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This dissertation uses a common grammatical phenomenon, light verb constructions (LVCs) in English and German, to investigate how syntax-semantics mapping defaults influence the relationships between language processing, representation and conceptualization. LVCs are analyzed as a phenomenon of mismatch in the argument structure. The processing implication of this mismatch are experimentally investigated, using ERPs and a dual task. Data from these experiments point to an increase in working memory. Representational questions are investigated using structural priming. Data from this study suggest that while the syntax of LVCs is not different from other structures’, the semantics and mapping are represented differently. This hypothesis is tested with a new categorization paradigm, which reveals that the conceptual structure that LVC evoke differ in interesting, and predictable, ways from non-mismatching structures’.
This article presents the results of a study on the interpretation and acceptance of adjectival resultatives of German children between 6 and 9 years of age and adults. These results brought to light significant differences, due to age, in the interpretation and acceptance of these resultatives, that is to say, sentences with an adjective in the final position. The youngest participants were prone to accept ungrammatical sentences by assigning a resultative meaning. The ungrammaticality of the sentences in question was not due to semantic inconsistencies but to violations of the selectional properties of verbs, as for instance in *die Kinder erschrecken die Katze ängstlich ‘the children frighten the cat scared’. In contrast, the adults rejected or amended those sentences. The conclusion is (a) that the children seemed to rely on the sentence structure as a primary cue to compute the meaning of an utterance and (b) that, in contrast with adults, the youngest children in particular had not yet learned the relevant semantic properties of verbs that determine the selectional restrictions and thus the syntactic options of verbs. This means that differences in interpretation and acceptance of sentences are due to differences in knowledge of semantic verb properties between adults and children. The relevant semantic knowledge increases in gradual stages during language acquisition.
This paper discusses a hitherto undescribed usage of the particle so as a dedicated focus marker in contemporary German. I discuss grammatical and pragmatic characteristics of this focus marker, supporting my account with natural linguistic data and with controlled experimental evidence showing that so has a significant influence on speakers’ understanding of what the focus expression in a sentence is. Against this background, I sketch a possible pragmaticalization path from referential usages of so via hedging to a semantically bleached focus marker, which, unlike particles such as auch ‘also’/‘too’ or nur ‘only’, does not contribute any additional meaning.
MULTILIT
(2015)
This paper presents an overview of the linguistic analyses developed in the MULTILIT project and the processing of the oral and written texts collected. The project investigates the language abilities of multilingual children and adolescents, in particular, those who have Turkish and/or Kurdish as a mother tongue. A further aim of the project is to examine from a psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspective the extent to which competence in academic registers is achieved on the basis of the languages spoken by the children, including the language(s) spoken at the home, the language of the country of residence and the first foreign language. To be able to examine these questions using corpus linguistic parameters, we created categories of analysis in MULTILIT.
The data collection comprises texts from bilingual and monolingual children and adolescents in Germany in their first language Turkish, their second language German und their foreign language English. Pupils aged between nine and twenty years of age produced monologue oral and written texts in the two genres of narrative and discursive. On the basis of these samples, we examine linguistic features such as lexical expression (lexical density, lexical diversity), syntactic complexity (syntactic and discursive packaging) as well as phonology in the oral texts and orthography in the written texts, with the aim of investigating the pupils’ growing mastery of these features in academic and informal registers.
To this end the raw data have been transcribed by the use of transcription conventions developed especially for the needs of the MULTILIT data. They are based on the commonly used HIAT and GAT transcription conventions and supplemented with conventions that provide additional information such as features at the graphic level.
The categories of analysis comprise a large number of linguistic categories such as word classes, syntax, noun phrase complexity, complex verbal morphology, direct speech and text structures. We also annotate errors and norm deviations at a wide range of levels (orthographic, morphological, lexical, syntactic and textual). In view of the different language systems, these criteria are considered separately for all languages investigated in the project.
Grammar in everyday talk
(2015)
This book surveys how English speakers use grammar to formulate responses in ordinary conversation. The authors show that speakers build their responses in a variety of ways: the responses can be longer or shorter, repetitive or not, and can be uttered with different intonational 'melodies'"--
"Drawing on everyday telephone and video interactions, this book surveys how English speakers use grammar to formulate responses in ordinary conversation. The authors show that speakers build their responses in a variety of ways: the responses can be longer or shorter, repetitive or not, and can be uttered with different intonational 'melodies'. Focusing on four sequence types: responses to questions ('What time are we leaving?' - 'Seven'), responses to informings ('The May Company are sure having a big sale' - 'Are they?'), responses to assessments ('Track walking is so boring. Even with headphones' - 'It is'), and responses to requests ('Please don't tell Adeline' - 'Oh no I won't say anything'), they argue that an interactional approach holds the key to explaining why some types of utterances in English conversation seem to have something 'missing' and others seem overly wordy.
Content: 1. Introduction 2. The notion of speech style: from a dependent variable to contextualization cue 3. Speech styles in conversation from a German Sozialamt 3.1 Extracts from conversation 3.2 Speech style constituting cues 3.3 Choice and alternation of speech styles in conversation 4. Summary and conclusions
The role of intonation in the organization of repair and problem handling sequences in conversation
(1988)
Transcripts of repair and/or problem handling sequences from natural conversations are presented and analyzed with special reference to the role of intonation in the interactive organization of these sequences. It is shown that (a) in the initiation of so-called repair or local problem handling sequences, intonation is used as a type-distinctive device, and (b) in the handling of a global problem handling sequence, intonation is systematically used as a means to constitute and control participant cooperation. In general, intonation is analyzed as one contextualization cue cooccurring with specific syntactic, semantic and discourse organizational devices to signal the status of an utterance in conversational context. It is hypothesized that especially in the global problem handling sequence, different categories of intonation, i.e. different accent and contour types, are systematically used to signal and control participants' interactive problem handling in different, indexically relevant ways simultaneously.
A system of descriptive categories for the notation and analysis of intonation in natural conversation is presented and discussed in relation to other systems currently suggested for incorporation in discourse analysis, The categories are based on purely auditive criteria. They differ from e.g. tonetic approaches by relying more on transcribers' and analysts' perception of the form and internal cohesiveness of contours, especially with respect to rhythmicality and/or pitch contour (gestalt). Intonation is conceived of as a relational phenomenon; the role of intonation in conversational utterances can only be analyzed by considering its co-occurrence with other properties of utterances like syntactic, semantic and discourse organizational structures and devices. In general, intonation is viewed as one signalling system contributing to the contextualization of utterances in their conversational context. A broad functional differentiation between different types of intonation categories seems plausible: Local categories like accents might fulfill mainly semantic functions, while global categories like different contour types might fulfill primarily functions with respect to the interactive coordination of activities in conversation.