Grammatical transitivity vs. interpretive distinctness
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Matthias Schlesewsky
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of transitivity in online language comprehension by means of an event-related brain potential (ERP) study on differential object marking in Hindi. Participants read sentences of the form NP1-NP2-Verb; NP1 always bore ergative case, whereas NP2 was either case-marked (with -ko) or not. In addition, both NP1 and NP2 were either human or inanimate. At the verb, we observed a late positivity (P600) for sentences with non-case-marked objects, which was more pronounced for sentences with human objects and for sentences with inanimate subjects. We argue that the P600 reflects processes of pragmatic enrichment that are required when a semantically transitive event is expressed by a syntactically intransitive construction.
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of transitivity in online language comprehension by means of an event-related brain potential (ERP) study on differential object marking in Hindi. Participants read sentences of the form NP1-NP2-Verb; NP1 always bore ergative case, whereas NP2 was either case-marked (with -ko) or not. In addition, both NP1 and NP2 were either human or inanimate. At the verb, we observed a late positivity (P600) for sentences with non-case-marked objects, which was more pronounced for sentences with human objects and for sentences with inanimate subjects. We argue that the P600 reflects processes of pragmatic enrichment that are required when a semantically transitive event is expressed by a syntactically intransitive construction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Trans-duction 1
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Part I. Form and Meaning
- Types of transitivity, intransitive objects, and untransitivity – and the logic of their structural designs 15
- The interaction of transitivity features in the sinhala involitive 69
- Transitivity in Chinese experiencer object verbs 95
- Non-zero/non-zero alternations in differential object marking 119
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Part II. Acquisition and processing
- Children and transitivity 143
- Grammatical transitivity vs. interpretive distinctness 161
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Part III. Transitivity and diathesis
- The space between one and two 191
- Event-structure and individuation in impersonal passives 209
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Part IV. Crosslinguistic and crosscategorical considerations
- Lability and spontaneity 237
- Transitivity of deverbal nominals and aspectual modifiers of the verbal stem (evidence from Russian) 257
- Individuation and semantic role interpretation in the adpositional domain 279
- Language index 301
- Subject index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Trans-duction 1
-
Part I. Form and Meaning
- Types of transitivity, intransitive objects, and untransitivity – and the logic of their structural designs 15
- The interaction of transitivity features in the sinhala involitive 69
- Transitivity in Chinese experiencer object verbs 95
- Non-zero/non-zero alternations in differential object marking 119
-
Part II. Acquisition and processing
- Children and transitivity 143
- Grammatical transitivity vs. interpretive distinctness 161
-
Part III. Transitivity and diathesis
- The space between one and two 191
- Event-structure and individuation in impersonal passives 209
-
Part IV. Crosslinguistic and crosscategorical considerations
- Lability and spontaneity 237
- Transitivity of deverbal nominals and aspectual modifiers of the verbal stem (evidence from Russian) 257
- Individuation and semantic role interpretation in the adpositional domain 279
- Language index 301
- Subject index 303
