TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wittenberg, Eva
A1  - Paczynski, Martin
A1  - Wiese, Heike
A1  - Jackendoff, Ray
A1  - Kuperberg, Gina
T1  - The difference between "giving a rose" and "giving a kiss": Sustained neural activity to the light verb construction
JF  - Journal of memory and language
N2  - We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms associated with processing light verb constructions such as "give a kiss". These constructions consist of a semantically underspecified light verb ("give") and an event nominal that contributes most of the meaning and also activates an argument structure of its own ("kiss"). This creates a mismatch between the syntactic constituents and the semantic roles of a sentence. Native speakers read German verb-final sentences that contained light verb constructions (e.g., "Julius gave Anne a kiss"), non-light constructions (e.g., "Julius gave Anne a rose"), and semantically anomalous constructions (e.g., 'Julius gave Anne a conversation"). ERPs were measured at the critical verb, which appeared after all its arguments. Compared to non-light constructions, the light verb constructions evoked a widely distributed, frontally focused, sustained negative-going effect between 500 and 900 ms after verb onset. We interpret this effect as reflecting working memory costs associated with complex semantic processes that establish a shared argument structure in the light verb constructions.
KW  - Event-related potential
KW  - Sentence processing
KW  - Light verb constructions
KW  - Argument structure
KW  - Syntax-semantics interface
KW  - Sustained negativity
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.02.002
SN  - 0749-596X
SN  - 1096-0821
VL  - 73
SP  - 31
EP  - 42
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - San Diego
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Simik, Radek
T1  - The PRO-wh connection in modal existential wh-constructions an argument in favor of semantic control
JF  - Natural language & linguistic theory
N2  - Recent discussion of obligatory control in the literature mostly concentrates on the issue of which syntactic module (movement, agreement, etc.) is responsible for the establishment of the control relation. This paper looks at the issue of control from a higher order perspective. Abandoning the presupposition that control constituents denote propositions and that, therefore, control must be syntactic, I deliver an argument in favor of the property-type analysis of control constituents and, by transitivity, for a semantic resolution of the control relation. The argument comes from modal existential wh-constructions and in particular from a strong parallelism between obligatorily controlled PRO and wh-expressions. It is revealed that PRO and wh-words form a natural class, to the exclusion of all other types of nominal expressions. This is then turned into an argument of treating PRO (and wh-words) essentially as a logical lambda-operator, naturally leading to the property theory of control. In addition, the article contributes to our understanding of the syntax, semantics, and typology of modal existential wh-constructions. It is argued that at least one type of these constructions, what I call "control MECs", is embedded (minimally) by a complex predicate BE+FOR which expresses the state of availability (BE) which makes it possible for someone to profit (FOR) from the event characterized by the modal existential wh-construction.
KW  - Modal existential wh-constructions
KW  - Obligatory control
KW  - PRO
KW  - Wh-words
KW  - Syntax-semantics interface
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-013-9205-9
SN  - 0167-806X
SN  - 1573-0859
VL  - 31
IS  - 4
SP  - 1163
EP  - 1205
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  -