Document Detail


Learning verbs without arguments: the problem of raising verbs.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  15991878     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
This paper addresses the problem of learning the class of raising verbs (e.g seem). These verbs are potentially problematic for learners in that unlike typical main verbs these verbs do not stand in a semantic relation with any Noun Phrase (NP) arguments. Moreover, a second class of verbs, known as control verbs, shares certain distributional properties with raising verbs, but the two verb classes differ in important structural properties. The central problem addressed here is that of how a learner would distinguish raising verbs from control verbs, given their partial overlap in distribution. A series of experiments with English-speaking adults using a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire revealed two main types of cues that led participants to distinguish the two verb classes: inanimate NPs and semantically empty subjects ("it's raining") yielded the highest proportion of raising verb responses from adults, while animate NPs paired with eventive predicates yielded a high rate of control verb responses. On the basis of these results, suggestions are made as to how one should study the learning of these verbs in children.
Authors:
Misha Becker
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of psycholinguistic research     Volume:  34     ISSN:  0090-6905     ISO Abbreviation:  J Psycholinguist Res     Publication Date:  2005 Mar 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2005-07-04     Completed Date:  2005-11-15     Revised Date:  2006-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0333506     Medline TA:  J Psycholinguist Res     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  173-99     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, 318 Dey Hall, CB #3155, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3155, USA. mbecker@email.unc.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Humans
Linguistics
Verbal Learning*
Vocabulary*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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