Linguistic Relativity in SLA by Cadierno Teresa. Han Zhaohong

Author:Cadierno, Teresa.,Han, Zhaohong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Book Network International

(3) (a) cut: [CAUSE, CHANGE OF STATE, CONTACT, MOTION]

(b) crack: [CAUSE, CHANGE OF STATE]

(c) stroke: [CONTACT]

(d) whack: [CONTACT, MOTION]

If this analysis is correct, then predictions can be made as to the syntax of verbs that share the same semantic features. Such predictions are borne out with the syntactic distribution of (a) cut-type verbs (scratch, hack, slash, etc.); (b) crack-type verbs (rip, break, snap, etc.); (c) stroke-type verbs (tickle, pat, touch, etc.); and (d) whack-type verbs (kick, hit, tap, etc.), leading to the conclusion that lexical semantic features do play a determining role in the syntax of argument structure.

Such meaning components may well be universal in languages, or at least universally available to language learners. However, they are packaged differently in different languages, resulting in lexical mismatches. Thus the English verb drown encodes CHANGE: there is a change of state such that death must certainly ensue. In contrast, the Japanese verb oboreru can be used in contexts in which a person may ‘drown’ for five minutes and then be rescued; a change of state may be inferred in certain contexts, but it is not encoded in the verb. Similarly, the English preposition on encodes CONTACT, while the Japanese analogous expression no ue de – GEN top LocP – ‘on’ may be used whether there is contact or not. The Japanese sentence below is always semantically ambiguous in respect of the bird”s contact with the tree.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.