PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs

The asymmetry between subject and object relative clauses has been attested in processing studies with adults (WANNER; MARATSOS, 1978; WARREN; GIBSON, 2002) and children (UTZERI, 2007; ADANI; SEHM; ZUKOWSKI, 2012). From the perspective of language acquisition, Friedmann, Belletti and Rizzi (2009) h...

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Main Authors: Marina R. A. Augusto, Elaine Grolla, Erica dos Santos Rodrigues
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística 2019-04-01
Series:Fórum Linguístico
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/forum/article/view/59304
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author Marina R. A. Augusto
Elaine Grolla
Erica dos Santos Rodrigues
author_facet Marina R. A. Augusto
Elaine Grolla
Erica dos Santos Rodrigues
author_sort Marina R. A. Augusto
collection DOAJ
description The asymmetry between subject and object relative clauses has been attested in processing studies with adults (WANNER; MARATSOS, 1978; WARREN; GIBSON, 2002) and children (UTZERI, 2007; ADANI; SEHM; ZUKOWSKI, 2012). From the perspective of language acquisition, Friedmann, Belletti and Rizzi (2009) have suggested a formal treatment for this asymmetry in terms of intervention, and Costa et al. (2015) have expanded the proposal to PP relatives, considering data from European Portuguese. This study broadens that discussion by means of an elicitation experiment with  4 and 5-year-old children, speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. We contrast PP relatives with unergative verbs, showing intervention, and weather verbs, without intervention. Statistically significant differences between the types of verbs were obtained for younger children. We suggest that processing costs related to the availability of alternative less complex structures in the language is a major factor to be considered. This factor may impact the explanatory power of the intervention hypothesis.
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institution OA Journals
issn 1415-8698
1984-8412
language English
publishDate 2019-04-01
publisher Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística
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series Fórum Linguístico
spelling doaj-art-3bcb0bf4a3b2423ea912df282421dc442025-08-20T02:08:54ZengUniversidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós-graduação em LinguísticaFórum Linguístico1415-86981984-84122019-04-0116110.5007/1984-8412.2019v16n1p349930879PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbsMarina R. A. Augusto0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9022-394XElaine Grolla1Erica dos Santos Rodrigues2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3524-5820Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroUniversidade de São PauloPontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro The asymmetry between subject and object relative clauses has been attested in processing studies with adults (WANNER; MARATSOS, 1978; WARREN; GIBSON, 2002) and children (UTZERI, 2007; ADANI; SEHM; ZUKOWSKI, 2012). From the perspective of language acquisition, Friedmann, Belletti and Rizzi (2009) have suggested a formal treatment for this asymmetry in terms of intervention, and Costa et al. (2015) have expanded the proposal to PP relatives, considering data from European Portuguese. This study broadens that discussion by means of an elicitation experiment with  4 and 5-year-old children, speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. We contrast PP relatives with unergative verbs, showing intervention, and weather verbs, without intervention. Statistically significant differences between the types of verbs were obtained for younger children. We suggest that processing costs related to the availability of alternative less complex structures in the language is a major factor to be considered. This factor may impact the explanatory power of the intervention hypothesis. https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/forum/article/view/59304
spellingShingle Marina R. A. Augusto
Elaine Grolla
Erica dos Santos Rodrigues
PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs
Fórum Linguístico
title PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs
title_full PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs
title_fullStr PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs
title_full_unstemmed PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs
title_short PP Relative clauses and intervention effects: comparing unergative and weather verbs
title_sort pp relative clauses and intervention effects comparing unergative and weather verbs
url https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/forum/article/view/59304
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