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This paper presents an analysis of the rise of do support and the gradual loss of verb movement during the period of Early Modern English. The analysis focuses on studying the structures in which do support was first used as an alternative to verb raising to I. It takes into consideration the analysis of the relationship between the position of the negation marker not in negative interrogative structures and the position of the subject and the object pronouns in these structures. The analysed structures are negative interrogatives taken from Shakespeare’s works in the period of Early Modern English. The results of the data analysis show that in most cases, there is do support when the subject pronouns are above negation, while there is no do support when object pronouns appear above negation. This suggests that do was first inserted here to avoid object raising with the verb to I or to C to avoid putting object and subject pronouns in subsequent positions.

This study uses variationist sociolinguistic methodology to explore the construction of gender in four of Shakespeare’s comedies. Gender performance is at issue in these plays specifically, not only because, in Shakespeare’s time at least, young male actors play the female roles, but also because each play contains a female character in male disguise. By analysing and comparing the patterns of variation used by Shakespeare’s female, male and “female as male” characters, this study provides further insight into Shakespeare’s construction and conceptualisation of gender. Further, by comparing the patterns of gender variation found in these plays with non-fiction data on the gendered variation of the period (Nevalainen, Terttu & Helena Raumolin-Brunberg. 2003. Historical sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.), it is possible to investigate how accurately Shakespeare captures the sociolinguistic variation present in his society. This study hopes to provide support both for the validity of using sociolinguistic methods to study literature but also for using data from literature in studies of historical sociolinguistic variation and change.

We propose a theory of head displacement that replaces traditional Head Movement and Lowering with a single syntactic operation of Generalized Head Movement. We argue that upward and downward head displacement have the same syntactic properties: cyclicity, Mirror Principle effects, feeding upward head displacement, and being blocked in the same syntactic configurations. We also study the interaction of head displacement and other syntactic operations, arguing that claimed differences between upward and downward displacement are either spurious or follow directly from our account. Finally, we show that our theory correctly predicts the attested crosslinguistic variation in verb and inflection doubling in predicate clefts.

Students show deficient understanding on fraction division and supporting that understanding remains a challenge for mathematics educators. This article aims to describe primary students’ understanding of partitive fraction division (PFD) and explore ways to support their understanding through the use of sequenced fractions and context-related graphical representations. In a design-research study, forty-four primary students were involved in three cycles of teaching experiments. Students’ works, transcript of recorded classroom discussion, and field notes were retrospectively analyzed to examine the hypothetical learning trajectories. There are three main findings drawn from the teaching experiments. Firstly, context of the tasks, the context-related graphical representations, and the sequence of fractions used do support students’ understanding of PFD. Secondly, the understanding of non-unit rate problems did not support the students’ understanding of unit rate problems. Lastly, the students were incapable of determining symbolic representations from unit rate problems and linking the problems to fraction division problems. The last two results imply to rethink unit rate as part of a partitive division with fractions. Drawing upon the findings, four alternative ways are offered to support students’ understanding of PFD, i.e., the lesson could be starting from partitive whole number division to develop the notion of fair-sharing, strengthening the concept of unit in fraction and partitioning, choosing specific contexts with more relation to the graphical representations, and sequencing the fractions used, from a simple to advanced form.

Previous work on Scots syntax tends to assume that do-support follows the English pattern (e.g., Gorlach, A Textual History of Scots) despite the fact that Scots exhibited variability between do-su...

The purpose of this study is to posit a principled explanation for the cross-linguistic puzzling phenomena of V-v-to-T and T-to-C movements found in...

PurposeEmpirical tests of Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory (SLT) have demonstrated that the assessment of follower competence and commitment, critical contextual features dictating optimal leadership style, poses several problems in testing the validity of this theory. As well, most previous studies have used leader rating as the only information source in making these assessments. The purpose of this paper is to use the degree of agreement between leader rating and follower self-rating to determine follower competence and commitment, and consequently an optimal leadership style.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data collected from both supervisors and employees in business organizations in Norway were analyzed to test the predictions put forward in SLT.FindingsThe results show that SLT principles are supported when leader rating and follower self-rating are congruent. However, no support was obtained for Blanchard’s suggestion to apply followers’ self-ratings of competence and commitment in the case of discrepant ratings of follower development level. But data do support the contention that leader assessment would be a better basis for providing followers with appropriate direction and support.Originality/valueSo far SLT has been a very popular but as yet under-researched theory. An important contribution of the present study is by making SLT an evidence-based theory, as opposed to just being intuitively sound. As such, the authors think SLT in an updated “convergent” version should be applied in organizations and taught in leadership development programs.

Just like most varieties of West Germanic, virtually all varieties of German use a construction in which a cognate of the English verb do (standard German tun) functions as an auxiliary and selects another verb in the bare infinitive, a construction known as do-periphrasis or do-support. The present paper provides an Optimality Theoretic (OT) analysis of this phenomenon. It builds on a previous analysis by Bader and Schmid (An OT-analysis of do-support in Modern German, 2006) but (i) extends it from root clauses to subordinate clauses and (ii) aims to capture all of the major distributional patterns found across (mostly non-standard) varieties of German. In so doing, the data are used as a testing ground for different models of German clause structure. At first sight, the occurrence of do in subordinate clauses, as found in many varieties, appears to support the standard CP-IP-VP analysis of German. In actual fact, however, the full range of data turn out to challenge, rather than support, this model. Instead, I propose an analysis within the IP-less model by Haider (Deutsche Syntax - generativ. Vorstudien zur Theorie einer projektiven Grammatik, Narr, Tubingen, 1993 et seq.). In sum, the do-support data will be shown to have implications not only for the analysis of clause structure but also for the OT constraints commonly assumed to govern the distribution of do, for the theory of non-projecting words (Toivonen in Non-projecting words, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2003) as well as research on grammaticalization.

Many sentences of adult English are analytic constructions, namely clauses with a matrix verb complemented by a dependent predicate that does not have an expressed syntactic subject. Examples are subject and object control, raising to subject or object, periphrastic tense, aspect and modality, copular predication and do-support. In this article the authors test a suggestion derived from Dependency Grammar that despite differences in detail, all such constructions are governed by a common principle of structure sharing which young children master when they produce such sentences. Analytic sentences and telegraphic sentences were examined in the speech of 439 young children, mean age 2;3.11 ( SD = 0;4.02). The production of different analytic constructions was significantly associated, raising the probability of each other by 32% on average. Telegraphic sentences overtly expressing the input’s covert predicate–argument relations also positively predicted the production of analytic sentences. These results suggest that children learn a general principle of sharing arguments, common to constructions with dependent predicates, making transfer and facilitation possible.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the markedness phenomenon of Do-support as a specific-language property poses greater difficulties for adult Arabic-speaking learners thereby bringing about more L1 transfer than the auxiliary verbs BE and HAVE. Do-support in the inter-language of adult native-Arabic speakers learning English was insufficiently addressed despite the complexity and that Arabic lacks do-support in negation and inversion. This study was conducted to address this gap within the theoretical framework of Differential Markedness Hypothesis (DMH). A sample of 100 Jordanian students attending Mutah University participated in the study where data was collected using a Multiple-Choice Task (MCT), and a Written Production Task (WPT), involving semi-structured interviews with 30 students from the student sample. The study used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse the data where the findings showed a committed relationship between the auxiliary type and degree of difficulty that learners in both groups experienced with DO, BE and HAVE. Notably, Do-support poses greater difficulty compared to BE and HAVE where its usage is problematic particularly for beginners, resulting in more incidences of the Arabic influence. The data from the interviews support the results of the two tasks: learners find L2 marked features more difficult than L2 features, which are universal and genuinely part of the syntactic structure. The findings in this study will contribute towards a better understanding of how to develop an improved teaching process to more effective on the markedness and difficulty of Do-support compared to BE and HAVE. Keywords: Arabic L1 influence; auxiliary verbs; do-support; Differential Markedness Hypothesis

All West Germanic languages possess periphrastic verb constructions in which a finite dummy auxiliary ‘do’ combines with an infinitival thematic verb (comparedo-support in English andtun-periphrasis in German). In Frisian, periphrastic verb constructions are not very common. It is all the more surprising, therefore, to find a general periphrastic verb construction in Karrharde North Frisian that seems to go beyond the typology of these constructions in West Germanic to some extent: The construction is rather unconstrained, it features a mysterious dummy auxiliarywer- and, most strikingly, both the dummy auxiliary and the thematic verb are finite. In this article, the basic data on finite verb doubling in Karrharde North Frisian is presented, and the origin of the dummy auxiliarywer- is tracked down. A synchronic analysis of the construction is proposed that relates it to the periphrastic verb constructions in other West Germanic languages. It is shown that finite verb doubling is in most respects a garden variety periphrastic verb construction, and that its special properties can be traced back to the fact that the dummy auxiliary developed from the complementizerwer‘if, whether’ (possibly under language contact with Danish).

The two primary and transmitted sources of Islamic Law are the Qurʾān and the Sunna (Prophetic traditions and practices). This combination of the two crucial sources of Islamic Law is seen as a link between reason and revelation. Indeed, the marriage between these two sources has resulted in the emergence of Islamic Law [8: p. 15]. The Qurʾān is considered the most sacred and important source of Islamic Law, which contains verses related to god, human beliefs and how a particular believer should live in this worldly life. The human conduct that should govern the believers’ life, which is clearly stated in the Qurʾān, is indeed the domain of Islamic Law. The Qurʾān comprises about five hundred legal verses that explicitly set out legal rulings that need to be applied by all believers [8: p. 16]. Even non-legal verses in the Qurʾān do support the establishment of the legal system of Islam, as will be expounded by Professor Almatroudi. The second primary and transmitted source of Islamic Law is the Sunna, which represents the Prophet Mohammad’s (peace be upon him) deeds and sayings, which were formulated in the form of narratives and became known as Prophetic H adith [8: p. 16]. The Sunna also comprises a number of legal provisions that must be applied by all believers of Islam. Certain legal rulings in these transmitted Islamic sources are definitive. In other words, the lawgiver (God) has formulated them in such a way which does not need personal legal reasoning and is not open to different interpretations as they are clear and definitive. Conversely, there exists a corpus of legal contents stated in both the Qurʾān and the

The interpersonal transfer of knowledge-in-use is necessary for individual and organizational learning. Learning from others depends on people's ability to integrate their own and others' experiences. In order to do that successfully, people have to abstract from single experiences (that they themselves or others have had) and recognize those features that different situations have in common. An established instructional method to foster these abstraction and integration processes is to use patterns. These are pre-structured text templates that differentiate between problems and solutions. By pointing to problem-solutions pairs they support individuals in considering invariant aspects of similar problems and identifying structural features of situations and problems. In an experiment (n?=?81) participants read about other's experiences in a pattern or non-pattern format and had to apply this knowledge to a new situation. Then they externalized this new experience by articulating them either in a pattern or non-pattern format. We further measured the knowledge transfer to yet another problem. Congruent with our hypotheses we found that patterns do support the internalization of others' experiences and their application to a new situation. Externalizing the newly made experiences in patterns led to a stronger focus on structural problem features, which in turn fostered knowledge transfer to new situations. Learning from others depends on the ability to integrate own and others' experiences.One instructional method to foster abstraction and integration processes are patterns.Patterns highlight invariant aspects and structural features of situations and problems.Patterns support the internalization of others' experiences and the application to new situations.

The present study is an in-depth, corpus-based analysis of the rise and institutionalization of the indefinite nominal gerund in Late Modern English, considering the observed developments in light of their interactions with functionally related constructions. Based on historical data taken from the Corpus of Late Modern English Texts (version 3.1), we argue that the rise of indefinite nominal gerunds constitutes an instance ofdiachronic nominalization, in which the nominal gerund over time gradually comes to exploit a fuller range of paradigmatic properties associated with the nominal class. At the same time, this study investigates the potential influence ofisomorphismon the observed developments. While the results do support the frequently investigated claim that language systems have a (weak) preference for a one-form-one-meaning organization in later stages of their development, the initial emergence of indefinite nominal gerunds can more accurately be explained by allowingsystem pressureas an enabling force of linguistic innovation. The picture presented in this study serves as evidence that the long-term development of linguistic constructions can be the result ofcompeting –even maximally opposite –forces.

It is commonly assumed that the two simple tenses of English (We love/loved the wine) do not involve verbal periphrasis. Instead, I consider evidence which supports an analysis of the English simple present and past tenses as compound tenses. For non-vernacular Englishes, the auxiliary is covert; however, there are numerous cases of variably overt auxiliaries in different vernacular English constructions yielding simple present and simple past interpretations which support the proposal. The conclusion that all English tenses (present, past, perfect) are compound entails two concomitant hypotheses: (i) English verb forms traditionally characterized as present and past tense verbs are non-finite (reviving an idea put forward by Sola 1996), and (ii) meaning differences between simple past and the perfect tenses does not derive from the absence vs. presence of an auxiliary. Thus, the difference in interpretation between we loved that wine (past) and we’ve always loved that wine (present perfect) cannot find its source in the absence versus presence of have, which itself does not contribute to the meaning difference. Rather, a la Iatridou et al. (2001), I develop the idea that interpretive differences must be found in the different functional/adverbial projections of the matrix and embedded clauses.

International assignees face cultural adjustment challenges in their host countries in work and nonwork situations. At the same time, social capital theory suggests that individuals can access and mobilize resources from their social networks. We explore the use of social networks by international assignees from a non-governmental organization in their cross-cultural adjustment to the host country. Specifically, we are interested in the individuals who directly provided support to the expatriate, a network that we term the ‘current assignment support network’. We focus on the size, type and frequency of contact of the international assignee's support network, and investigate to what extent these variables can predict overall cultural adjustment to the host country, or separate dimensions of cultural adjustment such as interaction adjustment, general adjustment and work adjustment. Our findings indicate that certain characteristics of the international assignee's current assignment support network do impac...

In a discussion of language acquisition and language change, Lightfoot and Westergaard (L&W 2007) draw attention to the puzzle of “survival versus obsolescence”: When a linguistic form occurs with reduced frequency in child-directed speech, sometimes it rapidly disappears, but in other cases, it persists for centuries as a low-frequency option. L&W’s interpretation is that children require different minimum thresholds of experience for the adoption of different elements of grammar. Here, an alternative view is advanced: A low-frequency option disappears rapidly when the child’s input contains clear evidence for a competing, incompatible option. A concrete example is provided by the advent of do-support in Early Modern English: When adult speakers began to use do in ways the child could analyze as do-support, children more and more often encountered evidence of do-support earlier than V-to-I movement. Moreover, on the view that do-support is a last-resort operation, it stands in conflict with V-to-I movement. Assuming a version of Snyder’s (2007) thesis of Grammatical Conservatism (i.e., the child waits for clear evidence before making a decision, and never backtracks once the decision is made), the children who acquired do-support first could no longer acquire V-to-I movement.

This preliminary study investigates the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives by adult Arab learners of English. The main question is to identify how Arabic language influences the acquisition of do-support. The influence of L2 proficiency level in the acquisition of do-support is also addressed. The study is conducted within the perspective of Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis and Differential Markedness Hypothesis. Do-support as a marked feature of English has received little or no attention in previous work on the acquisition of English as a second language by adult Arab learners. This study seeks to fill that gap by documenting the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives. To address these aims, a written production task, a multiple-choice task and a semi-structured interview were administered to 10 adult Arab learners of low and advanced English proficiency levels. The findings indicate that the role of Arabic is noted. While not the source of errors, it acts as a strategy that adult Arab learners use to dealing with limited L2 knowledge and the markedness of do-support, which is the main source of difficulty shown by adult Arab learners. The role of learners’ L1 is selective according to the learners’ perception of what is difficult or not. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between L2 proficiency level and the mastery of do-support in that high- proficiency learners outperform low-proficiency learners. It is recommended that future research examine the acquisition and markedness of do-support in the interlanguage of Arabic-speaking children.

In this paper I discuss three properties of Brazilian Pomeranian, a Germanic language spoken in Espirito Santo, Brazil by descendents who emigrated in the 19th century. These three aspects of the verbal system are: 1. The relation between complex complementizers, a two-infinitive system, and split infinitives, previously discussed in van Gelderen (1993, 1998) and Schallert (2012, 2013), 2. Verb Projection Raising (VPR), as discussed by Riemsdijk 2002, Haegeman 2007, Salzmann 2011, and Brandner & Salzmann 2012, and 3. Verb-Second positioning of verbal clusters, previously discussed in Vos (2005). I discuss novel Pomeranian data from the perspective of the literature on these three topics, which have been thus far studied largely separately from one another. An integrated discussion sheds light on the nature and the proper analysis of these three phenomena. I argue that these phenomena are caused by the “weaknesses” of T. The weakness of T can be resolved “downward” by copying features onto T under selection by a higher head (agree), or can be resolved “upward” under head movement of T.

This paper analyses the use of periphrastic do in negative declaratives and non-negative questions with inversion by 200 Swiss and 30 German middle-school students of the same age but with different onsets of learning English and consequently a different amount of foreign language instructions. Do-support shows evidence of a variety of influences on the learning of a foreign language in an instructional setting, from cross-linguistic influences to the role of the typological difference among the languages involved and the kind and length of instructions. By means of a fine-grained characterisation of the learners' negation and interrogation patterns, it will be shown that there are important differences in the way multilingual learners with differing ages of onset and different L1s, L2s and L3s create their own rule systems in the process of learning the use of periphrastic do in L3/L4 English. Most importantly, the learners' productive knowledge and grammaticality judgments cannot be fully explained in t...

Tillemans argues, centrally, that the paradoxes of emptiness that we take to be found in Nāgārjuna are best interpreted in a consistent fashion. In our response we take issue with this, arguing that a dialetheic interpretation is more plausible and why. Tillemans also argues that some of the Prajnāpāramitā texts do support a week dialetheism, according to which there are some propositions such that both they and their negations are true, but not the conjunction of these two things. We argue that, in such a case, there is no principled way to resist the truth of the conjunction.

This article shows that the empirical data that Chomsky (2008) provides in favor of feature inheritance and parallel movement are rather suspect, and that there are both empirical and conceptual reasons to reject this implementation of the idea that the formal features in C and T originate in a single head position. This does not imply, however, that the latter idea should be completely rejected. This paper argues that there are also reasons to assume that the relevant features all originate in the T-head, and that the C-position comes (or rather: may come) into existence as a result of the remerge of T as a specific instantiation of the formation of extended projections in the sense of Grimshaw (1997). We will conclude by showing that the extended projection approach is preferred to the feature inheritance approach in terms of optimization/economy given that for subject-initial sentences, CP-structures are normally harmonically bounded by TP-structures due to the fact that they invoke additional violations of *MOVE and *MERGE.

This article shows that the empirical data that Chomsky (2008) provides in favor of feature inheritance and parallel movement are rather suspect, and that there are both empirical and conceptual reasons to reject this implementation of the idea that the formal features in C and T originate in a single head position. This does not imply, however, that the latter idea should be completely rejected. This paper argues that there are also reasons to assume that the relevant features all originate in the T-head, and that the C-position comes (or rather: may come) into existence as a result of the remerge of T as a specific instantiation of the formation of extended projections in the sense of Grimshaw (1997). We will conclude by showing that the extended projection approach is preferred to the feature inheritance approach in terms of optimization/economy given that for subject-initial sentences, CP-structures are normally harmonically bounded by TP-structures due to the fact that they invoke additional violations of *MOVE and *MERGE.