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- ItemOpen AccessFrom zijt to bent '(you) are' in Early Modern Dutch: a view "from below" approach(Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 2018-11-05) Terpstra, Christina I.Dutch exhibits suppletion in the verb ZIJN 'be' with b-roots and s-roots merged into a single paradigm (Donaldson, 1983, p. 182). By the end of the Middle Dutch period (late 16th century), second person singular s-root form zijt and b-root form bent were in competition. Donaldson (1983, p. 182) suggests that the change was motivated by a parallel with the first person singular (present) form ben. However, this account lacks an empirical basis. With the use of the Brieven als Buit (‘Letters as Loot’) corpus, my investigation attempts to address this gap by adopting a “history from below” approach (Elspaß, 2007, p. 5; 2012, p. 160), offering a quantitative analysis on linguistic as well as social factors conditioning this change. The results of the analysis suggest that the shift from zijt to bent occurred at a faster rate in the active, rather than the passive voice, the indicative, rather than the imperative mood, and in predicate rather than auxiliary verb function; these domains are considered more basic with a wider usage (Kuryłowicz, 1947). However, this language change cannot be fully accounted for by a strictly language-internal framework; women selected the bent alternate at a higher rate than men, reinforcing that both social and linguistic factors must be considered to provide a comprehensive account of language change.
- ItemOpen AccessThe relationship between synchronic and diachronic linguistic processes: a discussion of language acquisition and language contact(Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 2018-11-05) Hracs, LindsayThe present study investigates the relationship between synchronic processes in Second Language Acquisition and diachronic processes in Language Contact. The focus is on examining laryngeal contrasts in the L2 acquisition of English stops by native speakers of Dutch, and the hypothesized Romance/Germanic contact situation which is argued to have resulted in the Dutch laryngeal system. Using van Coetsem's (1988) framework, the investigation reveals that there are indeed similarities. Furthermore, a re-examination of the acquisition data (originally presented in Simon, 2009, 2011) shows that a more detailed account must be made to claim that there is a relationship between synchronic and diachronic processes. Moreover, I argue that for the Uniformitarian Principle to hold true, theories must make the same predictions regarding both language acquisition and language contact data.
- ItemOpen AccessConversational code-switching among intermediate learners of French at Alliance Française de Kampala, Uganda(Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 2018-11-05) Haggerty, Harriet K.Using a framework based on conversation analysis (Auer 1984, 1995), this paper presents an analysis of second / foreign language (L2) learner code-switching between English (L1) and French (L2) in an intermediate foreign language classroom. The study aimed at finding out why, how and when intermediate learners of French at Alliance Française de Kampala employ code-switching in the learning of L2. This paper presents a description, categorization and analysis of the processes of code-switching among intermediate learners of French at Alliance Française de Kampala. It was found that learners code switch when not only their knowledge in the L2 fails them, i.e. for participant-related functions, but also discourse-related functions that contextualize the interactional meaning of their utterances. It was also found that the intermediate learners of French at Alliance Française de Kampala use code-switching as a learning strategy specifically during small group activities. Learners would switch when clarifying or giving the meaning of new vocabulary or lexical items they came across when reading or discussing texts.
- ItemOpen AccessGrammaticality in Japanese clipping(Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 2018-11-05) Daniel, Adam D.This paper analyzes the role of morphology in the clipping process of the Japanese language. Contrary to views that clipping is either not morphological or should not be accounted for in the grammar (cf. e.g. Scalise, 1984, p. 94; Spencer, 1991, p. 461; Mel'čuk, 2006, p. 311), Japanese clipping appears to be morphologically motivated and is a productive process in the language. A review of the relevant literature on clipping shows that the process is vaguely defined and often considered arbitrary in how its outputs are formed. I propose a unified definition of clipping on the basis of which I analyze examples from a database of over 600 Japanese clipped outputs. My own model of how clipping might fit into the grammar is based on the application of the Process-and-Paradigm Morphology framework (Pounder, 2000) and expansions upon that framework by Winters (2017). In this model, I create representations of word-formation operations which are able to account for many of the forms found in Japanese clipping while also giving an account of when clipping happens in word-formation. The retention of class-specific affixes and morphemes in Japanese clipped outputs provides evidence for patternability in clipping and an awareness of morphological structures by speakers, which demonstrates that clipping exhibits grammaticality and belongs within morphological theory.
- ItemOpen AccessCompeting grammars in language acquisition: the case of resumption in Persion relative clauses(Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 2018-11-05) Abdollahnejad, EliasRoeper (1999), Yang (2002), and Amaral and Roeper (2014) propose that all learners develop competing, even incompatible analyses of input as they work towards the target grammar. Using the term universal bilingualism, Roeper (1999) posits the existence of such Multiple Grammars (MG) and explores their role in first language acquisition. This paper discusses this proposal in the context of Persian children’s acquisition of resumption. In Persian, resumption is obligatory in object-of-preposition and genitive relative clauses (RCs) (Taghvaipour, 2005) and can be used optionally in subject and object RCs (Windfuhr, 2010). This behaviour makes it an appropriate construction to study the MG approach. Data from three Persian children (ages 1;11 to 4;2) in the CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000) were investigated for the frequency of RCs to see if there is a preference for resumption or gap in RCs. Results show that, in spite of variation in the received input, children prefer not to use resumption in subject and object RCs. However, 100% use of resumption in object-of-preposition and genitive RCs in their production data was observed. Despite optionality as a property of the input, children’s grammars appear to be categorical. Thus, children do not seem to be sensitive to variation in the input, which does not completely support Yang’s (2002) claim about the role of frequency of different forms in their dominance. The results confirm the presence of competing sub-grammars (resumption & gap) in both input and output from the early levels of language exposure and production.