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Copyright of Epos is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Synergies Pays Scandinaves is the property of GERFLINT (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches pour le Francais Langue Internationale) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Non-finite verbs, also frequently called unmarked verbs, constitute a large field for variationist studies in linguistics, for typology and furthermore for Usage-Based Grammars. However, the descriptive approaches to participles, infinitive and gerund currently end up in a representation of these forms as defective, impersonal and atemporal. Consequently, participles, infinitives and gerunds, on account of their unmarkness, are analysed and commented on in many cases outside the question of temporality (to the advantage of aspect) and outside any capacity to have their own subject. On the other hand, several analyses have brought to light a categorial process leading observers to consider the participles as belonging to the class of adjectives, the infinitives as belonging to the class of nouns, and the gerunds to the class of adverbs. Even if this presentation allows us establish that participles readily behave as adjectives and that gerunds are often employed as circumstants, such a perspective is intermediate and cannot resume what truly characterizes non-finite verbs. In this paper, we apply the question of scalarity and this one of (more or less local) relationship appearing between non-finite verbs and other discourse components. From a philological and usage-based grammatical framework, this article analyses some attested examples (collected in the recent periodic press) focusing on the way that non-finite verbs are more or less adjunct/conjunct to other words and simultaneously more or less linked to local or non-local discursive elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: This paper investigates the nature of ergative case assignment in a type of complex verb construction in Hindi. This construction involves a verbal complex that contains a main verb stem followed by a light verb. It is shown that the ergative case assignment in this construction depends crucially on the light verb. The evidence presented in the paper is highly suggestive of a view of vP shells in which the external argument introducing little v is a distinct head from the case assigning little v. Furthermore, a study of a range of lexical exceptions to the canonical ergative case assignment patterns in Hindi provides an argument that ergative case in Hindi is an inherent case. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a discussion of the relationship between the phenomenon of linguistic innovation and the notion of subjectification (cf. LANGACKER, 1990; 2006; TRAUGOTT, 1995; TRAUGOTT; DASHER, 2005; OCHS; SCHIEFFELIN, 1989). We propose, according to the literature, that the linguistic innovation is a consequence of mental aspects linked with the subjectivity of speakers and, in the last instance, with a psychosocial mechanism named struggle of recognition, proposed in modern philosophy by Hegel (1893 [1992]), and developed nowdays by Honneth (2004). We exemplify our reflection with an analysis of the phenomenon known as gerundism, which, according to our view, beginning with modal content, develops proximate future value, confirming the role of subjectification in the phenomenon of linguistic innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to compare spanish gerundio and polish adverbial imiesłów. We examine the morphological characteristics, origin and development of these word classes. Then we focus on it's syntactic behaviour and we present some examples of discrepancies between the two languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkbilig/Turkoloji Arastirmalari Dergisi is the property of Turkbilig/Turkoloji Arastirmalari Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Alfa: Revista de Lingüística is the property of Alfa: Revista de Linguistica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Epos is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Gerund, which are used frequently in Turkic languages along with verbal nouns and participial in infinite clauses express different relations to the content of a verb followed such as synchronous, preterit, posteriori, manner, binding, up temporality, goal etc. We study in these article gerunds in Kirgiz, which is a member of the Kipchak Turkic, using materials taken from newspapers and literary works published in Kirgizia. We classify gerund in Kirgiz as simple gerund (e.g. -A/-y, - (U)B etc.), derived gerund (e.g. -GAndA , -GançA etc.) and gerund which have the form of a postpositional phrase (e.g. -GandAn kiyin, -ArI menen etc.). We compare the gerund in Kirgiz with those of Turkish from the standpoint of their functions and syntax used in both Turkic languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article investigates aspects of complementation in the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut). Some embedded clauses in this language seem “more nominalized” than others. In particular, I compare the syntax of clauses built around a participial verb to the syntax of finite clauses and gerundive nominals. Participial clauses pattern with “less nominal” finite clauses with respect to the distribution of negative polarity items, in allowing scrambling, in allowing raising to object, and in the ability to function as indirect questions. In contrast, they pattern with “more nominal” gerundive nominals in details of their external distribution, in being active for case assignment, and in being islands for extraction in relative clauses. Finally, participial clauses are different from both finite clauses and gerundive nominals in being able to enter into relations of obligatory control. I show that this rather complex pattern can be derived from a simple difference as to which head in a minimally elaborated clause structure is nominal in each construction—“nominal” being understood as a category with a referential index but no specifier. The investigation leads to a refinement of my Reference-Predication Constraint, which divides up into two more specific conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this study is to compare the syntax of French and Swedish inserted (parenthetical) clauses appearing after a direct quotation. More specifically, the study explores the relationship between the French gérondif and the Swedish “V1 och V2” construction in contexts such as dit-elle en souriant / sa hon och log. The analysis is based on a translation corpus, comprising French and Swedish literary texts, and their translations into Swedish and French, respectively. It is argued that the function and use of these constructions are related to the typological profiles of the two languages, French being an exocentric language which considers the different aspects of a communicative situation according to their importance (hierarchic information structure), and Swedish being an endocentric language which divides the communicative situation into successive actions (linear information structure). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of English Studies is the property of Universidad de la Rioja, Servicio de Publicaciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Gouadec -- among others -- has foreshadowed the end of PRAT compared to CAT. This new age of translation offers the possibility of investigating a larger database fed into the translation memory and term base of a translation environment, such as Trados or MemoQ. Thus we will try to offer an insight into the translation of the English should and ought to into non-Indo-European languages, such as Romanian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As nonfinite verbal form, the Romanian Gerund creates a wide range of stylistic devices, expressing actions in progress and thus making things, objects and persons more dynamic. The aim of this article is to present some expressive values of the Gerund as they occur in Romanian poetry and prose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the French and Italian present participle and gerund can be ascribed to the disappearance of verbal and nominal endings which characterizes romance languages in general. In Italian both the noun and the verb are concerned while in French only the verb is affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the analysis of English - ing-clauses and discusses its theoretical significance with respect to the architecture of grammatical categories. English - ing-clauses pose two major descriptive issues: first, whether the two historically distinct clause-types of gerunds and participles can be collapsed into a single category, and second, whether - ing-clauses still relate to their phrasal origins as (historical) noun phrases and adjectival/adverbial phrases. It is argued that neither question can receive a straightforward answer, as the existing evidence is simply contradictory. This, in turn, has theoretical consequences. English - ing-clauses show that language users can operate with different grammatical generalizations at once. The representation of grammatical categories must therefore be internally complex, allowing grammatical categories to be simultaneously unified and distinct, interrelated and autonomous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an investigation of the influence of Chinese topic-prominent features on the acquisition of four types of English subjects; dummy subject, gerund, infinitive and clausal subject introduced by that. By analyzing the results of the translation task by two groups of participants, it discovered the accuracy sequence of the four items, dummy subject > gerund > infinitive > clausal subject. It classified four typical TP-characterized sentences as follows: 1) Over-use of have/has in existential construction; 2) Under-acquisition of dummy subject it; 3) Zero-subject; 4) Dropping complementizer that in clausal subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The procedure of a legislative referendum is met at the Romans. For them, "lex" meant convention. Terminologically, and not only, the institution has its origin in Roman law, where the gerund of the verb referare designated a procedure through which the entire elective, different from the plebs, was directly consulted regarding a precise subject, the adopted decision being therefore legitimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speakers build linguistic styles by combining elements of existing styles, a process known as bricolage, which results in stylistic resources appearing across multiple styles. Although speakers' ability to construct and deploy styles across situations has been documented repeatedly, little perceptual work has been done on how linguistic cues function across styles. This study used a matched guise experiment to examine the impact of the English variable (ING) on social perceptions of speakers presented as professors, political candidates, or experienced professionals. As predicted, profession shifted the impact of (ING) on perceived knowledgeability, such that professors were seen as more knowledgeable when using -ing, whereas experienced professionals were more knowledgeable in their -in guises. Use of -in also made all speakers sound less caring and created a positive relationship between political progressiveness and caring in perceptions of political candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a comparative look at idiosyncratic instances of mixed categories in Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, and Greek, arguing them to be genuine mixed projections, despite their inability to function as arguments—which in turn is a well-known characteristic of mixed projections, such as English gerunds. After their syntactic behavior is examined, it is argued that these nonargumental mixed projections are embedded within prepositional phrases headed by (null) temporal prepositions. This derives their peculiar properties while successfully capturing the differences between them and purely verbal/clausal projections such as infinitivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Afyon Kocatepe University Journal of Social Sciences / Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Afyon Kocatepe University (AKU) Sosyal Bilimler Enstitusu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A single Latin manuscript, Berne codex 123 (folio 7a), preserves a statement by Isidorus Hispalensis who tells of twelve parts of speech in Phoenician, consisting of the usual eight with the addition of the article, the ‘impersonal mode’ (having no set person or number), the infinitive and the ‘gerund’. This paper proposes identifying the gerund with the infinitive followed by a personal pronoun, a construction attested in Phoenician inscriptions from Byblos, Zincirli, Karatepe and Çineköy, and occurring sporadically in Ugaritic, Hebrew and South-Arabian. It is argued that it represents an earlier stage or a variant of the Ethio-Semitic ‘gerund’ denoting an action simultaneous or anterior to the one expressed by another verb in the perfect or the imperfect. Its absence in Aramaic, North-Arabian and Classical Arabic once again shows the weakness of the hypothesis of a ‘Central Semitic’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the study which explored the use of the book "Ab Urbe Condita" as one of Ennius' best known tactics of Fabius Maximus 'Cunctator' against Hannibal in 217/216 B.C.E. It examines the infusion of Ennian language in texts of the prose historiographical tradition. It cites the ablative gerund that became the hallmark of Ennius'vital word expression while altering the verb on which the gerund was based and allowed the line to be rewritten in multiple contexts.

The study of the -ndo morpheme has raised many interesting questions and debate in the history of the Spanish language. Some researchers have argued, for instance, that the high frequency in use of the -ndo morpheme is a consequence of the linguistic contact between Spanish and other languages (e.g, English and French). However, the non-standard uses of the -ndo are found in scenarios where Spanish is not in contact with other languages. This finding has motivated other analysis and proposals for the Spanish gerundio -e.g., the semantics of the -ndo form. In this paper I analyze the distribution of the gerund periphrasis with 'estar' and 'ir' in the 13th. and 15th. century. Specifically, I study the semantic constraint that the grammatical and lexical aspects impose on the distribution of the -ndo form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on complementation in English and other languages have traditionally focused on syntactic issues, most notably on the constituent structures of different complement types. As a result, they have neglected the role of meaning in the choice of different complements. This paper investigates the semantics of complementation within the theoretical framework of cognitive grammar. In particular, I examine the extent to which two morphosyntactically different complement types in modern English, to infinitival and -ing complements, reflect differences in meaning and whether there is any semantic patterning in the sets of matrix predicates that select for each type. The analysis argues that the occurrence of one or the other complement type is not semantically arbitrary, but rather semantically motivated by the meanings of the matrix predicates and the meanings of the grammatical elements to and -ing found in each kind of complement. Consequently, in spite of its clear grammatical function, infinitival to is meaningful in all its uses, retaining aspects of its original path-like sense via well-established routes of semantic extension. In general, all to infinitival complements evoke the notion of conceptual distance of some kind between the matrix and subordinate clauses. In addition, in all its uses -ing is also meaningful in evoking some kind of conceptual overlap between the matrix and subordinate clauses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this research several linguistic and extralinguistic factors were considered in the use of the periphrasis estar + ndo in Puerto Rican Spanish. The speech of Puerto Rican immigrants was examined in 6 sociolinguistic interviews carried out at Indiana University (USA), altogether lasting approximately 200 minutes. The informants were between the ages of 22 and 35 (3 women and 3 men), who were pursuing studies at the Master's and Ph.D levels. All the participants possessed a high level of bilingualism. The innovative part of this research study was the level of specificity of the population under study: Puerto Rican Spanish speakers that possessed a similar occupational status (high academic level), immersed in an English-speaking environment, but displaying Puerto Rican Spanish as their dominant language. Their age was also limited to a 13 year range and their spontaneous and vernacular language was elicited through several informal sociolinguistic interviews. The quantitative analysis for this research was carried out by means of the software GoldVarb X (Lawrence, Robinson & Tagliamonte, 2001). The covariational analysis for the results obtained showed that the factor groups, namely, verbal lexical-semantic aspect, sentence aspect and sex, significantly influenced the choice between the simple present indicative form and the progressive gerund periphrastic form. According to the results obtained, the factors that favor the periphrasis are the following: activity-consecution (within the verbal lexical-semantic aspect); the durative, progressive and limited duration aspect (within the sentence aspect); and the masculine sex. In agreement with other authors (Cortés-Torres, 2005a: 53-4), these data do not support the influence of the English language in Puerto Rican Spanish nor the notion of Spanish converging into English. It rather seems that the change is motivated by internal linguistic factors that correspond to the canonical use of Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article both expands and confirms research on a relic grammatical feature, the prefix a- on present participles. Because previous work has concentrated on its occurrence in the English of Appalachia and only synchronically, first its superregional distribution is shown. The article then surveys its evolution from a preposition (on or at) + gerund in Early Middle English to the prefix a- + participle. The article assesses possible transatlantic sources, arguing that southern England to be most plausible. Previous work, especially Wolfram (1980, 1988) in West Virginia and Feagin (1979) in Alabama, have identified both grammatical and phonological constraints on its occurrence and possible semantic or discourse meaning, for the prefix. These are tested against a large corpus from an area intermediate between the two, the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. Four major quantitative constraints prohibiting the prefix, originally proposed by Wolfram, are strongly substantiated, but a small number of exceptions to each argues that they are not categorical. With respect to other, more minor patterns, the prefix in the Smoky Mountains has a different distributed from West Virginia, but overall Wolfram's pioneering work is corroborated. Documenting and tracking these linguistic constraints through the history of English remain tasks for future corpus linguists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present contribution investigates the motivations underlying a tendency for phonological phrases in English to start with upbeats, that is, unstressed syllables. The empirical part consists of two case studies based on a corpus of Early Modern English prose, focusing on the variable use of the preposition of introducing nominal complements of (un)worthy and objects of gerunds, respectively. The counts provide quantified evidence indicating that the upbeat phenomenon is not only a corollary of the need for a function word signaling the beginning of a new phrase, but also a rhythmically motivated preference that exerts an influence on the presence or absence of a grammatical marker in phrase onsets. The phonological requirement for an upbeat thus has consequences for the syntactic makeup of phrases. In light of such empirical facts, it is argued that models of grammar conceptualizing the syntax-phonology interface as a unidirectional mapping are not tenable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Descriptive verbs are verbal constructions that include various compound structures one segment of which often has a gerundial feature. They have shown variations in structure and meaning since the period of Old Turkish. In this article, descriptive verbs that occur in Karakhanid texts are analyzed and classified according to their structures and meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers the position of clitics in verbal phrases with infinitives and gerunds, in which the speaker can choose to place the clitic in pre- or post-verbal position. The analysis is based on seventy-two one-hour tape-recorded conversations with speakers from Houston and the state of Michoacán, México. General results indicate a process of grammaticalization that appears as a strong tendency to place the clitic in front of the verbal phrase. A more in-depth analysis offers evidence that shows the role played by the contact situation with English; some characteristics of the verbal phrases studied seem to be sensitive to the contact situation. Reflexive verb constructions show a clear reduction of clitic climbing in groups of bilingual speakers. Although there is a strong tendency toward clitic climbing in most of the verbal phrases examined, some resistance, varying by generation, is observed with auxiliaries like empezar/comenzar con, saber, tratar de and venir a + infinitive. On the other hand, all bilingual speakers, regardless of generation, seem to follow the same general tendency of monolingual Spanish speakers to prefer clitic climbing in verbal phrases with gerunds, with incremental differences in verbal phrases like ir a, deber, querer, tener que, acabar de, and volver a + infinitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefactive construction dar + gerund is used in the North Andean region only and is unknown elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. Based on the analysis of spontaneous data from Ecuadorian Highland Spanish, this paper provides a linguististic description of dar + gerund and of the social and pragmatic conditions of its use. Departing from this description, I explain that the construction originates through contact with Ecuadorian Quechua. It is shown that the geographical restriction of the use of dar + gerund is directly related to the specific characteristics of Ecuadorian Quechua. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts out from the observation that the semantic labels of ‘fact’ and ‘action’ (Lees 1968[1960]) that are traditionally used in the description of English gerundive nominalizations (e.g. I worry that my posing the question defines me as a depressive) cannot distinguish gerundives from so-called action - ing nouns (e.g. Saddam's targeting of Israel) and also fail to capture the more subtle semantic distinctions within the system of gerundive nominalization. The descriptive analysis that is presented tries to move beyond the action/fact dichotomy, is firmly grounded in the nominal-constructional properties of the system and covers all subtypes of gerundive nominalization. Building on Schachter (1976), it argues that gerundive - ing nominalizations have shifted from the representational semantics of action - ing nouns to a more schematic, constructional semantics: gerundives, it is suggested, nominalize either a type or kind of process, with no subject implied, or they nominalize an instance of a process, characterized by the (clausal-)constructional link which it implies between the process type and a subject (Davidse 1997, Heyvaert 2003). The system of gerundive nominalization exploits all nominal-constructional options which it has within the structure of the NP to encode the absence or presence of this subject. Gerundives thus opt for non-specific, generic reference to encode the name of a type or class of process (with no subject implied) or to encode an instance with generic reference. They use specific (definite or indefinite) reference to designate a specific, non-generic instance. The subject is either included in the nominalized clausal unit (and in the oblique case), or it is encoded through nominal means: in the form of bare definite reference of the gerundive NP (signalling control by the matrix clause or anaphoric/exophoric reference with the co(n)text), or in the form of a possessive/genitive determiner. The analysis that is proposed sheds new light on previously undifferentiated categories of gerundive nominalization (such as the control type of bare gerundives), as well as points to interesting resemblances between gerundive nominalization and diachronic changes in other systems of deverbal nominalization. Crucially, it also allows for a better understanding of the semantics of the system and its differences with action - ing nominals, whose nominal-constructional options do not revolve around encoding the presence or absence of a subject but instead allow for a wide range of modifying elements and determiners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the syntax of clausal gerunds—a class of gerunds that can have either a null subject or an overt DP Case-marked with accusative or nominative. First, it addresses the difficulty of accounting for gerunds that allow both null and overt subjects in principles and parameters/minimalist approaches to Case and control. Second, the paper explores the existence of a common structure for the two clausal gerunds, supported by the absence of empirical distinctions in their feature specification, especially regarding tense. Third, the paper introduces new observations about the distribution of clausal gerunds and argues that the complex alternations and restrictions on their distribution results from the interaction between Case and Agreement valuation, the limited possibility of A-movement out of a clausal gerund, and convergence considerations resulting from the existence of distinct numerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alfa: Revista de Lingüística is the property of Alfa: Revista de Linguistica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the variation between two nominal gerund constructions in 16th-century English: definite gerunds on the one hand (the eating of the apple) and bare gerunds on the other (eating of the apple). Although the two constructions are highly characteristic of the period and have played a role in the further development of the gerund, the factors that govern their use are still poorly understood. It is proposed here that the essential difference between the two variants lies in the presence of the definite article, which expresses its usual function of marking referents as "uniquely identifiable." The role of the definite article can be made visible through close analysis of corpus data (Helsinki Corpus). In particular, the function of the article underlies two tendencies emerging from the data – one relating to the status of the nominal gerund as a "reference point construction," the other relating to the gerund's control behaviour vis-à-vis its matrix clause. Thus, the analysis shows that the choice between the two variants is non-arbitrary. At the same time, it opens up a fresh perspective on the historical development of the gerund, as it provides a functional characterisation of the nominal constructions in relation to which verbal gerunds emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English physical perception verbs can appear followed by an NP (Noun Phrase) and an --ing form. In the literature, they are generally assumed to represent two separate constituents. However, we claim that an alternative interpretation is also possible: the "NP + -ing form" can be considered as a single constituent. We provide semantic, syntactic and thematic evidence in favour of this hypothesis. We will especially dwell on the relationship between physical and cognitive perception verbs. Finally, we will discuss the implications of this analysis on the possible readings of the --ing form with physical perception verbs (abstract and concrete readings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for a constructional approach to English progressives. On this view, progressivity is a construction-level property, rather than a lexical property of the ing forms that progressive verb phrases contain or of the auxiliary. The incompatibility of ing forms with state verbs in progressive constructions provides crucial evidence in support of the construction-based perspective, given that stative ing forms are fully acceptable in gerundive and other ing constructions. Of course, underlying this approach is the proposal that gerund is neutralizable with present participle (Huddleston 1984, 2002b, c; Pullum 1991; Blevins 1994). A lexicalist and construction-based analysis of gerundive nominals, as in Pullum (1991) and Blevins (1994), offers a means of claiming that progressivity is a property of the combination of an auxiliary and ing participle, just as the perfect aspect is expressed by the combination of have and a past participle, as proposed in Ackerman & Webelhuth (1998) and Spencer (2001b), and implicitly in Curme (1935) and other traditional grammars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces BLUR, an electronic corpus of Blues lyrics from the early twentieth century, as a valuable resource for the study of syntactic phenomena in Earlier African American English and investigates the properties and origins of a peculiar construction found in it. The design of the BLUR corpus is presented, and methodological consequences resulting from the nature of the texts are discussed. Subsequently, a few noteworthy syntactic structures documented in it are briefly illustrated. The most challenging of these, a sequence of inchoative verbs (notably begin, start, or commence), the particle to, and a verbal -ing form, as in begin to falling, is then analyzed in some detail, considering syntactic constraints and historical documentation in potentially related varieties, represented by electronic corpora and other sources from Late Middle English to present-day dialects. Based on these findings, a hypothesis on the likely origins and diffusion of this construction is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Traditional syntactic accounts of verb phrase ellipsis (e.g., “Jason laughed. Sam did [ ] too.”) categorize as ungrammatical many sentences that language users find acceptable (they “undergenerate”); semantic accounts overgenerate. We propose that a processing theory, together with a syntactic account, does a better job of describing and explaining the data on verb phrase–ellipsis. Five acceptability judgment experiments supported a “VP recycling hypothesis,” which claims that when a syntactically matching antecedent is not available, the listener/reader creates one using the materials at hand. Experiments 1 and 2 used verb phrase ellipsis sentences with antecedents ranging from perfect (a verb phrase in matrix verb phrase position) to impossible (a verb phrase containing only a deverbal word). Experiments 3 and 4 contrasted antecedents in verbal vs nominal gerund subjects. Experiment 5 explored the possibility that speakers are particularly likely to go beyond the grammar and produce elided constituents without perfect matching antecedents when the antecedent needed is less marked than the antecedent actually produced. This experiment contrasted active (unmarked) and passive antecedents to show that readers seem to honor such a tendency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article explores the origin of the Latin gerundive and gerund. The author states that gerund is considered as a defective verbal noun while gerundive is a passive verbal adjective with necessitative meaning. It cites that the historical investigation of gerundive and gerund in the modern period started with the appearance of the monograph-length study of scholar Ernst Risch which focus on the Latin facts synchrony. It also highlights the good summary of the older literature provided by writer Manu Leumann.

Verb phrases seem to be head initial in affirmative sentences in Lokạạ (a Niger-Congo language of the Cross River area of Nigeria) but head final in negative clauses and gerunds. This article aspires to give a comprehensive description of this phenomenon, together with a theoretical analysis. It considers how a full range of grammatical elements are ordered in both kinds of clauses – including direct objects, second objects, particles, weak pronouns, complement clauses, serial verbs, adverbs, prepositional phrases, tense/mood particles, and auxiliary verbs. The pattern that emerges is a bit different from the one found in some superficially similar languages, such as Vata, Bambara, Nupe, and Nweh. I argue that the details are correctly explained by a “remnant movement” theory in which the Lokạạ verb first moves out of the verb phrase to combine with tense/agreement inflection, and then the rest of the verb phrase moves as a unit into a specifier position at the top of the clause. This position is available because the notional subject undergoes dislocation in Lokạạ, as has been claimed for many of its Bantu kin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the development in the usage of the suffix -wise. The suffix can be formulated as in the manner of, with respect to, in regard to and concerning. The form has become productive again, as it originally was in Old English, but mainly in a different meaning. Also, the adverbs that result from -wise can have scope over phrases, as well as individual lexemes. The suffix -wise originated in Old English as an independent word meaning manner, fashion. Over time it came to be used as a derivative suffix, restricted primarily to adverbial expressions. In the earlier manner/dimension formations, -wise could be suffixed to both adjectival and nominal bases. However, newer manner/dimension formations have nominal bases only. They belong primarily to the lexical field of measure. In the 1992 Switchboard Corpus, nouns that serve as for -wise formations of either type are bare, as are those participial gerunds that occur. In different instances -wise occurs in initial position where it is used to contrast with another expressed or implied adverbial. With respect to increased freedom of occurrence, works on lexicalization has pointed to the general unindirectionality of lexicalization from complex phrases to single words, a process often called univerbation.

The article analyzes that in a number of teaching grammars of English, "like" is treated as one of the verbs, which shows no difference in meaning when it is construed with the gerund or the "to"-infinitive. Another aspect of usage in this area, which will merit one's attention, is the fact that like is different from most of the other verbs in its semantic field in being used with both the infinitive and the gerund as complements. Another aspect of usage, which also deserves further attention, is the question of control or the identification of the agent of the non-finite verb's event.