining in South Africa. The article recommends that the resources need to be pulled together and collaborative efforts need to be enhanced at all levels.

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