voice morphology and transitivity alternations in greek: evidence from corpora and...

ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI

VOICE MORPHOLOGY AND

TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS IN GREEK:

EVIDENCE FROM CORPORA AND PSYCHOLINGUISTIC EXPERIMENTS

by Georgia Fotiadou

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

of Doctor of Philosophy in Psycholinguistics

School of English Department of Linguistics

Aristotle University

Thessaloniki 2010

To raise a newborn child is a Miracle that takes all of one’s strength and courage.

To write a PhD Dissertation is a demanding achievement that needs dedication to form a Miracle.

The simultaneous conception of them turned me into a better person

Their growing up helped me believe that effort matters….

I dedicate this dissertation to my daughter Katerina who was born an Angel to light my way through life….

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the completion of this Thesis I need to thank many people who offered me their

support and help throughout this long and heavy task.

First and foremost, I am indebted to my primary supervisor, Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli. I

am grateful to her for her commitment, her generosity in sharing her knowledge, her

unfailing support and her faith in me. I almost nostalgically recall our first meetings

when she supervised my MA dissertation and the inspired Reading Groups she held at

that time with PhD students from the department of Theoretical and Applied

Linguistics, at the School of English of the Aristotle University. Countless meetings

followed of course; every occasion sitting in one of Ianthi’s talks and lectures were

fruitful, educating and inspiring. For all that and many other unsaid reasons I consider

Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli my tutor, my mentor in linguistics and life.

Anna Roussou, showed trust in me by offering me the chance to collaborate with her,

in the project she directed (Karatheodoris grant, FK 2780, Syntactic Features in Greek

L2: the Case of Article and Clitics, financed by the University of Patras). I especially

thank her for this opportunity which allowed me to gain from a very important

linguist the knowledge of responsibility and the strength of positive encouragement.

Although it was most definitely Ianthi’s supervision of my MA dissertation and her

way of working that got me interested in syntax, I would not have decided to begin a

PhD had it not been for Anna Anastassiadi-Simeonidi’s encouragement during the

years of my MA studies. I thank her for agreeing to be a member in my supervision

committee and for constantly supporting my work.

I am grateful to Despoina Papadopoulou for introducing me to the exciting world of

sentence processing and for never, since that time, failing to reply to any of my

questions on experimental methodology and statistics, among other things.

Maria Dimitrakopoulou, has always been the person I could count on, from my very

first day in the Department of English Language. I thank her, for explaining all

difficult parts of linguistic theories, for reading manuscripts and commenting on my

English during earlier stages of this project.

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Also, I thank all the members of the administration staff who always kept a smile for

me, and especially Lia Efstathiadi who supported the project with her caring work and

stood by me every time I needed help. The corpus project would not have

materialized without the precious help of Tasos Paschalis in technologically

supporting our needs. His guidance and committed personal work in creating

databases, web-pages and other useful tools for the study has been of invaluable help

in the course of developing the project. Kalliopi Katsika has also been a tireless

companion throughout the whole journey of doctorate research. I also need to thank

other members of staff at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics who

made me feel at home during all this time. In particular, I am grateful to Professor

Niovi Antonopoulou who has for so many years kindly agreed to share her office with

us, the Language Development Lab, people.

I am greatly indebted to all the participants who voluntarily offered their intuitions in

the studies I conducted. Almost two hundred adults and children participated in the

experimental tasks designed for the present study. I particularly thank the Lilliputian

participants for the enthusiasm they showed for the study, sacrificing some of their

playtime in order to cooperate and doing so with great professionalism. I would also

like to thank all the parents of the child participants for showing interest in my study

and especially nursery schools for being so cooperative and generous with their time

and helping me with recruiting the participants. I am grateful to the Directors of the

nursery schools: Militidis Margaritis (Άνοιξη ‘Spring’), in the area of Panorama in

Thessaloniki), Zighanitidou Eleni (Το Μικρό Σπίτι στο Λιβάδι ‘Little House ιn the

Prairie’, in Veria), Gkeliri Soultana (Στρουµφάκια ‘Smurfs’, in Veria) and Tzima

Rodanthi (3ος ∆ηµοτικός Σταθµός Βέροιας ‘3rd State Nursery School of Veria’), in

Veria).

Parts of this thesis have been presented in the following conferences:

-- “Η Μορφολογία της Φωνής και η από-φράση στην Νέα Ελληνική” [“Voice

Morphology and the apo-phrase in Modern Greek”], 3η Συνάντηση

Μεταπτυχιακών Φοιτητών, Τµήµατος Φιλολογίας, Αθήνας [3rd Postgraduate

Meeting of the Department of Greek Linguistics, National and Kapodistrian

University of Athens], April 9-10, 2005

-- “Voice Morphology and the apo-phrase in Modern Greek”, 17th International

Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Department of Theoretical

v

and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Aristotle University of

Thessaloniki, April 14-17, 2005

-- “Productivity and Interpretations of Greek Voice Morphology: A Corpus Based

Analysis”, 30th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FUNCTIONAL

LINGUISTICS, International Association on Functional Linguistics (S.I.L.F),

Nicosia, Cyprus, October 18 – 21, 2006

-- “The role of frequency in the acquisition of transitivity alternations in Greek L1”.

Research Days 2008, Museum of Byzantine Culture, June 8. Aristotle

University of Thessaloniki.

-- “On the L1 acquisition of passives and reflexives in Greek: Does frequency

count?”, International Workshop on “Frequency and Language Development”

June 5-6, 2008, University of Wuppertal (15. Wuppertaler Linguistisches

Kolloquium). In collaboration with Tsimpli I.M., (2008) (invited speech)

-- “Processing transitivity alternations in Greek as a native language”, 9th International

Conference on Greek Linguistics (ICGL 9), October 29-31, 2009, University of

Chicago

I thank the audiences for their fruitful comments and the particular interest they

demonstrated in this research. I also need to thank the editors of the conference

proceedings: Selected Papers on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, 17th

International Symposium (Thessaloniki), Actes du 30e Colloque International de

Linguistique Fonctionnelle. (Paris: L’Harmattan), the two anonymous reviewers of

the paper in Lingua, written in collaboration with Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli and of course

IM Tsimpli herself.

Of course, I would not have succeeded in writing this Thesis without the help, love

and support of my family. Special thanks with all my heart go to my younger sister

Ioanna, who grew older than me to support all my mental and real needs. She has

been a mother to my daughter and she offered me invaluable support that I can never

pay back. She has always been there for me no matter what, day or night. Had it not

been for her constant encouragement, her kindness and affection, would I never

manage to go through the task. I also thank my daughter Katerina who was born an

angel and in her little mind she managed to show herself mature enough to let

mummy study. Of course, I need to thank my husband Emmanuil Trihakis who

offered me himself a calm harbor to hide in during the storms I encountered. Last but

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not least I thank my father Eleftherios Fotiadis who always believed in me and loved

me for more than I really am.

There are so many more who I would wish to thank: my husband’s family, relatives,

good friends from the old days and many more new ones. I owe a very warm thank

you to Dimitris Tzikas for his help through hard times. Also, I dare to say thank you

Efi, Sofia, Irini, Argyro, Anna, Katerina, Mata, Eleni, Amalia, Maria, Christo,

Eugenia, … for assisting me in any way you could, but mostly for offering me

yourselves, invaluable friends.

I could not name all those who offered me help in any kind, but I specifically thank

them for adding something to my theorizing of life, academic and personal, and for

encouraging me to follow my heart, remaining skeptical, objective and decisive at the

same time!

This thesis is part of the 03ED375 research project, implemented

within the framework of the “Reinforcement Programme of Human

Research Manpower” (PENED) and co-financed by National and

Community Funds (25% from the Greek Ministry of Development-

General Secretariat of Research and Technology and 75% from

E.U.-European Social Fund).

Thessaloniki, January 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acnowledgments ……………………………………………………………………………………….… iii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………..……………….….…… vii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………..………………… xii List of Graphs……………………………………………………………………………………..………... xv List of Pictures…...………………………………………………………………..……….…………..… xiii List of Appendices …………………………………………………………...….……………….…..… xiii Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………………...……… xix

Abstract ………………………………………………………………...………………………..………...… xx

PART I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ………………………….……………………….………………... 2

1. Motivation and Aim of the Study ……………………….…………………..…….………….. 2

2. Frequency-constrained vs Grammar-Constrained Sentence Processing.… 9

3. Frequency-based vs UG- based Language Acquisition ……........…….….…….. 13

4. Main Research Questions ……………………………………………......................….….... 16

5. Overview of the Study …………………………………………...............…………..........….. 17

CHAPTER 2: THE PHENOMENON. TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..……. 19

2. General remarks on the framework adopted……..……………………….………… 20

3. Argument Structure………………………………………………………………………...…… 22

4. ‘Projectionist’ vs. ‘constructional’ approaches ……….…………………..………… 25

4.3. Some ‘projectionist’ accounts ……………………………………………..………...... 26

4.2. Some ‘constructional’ accounts …………………………………………….……….…. 28 5. The Greek Voice System: the derivation and interpretations of reflexives,

passives and voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives ………………….……. 31

PART II: THE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

CHAPTER 3: CORPUS ANALYSIS…………………………………………….….……………… 44

1. Introduction……………………………………………..…………….………………..…………..... 44

2. Research variables……………………………………..………………………………..……….. 46

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3. The research sample…………………………………………………….………..……...…. 50

a. The ILSP Corpus ……………………………………………………………………..……... 50

b. The Web-Based Corpus…………………………………………………………….....… 54

4. Results……………………………………………………………….…………………............… 57

4.1. The distribution of Voice morphology in the corpora used ...….… 58

4.2. Interpretations with respect to Voice Morphology …………..………...…65 4.3. Interpretations with regard to Voice Morphology and subject

animacy …………………….……………………………………………………….………..… 70 4.3.1. Class I (Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives)

a. General remarks…………………………………………………………………72

b. Specific Tokens……………………….………………………………………… 76

1. The verb klini (close)……………………………………………………… 78

2. The verb vrazi (boil) ……………………………………………………….84

3. The verb jerni (lean) ……………………………………………………… 88

4. The verb sapizi (rot) …………………………………………………...…. 91

5. The verb ljoni (melt) ……………………………………………………...95

6. The verb lijizi (bend) ……………………………………………………… 99

7. The verb stegnoni (dry) …………………………………………………..102

4.3.2. Class II (Voice Alternating Anti-causatives)

a. General Remarks………………………………….………………..……………107

b. Specific tokens …………………………………………………...…………….. 111

1. The verb tendoni (stretch) ……………………………………………….. 114

2. The verb katharizi (clean) ……………………………………………….. 118

3. The verb tsalakoni (crumple) ……………………………………………..123

4. The verb htipai (hit) ………………………………………………………..127

5. The verb tripai (pierce) …………………………………………………. 132

6. The verb berdevi (mingle) …………………....……………..………… 136

7. The verb leroni (spill) …………………………………….………………140

4.3.3. Class III (Activity verbs)

a. General remarks………………………………………………………. 143

b. Specific tokens…………………………………………………………......… 146

1. The verb htenizi (comb) ……………………………………………………149

2. The verb pleni (wash) ………………………………………………151

3. The verb dini (dress) …………………………………………….... 154

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4. The verb kitai (look) ……………………………………...……….. 158

5. The verb troi (eat) ………………………………………………………. 161

6. The verb metaferi (transfer) ……………………………………….…… 164

7. The verb krivi (hide) ……………………………………………….……. 167

4.3.4. Interaction of Voice Morphology and [+/- animacy] of syntactic subject

with Verb Readings across Verb Classes ……………………………….….171

4.4. The PPs………………………………………………………..…………………………….….. 183 4.4.1. The apo-phrase …………………………………………………....…..… 183

a. The status of apo-phrase: previous evidence…………………….………183

b. The corpus frequencies……………………………………………………………… 185

4.4.2. PPs in anti-causative (ACT-NACT) and passive structures …….....187

a. General remarks……………………………………………………………. 187

b. The apo-agent………………………………………………………………. 192

c. The apo- and other- cause phrases………………...……………….....193

d. The apo- and me- instrument phrases ………………………………. .195

5. Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………….…. 197

5.1. The size of the samples ……………………………..…………………………..…….. 197

5.2. The interpretations…………………………………………..…………………………. 198

5.3. The PPs involved …………………………………………………...……………..……... 203

CHAPTER 4 : ON-LINE PROCESSING OF TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….……...……. 206 2. Rationale………………………………………………………………….…… 207

2.1 Previous research on on-line processing of transitivity

alternations…………………………………………………………………………………………..207

2.2. Specific rationale………………………………………………............................……….. 211 3. The SPR and AJ tasks……………………………………………………………………….….… 216

3.1. Design and materials ……………………………………………………………………… 217 3.2. Procedure……………………………..………………………………………………….….…....220 3.3. Participants ………………………………………………...............................……..……. .222 3.4. Research questions ………………………………….………………………………..……. 222

4. Results………………………………..……………………………………………...…………………. 222 4.1. Analyses and measurements……………………………………...…………………… 224 4.2. Results of the Acceptability Judgment Task (rates and RTs) …………... 224

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4.2.1. Total sentences not evaluated ……………………………………………224

4.2.2. Total Mean Rates with respect to voice morphology and subject

animacy……........................................................................................................225

4.2.3. Mean Rates per Verb Class (voice morphology and subject animacy)….227

4.2.4. Mean Rates per Verb (voice morphology and subject animacy)……...…229

4.2.5. Total Mean RTs on the AJ task…………………………………….….... 237

4.2.6. Mean RTs per Verb Class (voice morphology and subject animacy) ...…239

4.2.7. RTs on the AJ task (per verb) ………………………..……………..….. .241

4.3. RTs per segment …………………………………………...……………………….………….245 4.3.1. Total Mean RTs with respect to voice morphology and subject

animacy…………………………………………………………………. .245

4.3.2. RTs on the third segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with

respect to total and per verb class results) ………………………………. 247

4.3.3. RTs on the fourth segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with

respect to total and per verb class results) ………………………………. 247

4.3.4. RTs on the fifth segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with

respect to total and per verb class results)……………………………….. 249

4.3.5. RTs on the sixth segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with

respect to total and per verb class results) …………………..………….. .252

4.3.6. RTs on the seventh segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with

respect to total and per verb class results)……………………………….. 253

4.3.7. Mean RTs (voice morphology and subject animacy) (per verb results)....254

5. Discussion …………………………………………………………...............................…………. 260

CHAPTER 5: ACQUISITION OF TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….…………….. 266

2. The Rationale …………………………………………………………….......................…....... 267

2.1 Notes on previous research on language acquisition ……………......…... 267 2.2 Specific rationale……………………………………….………………............................. 271

3. The SPM task…………………………………………………………..............…….................. 273

3.1. Design and Materials…………………………………………………….………………... 273

3.2. Procedure………………………………………………………..………..…….…………........ 279 3.3. Participants……………………………………………………………………….………….... 281 3.4. Research Questions ………………………………....…………………........….............. 283

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4. Results ……………………………………………………………………...…………………….……. 284 4.1. Distribution of readings with respect to Voice Morphology and Subject

Animacy …………………………………………………………..……………….……………..... 284 4.2. Interpretations with respect to Morphology and Animacy per Verb

Class ……………………………………..………………………..……………..…..……………... 288 4.2.1. ACT verb morphology and Inanimate Subject: Voice (Non)-alternating

Anti-causatives (Classes I and IIa) ………………………….………… 288

4.2.2. NACT verb morphology and Inanimate Subject: Voice Alternating Anti-

causatives and Activities (Classes IIb and IVb) ………………………. 292

4.2.3. NACT verb morphology and Animate Subject: Voice Alternating Anti-

causatives and Activities (Classes IIc and IVa) ………………………. 297

4.2.4. NACT-ACT verb morphology and Animate Subject: ‘Reflexive’ .….. 301

4. 3. Per Verb analysis …………………………………………..........................…………… 306 4.3.1. Voice Non-Alternating Anti-causatives (Class I) ……………………..306

4.3.2. Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II) ………………………… 308

4.3.3.Reflexives (Class III) …………………………………………………. 313

4.3.4. Activity predicates (Class IV) ………………………………………....315

5. Discussion ………………………………………………………………......................................320

CHAPTER 6: GENERAL DISCUSSION: COMPARING FREQUENCIES TO ADULT AND CHILD LANGUAGE DATA

1. Introduction …………………………………………………...……………………….…….……. 322

2. The ‘quest’ for a frequency of alternative readings’ effect during sentence

processing ………………………………………………………..……………………………….... 323

3. Frequency effects in Acceptability Judgments (SPR task) vs. Preferred

Interpretations (SPM task) ……………………..………………………………….……….. 333

4. Frequencies in Language Acquisition ………………………………………..……….. 340

5. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………… 349

6. Methodological limitations and Further Research ………...…………..……… 352

References ……………………………………………………………..……………………………….… 354 Appendices …………………………………………………………………………………..………….… 371

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Corpus – Total number of utterances indexed……………………………..57

Table 2: Distribution of utterances indexed with respect to Voice morphology (ILSP /

Web Corpus) …………………………………………………………………….......58

Table 3: literal vs non-literal use of verbs ………………………………………... ..64

Table 4: total results per interpretation (ACT Voice morphology) …………………65

Table 5: total results per interpretation (NACT Voice morphology) ……………….65

Table 6: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] ………………….70

Table 7: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] (class I)………... 73

Table 8: the verb klini (close) (ACT-NACT) …………………………………….…78

Table 9: The PPs used……………………………………………………………….81

Table 10: the verb vrazi (boil) (ACT-NACT) ………………………………………84

Table 11: The PPs used……………………………………………………………...87

Table 12: the verb jerni (lean) (ACT-NACT) ………………………………………88

Table 13: The PPs used…………………………………………………………..….90

Table 14: the verb sapizi (rot) (ACT-NACT) ………………………….……………91

Table 15: The PPs used…………………………………….………………………..93

Table 16: the verb ljoni (melt) (ACT-NACT) ………………………………………97

Table 17: The PPs used……………………………………………………………...99

Table 18: the verb lijizi (bend) (ACT-NACT) …………………………………….100

Table 19: The PPs used…………………………………………………………….101

Table 20: the verb stegnoni (dry) (ACT-NACT) ………………………………….102

Table 21: The PPs used…………………………………………………………….105

Table 22: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] (class II) …….109

Table 23: the verb tendoni (stretch ACT-NACT) …………………………………114

Table 24: The PPs used …………………………………………..………………..117

Table 25: the verb katharizi (clean ACT-NACT) …………………………………118

Table 26: The PPs used ……………………………………………………………122

Table 27: the verb tsalakoni (wrinkle ACT-NACT) ………………………………123

Table 28: The PPs used …………………………………………………………....126

Table 29: the verb htipai (hit ACT-NACT) ……………………………………….127


Table 31: the verb tripai (pierce ACT-NACT) …………………………………….132

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Table 33: the verb berdevi (mingle ACT-NACT) …………………………………136

Table 34: The PPs used …………………………………………………………....139

Table 35: the verb leroni (spill ACT-NACT) ……………………………..………140

Table36: The PPs used ..…………………………………………………….……. 142

Table 37: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] (class III) ……143

Table 38: Total results of activity verbs in Active form (transitive uses) with respect

to subject animacy ………………………………………………………………….147

Table 39: the verb htenizi (comb ACT-NACT) …………………………………...149

Table 40: The PPS used …………………………..………………………………. 151

Table 41: the verb pleni (clean ACT-NACT) ………………………………..…….151

Table 42: The PPs used ………………………………………………………….. .153

Table 43: the verb dini (dress ACT-NACT) ……………………………...……….154


Table 45: the verb kitai (look ACT-NACT) ……………………………………....158

Table 46: The PPs used ………………………………………………...………….160

Table 47: the verb troi (eat ACT-NACT) ………………………………………….161


Table 49: the verb metaferi (transfer ACT-NACT) …………………………….…164


Table 51: the verb krivi (hide ACT-NACT) ………………………………………167


Table 53: all apo (by/from)-phrases ……………………………………………….185

Table 54: The distribution of PPs among active verbs with anti-causative readings.

………………………………………………………………………………………188

Table 55: The distribution of PPs among non-active verbs with anti-causative

readings…………………………………………………………………………..…189

Table 56: The distribution of PPs among verbs with passive readings …………...190

Table 57: Distribution of PPs . …………………………………………………….203

Table 58: Outliers (above or below 2SD) …………………………………………223

Table 59: Total of sentences not evaluated………………………………………...224

Table 60: Distribution of the degree of acceptability in each verb class (ACT-NACT

voice morphology) …………………………………………………………………227

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Table 61: Distribution of the degree of acceptability in each verb class (voice

morphology and subject animacy) …………………………………………………226

Table 62: Mean acceptability rates per condition ………………………………....229

Table 63: Significant effects across verbs …………………………………………230

Table 64: Mean reading times (in ms.) in the AJ for each condition ……………...241

Table 65: Participants ……………………………………………………………...282

Table 66: Non-target passive reading among ACT verbs with inanimate subject

(Classes I and IIa) …………………………………………………………………..290

Table 67: Transitive and anti-causative readings with ACT anti-causative verbs

(inanimate subject) …………………………………………………………………291

Table 68: Non-target transitive reading with NACT Voice alternating anti-causative

verbs (inanimate subject) …………………………………………………………..294

Table 69: passive and anti-causative readings with NACT verbs with inanimate

subjects (Classes IIb and IVb) ……………………………………………………..295

Table 70: Reflexive readings with NACT anti-causative and activity verbs (animate

subject) .. ……………………………………….…………………………………..298

Table 71: Passive and anti-causative readings with NACT verbs and animate subjects

(Classes IIc and IVa) ……………………………………………………………….299

Table 72: Passive and reflexive readings of NACT verbs with animate subjects

(Reflexives (IIIa)) …………………………………………………………………..302

Table73: (Non)-target transitive reading of (N)ACT verbs with animate subjects

(Reflexives (IIIa-b)) ……………………………………………………………… .303

Table 74: Non-target passive and reflexive readings of ACT verbs with animate

subjects (Reflexives (IIIb)) ……………………………………………………….. 304

Table 75: Total frequencies of ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causative verbs in

ACT/NACT morphology in corpora ………………………………………………325

Table 76: Total frequencies of ‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’ in ACT/NACT

morphology in the corpora …………………………………………………………345

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LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 1: The distribution of Class I verbs with respect to Voice morphology

(ILSP/Web Corpus) …………………………………………………………………59

Graph 2: The distribution of Class II verbs with respect to Voice morphology

(ILSP/Web Corpus) …………………………………………………………………61

Graph 3: The distribution of Class III verbs with respect to Voice morphology (ILSP

/ Web Corpus) ……………………………………………………………………… 62

Graph 4: total results per interpretation (ACT/NACT Voice morphology) in ‘voice

non-alternating anti-causatives’ ……………………………………………………. 67

Graph 5: total results per interpretation (ACT/NACT Voice morphology) in ‘voice

alternating anti-causatives’. ………………………………………………………… 67

Graph 6: total results per interpretation (ACT/NACT Voice morphology) in ‘activity

predicates’ ………………………………………………………………………….. 68

Graph 7: total distribution of verb readings with respect to voice morphology and

subject animacy in the ILSP and Web corpus ………………………………………74

Graph 8: Interpretations of Class I verbs in the ILSP and Web Corpus (voice

morphology and subject animacy) …………………………………………………..76

Graph 9: distribution of interpretations with respect to voice morphology and subject

animacy in the corpora (ILSP-Web)-Class II verbs………………………………...107

Graph 10: Interpretations of Class II verbs in the ILSP and Web Corpus (voice

morphology and subject animacy) …………………………………………………111

Graph 11: The distribution of readings of Class III verbs in the ILSP-Web corpora .

………………………………………………………………………………………144

Graph 12: Interpretations of Class III verbs in the ILSP and Web Corpus (voice

morphology and subject animacy) ……………………………………..…………..146

Graph 13: The distribution of interpretations with respect to Voice Morphology vs

the Interaction of Voice morphology with subject animacy (ACT/NACT vs

Animate/Inanimate) ………………………………………………………………...171

Graph 14: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives (ACT-Animate) ……………173

Graph 15: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives (ACT-Inanimate)…………...174

Graph 16: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives – Activities (NACT-Animate)…

………………………………………………………………………………………175

Graph 17: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives – Activities (NACT-Inanimate).

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………………………………………………………………………………………176

Graph 18: Total distribution of PPs used among (ACT-NACT) anti-causative and

passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus) ……………………………………….187

Graph 19: Total distribution of the apo-agent phrases used among (ACT-NACT)

anti-causative and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus) ………………….. 192

Graph 20: Total distribution of PP-cause used among (ACT-NACT) anti-causative

and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus) …………………………………. 193

Graph 21: Total distribution of apo- and me- instrument phrases used among (ACT-

NACT) anti-causative and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus) …………. 195

Graph 22: Acceptability rates ……………………………………………………. 225

Graph 23: RTs on acceptability judgment (in ms.) ………………………………..237

Graph 24: Mean RTs on acceptability judgment (in ms.) …………………………239

Graph 25: Mean RTs line across test variables ………………………………….. .245

Graph 26: RTs on verb segment (in ms.) ………………………………………….246

Graph 27: Hi-low RTs on the 3rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class) ……...….247

Graph 28: Hi-low RTs on the 4rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class) …...…….248

Graph 29: Hi-low RTs on the 5rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class) …...…….250

Graph 30: Hi-low RTs on the 6rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class) ...……….252

Graph 31: Hi-low RTs on the 7rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class) ...……….253

Graph 32: All verbs: RTs on the 3rd segment ..…………………………………...254

Graph 33: All verbs: RTs on the 4rd segment ..…………………………………...255

Graph 34: All verbs: RTs on the 5rd segment…………..………………………....256

Graph 35: All verbs: RTs on the 6rd segment ………..…………………………...257

Graph 36: All verbs: RTs on the 7rd segment………..…………………………....258

Graph 37: distribution of preferred readings with respect to Voice Morphology and

Subject animacy (Adults) …………………………………………………………..284

Graph 38: distribution of preferred readings with respect to Voice Morphology and

Subject animacy (Child Groups) …………………………………………………...286

Graph 39: voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives (I)-(IIa): ACT morphology and

Inanimate Subject …………………………………………………………………..288

Graph 40: voice alternating anti-causatives and activities (IIb)-(IVb): NACT

morphology and Inanimate Subject ………………………………………………...293

Graph 41: voice alternating anti-causatives and activities (IIc)-(IVa): NACT

morphology and Animate Subject ………………………………………………….297

xvii

Graph 42: reflexive verbs (III): NACT-ACT morphology and Animate Subject ... 301

Graph 43: Distribution of readings in each Class I verb …………………………..306

Graph 44: Distribution of readings in each ACT class II verb with inanimate subject.

……………………………………..……………..…………………………………308

Graph 45: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class II verb with inanimate

subject ……………………………………..………………………………………..310

Graph 46: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class II verb with animate subject.

……………………………………..………………………………………………..311

Graph 47: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class III verb (animate subject)

……………………………………..………………………………………………..313

Graph 48: Distribution of readings in each ACT Class III verb (animate subject)..314

Graph 49: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class IV verb with animate subject

. …………………………………..………………………………………………....315

Graph 50: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class IV verb with inanimate

subject ……………………………………..…………………….………………….317

xviii

LIST OF PICTURES

Picture 1: example of annotation ……………….…………………………..………47

Picture 2: example of the environment for specific queries………….……..………51

Picture 3: example of the environment with the output of specific queries and textual

information of a given sentence …………………………………………..…………52

Picture 4: example of the environment with the output of specific queries in Active

Server Pages with Google Web APIs and the program ‘randomize’ ….…………….55

Picture 5: Example of MS Access Environment ………………………..…………..56

Picture 6: Graphic illustration of RTs in each verb examined. ……………………264

Picture 7: an example of the sentences used and the sets of pictures presented (Voice

Non-alternating Anti-causatives)…………………………………………………...279

Picture 8: an example of the sentences used and the sets of pictures presented (Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives) ……………..……………………………………..….280

Picture 9: an example of the sentences used and the sets of pictures presented

(Reflexives) ……………..…………………………………………..…….………..280


(Activity predicates) ……………..……………………………………..….……….281

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX I: The experimental sentences of the on-line SPR and AJ Task (ACT-

NACT) …………………………………………………....……………………... ...372

APPENDIX II: The SPM task: The test sentences ……..………………………....384

APPENDIX III: Examples that illustrate all possible interpretations offered in the

SPM task, in utterances drawn from the ILSP and Web corpora ………………......388

APPENDIX IV: Some extractions of the ‘Web corpus’.………………………......392

xix

ABBREVIATIONS

1Pl= first plural

1Sg= first singular

2Pl= second plural

2Sg= second singular

3Pl= third plural

3Sg= third singular

ACC= Accusative Case

ACT/act= active

AJ= Acceptability Judgment (Task)

anim= animate

antic= anti-causative

CAUS= cause

C-I= Conceptual - Intentional (System)

DP=Determiner Phrase

GEN= Genitive Case

HNC= Hellenic National Corpus

ILSP= Institute for Language and Speech

Processing

IMPERF= imperfective

inanim= inanimate

instr= instrument

L1= first language

L2= second language

NACT/nact= non-active

NOM= Nominative Case

NP= Noun Phrase

NS= Native Speakers

pass= passive

PAST= past

PERF= perfective

PP= Prepositional Phrase

PRES= present

RC= Relative Clause

recipr= reciprocal

refl= reflexive

RTs= Reaction Times

SM= Sensorimotor (System)

Spec= Specifier

SPM= Sentence Picture Matching (Task)

SPR= Self Paced Reading (Task)

Sub.= subordinate clause

SUBJ= subjunctive

trans= transitive

UG= Universal Grammar

unerg= unergative

V= Verb

VP= Verb Phrase

STATISTICAL ABBREVIATIONS N= raw number

n.s. = non-significant statistical difference

p= val;ue indincating the level of significance (>.05)

ANOVA (F)= analysis of variance

χ2= signify the strength of a difference

η= signify the strength of an association

xx

ABSTRACT

The aim of this thesis is to address two questions related to the role of frequency on a)

sentence processing and b) language acquisition. Frequency is measured with respect

to the phenomenon of transitivity alternations in Greek, which may or may not

involve morphological changes of Voice marking on the verb. Regarding sentence

processing, the question is whether the processing strategies involved in the

disambiguation of temporarily ambiguous information are driven by the frequency of

each of the available choices in the input. Regarding language acquisition the question

is whether the developmental pattern of linguistic phenomena whose interpretation is

underspecified by the grammar can be exclusively attributed to input frequency.

The first question was addressed through the investigation of ‘voice

alternating’ and ‘voice non-alternating’ anti-causative verbs. The two classes differ in

the availability and lack thereof of Voice alternation on the verb when this appears in

an intransitive structure (anti-causative, passive, reflexive). The accessibility of

interpretations was measured with an on-line self-paced reading as well as an

acceptability judgment tasks addressed to monolingual adult speakers of Greek. The

possible correlation between the frequency of the available readings that specific

verbs receive in formal and informal written corpora (ILSP-Web) with the on-line

data were compared in order to investigate whether processing load is affected by

statistical records in the parser. As an alternative, grammar-based, explanation of the

psycholinguistic data obtained from the on-line task, the variables of (a) distinctions

between active and non-active voice and (b) [+/-animacy] of the sentence subject, as

well as their potential interaction were examined. The results from the on-line

processing study indicated that the parser is sensitive to morphological cues such as

Voice marking (ACT/NACT) on the verb, while semantic factors such as animacy are

integrated in subsequent stages of processing. In accordance with ‘coarse-grained’

models of sentence processing, a frequency effect was found, while predictions in line

with more ‘fine-grained’ models of sentence processing could not be validated with

respect to frequency alone. On the other hand, results from the acceptability judgment

task showed that the final interpretation attributed to the verbs investigated often

correlated with the most frequently used structures in the corpora. The second question was addressed through the investigation of ‘voice (non)-

alternating anti-causatives’, ‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’. The frequency of

xxi

the available readings that these verbs receive in formal and informal written corpora

(ILSP-Web) were compared with the preferred readings of three age-groups of Greek

L1 children and an adult control group in order to investigate whether development of

transitivity alternations is determined by frequency of exposure alone, or alternatively,

whether voice morphology in combination with subject animacy are relevant. The

results indicated that while the adult control group provided answers consistent with

the most frequent readings in the corpora, child groups approximated adult responses

and frequency data in very few occasions. However, all child groups were sensitive to

voice morphological marking, even if it is not completely mastered, and to the

property of [+/-animacy] of the syntactic subject. Overall, child groups’ performance

provided evidence in support of the claim that children have abstract knowledge of

syntactic structures and transitivity alternations from an early age (Tsimpli, 2006),

while lack of sufficient exposure to specific verb uses in pragmatically biasing

contexts leads to non-adult-like overall performance. Thus, children often allowed a

passive reading for verbs that are usually interpreted by adults as ‘reflexives’ and

‘anti-causatives’ due to their choices being primarily regulated by the grammar, which

leaves a number of different interpretations open for post-syntactic analysis. A pattern

is also attested in the narrowing of interpretative choices since older children learn to

form ‘verb classes’ when sufficient exposure enables them to correlate pragmatic

knowledge with relevant lexical and syntactic information.

PART I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1

2

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The main question addressed in this thesis concerns the role of frequency in sentence

processing and in L1 acquisition. The aim of this thesis is twofold: first to evaluate

‘experience-based’ models of sentence processing (Cuetos, Mitchell & Corley, 1996;

MacDonald, 1997; MacDonald, Pearlmutter, Seidenberg, 1994; Brysbaert & Mitchell,

1996, a.o.) which are based on the idea that frequencies of the alternative readings of

ambiguous structures affect the way adults parse sentences. The second aim is to

evaluate ‘usage-based’ approaches to language acquisition (Tomasello, 2003 a.o.)

since the role of frequency of particular phenomena in the input is assumed to

determine the pattern of acquisition. With respect to this second aim, usage-based

approaches will be juxtaposed with nativist approaches which prioritize the role of

grammar acquisition over frequency information in the input. These issues are

explored by looking at whether and how frequency in the occurrence of particular

verbs in active and non-active voice morphology and the corresponding transitivity

changes is a more deterministic factor for L1 acquisition than the interaction of Voice

morphology and animacy in on-line adult and child L1 data. Frequencies of structures

and of verb types will be measured in corpora of formal and informal registers of

adult Greek.

1. Motivation and Aim of the Study

Transitivity alternations have been a main focus of research in the field of theoretical

linguistics. More specifically, one-place predicates have been claimed to actually

consist of two classes, the unergative (1) and the unaccusative (2) class although they

share the same surface syntactic realization, namely a single argument in subject

position. The Unaccusativity Hypothesis, formulated by Perlmutter (1978) and later


3

adapted by Burzio (1986) associates the two verb classes with distinct syntactic

configurations, since (1) takes a deep-structure subject and no object, whereas (2)

takes a deep-structure object and no subject, as illustrated below:

(1) NP [VP V]

(2) [VP V NP]

Evidence of morphological and syntactic syncretism is cross-linguistically

found not only with respect to the above mentioned structures but also with respect to

passive, reflexive and unaccusative structures (Kalluli, 2004, 2006 for Albanian;

Borer, 1994 and subsequent work for Hebrew; Kayne, 1988, for Romance, to mention

a few): a pronoun, a clitic or verbal inflection is shared by reflexive, passive and anti-

causative predicates.

Greek, which is the language examined in the present thesis, is a language

with a morphologically rich inflectional system. Voice morphology on the Greek verb

has a binary value, active (ACT) and non-active (NACT), but does not always show a

one-to-one correlation with diathesis1. Diathesis is a semantic notion which concerns

the relationship between the verb and the subject; in previous literature the terms

active and (medio)-passive were used instead (Holton et al., 1997; Joseph &

Philippaki-Warburton, 1987; Tsimpli, 1989, 2005): verbs in the active diathesis (eg.

treho ‘run’) include examples of unergatives as in o Petros trehi sto jipedo (‘Peter

runs in the stadium’) and transitives as in o Petros trehi to programma ston ipolojisti

(‘Peter runs the program in the computer’). Verbs in the (medio)-passive diathesis are

morphologically marked and describe structures where the subject is an experiencer

or an agent and the action affects directly (eg. dinome ‘get dressed’ (dress + NACT))

or indirectly the subject (stenohorieme ‘get upset’ (upset + NACT)) (middle

diathesis); in this category structures where the subject does not act but is affected by

an action or cause are also included (eg. metaferome ‘be transferred’ (transfer +

NACT)) (passive diathesis).

1 For the description of the morphological inflection attached to verb entries referred to as voice and the semantic notion of diathesis in Greek see Joseph & Philippaki-Warburton, 1987; Τζάρτζανος, 1989 [Tzartzanos, 1989]; Holton, Mackridge & Philippaki-Warburton, 1997; Κλαίρης & Μπαµπινιώτης, 1999, 2005 [Klairis & Babiniotis, 1999, 2005]; Σετάτος, 1997 [Setatos 1997] a.o.


4

The terms active (ACT) and non-active (NACT) are used instead (Rivero,

1990; Smirniotopoulos & Joseph, 1993; Embick, 2004; Anagnostopoulou &

Alexiadou, 2004; Tsimpli, 2005) as more compatible with the various structures in

which the non-active morphology occurs: hence, the term NACT is used in the

present thesis to describe all the structures which include non-active morphological

marking on the verb, i.e. the passive, middle, anti-causative, reciprocal and reflexive.

The transitivity alternations which concern the present thesis include passive,

reflexive and anti-causative structures which are morphologically marked in terms of

(non)-active Voice distinctions. More specifically, the passive and the reflexive of

transitive verbs are morphologically marked by non-active voice morphology on the

verb, while the anti-causative can be marked either by active or non-active voice

(Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000; Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004; Tsimpli,

2005, 2006 a.o., cf. Haspelmath, 1993)2. In addition, based on previous empirical

evidence (Tsimpli, 2006), it has been shown that the animacy of the syntactic subject,

as well as lexical/encyclopaedic properties of the verb interact with voice morphology

in that strong preferences for one of the possible readings, e.g. the reflexive, the

passive or the anti-causative can be explained in relation to these factors.

Due to the morphological syncretism in Greek, ambiguity can be found in the

domain of thematic structures as in (3a) and (3b) below:

(3) a. To aghori plithike

The boy wash-NACT. 3Sg

“The boy washed himself/ The boy was washed.”

b. To aftokinito plithike (apo ton ipalilo tu garaz) / (apo ti vrohi).

The car wash-NACT.3Sg (by the employee of the car station) / (by the rain)

“The car got/was washed by the employee of the car station / with the rain.”

In (3) both (a) and (b) are considered at least temporarily ambiguous because the Non-

active (NACT) Voice morphology marked on the Verb signals a transitivity

alternation with more than one available readings. Thus, in (3a) the passive and the

2 The Greek middle structure is also morphologically non-active (Tsimpli, 1989; Papastathi, 1999; Sioupi, 1998; cf. Condoravdi, 1989). However, contextual factors as the generic interpretation, the arbitrary agent by-phrase and the dynamic modal reading associated with the Greek middle render it difficult to test in ways similar with passives, reflexives and anti-causatives. Thus, they are not included in the present study.


5

reflexive readings are both possible, while extra-clausal information (such as the

boy’s age) and a continuation of the sentence (such as me to nero tis vrohis ‘with the

rain’ or apo tin megali tu adhelfi ‘by his older sister’) disambiguates the reading.

Moreover, in (3b), where the subject is inanimate, the interpretation could be either

passive or anti-causative, as shown by the two alternative continuations of the

sentence. Thus, the ambiguity in (3) results from the fact that Greek NACT

morphology is amenable to different interpretations even when it appears with the

same verb.

Active (ACT) Voice morphology marked on the Verb does not signal

transitivity alternations in a transparent way either, since it is associated with

unaccusative, unergative and transitive structures (Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou,

2004; Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000; Tsimpli, 2006; Zombolou, 2004 a.o.). Thus,

in sentences like (4) the word string to koritsi / to dhentro lijise are temporarily

ambiguous between a transitive and an unaccusative reading and in sentences like (5)

the word string to koritsi ejire is transitive (where the subject to koritsi acts upon an

object NP), unaccusative (where the subject is affected) or unergative (followed by a

purpose clause):

(4) a. To koritsi lijise to sidhero / apo ta vasana

The girl bend-ACT.3Sg the iron / from/by the worries

“The girl bent the iron / from/by the worries.”

b. To dhentro lijise to frahti / apo to varos

The tree bend-ACT.3Sg the hedge / from the weight.”

“The tree bent the hedge / from the weight.”

(5) To koritsi ejire ti skala jia na peso /apo to varos / jia na di kalitera

The girl lean-ACT.3Sg the ladder for I fall/ from the weight / for Sub. see

better

“The girl leaned the ladder so that I fell off/ from/by the weight / in order

to see better

In both (4) and (5) the ambiguity is local and eventually resolved by the continuation

of the sentence. Moreover, examples (4) and (5) show that a transitive counterpart is

generally available in Greek and not only with unergative verbs like horevo (dance)

where a ‘cognate’ object (ton horo ‘the dance’) is available favoring thus, the


6

assumption that unergative predicates are hidden transitives with a cognate object that

can incorporate to the lexical V base (Hale & Keyser, 1993, 2002). Such cases of

transitivization have been suggested to be the result of the interaction of the ACT

voice morphology, which is opaque with respect to transitivity, and the availability of

object clitics that inflect for phi-features and case (Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007).

Moreover, the class of Greek anti-causatives includes verbs which can appear

either in the active or the non-active voice when the subject DP is inanimate

(Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou, 2004; Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000; Tsimpli,

2006), as in (6).

(6) a. To trapezomandilo lerose/lerothike (apo mono tou / apo ti saltsa / apo to

moro).

the tablecloth dirty-ACT/NACT.3Sg (by itself / by/from the sauce / by the

baby)

“The tablecloth got dirty (by itself / from the sauce) / was dirtied by the

baby.”

b. I Maria *lerose/ lerothike ((apo) moni tis / apo ti saltsa / apo to moro).

The Maria dirty-ACT/ NACT.3Sg (by herself / by/from the sauce / by the

baby)

“Maria dirtied herself / got dirty from the sauce / was dirtied by the baby.”

While in (6a) both ACT and NACT verb forms are considered grammatical with an

anti-causative reading, in (6b) only the NACT verb form is. Nevertheless, according

to the discussion of examples (3) as well as (4) and (5), (6a) is temporarily ambiguous

between anti-causative & passive readings while (6b) with the NACT verb form is

ambiguous between reflexive, anti-causative and passive readings.

It is worth noting at this point that the unaccusative verbs which optionally

appear either with active or non-active morphology without this change in voice

morphology affecting the availability of the unaccusative reading are referred to in

Greek as ‘ρήµατα διτυπίας’ (lit. of two forms, Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000)3. We

3 The term ‘wrinkle/crumple verbs’ (Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou, 2004) has been used instead to refer to the verbs which can appear either with active or non-active morphology with an anti-causative reading; furthermore, the term ‘ergative verbs’ has been used to denote the verbs which undergo the causative/anti-causative alternation but only appear in the active voice morphology in both structures


7

use the term ‘Voice Alternating Anti-causatives’ to refer to verbs as in (6), while the

term ‘Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives’ to refer to verbs which participate in the

causative/inchoative alternation always bearing ACT voice morphology (cf. examples

(4) and (5)). However, for this latter class of verbs the term ‘alternating’ has been

broadly used (following Haegeman, 1994). On the other hand, the term ‘non-

alternating’ is used to refer to unaccusatives whose subject never appears as the direct

object, such as the verb vanish (‘John vanished’/*‘The kidnapper vanished John’).

Nevertheless, we will use the term Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives to shift

the focus to Voice morphology and transitivity alternations.

In the field of sentence processing, research aims to identify how people arrive

at a given interpretation of a sentence, through a process known as parsing. Sentence

processing is a rapid and subconscious process which proceeds in an incremental

fashion from left to right. Parsing involves syntactic and other (semantic-pragmatic)

analyses which help the reader and/or listener disambiguate temporarily ambiguous

information in sentences. The parser, which is the human language processing

mechanism, is also rapid, automatic and ‘incremental’ in nature (Traxler & Pickering,

1996; Tyler & Marslen-Wilson, 1977): transformationally complex sentences should

cause delay during processing, when compared to simpler ones. Thus, experimental

manipulation of ambiguous sentences such as the ones illustrated above for Greek can

inform us about whether alternative readings are considered before adult NS arrive at

a unique interpretation.

In the field of sentence comprehension and syntactic ambiguity resolution of

transitivity alternations some research has been conducted for English or other

languages, with a focus on the differences between unaccusative and unergative

structures (eg. Burkhardt, Piñango and Wung, 2003; Friedmann, Taranto, Shapiro &

Swinney, 2008), or passive and transitive ones (Rohde & Gibson, 2003; Ferreira,

2003; Marinis, 2007). However, there are discrepancies in the results and

disagreement on how to interpret them. Peristeri et al. (submitted) investigated

animacy of the syntactic subject in ‘non-canonical’ structures of Greek with Greek

(Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000). We opt for the term ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causative’ verbs (Tsimpli, p.c.) as more accurate and broad in use, without close reference to semantically restricted verb classes.


8

agrammatics and unimpaired controls. These studies will be presented in Chapter 4

where the on-line experimental study is presented.

Previous studies on other phenomena involving ambiguity resolution in Greek

sentence processing investigate Relative Clause (RC) attachment ambiguities in L1

and L2 (Papadopoulou, 2006; Papadopoulou & Clahsen, 2003, 2006; Papadopoulou

& Marinis, 2004), subject-object ambiguities with optionally transitive verbs

(Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005) and prepositional phrase (PP) attachment

ambiguities (Katsika, 2009 a, b).

With respect to research on first language acquisition, the question of how

children acquire transitivity alternations has been a central one. Although, children

acquire language through developmental stages commonly identified, mastery of the

involved structures has been attested at different developmental stages cross-

linguistically (eg. Bever, 1970; Maratsos et al., 1985; Demuth, 1989; Verrips, 2000;

Müller et al., 2006; Schmitz & Müller, 2008; Tsimpli, 2006). Nativist (Borer &

Wexler, 1987; Fox & Grodzinsky, 1998; Borer, 2004; Tsimpli, 2006 among many

others) and anti-nativist, frequency-based (Tomasello, 2003, a.o.) approaches have

tried to explain this difference on different grounds: nativists prioritize the importance

of syntax, while usage-based theorists attribute the development of linguistic

knowledge to effects and properties of exposure to language alone. We will further

discuss these theories in Chapter 5 where the L1 acquisition part of the present

research is presented. Given this debate between language acquisition theories, the

phenomenon of transitivity alternations is an intricate topic of discussion since child

performance in these more or less complex structures deviates from the adult choices

in ways that could be attributed to syntactic, morphological or interface immaturity, or

to input properties instead. Moreover, as presented above, transitivity alternations in

Greek involve morphological marking (ACT/NACT) which does not always and not

transparently correspond to thematic structures; the above together with the rather rare

use of full passives and passive interpretations in Greek, which constitute a

transitivity alternation too, render the phenomenon a topic of fruitful investigation.

Previous research on language acquisition in Greek has addressed this

question through research into language comprehension and production (cf. Stephany,


9

1981, 1997; Tsimpli, 2005, 2006; Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear; Zombolou,

Varlokosta, Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2009 among others).

The present thesis contributes further to the research question of transitivity

alternations in language acquisition, juxtaposing nativist with usage-based approaches

by evaluating frequency counts of specific verbs and verb classes participating in

transitivity alternations with the child data on the same verbs.

2. Frequency-constrained vs Grammar-Constrained Sentence

Processing

Some of the central issues in the area of sentence processing are whether the parser is

universal or operating on language-specific properties, whether it is ‘serial’ or

‘parallel’ with regard to the number of alternative analyses it can simultaneously

entertain and evaluate and whether it can be viewed as distinct from the Grammar or

not (see Papadopoulou, 2006; Katsika, 2009b for detailed reviews of the relevant

literature).

The above questions are addressed within theoretical frameworks based on

alternative approaches to the role of grammar and syntactic information in language

processing: they can be distinguished in two broad categories; serial autonomous

models (eg. Ferreira & Clifton, 1986; Frazier, 1987, 1990; Frazier & Rayner, 1982)

and multiple constraint satisfaction (one-stage) models (e.g. Boland et al., 1990;

Garnsey et al., 1997; MacDonald et al., 1994; Spivey-Knowlton & Sedivy, 1995;

Taraban & McClelland, 1988; Trueswell et al., 1994).

One of the most well known serial autonomous universal models of sentence

processing is the two-stage ‘Garden Path’ model (Frazier, 1987a,b, 1990; Frazier &

Rayner, 1982), according to which, when the parser encounters ambiguity, it selects

an interpretation based on syntactic (structural) principles, while any other

information (thematic, semantic, contextual) is accessed at later stages: according to

these principles new incoming material is attached to the phrase currently being

processed (the principle referred to as Late Closure), in a way that the fewest


10

necessary phrase structure nodes are used (the principle referred to as Minimal

Attachment); if the first analysis turns out to be incorrect the parser proceeds to

reanalysis also using other non-syntactic information. In other analyses (Ferreira &

Henderson, 1991; Rayner et al., 1983) it is assumed that the parser is directed not only

by syntactic but also by thematic cues: this information operates in parallel and the

parser examines alternative thematic structures in order to reach the appropriate

interpretation. The importance of thematic information during early processing has

been also suggested by other models (cf. Pritchett, 1992; Frazier & Clifton, 1996).

The evidence from the resolution of Relative Clause (RC) ambiguity in

English and Spanish (Cuetos & Mitchell, 1988) was used to question the universality

of the parser since data revealed cross-linguistic differences. Models such as ‘The

Recency/Predicate Proximity model’ (Gibson et al. 1996) proposed three potential

explanations of the cross-linguistic differences attested: (a) the grammar of a specific

language determines processing preferences, (b) the parser relies on the frequency

with which particular ambiguities are resolved in this language, as dictated by the

grammar or (c) the parser relies on statistical frequencies independently of the

grammar. This last option led to the formulation of another broad category of

processing accounts arguing for the nature of the parser and parsing decisions being

based on frequency data.

These experience-based models of language processing (Cuetos, Mitchell &

Corley, 1996; MacDonald, 1997; MacDonald, Pearlmutter, Seidenberg, 1994) suggest

that high statistical regularities in the language determine early parsing choices. These

approaches are further distinguished according to whether the parser is assumed to

keep statistical syntactic records, as in the coarse-grained ‘Tuning Theory’ (Brysbaert

& Mitchell, 1996; Mitchell & Brysbaert, 1998; Mitchell, Cuetos, Corley & Brysbaert,

1995) or more fine-grained, lexical records as in the ‘lexicalist’ approaches

(MacDonald, 1997; MacDonald et al., 1994; Spivey-Knowlton, Trueswell &

Tanenhaus, 1993; Thornton, MacDonald & Gil, 1999; Trueswell & Tanenhaus, 1994,

a.o.).

The ‘Tuning Theory’ (Brysbaert & Mitchell, 1996; Mitchell et al., 1995)

assumes that the processor keeps syntactic records with respect to the most frequent

resolution of structural ambiguities in a given language, while non-syntactic factors


11

play a role in later stages of processing. Evidence with respect to occurrences of DP-

PP-RC structures (where DP stands for Determiner Phrase, PP for Prepositional

Phrase and RC for Relative Clause) has been drawn to support the above mentioned

claim: both corpus data and experimental studies show a high attachment preference

for English and a low-attachment preference for Spanish and French. Moreover, it has

been claimed (Brysbaert & Mitchell, 1996: 686) that the theory is a variant of the

‘Garden Path’ model (Frazier, 1978, 1987; Frazier & Fodor, 1978; Frazier & Rayner,

1982), since they both consider that the initial analysis for the resolution of an

ambiguity is structural. However, they differ in that the ‘Garden Path’ model is based

on universal principles whereas the ‘Tuning Theory’ suggests that the parser relies on

exposure facts4.

Greek is an interesting language to use for the evaluation of these accounts,

given its rich inflectional system in both the nominal and the verbal domains;

previous research investigating subject-object ambiguities in Greek (Papadopoulou &

Tsimpli, 2005) has shown that morphological cues play an important role for native

speakers’ parsing decisions to the extent that ‘universal’ parsing principles can be

overshadowed by the prioritization of inflectional morphological cues. Given that

morphological marking signals transitivity alternations (Tsimpli, 2005, 2006), albeit

not unambiguously, we investigate whether the parser relies on structures such as

DP(subject)-VACT and DP(subject)-VNACT verb forms to resolve the interpretational

ambiguity arising on the verb.

In line with coarse-grained models of parsing, the more frequent interpretation

of a given structure should be processed faster than the remaining, less frequent ones

of this same structure. In addition to Voice morphology, animacy distinctions on the

surface syntactic subject have been argued to play a role in the choice of interpretation

of transitivity alternations in Greek (Tsimpli, 2006). The interaction of [+/- animacy]

and Voice morphology with the preferred interpretations (Peristeri et al., submitted) is

thus also addressed in this study: if, as assumed, subject animacy is a factor

contributing to the availability of alternative readings, processing of voice

‘alternating’ and ‘non-alternating’ anti-causatives in Greek should mirror frequent

4 Note however that the authors admit that there must exist ‘at least some non-statistical influences’ during initial parsing (Mitchell & Brysbaert, 1998:324).


12

uses of structures characterized by animacy distinctions on the subject as well as

morphological Voice distinctions.

Other models propose the existence of a more fine-grained storing system of

lexical, semantic, syntactic, pragmatic or other discourse frequency information


Tanenhaus, 1993 and subsequent work). These ‘Constraint Satisfaction’ models

assume that parsing is a continuous (one-stage) process during which multiple sources

of information (lexical, syntactic and/or discourse related) are used in parallel and

affect sentence interpretation on the basis of their frequency. However, some models

distinguish between syntactic and semantic information, claiming that ‘only

information that is correlated with syntactic alternatives will have effects’ (Trueswell

et al., 1994:176), while others propose that lexical constraints are the dominant ones

(MacDonald 1993, 1997) suggesting that lexical representations contain not only

phonological and orthographic information, but also all relevant morpho-syntactic

information as well as all alternative structures in which specific lexical items

participate categorized with respect to their frequency of occurrence in the language

(MacDonald et al., 1994).

Subsequently, although no explcit reference to a morphological analysis is

made in these models, but rather a storing of item records, in our case, this would

imply that the lexical entry of a verb such as htipai (‘hit’) in (N)ACT which may

receive a transitive or an anti-causative reading in ACT and a reflexive, anti-causative

or passive reading in NACT, would activate all possible readings when processed on-

line. In line with these fine-grained lexicalist accounts, the parser would resolve the

ambiguity by means of lexical frequency counts of each interpretation, thus rendering

more accessible the most frequent reading per voice form.

Research in the field has given rise to contradictory results and seems to pose

rather than answer questions as to whether the parser is based on input frequencies

measurable in natural language corpora or not, and as to what kind of information

directs the parser’s initial choices.

The present thesis aims to evaluate coarse-grained and fine-grained accounts

of experience-based models on sentence processing with respect to transitivity


13

alternations. The evaluation is based on a comparison between data from an on-line

self-paced reading task with adult NS of Greek and frequency results from two adult

language corpora of formal and informal written speech respectively with respect to

verbs in the anti-causative set (Voice (Non) - alternating Anti-causatives5).

3. Frequency-based vs UG- based Language Acquisition

Chomsky (1965, 1969, 1986 and subsequent work) has argued that language

acquisition cannot be based on imitation or habit-formation but there must be some

innate knowledge of linguistic structure which predisposes children to learn any

natural language they are exposed to. This innate endowment is referred to as

Universal Grammar, a cognitive system that contains Principles, applying to all

languages and Parameters, which cater for crosslinguistic variation. Accordingly,

language acquisition is the task of acquiring (setting) parameters (i.e. the particular

values of functional features/categories) on the basis of the input children are exposed

to. Principles of UG determine the basic architecture of any linguistic system, its

constraints and operations that apply to all languages.

Within the nativist approach, different analyses of transitivity alternations and

argument structure have been proposed. While all of these analyses argue that

knowledge of syntactic categories is innate, some of them argue for the priority of

lexical semantics over syntax: The Semantic Bootstrapping hypothesis (Grimshaw,

1981; Pinker, 1984; Randall et al., 2004), suggests that children learn the meaning of

(some) content words and use them to construct semantic representations of simple

sentences they hear. The Syntactic Bootstrapping Hypothesis (Gleitman, 1990; Borer,

2004) assumes that children analyse the structure of sentences they hear and interpret

the meaning of new material based on syntactic abstract knowledge they already have.

Deviation from adult-like performance can be accounted for in terms of maturation

(eg. Wexler & Borer, 1987) up to the end of the critical period for language

5 We use the term ‘anti-causatives’ for all the verbs used in the present study since they have been labelled as such in the Greek generative grammar (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004; Theophanopoulou-Kontou 2001 a.o.). Nevertheless, other readings may be assigned to the verbal stimuli used in the task, i.e. the passive, the middle or the reflexive readings.


14

acquisition: language knowledge matures just like other cognitive systems.

Computational immaturity within the language system may lead the child to perform

in a non-adult fashion both in comprehension and production (Wexler, 1998).

From the non-generative perspective of usage-based acquisition, abstract

syntactic knowledge is viewed as a derivative of language not a prerequisite. In

particular, the ‘Usage-Based Theory’ (Tomasello, 2003) attributes language

development to the learning of items and constructions on the basis of input

frequency, while abstract and complex syntactic constructions are acquired later.

Within this framework, it has been proposed that children reproduce “verb-

island” (utterance schemas revolving around verbs) and other “item-based”

constructions (Tomasello, Brooks, Stern, 1998; Brooks & Tomasello, 1999;

Theakston et al., 2001), without any mastery of the internal structure of the utterance,

or of morphological structure. Thus, they may reproduce single linguistic symbols

functioning as a whole utterance, called ‘holophrases’, which may or may not

correspond to single adult words (ex. lemme-see (Lieven, Pine, Barnes, 1992)). On an

item-specific basis children learn schemas with a form (“words and slots”) and a

function (iconic depiction) (Tomasello, 2003:120): these scene-specific linguistic

structures involve morphological marking, thematic roles, word order, among other

properties, which the child does not analyze. Moreover, child productions are argued

to lack creativity and productivity until the age of four (Akhtar & Tomasello, 1997;

Tomasello & Brooks, 1998); within the constructions children imitate from adult

speech, they can only substitute some constituents which serve the same function or

meaning (eg. Where’s X gone?, X being substitutable by a range of animate or

inanimate referents). Instead, they can easily imitate transitive/intransitive

constructions with novel verbs, or even learn lexically novel verbs (Akhtar, 1999)

very early. They claim that token and type frequency (terminology developed by

Bybee, 1995) in the input can account for the developmental changes in child

language. Hypothesizing a “critical mass” of exemplars (Marchman & Bates, 1994)

these theories try to explain how children learn “good” structures mapped on the level

of linguistic form and of communicative function as holistic linguistic entities.

Moreover, language development is based on the development of cognitive and social

skills, such as shared attention and social interaction which are prerequisites for


15

grammar construction. Syntax is acquired later when children have been sufficiently

exposed to event-related linguistic material and have acquired abstract linguistic

(adult-like) knowledge.

Transitivity alternations in Greek is a motivating research domain since the

same morphological marking gives rise to more than one possible readings and

transitivity changes are not clearly marked on the verb’s voice morphology. The

investigation of the acquisition of transitivity alternations in Greek through child

performance showed early syntactic knowledge (Tsimpli, 2005, 2006) with the

semantic feature of (subject) animacy also affecting interpretational preferences.

Exposure to input is presupposed for the development of the interaction between

syntax, lexical and pragmatic knowledge of verb-classes and the child’s ability to

suppress pragmatically-derived inferences in the evaluation of an event or action

(Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear).

Usage-based vs nativist accounts are going to be addressed in the present

thesis through the comparison of empirical data from an off-line

interpretation/comprehension experiment conducted with adult native speakers (NS)

of Greek and L1 Greek speaking children. Frequency results from the two adult

language corpora including formal and informal written speech will be compared with

the adult data from this comprehension experiment too. The variables tested in this L1

acquisition study are voice morphology and subject animacy with verbs belonging to

different verb classes, such as ‘inherently reflexives’ and ‘voice (non)-alternating

anti-causatives’ (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004, a.o.)

Having just outlined the main aims and directions of the thesis let us now

explicitly formulate the main research questions addressed throughout the present

study with respect to transitivity alternations in Greek.


16

4. Main Research Questions

In this study we investigate the frequency rates of particular verbs marked for

active (ACT) or non-active (NACT) voice, with animate or inanimate subjects and

associate these properties, namely morphology and animacy, with the most frequent

interpretation these verbs have. More specifically, we examine the most frequent

interpretation (a) of specific verbs and (b) of specific verb classes, in the ACT or the

NACT form with animate or inanimate subjects, in corpora including written speech

instantiating a formal and an informal register.

The frequencies elicited are further evaluated in relation to (a) the most

accessible readings of these verbs or verb classes which adult native speakers obtain

in an on-line psycholinguistic experiment and (b) the most preferred readings children

and adults obtain in an interpretation task including these verbs or verb classes in the

same morpho-syntactic contexts.

More specifically, with respect to sentence processing, frequency results from

corpora are compared with the on-line and off-line measurements (reaction times

(RTs) and acceptability rates) from a self-paced-reading task and an acceptability

judgment task with adult NS of Greek. The aim is to evaluate coarse-grained and

more fine-grained experience-based models of sentence processing.

With respect to language acquisition, the frequency results drawn from adult

written corpora are compared with the preferred interpretations for the same verbs

elicited from children and adults through a sentence-picture matching task.

Furthermore, evidence is provided from a small-scale analysis of child-directed

speech from Stephany’s (1997) data in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000) reported and

analysed in Fotiadou & Tsimpli (to appear). The motivation is to assess frequency of

preferred readings with particular verbs and/or verb forms in child-directed speech

since such frequencies are more relevant to input for language development according

to usage-based accounts. Thus, the question is whether input frequencies can account

for the acquisition pattern of transitivity alternations in Greek L1 children.

The rationale behind comparing such frequency counts to empirical data is to

evaluate whether the preferred interpretations of the verbs tested in on-line and off-


17

line experiments correlate with the more frequent interpretation (a) of specific verb-

lemmas [irrespective of ACT/NACT morphology], (b) of ACT or NACT

morphological marking, (c) of specific verb forms (ACT or NACT), (d) of specific

tokens (ACT or NACT verb type with animate or inanimate subject) or (e) of verb

classes in general.

Ultimately, the results will shed light on the role of frequency in language

knowledge and use, as this is evidenced in on-line processing, as well as in language

acquisition in monolingual development.

5. Overview of the Study

In Chapter 1 we have outlined the main aims of this study and the research questions

pertaining to the role of frequency in processing and acquisition. In Chapter 2 we

present the linguistic phenomenon under investigation, i.e. transitivity alternations,

and we provide a brief sketch of theoretical accounts cross-linguistically and for the

Greek language. The following chapters include the data constituting the Main Study:

Chapter 3 presents the corpus data. Specifically, the Chapter includes the presentation

of the frequency counts of the verbs examined drawn from the Hellenic National

Corpus (HNC) created by the Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP):

Research and Innovation Center “Athena” (http://hnc.ilsp.gr/ ), hereafter referred to as

ILSP Corpus, and a Web-based corpus compiled specifically for the present research

with queries on the Google (http://www.google.com ). Chapter 4 presents the on-line

psycholinguistic data. Specifically, in Chapter 4 we present the results from an on-line

self-paced reading task combined with acceptability judgments addressed to adult

native speakers of Greek. The task examined anti-causatives (voice ‘alternating’ and

‘non-alternating’ anti-causative verbs) with a manipulation of voice morphology and

subject animacy. Chapter 5 presents the L1 acquisition data. Specifically, in Chapter 5

we present data form an off-line sentence-picture matching task addressed to 3-6

years’ old Greek L1 speaking children and adult controls. The task investigated the

preferred interpretation of anti-causative verbs classified as voice ‘alternating’ or


18

‘non-alternating’, of reflexives or of other activity predicates with respect to voice

morphology and subject animacy. Chapter 6 includes the comparison of the on-line

and off-line processing and acquisition data with the frequencies of the verbs found in

the corpus data. It is suggested that frequency alone cannot be considered as

responsible for the processing or the acquisition of transitivity alternations in Greek.

Further research and replication of the experiments is needed to ensure a safe answer

with respect to research questions.

THE PHENOMENON: CHAPTER 2 TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

19

CHAPTER 2

THE PHENOMENON:

TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

1. Introduction

Transitivity alternations have been a main focus of research in linguistics. No matter

whether the approaches developed are lexically or syntactically oriented and whether

the phenomenon can be explained in terms of an inner organization of V or the entire

event structure, it is broadly acknowledged that both Lexicon and Syntax need to be

taken into account, hence transitivity changes are argued to belong to the lexicon-

syntax interface. Research on transitivity alternations through sentence processing,

although potentially useful in relation to the controversial issues raised by linguistic

theory, is a domain that still seems unexplored. On the other hand, language

acquisition has extensively dealt with phenomena of transitivity alternations,

specifically due to the late appearance of passive structures in English L1. The scope

of the present thesis is to investigate passive, anti-causative and reflexive

interpretations using methodology from the field of psycholinguistics. Although we

are not discussing the various theoretical accounts thoroughly, in the present chapter

we provide a brief, and not exhaustive, sketch of the very rich literature with regard to

the phenomenon of transitivity alternations.

We begin with the introduction of the framework adopted (Section 2) and we

briefly sketch the argument structures that are of direct interest to the research

questions formulated in Chapter 1 (Section 3). An overview of the main theoretical

accounts that have addressed the question of transitivity alternations is presented.


20

Specifically, we refer to the projectionist and the constructional approaches (Section

4), their difference being that the former assume that lexical entries project onto

syntactic structure (Hale & Kayser, 1986; Levin & Rapapport-Hovav, 1995, 2005

a.o.), while the latter assume that knowledge of syntax is the main determining factor

of verb interpretation (Borer, 2004; Gleitman, 1990 a.o.). We then proceed with the

presentation of the Greek Voice System (Section 5) and we consider in general the

accounts that provide evidence for alternative syntactic analyses of transitivity

alternations (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004; Tsimpli, 2005, 2006; Roussou,

2008, a.o.) concentrating on aspects of the theories that directly interest the present

research.

2. General remarks on the Framework adopted

A major concern in linguistics is to describe the Grammar / I-language (Chomsky,

1986), i.e. the internalized system of language that underlies the human ability to

speak and understand the language of their environment. The theory of Universal

Grammar is then the theory which tries to describe and explain the properties of the

‘initial state’ (S0) of the Language Faculty in a rather constrained way, although other

factors are also taken into account (Chomsky, 2004). Three factors have been

identified as relevant to language: external data, which is the linguistic experience

serving as input to the faculty of language, principles of structural architecture and

developmental constraints (Chomsky, 2005). Thus, under the Principles & Parameters

Theory (PPT), UG includes a set of universal principles which are invariant across

languages and a set of parameters which constrain the range of linguistic variation

across languages. Language acquisition is perceived as the process of parameter

setting, since the child already has knowledge of the universal principles, innately

available.

From a Minimalist perspective (Chomsky, 1995, 2000, 2005, a.o.) language is

viewed as a cognitive system which comprises one computational component, i.e. the

syntax proper, a lexicon and interface levels accessible to the Sensorimotor (SM) and

the Conceptual-Intentional (C-I) systems. Given that generative research has been


21

based in the modularity view of the language faculty (Chomsky, 1972), the

computational component, i.e. the syntax, is viewed as being autonomous and strictly

modular (see also Jackendoff, 1983). However, it interfaces with grammar-external

systems in the Articulatory-Perceptual interface which is legible by the sensorimotor

system and the Conceptual-Intentional (C-I) interface which is legible by the system

of higher cognition. Also it interfaces with other grammar internal modules

(morphology, phonology and semantics) formulating the internal grammar interfaces:

(a) the syntax/semantics interface, (b) the morpho-syntax/lexicon interface and (c) the

morpho-syntax/phonology (see White, 2009 for discussion). The Lexicon is the

component of the grammar that contains all linguistic information associated with

words (lexical items): there are lexical entries which contain information relevant to

the syntactic category (Verb, Noun, Adjective, Preposition), the meaning, the sounds,

the ways in which categories combine with other lexical items or phrases (eg. θ-role

assignment). Lexical Items from the lexicon enter into a computation with their

specified features. Within the Principles and Parameters framework (Chomsky, 1986)

two distinct classes of features are included in the Lexicon: the interpretable features

such as animacy, phi-features (for example Person and Number) on nominals or

Tense on verbs which can be ‘read’ by the conceptual intentional system and the

uninterpretable features such as Case and Agreement, formal features which are

perhaps selected from the lexicon unvalued (although they may have some phonetic

realization). Thus, interpretability in the SM is expected to be subject to cross-

linguistic variation, while interpretability in the C-I is not: In Chomsky’s checking

theory, uninterpretable features are checked by entering an Agree relation with their

matching interpretable features. For example, verb inflection is checked for tense,

person and number. After being checked, uninterpretable features delete before they

reach the semantic/conceptual-intentional interface, signalling the end of each

‘phase’, the locus where all features are valued, so that the derivation is well formed.

It is thus, uninterpretable features that determine the size of phases, i.e. are

responsible for syntactic derivations (Chomsky, 2001, 2008).

A final note with respect to Interfaces should be made here: what is crucial

for our discussion is that the structures discussed in the thesis, i.e. the anti-

causative/passive and the reflexive are relevant to the lexicon-syntax interface in that

information from the verb entry together with morphological features specified on the


22

verb are inserted in syntactic representations, which are arguably distinct for each

structure. The issues that arise with respect to these assumptions pertain to the

richness of information included in the lexical entry of verbs participating in

transitivity alternations (e.g. notions such as ‘verb class’, availability of

morphological changes in voice morphology) and how deterministic this lexically-

included information is for structural representations.

3. Argument Structure

Propositions comprise a predicate (i.e. a verb) and a set of arguments. We can

distinguish between one-, two- and three-place predicates. Two-place predicates have

two arguments, an internal (in VP-complement position) and an external (in SpecV/vP

position) argument (Koopman & Sportiche (1991): The VP Internal Subject

Hypothesis). According to Government and Binding Theory (Chomsky, 1981)

phonetically realized nominal phrases must be assigned case; thus, DPs in argument

positions bear structural case features: Nominative (NOM) associated with SpecIP/TP

for subjects and Accusative (ACC) Case with SpecAgrOP (depending on the analysis)

for objects. AgrOP as the head responsible for Case-checking is relevant in the earlier

stages of Minimalism (Chomsky, 1993 for example), while in later stages Agr

projections are not well-motivated (Chomsky, 1995, onwards); it is v which is

responsible for Case (as well as the head that determines the external argument).

Moreover, arguments express semantic roles associated with the predicate: the

semantic features (i.e. Theme/Patient, Agent/Causer, Experiencer,

Recipient/Possessor, Goal (see Jackendoff, 1972 for example) assigned to arguments,

are the thematic roles. According to Marantz (1984) and Chomsky (1986), verbs

directly assign thematic roles to their internal arguments (their complements in object

position), while the entire VP is the constituent which can assign a θ-role to the

external argument, the subject. The ‘canonical’/ prototypical θ-role assigned to

complements is Theme. We should note that, while Case is an uninterpretable feature

and needs to be checked, thematic-roles are interpretable features and can be read in

the C-I interface. According to the VP-shell theory, sketched under the Minimalist

Program (Chomsky, 1995) a (light) vP dominates the VP-structure. Thus, three


23

argument phrases are accommodated in it: the complement of V, the specifier of V

and the specifier of v (little v) (Chomsky, 1995: 315-16). The thematic-roles of Agent

or Cause are associated with v and are interpreted in the specifier of v (the position for

the argument bearing the θ-role of Agent or Cause (Kratzer, 1996). These

relationships are described under different labels in other accounts: for Kratzer (1989)

little v is the v/Voice head, while for Borer (1996, 1998) it is the AGR-OR(iginator)

and the AGR-E(vent); note that Borer (2005) refers to Or and Event without using the

Agr labeling.

Predicates that participate in structures with only one lexicalized argument in

surface subject position are discussed next. Specifically, the relevant structures

include passives, anti-causatives, reflexives and unergatives. While passives,

reflexives and some anti-causatives have a transitive counterpart, unergatives and

other anti-causatives do not (cf. Perlmutter, 1978; Burzio, 1981; Levin & Rappaport-

Hovav, 1995, 2005; Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2003; Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007;

Lavidas, 2007b, a.o.).

According to Baker (1988)’s Uniformity of Theta-Assignment Hypothesis

(UTAH), ‘identical thematic relationships between items are represented by identical

structural relationships between those items at the level of D-structure’ (i.e. before

spell-out in the C-I Interface).

Thus, in passive structures where the argument in surface subject position

bears a Theme theta-role, it is derived via movement from the object position.

Following Chomsky (1981: 124-7) the morphological marking of the passive structure

located in v, absorbs the subject θ-role and ACC Case (see also Jaeggli, 1986; Baker,

Johnson and Roberts, 1989; Tsimpli, 1989 for Greek). Thus, the logical subject does

not appear in the subject position at surface structure. However, according to the

Extended Projection Principle (EPP) (Chomsky, 1995) the structural subject position

needs to be filled. Thus, the object needs to move to the Subject position, via A-

movement, to receive case so that the derivation will not crash. The external thematic

role can be optionally expressed with a by- phrase in adjunct position, or as an

implicit argument function as syntactic or semantic controller.


24

Anti-causative or unaccusative structures include verbs like ‘vanish’ on the

one hand and verbs like ‘break’ on the other. ‘Vanish’ type verbs lack a transitive

counterpart and are the typical unaccusatives, while ’break’ type verbs participate in

transitive and unaccusative structures. In the anti-causative/unaccusative structure, the

surface subject is derived, as is the case with passives. However, the anti-causative

structure differs from the passive in that no external argument, implicit or explicit, is

present: the suppression of the external argument takes place in the lexical

representation (for a similar view see Hale & Keyser, 1993), or the external argument

fails to project since the structure lacks the v-projection associated with the external θ-

feature (eg. Bennis, 2004). The anti-causative/unaccusative verb class has been

extensively discussed in the literature, so we briefly discuss some further points in

Section (4).

According to phase-theory (Chomsky 2001, 2008), ‘phases’ are the

projections CP and v*P: CP is divided into a number of functional categories (ForceP,

FiniteP, TopicP, FocusP etc, following Rizzi (1997); while v* is the functional head

‘associated with full argument structure’ (Chomsky, 2008: 143). Crucially for our

discussion, passives and unaccusatives are not phases, due to the deficient nature of

vP and the associated lack of an external argument.

Unergatives (like ‘run’) are supposed not to have a transitive counterpart,

although according to Hale & Keyser (1993) they are considered as ‘hidden

transitives’, in that they can co-occur with a cognate (null or overt) object (also for

Greek, see Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2003; Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007, a.o.). Thus,

they differ from unaccusatives and passives in that their subject is not derived, while

their object is not usually expressed.

Theoretical accounts with regard to reflexives are very different: according to

some researchers the subject of reflexives is considered an underlying object just like

the subject of unaccusative verbs (Rivero, 1992; Embick, 1998; Anagnostopoulou &

Everaert, 1999; see also Grimshaw, 1990; Marantz, 1984; Kayne, 1988; Pesetsky,

1995, a.o. with respect to the status of the ‘reflexive clitic’). An alternative analysis

has been proposed by Reinhart & Siloni (2004) (see also Reinhart, 2003; Grimshaw,

1982; Wehrli, 1986) who argue that reflexives are unergative entries, i.e. their subject


25

is an external argument, derived from their transitive counterpart by reduction of the

internal argument (operation performed in the Lexicon or in the Syntax).

Within the syntactic approach to reflexives, Tsimpli (2006) has proposed an

analysis discussed in more detail further below, which capitalizes on the role of

NACT morphology in Greek morphological reflexives and shifts reflexivity from an

inherently ‘semantic’ property of a verb class to an interpretive possibility of Voice

morphology.

What we understand from the discussion so far, is that not all unaccusative

verbs participate in the causative/inchoative alternation (i.e. ‘vanish’ vs. ‘break’ type

verbs, unergatives, transitives not encoding change-of-state). However, in Greek (and

other languages) even within the sets of verbs that are traditionally assumed not to

participate in this alternation, there are exceptions attributed to a syntactic tendency of

transitivisation (Section 5). Moreover the topics of unaccusativity and transitivity

alternations, which concern the present study, have been extensively investigated with

respect to questions regarding the priority of the lexical semantics over the syntactic

properties of specific verbs. In other words, the question in the discussion of

unaccusativity has been whether the verbs which participate in the

causative/inchoative alternation (anti-causatives) do so as a result of their common

semantic properties or, alternatively, whether syntactic criteria determine why these

verbs are members of the anti-causative class.

4. ‘Projectionist’ vs ‘constuctional’ approaches

In previous attempts to explain the derivational relation between transitive and

intransitive uses we can distinguish two main perspectives: the ‘projectionist’ and the

‘constructional’ approaches (Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1996, 1999). The former

approaches assume that derivations take place in the lexicon and are projected in the

syntax (Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1999; Chierchia, 1989, 2004; Reinhart, 1996,

2000, 2001, 2003), while the latter ones assume that the syntax is the locus of


26

derivations where categorial features encoded on functional heads (Alexiadou &

Anagnostopoulou, 2004; Kallulli, 2006a, b) or functional categories (Borer, 2004,

2005; Van Hout, 2004) trigger the derivation.

4.1. Some ‘projectionist’ accounts

The ‘projectionist’ models suggest that it is the lexical information associated with

distinct lexical entries for transitive and intransitive verbs that determine event

structure and not the syntax of argument structure. They are further distinguished with

regard to whether all unaccusatives have underlying causative semantics (Chierchia,

1989, 2004; Reinhart, 1996), or whether it is only alternating unaccusatives, i.e. those

participating in the causative-inchoative alternation, that are basically causative

(Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995, 2005).

Under one proposal the causative or the anti-causative variant is basically

monadic. On this suggestion, the causative alternant is derived from the basic anti-

causative/inchoative via causativization (Lakoff, 1968, 1970; Pesetsky, 1995 among

others): the intransitive variant is considered simpler than the (derived) transitive

structure. The alternative proposal suggests that alternating verbs are dyadic: a lexical

process (a reduction operation) (argued for in Williams, 1981), referred to as

detransitivization or decomposition, creates the intransitive entry from the transitive

one (Chierchia, 1989, 2004; Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995, 2005). The presence of

a cause-denoting PP allowed in unaccusatives, i.e. the detransitivized version, is

represented as a true adjunct not linked to a syntactic argument position.

According to Levin & Rappaport-Hovav (1995) lexical entries

deterministically project onto syntactic positions according to Linking Rules which

map arguments onto particular syntactic positions. More specifically, there are four

rules which map the argument onto the position of the internal argument. The first one

is the ‘Directed Change Linking Rule’, according to which the argument of a verb that

corresponds to the entity undergoing the directed change denoted by the verb is its

internal argument, as in the verb ‘break’. According to the ‘Existence Linking Rule’

the single argument of a verb whose existence is asserted or denied is mapped as a


27

direct internal argument, as in the verbs ‘arise’ and ‘vanish’. The ‘Immediate Cause

Linking Rule’, suggests that immediate-cause arguments become external arguments,

mapping the single argument of the predicate onto the subject position as for example

in verbs like ‘glow’ which is considered unergative. Finally, according to the ‘Default

Linking Rule’, any argument that does not fall under the scope of any of the linking

rules presented is a direct internal argument: non-agentive verbs of manner of motion

such as ‘roll’, belong to the unaccusative/anti-causative class.

However, these linking rules have been considered unable to account for

cross-linguistic variation without double entries in the lexicon projecting onto syntax,

or to predict which verb or verb classes can or cannot participate in transitivity

alternations (see Sorace, 2004 for a discussion). Furthermore, Levin & Rappaport-

Hovav (1995) themselves accept a priority ordering of the linking rules associated

with the mapping of the direct internal argument, for which they offer no explanation

(Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995:158).

This type of ‘projectionist’ approaches distinguishes several sub-classes of

unaccusatives and proposes an uneconomic lexicon with a large number of entries.

More specifically, they distinguish subcategories of intransitive verbs: verbs that can

participate in the causative/inchoative alternation (a) such as the English verb ‘open’

whose semantic representation is basically causative (dyadic) and whose argument

structure consists of a single direct internal argument, or (b) such as the English verb

‘break’ whose argument structure is suggested to consist of “two internal arguments”

(Levin & Rapapport-Hovav, 1995: 82, 131-3), the implication being that they do not

involve a single lexical representation, but a causative dyadic alternant and an

intransitive one which is monadic; (c) the third class consists of the unergative verbs

whose lexical semantic representation is assumed to be monadic and their argument

structure is considered to consist of a single external argument similar to the subject

of transitive verbs. It is thus assumed that mostly the verbs denoting an internally-

caused change-of-state do not alternate (Levin & Rapapport-Hovav, 1995).

On the other hand, Chierchia (1989, 2004) and Reinhart (1996, 2003), building

on Chierchia, assume that all verbs are causative while a lexical or feature-based

operation located in the lexicon can reduce the number of expressed arguments by


28

one. For Chierchia (2004), in passivization, the passive morpheme saturates the

subject θ-role which is nevertheless semantically present to control infinitival

(purpose clauses); in detransitivization, the operation involves the saturation of the

object θ-role; finally in reflexivization both subject and object θ-roles are affected.

Reinhart & Siloni (2004) differentiate from Chierchia in that the reduction operation

is constrained to apply to a pair of θ-roles, one of which is external: they assume that

reduction can be either internal, resulting to the formation of reflexive predicates

(reflexivization) or external, resulting to the formation of unaccusative predicates

(expletivization). Furthermore, they claim that ‘expletivization’ reduces only a Cause

θ-role, hence it can also be viewed as decausativization. Differences between the

expression of reflexivization in different languages, e.g. the Hebrew-type as opposed

to the French-type of reflexives, are attributed to the relevant process of reduction

taking place in the lexicon or in the syntax respectively.

4.2. Some ‘constructional’ accounts

‘Constructional’ approaches treat unaccusativity (and unergativity) as a sentence-level

property of the predicate. For them the interpretation of arguments is dependent on the

event structure and independent of the properties of verbs (Borer, 1994, 1998; van

Hout, 1992, 1996). These approaches are also known as ‘aspectual’ approaches to

unaccusativity given that telicity is the trigger of unaccusativity.

More specifically, in Borer’s system (1994, 1998, 2004, 2005) lexical entries

contain an unordered list of arguments, while the meaning of the verb itself serves as

a modifier and does not determine structural properties. Furthermore, in Borer’s

system the projection of arguments is based on the properties of functional

projections, in particular their aspectual properties. What matters is not the initial

projection of arguments onto positions inside the VP but their movement to functional

layers above VP. Since there is no lexical distinction between internal and external

arguments, nor a VP-internal syntactic distinction between objects and subjects,

arguments check features either in ASPQ(uantity) (=ASPE in Borer, 1994, 1998) when the

reading is telic, or in EP (Event Phrase) (=AspP in Borer, 1994, 1998) when the verb

denotes an activity. This way, all verbs can enter in either syntactic configuration,


29

hence unergatives can often show unaccusative syntax. The weak part of the theory,

as the author acknowledges, is why some verbs are always found in a single type of

syntactic structure, something she attributes to the contribution of the verb meaning to

the predicate (Borer, 1994).

Other theories (cf. Sorace, 2004; Van Hout, 1996, 2000, 2004) are in line with

Borer’s system in that telicity is responsible for syntactic derivations. Telicity, a

“semantically meaningful morpho-syntactic feature” (Van Hout, 2004: 65), is

introduced in the syntactic computation, while the lexicon-syntax mapping system is

sensitive to event types, i.e. the structure of the whole VP in which the verb appears.

For Sorace (2004) evidence is drawn from the diagnostic of auxiliary selection, with

respect to which she suggests a hierarchy of telicity and agentivity factors combined

influencing telicity. More specifically, she suggests that unaccusatives and

unergatives can be distinguished within a hierarchy of verbs ranging from change of

location selecting the auxiliary ‘be’ to controlled non-motional process selecting the

auxiliary ‘have’. For Van Hout (2004), who also uses the diagnostic of auxiliary

selection, the verb’s single argument arguably moves through the specifier position of

AgrO on its way to the specifier position of AgrS, to satisfy the EPP condition;

movement through AgrO is triggered when the predicate that contains the verb is

telic, because this is the locus for telicity checking. However, what differs from

Borer’s (2004) account is that argument positions must be distinguished between

external and internal.

Overall, with respect to the distinction between an unaccusative and an

unergative structure several diagnostics have been proposed: phenomena which were

found to be sensitive to unaccusativity are (a) auxiliary selection, (b) the possibility of

unaccusatives appearing in resultative constructions, (c) the formation of prenominal

perfect/passive participles (d) ne-cliticization or (e) the possibility of impersonal

passives (see Alexiadou, Anagnostopoulou & Everaert, 2004). However, the above

diagnostics are neither relevant to all verb classes nor applicable across languages.

For Greek, in particular, the above criteria cannot be used (no auxiliary selection

distinctions, no resultatives and impersonal passives). In order to account for the

differences between unergative and anti-causative structures in Greek, some

diagnostics have been proposed (Markantonatou, 1992; Alexiadou &


30

Anagnostopoulou, 1999) such as the following ones: (a) anti-causatives (and not

unergatives) can form adjectival participles; (b) anti-causatives (and not unergatives)

can transitivize and (c) anti-causatives are incompatible with the progressive and

disallow non-telic modifiers.

The idea of syntactically represented differences between verb classes through

differences in the functional structure is also pursued in semantic proposals. Kratzer

(1994), for example, analyses Voice as a separate head adding an agent/causer when

combined with action predicates (and an experience/possessor with stative

predicates). Moreover, it is assumed that v is present in both transitive and

unaccusative constructions (Embick, 2004; Alexiadou, 2001 a.o.): light v bears Case

and features related to eventivity, it is responsible for the licensing of a ‘manner’

component, while it is also relevant to the external argument. However, two forms of

light v are possible according to whether an external argument can or cannot be

introduced. As suggested in Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou (2004) “the difference

between transitives, passives, reflexives and unaccusatives (anti-causatives) bears on

the feature specification of v and the presence/absence of an external argument”.

Part of this proposal has been recently challenged by Kallulli (2006 a, b) who

questioned the criteria of by-phrases, purpose clauses and subject-oriented adverbs as

valid for the distinction between passives and anti-causatives in Albanian. She

particularly pointed out the fact that both anti-causative and passive structures marked

with non-active verb inflection allow for nga-phrases, where nga is the equivalent of

both by and from English prepositions. The causative vs. agentive interpretation is

argued to derive from the presence of different lexical features on v, thus triggering a

variety of syntactic effects while the syntactic structure remains the same: Activities

(such as build) project an [+/-intention] and an [+act] feature in v, while causatives

(such as break) an [+/-intention] and a [+cause] feature. For Kallulli (2006 a, b)

passives and anti-causatives are syntactically alike, in the sense that the NACT

morphology in both readings involves the suppression of a feature in v, their

difference being attributed to the [+/-intention] feature suppressed, the positive value

of which characterizes passives and the negative anti-causatives.


31

In the next section we concentrate on the morpho-syntactic properties of the

Greek Voice system, the interpretations arising from NACT and ACT morphology

and the interaction between Voice morphology and animacy of the surface syntactic

subject. The discussion will be based on the account adopted in the thesis namely

Tsimpli, (2005, 2006) with reference to other accounts for the sake of completeness.

5. The Greek Voice System: the derivation and interpretation of

reflexives, passives and voice (non)-alternating anti-

causatives

Voice morphology marked on the Greek verb can be active (ACT) or non-

active (NACT). For some transitive (ACT) verbs there is a NACT form with

intransitive reading, as exemplified in (7a) while for other transitive verbs the same

ACT verb form can participate in the causative/inchoative alternation, as will be

shown later on.

Non-active (NACT) Voice morphology signals transitivity alternations6,

which however are not unambiguously specified as passive, anti-causative or others

even when NACT appears on the same verb. As shown by the examples under (7) an

ACT form is morphologically distinct from its NACT counterpart (7a)7; in that use of

either form indicates to the native speaker that the verb is being used transitively or

intransitively. However, what is left unspecified until the end of the sentence (if not

even later, at the level of contextual integration) is whether the preferred

interpretation is a passive, reflexive or anti-causative. As (7b) shows, the reflexive,

the passive and the anti-causative readings are all available for the same NACT verb

6 With the exception of deponent verbs which will not concern us in this study (for analyses on deponents see for example Vassilaki, 1988; Manney, 1993, 2000; Zombolou 1996, 1997, 2004). 7 For an overview of the different approaches for the verb morphology in Greek see Ralli (2003, 2005), Janda & Joseph (2002). See also Galani (2005)


32

form. In (7c), where the sentence subject is inanimate, the interpretation could be

either passive, i.e. with an agent by-phrase or anti-causative8:

(7) a. plen-o (wash-ACT.1Sg) / plen-ome (wash-NACT.1Sg)

b. To aghori plithike (mono tu) apo tis vromies / (apo ti mitera tu) / (apo ti

vrohi)

the boy washed-NACT.3Sg (alone his) from dirt / (by the mother his) / (by

the rain)

“The boy washed himself out of his dirt / The boy was washed (by someone)

/The boy got washed (with/from the rain).”

c. To aftokinito plithike (apo tin eteria katharismu) / (apo ti vrohi)

the car washed-NACT.3Sg (by the company cleaning) / (by the rain)

“The car was washed by the cleaning company / with/from the rain.”

In passive structures there is an optional prepositional phrase (apo-phrase ‘by-

phrase’), denoting the agent or the causer, as in apo ti mitera tu (by his mother).

However, due to the underspecification of apo in terms of semantic features, this PP

is found in different syntactic structures (Alexiadou et al., 2006; Zombolou, 2004) and

can have an (internal) argument status as in to aghori/to aftokinito plithike apo tis

vromies (the boy/ the car (was) washed out of his/its dirt) or an adjunct status as in the

passive or anti-causative structures in (7c), among other possibilities (Levin &

Rappaport-Hovav, 1995, 2005; Reinhart, 2001, 2003; Tsimpli, 2005; Kallulli, 2006a,

b; Lavidas, 2007a, b). Accordingly, it can express agentivity or cause, as well as

instrument, source, directionality, location (when part of complex locative

prepositions), comparison, time or other meanings. Moreover, the use of an overt

agent ‘by-phrase’ is considered marked in Greek (Laskaratou & Philippaki-

Warburton, 1984; Joseph & Philippaki-Warburton, 1987, a.o.). This leads to a very

rare use of the apo-phrase even in cases in which the passive reading is independently

available. Evidence in favour of this claim is also provided by empirical data

(Fotiadou, 2007) in a study investigating the interaction between voice morphology,

8 For theoretical approaches to mediopassive/non-active morphology see Warburton (1970, 1975), Theophanopoulou-Kontou (1982, 1983), Laskaratou (1984), Campos (1987), Vassilaki (1988), Tsimpli (1989), Rivero (1990), Smirniotopoulos (1992), Joseph & Smirniotopoulos (1993), Philippaki-Warburton (1998), Ralli (1999), Papastathi (1999), Papastathi & Tsimpli (2004), Tsimpli (2006), Roussou (2008).


33

subject animacy and the meaning of the apo-phrase in Greek; evidence provided from

the present study is also supportive of the earlier findings.

When the apo-phrase has an adjunct status there may be co-indexation with

the θ-role, absorbed by the NACT morpheme (Baker et al., 1989) or it may express

cause as part of the lexical conceptual rather than the argument structure of the verb

(Jackendoff, 1990). Thus, the presence of an apo-phrase cannot be used as a criterion

for passivization as is usually suggested for the corresponding by-phrase in English

(Tsimpli, 2006; but Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004; Zombolou, 2004, for a

different opinion).

With respect to the passive reading in (7 b & c) some approaches consider that

the NACT marking appears post-syntactically in environments where there is no

external argument and hence does not affect the derivation (Embick, 1998). In this

way the possibility of more than one readings (i.e. passive, anti-causative, reflexive)

being morphologically expressed in the same way is accounted for. However, other

approaches, mentioned below, consider that the NACT morpheme actually affects the

alternation.

For Theophanopoulou-Kontou (2004) passives are vP constructions: the

NACT morpheme checks the missing external θ-role, implied by light-v. Lavidas

(2007), following Collins (2005), considers that the external argument is present in

passive, while Voice absorbs (or blocks) the ACC Case. Alexiadou &

Anagnostopoulou (2004) assume (following Kratzer, 1994, 2000) that in NACT, a

Voice head is located above vP. Voice introduces the external argument of the verb,

bears [+/-agentive] features and absorbs ACC case.9

9 Roussou (2008) provides a morphosyntactic analysis of the morphological marking involved in the above mentioned structures and demonstrates how the imperfective formation is similar to the participial inflection in Romance and the perfective formation is similar to the Romance se/si (see also Papangeli, 2004 for a comparison between Greek and Romance) and the Albanian u (see also Kalluli, 2006), given that all the remaining pieces of the inflection in Greek, in this latter case, involve actually active morphology. Moreover, she suggests that the imperfective inflection –me (specialized inflection) associates with the internal argument, which promotes to subject position to satisfy the EPP condition (while it is the auxiliary that directs this movement in Romance); the perfective –θ-ik-a (θ-formation) is associated with the se/si object clitic. Thus, she concludes that the addition of a Voice feature or head is not really necessary to explain intransitivity. In line with Tsimpli (2006), she proposes that the passive, reflexive and anti-causative readings are all available and a preferred interpretation is attributed with respect to lexical properties of the verb and other pragmatic factors.


34

As already implied, the same example (7b) can also receive a reflexive

reading. Some theoretical accounts of reflexives assume that they are lexically derived

and are further distinguished with respect to the status of the subject. According to

some researchers the subject of reflexives is considered an underlying object just like

the subject of unaccusative/anti-causative verbs and is possible only with certain

verbs because of their lexical semantics (Embick, 2004; Anagnostopoulou & Everaert,

1999; Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004). According to alternative analyses

(Tsimpli, 1989; Papangeli, 2004) reflexives are unergative entries, i.e. their subject is

an external (non-derived) argument, which can control a purpose clause, formed in the

Lexicon by the attachment of the morphological suffix to the verb saturating the

internal θ-role from their transitive counterpart. Moreover, all the above consider that

in Greek there is a subcategory of reflexives which are syntactically derived (cf.

Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 1980). These differ from the ‘inherent’ lexical reflexives

in that they can appear with the prefix afto (’self’), as in aftokatastrefome (self-

destroy) but not *aftoplenome (self-wash), they can participate in active reflexive

constructions as in katastrefo ton eafto mu (I destroy myself) but not ??pleno ton

eafto mu (I wash myself) and they can also receive a passive interpretation as in

katastrefome (I destroy myself/I am destroyed).

According to Tsimpli (2006), there is a derivational difference between the

reflexive on one hand and the passive or the anti-causative, on the other. Specifically,

the animate subject is the external argument in the reflexive derivation while it is a

derived subject in the passive (and the anti-causative). Given that only animate

subjects can give rise to the structural ambiguity between the reflexive and the non-

reflexive derivation (i.e. passive or anti-causative), the interaction between the

animacy of the syntactic subject with the semantics of the predicate can lead to the

disambiguation of NACT verbs. The claim is that the grammar distinguishes between

reflexive and non-reflexive derivations of NACT morphology verbs, but does not

distinguish between the passive and the anti-causative. These readings are

distinguished only at an interface level where the cause or agent interpretation of the

external argument becomes relevant.


35

A syntactic analysis of the derivational difference between the reflexive and

the non-reflexive structure is provided. Based on the assumption that theta-roles are

features that can be attracted by DPs, clitics or affixes (cf. Manzini & Roussou, 2000),

Tsimpli (2006) assumes (following Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004) that Voice

projects as a feature of light v in the non-active. Accordingly, the NACT morpheme

has the property of attracting a theta-feature which can be either internal or external,

thus giving rise to a reflexive or non-reflexive derivation respectively. In the

reflexive, the DP in the subject position is a true subject whereas in the non-reflexive

it is a derived subject (bearing the internal theta-feature). (8) and (9) below illustrate

the suggested derivational difference:

(8) [TP DP [v/VoiceP v/Voice <θ1> [VP V<θ2> ]]] Passive/Unaccusative/Middle

(9) [v/VoiceP DP [v/Voice <θ1> v/ Voice [VP V<θ2> ]]] Reflexive

(adapted from Tsimpli 2006: 24)

Voice, lacking nominal features (case, person), leaves the attracted feature

underspecified with regard to interpretation in spell-out position. The preferred

reading (reflexive, passive or anti-causative) is the result of the semantics of the

predicate and pragmatic information (i.e. naturalness, frequency and transparency of

the relation between the subject and the event described by the verb) or clausal

information (Tsimpli, 2006: 23-25). In this respect we can account for the various

interpretations that a single verb can receive, according to the relevant information

available in the clause. Similarly, when no relevant information is provided in the

clause, the verb reading cannot be disambiguated. As a result, different

interpretations, which are equally acceptable, can be assigned by native speakers.

In this respect the anti-causative reading, also attested in (7 b & c) by the

continuation of the sentence apo ti vrohi (by the rain) is a possible reading of the non-

reflexive derivation. However, in Greek the anti-causative reading (already attested

with NACT morphology in (7 b & c)) may also arise with active voice morphology.


36

In particular, for a specific class of verbs of the ‘ergative/anti-causative’ type, voice

changes do not signal a difference in the availability of the anti-causative reading, this

being available both with ACT and NACT morphology (Theophanopoulou-Kontou

2000). Throughout the thesis, these verbs will be referred to as ‘voice alternating anti-

causative’ verbs. Thus, verbs such as tsalakono (‘crumple’), katharizo (‘clean’) and

dhiplono (‘fold’), may appear with either voice morphology and still be interpreted as

anti-causatives, as example (10) below illustrates. However, only in the NACT form

is an external argument also available (Tsimpli 2006; cf. Alexiadou &

Anagnostopoulou 2004):

(10) a.To forema leros-e (*apo ta pedhia) / (apo tis bojies).

the dress got-dirty-ACT.3Sg (*from the children) / (from the paint)

b. To forema lero-thi-ke (apo ta pedhia) / (apo tis bojies)

the dress got-dirty-NACT.3Sg (from the paint)

“The dress got dirty.”

c. Ta pedhia lerothikan / *lerosan apo tis bojies (katalathos / jia na

nevriasoun ti dhaskala tous).

the children got-dirty-NACT.3Pl /*got-dirty-ACT.3Pl by the paint (by

mistake / for SUBJ anger the teacher their)

“The children got dirty by the paint (by mistake) / The children dirtied

themselves (to make their teacher angry).”

Following Kratzer (1994) and Chomsky (1995), Alexiadou &

Anagnostopoulou (2004) suggest that a functional category Voice (or Event Phrase or

little v) located above the VP determines the exact nature of the predicate, for

example whether it is transitive or intransitive: this category comes in two types

depending on whether it introduces an external argument or not. Moreover, they

assume a predicate decomposition (Dowty, 1979; Hale & Keyser, 1993) according to

which predicates are distinguished on the basis of properties such as the existence of

operators like BECOME (BECOME/RESULT) and CAUSE which result in predicate

types such as states, achievements, activities and accomplishments. The addition of a


37

separate Voice head, embedded under this BECOME/RESULT operator, associated

with voice morphology, includes only manner features (see also Zombolou, 2004),

hence sentences such as *to pani skistike epitides (the cloth tore.NACT deliberately)

or to pani skistike prosektika *apo ti Maria (the cloth tore.NACT carefully *from the

Mary) (examples adapted from Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou, 2004:131-2) are ill-

formed. What is allowed in anti-causatives (and unergatives) is the anaphoric element

apo mono tu (by himself) followed by a possessive, by analogy to the Italian da sé

(Chierchia, 2004).

In contrast to the examples (10 a & b) where the subject is inanimate, ‘voice

alternating anti-causative’ verbs cannot appear in the active form when the subject is

animate as in (10c), indicating that animacy clearly blocks the ‘alternating’ status of

these anti-causatives (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004). Moreover, with respect

to the apparent voice optionality of both ACT and NACT forms with inanimate

subjects Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou (2004) observe that there is an

interpretational difference in that the ACT denotes a partial change, while the NACT

a complete one. Thus, ACT verbs have a ‘part-whole or possessive substructure’ in

their representation, while the NACT forms have a BECOME/RESULT operator

embedded under a Voice head, associated with NACT morphology, as illustrated

below:

(11) RESULT + VoiceP (crumple-non-active)

[as in to poukamiso tsalakothike (the shirt was crumpled)]

(12) BECOME + possessive construction (crumple-active)

[to poukamiso tsalakose (se ena simio) (the shirt crumpled (in one

spot))]’10

(adapted from Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004: 135)

10 The examples in brackets added for demonstration, are adapted from Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou (2004).


38

Theophanopoulou-Kontou (2000, 2004) and Lavidas (2007) assume that all

anti-causatives, irrespective of their (N)ACT morphological marking, are related to

the semantic properties of the predicate, represented as shown below:

(13) [CAUSE [Y BECOME STATE]]

(adapted from Lavidas, 2007: 71)

More specifically, anti-causatives are VP-constructions derived in the lexicon,

irrespective of their (optional) ACT/NACT morphology.

With respect to the two different (ACT/NACT) forms, Theophanopoulou-

Kontou (2000) observes some interpretational differences: NACT morphology raises

a passive interpretation, with the syntactic subject being ‘affected’ by the action

denoted by the verb, while ACT morphology presents the event as a natural or

spontaneous process that takes place without the intervention of an ‘agent’ and

implies that the speaker is unaware or wants to avoid reference to a cause or agent.

Lavidas (2007a, b) considers that the NACT morpheme reflects the initial

morphological marking of the intransitive verb. All anti-causatives are basic and

cauzativize11: evidence for this claim is provided from a historical perspective

(Lavidas 2007a, b), since innovative transitive/causative uses appear in some periods

11 Alexiadou, Anagnostopoulou & Shäfer (2006) argue against derivational approaches suggesting that the change of state verbs are syntactically decomposed into a Voice and a CAUS component, giving rise to the causative/anti-causative alternation built on the combination of different types of roots with Voice and CAUS heads. Other approaches (eg. Haspelmath, 1993; Klairis & Babiniotis, 1999), using morphological cues suggest that the morphological marking illustrates the source of derivation. Verbs are distinguished, according to the complexity of their morphology; the less complex is the base core. Three categories are identified among verbs participating in the inchoative/causative alternation (Haspelmath, 1993): (i) causative where the inchoative verb is basic and the causative derived, (ii) anti-causative where the causative verb is basic and the inchoative derived (as also suggested by

Nedjalkov & Sil’nickij, 1969) and (iii) non-directed, subdivided into (iii.a) labile’ where the same verb is used in both senses, (iii.b)

‘equipollent’ where both forms are derived from the same stem and (iii.c) ‘suppletive alternations’ where different roots are used like in the pair die/kill.

However, this type of approaches face serious problems, since in many languages the causative verb is more marked than the anti-causative, while in many cases, the pair of verbs participating in the causative/inchoative alternation use either the same exact form (as in iii.a), or two different derived forms from the same base core (as in iii.b) or completely different roots to describe the two meanings (as in iii.c).


39

of Greek, while the reverse type of innovation is not observed; further evidence is

provided by comparing data from several stages of Greek.

Finally, some ACT verbs can participate in the causative/inchoative

alternation, as exemplified in (14a) below, illustrating the case of the morphologically

active ergatives found in languages like English as well (Sioupi, 1998;

Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000; Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004, Tsimpli,

2006; Zombolou, 2004, a.o.). Throughout the thesis, these verbs will be referred to as

‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’. Consider the relevant examples of the verb

lijizi ‘bend’ in (14a-c). The examples in (14a&b) instantiate the transitive/causative

version, the difference between them being the animacy of the subject:

(14) a.To aghori lijise to kutali (apo ta nevra tou).

the boy bent-ACT.3Sg the spoon (because of his nerves)

b. O aeras lijise to dentro.

the wind bent-ACT.3Sg the tree

c. To sidero lijise (?* apo to palesti12/ apo to varos / apo mono tou).

the iron bent-ACT.3Sg (by* the wrestler/ from the weight / from self it)

“The iron bent (* by the wrestler/ because of the weight / by itself).”

In (14c) only the anti-causative reading is accepted, although the structure

involves suppression of the external argument (not in the syntax though) the resulting

sentence bearing similarities with the passive without the non-active morphological

specification though. The absence of NACT morphology has been attributed to the

lexical or thematic feature-based operation reducing the predicate’s arguments by one

prior to the syntactic derivation (Chierchia, 1989; Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995;

Reinhart, 2003). Alternatively, the lack of NACT has been attributed to the absence of

12 But see on the results of an sentence-completionn task with adult NS of Greek (Fotiadou, 2007), where apo- agent PPs were provided in sentences with ACT anti-causatives as in O lekes katharise topika apo tin Maria (‘the stain cleaned locally by Maria’) and To sidhero lijise poli efkola apo ton Koutaliano (‘the iron bent very easily by Koutalianos’), although the English translations remain ungrammatical.


40

a light v or Voice/v category responsible for introducing the external argument (Hale

& Keyser, 1993; Chomsky, 1995; Kratzer, 1996; Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou,

2004). Moreover, Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou (2004) argue that these verbs are all

‘deadjectival’, in that they consist of an adjectival stem. Following Alexiadou (2001)

they propose that the –iz, -iaz, -ev, -en and –on affixes attached to the verb stem in

this class are overt reflexes of the feature of BECOME/RESULT. For them, these

deadjectival verbs are built upon a BECOME v which embeds an adjective, as

illustrated below:

(15) BECOME + predicate (deadjectival)

[as in I sakoula adjiase (the bag emptied)]

(adapted from Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004: 135)

For Tsimpli (2006) also, the structure involved in (14) is similar to the one in

(10a) but different from the one in (10b) since the NACT voice marking denotes an

implicit external cause or agent, whereas in the ACT the external argument is

suppressed, as illustrated below:

(16) [TP DP [vP lerose [VP [V<θ> ]]]]

(adapted from Tsimpli 2006: 23)

The phrase apo to varos (by the heavy weight) indicating the cause is thus

analysed as a true adjunct in (14c) and, similarly, the phrase apo tis bojies (lit. ‘from

the paint) in (10a). However, the apo-phrase is analysed as co-indexed with the

NACT morpheme carrying the external theta-feature in (10b) (Tsimpli, 2006; also

Lavidas, 2007a, b).

Despite the availability of ACT anti-causatives such as (14), there is a

tendency to productively use NACT forms of verbs that have been classified as ‘voice

non-alternating anti-causatives’, as is shown in (17) below, especially in instances

where the targeted meaning is the passive13 (Tsimpli, 2006; Fotiadou, in press).

13 Similarly, ‘unergative’ entries are often transitivized in idiomatic expressions to promote the agent/cause for discourse purposes (cf. Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2002, 2003) (for relevant discussion see also Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007; Mavrogiorgos, 2007)


41

According to Tsimpli (2006) it is mostly the externally-caused change-of-state verbs

such as klino ‘close’, anigho ‘open’, vrazo ‘boil’ that can also appear in non-active

form. As will be shown in Chapter 3, frequency data drawn from corpora of adult

written formal and informal speech show that NACT morphology remains available

depending on the syntactic environment and the interpretation of specific verbs (in the

form of neologisms) in both formal and, specifically, informal register, as shown in

(17).

(17) και είναι αρκετά ανθεκτική να αντισταθεί στην επίδραση "cheesecutter"

όταν λυγίζεται η λουρίδα, παραδείγµατος χάριν µε τη σύνδεση σε έναν

κόµβο.

http://www.patentalert.com/docs/000/z00027912.shtml

Moreover, some of these voice non-alternating anti-causatives are the

internally-caused change-of-states because of their reduced compatibility with

animate subjects as shown by the examples below:

(18) a. To fruto / ? O andras sapise apo ti vrohi

The fruit / ? the man rot-ACT.3Sg by the rain

b. ? The rain sapise to fruto / ton andra

the rain rot-ACT.3Sg the fruit / the man

c. * To fruto sapistike / O andras sapistike

the fruit rot-NACT.3Sg / the man rot-NACT.3Sg

The properties of these verbs have been largely attributed to the semantics of

the predicate (eg. Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995, 2005; Alexiadou &

Anagnostopoulou, 2004; Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2004; Tsimpli, 2005, a.o.). While

both (14) and (18) are change-of-state verbs, it has been proposed that the former, as

already mentioned, can co-occur with a ‘by itself’ phrase since they are anti-


42

causatives, while the latter cannot. Verbs exemplified in (18) denote ‘internal

causation’, according to Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995) and behave like

unergatives when the subject has an inherent property that causes what the verb

describes as in I fotia kei (fire burns) (pace Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004).

What is interesting with regard to the examples in (18) containing an

internally-caused change of state predicate is that the only acceptable combination is

the ACT form with an inanimate subject eliciting an anti-causative reading (see also

Tsimpli, 2005 for a relevant discussion). Thus, the DP o andras (the man) sounds odd

either with a literal (as in ‘the corpse of the man decomposed’), or a non-literal

reading, although it is used in non-literal contexts (as in sapise sto djiavasma/stin

tileorasi, lit. ‘the man rot in studying / in front of the TV’). Similarly, NACT forms as

in (18c) are not accepted at all, although in colloquial speech we observe that there is

an increased use of the non-active morphological marking in idiomatic expressions

like I fitites sapistikan sto ksilo (the students were beaten to death). The transitive

counterpart also sounds odd, but not completely ungrammatical, the favoured native

speaker choice being the causative construction instead. However, as suggested in

Roussou & Tsimpli (2007) the addition of a clitic can render the transitive/causative

clause in (18b) well-formed, the idea being that transitivity alternations are productive

in Greek exploiting morphological options in the nominal (clitics) and the verbal

(voice morphology) domains (cf. Borer’s (2004, 2005) analysis in terms of event

structure). Similarly, NACT morphology is used not only for the anti-causative but

also for the passive interpretation for both ‘unaccusative’ and ‘unergative’ verbs as in

to keri kejete prosektika gia na sfalisti o fakelos kai na min hithi (the candle is being

burnt carefully in order for the envelop to be sealed and the wax not spilled) (Tsimpli,

2005, 2006; Roussou, 2008; Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007)14.

In order to summarize the above discussion, we need to observe that there are

at least two types of ambiguity arising from NACT voice morphology on the Greek

verb. The first lies in the distinction between the reflexive vs. the non-reflexive

(passive or anti-causative) readings of sentences such as (7b) and the second between

the anti-causative vs. passive readings of sentences such as (7c) and (10b). For 14 A tendency of transitivization is attested also with unergative verbs in Greek as in horepsan (enan horo/ ton Kosta) ‘they danced (a dance/the Kostas)’, where (non)-cognate objects are also available (cf. Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2003 a.o.; but see Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007 for an elaborate discussion).


43

Tsimpli (2006), which is the theory adopted in this thesis, the former ambiguity is

structural and it is associated with the derived or non-derived status of the sentence

subject; reflexives have a true subject while non-reflexives a derived one. The

passive/anti-causative distinction is an interpretative one. In both cases, the final

unambiguous interpretation is subject to the consideration of the semantics of the

predicate as well as other extra-clausal factors, while the animacy of the subject is

independently of great importance. With respect to the ACT voice morphology,

ambiguity is raised only temporarily in that the same form is used to denote both

transitive and intransitive readings.

Furthermore, questions are raised with respect to which verbs can ‘voice

alternate’: evidence from colloquial speech shows that even internally-caused change-

of-state verbs which are assumed to surface only in ACT, are productively used with

the NACT morpheme too. Also, transitivity alternations are suggested to be

productive in that unaccusatives/anti-causatives and unergatives are found in

instances of colloquial speech.

The present thesis is an empirical research which addresses the above

questions. We examine whether the more frequent interpretations in corpora of adult

written formal and informal speech mirror these ambiguities. Furthermore, empirical

data from on-line and off-line experiments are used to investigate whether they

provide evidence for the importance of the most frequent readings on the processing

as well as on the acceptability judgments and more preferred interpretations of adult

NS speakers of Greek, in line with the assumption that disambiguation of information

in sentences is driven by exposure facts. Finally, empirical research addresses the

question of whether children differentiate between their preferred interpretations

according to the most frequent interpretations drawn from the corpora examined, on

the assumption that the pattern of language acquisition of particular phenomena is

determined by input frequency.

PART II EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

CORPUS ANALYSIS CHAPTER 3

44

CHAPTER 3

CORPUS ANALYSIS

1. Introduction

The shift to corpus-based approaches has entailed a focus on naturally occurring

language (eg. Bybee & Hopper, 2001). While research is usually based on constructed

example sentences and self-inspection, the present thesis includes research based on

corpus analysis and a comparison of frequencies found in the research corpora with

empirical data of psycholinguistic experiments designed to examine sentence

processing (using self-paced-reading and sentence-picture matching tasks) including

the verbs whose frequencies were calculated in the corpora (see following chapters).

Corpora in general consist of collections of language samples produced in

natural contexts and without experimental interference. They are used to bring actual

usage evidence to theoretical and applied linguistic questions. In this chapter we

present the frequency of use of Voice (Non)-alternating Anti-causative and Activity

verbs of Greek drawn from the ILSP corpus of written language (Hellenic National

Corpus™ (HNC) Web version 2.0 Copyright © 1999-2004 ILSP) and a Web-based

corpus of quasi-oral speech developed for the needs of the present research.

More specifically, in the present chapter, before proceeding with the

presentation of the corpora, we discuss the variables of the present study and the

additional codings we used annotating the data (Section 2). We then present the ILSP

corpus and the procedure followed for the compilation of the samples needed for the

present research and we present the reasons why a Web-based Corpus was also

created (Section 3.1). In the following section we present the design of the Web

corpus and the restrictions of the task (Section 3.2). Results (Section 4) involve the


45

frequencies of verb readings attested in each corpus with respect to the research

variables (voice morphology and subject animacy) for all research verbs. More

specifically, we first discuss the distribution of voice morphology (ACT-NACT) in

the two corpora (Section 4.1) and the potential interaction of Voice morphology with

verb interpretations (Section 4.2). Next, we examine the interaction of subject

animacy with voice morphology with regard to these interpretations (Section 4.3):

after a short discussion with respect to these factors, we perform separate analyses in

the three verb classes the verbs examined belong to; hence, Voice Non-alternating

Anti-causatives (Class I), Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II) and Activity

predicates (Class III) are presented in Sections (4.3.1)-(4.3.3). For each verb class we

present total results, as well as results obtained for each verb examined (seven verbs

per verb-class). Furthermore, in the per verb analyses we provide information about

PPs attested in the various contexts. Finally, we briefly compare the distribution of the

attested readings with respect to Voice morphology and subject animacy in the three

verb classes (Section 4.3.4). In Section 4.4 we discuss the PPs that participate in the

structures that mostly interest the present study, i.e. (ACT-NACT) anti-causatives and

passives, with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy for each Verb Class.

Section 4.5 resumes the corpus analysis with a discussion of the findings.

Throughout the present chapter, we cite examples illustrating the various

readings attested for each verb examined; however, although PPs attested in the

relevant contexts are discussed, we provide illustrative examples only when

necessary, since in most cases the examples already cited include the PPs under

discussion. The examples drawn from the corpora are cited without interference, i.e.

all orthographic mistakes, lack of stress, or misspelling having been quoted as found

in the corpora. Also, middle readings are not included in separate counts but

incorporated in the passive interpretations, given that they were not tested in the

empirical part of the present study.


46

2. Research variables The samples of speech we compiled in the present study include the verbs listed

below:

i. klini (close), vrazi (boil), lijizi (lean), sapizi (rot), ljoni (melt), jerni (bend),

stegnoni (dry). These verbs are classified as Active Anti-causatives / Ergatives:

they undergo the causative/ anti-causative alternation appearing only in active

voice (labile verbs). They constitute the ‘Voice Non-alternating Anti-causative’

verbs (Class I) in the following analyses (see Theophanopoulou-Kontou 2000,

Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 2004)15.

ii. tendoni (stretch), katharizi (clean), tsalakoni (crumple), htipai (hit), tripai

(pierce), berdevi (mingle), leroni (spill). These verbs belong to the ‘Voice

Alternating Anti-causative’ verbs (in Greek ‘ditipias’): they are optionally

marked with active (ACT) or non-active (NACT) morphology

(Theophanopoulou-Kontou 2000, Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 2004, Tsimpli,

2005, 2006). They constitute the ‘Voice Alternating Anti-causative’ verbs (Class

II) of the following analyses.

iii. htenizi (comb), pleni (wash), dini (dress), kitai (look), troi (eat), metaferi

(transfer), krivi (hide). While these are all activity verbs, the first three are

classified as ‘inherently’ reflexives in previous literature when appearing in

NACT (cf. Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 2004). They constitute the ‘Activity’

verbs (Class III) of the following analyses.

The sample compiled consists of the total number of queries run for all the

above verbs in active (ACT) and non-active (NACT) voice morphology. All the

15 Notice that the externally-caused change-of-state verbs such as klini ‘close, vrazi ‘boil’ and ljoni ‘melt’ also appear in the non-active form. NACT morphology is available in these cases depending on the syntactic environment and the interpretation (examples adapted from Tsimpli, 2006): (i) Oles I eksodhi tu aerodhromiu klistikan ke asfalistikan.

all the gates the-Gen airport closed-NACT.3Pl and secured-NACT.3Pl “All airport gates were closed and secured.”

(ii) Afta ta ergalia prepi na vrazonde prin xrisimopiithun. these the tools must Sub. boil-NACT.3Pl before use-NACT.3Pl “These tools must be boiled before being used.”

(iii) To vutiro ljoni / ljonete (jia na bi sta makaronia). The butter melt-ACT.3Sg/melt-NACT.3Sg (to be put on the spaghetti) “The butter melts / is being melted (to be put on the spaghetti).”


47

sentences of the sample were next annotated with respect to the test variables, as

shown in picture 1. Note furthermore that other criteria were also taken into

consideration in order to facilitate measurements and analyses that followed. They are

also available for future research on their potential interaction with verb readings.

Picture 1: example of annotation Sentence Με τη ζέστη του ήλιου έλιωσε το κερί που τα κρατούσε ενωµένα).

Τελικά µετά από καταδίωξη του βασιλιά Μίνωα ο ∆αίδαλος κατέφυγε στην ...

Source http://anekdota.dyndns.org/jotd18/0453.html

Main Morphol

ogy Animate Person Tense Aspect Modality Transitivity Literal Interpretation Object Apo-phrase

Other PP Genre

Active Inanimate 3 Singular

Past Perfective Non-Modal

Intransitive Literal Anticausative 0 µε cause informal

As shown in Picture 1, for each verb examined, we cite the sentence and its source

and we next annotate the main variables of the study, as well as additional coding for

methodological reasons.

More specifically, we coded each verb for ACT when it was marked for active

voice morphology and NACT when marked for non-active morphology (cf. Ralli,

2005) (see also Chapter 1: 3-4). As discussed in Chapter 2, we remind the reader that

ACT morphology can give rise to transitive structures with a cause (inanimate) or

agent (animate) syntactic subject as well as intransitive structures with an inanimate

(ergative/anti-causative) or an animate (unergative) syntactic subject. ‘Intransitives’

can also bear the NACT morpheme, which gives rise to a passive reading with the

cause of change-of-state being external (either inanimate or animate). Furthermore the

NACT voice marking can raise ambiguity between passive/anti-causative and

reflexive readings, constrained by the interaction of subject animacy with the

semantic features of the predicate and the lexical preferences of adult speakers

depending on the prototypicality of the subject in relation to the predicate used (cf.

Tsimpli, 2006)16. We thus annotated also whether the syntactic subject of each verb

16 Ambiguity between anti-causative and reflexive (i) or passive and reflexive (ii) is raised among animate subjects, while between anti-causative and passive is raised among inanimate subjects (iii). (i) To pedhi kriftike (apo to dhendro/ ??apo ton adelfo tu/ mono tu /apo mono tu) the child hid-NACT.3Sg (by the tree /??by the brother his/*own his/ by himself) “The child was hidden (by the tree/ *by himself / *on his own).”


48

occurrence was animate or inanimate. Frequency of the various interpretations in

combination with subject animacy is expected to provide evidence to whether

animacy affects verb interpretation, as in the example of reflexive readings preferred

in the presence of animate subjects (see Tsimpli, 2005, 2006 for a syntactic analysis).

With respect to the verb readings discussed in the thesis, we need to specify

that further analyses would provide us with safer results with respect to the

distribution of readings attested when considering only voice morphology and subject

animacy. Thus, ACT verbs perceived as transitives show different patterns with

respect to the verb class discussed each time; moreover, preliminary calculations of

the presence of an overt or null object (for transitive) in the Web Corpus also show

variation in the distribution across the various classes. However, this issue together

with the possibility of the subject’s intention to act upon the object (cf. Kallulli, 2006

a, b) or the affectedness of the object are not examined in the present thesis but are

considered for future research. ACT verbs that are annotated as transitives include

utterances with and without an explicit object; transitivity was established on the basis

of the context. ACT verbs that are annotated as unergatives include utterances where

the subject is an agent, while non-literal interpretations are also included (as in the

example of I Maria eklise san jineka ‘Mary closed (=feels fulfilled) as a woman’).

Finally, ACT verbs annotated as anti-causatives include the cases where the subject

(animate or inanimate) is acted upon, irrespective of whether there is information

about an agent (animate) or a cause (inanimate) initiating the event described by the

verb’s semantics, while volition was not taken into consideration. This is not the case

for NACT anti-causatives in which we included only the cases where a cause or an

instrument is included in the structure, while when an agent is implicitly or explicitly

present the NACT verbs are characterized as passives. Finally, under the

characterization of reflexives we included all the cases where the subject (animate or

inanimate, but with a non-literal sense) of a NACT verb is a true agent; reciprocals are

the NACT verbs where the subject (always in the plural) is the agent and the theme is

(ii) To pedhi plithike (apo ti mitera tu /?apo ti vroxi/ mono tu/ ?*apo mono tu)

The child wash- NACT.3Sg (by the mother his /own his /*by himself) “The child was washed by his mother / *by himself / *on his own)

(iii) I simea skistike (apo moni tis /apo ton aera / apo tus mathites) The flag tore- NACT.3Sg (by itself / by the wind/ by the students) “The flag was torn (by itself / by the wind /by the students)


49

bound by the agent showing that the action is initiated by the agent and affects him at

the same time.

In the calculations discussed in the thesis we also included any potential PPs

(for each verb reading). More specifically we coded the existence of an apo

(‘by/from’)-phrase and its status. We specified whether it denotes the agent, cause or

instrument (for passive/anti-causative readings), whether it has a temporal,

directional, locative meaning, whether it is part of complex locative prepositions

(construed with locatives such as epano (over), dhipla (next to)), or it illustrates other

meanings (e.g. comparison), or even it is the true complement of the verb); other

prepositional phrases (e.g. me-instrument) modifying the verb or the predicate were

also coded.

Annotation included also the following verb characteristics, in order to

facilitate further analyses and remain available for future research:

i. 1st, 2nd or 3rd person singular / plural

ii. past / non-past tense

iii. perfective / imperfective aspect

iv. modality

v. literal / non-literal (metaphorical) use of the verb

vi. speech genre


50

3. The research sample

3.1. The ILSP Corpus For the present study we used the morphological and syntactic corpus developed by

the Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP): Research and Innovation

Center “Athena’, financed by PAROLE – Le II (1/4/1996 - 31/4/1998). The Institute

for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP) was founded in Athens (Greece) in 1991

under the auspices of the General Secretariat of Research and Technology of the

Ministry of Development.

The ILSP Corpus (Hellenic National Corpus™ (HNC) Web version 2.0

Copyright © 1999-2004 ILSP)17 contains about 34.000.000 words, while it is

constantly being updated. It contains samples of written language exclusively, while

oral samples have not been incorporated in this version of Corpus. All texts selected,

present “a realistic picture of modern language use”, as argued in the official site.

Most texts have been selected based on their high readability (high circulation

newspapers, best-selling books etc.) and have been written after 1990. In order to

include different types of language, texts from several media have been selected:

users of the ILSP Corpus can retrieve samples of books (which represent the 9,41% of

the corpus), of newspapers (61.29% of the corpus), of magazines (5.89% of the

corpus) and of other sources of informal written language (such as leaflets, pamphlets,

brochures, flyers, prospecti, reports and documentation) (23.08% of the corpus), as

well as texts taken from the Internet (which represent 0.32% of the corpus).

Furthermore, information relevant to the different genres the texts belong to and the

topics they deal with can be found in the official site. Texts written in highly

idiomatic language have been excluded from the corpus by its designers.

For the compilation of tokens including the Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-

causative and Activity verbs that are examined in the present research we conducted

queries with the help of a tool based on one to three words, lemmas or parts of speech,

provided by the system (Picture 2).

17 The information of statistics provided, concern the period of time during which we compiled the

sample used in the present study and differ from the ones that can be currently found on-line (see

http://hnc.ilsp.gr/ for a detailed description of the tool)


51

Picture 2: example of the environment for specific queries

The system worked as follows: among the parameters available to users, we created

queries made for words, lemmas, parts of speech and the combination of the above.

We used stress, as requested by the system. Also we used the choice of defining the

maximum distance between words, lemmas or parts of speech. “Distances” refer to

the maximum distance between two items within a sentence, that is, the maximum

number of words between search items, in our case e.g. lemma, [κλείν%], [verb],

(first parameter), word, [από], [pronoun], maximum distance [anything] (second

parameter). Note that using the per cent [%] wildcard in the lemma we ran queries for

all possible occurrences of the verb klino (close) having the stress in the specific

syllable (i.e. kliname (we were closing), klino (I close), klinis (you close), klini ((s)he

closes) a.o.). Access up to 2000 results per query was available. According to these

parameters the system returned sentences as in Picture 3.


52

Picture 3: example of the environment with the output of specific queries and

textual information of a given sentence

Note also, that every result sentence was identified with a number. This number was

always the same for that sentence18. By clicking on this number we viewed

information concerning the text this sentence belongs to. This way, we were able to

disambiguate the interpretation of the verb, when this was not feasible within the

sentence, or paragraph provided by the first list of returned sentences. If, for example,

the verb was ambiguous between a reflexive and a non-reflexive reading, context

retrieved from the environment providing textual information or the entire text

available were consulted to resolve the ambiguity.

A total of 22.102 tokens found in the Hellenic National Corpus (HNC) was

thus compiled and included in a database we created for annotation and further

analysis.

18 This number is not available in the Version of the Corpus accessed in October 2009.


53

Before proceeding with the presentation of the ‘Web-Based Corpus’, created

for the present study, let us explain the reason why we decided to use supplementary

data and why we chose the Web as the additional source of data.

The present study raised a need of data representing informal, (quasi)-oral

speech, not available in a corpus such as the HNC (ILSP Corpus). Formal corpora

contain a sizable number of examples only for a relatively limited number of genres

(written productions). The problem of “data sparseness” in HNC was evident for

occurrences of highly frequent verbs in specific contexts of everyday life and for

neologisms. More specifically, we found no NACT occurrences of the verb htenizo

(get combed) in the ILSP Corpus, though it strikes us a highly frequent verb in

everyday life, while the rest of Activity verbs we used, was highly infrequent.

Furthermore, NACT anti-causative verbs were infrequent in the ILSP Corpus,

although there is a tendency of speakers to use non-active morphology in non-

alternating active voice anti-causative verbs (ex. To sidhero lijizete ‘The iron is bent’)

mostly to denote modality (Tsimpli, 2006; Papastathi, 1999; Papastathi & Tsimpli,

2004).

A corpus of spoken language would consist of the transcription of samples of

oral speech that would not guarantee a large sample of the verbs we aimed at the

present study. Furthermore, such a compilation might result to become ‘mono-source’

corpus, since we could use only extracts from specific TV shows19. On the other hand,

the Web which counts probably more than twenty billion documents20 found in Active

Server pages consists of the largest potential corpus available, according to supporters

of linguistic research based on the Web (Volk, 2002; Baroni and Ueyama, 2006; a.o.).

Thus we turned to Web queries in order to get additional data.

19 Sharoff (2006) shows that well built Web corpora have characteristics more similar to those of a balanced corpus like the 100 million words British National Corpus (BNC) available on http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ (Aston and Burnard, 1998), than to those of mono-source corpora. 20 Google, since its beta release in 1999, has made its mark with its relevance ranking based on link analysis, cached pages, and aggressive growth. In June 2000 it announced a database of over 560 million pages, which grew to over 600 million by the end of 2000 and then 1.5 billion in Dec. 2001. The 2+ billion reported on their home page as of April 2002 includes indexed pages, unindexed URLs, and other file formats. By November 2002, they moved their claim up to 3 billion, and in Feb. 2004 it went to 4 billion. While no official claim is given, 20+ billion is once current estimate according to Search Engine showdown, A Notess.com Web Site©1999-2008, by Greg R. Notess (http://www.searchengineshowdown.comb).


54

3.2. The Web-Based Corpus For the present study we compiled a sample of utterances found in documents that are

spontaneously produced by non-professional writers, providing us with some

characteristics of oral communication. More specifically, in order to include different

types of informal language, we compiled a sample of sentences (‘snippets’) found in

chat pages, fora, mails, blogs and on-line newspapers or other informal written

material (prospecti, reports and documentation are included). The source texts dealt

with highly diversified topics of every day life (sport, religion, politics and economy

among others).

The Web-based Corpus has been created with the use of a system developed to

search the Web and save the results in a database21. The database was created in an

MS Access environment whereas for the Internet Search Engine we used the Google

Web APIs (‘Application Programmable Interface’) technology in Active Server

Pages. The coding procedure was done with MS Access forms.

More specifically the procedure we followed was the following: We signed up

for a Google account and obtained a license key which provided us a daily limit of

1000 queries to Active Server Pages. Furthermore, given that the system does not give

access to information beyond the 1000th result for any given query, we developed a

‘randomize’ program which would provide us with random numbers from the total

number indicated in the Google home page: for example the verb ‘klini’ returns

560.000 snippets (accessed in October 6, 2009) but no access is allowed beyond

1000th result. In order to retrieve the larger possible number of results we asked the

system to access groups of ten results per time, choosing among the sets of ten

suggested by the ‘randomize’ program. An example of the utterances returned in a

given query and the random numbers returned by the program ‘randomize’ are

illustrated in Picture 4.

21 Many special thanks go to Tasos Paschalis for his most valuable technical support, more specifically for his contribution to the design of the Web Based Corpus.


55

Picture 4: example of the environment with the output of specific queries in

Active Server Pages with Google Web APIs and the program ‘randomize’

Furthermore, in order to manipulate representativeness, we deliberately biased

query terms using combined criteria which enabled us to have access to different

results every time. More specifically, we created queries with specific verbs (eg. klini)

and we added key words frequently used in the URL sources (as forum, view topic

a.o.) which returned a different ranking every time: the results returned were not the

same sentences. All these results were automatically saved in the MSAccess database

created for this purpose.

In order to eliminate repetition, when this was not automatically done by the

program, we manually scanned all the sentences and deleted all the snippets that

occurred more than once, as in the example of jokes, repeated under different URLs

or the quotation of various extracts of texts under personal blogs created by non-

professional users of the Internet.

Furthermore, we diminished noise by manually eliminating tokens returned by

pornographic sites: some verbs were used in specific contexts, risking to affect the


56

distribution of the most frequent interpretations attested. Utterances which did not fit

in the research questions were also manually eliminated: For example, Google APIs

returned automatically to our Access Base all findings of ‘τρυπα’ not distinguishing

the stress, providing us thus with many examples of the noun ‘hole’ instead of

occurrences of the verb ‘pierce’ in 3rd singular. Another characteristic example was

‘µετέφερε’ for which the system returned examples of both perfective and

imperfective aspect in 3rd singular past tense, as well as the imperative in 2nd singular,

which was not of interest in the study. Moreover, all the examples that came from

educational sites, consisting of examples demonstrating the language use were also

excluded from the research.

The coding and the analyses in terms of semantic and syntactic environments

of the saved sentences were completed in the MS Access environment created, as

illustrated in Picture 5:

Picture 5: Example of MS Access Environment

After eliminating all irrelevant tokens, the sample used for the present study consists

of 44873 tokens found in Active Server Pages with the Google Web APIs interface.


57

4. Results

Results that are next reported involve only 3rd Singular and Plural occurrences drawn

from the compilation of samples treated in the MSAccess database and involve the

tokens drawn from the ILSP corpus (hereafter ILSP Corpus) and the Active Server

Pages in the Web (hereafter Web Corpus). The 1st and 2nd Singular and Plural are not

included given that they always involve animate subjects and furthermore they are

less frequent than the 3rd Singular and Plural.

The Corpora used in the present research (ILSP and Web) differ in size, as

shown in the Table 1.

Table 1: Corpus – Total number of utterances indexed

Corpus Total N of utterances

ILSP Corpus 18395 (29.07%)

Web Corpus 44873 (70.92%)

TOTAL 63268 (100%)

It is noteworthy that data examined represent mostly the ‘Web Corpus’, the difference

of utterances drawn from each of the corpora used being significant (ILSP (29.07%)

vs Web (70.92%): χ2= 11081.186, p<.01).


58

4.1. The distribution of Voice morphology in the corpora used

If we compare the two corpora with respect to the Voice morphology of the verbs

indexed we notice that both ACT and NACT verb forms examined represent mostly

the ‘Web Corpus’ (ACT: ILSP (33.95%) vs Web (66.05%): χ2=4479.688, p<.01;

NACT: ILSP (18.38%) vs Web (81.62%): χ2=7920.946, p<.01), as shown in Table 2:

Table 2: Distribution of utterances indexed with respect to Voice morphology

(ILSP / Web Corpus)

Corpus Total N of ACT Total N of NACT

ILSP Corpus 14756 (33.95%) 3639 (18.38%)

Web Corpus 28710 (66.05%) 16163 (81.62%)

TOTAL 43466 (100%) 19802 (100%)

With regard to each corpus examined, notice that in the ILSP Corpus ACT verbs were

more frequent than NACT (ACT (80.21%) vs NACT (19.78%); χ2=6718.548, p<.01),

a pattern also attested in the Web Corpus (ACT (64.26%) vs NACT (36.01%);

χ2=3508.284, p<.01). However, NACT Verbs were more frequent in the Web than the

ILSP Corpus, if we consider the total size of each corpus (χ2=1599.615, p<.01,

η=.159). Overall, ACT verbs represent the 68.70% (43466/63268) of the total number

of verbs indexed in the two corpora examined, while NACT verbs represent only

31.30% (19802/63268) of the total, their difference being significant (χ2= 8850.997,

p<. 01).

The different sizes of the two corpora result from variation in the frequency of

the verbs examined. We next compare occurrences of these verbs with respect to

voice morphology (from ILSP and Web Corpus) in each verb class examined.


59

Graph 1: The distribution of Class I verbs with respect to Voice morphology

(ILSP/Web Corpus)

3193

118

1789

1590

224

7

729

313216

0

1257

8183

0

1563

21106

0

642

57

276

0

1534

2145 2

1653

144

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

ACT NACT ACT NACT

ILSP Corpus Web Corpus

klini vrazi jerni sapizi ljoni lijizi stegnoni

More specifically, six of the total seven Class I verbs (Voice Non-alternating Anti-

causatives) were rare in the ILSP Corpus (mean: 175; frequency range: 45 – 276).

Only the verb klini (close) was highly frequent (act: 3193). Moreover, very few

occurrences of NACT forms were found, i.e. the verbs klini (close) (nact: 118), vrazi

(boil) (nact: 7) and stegnoni (dry) (nact: 2), as shown in the Graph.

On the other hand, the Web Corpus revealed a more frequent use of active

forms (mean: 1309; frequency range: 642 – 1789). Furthermore, some instances of

NACT verbs were also found: i.e. the verb klini (close) was frequently used, while the

frequency of the remaining verbs was low (mean: 93.833; frequency range: 8 – 313).

When we compare data from the two corpora we notice that ACT verb forms

are in general more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus, with the exception of

the verb klini (close) which is more frequent in the ILSP corpus (ILSP (3193) vs Web


60

(1789); χ2=395.668, p<.01). This finding may be attributed to the different discourse

factors involved (register, mode of discourse) in the two corpora.

Turning to NACT verb forms, though they were not frequently attested, which

is to be expected since the verbs examined are prototypically ergatives, we note that

they were used more in the Web than in the ILSP corpus. Only the verb stegnoni (dry)

presented a similar pattern of distribution with respect to Voice morphology in the

two corpora (ILSP vs Web: χ2=.887, p=.346, η=.022). The NACT forms of the verbs

klini (close) and vrazi (boil), were significantly more frequent in the Web than in the

ILSP corpus (ILSP vs Web: χ2=1663.757, p<.01, η=.499; ILSP vs Web: χ2=73.028,

p<.01 η=.240, respectively), while NACT forms of the rest of the verbs were attested

only in the Web corpus.

Overall, Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives were not largely used in active

morphology and were only marginally found in non-active morphology in both

corpora. However, the significant differences between the two corpora in specific

verbs with regard to NACT forms suggest productivity of the NACT morpheme even

in this verb Class.


61

Graph 2: The distribution of Class II verbs with respect to Voice morphology

(ILSP/Web Corpus)

52 21

755603

468

57

1376

994

16 10153 115

1401

438

2843

1550

11612

1085

178240 211

1631

1390

35 11

528

205

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

ACT NACT ACT NACT


tendonikatharizitsalakonihtipaitripaiberdevileroni

With regard to Class II verbs (Voice Alternating Anti-causatives) they were not

frequently used in the ILSP Corpus. More specifically, non-active verb forms are low

in frequency (mean: 108.574; frequency range: 10 – 438), while the active verb forms

are more frequent (mean: 332.5714; frequency range: 16 – 1401), this difference

being significant (ACT (2328) vs NACT (760): χ2=796.187, p<.01). Note furthermore

that some verbs were infrequent in this corpus irrespective of voice morphology: these

are the verbs tendoni (stretch) (act: 52, nact: 21), tsalakoni (crumple) (act: 16, nact:

10) and leroni (spill) (act: 35, nact: 11).

On the other hand, the Web Corpus yields higher number of occurrences in

each verb examined. Furthermore, it comprises more active (mean: 1195.8571;

frequency range: 153 – 2843) than non-active verbs (mean: 719.28; frequency range:

115 – 1550), this difference being significant (ACT (8371) vs NACT (5035):

χ2=830.143, p<.01).

Turning to a comparison of the two corpora with respect to Class II verbs, we

note that although the Web corpus includes a higher number of the above-mentioned


62

verbs (ACT and NACT forms) (ILSP vs Web: χ2=184.589, p<.01 η=.106), the pattern

is the same in the two corpora: active verbs are significantly more frequent than non-

active ones, except for the verb berdevi (mingle) for which the number of ACT

occurrences did not differ significantly from the NACT ones in either corpus (ILSP vs

Web: χ2=.095, p=.759 η=.005).

Graph 3: The distribution of Class III verbs with respect to Voice morphology

(ILSP / Web Corpus)

0 13

577377

126 44

9701153

101 151

1373

1732

2080

61

1979

911

1292

67

1787

1225

3042

1589

2552

2010

1544

827

1934

1567

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

ACT NACT ACT NACT


hteniziplenidinikitazitroimetaferikrivi

Finally, Class III verbs (activity verbs) were mainly used in active voice morphology

(mean: 1169.09413; frequency range: 0 – 3042) while their frequency was low in non-

active voice morphology (mean: 393.1429; frequency range: 13 – 1589) as far as the

ILSP Corpus is concerned. It is worth noting that htenizi (comb) is infrequent in the

specific corpus and only NACT forms were found (act: 0 and nact: 13). Also, the verb

dini (dress) was significantly more frequent in the NACT than ACT forms (χ2=9.921,

p=.002). On the other hand, the verbs pleni (wash), kitai (look), troi (eat), metaferi

(transfer) and krivi (hide) were significantly more frequent in the ACT than the


63

NACT forms (χ2=39.553, p<.01; χ2=1903.952, p<.01; χ2=1104.213, p<.01;

χ2=455.886, p<.01 and χ2=216.824, p<.01). Note also, that the verbs classified as

‘inherently’ reflexives in previous literature, are not always more frequent in the

NACT voice morphology (cf. the example of pleni (wash), widely used in ACT, as

already suggested).

On the other hand, the Web Corpus includes a larger number of occurrences

of these verbs both in active (mean: 1596; frequency range: 577 – 2552) and non-

active morphology (mean: 1282.1429; frequency range: 377 – 2010). Overall, the

Web Corpus is larger in size with respect to Class III verbs and active verb forms are

more frequent than non-active verb forms (htenizi (comb), χ2=41.929, p<.01; kitai

(look), χ2=394.680, p<.01; troi (eat), χ2=104.862, p<.01; metaferi (transfer),

χ2=64.394, p<.01 and krivi (hide), χ2=38.472, p<.01), except for the verbs pleni

(wash) and dini (dress) which are significantly more frequent in NACT than ACT

voice (χ2=15.774, p<.01 and χ2=41.508, p<.01 respectively). Note also, that the verbs

classified as ‘inherently’ reflexives in previous literature, are not always more

frequent in the NACT voice morphology (cf. the example of htenizi (comb), widely

used in ACT, as already pointed out).

Turning to a comparison between the two corpora, ‘inherent’ reflexives

present a mixed pattern given the fact that htenizi (comb) was infrequent in the ILSP

Corpus and was attested in NACT forms, while it was more frequent in ACT than

NACT forms in the Web corpus. Pleni (wash) presented the reverse pattern in the

corpora, as it was more frequent in ACT in the ILSP corpus, while in NACT in the

Web corpus. Finally, the verb dini (dress) presented a similar pattern in the two

corpora, i.e. it was more frequent in the NACT than in the ACT. The remaining verbs

presented a similar pattern in the two corpora, i.e. they were more frequent in ACT

than NACT voice. However, we should notice that some verbs are more frequent in

the Web than the ILSP corpus with regard to NACT verb forms, as in the example of

kitai (look) (ILSP: 2.85% vs Web: 31.52%; χ2=648.695, p<.01, η=.359) and troi (eat)

(ILSP: 4.93% vs Web: 40.67%; χ2=574.521, p<.01, η=.363).

Before proceeding with the analysis/distribution of the various interpretations

per verb class and per verb, it is worth noting that metaphorical uses of the verbs in

question are very frequent in both corpora, as shown in table 3:


64

Table 3: literal vs non-literal use of verbs

Corpus Total N of literal

uses

Total N of non-literal

uses

ILSP Corpus 12121 (63.42%) 6991 (36.58%)

Web Corpus 28643 (62.34%) 17302 (37.66%)

Total 40764 (62.66%) 24293 (37.34%)

The non-literal uses of specific verbs will be further discussed in the analyses that

follow. Given the fact that a verb is used non-literally (metaphorically), it is often

allowed to receive an interpretation that seems ‘odd’, as in the example of reflexive

readings attributed to sentences with an inanimate syntactic subject.

Summary

Total results further analysed in the following Sections represent mostly the Web

Corpus, since they consist of the 70.92% of the total data. This effect is evident even

if we take into consideration their distribution with respect to voice morphology

(ACT-NACT) since data used in the following analyses come mostly from the Web

than the ILSP Corpus both for ACT and NACT verbs. However, frequencies drawn

from the two corpora present a similar pattern with regard to the verbs of all Verb

Classes (I, II and III): i.e. Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives present a low

frequency of use, while very few occurrences of non-active verb forms were attested

only in the Web Corpus; Voice Alternating Anti-causatives are more frequently used

in the ACT than the NACT voice. Activity verbs are also more frequently used in the

active morphology, while non-active verb forms are more frequent in the Web than in

the ILSP corpus, but not significantly so. Finally, individual verb differences are

attested with regard to the distribution of ACT and NACT forms in each corpus.


65

4.2. Interpretations with respect to Voice Morphology

The distributions of readings that the verbs examined receive vary with respect to

verb morphology (Tables 4 and 5):

Table 4: total results per interpretation (ACT Voice morphology)

Interpretation ILSP

Corpus

Web

Corpus

total

transitive 11767 20657 32424

(%) 79.72 69.33 72.77

anti-causative 2765 8569 11334

(%) 18.72 28.76 25.42

unergative 229 567 796

(%) 1.56 1.91 1.81

Total 14761

(33.13%)

29793

(66.87%)

44554

(100%)

As shown in the table, with respect to the total number of ACT forms in both corpora,

active verbs are used in transitive structures (72.77%) significantly more frequent than

anti-causatives (25.42%) (χ2 = 10164.726, p<.01) and unergatives (1.81%) (χ2 =

30112.293, p<.01). The same pattern is attested if we examine each corpus separately:

in the ILSP Corpus transitive structures (79.72%) are significantly more frequent than

anti-causatives (27.65%) (χ2 = 5576.383, p<.01) and unergatives (1.56%) (χ2

=11097.486, p<.01). In the Web corpus also transitive structures (69.33%) are

significantly more frequent than anti-causatives (28.76%) (χ2 =4999.649, p<.01) and

unergatives (1.91%) (χ2 =19016.590, p<.01).

Table 5: total results per interpretation (NACT Voice morphology)

Interpretation ILSP

Corpus

Web Corpus total

reflexive 614 4902 5516

(%) 16.76 30.36 27.85

reciprocal 76 804 880

(%) 2.09 4.99 4.44


66

anti-causative 1006 3661 4667

(%) 27.47 22.67 23.56

passive 1966 6779 8745

(%) 53.68 41.98 44.15

total 3662

(18.49%)

16146

(81.51%)

19808

(100%)

The total number of non-active verbs examined present high percentages of reflexive

(27.85%), anti-causative (23.56%), and passive (44.15%) readings as well.

Nevertheless, note that the passive reading is significantly more frequent than the

reflexive (χ2= 731.116, p<.01) and the anti-causative ones (χ2= 1241.342, p<.01). In a

more detailed analysis of each corpus we find a similar pattern of the distribution of

the various readings: in the ILSP corpus, the passive reading is significantly more

frequent than the reflexive (χ2=708.490, p<.01) and the anti-causative ones (χ2=

310.094, p<.01). In the Web corpus too, the passive reading is significantly more

frequent than the reflexive (χ2= 301.612, p<.01) and the anti-causative ones (χ2=

931.239, p<.01). Note however, that when we compare each reading between the two

corpora, we find some differences, such as the fact that reflexives are found more

frequently in the Web (30.36%) than in the ILSP corpus (16.76%), the difference

being significant (χ2 =244.524, p<.01, η=.118), while anti-causatives (ILSP: 27.27%

vs Web: 22.67) and passives (ILSP:53.68% vs Web:41.98%) were more frequent in

the ILSP than the Web corpus (χ2 =38.139, p<.01, η=.044 and χ2 =165.740,

p<.01,η=.091, respectively).

We next present the distributions of readings that the verbs examined receive

with respect to voice morphology in each of the verb classes examined. The purpose

of this demonstration is to observe whether the interpretations that the verbs examined

receive in the corpora differ with respect to the verb class they belong to.

The following graphs (Graphs 4-6) illustrate the frequencies attested in each

corpus.


67

Graph 4: total results per interpretation (ACT/NACT Voice morphology) in

‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’.


‘voice alternating anti-causatives’.


68


‘activity predicates’.

While the transitive uses are more frequent than any other available reading in ‘voice

alternating anti-causatives’ and ‘activities’, this is not the case for the class of ‘voice

non-alternating anti-causatives’, where the anti-causative readings are more frequent

than the transitive ones.

Unergative readings, are attested only in ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-

causatives’, with significant difference between the two verb classes in both ILSP

(χ2=8.843, p=.003) and Web (χ2=24.143, p<.001) corpus.

Anti-causative readings are met with both ACT and NACT forms: ACT anti-

causatives are attested only in ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’. Moreover, the

anti-causative readings are significantly more frequent among ‘voice non-alternating’

than ‘voice alternating’ anti-causatives in both ILSP (χ2=1442.318, p<.001) and Web

(χ2=4038.941, p<.001) corpus. NACT anti-causatives on the other hand, are found

among ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ and fewer among ‘activities’ in both ILSP

(χ2=210.880, p<.001) and Web (χ2=672.514, p<.001) corpus, while very few

examples of NACT anti-causatives among ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ are

attested mostly in the Web corpus.


69

In all three verb classes the passive readings are more frequent than the

reflexive ones, although at different rates with ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’:

ILSP (χ2=298.921, p<.001) and Web (χ2=353.612, p<.001) and with ‘activities’:

ILSP (χ2=432.393, p<.001) and Web (χ2=20.551, p<.001). Moreover, they are more

frequent than the anti-causative ones, but for the ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’,

where anti-causatives are more frequent than passives only in the Web (χ2=186.748,

p<.001).

Finally, reciprocal readings are attested mostly with ‘activities’, but also with

some ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’.

Summary

When voice morphology is taken into consideration, ACT verbs are mostly used as

transitives: transitive uses represent the 72.77% of the total active verbs, while anti-

causative readings represent the 25.42%. NACT verbs present a variety of readings

(reflexive, anti-causative and passive): non-active verbs mostly receive a passive

reading (44.15%), while the remaining percentage is distributed among anti-causative

(23.56%), reflexive (27.85%) and few reciprocal readings (4.44%).

Thus, ACT shows significantly more frequent transitive uses and NACT more

passive, while the distribution between anti-causative and reflexive readings is

similar. The fact that transitives and passives are the most frequent readings per each

morphological marking (ACT/NACT) shows the same: Agent-Theme structures are

‘prototypical’, hence more frequent.

This distribution however changes when we consider the verb classes

examined: ACT is used to denote an anti-causative reading with ‘voice non-

alternating anti-causatives’, while it is used in transitive structures with the remaining

classes. NACT on the other hand is primarily used to express passive readings in all

but for the ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ where the most frequent reading is the

anti-causative one.


70

4.3. Interpretations with regard to Voice Morphology and subject animacy

When [+/- animacy] of the syntactic subject is taken into consideration, the

distribution of interpretations that active and non-active verbs receive is different, as

shown in Table 6:

Table 6: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy]

verb

morphology

interpretation [+/-animacy] of the syntactic subject

animate inanimate

ILSP Web total ILSP Web total

active transitive 9305 14264 23569 2462 6393 8855

% 95.87 90.29 92.42 48.70 45.68 46.48

anti-causative 253 1115 1368 2512 7454 9966

% 2.61 7.06 5.36 49.69 53.26 52.31

unergative 148 418 566 81 149 230

% 1.52 2.65 2.22 1.61 1.06 1.21

non-active reflexive 591 4693 5284 23 209 232

% 39.79 60.79 57.41 1.05 2.48 2.19

reciprocal 72 774 846 4 30 34

% 4.86 10.04 9.19 0.19 0.36 0.32

anti-causative 126 1161 1287 880 2500 3380

% 8.48 15.04 13.98 40.42 29.67 31.87

passive 696 1091 1787 1270 5688 6958

% 46.87 14.13 19.42 58.34 67.49 65.62


71

Starting with the ACT verb forms we note that both in the ILSP and the Web corpus,

when an animate subject is involved the verb receives a transitive reading

significantly more often than any other available reading (ILSP: transitive (95.87%)

vs other readings; χ2=8168.229, p<.01) and Web: transitive (90.29%) vs other

readings; χ2=10260.072, p<.01). The same pattern is attested in the total of data drawn

from the two corpora, where active verb forms are mostly used transitively (92.42%)

when an animate subject is involved.

The presence of an inanimate subject increases the anti-causative readings of

ACT verb forms (ILSP: 49.69%, Web: 53.26% and total: 52.31%), transitive uses

remaining also highly frequent (ILSP: 48.70%, Web: 45.68% and Total: 46.48%).

Furthermore, while the difference between anti-causative and transitive readings is

not significant in the ILSP corpus, it is significant in the Web (χ2=81.297, p<.01) and

in the total from the two corpora (χ2=65.582, p<.01).

The above frequencies demonstrate that animacy affects verb interpretation

when active morphology is involved. Overall data show that when the syntactic

subject is animate, transitive uses are more frequent than anti-causative (χ2=

19765.184, p<.01) as well as unergative ones (χ2= 21924.094, p<.01). When the

syntactic subject is inanimate, anti-causative uses are instead significantly more

frequent than transitive (χ2= 65.582, p<.01) as well as unergative ones (χ2= 9296.753,

p<.01). Thus, inanimate subjects change the distribution of the various readings in

that the rate of anti-causative readings increase, while transitive decrease. A further

note with respect to the difference in the distribution of the readings attested: when

voice animacy was the only factor for the calculation of frequent readings, results

were similar to the ones received for animate subjects, while the reverse pattern is

attested in the results for inanimate subjects.

Turning to NACT verb forms with animate subjects we note that the corpora

used do not present a similar pattern of the distribution of the various readings. More

specifically in the ILSP corpus passive readings are more frequent than any other

available reading (pass vs refl: χ2=8.566, p=.003; pass vs recipr: χ2=507.00, p<.01;

pass vs antic: χ2=395.255, p<.01). In the Web corpus the reflexive reading is the most

frequent one (refl vs recipr: χ2=2809.322, p<.01; refl vs antic: χ2=2131.026, p<.01;

refl vs pass: χ2=2243.154, p<.01). Overall, the presence of an animate subject favours

the reflexive reading of non-active verbs (57.41%); reflexive readings are


72

significantly more frequent than passive (χ2=1729.460, p<.01) and anti-causative

readings (χ2=2431.290, p<.01).

The presence of an inanimate subject favours the passive reading instead,

irrespective of corpus (ILSP: 58.34%, Web: 67.49% and total: 65.62%). However,

with respect to the total distribution of the available interpretations in each corpus

anti-causative readings are more frequent in the ILSP (they represent 40.42%) than

the Web corpus (where anti-causatives represent the 29.67%) but the difference is not

significant. Overall, passive readings are significantly more frequent than reflexive

(χ2= 6291.944, p<.01) and anti-causative ones (χ2= 1238.352, p<.01).

We next turn to an analysis of each Verb Class, counting the various readings

with respect to voice morphology (ACT-NACT) and [+/- animacy] of the syntactic

subject. Preferred interpretations are expected to differ with respect to the [+/-

animacy] among the three Verb Classes, only in the NACT verb forms. Specifically,

Classes I and II are expected to present a high percentage of passive and anti-

causative readings, but when an animate subject is involved, the reflexive reading will

also be available. With respect to ACT morphology, Classes I and II are expected to

present a high percentage of anti-causative readings, while Class III verbs are

expected to be used transitively, irrespective of subject animacy. Also, it is predicted

that NACT forms of Class III will present a high preference of the reflexive or the

passive reading in the presence of an animate or an inanimate subject respectively.

4.3.1. Class I (Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives)

a. General remarks

In a total of 14498 active verbs (from the Web and ILSP Corpus), transitive uses

represent the 30.34% (anim: 3083 and inanim: 1329) and anti-causative readings

represent the 66.26% (anim: 1255 and inanim: 8352), while there are also 3.3%

unergative uses (anim: 311 and inanim: 168). In a total of 2240 non-active verbs,

reflexive readings represent the 34.24% (anim: 758 and inanim: 9), anti-causative

readings represent the 4.15% (anim: 2 and inanim: 91) and passive readings represent

the 61.61% (anim: 332 and inanim: 1048).


73

The Table below illustrates the various readings Non-Alternating Anti-

causatives received in the contexts found in the corpora, with respect to voice

morphology and subject animacy.

Table 7: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] (class I)

verb

morphology

interpretation [+/-animacy] of syntactic subject

animate inanimate



% 84.09 61.09 66.32 12.77 13.75 13.49

anti-causative 205 1050 1255 2176 6176 8352

% 12.30 38.14 26.99 84.24 84.99 84.8

unergative 60 251 311 77 91 168

% 3.61 0.77 6.69 2.99 1.26 1.71


% 66.66 65.56 69.41 1.46 0.75 0.79

anti-causative 0 2 2 8 83 91

% 4.2 0.18 11.59 7.69 7.92

passive 19 313 332 60 988 1048

% 33.34 30.24 30.41 86.95 91.56 91.29

The following Graph illustrates the distribution of readings that ACT and NACT verb

forms receive with respect to subject animacy, in each corpus examined:


74

Graph 7: total distribution of verb readings with respect to voice morphology

and subject animacy in the ILSP and Web corpus

Starting with ACT forms, we note that the distribution of the various interpretations

varies both with respect to subject animacy and corpus. More specifically, a

comparison between the two corpora reveals different frequencies of interpretations in

the presence of animate subjects, while in the presence of inanimate subjects no such

difference is attested: the anti-causative readings in the presence of an animate subject

are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus (χ2 =13.520, p<.01), while

unergative readings and transitive uses are more frequent in the ILSP than the Web

corpus, but not significantly so (χ2 =1.800, p=.180 and χ2 =3.648, p=.056,

respectively). Also, as shown in the Table, overall, in the presence of an animate

subject, verbs of active morphology received a transitive reading more frequently than

any other available reading (anti-causative and unergative) (χ2 =10.240, p=.001). In

the presence of an inanimate subject anti-causative readings are more frequent than

any other available reading (transitive, unergative), irrespective of corpus (ILSP: χ2

=46.240, p<.01; Web: χ2 =49.00, p<.01 and total: χ2 =49.00, p<.01).

NACT verb forms in the presence of an animate subject received reflexive

readings more frequently than any other available reading (anti-causative, passive),

irrespective of corpus (ILSP: χ2 =11.560, p=.001; Web: χ2 =10.240, p=.001 and total:

χ2 =14.440, p<.01). Furthermore, in the presence of an inanimate subject, we found


75

that passive readings are more frequent than any other available reading (reflexive,

anti-causative), irrespective of corpus (ILSP: χ2 =54.760, p<.01; Web: χ2 =70.560,

p<.01 and total: χ2 =67.240, p<.01).

Note finally that with respect to ACT morphology, unergative readings are

found in the presence of an inanimate subject and with respect to NACT morphology,

reflexive and reciprocal readings are found in the presence of an inanimate subject

when this is used non-literally (metaphorically).


76

b. Specific Tokens

As noticed in the previous section, the frequency of Class I verbs differed between the

two corpora, their total number being higher in the Web than the ILSP corpus, in both

(ACT-NACT) voice morphology, irrespective of [+/- animacy] of the syntactic

subject (Graph 8).

Graph 8: Interpretations of Class I verbs in the ILSP and Web Corpus (voice

morphology and subject animacy)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

trans

itive

antic

ausa

tive

uner

gativ

etra

nsiti

vean

ticau

sativ

eun

erga

tive

trans

itive

antic

ausa

tive

uner

gativ

etra

nsiti

vean

ticau

sativ

eun

erga

tive

refle

xive

antic

ausa

tive

pass

ive

refle

xive

antic

ausa

tive

pass

ive

refle

xive

antic

ausa

tive

pass

ive

refle

xive

antic

ausa

tive

pass

ive

anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim

ILSP Web ILSP Web

ACT NACT

stegnonilijizi ljoni sapizi jerni vrazi klini

In the ILSP corpus, the distributions presented in Graph 8 are not always

representative, since they rather illustrate frequencies of individual verbs. For

example, some readings attested for active verb forms in the presence of an animate


77

subject come mostly from frequencies drawn from specific verbs: the transitive use

comes from klini (close) (n=1150), the anti-causative reading comes from lijizi (bend)

(n=95) and the unergative reading comes from jerni (lean) (n= 57). Moreover, active

verbs in the presence of an inanimate subject come mostly from the verb klini (close):

transitive (n=267), anti-causative (n=1656), unergative (n=71). On the other hand,

non-active verbs are not frequently found in this corpus, as expected. Hence, the

reflexive and the passive uses in the presence of an animate subject are drawn

exclusively from the verb klini (close). In the presence of an inanimate subject, the (i)

anti-causative, (ii) passive and (iii) reflexive (metaphorically used) readings are drawn

from the verbs klini (close) (n=6) and stegnoni (dry) (n=2) (for (i)), the verbs klini

(close) (n=53) and vrazi (boil) (n=7) (for (ii)), and the verb klini (close) (n=1) (for

(iii)) respectively.

In the Web corpus, no such large individual differences occurred among the

various readings attested with respect to voice morphology or subject animacy. In

other words, we found occurrences of almost all the verbs examined in each research

condition.

If we consider the total number of data (from ILSP and Web corpus), Voice

Non-alternating Anti-causatives appear to be more often used with active voice

morphology, with the exception of klini (close), which is largely used in the non-

active voice morphology as well. Also, in their majority, active forms used

intransitively receive an anti-causative reading. On the other hand, the largest part of

NACT occurrences examined come from the Web Corpus, where the various verbs

are mostly used in friendly communication, or consist of jargon language; hence,

examples drawn commonly illustrate non-literal interpretations, as in the example of

unergative uses of active verbs with inanimate subjects.


78

1. The verb klini (close)

The distribution of the various readings that the verb received in the two corpora

examined is shown in Table:

Table 8: the verb klini (close) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 99.5 100 99.7 13.39 14.94 13.9

anti-causative 6* 0 6 1727 837 2564

% 0.5 0.3 86.61 85.06 86.1

non-active reflexive** 38 706 744 1 8 9

% 65.52 69.83 69.59 1.67 1.12 1.39


% 2.08 1.97 10 11.92 11.74

passive 20 284 304 53 509 562

% 34.48 18.09 28.44 88.33 86.71 86.86

* As such are characterized sentences with non-literal meanings, attested : Εφόσον αληθεύει το σχετικό ρεπορτάζ της « Αυριανής », επιβεβαιώνεται ότι όντως η κοπέλα µε τον Ανδρέα έκλεισε σα γυναίκα. (ILSP: 563444) ** There is also an utterance with a non-literal reciprocal reading of nact-inanim in the Web corpus: Αιµορραγούν και κλείνονται. Τρακάρουν και φλέγονται και µυρίζει σάρκα καµένη και δεν ακούγεται…http://e-missos.gr /forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1430&start=30&sid=4d72d3d8bac6020019613b394dfe8091

Illustrative examples of the various readings with respect to voice morphology and

subject animacy are found below:


79

Animate subject:

Active Voice morphology

Transitive: ΚΑΙ ΩΣ ΓΝΩΣΤΟΝ ΜΑΖΕΥΤΗΚΑΜΕ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΦΩΝΑΞΟΥΜΕ

ΣΤΟΥΣ ΚΟΥΦΟΥΣ /ΒΟΛΕΦΤΕΣ/ ΑΛΛΑ ΑΥΤΟΙ ΤΟ ΚΛΕΙΣΑΝ ΤΟ ΜΑΓΑΖΙ

ΝΩΡΙΣ. http://www.kep.gov.gr/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1254&whichpage=50 22

Anti-causative (non-literal): Κλείσανε οι χαλκωµατάδες...Αχρείαστο πια το

επάγγελµα τους

http://www.cineek.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=410

Non-active Voice Morphology

Reflexive: Κανείς απ'αυτούς δεν κλείστηκε στο Πολυτεχνείου από ηρωϊσµό, από

ανάγκη έκανε ότι έκανε, άσχετα αν το όλο αποτέλεσµα ηταν µια ηρωϊκή στιγµή. ...

http://acro-archive.bedroomlan.org/read.php?clubname=Today&number=331

Anti-causative: ... H Σειρά: Πέντε άνθρωποι που δεν γνωρίζονται µεταξύ τους

κλείνονται σε ένα ασανσέρ µεγάλου ξενοδοχείου µε έναν ...

http://forum.bnb.gr/viewtopic.php?t=26164&sid=4ee512cc0a6c9bc66a80c43ee2cd47

aa

Passive: Ενώ η Επανάσταση είχε κηρυχθεί στην Αγια Λαύρα, οι Αθηναίοι

προύχοντες κλείστηκαν από τους Τούρκους στην Ακρόπολη, σαν όµηροι και το

Πάσχα εκείνης της http://www.koutouzis.gr/paliaa8ina.htm

Inanimate subject:

Active Voice Morphology

Transitive: που επιστρατευσε τους φορτωτες που εχει στη διαθεση της για να

καθαρισουν τους δροµους, κυριως τη λεωφορο ∆ιονυσου, απο τα µπαζα που

εκλεισαν το δροµο. ...

http://www.hri.org/news/grpapers/eleytherotypia/1995/95-08-23.eley.html

Anti-causative: Τελικα η Ζελατίνα έχει τετοια κατασκευη που να κλεινει από µόνη

της και να σε…

http://www.moto.gr/forums/showthread.php?s=a90a27e326114307492b108ea117115

5&threadid=11499&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

22 Note also non-literal uses such in the following sentence: To 2006 η αγαπηµένη µου κλείνει 30

χρόνια ζωής. (http://vcdc.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1383)


80

Note also the possibility of apo-phrase denoting animate entities with anti-causative

readings, as in the example below:

Ευτυχώς την πρώτη µέρα έκλεισε µια σοβαρή µετάδοση από τον Κατσαρό.

http://themoviescult.gr/modules.php?name=Forums&file=search&search_author

=Crusader_of_Melnibone

Non-Active Voice Morphology

Reflexive: ... Όλα τα κάνουµε για την αγάπη και αυτή για να µας ανταµείψει ,

κλείστηκε σε ένα µπουκάλι . ...

http://neo.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3892

Anti-causative: ... Η γέννηση είναι ένα τραγούδι. Ολόκληρο κλείνεται µέσα στη

δοξολογία της αναπνοής.

http://www.musicheaven.gr/html/modules.php?mop=modload&name=Splatt_Forums

&file=viewtopic&topic=5665&forum=11&start=80

Passive: Αυτές οι στοές κλείστηκαν για λόγους ασφαλείας των παιδιών του εκεί

∆ηµοτικού σχολείου αλλά µπορούν να ανοιχθούν και να µελετηθούν από τους

αρχαιολόγους.

http://6gym-serron.ser.sch.gr/ACTIVITIES/history/6agio_pneyma/

koin_ag_pneyma.htm

Note, furthermore, that (c)overt reference to an actor initiator seems to be accepted

with both anti-causative and passive readings. In other words, active and non-active

verb forms are found to co-occur with an implicit agent, as in the examples below:

a. […] που άνοιξαν ή έκλεισαν επίσηµα από το Γενικό ∆ιευθυντή και συνέχεια

(βλέπε σηµείο 3.1. του αναθεωρηµένου εγχειριδίου της υπηρεσίας).

http://europa.eu.int/eur-

lex/lex/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2001:365:0031:0063:EL:PDF

c. Κλείστηκαν τα σχολεία, τα θέατρα και οι βιβλιοθήκες και το τυπογραφείο

ρίχτηκε στη θάλασσα, για να µην εκδοθεί άλλο ελληνικό βιβλίο.

http://europe.sae.gr/starikrim.htm


81

Turning to a discussion of the frequencies illustrated in the Table above, the

distribution of the various readings did not differ significantly between the two

corpora used, with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy, but in very few

cases: in the act-anim condition the few examples of anti-causative readings found

were drawn from the ILSP corpus, while in the nact-anim condition the examples with

anti-causative readings were exclusively drawn from the Web corpus instead. On the

other hand, no differences were attested between the two corpora with regard to the

interpretations the verb received in the presence of inanimate subject irrespective of

(ACT-NACT) verb morphology.

Overall, transitive uses of ACT forms in the presence of an animate subject are

significantly more frequent than the other available readings (χ2=1986.072, p<.01).

The presence of an inanimate subject increases the availability of anti-causative

readings (anim vs inanim: χ2=2546.056, p<.01) while transitive uses remain available,

but significantly less frequent (antic vs trans: χ2= 1552.216, p<.01).

When the verb is used in NACT morphology, the presence of an animate

subject favours the reflexive reading, while passive and anti-causative readings are

also available, but significantly less frequent (refl vs antic/pass: χ2= 164.229, p<.01).

The presence of an inanimate subject favours the passive reading instead, which is

significantly more frequent than the other available readings (pass vs antic/refl:

χ2=368.114, p<.01).

We now present the types of the PPs used with the verb klini (close).

Table 9: The PPs used

ACT NACT antic refl antic pass inanim anim anim inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-agent 9 2 5 apo-cause 5 3 1 1 me-cause 1 apo-instr 10 apo-self 4 self 2 Web apo-agent 2 11 23 apo-cause 2 3 3 pp-cause 22 apo-instr 1 2 me-instr 102 1 2 18 other pp 153 18


82

In the ILSP corpus we note that the active verb forms with anti-causative reading in

the presence of inanimate subjects were followed more frequently by apo- cause or

instrument (me-cause was also attested) but also some apo-agent were allowed (cause

(16) vs agent (9) χ2=1.960, p=.162), while their difference was not significant. Also,

only in the case of anti-causative readings we found ‘apo-self’ (n=4), while no PPs

were found among the non-active anti-causatives. We found apo-agent and -cause

among passive readings both with animate and inanimate subjects, more frequently in

the latter case (χ2=1.00, p=.317), but not significantly. Apo-cause phrases were also

found among the reflexive readings, as in the example below:

Οι µαθητές κλείστηκαν από µεγάλο φόβο στα σπίτια τους και βέβαια αν

περίµεναν να αναστηθεί δεν θα είχαν κανένα λόγο να διακινδυνέψουν να πάρουν

το άγιό του

http://www.im-

syrou.gr/poimantikes_drastiriotites/keimena/xoulis/iisous_xristos/index.htm

In the Web corpus among anti-causative readings with inanimate subject the most

frequent PP was me-instrument phrases (me-instr (102) vs all other PPs (24):

χ2=48.286, p<.001), as in the example below:

Μία «µη- κερδοσκοπική» Επιχείρηση - Πανεπιστήµιο, όσο εύκολα ανοίγει,

άλλο τόσο εύκολα κλείνει µε την ψήφο των µετόχων της. Στο Harvard βέβαια,

µια τέτοια http://forum.aegean.gr/viewtopic.php?p=1435&

Also other expressions like ‘logo’ (because of) + GENITIVE are found and few

examples where the agent is overtly expressed. Non-active anti-causatives were

followed by apo-cause, instead. Among the passive readings with inanimate subjects

we found the agent explicitly uttered with an apo-agent, apo- and me-instrument and

apo-cause as in the example:

ζητάνε συγνωµη απο τις υπόλοιπες οµαδες του πρωταθλήµατος για την χθεσινη

καθυστέρηση στο µεταξύ τους φιλικό παιχνίδι[/color]. ∆εν αναφέρθηκε απο

κανεναν παραγοντα αυτο και κλείστηκε ετσι απο συνηθεια και µόνο ....


83

http://www.fmgreece.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6362&sid=aecd9d24b2b85

bbf90e815b6a0660a17

When an animate subject was involved, in the reflexive reading non-active verb forms

were not frequently followed by PPs but they were followed by purpose clauses or

adverbs like ‘epitides’(on purpose) (n=137), ‘ston eafto tus’ (to themselves) phrases

(n=16) and monos/i (alone/on their own) (n=2), while two apo-cause were also found.

Also among the NACT anti-causatives with animate subjects other PPs were used:

adverbs like ‘katalathos’ (by mistake) (n=3) were found, while the presence of a pp-

locative (like ‘sto ascanseur’(in the elevator)) was more frequent (n=15). In the

passive reading we found the agent explicitly produced with an apo-agent (n=11) and

apo- and me-instrument. Finally, apo- or se- locative phrases were very frequent

specifically with NACT occurrences of the verb.


84

2. The verb vrazi (boil)


examined is shown in Table 10. Note however that although the event described from

this verb is anti-causative, we characterized the utterances where an animate is

understood to have explicitly performed the action as passive.

Table 10: the verb vrazi (boil) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 46.87 53.39 52 1.25 2.23 2

anti-causative 34 110 144 158 482 640

% 53.13 46.61 48 98.75 97.77 98

non-active anti-causative 0 1 1 0 2 2

% 5.56 5.55 0.68 0.66

passive 0 17 17 7 293 300

% 94.44 94.45 100 99.32 99.34

Here are some examples that illustrate the above readings, with respect to voice

morphology and subject animacy:

Animate subject:

Active Voice morphology:

Transitive: ... γύρω γύρω γιαγιάδες και παππούδες να κόβουν φύλλα, να τα βράζουν

και να τα πίνουν.

http://www.metropolisradio.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=15562&start=924&st=0

&sk=t&sd=a


85

Anti-causative: Ε καλά δεν βράζουν όλοι στο ίδιο καζάνι.

http://www.myxbox.gr/forum/showthread.php?t=2705

Non- Active Voice morphology:

Anti-causative: ∆εν βράζεται µε τίποτα, ωστόσο παγώνει στιγµιαία χωρίς κανένα

προφανή λόγο.

http://www.sakopetra.com/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=144 Passive: ..... και σταυρώθηκε και τρυπήθηκε και χλευάστηκε και καρφώθηκε και

κάηκε και βράστηκε και παλουκώθηκε και ...

http://politikokafeneio.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=2934&sid=4795373a65c9d58187f69ba042ee9ded

Inanimate subject:

Active Voice morphology:

Transitive: Ακόµη καθώς το ζέσταµα δεν είναι οµοιόµορφο (τα µικροκύµατα

βράζουν το φαγητό…

http://www.focusmag.gr/fora/view-message.rx?oid=61369

Anti-causative: όταν βράζουν οι φακές, παραµένουν... ολόκληρες όπως είναι ωµές ή

... mporei na … http://www.radicio.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t1126.html

Non- Active Voice morphology:

Anti-causative: Σε όλα τα µέρη που τρώνε φάβα ανοίγουν ένα λάκκο και ρίχνουν

µέσα λάδι, γιατί η φάβα βράζεται µόνο µε το νερό της.

http://www.agioskosmas.gr/periodiko.asp?sitema=1&sitem=11&isue=28&artid=150 Passive: α) Συνταγές από βότανα (2-14 βότανα µαζί), τα οποία βράζονται από τον

ασθενή. β) Έτοιµα δρογοσκευάσµατα (χάπια, έµπλαστρα, υπόθετα, αλοιφές κ.λπ.).

http://www.medicum.gr/therapeies/index.cfm?pageID=3&areaID=18&naID=6&news

CategoryID=33&articleID=24

Before proceeding with the analysis of the data illustrated in the table above, we

should recall that the ILSP corpus is significantly smaller in size than the Web corpus

both with respect to active (ILSP (224) vs Web (729): χ2=267.602, p<.01) and to non-

active verb forms (ILSP (7) vs Web (313): χ2=292.613, p<.01), the nact occurrences

analysed coming almost exclusively from the Web corpus.


86

Both corpora include more ACT than NACT forms: ILSP (act (217) vs nact

(7): χ2=196.875, p<.01); Web (act (729) vs nact (313): χ2=166.081, p<.01).

Furthermore, utterances with non-active verb forms drawn from the Web corpus were

mainly attested with inanimate subject (anim (18) vs inanim (295): χ2=245.141,

p<.01).

The Table shows however that there are no significant differences between the

two corpora examined, with respect to the distribution of the interpretations the active

verb forms receive irrespective of subject animacy. On the other hand, non-active

verb forms were attested only in the Web corpus when the syntactic subject was

animate, while when the syntactic subject was inanimate only seven occurrences were

attested with a passive reading in the ILSP corpus, while the remaining data is drawn

from the Web corpus.

The total number of utterances drawn from the two corpora show that the verb

vrazi (boil) is more frequent in active than non-active forms (act: 953 vs nact: 320;

χ2= 314.760, p<.01). Note that in the presence of an animate subject the active forms

of the verb receive transitive readings more frequently than anti-causative ones, but

not significantly (χ2= .480, p=.488). It is worth mentioning, furthermore, that all but

three anti-causative readings are metaphorically used. An example of literal use is

cited below:

‘Ο απόστολος Ιωάννης βασανίστηκε και έβρασε στο λάδι αλλά δραπέτευσε απο

τον δάκτυλο του Θεού.”

http://actionnemesis.com/v2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42

0&Itemid=53

On the other hand, in the presence of an inanimate subject, the active verb forms

receive anti-causative readings more frequently than transitive ones, this difference

being significant (χ2= 602.035, p<.01). The above findings show that the presence of

an inanimate subject raises the anti-causative reading.

The optional voice alternation was found only in the Web corpus: Non-active

verb forms, with animate subjects received passive significantly more often than anti-

causative readings (χ2= 14.222, p<.01). The same pattern was followed in the

presence of an inanimate subject; i.e. passive readings were significantly more

frequent than anti-causative ones (χ2= 294.053, p<.01).


87


antic (ACT) pass (NACT) anim inanim inanim ILSP apo-agent 123 apo-cause 3 4 apo-self 2 other pp 20 17 Web apo-agent 2 apo-cause 6 7 me-cause 11 2 me-instr 2 other pp (locative) 49

Turning to a discussion of the PPs found, note that although PPs among ACT anti-

causatives were less frequent in the ILSP corpus than the Web when an animate

subject was involved, they were more frequent with inanimate subjects (total PPs

among anti-causatives with anim (ILSP vs Web): χ2=20.775, p<.001; among anti-

causatives with inanim (ILSP vs Web): χ2=6.818, p=.009). Thus, a large difference in

the frequency of PPs was attested between anti-causatives with animate and inanimate

subject in the Web (anim (66) vs inanim (9): χ2=43.320, p<.001), while no such

difference was attested in the ILSP (anim (23) vs inanim (24): χ2=.021, p=.884). Note

also that PPs among passive readings with inanimate subjects were attested only in

the Web, including only apo-agent and me- instrument phrases, the remaining

readings did not provide us with relevant evidence.

23 We cite the example: "Για να µπω στο σπίτι µου", λέει ένας κάτοικος του Ναυπλίου, το οποίο "βράζει" από ξένες το καλοκαίρι (το "καµάκι" είναι εποχιακό επάγγελµα), κι όπου εκτυλίσσεται ο "µύθος", "πρέπει να περάσω µέσα από υπνόσακους. (ILSP: 328253)


88

3. The verb jerni (lean)


examined is shown in Table 12:

Table 12: the verb jerni (lean) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate

ILSP Web total ILSP Web Total


% 27.47 56.04 51.06 14.4 16.81 16.49

unergative 57 127 184 4 63 67

% 62.63 29.53 35.32 3.2 7.62 7.04

anti-causative 9 62 71 103 625 728

% 9.9 14.43 13.62 82.4 75.57 76.47


% 40 40


% 60 60 33.34 33.33

passive 0 0 0 0 2 2

% 66.66 66.67

We next cite examples that illustrate the various readings, drawn from the corpora

examined.

Animate subject:


Transitive: Oι ψηφοφόροι των σοσιαλιστών αγνόησαν µαζικά την επίσηµη γραµµή

του κόµµατος, προτίµησαν το «όχι» και έγειραν την πλάστιγγα.

http://www.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_world_336678_31/05/2005_145393

Unergative: Απόψε την περίµεναν, σχεδόν όλο το βράδι,. ώσπου στο τέλος νύσταξαν

κοιτώντας το σκοτάδι,. κι έγειραν και κοιµήθηκαν απάνω στα φτερά τους...

http://www.sarantakos.com/kibwtos/komnas/lappoems.html


89

Anti-causative: Και οι περισσότεροι ήδη εχουν αρχίσει να γέρνουν υπέρ του

ΧΒΟΧ360 στο θέµα της προγραµµατιστικής προσβασιµότητας.

http://www.insomnia.gr/vb3/archive/index.php/t-110672-p-2.html


Reflexive: Μα πάλι, ως είχε θυµηθεί, πού γέρνεται , πού µένει για λόγου του µια του

Κερά ακριβαναθρεµµένη, εγρίκα µέσα στην καρδιά µαχαίρι, και πληγώνει, ...

el.wikisource.org/wiki/.../Ε'

Anti-causative: Στα 70 γέρνεται και ως τυφλα τυφλαινεται. Στα ογδοηντα δεν φελα

µονο το ψωµι χαλα. eletg.wordpress.com/.../4/

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: ... Οι επτά πόντοι της διαφοράς (52‐45) έγειραν την πλάστιγγα

υπέρ τους κι έφεραν το άγχος στο ... http://bhma.net/archive/2002/0329/20.asp Unergative: Από το 6,5 χλµ., ο δρόµος φαρδαίνει και τα πλατάνια γέρνουν να τον

κοιτάξουν χαρίζοντάς µας ευεργετική δροσιά τις ώρες που ο ήλιος «χτυπάει». ...

http://www.nea.gr/tour/Pages/Diadromes/diadromh6.htm

Anti-causative: … Μπορεί τα αποτελέσµατα να έγειραν πολύ από τα τραπεζικά

κέρδη και τον ΟΠΑΠ, έθεσαν όµως …

http://www.reporter.gr/fulltext_gre.cfm?id=41130180110


Anti-causative: Οι πιθανότητες γέρνονται επάνω µακριά κερδίζουν. Ionicos (16th η

θέση) είναι ο τελευταίος του πίνακα, και η κατάσταση των αποτελεσµάτων λεσχών iz

της οµάδας ... kastelliotis1x2.blog.rs/

Passive: Τάχα τα δροσερά παράθυρα του κήπου έχουν την τύχη να γέρνονται από το

χέρι ντροπαλής ερωµένης όταν ο ήλιος πετάει µε αναίδεια το φως του στο µυστικό

σκοτάδι ... http://www.geocities.com/mpolidouri/Mithistorima04.html

Turning to an analysis of the verb jerni (lean) we note that only active verb forms

were attested in the ILSP corpus, while in the Web corpus, we found also some non-

active occurrences, though very few and only with poetic use. With regard to ACT

verb forms with an animate subject note that unergative readings were significantly


90

more frequent than the other available readings in the ILSP corpus (χ2=6.760,

p=.009), while transitives were the most frequent ones in the Web corpus (trans vs

unerg: χ2=7.860, p=.005; trans vs antic: χ2=25.200, p<.01). With regard to ACT verb

forms with an inanimate subject no significant differences in the distribution of the

various interpretations were attested between the two corpora. Note finally that all

NACT data come from the Web corpus.

Overall data show that the active verb forms of the verb with an animate

subject receive transitive readings significantly more frequently than anti-causative

(χ2=112.834, p<.01) as well as unergative ones (χ2=14.942, p<.01). On the other hand,

the presence of an inanimate subject favours the anti-causative reading of the active

verb forms which is significantly more frequent than the transitive (χ2=368.408,

p<.01) and unergative ones (χ2= 549.586, p<.01).

The non-active verb forms, though very few (a total of 8 occurrences were

found) are more frequent in the presence of an animate than an inanimate subject, but

not significantly. Note furthermore, that in the presence of an animate subject, they

receive reflexive or anti-causative readings; while in the presence of an inanimate

subject they receive anti-causative or passive readings (no statistics were performed

due to limited data). It is noteworthy finally that all the examples are instances of

poetic language.

Table 13: The PPs used ACT NACT antic unerg pass anim inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-cause 1 apo-other 2 2 2 Web apo-cause 26 apo-instr 1 1 self 1 apo-other 9 6

Turning now to a discussion of the PPs that were found, note that only apo-cause

phrases were frequent, among active anti-causatives with inanimate subjects, only in

the Web. Furthermore, the Web included a larger variety of PPs, self and apo-

instrument among them, as in the above mentioned examples.


91

4. The verb sapizi (rot)



Table 14: the verb sapizi (rot) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 3.78 38.73 35.18 6.16 5.41 5.48

anti-causative 51 288* 339 122 1206 1328

% 96.22 61.27 64.82 93.84 94.59 94.52

non-active anti-causative 0 0 0 0 10 10

% 90.90 90.9

passive 0 10 10 0 1 1

% 100 100 9.1 9.10

*Since there no instances of unergative uses (ACT) with animate subjects but for an insignificant 0.02% we included the 13 examples attested in the count of anti-causatives. No further statistics were conducted for this interpretation.

The examples below illustrate the various readings of the verb in active and non-

active forms:

Animate subject:


Transitive: Τον τύπο απ' ότι είπε τον σάπισε στο ξύλο. Απλά της έκλεψε την τσάντα

και το 'βαλε στα πόδια.

http://forum.fyletikesmaxes.gr/showthread.php?t=1974&page=5


92

Anti-causative: ... ο Σπανούλης δύσκολα ξανάρχεται, ο Ντικούδης σάπισε...

Γιαφτόκας και Ντελκ που ήρθαν πέρσι ως θεοί, ο ένας έφυγε νύχτα, ο άλλος έπλενε

πάγκους. ...

http://www.kareasfc.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=197&sid=e0f2337009d660e6bcd5539

03084ac97

Unergative: Τρία τέταρτα έντονο τρέξιµο είναι αρκετά για να σαπίζει µετά µε τις

ώρες. ....

http://www.pitbull-club.gr/forums/showthread.php?t=366


Passive: Για όποιον δεν ξέρει, χθές µια οµάδα 60 χρυσαυγιτών σαπίστηκε στο ξύλο

απο 90 αναρχικούς καθώς έκανε πορεία στην Θεσσαλονίκη

thessaloniki.indymedia.org/front.php?lang=en&article_id=2645

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: ... Κατά την εκκίνηση του κινητήρα δηµιουργείται υγρασία στο

εσωτερικό της εξάτµισης, η οποία παραµένει µε τη µορφή νερού και τη σαπίζει.

http://www.motocikleta.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=16253

Anti-causative: Το πολιτικό σύστηµα σαπίζει στις µέρες σου από εσένα και

κάποιους άλλους http://papaioannou.wordpress.com/2008/06/


Anti-causative: Σανίδα παλιοσάνιδα βρέχεται, χιονίζεται, ποτέ της δε σαπίζεται.

www.snhell.gr/kids/content.asp?id=273&cat_id=12

Passive: Που σαπίζεται Blog της ηµέρας: πάντα αυτός του oploplopl, αυτός δεν

αλλάζει και είναι πάντα σ chiι. Αλλά είναι για αυτόν που αυτός συµπαθεί ! …

loonny4.spaces.live.com/

The verb sapizi (rot) was highly infrequent in the ILSP corpus with ACT voice

morphology while no NACT occurrences were found. Furthermore, it was more

frequently used in the presence of an inanimate than an animate subject (χ2=32.399,

p<.01). Finally, the most frequent reading was the anti-causative one in the presence


93

of an inanimate subject, its difference from the other available readings, irrespective

of subject animacy being significant (antic (122) vs other (61): χ2=20.333, p<.01).

In the Web corpus, the ACT verb forms were also more frequent in the

presence of an inanimate than an animate subject (χ2=371.361, p<.01) and the most

frequent reading was the anti-causative in the presence of an inanimate subject, its

difference from the other readings being significant (antic (1206) vs other (539):

χ2=254.951, p<.01). Note also one difference from the ILSP corpus: in both corpora

the ACT verbs in the presence of an animate subject were significantly more frequent

anti-causatives than transitives (ILSP: χ2=45.302, p<.01; Web: χ2=23.906, p<.01).

However, transitive uses were significantly more frequent in the Web than in the ILSP

corpus (χ2=28.488, p<.01). Finally, note that all the NACT data used come from the

Web corpus.

The overall results show that in active the verb receives transitive and anti-

causative readings with either animate or inanimate subjects. Note however that the

verb is mostly used metaphorically in the utterances with animate subjects with

transitive (ILSP: 2/2 and Web: 174/182; 95.65%) or anti-causative readings (ILSP:

48/50 and Web: 250/288; 88.17%). On the other hand, in the utterances with an

inanimate subject it is mostly used literally with transitive (ILSP: 6/8 and Web: 26/69;

41.56 %) or anti-causative readings (ILSP: 102/122 and Web: 952/1207; 79.31%).

Note furthermore, that transitive uses are more frequent with animate subjects (anim:

184 vs inanim: 77; χ2= 43.866, p<.01), while anti-causative readings are more

frequent in the presence of an inanimate subject (anim: 339 vs inanim: 1328; χ2=

586.755, p<.01). Furthermore, anti-causative readings are significantly more frequent

than transitive ones regardless of animacy (Animate: (trans: 184 vs antic: 339; χ2=

45.937, p<.01; Inanimate: (trans: 77 vs antic: 1328); χ2= 1113.880, p<.01).

When the NACT form is used, only passive readings were found with animate

subjects, while anti-causative readings were significantly more frequent than passive

ones with inanimate subjects (antic: 10 vs pass: 1; χ2= 7.364, p=.007). Note that they

are found mostly in instances of colloquial and poetic speech.

Table 15: The PPs used ACT NACT antic pass anim inanim anim ILSP apo-agent


94

apo-cause 18 pp-cause 2 apo-self 2 other pp 27 Web apo-agent 5 1 4 apo-cause 34 pp-cause 44 me-cause 8 apo-instr 2 other pp 36 7

Turning to a discussion of the PPs found in the sentences with the verb sapizi (rot

ACT-NACT) we should note that ‘apo-self’ was found only in the ILSP corpus

among active anti-causative readings with animate subjects while apo-cause and other

PP-cause were frequent among active anti-causatives with inanimate subjects, though

more frequently in the Web (n=78) than the ILSP corpus (n=20) (χ2=34.327, p<.001).

More specifically, in the Web among active anti-causative with inanimate subjects

apo- and me-cause, or other PPs like ‘logo’ + GEN or ‘exetias’ + GEN (because of)

were the most frequent while one apo-agent (n=1) was also attested. Also, among

anti-causative readings with animate subjects apo-agent (n=5) and instrument (n=2)

phrases were attested only in the Web corpus, while other pp-locative (like sti filaki

(in jail) or sto PC (in front of the PC)) were more frequent (n=36). Finally, among

passive readings (NACT) with animate subjects we found apo-agent and PPs like ‘sto

xilo’ (‘beaten to death’).


95

5. The verb ljoni (melt)



Table 16: the verb ljoni (melt) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 54.84 43.83 44.74 14.67 74.17 62.33

anti-causative 14 191 205 64 78 142

% 45.16 56.17 55.26 85.33 25.83 37.67


% 33.34 33.34


% 7.41 7.41

passive 0 2 2 0 50 50

% 66.66 66.66 92.59 92.59

We next cite some illustrative examples:

Animate subject:


Transitive: Μούσκεψε λοιπόν τα παξιµάδια και τα έλιωσε σε µια χαλαρή πάστα.

Θυµάµαι που καταγινόταν µε λίγους ξηρούς καρπούς,

http://www.asxetos.gr/article.aspx?i=471


96

Anti-causative: Την Παλαιστίνη της Φαεντά και των χιλιάδων γυναικών της, που οι

άνδρες τους λειώνουν στις φυλακές χωρίς να ξέρουν αν και πότε θα τους ξαναδούν

και που τα … http://www.epohi.gr/first_page2_1612005.htm


Reflexive: ... Οι χούλιγκαν που λιώνονται στα κάγκελα είναι αντιεξουσιαστές; Οι

έξαλλοι γιωταχήδες που συµπλέκονται στα φανάρια είναι αντιεξουσιαστές; ...

http://www.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_12209_05/02/2006_172255

Passive: Αν µη τι άλλο έχουµε ενα Forum και ένα PC και 20 γκόµενες στη σχολή

που δεν ... την πάλη των "ιπποποτάµων"(στην οποία λιώνονται τα βατράχια,όπως

εµείς.

http://www.polytexneio.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2329&sid=d782bafa1576309a5f4

c5641fad007aa

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: Το τεράστιο πόδι του Βλαδίµηρου έλειωσε µε ένα ανατριχιαστικό

θόρυβο το κεφάλι της Αναστασίας

http://www.gisi.gr/tales/1vladimir.htm

Anti-causative: ∆ηλαδή τώρα που λειώσαν τα χιόνια τι θα κάνει....?

http://florina-live.gr/portal/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&

Itemid=183&func=view&id=92&catid=2


Anti-causative: προσκολλείται στο τύµπανο από όπου µεταφέρεται επάνω στο χαρτί

και λιώνεται µε τη θερµότητα και την πίεση.

http://daedalus.edu.uoc.gr/Edu%20Pages/new/books/intro/ylh.html

The verb ljoni (melt), as shown in Table 16, is marked only with ACT voice

morphology in the ILSP corpus, while in the Web there are also some occurrences of

NACT forms as well. When it surfaces in ACT form with an animate subject the

distribution of transitive and anti-causative readings does not differ significantly in

both corpora (ILSP-Web); nevertheless we note that transitives are more frequent than

anti-causatives in the ILSP, while anti-causatives are more frequent than transitives in


97

the Web corpus. However, in the presence of an inanimate subject a different pattern

is attested depending on the corpus: more specifically, while in the ILSP corpus the

verb is more frequently anti-causative than transitive (χ2=37.453, p<.01), in the Web

corpus it is more frequently transitive than anti-causative (χ2=70.583, p<.01).

The overall data also show that it is more frequently used in active than non-

active voice morphology, the difference being significant (act: 748 vs nact: 57; χ2=

593.144, p<.01). When the sentence involves an animate subject the active form of

the verb may receive a transitive or, more frequently an anti-causative reading (χ2=

4.100, p=.043). In the presence of an inanimate subject, the active form may also

receive a transitive or anti-causative reading, but in this case the transitive reading is

significantly more frequent than the anti-causative (χ2= 22.942 , p<.01). In the non-

active voice morphology (data drawn from the Web corpus only), the verb is more

frequently used with inanimate than animate subjects (anim: 3 vs inanim: 54; χ2=

45.632, p<.01). In the first case it may receive a reflexive or an anti-causative reading,

while in the latter, anti-causative and significantly more frequently passive readings

are available (antic:4 vs pass: 50; χ2= 32.439, p<.01).

Table 17: The PPs used ACT NACT antic antic pass anim inanim inanim inanim ILSP apo-agent apo-cause 6 4 me-cause 1 pp-cause 4 me-instr 2 apo-self self other pp 9 Web apo-agent 1 apo-cause 22 47 pp-cause 77 93 2 18 apo-instr 4 me-instr 2 4 2

Turning to a discussion of the PPs indexed in the corpora, note that among active

anti-causatives (irrespective of subject animacy), (apo or other) pp-cause are attested

in both corpora (ILSP-Web), but more frequently in the Web (ILSP (15) vs Web

(239): χ2=197.543, p<.001), while there are also few PP-cause among the passive


98

readings. Some of other expressions used are: ‘logo’ (because of) +GEN, se (in) +

temperature or subordinate clauses (n=93); examples below also illustrate some of the

pp-cause used with animate (a) and (b) or inanimate subject (c):

(a) Αυτός ο µεγαλωµένος στο Σέφφιλντ τύπος δεν χρειαζόταν να δηλώσει πως

άκουγε Elvis (σίγουρα έλιωσε κι έλιωνε µε το 'In the Ghetto)' και Orbinson :

όλοι οι ... http://www.mic.gr/cds.asp?id=23792

(b) Να πρέπει δηλαδή καλοκαιριάτικα να λιώνουν στο δίαβασµα! Αυτάααα Very

Happy...http://forum.os.cs.teiath.gr/viewtopic.php?t=187&start=45&sid=359b04

17a72cccb0f037b807b2776e3b

(c) Γενικά, οι πρώτες ύλες εισάγονται σε έναν φούρνο και λειώνουν σε

θερµοκρασίες. της τάξης των 2600°F. Μόλις λειώσει, το γυαλί διαµορφώνεται

είτε µε µηχανή ... http://www.ath.aegean.gr/srcosmos/showpub.aspx?aa=7054

Furthermore, note that while in the ILSP corpus apo-cause are more frequent with an

animate than an inanimate subject, in the Web corpus the reverse pattern is attested.

Also, in both corpora, some PP-instruments are attested. Note however, that, while in

the ILSP we found only me-instrument with ACT anti-causatives with inanimate

subjects, in the Web there are both apo- and me- instruments with both animate and

inanimate subjects.


99

6. The verb lijizi (bend)

The Table below shows the distribution of the various readings, as found in the

corpora examined:

Table 18: the verb lijizi (bend) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


Animate inanimate

ILSP Web Total ILSP Web total


% 42.39 29.58 32.64 32.21 28.66 28.89

anti-causative 124 485 609 40 600 640

% 57.14 69.98 66.92 67.79 71.34 71.11

unergative 1 3 4 0 0 0

% 0.47 0.44 0.44


% 100 100


% 18.19 18.19

passive 0 0 0 0 9 9

% 81.81 81.81

The following examples illustrate the various readings:


100

Animate subject:


Transititve: Κάποιοι έχουν µεγάλη µέση και την λυγίζουν πολύ. Εµείς έχουµε µόνο

νεύρα.http://www.symmaxia.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&

Itemid=0

Anti-causative: Όµως οι «κίτρινοι» λυγίζουν από το άγχος, η µπάλα δεν µπαίνει…

µε τίποτα στο καλάθι

http://www.betsmart.gr/mainsite/modules/news/article.php?storyid=20098

Unergative: Για τους διπλωµάτες που δεν κάνουν τίποτε παραπάνω απο το να

διπλώνουν τη µεσούλα τους και να λυγίζουν σε τεµενάδες για τον κάθε ανόητο που

νοµίζει ότι έχει ... http://the6milliondollarstory.blogspot.com/


Reflexive: Ο παπάς, ευγενικός άνθρωπος γαρ, της παραχωρεί το µπαλκονάκι και

λουφάζει σε µια γωνία από όπου την παρακολουθεί διακριτικά να τεντώνεται, να

λυγίζεται, ...

http://georgeisyourman.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_georgeisyourman_archive.html

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: Εδώ υπάρχουν movies που λυγίζουν PII µε 64 RAM, θα τρέχει στα

κινητά?

http://www.myphone.gr/forum/archive/index.php/t-2005.html

Anti-causative: Στο πέµπτο κεφάλαιο εξετάζουµε την περίπτωση χαρακτηριστικών

ορθογωνικών πλακών µε µεταβλητό λόγο πλευρών a/b, οι οποίες λυγίζουν υπό την

επίδραση ... http://www.postgrad.structural.civil.ntua.gr/pclab/thesis/thesis01-

02/thesis_100.htm


Anti-causative: να σειέται να λυγίζεται να πέφτει το λογάρι. να το µαζεύουν οι

άρχοντες να κάνουν δαχτυλίδια http://www.imacret.gr/index.php?option=

com_content&task= view&id=40&Itemid=40

Passive: Λυγίζεται εύκολα Σε µία ακτίνα 20cm. να έχεις υπόψη σου ότι µπορεί το

καλώδιο να είναι Καλό, είναι όµως υπερβολικό http://salonicawireless.net/faq/


101

The verb lijizi (bend), as shown in the Table, is marked only with ACT voice

morphology in the ILSP corpus, while in the Web there are also very few occurrences

of NACT too. When it surfaces with ACT morphology with an animate subject the

distribution of transitive and anti-causative readings it receives differs in the two

corpora. The frequency of transitive readings does not differ from the anti-causative

ones in the ILSP corpus (χ2=2.273, p=.132), while anti-causative readings are

significantly more frequent than transitives in the Web corpus (χ2=16.00, p<.01). In

other words, the anti-causative reading is more frequent in the Web than the ILSP

corpus, but not significantly so (χ2=1.331, p=.249). When the syntactic subject is

inanimate the anti-causative readings are more frequent than the transitive ones in

both corpora (ILSP-Web) (χ2=12.960, p<.01 and χ2=17.640, p<.01, respectively).

Nevertheless, we note that anti-causative readings are more frequent in the Web than

the ILSP corpus, but not significantly. Overall, results from ACT with animate and

inanimate subjects show that there is a tendency of more frequent anti-causative uses

in the Web than in the ILSP corpus. Non-active forms are attested only in the Web

corpus.

Overall results show that the verb was used more frequently in the active than

the non-active form (act: 1814 vs nact: 42; χ2= 1691.802, p<.01). Active forms receive

an anti-causative reading more frequently than a transitive one both in the presence of

animate (trans: 297 vs antic: 609; χ2= 107.444, p<.01) and inanimate subjects (trans:

260 vs antic: 640; χ2= 160.444, p<.01); some unergative readings are also available

with animate subjects but are less frequent than any other reading attested

(χ2=802.078, p<.01).

On the other hand, the non-active verb forms only receive a reflexive reading

with animate subjects, while, inanimate subjects give rise to passive readings

significantly more frequently than anti-causatives (χ2= 4.455, p=.035).

Table 19: The PPs used antic anim inanim ILSP apo-agent 1 apo-cause 10 5 me-instr 2 1 other pp 6 4 Web apo-agent 7 apo-cause 39


102

me-instr 6 other pp 139

With respect to the PPs found in the various contexts we note that only with active

anti-causatives we found structures that could be grouped. More specifically, in the

ILSP Corpus apo-cause followed active anti-causatives with animate subjects more

frequently than inanimate subjects (χ2=1.667, p=.197), but not significantly, while in

the Web corpus apo-cause were found only among active anti-causatives with

animate subject. Moreover, in both corpora apo-agent phrases were attested (though

more frequent in the Web) (n=10/29), while me-instrument or other PPs were also

attested, the latter highly frequent both in the ILSP (10/29: 34.5%) and the Web

(139/191: 72.7%).

7. The verb stegnoni (dry)

We last turn to an analysis of the verb stegnoni (dry). The distribution of the

various readings that the verb received in the two corpora examined is shown in Table

20:

Table 20: the verb stegnoni (dry) (ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 71.43 75.84 75.64 13.16 10.97 11.02

anti-causative 2 36 38 33 1339 1372

% 28.57 24.16 24.36 86.84 89.03 88.98


% 25 25


103


% 100 2.15 3.52

passive 0 3 3 0 137 137

% 75 75 97.85 96.48

Here we cite some examples illustrative of the various readings, as indexed in the

corpora.

Animate subject:


Transitive: Κάθε τόσο στεγνώνει µε τις παλάµες του, καράφλα, κούτελο, φρύδια, µε

αυτή τη σειρά,... http://superheroshima.deviantart.com/journal/?offset=5

Anti-causative: Κέρδισε τον αυτοσεβασµό και την αξιοπρέπειά της. Όµως, σαν γνήσια

ηρωίδα, το πλήρωσε. Στέγνωσε από χυµούς, καταχώνιασε τα αισθήµατά της. ... http://ta-

nea.dolnet.gr/front_page.php?fyllo=17627


Reflexive: τρελαίνεται να βουτάει αλλα όταν βαρεθεί βγάζει µόνος του το πώµα απ

τη µπανιέρα και στεγνώνεται.

http://www.teleiosgamos.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1273&sid=3075d2e41c2e10de55

3b207bb632059f

Passive: Τα δειγµατοληπτούµενα ψάρια πλένονται γρήγορα µε νερό, στεγνώνονται

µε απορροφητικό χαρτί, θανατώνονται ακαριαία µε τον προσφορότερο και

ανθρωπιστικότερο ... http://europa.eu.int/eur-

lex/lex/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31998L0073:EL:HTML

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: Iσπανοί ερευνητές δηµιούργησαν µία συσκευή που στεγνώνει και

σιδερώνει τα ρούχα λύνοντας τα χέρια των Iσπανίδων

http://www.kazam.gr/online/node/50382


104

Anti-causative: Θα ανεβάσω βιντεάκι, στο οποίο για να πεθάνει η παλιά µου Striker

Extreme, ενώ έφαγε µπουγέλο, στέγνωσε µε πιστολάκι, πήρε 7-8 φορές ρεύµα σε

µοκέτα http://www.thelab.gr/search.php?searchid=616007


Anti-causative: Πριν την χρήση τους, θα πρέπει να σαπουνίζονται µε ζεστό νερό, να

ξεβγάζονται καλά και να στεγνώνονται στον αέρα.

http://www.parents.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3817

Passive: Σχετικά µε το ξύρισµα ...... πως το ξυραφάκι πρέπει να στεγνώνεται µε

πιστολάκι κι όχι µε πετσέτα κ.λ.π. …


The verb stegnoni (dry) is primarily used with ACT voice morphology in the ILSP

corpus, NACT forms being highly infrequent (only 2 occurrences were found with

inanimate subjects). In the Web corpus, ACT occurrences were significantly more

frequent than NACT ones (χ2=1269.543, p<.01); moreover, ACT occurrences were

significantly more frequent in this than the ILSP corpus (χ2=137.110, p<.01). With

respect to ACT forms in both corpora transitive uses were significantly more frequent

than anti-causative ones with animate subjects (ILSP: χ2=17.640, p<.01 and Web:

χ2=17.040, p<.01), while the presence of an inanimate subject increased anti-causative

readings in both corpora (ILSP: χ2=54.760, p<.01 and Web: χ2=60.840, p<.01). No

statistical differences were attested in the distribution of the readings mentioned

above between the two corpora. As far as NACT verb forms are concerned note that

the most frequent reading that the verb received, was the passive one in the presence

of an inanimate subject (pass-inanim vs all other nact forms: χ2=120.007, p<.01).

What is very important to note is that while NACT was very rare in the ILSP (only

two utterances with inanimate subjects were found), it was frequently found in the

Web (n=143). Moreover, the NACT forms found in the Web were passively used

irrespective of subject animacy (anim: 75% and inanim: 97.85%), while reflexive

readings (with animate subjects) and anti-causative ones (with inanimate subjects)

were also available. Note finally that in the presence of inanimate subjects, speakers

tend to use ACT to denote an anti-causative reading and NACT to describe a passive

one. Animate subjects, on the other hand, favour transitive readings of ACT forms,

while anti-causatives remain available and NACT forms are mostly perceived as


105

passives, while reflexives remain also available. However, the above is evident only

in instances of colloquial speech, given that NACT was primarily found in the Web.

Total frequencies (from the two corpora) show that the verb is used more

frequently in the presence of an inanimate than an animate subject both in active

(anim: 156 vs inanim: 1542; χ2=1131.329, p<.01) and in non-active verb morphology

(anim: 4 vs inanim: 142; χ2= 130.438, p<.01). The active verb forms with animate

subjects are used transitively more frequently than anti-causatively (χ2= 41.026,

p<.01). In the presence of an inanimate subject the reverse pattern is attested, i.e. the

anti-causative readings are significantly more frequent than the transitive ones (χ2=

936.968, p<.01).

In the non-active morphology (frequencies drawn from the Web corpus)

sentences involving animate subjects were very few and received a passive (n=3)

more frequently than a reflexive reading (n=1). The sentences involving inanimate

subjects were significantly more frequent (anim: 4 vs inanim: 142; χ2= 130.438,

p<.01) and received a passive more frequently than an anti-causative reading (χ2=

122.704, p<.01).

Table 21: The PPs used antic pass anim inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-cause 1

me-instr 1 other pp 1 apo-other (complement) 1 1 Web apo-agent 1 apo-cause 27 se-instrument 10 pp-cause 11 me-instr 9 1 29 apo-self 2 apo-other (complement) 4

With regard to the PPs found in the sentences, we should note that while very few

examples were found in the ILSP corpus (mostly with active anti-causatives with

inanimate subjects), in the Web Corpus there were more occurrences to discuss.

However, note that in both corpora we found apo-complement among active anti-

causatives with inanimate subjects, as in the example below:


106

«Στέγνωσαν» από βενζίνη τα πρατήρια λόγω της απεργίας των βυ ...

http://www.aetos24.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=106&t=294&p=564

More specifically, with respect to the Web corpus, active anti-causatives with

inanimate subjects were followed by a variety of expressions denoting like ‘exetias’ +

GEN (because of)); also apo-cause as well as se-, me- instrument phrases were found,

as in the examples below:

... απ’την πολύ φωτιά στέγνωσαν οι ωκεανοί, τα ηφαίστεια χιόνιζαν, ...

http://www.bleep.gr/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=50&topic=286.405

... Το φυτίλι του κεριού πρώτα µουσκεύεται σε αλισίβα και µετά στεγνώνει

στον ήλιο. http://www.fcsgreeceforum.com/showthread.php?t=243

...Θα ανεβάσω βιντεάκι, στο οποίο για να πεθάνει η παλιά µου Striker Extreme,

ενώ έφαγε µπουγέλο, στέγνωσε µε πιστολάκι, πήρε 7-8 φορές ρεύµα σε µοκέτα

µε

... http://www.thelab.gr/search.php?searchid=616007

NACT passive readings were also followed by me-instrument:

...πως το ξυραφάκι πρέπει να στεγνώνεται µε πιστολάκι κι όχι µε πετσέτα κ.λ.π.

... http://www.myphone.gr/forum/archive/index.php/t-4970.html

Note finally that only one apo-agent was attested (passive reading with inanimate

subject):

... έγγραφα του αρχείου που βρίσκονταν σε πορτοκαλείς φακέλους πάνω στο

τραπέζι, δυστυχώς βράχηκαν αλλά στεγνώθηκαν επιµελώς απο τους

υπαλλήλους του ΕΛΙΑ. .

http://www.elia.org.gr/EntryImages%5C1%5C%CE%A1%CE%A9%CE%9C%

CE%91,%20%CE%9F%CE%99%CE%9A.rtf


107

4.3.2. Class II (Voice Alternating Anti-causatives) a. General Remarks

Turning now to an analysis of the Voice Alternating Anti-causative verbs (Class II),

we should note that, in all, these verbs are largely found both in active and non-active

morphology. Still, despite the fact that these verbs are classified as anti-causatives

active voice morphology favours the transitive use, while non-active verb forms allow

for anti-causative as well as passive readings. More specifically, in a total of 10700

active verbs (in the Web and ILSP corpus), transitive uses represent the 80.89%

(anim: 5616 and inanim: 3040), while in a total of 5789 non-active verbs, anti-

causative readings represent the 48.63% (anim: 1200 and inanim: 1615), passive

readings represent the 36.12% (anim: 443 and inanim: 1648), while reflexive readings

represent the 13.66% (anim: 753 and inanim: 38) which seems to be largely due to

frequencies in the Web Corpus and reciprocal readings represent the 1.59% (anim: 85

and inanim: 7).

The Graph below illustrates the distribution of interpretations in each corpus

with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy.

Graph 9: distribution of interpretations with respect to voice morphology and

subject animacy in the corpora (ILSP-Web)-Class II verbs


108

Starting with a comparison between frequencies drawn from the two corpora (ILSP-

Web), as shown in Table 22 below, the distribution of interpretations that ACT verb

forms receive irrespective of subject animacy do not differ: in both corpora ACT

forms with animate subjects receive a transitive significantly more frequently than

any other available reading (ILSP: χ2 =67.240, p<.001; Web: χ2 =81.00, p<.001).

Moreover, in both corpora ACT forms with inanimate subjects receive a transitive

reading (with instrument subjects) more frequently than anti-causative (ILSP: χ2

=1.707, p=.191; Web: χ2 =11.796, p=.001) and unergative ones (ILSP: χ2 =53.070,

p<.001; Web: χ2 =63.060, p<.001). Note, however, that although the difference

between transitive and anti-causative readings is not significant in the ILSP corpus,

the distribution of these two readings was not significantly different from the

distribution attested in the Web corpus: it is noteworthy, however, that transitive uses

were more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus (χ2 =.820, p=.365) and anti-

causative readings were more frequent in the ILSP than the Web corpus (χ2 =1.613,

p=.204).

Turning to NACT forms with animate subjects, we should notice that in both

corpora the anti-causative reading was the most frequent: however, in the ILSP corpus

anti-causative readings were significantly more frequent than reflexive/ reciprocal

ones (χ2 =7.563, p=.006) but not than passives (χ2 =.620, p=.431) while in the Web

corpus anti-causative readings were significantly more frequent than passives (χ2

=16.754, p<.001) but not than reflexive/reciprocal ones (χ2 =2.333, p=.127). Also,

while the distribution of the anti-causative readings did not differ between the two

corpora, some variation is attested with respect to the other available readings (except

for the reciprocal readings which also did not differ between the two corpora). More

specifically, the reflexive readings are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus

(χ2 =3.920, p=.048) while the passive readings are more frequent in the ILSP than the

Web corpus (χ2 =7.692, p=.006).

The distribution of the readings received among NACT forms with inanimate

subjects differed in the two corpora: more specifically, in the ILSP corpus the passive

reading was significantly more frequent than the other available readings

(pass>refl/recipr: χ2 =61.232, p<.001; pass>antic: χ2 =13.224, p<.001), while in the

Web corpus the anti-causative reading was significantly more frequent than the

reflexive/reciprocal one (χ2 =49.075, p<.001), but did not differ from the passive (χ2

=.253, p=.615). Note finally that, in the Web corpus, while anti-causative readings are


109

significantly increased in number (ILSP vs Web: χ2 =5.313, p=.021), passive readings

appear to be less numerous (ILSP vs Web: χ2 =3.509, p=.061) but not significantly so.

Reflexive readings were more frequent in the Web corpus while reciprocal were more

frequent in the Web corpus, but their distribution did not differ significantly between

the two corpora; recall though the very limited number of occurrences that illustrate

distribution in the ILSP corpus.

The Table below illustrates the various readings Alternating Anti-causatives

received in the contexts found in the corpora, with respect to voice morphology and

subject animacy.

Table 22: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] (class II)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 91.24 94.76 93.85 56.13 66.09 64.46

anti-causative 48 65 113 336 1278 1614

% 3.09 1.47 1.89 43.35 32.43 34.22

unergative 88 167 255 4 58 62

% 5.67 3.77 4.26 0.52 1.48 1.32


% 18.25 48.95 30.35 0.8 0.12 1.15

reciprocal 6 79 85 4 3 7

% 3.39 3.54 3.43 0.8 0.12 0.21

anti-causative 109 1091 1200 156 1459 1615

% 43.25 48.95 48.37 31.14 51.97 48.82

passive 91 352 443 337 1311 1648

% 36.11 15.79 17.85 67.26 46.7 49.82


110

With respect to total frequencies (drawn from both corpora) we note that, with regard

to ACT verb forms with an animate subject, transitive readings are significantly more

frequent than anti-causatives (χ2 = 5285.915, p<.001), as well as than unergatives (χ2 =

4895.303, p<.01). The same pattern is attested when inanimate subjects are involved:

i.e. transitive readings are significantly more frequent than anti-causatives (χ2 =

436.931, p<.001), as well as unergatives (χ2 = 2858.957, p<.01).

Note furthermore that the anti-causative interpretation of active verb forms is

more frequent with inanimate than animate subjects (anim; 113 vs inanim: 1614; χ2 =

1304.575, p<.01) and the unergative is more frequently attested in the presence of

animate than inanimate subject illustrating instruments (anim: 255 vs inanim: 62; χ2

=117.505, p<.01).

In the non-active forms of the Class II verbs we notice that when an animate

subject is involved the anti-causative reading is significantly more frequent than the

reflexive (χ2 = 102.309, p<.01) and the passive (χ2 = 348.782, p<.01), but the reflexive

is more frequent than the passive (χ2 = 80.351, p<.01). On the other hand, when an

inanimate subject is involved, the passive reading is more frequent than the anti-

causative, but not significantly (χ2 = .334, p=.563).

Note furthermore, that the reflexive reading is more frequent with animate

than inanimate subjects (χ2 = 646.302, p<.01) and so is the reciprocal reading (χ2 =

66.130, p<.01). The reverse pattern is attested for the other available readings: i.e. the

anti-causative reading is more frequent with inanimate than animate subjects (χ2 =

61.181, p<.01) and so is the passive reading (χ2 = 694.417, p<.01).

With regard to the anti-causative readings note furthermore that, when an

animate subject is involved, non-active verbs are used more frequently than active

verb forms (act: 113 vs nact: 1200; χ2 = 899.900, p<.01), while when an inanimate

subject is involved no such preference is attested (act: 1614 vs nact: 1615; χ2 = .000,

p=.986). With regard to the passive readings of non-active verb forms note finally that

they are significantly more frequent in the presence of inanimate than animate

subjects (anim: 443 vs inanim: 1648; χ2 = 694.417, p<.01).

The above statistics suggest that the verbs of Class II when used in non-active

morphology receive not only the anti-causative reading, but a reflexive reading too

with animate subjects, while the presence of an inanimate subject denotes more

frequently a passive interpretation.


111

b. Specific tokens

The Voice alternating anti-causatives are generally allowed both in active and non-

active voice morphology in Greek. Indexing the corpora of the present research, we

found that they are mostly transitively used in the active, while they receive both

reflexive and non-reflexive (anti-causative and passive) readings regardless of the

animacy of the syntactic subject in the non-active forms (metaphoric uses included).

However note that the distribution of interpretations discussed is often attributed to

specific verbs largely used, as illustrated in the Graph below:

Graph 10: Interpretations of Class II verbs in the ILSP and Web Corpus (voice


More specifically, with regard to the ILSP Corpus when active verbs are indexed and

an animate subject is involved, anti-causative readings illustrate the frequencies of the


112

verbs htipai (hit) (n=47). The unergative reading is found with the verb katharizi

(clean) (n=87) metaphorically used, as in the example below:

Ευτυχώς, καθαρίσαµε γρήγορα, σχολίασε ο Ρότσα, που τον ενδιέφερε

αφ' ενός η... διαδικασία να µην πάρει χρόνο, όπως κι έγινε, και

αφετέρου να µην κουράσει τους ποδοσφαιριστές σωµατικά και

ψυχολογικά. (ILSP Corpus: 18025)

In the presence of an inanimate subject, the anti-causative reading is mostly drawn

from the verb htipai (hit) (n=303), while the unergative reading illustrates

metaphorical uses of katharizi (clean) (n=3) and htipai (hit) (n=1), as in the example

below:

Η Πόρσε καθαρίζει για την Χάρλεϊ (ILSP Corpus: 945622)

When non-active verbs are indexed, in sentences that involved an animate subject, the

reflexive reading is an effect of the verbs berdevi-NACT (mingle) (n=17) and htipai -

NACT (hit) (n=18), while the reciprocal reading is the effect of the verb htipai-NACT

(hit) (n=5). Furthermore, the anti-causative reading is an effect of the verb berdevi -

NACT (mingle) (n=85) and htipai-NACT (hit) (n=24) and the passive one is also an

effect of htipai-NACT (hit) (n=85). In the presence of an inanimate subject, the anti-

causative reading is an effect of the verb berdevi-NACT (mingle) (n=109), the passive

of htipai -NACT (hit) (n=271) and katharizi-NACT (clean) (n=41), while there is also

a marginal metaphorical reciprocal use mostly of htipai -NACT (hit) (n=3) and a

reflexive of htipai-NACT (hit) (n=2) and tendoni -NACT (stretch) (n=2).

Turning to the Web Corpus note that the frequencies of htipai (hit) (active

form) affect the frequency of anti-causative (62/65) when animate subjects are

involved, and unergative (metaphorically used) readings (n= 49/58), when an

inanimate subject is involved, as in the example below:

Αλήθεια αυτό το Κρεµ χρώµα πως τους ήρθε? Χτυπάει κάπως όταν το

υπόλοιπο πλοίο είναι σε bright λευκό. ....

Web Corpus: http://forum.nautilia.gr/showthread.php?t=20433


113

With respect to non-active verbs with animate subjects, the frequency of reflexive

readings is an effect of htipai –NACT (hit) (n=432) and tendoni –NACT (stretch)

(n=183) and the frequency of the reciprocal readings is an effect of htipai –NACT

(hit) (n=78). Likewise, the frequency of anti-causative readings illustrates a large part

of the verb berdevi –NACT (mingle) (n=757) and htipai-NACT (hit) (n=215) and the

frequency of passive readings is an effect of htipai-NACT (hit) (n=331). In the

presence of inanimate subjects the frequency of reflexive readings is the effect of

htipai –NACT (hit) (n=19) and tendoni –NACT (stretch) (n=12) and of reciprocal

readings is the effect of htipai-NACT (hit) (n=3). The frequency of the passive

readings is the effect of katharizi –NACT (clean) (n=858) and htipai-NACT (hit)

(n=272), while the frequency of the anti-causative readings is the effect of berdevi –

NACT (mingle) (n=605), tendoni –NACT (stretch) (n=323) and htipai –NACT (hit)

(n=200).

The verbs htipai (hit), berdevi (mix) and katharizi (clean) were the most

frequent (see graph 10); thus the distribution discussed illustrates frequencies of these

verbs than of the whole class of ‘voice alternating anti-causative’ verbs. For this

reason, we next analyse each verb examined in both corpora (ILSP-Web).


114

1. The verb tendoni (stretch)

In general, the verb tendoni (ACT-NACT) is mostly used in active (56.39%) than in

non-active voice morphology (43.61%), the former being significantly more frequent

than the latter (act: 807 vs nact: 624; χ2= 23.403, p<.01). Furthermore the active

forms are more frequently used with animate (63.44%) than inanimate subjects

(36.56%), the difference being significant (anim: 512 vs inanim: 295; χ2= 58.351,

p<.01).

The Table below illustrates the distribution of the various readings of the verb

tendoni (stretch) with respect to animacy, as found in the corpora:

Table 23: the verb tendoni (stretch ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 100 100 100 90 40.36 42.04


% 10 59.36 57.96


% 100 99.45 99.48 14.29 2.88 3.23


% 0.55 0.52 64.28 77.08 76.67

passive 0 0 0 3 84 87

% 21.43 20.04 20.10

We next present some examples of the various readings drawn from the corpora:


115

Animate subject:


Transitive: Η Άρτεµη τέντωσε τότε το τόξο της, ρίχνει ένα βέλος και χτυπάει το

στόχο που δεν είναι άλλος από τον Ωρίωνα. http://pantheon.20m.com/poseidwn2.htm


Reflexive: Τα ζώα τεντώνονται, αγγίζουν και γλείφουν το ένα τη µουσούδα του

άλλου κουνώντας τις ουρές τους. http://www.nationalgeographic.gr/0306/issues.html

Anti-causative: Τα παραδείγµατα πελατών µου που κατάφεραν να αλλάξουν το

σώµα τους είναι πάρα πολλά. Ψήλωσαν, τεντώθηκαν, στάθηκαν σωστά µε πολύ

φυσικό τρόπο, χωρίς να το καταλάβουν. http://www.pilatesmethod.gr/diva.html

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: Τέντωσε η στιγµή την αιωνιότητα, τρελλαίνονται κρυφές πτυχές, σκιρτά

την πορφυρή χαρά του το λουλούδι.

http://e-magazino.gr/forum/ index.php?PHPSESSID=

54c8f08767468e858cdd2c4bea1afd83&topic=1261.msg3798

Anti-causative: Τεντώνουν κατά βούληση και σταµατάνε να τεντώνουν όταν

εκείνος που τραβάει τα άκρα τους θεωρήσει ...

http://forum.kiato.eu/index.php?show=archives&p=59


Reflexive: Το κουτί µε τους βελούδινους φιόγκους που τεντώθηκαν νυσταγµένοι. Το

κουτί µε τις καµπάνες που µε µιας άρχισαν να χτυπάνε.

http://www.christmasinathens.gr/Paramuthia/7.html

Anti-causative: Οι τρίχες του από αλογοουρά είναι χαλαρά περασµένες και

τεντώνονται κατά το παίξιµο µε τα δάχτυλα του δεξιού χεριού. Ιδιαίτερο

χαρακτηριστικό του τύπου ... http://www.thrakiotikos-

luedenscheid.de/wbboard/thraki.php

Passive: ... Τα τεµάχια του χλοοτάπητα δεν πρέπει να τεντώνονται για να καλύψουν

τις επιφάνειες. http://www.iok.gr/petep/10-05-02-02_h1.pdf


116

Starting with a comparison between the two corpora, first note that the verb was

highly infrequent in the ILSP corpus, especially in NACT forms (act (52)-nact (21)),

while the Web corpus was significantly larger in size (ILSP (73) vs Web (1357):

χ2=1152.906, p<.001). With respect to the distribution of the various interpretations

received, in the ILSP corpus the verb was used more frequently as transitive with an

animate subject (trans-anim (42/73:57.53%) vs all other readings (act-nact) (31/73:

42.46%)). In the Web corpus the ACT forms were used more frequently with animate

than inanimate subject (χ2=45.331, p<.01), in the former case they were always

transitive, while in the latter anti-causative readings were more frequent than

transitive ones (χ2=4.00, p=.046). It is important to notice that the distribution of act-

inanim combinations differ in the two corpora: while in the ILSP Corpus transitive

uses are more frequent than anti-causative ones (90% vs 10%), in the Web Corpus the

reverse pattern is attested: anti-causatives are more frequent than transitives (59.36%

vs 40.36%), as already pointed out.

NACT forms, attested in the ILSP corpus (though few) were more frequent

with inanimate subjects, receiving an anti-causative reading, while reflexive readings

were the only available ones with animate subjects. A similar pattern was attested, in

the Web corpus, where NACT forms were also more frequent with inanimate

subjects, receiving an anti-causative reading, while reflexive readings were the ones

primarily used with animate subjects. Note however the following: the Web is larger

in size and the frequencies attested are more evident than in the ILSP Corpus, but the

distribution of nact-inanim combinations does not differ between the two corpora;

however, reflexives are significantly more preferred in the ILSP than the Web corpus

(14.29% vs 2.88%: χ2=7.118, p=.008), anti-causatives are more preferred in the Web

than in the ILSP, but not significantly so (77.08% vs 64.28%: (χ2=1.179, p=.274) and

passives show a similar pattern, but their number is more evident in the Web corpus

due to its larger size.

Overall, whereas ACT forms with animate subjects were exclusively used as

transitives in both corpora, ACT forms with inanimate subject were more frequently

transitive than anti-causative (χ2=64.00, p<.001) in the ILSP corpus, while they were

more frequently anti-causative than transitive in the Web corpus (χ2=4.00, p=.046). In

other words, the transitive use was significantly more frequent in the ILSP than the

Web corpus (χ2=19.231, p<.001), while the anti-causative reading was significantly

more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus (χ2=35.714, p<.001). Turning to


117

NACT forms, note that in both corpora the reflexive reading was the preferred one in

the presence of an animate subject (only one occurrence of anti-causative reading was

attested in the Web corpus). NACT verb forms with inanimate subjects yielded a

preference of the anti-causative reading in both corpora, while it seems that their

number was increased in the Web corpus, but not significantly (χ2=1.199, p=274), the

reflexive reading being more frequent in the ILSP corpus instead (χ2=7.118, p=.008).

Total frequencies show that active verb forms with animate subjects are

transitive, while with inanimate subjects the verb may be used transitively or, more

frequently, receive an anti-causative reading (χ2= 7.488, p=.006). Furthermore the

inanimate syntactic subject refers to the cause or instrument that caused the verb

meaning, i.e. the action of stretching. Non-active verb forms are used more frequently

with inanimate (69.39%) than animate subjects (30.61%), the difference being

significant (anim: 191 vs inanim: 433; χ2= 93.853, p<.001). When the subject is

animate the verb receives a reflexive reading (99.48%). Inanimate subjects involve

anti-causative (76.67%) or passive readings (20.10%), while there are also some

examples of metaphorical reflexive readings (3.23%). Note, furthermore that the anti-

causative readings are significantly more frequent than the passive ones (antic: 332 vs

pass: 87; χ2= 143.258, p<.001), and the passive/anti-causative readings are

significantly more frequent than the reflexive ones (pass/antic: 419 vs refl: 14; χ2=

378.811, p<.001).


ACT NACT antic antic pass inanim inanim inanim Web apo-agent 2 apo-cause 2 me-cause 1 4 apo-instr 1 me-instr 10 other pp 5 45 7

Turning finally to a discussion with regard to the PPs modifying the verb meanings,

we note that no such structures were found in the ILSP corpus. In the Web corpus

note that PPs are attested only in the presence of inanimate subjects. More


118

specifically, we found very few apo- and me-cause phrases and occurrences of a

subordinate clause or other prepositional phrases with ‘logo’ (because of) + GEN, se

(in), jia (in order to) prepositions among active anti-causatives with inanimate

subjects. On the other hand, PPs are significantly more frequent with non-active than

active verb forms (act (8) vs nact (69): χ2=48.325, p<.001) and more specifically, PPs

are used mostly with non-active anti-causatives (antic (act-nact): χ2=29.491, p<.001;

nact (antic-pass): χ2=12.188, p<.001). Note however that, while apo- and me-cause

are attested with anti-causatives, the apo-phrases with ACT, the me-phrases with ACT

and NACT (more frequent), apo-agent and pp-instrument are attested only with

passives.

2. The verb katharizi (clean)

We next present data drawn from the verb katharizi (clean), which is found to

be mostly used in active (63.7%) than non-active (36.6%) form (act: 1844 vs nact:

1051; χ2= 217.219, p<.01).

The Table below illustrates the distribution of the various readings of the verb

katharizi (clean) with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy, as found in

the corpora:

Table 25: the verb katharizi (clean ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate

ILSP Web Total ILSP Web total


% 79.19 82.73 81.63 48.88 53.65 53.21


% 0.25 0.11 0.15 44.44 44.29 44.31

unergative 87 161 248 3 9 12


119

% 20.56 17.16 18.22 6.68 2.06 2.48


% 33.34 18.31 18.66 0.12 0.1


% 64.78 61.34 1.86 6.93 6.66

passive 2 12 15 53 858 911

% 66.66 16.91 20 98.14 92.95 93.24

The examples below illustrate the various readings of the verb katharizi (clean) in

active and non-active voice morphology, with respect to subject animacy, as found in

the corpora:

Animate subject:


Transitive: ∆εν έχει πια ανάγκη να καθαρίζει " ξένα " σπίτια. Εχουν τώρα δικό τους

σπίτι µε ... Οµως τη βρήκε στην αυλή να καθαρίζει µια αγκαλιά χόρτα ήσυχα - ήσυχα

. ... http://www.e-missos.gr/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1614&postdays

=0&postorder=asc&start=10&sid=c10a815a0265f2b8457470ec32904bcf

Anti-causative: Αφιερωµένο εξαιρετικά σε όσους δεν καθαρίσανε, βρωµίσανε και

γεµίσανε µύγες ... http://65.109.195.72/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t3612-1100.html

Unergative: Αν θέλει άτοµο βάζει αγγελία και καθαρίζει. Αυτοί που πάνε στα ΙΕΚ

και ζητάνε να τους στείλουν άτοµα για πρακτική είναι συνήθως επιχειρηµατίες που

θέλουν ... http://www.oeek.gr/BB/viewtopic.php?t=241&sid=

1ac5db1f0549a521fff6594d1e222683


Reflexive: Οι εργαζόµενοι που εκτίθενται µε οποιοδήποτε τρόπο στο βλαβερό

ορυκτό θα πρέπει να αλλάζουν ένδυση στο χώρο εργασίας και να καθαρίζονται σε

αυτόν µε νερό ...

http://www.e-telescope.gr/gr/cat04/art04_030601.htm


120

Anti-causative: Και τελειώνοντας, τους παροµοιάζει µε χοίρους, που ενώ

καθαρίστηκαν στο βάπτισµα, ξαναέπεσαν στο βούρκο τής αµαρτίας, και σαν σκυλιά

που επέστρεψαν για να ... http://www.oodegr.com/oode/efsevismos/afor3.htm

Passive: Με τη φόρµουλα "καθαρισµού" του Μάκη του Μεγαλοπρεπή από την ΑΕΚ,

καθαρίστηκε και ο Μπάτµαν από τον ΠΑΟΚ. Με άνωθεν παρέµβαση και µε

γνώµονα τις ατασθαλίες ... http://www.sport.gr/cafe/duplicate/2003/12/031221.asp

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: Η Coca-Cola καθαρίζει επίσης τις θολούρες από το παρµπρίζ του

αυτοκινήτου. ... http://www.gamers.gr/forums/archive/index.php/t-845.html

Anti-causative: ... σε εσένα αλλά µια και ρωτάς η cache καθαρίζει απο το: Tools-

>Options. ...

http://www.e-pcmag.gr/forum/index.php?act=Print&client=printer&f=41&t=3068

unergative: Καθάρισε " για µένα το µικρό αλλά θαυµατουργό προγραµµατάκι

ASCII Generator .

http://www.larissafc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=3265&sid=68d03c6e0dd69e01e6

47de56cc806de6


Anti-causative: ... Με την προσευχή ο νους και η καρδιά µας καθαρίζονται από

κάθε κοσµική πονηρία! ...

http://agora.antibaro.gr/index.php?s=1169b2898ffb4437bb179d9bde389ffc&act=Print

&client=printer&f=8&t=166

Passive: ... θα διεξαχθεί σε βαρύ τερέν µιάς και µέχρι πριν από δύο ηµέρες το τερέν

ήταν γεµάτο χιόνι το οποίο καθαρίστηκε από εθελοντές φιλάθλους των γηπεδούχων.

... http://www.surfbet.net/Default.asp?article=134

Starting with a comparison of the two corpora, with respect to the distribution of

interpretations that the verb receives, we notice that, although the Web corpus was

larger in size than the ILSP, no difference was attested with respect to ACT forms,

irrespective of subject animacy. In both corpora, ACT forms with animate subjects are

mostly used transitively (ILSP: χ2=33.640, p<.001 and Web: χ2=43.560, p<.001), the

other available reading being the unergative and one instance of anti-causative


121

reading in each corpus. With inanimate subjects transitive uses are more frequent than

anti-causatives, but not significantly, while there are also very few examples of

unergative readings.

NACT forms although infrequent in the ILSP corpus they are mostly found

with inanimate subjects (anim (3) vs inanim (54): χ2=45.632, p<.001). In the Web

corpus, larger in size, they are also significantly more frequent with inanimate than

animate subjects (χ2=730.286, p<.001). Also, the distribution of the readings attested

in the corpora does not reveal a similar pattern: while in the ILSP NACT verbs with

animate subject are preferably passive and no anti-causatives are found, in the Web

corpus they are preferably anti-causative. NACT verbs with inanimate subjects are

primarily passives in both corpora (ILSP: χ2=92.160, p<.001 and Web: χ2=73.960,

p<.001).

With respect to total frequencies, as shown in Table 25, transitive uses are

significantly more frequent with animate than inanimate subjects (anim: 1111 vs

inanim: 257; χ2= 533.126, p<.001), but they are overall more frequent than the other

readings irrespective of subject animacy (trans (anim-inanim): 1368 vs antic/unerg

(anim-inanim): 476; χ2= 431.488, p<.001), when the verb is in ACT. In other words,

in the presence of an animate subject the transitive uses are significantly more

frequent than the anti-causatives and the unergatives, used metaphorically in the sense

of ‘finish up’ (trans (1111) vs antic (2); χ2= 1105.014, p<.01 and trans (1111) vs unerg

(248); χ2= 548.027, p<.01, respectively). In the presence of an inanimate subject,

transitive uses are more frequent than anti-causatives (trans (257) vs antic (214); χ2=

3.926, p=.048) and unergatives (trans (257) vs unerg (12); χ2= 223.141, p<.01).

When the verb is in NACT the anti-causative readings are significantly more

frequent than both the passive and the reflexive ones (antic (46) vs pass (15); χ2=

15.754, p<.01 and antic (46) vs refl (14); χ2= 17.067, p<.001) while the difference

between the reflexive and passive readings is not significant (pass (15) vs refl (14);

χ2= .034, p=.853). With regard to the passive interpretations, note furthermore that the

verb is largely used in the non-literal sense of ‘getting killed’; hence, literal and non-

literal uses did not differ significantly (lit: (ILSP) 1 /2 and (Web) 5/12 vs non-lit:

(ILSP) 1 /2 and (Web) 7/12; χ2= .286, p=.593).

In the presence of inanimate subjects, we found that passive readings were

significantly more frequent than anti-causative and reflexive ones (pass (911) vs antic


122

(65); χ2= 733.316, p<.001 and pass (911) vs refl (1); χ2= 908.004, p<.001,

respectively).


ACT NACT antic unerg refl antic pass inanim anim anim anim inanim anim inanimILSP apo-cause 1 1 me-instr 10 other pp 2 apo-other

(complement) 1 11

Web apo-agent 1 1 45 apo-cause 1 3 apo-instr 1 8 me-instr 21 2 2 6 1 72 apo-self 1 1 self 2 other pp (purpose) 3 9 6 50 apo-other

(complement) 7 4 1 5 11

Turning now to a discussion of the various PPs that may participate in structures with

the verb katharizi (clean), note that PPs in the ILSP corpus were less frequent than in

the Web corpus. More specifically, only one apo-cause was attested among active

anti-causatives and one with non-active anti-causatives (with inanimate subjects),

while only me-instrument phrases were frequently used with passives with inanimate

subject and the apo-PP was frequently the true complement (in object position). In the

Web corpus apo-complement phrases were also frequent. Among the active verb

forms, note that only PP-instruments were attested (among anti-causatives with

inanimate subjects), while non-active verb forms included PPs more (mostly with

inanimate than animate subjects (total of PPs found act (37) – nact (223): χ2=133.062,

p<.001): me-instrument co-occurred both with anti-causative and passive readings

attested (more frequently with inanimate than animate subjects (pass/antic anim (3) vs

inanim (78): χ2=69.444, p<.001). Also, apo-agent phrases were highly frequent

among the apo-phrases found with passives (inanimate subject) (agent (45) vs others

(67): χ2=4.321, p=.038); note that one apo-agent was also found among anti-

causatives.


123

3. The verb tsalakoni (crumple)

We next turn to the readings of the verb tsalakoni (crumple) as these were

found in the corpora examined. The Table below presents the distribution of the

various readings indexed in the corpora with respect to voice morphology and subject

animacy.

Table 27: the verb tsalakoni (crumple ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 100 100 100 100 54.87 55.95


% 45.13 44.05


% 25 6.67 10.52


% 50 86.66 78.96 33.34 93 89.62

passive 1 1 2 4 7 11

% 25 6.67 10.52 66.66 7 10.38

We next present some examples that illustrate the various readings that were indexed

in the corpora, with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy.


124

Animate subject:


Transitive: Παρατηρώντας το γιό µου να τσαλακώνει τις σελίδες του βιβλίου όταν

διάβαζε αλλα και γενικά να παίζει µε τα χέρια του, τα στυλό, µικροαντικείµενα κλπ ...

http://www.dys.gr/f/viewtopic.php?t=82&sid=2c8108808ec664fe4b7c6cb8c1a65cc5


Reflexive: Αλλά γιατί ξέρει να «τσαλακώνεται» και να αυτοσαρκάζεται.

http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/list_by_topic.php?fyllo=16481&tmhma=09

Anti-causative: Θέµος VS Χατζηνικολάου: Ποιος τσαλακώθηκε? ... Όχι απλά

τσαλακώθηκε από αυτή την ιστορία, αλλά έγινε ρεζίλι των σκυλιών! Για µια φορά

ακόµα µας έδειξε πως ... http://www.fanclub.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3488

Passive: Aλλωστε, ήδη στο παρελθόν για την προώθηση του τέκνου, τσαλακώθηκαν

ή και εκδιώχθηκαν άλλοι. - να ανοίξουν αµέσως Οι σάλες των θεάτρων! ...

http://www.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_1007622_24/02/2002_17045

Inanimate subject:


Transitive: οδηγός χωρίς ζώνη γιατί τσαλακώνει το πουκάµισο) και όχι σε κάποιον

που το αξίζει; ... http://www.myphone.gr/forum/showthread.php?t=105304&page=3

Anti-causative: δεν κιτρινίζει, δεν στραβώνει, δεν τσαλακώνει, µπαίνει σε

πλυντήριο πιάτων και δεν χρειάζεται σίδερο. Κατάλληλο για όλη την οικογένεια-τον

άντρα, τη γυναίκα,…

http://kanela.gr/forum/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=60


Anti-causative: ∆εν τσαλακώνεται –δεν χρειάζεται σιδέρωµα. Πλένεται στο

πλυντήριο στους 40 βαθµούς. Με επίστρωση 100% πολυέστερ από κάτω γιά να

κρατιέται σταθερό. http://www.agorama.com/WashingMachineCover.htm

Passive: η πατσαβουρόπιτα έχει φύλλο το οποίο τσαλακώνεται ως πατσαβούρα,

εξ`ου και το όνοµά της.

http://www.hungry.gr/get.asp?table=faghta&id=1020&coms=yes


125

Starting with a comparison between frequencies drawn from the ILSP and Web

corpus we note that when the verb was in ACT with animate subjects, it was

exclusively transitive. With inanimate subject only two examples of transitive uses

were found, while the Web corpus, considerably larger in size (ILSP vs Web:

χ2=76.190, p<.001) revealed the availability of both transitive and anti-causative

readings, their difference not being statistically significant. NACT forms were

infrequent in the ILSP corpus (anim: 4; inanim: 6), but their distribution differs from

the one attested in the Web. More specifically, although in both corpora NACT with

animate subjects are mostly conceived as anti-causatives, the rate of this reading is

significantly more elevated in the Web than in the ILSP Corpus (50% vs 86.66%:

χ2=9.993, p=.002). This is due to the fact that reflexive and passive readings are more

frequently attested in the ILSP than the Web Corpus (χ2=10.125, p=.01; χ2=10.125,

p=.01, respectively). NACT with inanimate subjects show a reverse pattern in the two

corpora: while they are interpreted as passives in the ILSP they are mostly conceived

as anti-causatives in the Web. Thus, in the Web NACT forms are anti-causatives

irrespective of subject animacy (anim: χ2=68.085, p<.001 and inanim: χ2=73.960,

p<.001), while in the ILSP NACT with animate subjects are mostly anti-causatives

and NACT with inanimate subjects are mostly passives.

The total frequencies show that the verb was more frequent in the active than

in the non-active voice morphology, the difference being significant (act (169) vs nact

(125); χ2= 6.585, p=.01). In the active form, animate subjects were used only with

transitive readings. In the presence of inanimate subjects transitive uses were also

more frequent than anti-causative ones, but not significantly so (χ2= 1.190, p=.275). In

the non-active form the verb was significantly more frequent with inanimate than

animate subjects (anim (19) vs inanim (106); χ2= 60.552, p<.01). With animate

subjects the anti-causative readings were more frequent than the passive and the

reflexive ones (antic (15) vs pass/refl (4); χ2= 6.368, p=.012). Inanimate subjects were

found with anti-causative readings more frequently than with passive (χ2= 66.566,

p<.01). Note that animate subjects in sentences with anti-causative reading involved

non-literal uses, while only one occurrence of literal anti-causative reading was

indexed in the Web Corpus, cited below:

βγάζει ένα ένα τα ρούχα σου κι αρχίζει και τα τακτοποιεί, για να µην

φωνάζει µετά η µαµά του ότι τσαλακώθηκε. Βούτυρο!

http://anekdota.dyndns.org/jotd1/0855.html


126

Finally, when the subject was inanimate the anti-causative reading was significantly

more frequent in non-active than in active voice morphology (act (37) vs nact (95);

χ2= 25.485, p<.01).


ACT NACT antic antic pass inanim anim inanim inanim Web apo-cause 1 6 me-cause 3 apo-instr 1 1 2 me-instr 2 2 apo-self 1 other pp 31 13 4

With regard to the PPs found in the sentences indexed, we note that in the ILSP

corpus no such structures were attested, while they were very few in the Web also.

More specifically, in the Web corpus, the active anti-causatives with inanimate

subject were followed by me-instrument (n=2). Furthermore in their majority

(83.78%) the verb received a middle reading (31/37), followed by an adverb like

‘efkola’ (easily). On the other hand, the non-active anti-causatives with inanimate

subject are followed less frequently by other PPs than their active counterparts (act

(31) vs nact (13): χ2=7.364, p<.007), but apo- or me-cause, apo- or me-instrument and

apo-self, are more frequent. An example of other expressions, with NACT anti-

causative is cited below:

... µατιές λάγνες, ιδρώτας, αλκοόλ και φτηνά αρώµατα γυναικών του cabaret, ένας

κύριος διορθώνει το παπιγιόν του που τσαλακώθηκε καθώς έσβηνε τον πόθο του

http://armirikia.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_armirikia_archive.html

Note also that apo-cause and instrument were attested among non-active anti-

causatives with animate subject, while sentences with reflexive or passive readings

were very few and no PPs were found.

Finally, passive readings with inanimate subjects are followed by apo-

instrument (n=2) and/or by other expressions (n=4). In the example below we note

both apo-instrument and an expression modifying the verb reading:


127

Ένας ευκίνητος Νίκος Αλιάγας στην παρουσίαση, µε την επισηµότητα του

κοστουµιού του να «τσαλακώνεται» σύµφωνα µε τη µόδα από το λυµένο

παπιγιόν στον λαιµό ...

http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=18208&m=P43&aa=1

4. The verb htipai (hit)

Turning to the verb htipai (hit) we note that it is more frequent in the active

(68.1%) than non-active voice morphology (31.9%), the difference being statistically

significant (act: 4244 vs nact: 1988; χ2= 816.678, p<.01). The following Table

illustrates the distribution of the various readings found in the corpora.

Table 29: the verb htipai (hit ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate


active transitive 770 1404 2174

(95%)

275 658 933

(47.69%)

% 94.01 95.57 47.25 47.88

anti-causative 48 62 110 306 667 973

% 5.86 4.22 4.81 52.57 48.54 49.75


% 0.13 0.21 0.19 0.18 3.58 2.56


% 13.63 40.90 37.87 0.65 3.84 2.63

reciprocal 5 78 83 3 3 6

% 3.8 7.41 6.98 0.98 0.62 0.75


128

anti-causative 24 215 239 30 200 230

% 18.18 20.35 20.12 9.8 40.48 28.75

passive 85 331 416 271 272 543

% 64.39 31.34 35.03 88.56 55.06 67.87

We next cite some examples of the various readings with respect to voice morphology

and subject animacy, as found in the corpora:

Animate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: Και όταν πάτησε το κουµπί για το ασανσέρ τον χτυπήσανε µε δύο όπλα.

... http://newwar.flash.gr/praktika/2003/4/1/2102id/

Anti-causative: Χτύπησε ο Θεοδωρίδης από µπουκάλι στη Λάρισα.

http://sport.pathfinder.gr/football/a-national/osfp/271433.html

Unergative: Η ΚΤΜ χτυπά µε νέο µοντέλο.

http://www.mybike.gr/index.php?showtopic=19281&st=30

Non-Active morphology

Reflexive: Είµαι σίγουρος ότι η Μαντόνα θα χτυπιέται απο το κακό της που κάποιος

βρέθηκε να την ξεπεράσει. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6euPaXnJN5s

Reciprocal: ... τριάντα χριστιανούς που, υπό τις διαταγές του επιλοχία Εουσέµπιο

Λαπρίδα, χτυπηθήκανε µε διακόσιους Ινδιάνους. http://www.peri-

grafis.com/ergo.php?id=352

Anti-causative: Βοηθός ∆ιευθυντή χτυπιέται από κεραυνό δύο φορές....

http://www.lexrites.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17609&mode=threaded

Passive: ... αλλά τέσπα- κ όταν χτυπιέται µπάτσος από πολίτη τρώει καµπάνα πολύ

µεγαλύτερη.... http://forum.meng.auth.gr/viewtopic.php?f=16&p=40545

Inanimate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: Χτυπούνε το παράθυρό µου. Οι σταγόνες της βροχής επίµονα. Θέλουν

να µπούνε µέσα’. http://grportal.com/platanias/esxato.pdf


129

Anti-causative: i omorfia su mu kovi tin anasa (η οµορφιά σου µου κόβει την ανάσα)

kanis tin kardia mu (Κάνεις την καρδιά µου) na xtipa apo xara (να χτυπά από χαρά)

... http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081112021458AAGVQ8m

Unergative: Έχω ιδέα: να συντάξουµε ένα κειµενάκι και να το κάνουµε post σε

εµφανές σηµείο του forum που να χτυπάει κατευθείαν στο µάτι.

http://www.gewponoi.com/biotech/index.php?topic=43.0


Reciprocal: Τα πλήκτρα στο πληκτρολόγιο, χτυπιούνται µεταξύ τους απ'τα γέλια...

Laughing Laughing Laughing .....

http://www.barcelonistas.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=33769&sid=b9824c113470d8a7

8bebce72ae153412

Anti-causative: ... Την παραµονή της Πρωτοχρονιάς, το υπερωκεάνιο πολυτελείας,

Ποσειδών, Χτυπιέται από µεγάλα κύµατα. ...

http://www.ellas-music.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=5627

Passive: ... Είµαι της άποψης (γενικότερα) ότι το σαθρό σύστηµα χτυπιέται κατά

κύριο λόγο "εκ των έσω"... Κυριακή έχεις απόλυτο δίκιο.Σίγουρα αυτή είναι µία από..

http://www.goodnet.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=96&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45

Starting with a comparison between the frequencies of readings attested in each

corpus (ILSP-Web), note that ACT forms with animate subjects were mostly used

with a transitive reading (ILSP: χ2=77.440, p<.001 and Web χ2=84.640, p<.001). The

pattern attested with respect to the other available readings was also similar: i.e. no

statistical differences occurred between the two corpora with respect to anti-causative

or unergative readings. Similarly, no statistical differences occurred between the two

corpora with respect to the various readings ACT received with inanimate subjects.

However, the number of anti-causative readings was higher in the ILSP corpus, while

the number of unergative readings was higher in the Web corpus.

NACT forms were not interpreted in a similar way in the two corpora either

with animate or with inanimate subject: NACT forms with animate subjects were

mostly passive in the ILSP corpus, while they were reflexive or passive in the Web

corpus, the difference between frequencies not being significant. In other words,

reflexive readings were significantly more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus

(χ2=13.255, p<.001), while passive readings were significantly more frequent in the


130

ILSP than the Web corpus (χ2=11.463, p<.001). The frequencies of the remaining

available readings (reciprocal, anti-causative) did not differ between the two corpora.

NACT forms with inanimate subjects were primarily passive in the ILSP corpus (pass

vs other readings: χ2=60.840, p<.001), while they were anti-causative and passive in

the Web corpus, the difference of the frequencies not being significant. In other

words, passive readings were more frequent in the ILSP than the Web corpus

(χ2=8.028, p<.001), while anti-causative readings were more frequent in the Web than

the ILSP corpus (χ2=18.00, p<.001).

Total frequencies show also that the active verb forms with animate subjects

were interpreted as transitive more frequently than anti-causative or unergative (non-

literal) readings (attributed to the verb when it refers to idiomatic expressions) (trans

vs other readings: χ2=1854.720, p<.001). In the presence of an inanimate subject the

reverse pattern was attested, i.e. anti-causative readings were preferred to transitive

ones, but not significantly (χ2= .839, p=.360). Non-active verb forms with the animate

subjects received more often reflexive, passive or anti-causative readings, while

reciprocal were also available. Note that the passive/anti-causative readings are

significantly more frequent than the reflexive ones (refl: 450 vs pass/antic: 655;

χ2=38.050, p<.001), but the reflexive readings are significantly more frequent than

anti-causatives (χ2=64.617, p<.001), but not than passives (χ2= 1.335, p=.248).

Furthermore, the passive readings are more frequent than the anti-causatives (χ2=

47.831, p<.01).

NACT verbs with inanimate subjects received passive/anti-causative readings

while reciprocal and reflexive were also available. Note also that passive readings

were significantly more frequent than anti-causative ones (χ2=126.739, p<.01).


ACT* NACT antic refl** antic pass anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim anim inanimILSP apo-agent 1*** 19 10 apo-cause 2 1 2 17 29 2 apo-instr 1 5 14 22 me-instr 10 15 other pp (locative) 11 26 1 apo-other 1 1


131

Web apo-agent 92 41 apo-cause 2 6 2 89 92 2 2 apo-instr 67 21 16 17 me-instr 2 2 2 32 17 self 1 1 1 other pp (locative) 21 54 24 4 12 14 *Unergative readings co-occurred with me –instrument (with animate (n=1) and inanimate subjects

(n= 3), while unergative readings with inanimate subjects were mostly followed by other PPs like ‘sto mati’ (in the eye) (n=41) only in the Web corpus.

**Also among reciprocal readings with animate subjects we found apo-cause (n=1) or me-instrument (n=4) and the expression ‘metaxi tus’ (each other) (n=22) only in the Web corpus.

*** We cite the example: Με ελαφρά εγκαύµατα µεταφέρθηκε σε κλινική του Μονάχου, στη Γερµανία, ο (κάποτε µαύρος) τραγουδιστής Μάικλ Τζάκσον, 41, ο οποίος χτυπήθηκε από φωτοβολίδες κατά τη διάρκεια ενός κονσέρτου, από ενθουσιώδεις οπαδούς του. (ILSP: 1547748)

Turning next to an analysis of the various PPs we note that locative phrases with

reference to the object caused hitting were the most frequent among active anti-

causatives, both in the ILSP and Web corpus, while some apo-cause phrases were

also found (with both animate and inanimate subjects in the ILSP, while only with

inanimate in the Web corpus). Also, few PP-instruments are attested only with

animate subjects (apo- in the ILSP and me- in the Web corpus) and self only in the

Web. Among non-active verb forms, note that apo-cause were found among anti-

causative readings in both corpora, more frequently with inanimate than animate

subjects (ILSP: χ2=3.130, p=.077, and Web: χ2=0.050, p=.824). Also, apo-

instruments were significantly more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus (Web

(5) vs ILSP (88): χ2=74.075, p<.001) where me-instrument phrases were also attested.


132

5. The verb tripai (pierce)

The verb tripai (pierce) is more frequent in the active (86.34%) than the non-

active verb form (13.66%) (act: 1201 vs nact: 190; χ2=734.810, p<.01). The Table

below illustrates the various readings that the verb tripai (pierce) receives with regard

to voice morphology and subject animacy, as indexed in the corpora examined.

Table 31: the verb tripai (pierce ACT-NACT)

verb morphology


animate inanimate



% 100 99.17 99.28 90.62 78 79.01


% 9.38 22 20.99


% 0.83 0.72

non-active reflexive* 2 49 51 0 0 0

% 33.33 66.21 63.75


% 16.67 22.97 22.5 16.67 13.47 13.64

passive 3 8 11 5 90 95

% 50 10.82 13.75 83.33 86.53 86.36

*There is also one example of reciprocal reading




133

Animate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: Ο Χριστός πέθανε πάνω στο Σταυρό. Ο θάνατός Του βεβαιώθηκε από

τους Ρωµαίους στρατιώτες, που τρύπησαν µε τη λόγχη τους την πλευρά του, για να

ξεµατώσει και ... http://www.neostypos.gr/opsis_article.php?sub=4&art=05043013

Anti-causative: ... και πάλι αέρα 14 πόντων στο 34’ (60-74), µε Σέκουλιτς και

Σπανούλη να τρυπούν µε διεισδύσεις ...

http://www.sportnet.gr/showreport.asp?sport=2&countryID=41&champID=16&repor

tID=83461


Reflexive: ...Και τα πρεζόνια έτσι κι αλλιώς θα συνεχίσουν να τρυπιούνται µε ό,τι

βρούνε. ...

http://mavrosgatos.blogspot.com/2006/04/blog-post.html

Reciprocal: Πώς ζευγαρώνουν οι σκαντζόχοιροι χωρίς να τρυπιούνται;

http://www.focusmag.gr/id/user-page.rx?user=aperantos

Anti-causative: (I'll give you a hint: γιατί οι φακίριδες δε τρυπιούνται απ'τα

καρφιά;) ΥΓ. Ίσως λίγο υπερβάλλω, ναι.


Passive: Λοιπόν, που λέτε πουλενάκια, µια µέρα Ο ∆ουµάς έγραψε πως Ο Άθως

τρυπήθηκε µπαµπέσικα από το ξίφος χαφιέ του καρδιναλίου Ρισελιέ κι εξέπνευσε.

http://liberopoulos.gr/listcats.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1115228770&archi

ve=&start_from=&ucat=5&show_cat=5&page_num=3

Inanimate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: Το ξίφος τρύπησε το δεξί µάγουλο της Παναγίας απ' όπου βγήκε αίµα

και νερό. http://www.southrhodes.gr/index.asp?a_id=682

Anti-causative: Το να τρυπάει όµως ένα ρούχο από τσιγάρο δεν σηµαίνει ότι

απορρίπτεται ως σκάρτο, όταν µάλιστα πρέπει να το αφήσεις σαν να επιµένεις να το

κάψεις. ... http://vegan.thisblueplanet.net/forum/index.php?topic=798.0


134


Anti-causative: ... είτε µετά τον πνιγµό είτε κατά τον πνιγµό – και πέφτοντας κάτω

στο έδαφος το σώµα του Ιούδα, τα σπλάγχνα του τρυπήθηκαν από πέτρες ή από το

έδαφος. ...

http://www.geocities.com/antipaganismos2/arhaioplixia17.html

Passive: Οι µεταλλικοί συνδετήρες θα πρέπει να περνάνε πλήρως µέσω όλων των

κοµµατιών προς στερέωση και να µορφοποιούνται ή προστατεύονται έτσι ώστε

οποιαδήποτε εσωτερική επένδυση να µην µπορεί να γδέρνεται ή να τρυπιέται από

αυτούς. ...

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31994L0055

:EL:NOT

Starting with a comparison of the frequencies between the corpora examined (ILSP-

Web), recall that the verb was infrequent in the ILSP corpus with respect to ACT

forms (ILSP vs Web: χ2=781.816, p<.001). NACT forms were even less numerous

inside the ILSP corpus (act vs nact: χ2=84.500, p<.001) and significantly less frequent

than in the Web corpus (ILSP vs Web: χ2=145.932, p<.001). In the Web corpus,

NACT forms were also less frequent than ACT ones (χ2=651.345, p<.001).

With respect to the distribution of the various readings the verb received in the

two corpora, we should note that ACT forms with animate subjects were transitive in

both corpora (ILSP: 100% and Web: χ2=350.099, p<.001). No significant differences

were attested between corpora, but note the availability of few unergative readings

only in the Web corpus. ACT forms with inanimate subjects were also mostly

transitive in both corpora (anti-causative being also available) (ILSP: χ2=42.250,

p<.001 and Web: χ2=226.867, p<.001). Moreover, an increase in the number of anti-

causative readings was attested in the Web in comparison to the ILSP corpus (ILSP vs

Web: χ2=5.452, p=.020).

The very few NACT forms with inanimate subjects found in the ILSP corpus

were distributed among passive and reflexive readings, one anti-causative also

attested. In the Web corpus, a significant increase of the reflexive (ILSP vs Web:

χ2=11.00, p=.001) and a non-significant one of the anti-causative readings is attested

(ILSP vs Web: χ2=.900, p=.343), while passive readings were diminished (ILSP vs

Web: χ2=24.934, p<.001). Finally, while NACT with inanimate subjects were also

very few in the ILSP corpus the distribution of the readings did not differ from the


135

one attested in the Web corpus: in both corpora the verbs were interpreted more

frequently as passives than as anti-causatives (ILSP: χ2=43.560, p<.001, Web:

χ2=54.760, p<.001).

Total frequencies (from both corpora) show that the presence of an animate

subject, favours the transitive use of active verb forms (99.28%). Note however very

few examples with unergative reading (which may be considered as spelling mistakes,

since the verb tripai (pierce) is actually used instead of the triponi (sneack in)). The

presence of an inanimate subject also favours the transitive use of the active verb

forms (79.01%) which is more frequent than the anti-causative uses (20.99%) and the

difference is significant (χ2=265.374, p<.01). Turning to data from NACT forms, we

should note that animate subjects favour the reflexive reading (63.75%) while

passives (22.5%) and anti-causatives (13.75%) remain frequent. Still, the reflexive

reading is significantly more frequent than the other readings (refl: 51 vs pass/antic:

29; (χ2=6.050, p=.014). On the other hand, the presence of an inanimate subject

favours the passive (86.36%) over the anti-causative readings (13.64%), the

difference being significant (pass: 95 vs antic: 15; χ2=58.192, p<.01).


ACT NACT antic unerg antic pass inanim anim anim inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-cause 1 apo-instr 1 1 3 Web apo-cause 7 1 apo-instr 5 7 1 1 6 me-instr 1 6 3 1 2 20 self 1 1 other pp 3

* Also reflexive readings with me-instrument (n=6) were attested

Turning next to an analysis of the various PPs that follow the various readings of

‘tripai’ (pierce) note that in the ILSP corpus PPs were less frequent (n=6) than in the

Web corpus (n=58) (χ2=42.250, p<.001). Note however that apo-causes and

instruments were found among active anti-causatives with inanimate subject in both

corpora (only one example in each case in the ILSP). Also, in both corpora we found

apo-instruments with non-active anti-causatives and passives with animate subject


136

(although ILSP examples were always very few) while only in the Web we found

apo-instrument among non-active anti-causatives and passives with inanimate subject.

Also note the existence of me-instrument in the Web corpus, which was furthermore

mostly frequent among passives with inanimate subject (55.5%) (pass-inanim (n=20)

vs all other readings (n=16).

6. The verb berdevi (mingle)

The verb berdevi (mingle) is more frequent in the active (53.89%) than the

non-active (46.11%), but not significantly so (χ2=.640, p=.424). This pattern was

followed in both corpora, despite their significant difference in size. Note that the

Web is larger in size than the ILSP both in ACT (ILSP vs Web: χ2=1034.143, p<.001)

and NACT forms (ILSP vs Web: χ2=868.233, p<.001).

It is worth noting at this point that in the presence of an animate subject the

active verb form used transitively (causatively) is used either to declare that animate

provoked animate to get mixed up, or that animate mixed something or someone with

someone or something else.

The Table below illustrates the various readings that the verb berdevi (mingle)

receives with regard to voice morphology and subject animacy, as indexed in the

corpora examined.

Table 33: the verb berdevi (mingle ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 100 100 100 96.77 97.56 97.5


% 3.23 2.44 2.5


137

non-active reflexive* 17 26 43 0 2 2

% 16.67 3.33 4.86 0.33 0.28

anti-

causative**

85 757 842 109 605 714

% 83.33 96.67 95.14 100 99.67 99.72

∗ We also found reciprocal readings both in the presence of an animate and an inanimate subject (one example in each case), which we cite below:

--Ο "γηραιός" είχε πρόβληµα στο χώρο του κέντρου, όπου ο Γκόνιας και ο Γιοβάνοβιτς µπερδεύονταν και έτσι σ' όλο το πρώτο ηµίχρονο ο Σαπάνης είχε πάρει µόλις τρεις πάσες στα πόδια του! (ILSP: 522684)

--Κορµιά που µπερδεύονταν µεταξύ τους, και µε τα σεντόνια, και µε τα τούλια, µαλλιά κατάµαυρα, ανάκατα, και αισθάνθηκε το στόµα του να γεµίζει µε σάλιο χλιαρό και πηχτό σαν σπέρµα. (ILSP: 1747153)

** We also found one example of passive reading in the nact-inanim condition, cited here: --Η αρωµατική νάφθα δεν πρέπει να µπερδεύεται µε την αλειφατική νάφθα. (ILSP: 371277)



Animate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: Νοµίζω οτι µπερδέψανε το άρθρο για τον παραπάνω κύριο µε το άρθρο

για τον θάνατο..........γύρω -γύρω το φέρνουν , εκεί το καταλήγουν...χα!χα!χα! ...

http://www.focusmag.gr/articles/view-article.rx?oid=109734


Reflexive: Εδωσε ένα <<ουάν έλεφαντ σόου>> στο πλήθος, έτρεξε στους

πολυσύχναστους δρόµους, µπερδεύτηκε ανάµεσα στα αυτοκίνητα και τα µηχανάκια,

όµως η ελευθερία του ...

http://www.petcity.gr/pages/index.php?page=article_show.php&lang=el&artID=10

Anti-causative: ψαχνουν κατι . . . απλως µπερδευονται απο τους µεγαλους κ

προσπαθούν να το προσαρµόσουν σε εµας . . .

http://www.pc4allgr.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=1514

Inanimate subject:

Active morphology


138

Transitive: Οι επτά επιλογές λοιπόν είναι που µας µπερδέψανε καθώς λένε όλες τα

ίδια πράγµατα -ότι µπορούµε να βγάλουµε λεφτά από το σπίτι µας (και µάλιστα

πολλά λεφτά) ... http://www.alternative.gr/html/ALT00004.htm

Anti-causative: Τα πόδια µου από τη βιάση µου µπέρδεψαν σ' ένα σκαµνί και

κόντεψα να σωριαστώ στο πάτωµα.

http://www.rizospastis.gr/page.do?publDate=19/10/2003&pageNo=8&id=3890&direc

tion=1


Reflexive: Κόντρα όµως υπήρξε και µεταξύ Λάρδα και Μουτσάτσου κι εκεί

µπερδεύτηκαν και παλιές δηµοτικές συνεργασίες ΠΑΣΟΚ και Συνασπισµού..

http://www.alithia.gr/newspaper/2005/24052005/paraskinia.html

Passive: ... Σοβαρά, nothing's wrong with popular science - εκτός αν µπερδεύεται

από "καθηγητές" και "µαθητές" της µε την pure/applied real science.

http://www.edra.ntua.gr/forum/posting.php?mode=reply&t=3218

Starting with a comparison between the two corpora, with regard to the distribution of

the interpretations attested, we note that ACT verbs with animate subjects were

transitive, irrespective of corpus (100% in each corpus) and that ACT verbs with

inanimate subjects were also transitive, few anti-causative readings being also

available in both corpora (ILSP vs Web: χ2= n.s.). No differences between the two

corpora were attested either with respect to NACT verbs with animate or inanimate

subjects: in both cases the verbs were anti-causatives more frequently than passives

(ILSP: χ2=43.560, p<.001 and Web: χ2=88.360, p<.001), irrespective of animacy. The

difference between the two corpora is only with regard to frequencies with NACT in

that in the presence of animate subjects reflexives are more used in the ISLP than the

Web corpus (χ2=9.800, p=.002).

With respect to total frequencies from both corpora (ILSP and Web) we note

that both the presence of an animate and an inanimate subject favour the transitive use

of the active verb forms: 100% and 97.5% respectively. On the other hand, the non-

active verb forms favour the anti-causative reading, both in sentences that involve an

animate (95.14%) and an inanimate subject (99.72%). It is noteworthy that the

specific verb does not at all receive passive readings.


139

Table 34: The PPs used ACT NACT antic antic antic inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-cause 2 5 me-cause 7 4 me-instr 3 other pp (locative, subordinate ) 3 11 Web apo-agent 4 apo-cause 1 28 4 me-cause 48 12 apo-instr 3 3 me-instr 12 14 15 self 2 other pp (ex. exaitias ‘because of’,

subordinate clause) 125 56

• me-phrases introducing the second complement were often among the sentences indexed: in the nact-anim condition for the reflexive reading (n=4) and for the anti-causative (n=5) as well as in the nact-inanim condition for the reciprocal reading (n=1), for the anti-causative (n=32) and for the passive (n=1). Also me-other was frequent: in the act-inanim condition for the anti-causative reading (n=10), in the act-anim condition for the anti-causative reading (n=35), in the nact-inanim condition for the anti-causative reading (n=122),

• Note also that the active causative verbs with animate subject either declare that animate provoked animate to ‘get mixed up’ with a me-instrument (n=15), or that animate ‘mixed’ something or someone ‘with’ someone or something else (me-other: n=341). The active causative verbs with inanimate subject are less frequent (me-instrument (n=12) and me-other (n=10)).

Turning to a discussion of the PPs that are included in the sentences indexed in the

corpora for this specific verb, we should note that in the ILSP corpus while there were

no active anti-causatives with such structures, there were non-active ones. Among

non-active anti-causative with animate subjects PPs were more frequent and show a

larger variety than PPs among non-active anti-causatives with inanimate subjects. In

the Web corpus, PPs were more frequent and show variation, especially among non-

active anti-causatives. Note furthermore that PPs were significantly more frequent

with animate (n=224) than inanimate subjects (n=90) (χ2=57.185, p<.001), while even

apo-agent and self were attested.


140

7. The verb leroni (spill)

Finally, the verb ‘leroni’ (spill) is more frequent in the active (72.27%) than

the non-active (27.73%) voice morphology (act: 563 vs nact: 216; χ2=154.569, p<.01).

The Table below illustrates the various readings that the verb leroni (spill)

receives with regard to voice morphology and subject animacy, as indexed in the

corpora examined.

Table 35: the verb leroni (spill ACT-NACT)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate



% 100 99.26 99.32 90 87.64 87.73

anti-causative 0 2* 2 1 32 33

% 0.74 0.68 10 12.36 12.27


% 6.67 5.77


% 100 93.33 94.23 100 100 100

*We cite the two examples: --Εν πάση περιπτώσει «λέρωσαν» στις στολές. Επιστρατεύθηκαν λοιπόν δύο εκπαιδευµένα γεράκια από το Πεντάγωνο, τα οποία ανέλαβαν την περιφρούρηση του εναέριου ... http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=14108&m=A48&aa=1

--Ο Τόνυ Πράις, 33 ετών, διευθυντής της βρετανικής εταιρείας WStore βρήκε κολληµένη τσίχλα κάτω από ένα γραφείο και φρίκαρε επιπλέον επειδή λέρωσε από τσίχλα ... http://athens.indymedia.org/articles.php?type=Other%20Press&offset=990&maxRecords=10&sort_mode=publishDate_desc&type=Other%20Press

We next cite some examples of the various readings with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy, as found in the corpora:


141

Animate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: Από τις 25 του µήνα, κάθε φορά που θα εντοπίζεται σκύλος να λερώνει

τον δρόµο, οι ιδιοκτήτες θα τιµωρούνται µε πρόστιµο 20 ευρώ. ...

http://www.tanea.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=18440&m=N16&aa=3


Reflexive: ∆ΙΑΛΕΙΜΜΑ νηπιαγωγείου θυµίζουν τα πρωινάδικα, µε τους

παρουσιαστές και τις παρουσιάστριες να κυλιούνται στο πάτωµα, να λερώνονται µε

γιαούρτια, ...

http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/front_page.php?fyllo=18461

Anti-causative: ∆. ΚΑΙΣΑΡΙΟΣ: Ίσως ήταν η γυναίκα του η οποία λερώθηκε µε

αίµατα τα οποία είδα εγώ, χωρίς να έχει τραυµατιστεί. Ι. ΚΟΥΡΤΟΒΙΚ: Και αντί να

φροντίζει τον ... http://www.eksegersi.gr/efeteio/praktika/8_3.htm

Inanimate subject:

Active morphology

Transitive: ... τόσο ΠΡΕΠΕΙ να βγάζω το έγχρωµο και να καθαρίζω το µεταλικό

κεφαλάκι στο cartridge γιατί µένει µελάνι πάνω του και "λερώνει" τις έγχρωµες

εκτυπώσεις...! ... http://www.myphone.gr/forum/archive/index.php/t-5170.html

Anti-causative: ... ανίκητο (και τι δεν έχει, υγρό µέταλλο, διαβάζει τα µυαλά, δεν

λειώνει, δεν λερώνει, δεν χαλάει). …

http://www.insomnia.gr/vb3/showthread.php?t=40231


Anti-causative: Όπως ένας λωτός ανθίζει µέσα στη λάσπη χωρίς να λερώνεται από

αυτή, έτσι και η σοφία µπορεί να βγάλει τον άνθρωπο από την κατάσταση της

σύγκρουσης που ... http://www.esoterica.gr/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7846

Comparing the frequencies attested in each corpus (ILSP-Web) we note that a similar

pattern of distribution was attested per research variable: ACT verbs with animate

subjects were transitive, while only two examples of anti-causative readings were

found in the Web corpus, ACT verbs with inanimate subjects were significantly more

frequent as transitive than anti-causative (ILSP: χ2=96.040, p<.001 and Web:


142

χ2=57.760, p<.001), NACT verbs with animate subjects were anti-causative, while

only three examples of reflexives were found in the Web corpus and NACT verbs

with inanimate subjects were exclusively anti-causative.

With respect to total frequencies (from both ILSP and Web corpus), we note

that both the presence of an animate and an inanimate subject favour the transitive use

of the active verb forms: 99.32% and 87.73% respectively. It is noteworthy however

that the presence of inanimate subject increases the number of anti-causative readings

(anim vs inanim: χ2=9.308, p=.002). On the other hand, non-active verb forms favour

the anti-causative reading, both in sentences with animate (94.23%) and inanimate

subjects (100%). Also, the presence of animate subjects raises the availability of few

reflexive readings. Note finally that the specific verb does not at all co-occur with

passive readings. Though the corpora did not differ with regard to the distribution of

the interpretations attested, they did differ with respect to size; note for example the

anti-causative reading with NACT verbs with inanimate subject which although it is

100% in both corpora, in the ILSP corpus the rate represents 4 occurrences, while in

the Web 160.

Table36: The PPs used ACT NACT antic refl antic anim inanim anim anim inanim ILSP apo-cause 2 me-instr 1 Web apo-cause 1 4 2 11 apo-instr 10 me-instr 1 4 11

*Reflexive readings (nact-anim) were followed by me-instrument (n=1).

With regard to the PPs found in the various readings note that the examples drawn

from the ILSP corpus are very few: among the NACT anti-causatives with animate

subject apo-cause and me-instrument were the only ones attested. Note that these are

also the only PPs found in the Web for this condition (though more frequent). Also, in

the Web corpus, only very few apo-cause are found among the active anti-causatives

(with both animate and inanimate subjects), while among the non-active anti-

causatives PPs were frequent (more with inanimate (n=32) than animate subject (n=6)

(χ2=17.789, p<.001) and involved apo- cause and apo-/me- instrument.


143

4.3.3. Class III (Activity verbs) a. General remarks

Verbs of Class III are not classified as anti-causatives; as such they should not favour

an anti-causative reading. Furthermore, taking into consideration the fact that some of

them are often classified as ‘inherently’ reflexives when in NACT form, they should

favour the reflexive reading.

In a total of 19356 active verbs, transitive uses represent the totality of uses

(100%), both with animate and inanimate subjects (anim: 14870 and inanim: 4486).

On the other hand, in a total of 12417 non-active verbs, reflexive readings represent

the 35.16% (anim: 4185 and inanim: 181), the reciprocal readings represent the 1.69%

(anim: 210 and inanim: 0), the anti-causative readings represent the 14.62% (anim: 74

and inanim: 1742) and the passive readings represent the 48.54% (anim: 1292 and

inanim: 4735).

The following Table shows the distribution of the readings Class III verbs

received in the corpora examined, with respect to (ACT-NACT) voice morphology

and [+/- animacy] of the subject. Note that it is the animacy factor that influences verb

readings, than verb classification, when non-active verb forms are examined.

Table 37: distribution of verb readings according to [+/- animacy] (class III)

verb

morphology


animate inanimate


Active transitive 6488 8382 14870 1697 2789 4486

% 100 100 100 100 100 100


% 43.48 80.04 72.64 1.13 3.23 2.72

reciprocal 66 144 210 0 0 0

% 5.66 1.47 3.65

anti-causative 7 67 74 716 1026 1742


144

% 0.61 1.47 1.28 44.55 20.31 26.16

passive 586 706 1292 873 3862 4735

% 50.25 15.36 22.43 54.32 76.46 71.12

Graph 11: The distribution of readings of Class III verbs in the ILSP-Web corpora

As shown in Table 37 and the Graph 11, active verb forms are used only transitively,

irrespective of subject animacy. However, the distribution of the various

interpretations with NACT forms of activity verbs differ between the two corpora.

More specifically, NACT with animate subjects are mostly perceived as reflexives in

the Web (80.04%), while they are considered ambiguous between reflexive (43.48%)

and passive (50.25%) in the ILSP corpus, their difference not being statistically

significant. In other words the reflexive readings is significantly more frequent in the

Web than in the ILSP Corpus (χ2 =11.130, p=.01). NACT verbs with inanimate

subjects, on the other hand, are perceived as passives in the Web (76.46%), while an

ambiguity between passive (54.32%) and anti-causative (44.55%) readings is attested

in the ILSP Corpus, their difference not being significant. Thus, passive readings are

more preferred in the Web than the ILSP corpus (χ2 =3.723, p=.054), while anti-


145

causatives are more preferred in the ILSP than the Web Corpus instead (χ2 =9.615,

p=.002).

Overall, in the presence of an animate subject, NACT form activity verbs

receive a reflexive and reciprocal interpretation (refl/recipr: 4395/5761; 76.29%) more

frequently than a passive or an anti-causative one (pass/antic: 1366/5761; 23.71%) (χ2

= 1592.578, p<.01). Note moreover that the reflexive reading (72.64%) is

significantly more frequent both than the anti-causative (1.28%) and the passive one

(22.43%) (refl vs antic: χ2 =3968.143, p<.01 and refl vs pass: χ2 = 1528.108, p<.01).

On the other hand, when sentences involve an inanimate subject, anti-

causative (26.16%) and passive readings (71.12%) are favoured, while there are also

some metaphorical reflexive readings (2.72%). More specifically, passive readings are

significantly more frequent than anti-causatives (χ2 =1383.055, p<.01) and reflexives

(χ2 =4218.657, p<.01). Moreover, anti-causative readings are more frequent than

reflexive ones (χ2 =1267.146, p<.01).

Note finally, that non-active forms of activity verbs receive a reflexive reading

more frequently in the presence of an animate than an inanimate subject (χ2

=3672.015, p<.01), while they receive an anti-causative or a passive reading more

frequently in the presence of an inanimate than an animate subject (χ2 =1532.062,

p<.01 and χ2 =1966.857, p<.01 respectively).


146

b. Specific tokens

Given the differences with respect to the total number of occurrences of each verb in

the corpora, the frequencies of the total readings often involve the effect of specific

verbs rather than the majority of the Class III verbs examined. The following Graph

illustrates the total number of utterances drawn from each verb, with respect to the

research corpora:

Graph 12: Interpretations of Class III verbs in the ILSP and Web Corpus (voice


While ACT verbs are not always highly frequent, they pose no problem with respect

to the distribution of readings, because all the activity verbs analysed can only receive

a transitive interpretation, when used in active morphology. However, we provide the

Table below with the frequencies attested for each verb with respect to subject

animacy, in the two corpora.


147

Table 38: Total results of activity verbs in Active form (transitive uses) with

respect to subject animacy

verb [+/- animacy] of syntactic subject

animate inanimate

ILSP Web Total ILSP Web Total

htenizi (comb) 0 489 489 0 88 88

pleni (wash) 126 942 1068 0 28 28

dini (dress) 92 957 1049 9 415 424

kitai (look) 2054 1724 3778 26 255 281

troi (eat) 1172 1486 2658 120 301 421

metaferi (transfer) 2028 1715 3743 1014 837 1851

krivi (hide) 1016 1069 2085 528 865 1393

As shown in Table 38, the distribution of frequencies from the verbs examined differs

in the two corpora. More specifically, the activity verbs classified as reflexives when

NACT (cf. Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou, 2004 a.o.) are more frequently used in the

Web than in the ILSP Corpus, while in some cases no occurrences are found in the

ILSP, as in the case of htenizi (comb) ACT-NACT and pleni (wash) NACT. The

remaining activity verbs are also more frequently used in the Web than in the ILSP

Corpus, but for very few exceptions: the number of occurrences found for the verb

krivi (hide) with animate subjects is similar in the two corpora, while the number of

utterances found for metaferi (transfer) with inanimate subjects and for kitai (look)

with animate subjects is more elevated in the ILSP than the Web Corpus.

While the ACT forms are always transitive, the NACT co-occur with various

readings. Overall (Graph 12), the reflexive and passive readings are available for all

verbs, but only specific verbs allow for a reciprocal reading (ie. kitai (look), troi

(eat)), or an anti-causative reading (i.e. pleni (wash), metaferi (transfer), krivi (hide)),


148

as found in the corpora examined. Moreover, note that in the ILSP Corpus the

reflexive reading (with animate subject) was rather the effect of krivi (hide) (n=306)

and dini (dress) (n= 127), the passive reading was the effect of the verb metaferi

(transfer) (n=570), the reciprocal reading was found in kitai (look) (n= 48) while the

anti-causative reading was infrequent and included the verbs krivi (hide) (n= 5) and

metaferi (transfer). The frequencies drawn from the readings of NACT verbs with

inanimate subject are also attributed to specific verbs: the passive reading was

specifically found in metaferi (transfer) (n=507) and krivi (hide) (n=130), the anti-

causative was found in krivi (hide) (n=387) and metaferi (transfer) (n=328) while a

marginal non-literal reflexive reading illustrates the verbs dini (dress) (n=13), krivi

(hide) (n=4) and troi (eat) (n=1). Note that the Web Corpus did not present unequal

distribution among the verbs examined, probably due to its larger size. However,

among the NACT verbs with animate subject, the reflexive reading was particularly

evident in the verbs dini (dress) (=1363) and krivi (hide) (n=782), the reciprocal in

troi (eat) (n=143), the anti-causative in krivi (hide) (n=36) and the passive in metaferi

(transfer) (n=290). Among the NACT verbs with inanimate subject, the passive

reading was particularly frequent in metaferi (transfer) (n=1307), troi (eat) (n=817)

and pleni (wash) (n=702) the anti-causative in krivi (hide) (n=434) and metaferi

(transfer) (n=304) and the (metaphorically used) reflexive in htenizi (comb) (n=54),

dini (dress) (n=49) and krivi (hide) (n=48).

We thus proceed with the presentation of each verb examined.


149

1. The verb htenizi (comb)

Starting with the verb htenizi (comb ACT-NACT) the Table illustrates the

distribution of readings attested in the corpora.

Table 39: the verb htenizi (comb) (ACT-NACT)


animate inanimate


ACT transitive 0 489 489 0 88 88

% 100 100 100 100

NACT reflexive 11 243 255 0 54 54

% 100 92.39 93.04 47.37 46.15

passive 0 20 20 2 60 63

% 7.61 6.96 100 52.63 53.84

The examples below illustrate the various readings:

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: Ακόµη και ο τρόπος που χτενίζουν τα µοντέλα και γενικότερα το styling

των µαλλιών παίζουν σηµαντικό ρόλο.

http://www.egomag.gr/article.php?art_id=2322

Non-active morphology

Reflexive: Πλένεται, χτενίζεται, ντύνεται και κάθετε στο σαλόνι.

http://212.235.32.93/~iliosrad/forum/index.php?s=949f4da31db110c998743aaee6a39

528&showtopic=4407&view=getlastpost

Passive: Όλοι οι σκύλοι πρέπει να χτενίζονται τακτικά,

http://www.fatsimare.net/profile/groups/?id=102&link=view_topic&topic_id=1311&

group_id=102


150

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: Ηδη, δύο C-130 και τρία ελικόπτερα “χτενίζουν” την περιοχή της

Πιερίας,αλλά και της Ηµαθίας, όπου, σύµφωνα µε τις ενδείξεις εντοπίστηκε

http://www.hri.org/news/greek/mpegr/1997/97-12-18_1.mpegr.html


Reflexive: Και το βιολί...χτενίζεται!!!

http://forum.snowreport.gr/forum_posts.asp?TID=16717&PID=492902

Passive: κοµµάτια απο µαλλί φυσικό εννοείται να πάρεις που βάφεται και χτενίζεται

άφοβα, http://www.teleiosgamos.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1984

Before proceeding to NACT forms of the verb, it is important to notice that in the

ILSP Corpus we found no ACT forms at all; in the Web ACT was used significantly

more frequently with animate than inanimate subjects (anim: vs inanim: χ2=278.675 ,

p<.01).

Starting with a comparison between the frequencies attested in each corpus

(ILSP-Web) with respect to the readings the NACT forms receive we note

differences: more specifically only the Web corpus raises the possibility of passive

readings in the presence of animate subjects, while reflexives remain highly available.

NACT forms with inanimate subjects are infrequent in the ILSP corpus (only two

examples with passive reading were attested), while the Web corpus yielded an

equivalent number of (non-literal) reflexive and passive readings (no significant

differences between the two available readings were attested).

With regard to the total frequencies, we note that the verb is significantly more

frequently used as a reflexive than a passive (χ2= 203.270, p<.01) in the presence of

an animate subject. On the other hand, it is more frequently used as a passive than

reflexive in the presence of an inanimate subject, but not significantly so (χ2= .692,

p=.405).


151

Table 40: The PPS used NACT refl pass anim anim inanimILSP apo-agent 1 Web apo-agent 1 9 me-instr 6 4 self 3 other pp (subordinate cl.) 3 10

With respect to the PPs drawn from various contexts note that passive readings were

followed by apo-agent (anim: 2; inanim: 9) and reflexive readings by self (anim: 3),

while me-instrument and other PPs co-occurred with various readings. Furthermore,

PPs were highly infrequent in the ILSP corpus; we found only one apo-agent among

passive (in the nact-inanim condition).

2. The verb pleni (wash)

The verb pleni (clean ACT-NACT) is next analysed. The Table below presents

the distribution of the various readings (N)ACT forms receive:

Table 41: the verb pleni (clean) (ACT-NACT)


animate inanimate


ACT transitive 126 942 1068 0 28 28

% 100 100 100 100 100

NACT reflexive 21 386 407 0 0 0

% 100 96.02 96.21


% 4.35 6.53 6.46


152

passive 0 16 16 22 702 724

% 3.98 3.79 95.65 93.47 93.54

We next cite some examples of the various readings:

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: ... αρκετά τσιγάρα, ακούσανε πολλές κασέτες, µαζέψανε τα πιάτα, τα

πλύνανε, και καθίσανε ...

http://e-missos.gr/index.php?module=article&view=43&page_num=5


Reflexive: θα έπρεπε ένας άντρας να πλένεται και να κόβει τα νύχια του;

http://www.multiforums.gr/fun/viewthread.php?tid=10118&page=4

Passive: Η άλλη λέει πως ο σκύλος αν πλένεται σωστά και µε κατάλληλα υλικά,

(σαµπουάν καθαριστικό, σαµπουάν που προσθέτει ή αφαιρεί λίπος

http://www.e-artemis.gr/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t1586-100.html

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: Κάθεσαι τώρα και λες, πώς µια πέτρα που έπλυνε η βροχή, σου κράτησε

συντροφιά εφτά χρόνια!

http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=16113&m=N10&aa=2


Anti-causative: οι δρόµοι καταλήγουν να βρωµίζουν µε όλα αυτά τα σκουπίδια και

πλένονται µόνο µε τη χειµωνιάτικη βροχή.

http://exitmusician.blogspot.com/2008/02/signs-of-times.html

Passive: Πλένεται στο πλυντήριο στους 30 βαθµούς και σε µια ωρίτσα είναι έτοιµο

προς χρήση http://forum.bmwbikers.gr/showthread.php?t=2541&page=2

Starting with ACT forms of the verb with animate subjects we note that the ILSP was

significantly smaller in size than the Web Corpus (χ2= 623.461, p<.01), while no


153

occurrences with inanimate subjects were found, the data found come only from the

Web. Furthermore, with respect to the Web corpus we note that the verb was used

more frequently with animate than inanimate subjects (χ2= 861.233, p<.01)

Turning to NACT forms, we start with a comparison between the two corpora

and note that the ILSP corpus was significantly smaller in size than the Web corpus

(χ2= 1027.470, p<.01). Furthermore the only available readings in the ILSP corpus

were the reflexive with animate subjects and the passive with inanimate subjects (only

one example of anti-causative readings was also found with an inanimate subject). In

the Web corpus, the verb was also mostly reflexive with animate subjects, but passive

readings were moreover available, but significantly less frequent than reflexives (χ2=

84.640, p<.01). NACT forms with inanimate subjects were in this corpus also

passives more frequently than anti-causatives (χ2=73.960, p<.01), but the availability

of this latter reading was higher in the Web than the ILSP corpus, but not significantly

(Web vs ILSP: χ2=.818, p=.316).

With respect to total frequencies of the readings NACT forms received, we

note that the verb with animate subject is reflexive significantly more frequently than

passive/anti-causative (χ2= 361.421, p<.01), while NACT forms with inanimate

subjects are passives significantly more frequently than anti-causatives (χ2= 586.920,

p<.01).

Table 42: The PPs used NACT refl antic pass anim inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-cause 1 me-instr 2 9 self 1 other pp 1 se-instr 2 Web apo-agent 6 apo-cause 3 me-cause 3 apo-instr 1 3 me-instr 127 (apo)-self 6 2 other pp 129


154

Turning to a discussion of the various PPs found in the corpora, note that they are not

frequent in either corpus, except for me-instrument or other PPs used specifically in

the Web (as in the examples (a)-(b)) following passive readings with inanimate

subjects. Also, not only apo-cause was rather infrequent but also the anti-causative

reading was highly infrequent for this verb. Note for example that in the ILSP corpus

only one anti-causative reading of pleni (wash) was found with an inanimate subject

(the example (c)).

(a) Τα ρουχαλάκια του παιδιού πρέπει να πλένονται µόνα τους µε πράσινο

σαπούνι και όχι µε κοινό απορρυπαντικό.

http://www.kosmogonia.gr/16_01_baby.htm

(b) Πλένεται στο πλυντήριο στους 30 βαθµούς και σε µια ωρίτσα είναι έτοιµο

προς χρήση. http://forum.bmwbikers.gr/showthread.php?t=2541&page=2

(c) Και τα έλατα µύριζαν πολύ διαφορετικά σήµερα απ' τις άλλες µέρες έτσι που

πλύθηκαν από τη βροχή. (ILSP: 1084536)

3. The verb dini (dress)

The readings that the verb dini (dress ACT-NACT) receives in the corpora

examined are next to be analysed. The illustration of the readings with respect to

subject animacy is shown in the Table below:

Table 43: the verb dini (dress) (ACT-NACT)


animate inanimate


ACT transitive 92 957 1049 9 415 424

% 100 100 100 100 100 100

NACT reflexive 127 1363 1490 13 49 62

% 100 99.48 99.53 54.16 13.55 16.06



155

% 0.16 0.13 24.58 23.05

passive 0 5 5 11 224 235

% 0.36 0.33 45.84 61.87 60.88

We next cite some examples of the various readings:

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: Mια φορά, τον Nοέµβριο του '63, τον ντύσανε µε παντελονάκι και µπλε

παλτό και στάθηκε όρθιος να χαιρετήσει το φέρετρο µε τη σορό του πατέρα του. ...

http://www.klik.gr/148/kennedy/index.htm


Reflexive: Τήν µία µάλιστα φορά ντυθήκανε µέ λευκά σάβανα καί συγκεντρώθηκαν

σέ κάποιο λόφο µιάς Αµερικανικής Πολιτείας περιµένοντας τό ...τέλος.

http://users.forthnet.gr/pat/glg/Pages/Voudismos.htm

Anti-causative: Οι νεοσσοί ντύνονται µε το φτέρωµά τους σε 3 εβδοµάδες περίπου

http://petbirds.gr/forum/t9163/

Passive: Για παράδειγµα, από την γέννηση του ένα αγόρι ντύνεται στα γαλάζια και

οι γονείς του

http://www.menshealth.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6300&sid=3f3f81976caefed8bf3fb

136a789ba3b

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: Οι φωνές των ΠΗΓΑΣΟΣ και η µοναδική φωνή της Μαντώς «ντύνουν»

τα νέα µουσικά σήµατα του Love Radio 97,5.

http://www.mad.tv/forum/showthreaded.php?Number=333822


Reflexive: Λοιπόν, πως λέγεται ένα αβγό που ντύνεται, στολίζεται και ετοιµάζεται

για έξοδο?? Θαβγό..


156

http://portal.ee.teiath.gr/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6&forum=6&viewm

ode=flat&order=ASC&start=50

Anti-causative: «Ντύνονται» τώρα στα λευκά τα χιονοδροµικά κέντρ&#.

http://www.mofeu.eu/forum/search.php?searchid=56112

Passive: Το Ελληνικό Kοινοβούλιο ντύνεται µε σκαλωσιές.

http://www.stadia.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=59439&highlight=&sid=ae56e7610db5

1182ff1349cf994af167

Starting with a comparison between the two corpora with respect to the readings

received, we note that the Web is significantly larger in size than the ILSP Corpus

with regard to ACT forms always transitively used (anim: χ2= 713.215, p<.01;

inanim: χ2= 388.764, p<.01). Also, the examples with inanimate subjects are

significantly more frequent than those with animate subjects in both corpora (ILSP:

χ2= 68.208, p<.01; Web: χ2= 214.114, p<.01)

Turning to NACT forms we note that while NACT forms with animate

subjects are exclusively reflexives in the ILSP corpus, in the Web corpus anti-

causatives and passives are also available, but significantly less frequently than

reflexives (χ2= 96.040, p<.001). NACT forms with inanimate subjects receive (non-

literal) reflexive and passive readings, the difference between them not being

significant, while in the Web corpus the passive readings are significantly more

frequent than the reflexives (χ2=50.970, p<.001). In other words, the reflexive

readings are significantly more frequent in the ILSP than the Web corpus (χ2=23.529,

p<.001), while the passive readings are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP

corpus (χ2=2.370, p=.124), but not significantly so.

With respect to total frequencies from the two corpora (ILSP-Web), we note

that the NACT forms of the verb usually receive passive or reflexive interpretations

both literally and metaphorically. Note that the reflexive interpretation with inanimate

subjects is available only when this is used metaphorically. Non-literal anti-causative

readings with inanimate subjects are also available in contexts where natural

phenomena are discussed (weather: snow, the nature during springtime), as in the

example above.

Note also, as shown in the Table, that reflexive readings are significantly more

frequent than passive/anti-causative with animate subjects (χ2=361.421, p<.01), while

passive readings are more frequent than anti-causative and reflexives with inanimate


157

subjects (χ2= 16.866, p<.01). Note moreover that the difference between refl and

pass/antic with animate subjects (98.96%) is larger than the difference between refl

and pass/antic with inanimate subjects (72.9%) (χ2= 3.930, p=.047). Finally, the

availability of both anti-causative and passive readings increases with inanimate as

opposed to animate subjects (χ2=83.176, p<.001, and χ2= 209.437, p<.001

respectively).

Table 44: The PPs used refl pass anim inanim inanimILSP apo-agent 1 se-instr 19 4 me-instr 18 5 6 apo-self other pp 1 predicate 30 1 obj 5 3 Web apo-agent 6 apo-instr 8 me-instr 144 9 116 obj 47 38 predicate 441 20 28

While anti-causative readings are not infrequent, no PPs were attested with anti-

causatives. Among the passive readings, we found some apo-agent (more frequently

in the Web than the ILSP (1 vs 6: χ2=3.571, p=.059), while instrument phrases were

very frequent (more frequently in the Web than the ILSP (6 vs 124: χ2=107.108,

p<.01). The existence of a predicate is highly frequent in reflexive and passive

readings, while in the former case an object DP is usual.

We next turn to an analysis of activity verbs that were not classified as

‘inherently’ passives.


158

4. The verb kitai (look)

The verb kitai (look ACT-NACT) received the readings illustrated in the

Table below:

Table 45: the verb kitai (look) (ACT-NACT)

Interpretation [+/-animacy] of syntactic subject

animate inanimate


ACT transitive 2054 1724 3778 26 255 281

% 100 100 100 100 100 100

NACT reflexive 12 294 306 0 12 12

% 20 34.63 33.66 19.37 19.05

reciprocal 48 551 599 0 27 27

% 80 64.89 65.90 43.54 42.86

passive 0 4 4 1 23 24

% 0.48 0.45 100 37.09 38.09

Illustrative examples are listed below:

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: Εγώ απάντησα πως δεν θέλω να βλέπω ηµίγυµνες γυναίκες στην παραλία

και µε κοιτάξανε κάπως περίεργα.

http://www.zortal.gr/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6726&forum=10&start

=0


159


Reflexive: Η γυναίκα κοιτάζεται στον καθρέφτη.

http://www.runningnews.gr/SnitzForum/post.asp?method=ReplyQuote&REPLY_ID=

52172&TOPIC_ID=313&FORUM_ID=9

Reciprocal: To ζευγάρι κοιτάχτηκε κι αναρωτήθηκαν τι σήµαιναν αυτά τα αρχικά.

Ε, ρωτάνε. http://piratesirc.7.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=646

Passive: «Θα κοιτάζονται µε στοργή». «Θα υπάρχουν υπηρέτες παιδιά προικισµένα

µε αιώνια νεότητα».

http://peiramata.tripod.com/LOGOS_MANTRAM_TEURGIA_GREEK.doc

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: Στάνταρ θα παίζουν τύποι που αλλού θα κοιτάν οι καθρέφτες κι αλλού

θα'ναι η µάπα τους.. αλλά για τους φυσιολογικούς ανθρώπους

http://www.bikenet.gr/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=89&topic=11403.0;prev_

next=prev


Reflexive: Για την τραγική αλήθεια της Ελλάδας, που της αρέσει να «κοιτάζεται»

στον καθρέφτη και να αναπολεί τα µεγαλεία του παρελθόντος µίλησε στον ...

http://www.typologos.gr/?p=182

Reciprocal: Τα µάτια τους κοιτάχτηκαν τότε, χωρίς κανένα ρώτηµα, µόνο εκίνησαν

τις κεφαλές της λύπης.

https://lykofos.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=65&view=next

Passive: Μια αύρα πρέπει να ατενίζεται – όχι να κοιτάζεται άµεσα

http://www.esoterica.gr/forums/topic.asp?whichpage=3&ARCHIVEVIEW=&TOPIC

_ID=970

ACT transitive forms of this verb present the following interesting pattern: while the

examples of ACT verbs with animate subjects were significantly more frequent in the

ILSP than the Web Corpus (χ2= 28.825, p<.01), the examples of ACT with inanimate

subjects were significantly less in this corpus (χ2= 186.623, p<.01). Nevertheless, the

examples with inanimate subjects are significantly less frequent than the examples


160

with animate ones in both corpora (ILSP: χ2= 1977.300, p<.01; Web: χ2= 1090.430,

p<.01)

Comparing the frequencies of the various readings between the two corpora,

we note that the verb was infrequent with animate subjects in the ILSP corpus, while

with inanimate subjects only one passive example was found in this corpus. In the

Web corpus, the verb was significantly more frequently used both with animate (χ2=

684.842, p<.01) and inanimate subjects (n=62). Furthermore, note that while in the

ILSP corpus reciprocal readings with animate subjects were significantly more

frequent than reflexive ones (χ2= 36.00, p<.001), in the Web corpus, reciprocal

readings were also more frequent than reflexives (χ2=9.00 , p=.003), but few passives

were also available. Recall, that NACT forms with inanimate subjects were passives

in the ILSP corpus, while in the Web, they are more frequently reciprocals, passives

being also highly frequent, the difference between them not being significant, but few

reflexive readings were also available.

With respect to the total frequencies of the readings obtained from both

corpora, we note that the verb is mostly found with reciprocal more frequently than

reflexive readings (χ2= 10.240, p=.001). Note that the presence of an animate subject

did not favour a passive reading, except for some idiomatic expressions. Also, the

verb is not largely used in the presence of an inanimate subject; hence a small number

of passive readings are attested, while there are also reflexive and reciprocal readings

when the subject is used metaphorically. It is also noteworthy that these readings are

more frequent than the passive one (refl/recipr: 39 vs pass: 24; (χ2= 3.571, p=.059) but

not significantly.


refl recipr pass anim anim inanimILSP apo-agent 1 other pp 23 11 Web apo-agent other pp 97 99

With regard to the PPs indexed for this verb in the corpora, note that when animate

subjects are involved the presence of a PP is frequent in the reflexive as well as in the


161

reciprocal reading, in the Web more frequently than the ILSP corpus (23 vs 97:

χ2=45.633, p<.01, and 11 vs 99: χ2=70.400, p<.01, respectively). When inanimate

subjects are involved only one apo-agent phrase is attested among passive readings.

5. The verb troi (eat)

The verb troi (eat ACT-NACT) received the readings illustrated in the Table

below:

Table 47: the verb troi (eat) (ACT-NACT)


animate inanimate


ACT transitive 1172 1486 2658 120 301 421

% 100 100 100 100 100 100


% 21.74 30.65 30.06 2.28 0.22 0.32

reciprocal 18 142 160 0 1 1

% 78.26 43.96 46.24 0.12 0.11


% 9.09 8.66

passive 0 82 82 43 817 860

% 25.39 23.70 97.72 90.57 90.91

The examples below illustrate the above readings, as found in the corpora:


162

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: ... πρωτη φορά είδε άνθρωπο στη ζωή της να τρώει τόσες πολλές

βάφλες! ...

http://www.armleg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=724&sid=831107c32ab981158e71ca

cfc34b0612&mforum=eve


Reflexive: Σήµερα φαγώθηκε ο Ινδοαµερικάνος από το γραφείο να πάµε µαζί

σινεµά.

http://karaflosmetanastis.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_karaflosmetanastis_archive.html

Reciprocal: Η κοµµατική αριστερά φαγώνεται µεταξύ της

http://forum.aegean.gr/viewtopic.php?p=1131&sid=4b5b96054e327e133dfe76af26d8

335c

Passive: Ετσι η Ελλη Παπακωσταντίνου που «φαγώθηκε» από την επιτροπή ήταν

µεν… http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=13477&m=A50&aa=1

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: ∆εν θέλω όµως η δουλειά να µου τρώει όλη την ηµέρα για να έχω χρόνο

να ασχοληθώ µε τη ... http://www.hegrade.gr/


Reflexive: Μπήκε λίγο ζόρικα ο Σεπτέµβριος. Φαγώθηκε µου φαίνεται να µοιάσει

στο καλοκαίρι κι άρχισε µε τα τρελά του.

http://asidosia.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_asidosia_archive.html

Anti-causative: Τα τακάκια φαγωθήκαν από µόνα τους.

http://www.varaderoforum.gr/main/showthread.php?t=9971

Passive: Έλεος, το µισό επεισόδιο φαγώθηκε µε έκτακτο δελτίο όπου µιλούσε ο

Σηµίτης http://www.myphone.gr/forum/archive/index.php/t-11985.html

ACT forms of the verb are more frequently used in the Web than the ILSP corpus

irrespective of subject animacy (anim: χ2= 37.094, p<.01; inanim: χ2= 77.817, p<.01).

Also, the examples with inanimate subjects are significantly less frequent than the


163

examples with animate subjects in both corpora (ILSP: χ2= 1977.300, p<.01; Web:

χ2= 1090.430, p<.01)

Starting with a comparison between the two corpora, we note that the verb was

less frequent in the ILSP corpus (anim: 23 and inanim: 44) than the Web corpus

(anim: 323 and inanim: 902) (ILSP vs Web: χ2=1037.898, p<.01). Note also that in

the ILSP corpus NACT forms with animate subjects were more frequently reciprocal

than reflexives (χ2= 31.360, p<.01). In the Web corpus reciprocal and reflexive

readings did not differ significantly, while passive readings were also available but

significantly less frequent than reciprocal (χ2= 5.232, p=.022), but not significantly

less than reflexive ones. NACT forms with inanimate subjects were passive in the

ILSP corpus (only one example of reflexive reading was found). In the Web corpus,

passive readings were also highly frequent (no significant differences between ILSP

and Web corpus) but anti-causative readings were also available, though less

frequently than passives (χ2= 67.240, p<.01) and two examples of reflexive readings

were also found.

With respect to the total frequencies of the interpretations in both corpora,

note that NACT forms with animate subjects received non-literal reciprocal, reflexive

and passive readings. Reciprocal readings were more frequent than reflexives (χ2= ,

p<.01) and reflexives were more frequent than passives (χ2= 2.602, p=.107), but not

significantly so. NACT verbs with inanimate subjects are passive, while there are also

few anti-causative readings (8.45%).

Table 48: The PPs used refl antic pass

anim inanim anim inanim Web apo-agent 25 38 apo-cause 2 3 1 pp-cause 9 me-cause 3 apo-instr 1 2 me-instr 39 8 apo-self 1 self 2 Other pp

(Purpose clause, oti, pu)33* 6

* Other PPs are also found among the reflexive readings with inanimate subjects (n=2) and the reciprocal readings with animate subjects as ‘metaxi tus’ (each other) (n=77)


164

6. The verb metaferi (transfer)

Turning to an examination of the verb metaferi (transfer ACT-NACT), the

Table below illustrates the distribution of the various readings obtained from each

corpus examined.

Table 49: the verb metaferi (transfer) (ACT-NACT)


animate inanimate


ACT transitive 2028 1715 3743 1014 837 1851

% 100 100 100 100 100 100


% 4.18 24.68 11.03 0.13 0.07

anti-causative 2 9 11 328 304 632

% 0.23 2.28 0.98 33.07 18.84 24.26

passive 570 290 860 664 1307 1971

% 95.47 73.04 77.13 66.93 81.03 75.66

Various examples that illustrate the readings that the verb metaferi (transfer ACT-

NACT) receive are listed below:

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: ... απαιτούµενη ποσότητα. Νταλίκες το µεταφέρανε από δω κι από κει.

Με εξήντα ανθρώπους να περιµένουν εντολές http://www.mic.gr/cinema.asp?id=8427


165


Reflexive: ... Από τα µέσα στα έξω το καλοκαίρι, καθώς µε λίγες εξαιρέσεις όλες οι

φυλές των clubbers, µεταφέρονται στον Πλατανιά. Και όταν µιλάµε για Χανιά,

εννοούµε κατά

http://stigmes.gr/gr/grpages/kritever/hania.htm

Anti-causative: Γιατί πολλές φορές οι νέοι ενώ ονειρεύονται για την σχέση τους,

όταν φτάνουν στο γάµο παραιτούνται εύκολα και µεταφέρονται στο µοντέλο που

έχουν ζήσει στους ...

http://www.psyche.gr/speak/viewtopic.php?t=161&sid=1871a3df92f019624eca40f37

04b2904

Passive: Από λανθασµένη διάγνωση µεταφέρθηκε σε ορθοπεδική κλινική, ενώ είχε

εσωτερική αιµοραγία στα νεφρά. http://www.larissafc.com/afieromata2.php

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: Μόνο που στρώσανε κάποιο πρόχειρο ντιβάνι κοντά στο τζάκι της

κουζίνας κι ένα τραπέζι, και µεταφέρανε από την κάµαρά τους τις δυο παλιές

πολτρόνες, ... http://www.sarantakos.com/kibwtos/nnikolaidhs_uphretes.html


Reflexive: ... Μαθαίνει ο εγκέφαλος να "µεταφέρεται" σε άλλα περιβάλλοντα, σε

έναν ίσως χώρο

http://my.aegean.gr/web/tomeas.my?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=269

Anti-causative: Aλλες µορφές σκόνης όπως για παράδειγµα η σκόνη του εδάφους

που µεταφέρεται µε τον αέρα,

http://www.nrg-radio.gr/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=32

Passive: Πως νοµίζεις ότι µεταφερθήκαν τα µαρµαρά του από την Πάρνηθα στην

ακρόπολη?

http://filosofia.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=316&view=next&sid=d992ded8ab9bbb781

8612bcebae41a42

ACT forms of the verb are very frequent in both corpora; however we found more

examples in the ILSP than in the Web corpus irrespective of subject animacy (anim:

χ2= 26.174, p<.01; inanim: χ2= 16.925, p<.01). Also, the examples with animate


166

subjects are significantly more frequent than the examples with inanimate subjects in

both corpora (ILSP: χ2= 338.000, p<.01; Web: χ2= 302.071, p<.01)

Starting with a comparison of the readings attested between the two corpora

note that both in the ILSP and the Web corpus NACT forms with animate subjects

were mostly passives, few reflexive and even fewer anti-causative readings were also

available (ILSP: pass vs other readings: χ2= 493.884, p<.01; Web: pass vs other

readings: χ2= 84.355, p<.01). However, reflexive readings were more frequent in the

Web than the ILSP corpus (χ2=15.207, p<.01), anti-causatives were also more

frequent in the Web corpus, but no statistical analyses were performed because of the

small size of the ILSP data. Passive readings were more frequent in the ILSP than the

Web corpus (χ2=2.881, p=.090), but not significantly. Also, in both corpora, passive

readings were more frequent than anti-causative ones (ILSP: χ2=11.560, p=.001; Web:

χ2=38.440, p<.01) with respect to NACT forms with inanimate subjects, while only in

the Web corpus two examples of reflexive readings were also found. Note finally, that

while anti-causative readings were more frequent in the ILSP than the Web corpus,

passive readings were more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus, but the

difference was not significant in either case.

With respect to the total frequencies drawn from the two corpora, we should

note that the verb usually receives a passive reading both with an animate (87.1%)

and an inanimate subject (82.17%). In the presence of an animate subject there are

also reflexive readings, but significantly less frequent than the passive ones (χ2=

473.655, p<.001), while in the presence of an inanimate subject, there are anti-

causative readings, also less frequent than the passive ones (χ2= 1085.703, p<.001).

Table 50: The PPs used refl antic pass anim anim inanim anim inanim ILSP apo-agent 9 47 apo-instr 3 me-instr 69 47 other pp 6 22 Web apo-agent 10 70 apo-cause 1 apo-instr 13 me-instr 2 47 26 32 other pp 1 apo-other 12 3


167

Turning to a discussion of the PPs that are indexed in the corpora examined in

relation to the various readings the verb may receive, note that in both corpora apo-

agent are highly frequent (more frequent in the Web (n=80) than in the ILSP though

(n=56) (χ2=4.235, p=.040), while significant differences are also attested between

animate and inanimate subjects (ILSP (9 vs 47): χ2=25.786, p<.01, and Web (10 vs

70: χ2=45.00, p<.01). Also, apo- and me- instrument were more frequent in the Web

than the ILSP (the former only with inanimate subjects) (ILSP (3) vs Web (13):

χ2=6.250, p=.012), while the latter with both animate and inanimate subjects: but in

the ILSP anim>inanim was significant (69 vs 47: χ2=4.172, p=.041) while in the Web

anim<inanim was not (26 vs 32: χ2=.621, p=.431). Other PPs that describe means of

transportation are also attested.

7. The verb krivi (hide)

The distribution of the readings that the verb krivi (hide ACT-NACT) received

in the two corpora is illustrated in the Table below:

Table 51: the verb krivi (hide) (ACT-NACT)


animate inanimate


ACT transitive 1016 1069 2085 528 865 1393

% 100 100 100 100 100 100

NACT reflexive 306 782 1088 0 48 48

% 98.71 94.55 95.69 6.49 3.82

anti-causative 4 36 40 386 433 819

% 1.29 4.35 3.51 74.66 58.51 65.15

passive 0 9 9 131 259 390

% 1.1 0.8 25.34 35 31.03


168

In order to illustrate the above readings, we cite the examples below:

Animate subject:

Active

Transitive: Εκατοµµύρια δέντρα φυτεύονται κατα λάθος από σκίουρους που θάβουν

σπόρους και µετά ξεχνάνε που τους κρύψανε.

http://www.moto.gr/forums/showthread.php?s=936e2f7f065dae89cf0e304bb70482b4

&postid=176971


Reflexive: Ξέρετε, αυτή η λευκή Κυρία που εδώ και αιώνες, κρύβεται από τον

Έρωτα της τον ήλιο. Ναι, ναι καλά ακούσατε .. τον Έρωτά της. .

http://www.soho.gr/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=640&sid=0e78d

ce207d94c93a4fd076bc21ba411

Anti-causative: ... Αξίζει να αναφέρουµε ότι ο John Themis, που ζει και εργάζεται

στο Λονδίνο, κρύβεται πίσω από πολλές επιτυχίες αστεριών της διεθνούς pop

µουσικής, ...

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=29033&p=3&topicID=5649288&

subForumID=50537

Passive: Ο Ορφέας, ο ∆ίας, ο Ιησούς, γεννήθηκαν και κρύφτηκαν σε σπήλαια και

όταν βγήκαν από αυτά είχαν αποκτήσει ύψιστα θεϊκά ιδιώµατα. ...

http://www.gianniskofinas.com/spilaia/ellinika_spilaia.htm

Inanimate subject:

Active

Transitive: Οταν ο χρόνος κύλησε αδυσώπητα και διαπιστώνεις πώς πέρασες τη ζωή

σου κρυµµένος πίσω από µια κουρτίνα -που κρύβει ένα άδειο δωµάτιο και που

ταυτόχρονα σε ..

http://www.help-

net.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1100&sid=1fa3f1f3c660a21a01903e1fcb6795cc


Reflexive: Ένα νανούρισµα να παν στους έρωτες που κρύφτηκαν Μέσα στο

καλοκαίρι ... http://www.geocities.com/miltos_pasxalidis/stix_v.htm


169

Anti-causative: Πέντε λεπτά πριν τη δεύτερη επαφή ο Ήλιος και η Σελήνη

κρύφτηκαν πίσω από σύννεφα, http://www.itia.ntua.gr/~anthony/astro/logbook/1999-

08-11/part2.html

Passive: υπάρχουν και πάρα πολλά άλλα τα οποία παραµένουν άγνωστα ή κρύβονται

απο κάποιους που προσπαθούν να τα αποσιωπήσουν…

http://www.freehellenes.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=446&sid=e425860be67565e1ea

b3977bf08eea29

In this verb ACT forms with animate subjects are almost similarly used in the two

corpora, while in the presence of inanimate subjects the examples found are more

numerous in the Web than the ILSP Corpus (χ2= 81.528, p<.01). Also, the examples

with inanimate subjects are significantly less frequent than the examples with animate

subjects in both corpora (ILSP: χ2= 154.238, p<.01; Web: χ2= 21.518, p<.01)

Comparing frequencies between the two corpora we note that while the Web

corpus was significantly larger in size than the ILSP corpus (χ2= 217.456, p<.01), the

distribution of the verb readings did not differ much. More specifically, in both

corpora, NACT forms with animate subjects received a reflexive significantly more

frequently than any other available reading (ILSP: χ2= 294.206, p<.01 and Web:

χ2=680.337, p<.01), the only difference being that apart from the anti-causative

readings (available in both corpora), few examples of passive readings were also

found in the Web corpus. NACT forms with inanimate subjects received an anti-

causative reading significantly more frequently than a passive one (ILSP: χ2=

125.774, p<.01 and Web: χ2= 43.751, p<.01), the only difference being that few

reflexive non-literal readings were also found in the Web corpus.

With respect to the total frequencies attested in the two corpora, we note that

there is a strong animacy effect: the presence of an animate subject favours the

reflexive to the other readings (refl: 1088 vs pass/antic: 49; χ2= 949.447, p<.01), while

the presence of an inanimate subject favours the anti-causative and passive to the

reflexive reading (refl: 48 vs pas/antic: 1209; χ2= 1072.332, p<.01). Note also that in

the latter case the anti-causative reading is significantly more frequent than the

passive one (pass: 390 vs antic: 819; χ2= 152.226, p<.01).


170

Table 52: The PPs used refl antic pass anim anim inanim anim inanimILSP apo-agent 3 apo-cause 3 apo-other* 137 2 212 66 Web apo-agent 10 apo-cause 5 5 apo-instr 1 me-instr 2 other pp 121** 10 81 15 apo-other 264 18 17 75

*apo-other include mostly apo-complement and apo-locative phrases as well as apo- being part of complex locative expressions. **Other PPs are also attested among reflexive readings with inanimate subject (n=18)

Turning to a discussion of the various PPs in the corpora, we should note that both in

the ILSP and the Web corpus apo-phrases were frequent among the reflexive and

anti-causative readings with animate subjects (but anti-causatives with inanimate

subjects too in the Web) and among the passive readings with inanimate subjects (and

animate ones in the ILSP). Also, other PPs are highly frequent with reflexive, anti-

causative and passive readings both with animate and inanimate subject (except for

the case of passives). Apo-agent phrases are attested only among passives with

inanimate subject (more frequently in the Web than the ILSP: χ2=3.769, p=.052).

With respect to apo-cause note that in the ILSP corpus the only structures it co-

occurred with were passives with animate subject, while in the Web we also found

apo-cause among anti-causatives with inanimate subject and reflexives with animate

subject.


171

4.3.4. Interaction of Voice Morphology and [+/- animacy] of syntactic subject

with Verb Readings across Verb Classes

The purpose of this section is to address the question whether it is not only Voice

morphology (ACT-NACT) and the subject animacy that interact with the distribution

of the various readings that the examined verbs received in the two corpora, but also

verb classification. We remind the reader that the analyses performed so far, revealed

a different distribution of the various interpretations that the verbs received in total,

not only with regard to Voice morphology (see Tables 4 & 5), but also with regard to

the interaction of Voice morphology with subject animacy (Table 6). For ease of

exposure we repeat the results obtained below, in Graph 13.

Graph 13: The distribution of interpretations with respect to Voice Morphology

vs the Interaction of Voice morphology with subject animacy (ACT/NACT vs

Animate/Inanimate)


172

In this Graph we present the (%) distribution of ACT/NACT, of act-anim & nact-

inanim and of act-inanim & nact-inanim in the two corpora. It is thus understood (as

shown in Graph 13) that in the total of ACT utterances transitive is the most frequent

interpretation in both ILSP and Web, while when we consider subject animacy the

distribution changes as follows: in ACT forms with animate subjects the most

frequent reading is the transitive one, while in ACT with inanimate subjects there is

ambiguity between transitive and anti-causative readings (the latter reading being

though preferred in the Web Corpus).

Turning to NACT forms, passive is the most frequent reading in both corpora,

while in the ILSP the next preferred one is the anti-causative (followed by the

reflexive) and in the Web the reverse pattern is attested, the reflexive being more

frequent than the anti-causative. Few reciprocal uses are found in both corpora. Note

that the mean of the total frequencies from both corpora, showed an ambiguity

between the reflexive (27.85%) and the anti-causative readings (23.56%), due to the

large difference in the frequency of reflexives between the two corpora. Results from

the combination of NACT with animate subjects (nact-anim) show a different

distribution in the two corpora: in the ILSP we note an ambiguity between passive and

reflexive readings (the former slightly more frequent than the latter), while in the Web

the most frequent reading by far is the reflexive, followed by the passive one. Anti-

causative and reciprocal reading follow. Let us also recall here that the mean of the

total frequencies (of both corpora) showed that reflexive is the most frequent reading,

illustrating mostly the tendencies presented in the Web, due to the significant

difference between passive and reflexive readings in this corpus and due to the

different size of the two corpora. Finally, in both corpora the most frequent reading

with regard to NACT with inanimate subjects (the nact-inanim combination) was the

passive, followed by the anti-causative, although the difference between the two was

larger in the Web than in the ILSP. Reflexive readings are very rare and so are

reciprocal ones, both being more evident in the Web than the ILSP corpus.

Let us now consider whether there are differences in the frequencies of the

various interpretations the verbs of different classes receive with respect to Voice

Morphology and Subject Animacy.


173

Graph 14: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives (ACT-Animate)

In this Graph we present the active forms of the Voice Non-Alternating and the Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives (Classes I and II) with animate subjects. While non-

significant differences are attested between the two corpora used (ILSP-Web) for

Class II verbs, note that among Class I verbs transitive uses are more frequent in the

ILSP than the Web corpus (χ2=3.648, p=.056) -the difference just reached

significance-, while anti-causatives are significantly more frequent in the Web than

the ILSP (χ2=13.520, p<.001). This difference may be attributed to the small size of

data provided from Class I verbs in the ILSP corpus, or the higher availability of

unergative readings in the ILSP. However, both Class I and II verbs show a

preference for transitive uses in all the data: transitive uses are more frequent than any

other available reading among Class I (ILSP: χ2=46.240, p<.001; Web: χ2=4.840,

p=.028) and Class II verbs (ILSP: χ2=67.240, p<.001; Web: χ2=81.00, p<.001).


174

Graph 15: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives (ACT-Inanimate)

When these verbs (Class I and II) are used with inanimate subjects the distribution of

the readings they receive changes: Class I verbs receive an anti-causative reading in

both ILSP (χ2=46.240, p<.001) and Web Corpus (χ2=49.00, p<.001) and no difference

is attested between the frequencies of the two corpora. Class II verbs received

significantly more frequently a transitive reading than Class I verbs (ILSP: χ2=26.797,

p<.001; Web: χ2=33.800, p<.001). Note also that while in the ILSP corpus transitive

uses of Class II verbs are not significantly more frequent than the other readings, this

difference is significant in the Web corpus (χ2=10.240, p=.001). Furthermore,

differences between ILSP and Web frequencies are not significant for any available

reading. The difference between the frequencies of Class I and II verbs may be

attributed to the availability of a NACT alternant among Class II verbs for the anti-

causative reading.

We now turn to a comparison between the readings that co-occurred with the

NACT forms of these verbs.


175

Graph 16: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives – Activities (NACT-Animate)

When NACT forms of these verbs are used with animate subjects verb readings differ

with respect to verb classes: although NACT forms should not be available with Class

I verbs, the few examples attested show that reflexive readings are significantly more

frequent than passive ones in both corpora (ILSP: χ2=11.560, p=.001; Web:

χ2=13.500, p<.001) (no frequency differences are attested between the two corpora),

while few anti-causative readings are also attested only in the Web. NACT forms of

Class II verbs with animate subjects co-occur with reflexive, anti-causative and

passive readings (few reciprocal are also attested), no significant differences among

the readings frequencies. Class III verbs showed that reflexive and passive readings

were equally used in the ILSP corpus, while the reflexive readings were clearly

preferred over the passive ones in the Web (χ2=44.474, p<.001) (very few anti-

causative and reciprocal readings were also attested in both corpora). Recall also the

very small size of the ILSP sample with respect to these verbs that may have affected

the distribution of the verb readings.

A final note should be made with respect to the different distribution between

ACT and NACT forms of these verbs: ACT Class I verbs were mostly anti-causatives,

while Class II and III were mostly (in the case of Class II) or exclusively (for Class

III) transitive. The high rate of anti-causative readings in NACT Class II verbs may be


176

attributed to the preferred transitive over the anti-causative use with their ACT

alternants.

Graph 17: Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives – Activities (NACT-

Inanimate)

When NACT forms of these verbs are used with inanimate subjects, the passive

reading is the most preferred one in all the Verb Classes examined; only two

exceptions are attested: (i) Class II verbs in the Web corpus co-occurred both with

passive and anti-causative readings, with no significant difference between

frequencies. This finding may be attributed to the availability of ACT which was used

transitively in contrast to Class I verbs which were used anti-causatively (recall also

the nact-anim condition). (ii) Class III verbs in the ILSP corpus co-occurred both with

passive and anti-causative readings, no significant differences between frequencies.

This might be an effect of the small size of data from the sample available. In the

remaining cases, passive readings were significantly more frequent than any other

available reading (Class I: (ILSP): χ2=53.828, p<.001 and (Web): χ2=70.560, p<.001;

Class II (ILSP): χ2=11.560, p=.001; Class III (Web): χ2=27.040, p<.001). Note

however, that the preference of the passive reading among Class II verbs in the ILSP

corpus may also be attributed to the sample size.


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Summary

In the present Section we discussed the frequencies attested in three verb classes,

namely Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (Class I), Voice Alternating Anti-

causatives (Class II) and Activities (Class III), providing evidence from total results

(7 verbs per class) and individual results from each verb examined with respect to the

interaction of Voice morphology and subject animacy. Let us resume the differences

in the frequency of use of the various readings attested among the different Verb

Classes examined.

Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (Class I), when examined with regard to

ACT forms with animate subjects, are mostly transitive, while some anti-causative

readings are also attested. The two corpora used differ in that anti-causative readings

are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP Corpus. ACT forms with inanimate

subjects are in their majority anti-causatives, the transitive reading remaining also

available but rare; no differences are attested between the two corpora.

Although NACT forms should not be available with these verbs, the few

examples attested come mostly from the Web corpus, while some are also attested in

the ILSP, though fewer (anim: 57; inanim: 69). NACT forms with animate subjects

are mostly reflexives while passive readings are also highly frequent in both corpora,

the only difference between them being that in the Web two occurrences with anti-

causative reading are also attested. NACT with inanimate subjects are mostly

passives, anti-causatives being marginally used, while very few non-literal reflexives

were attested (ILSP: 1; Web: 8).

Furthermore, we distinguish some individual verb differences between the two

corpora. More specifically, the mean of the total results from both corpora shows that

ACT verbs with animate subjects are mostly used as transitives, but high availability

of anti-causative readings is manifested in some of them, as in the examples that

follow: vrazi (boil) (antic: 48%), sapizi (rot) (antic: 64.82%), ljoni (melt) (antic:

55.26%), lijizi (bend) (antic: 66.92%). When we compare the distribution of the

readings attested in each verb we note that there are no large differences in the way

they are used. Jerni (lean) is the only verb that differs with respect to its use in the

two corpora since it is mostly unergative in the ILSP while it is transitive in the Web.

The remaining verbs are used almost in a similar way in the two corpora: klini (close),

vrazi (boil) and stegnoni (dry) are transitives in both corpora. The results of the


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following three verbs show some differences in the attested readings between the two

corpora; hence, ljoni (melt) is ambiguous between transitive and anti-causative

readings, but transitive uses are slighlty preferred over the anti-causative ones in the

ILSP, while the reverse pattern is attested in the Web; sapizi (rot) is anti-causative in

both corpora, but transitive uses are more frequent in the Web than in the ILSP;

finally, lijizi (bend) is anti-causative in both corpora, but in the ILSP no significant

difference is attested between anti-causative and transitive uses, while in the Web the

difference between the two readings is significant.

ACT forms with inanimate subjects of all the verbs favour the anti-causative

reading when the syntactic subject is inanimate, except for the verb ljoni (melt) which

is more frequently used as transitive. In fact, the distribution of five verbs, namely

klini (close), vrazi (boil), jerni (lean), sapizi (rot) and stegnoni (dry), does not differ in

the two corpora, while lijizi (bend) is also anti-causative in both corpora, the only

difference being that anti-causatives are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP

corpus. Ljoni (melt), on the other hand, is anti-causative in the ILSP, while transitive

in the Web. Thus, due to the large size of the Web, the mean total of frequencies from

both corpora, illustrates the tendency presented in the Web.

On the other hand, while these verbs are not supposed to allow for voice

alternation, we found instances of verbs with non-active voice morphology, which

were (quite) few and presented highly individual differences. Moreover, only klini

(close) was found in both corpora, hence, results from the remaining verbs come only

from the Web. More specifically NACT forms with animate subjects from the verb

klini (close) received reflexive (69.59%) and passive readings (28.44%). Lijizi (lean)

was exclusively used as reflexive, while passive readings were significanlty preferred

over reflexives in the other verbs, except for the rarely used in the nact-anim

condition verb jerni (lean), which favoured an anti-causative reading instead (60%).

NACT forms with inanimate subjects were also attested only in the Web, except

for klini (close)24 which was frequent in both corpora. The combinations of NACT

verbs with inanimate subjects were highly used with a passive reading except for

sapizi (rot), which was perceived as anti-causative instead. A final note with respect 24 Also, the following NACT occurrences were attested in the ILSP: 7 NACT with inanimate subjects in vrazi (boil) perceived as passives and 2 NACT with inanimate subjects in stegnoni (dry) with anti-causative readings.


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to the two corpora: while these verbs were not at all (or rarely) used in the ILSP with

NACT morphology, they were quite frequent in the Web: some examples in the nact-

inanim combination with passive readings are stegnoni-NACT (dry) (ILSP:0-

Web:137), ljoni-NACT (melt) (ILSP:0-Web:50) and vrazi-NACT (boil) (ILSP:7-

Web:293), while klini-NACT (close) presents a similar pattern too, although it was

also used in the ILSP (ILSP: 60 - Web: 587).

Voice Alternating Anti-causatives verbs (Class II), when active with animate

subjects, they were in their majority transitive in the ILSP and Web corpus, no

significant differences between them; very few anti-causative and unergative

interpretations were also attested. ACT forms with inanimate subjects were

ambiguous between transitive and anti-causative readings, the former being preferred

over the latter in both corpora: the only difference between the corpora lies in that

anti-causative readings were more frequent in the ILSP than the Web but not

significantly so.

When non-active verb forms are examined, the distribution of interpretations

differs in the two corpora: NACT forms with animate subjects in the ILSP are

ambiguous between passive and anti-causative readings, reflexive ones being the least

preferred ones. This same combination (nact-anim) was instead perceived ambiguous

between anti-causative and reflexive readings, passive ones following in the Web. A

very small rate of reciprocal interpretations was also attested in both corpora. The

mean of the total frequencies from both corpora showed ambiguity between, anti-

causative and reflexive readings, passive being the least preferred, probable due to the

larger size of the Web. NACT with inanimate subjects were perceived as passives

more frequently than anti-causatives in the ILSP while they were ambiguous between

anti-causative and passive readings in the Web, which is also what the mean of the

total results from the two corpora shows.

Turning to a discussion of the potential different distribution of individual verbs

in the two corpora, note that all the verbs behaved similarly in the ILSP and Web

corpora with respect to ACT forms with animate subjects, they are mostly used as

transitives. ACT forms with inanimate subjects differed with respect to eachother and

with respect to the distribution of some in the two corpora. The verbs berdevi

(mingle), leroni (spill) and tripai (pierce) were similarly used in the two corpora as


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transitives (only in the latter anti-causative readings are more frequent in the Web

than the ILSP) katharizi (clean) and htipai (hit) are ambiguous between anti-causative

and transitive readings in both corpora. The remaining verbs differed in the two

corpora: tendoni (stretch) was transitive in the ILSP, but ambiguous between anti-

causative (preferred) and transitive uses in the Web; tsalakoni (crumple) was

transitive in the ILSP, but ambiguous between transitive (preferred) and anti-causative

readings in the Web. In all, among ACT forms with inanimate subjects, transitive uses

remain the most frequent, except for htipai (hit), in which the anti-causative reading is

preferred over the transitive but not significantly so. Note finally that, according to the

mean of the total results from the two corpora, katharizi (clean) and tsalakoni

(crumple) are ambiguous between transitive (preferred) and anti-causative readings.

Data from NACT forms of these verbs with animate subjects also revealed

individual verb variation with respect to the corpora examined: katharizi (clean) and

was passive in the ILSP, while anti-causative in the Web; htipai (hit) was preferably

perceived as passive in the ILSP and ambiguous between reflexive (preferred) and

passive in the Web, tripai (pierce) was also passive in the ILSP but reflexive in the

Web. A similar pattern in the two corpora was attested in tendoni (stretch) (reflexive),

in berdevi (mingle) & leroni (spill) (anti-causatives) and in tsalakoni (crumple)

(passive) (but the rate of passives was significantly more elevated in the Web than the

ILSP). In all, tendoni (stretch) and tripai (pierce) were mostly used as reflexives;

katharizi (clean), tsalakoni (crumple), berdevi (mingle) and leroni (spill) were mostly

used as anti-causatives, while htipai (hit) yielded equivalent percentages among the

various readings (refl: 37.68%; antic: 20.12%; pass: 35.03%). NACT forms with

inanimate subjects behaved similarly in the two corpora very often: tendoni (stretch),

berdevi (mingle) and leroni (spill) were anti-causatives, while katharizi (clean) and

tripai (pierce) were passives. Tsalakoni (crumple) was passive in the ILSP, while anti-

causative in the Web and htipai (hit) was also passive in the ILSP, but ambiguous

between passive and anti-causative readings in the Web. In all, Class II NACT verbs

with inanimate subjects are distinguished between those which favoured an anti-

causative reading (tendoni (stretch), tsalakoni (crumple), berdevi (mingle), leroni

(spill)) and those which favoured a passive reading instead (katharizi (clean), htipai

(hit), tripai (pierce)).


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Finally, Activity verbs (Class III) with active morphology have transitive uses

only (100%) irrespective of subject animacy in both corpora, their only difference

being the size: the ILSP was significantly smaller (than the Web) and many verbs

were not attested at all. When non-active verb forms are examined, the two corpora

did not differ only with respect to their sizes but also with respect to the distribution

of the interpretations attested. NACT forms with animate subjects were ambiguous

between passive (preferred) and reflexive readings in the ILSP, while in the Web

reflexives were significantly more frequent than passives. Some reciprocal readings

attested were more frequent in the ILSP than the Web corpus. Finally, the very few

anti-causatives attested did not differ in the two corpora. The mean of the total

frequencies of both corpora showed that reflexives are more frequent than passive

readings, due to the larger size of the Web corpus. NACT forms with inanimate

subjects were ambiguous between passive and anti-causative readings in the ILSP,

while in the Web passives were significantly preferred over the anti-causative ones.

Also, few metaphorical reflexive interpretations attested were more frequent in the

Web than the ILSP. With regard to the mean of the total results, passive readings are

significantly more frequent than anti-causative ones.

With regard to the active forms let us note the different sizes of the two corpora:

htenizi (comb) was found only in the Web and was infrequent with inanimate subject;

the verbs pleni (wash) and dini (dress) were infrequent in the ILSP (no examples of

the former and very few of the latter are attested with inanimate subjects); in the Web

the only case with a small number of results was pleni (wash) with inanimate subjects.

The remaining kitai (look), troi (eat), metaferi (transfer) and krivi (hide) were frequent

in both corpora irrespective of subject animacy (the Web was larger in size) except for

the first two which were rather infrequent with inanimate subjects. A final note should

be made: the Web was always larger in size, except for kitai (look) in the act-anim

condition and metaferi (transfer), irrespective of animacy, for which we found more

examples in the ILSP than the Web.

Also, with regard to the non-active verb forms, the presence of an animate

subject favoured the reflexive reading in the verbs htenizi (comb), pleni (wash), krivi

(hide) and dini (dress) in both corpora, although in the Web we also found some

passive readings too (in the latter some anti-causatives were also attested). The verb

kitai (look) was reciprocal in both corpora, but reflexive readings were more frequent

in the Web than in the ILSP; the verb troi (eat) was reciprocal in the ILSP while


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ambiguous between reflexive, reciprocal and passive readings in the Web. Finally, the

verb metaferi (transfer) was passive in both corpora, although the rate of reflexives

was significantly more elevated in the Web than the ILSP. In all, NACT with animate

subjects favoured the reflexive reading in the verbs htenizi (comb), pleni (wash), dini

(dress) and krivi (hide). The verb kitai (look) was highly used as reciprocal, while the

verb metaferi (transfer) was highly used as passive. Finally, in the verb troi (eat) all

readings presented high frequency (recipr: 46.24%; refl: 30.06%; pass: 23.70%),

effect of the Web corpus, larger in size. With regard to the anti-causative reading,

note that this was available only in krivi (hide) and less in metaferi (transfer).

Last, the non-active verb forms with inanimate subjects presented also a

different distribution in the two corpora. Htenizi (comb) was passive in the ILSP,

while ambiguous between (non-literal) reflexive and passive readings in the Web; dini

(dress) was ambiguous between (non-literal) reflexive (preferred) and passive

readings in the ILSP, while passive readings were preferred over the anti-causative

and (non-literal) reflexive ones in the Web (note that no anti-causatives were found in

the ILSP). Results from kitai (look) come only from the Web, since only one example

with passive reading was attested in the ILSP, and show that it was preferrably used

as reciprocal, while passive readings were highly available, some reflexives too.

Nevertheless, pleni (wash) was passive in both corpora; similarly, troi (eat) was

passive in both corpora, although a difference in size is worth noting (ILSP: 43 vs

Web: 817), metaferi (transfer) was passive in both corpora but passive readings were

significantly more frequent than anti-causative ones in the Web, while the difference

was smaller in the ILSP; similarly, krivi (hide) was anti-causative in both corpora, but

the anti-causative readings were significantly more frequent than passive ones in the

ILSP, while the difference was smaller in the Web. In all, passive readings were the

most frequent in all the verbs except for the verb kitai (look) in which the reciprocal

reading was favoured instead (42.86%) (all data but one passive example come from

the Web). Anti-causative readings were available in several verbs (i.e. pleni (wash),

dini (dress), troi (eat) and metaferi (transfer)), but their frequency remained low;

htenizi (comb), kitai (look) and krivi (hide) did not at all receive anti-causative

readings.

Before proceeding to a discussion with respect of the various PPs used in these

environments, let us summarize, arguing that ACT forms of voice (non)-alternating

anti-causatives are mostly transitives with animate subjects, while activities are


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exclusively transitives. Moreover, voice non-alternating anti-causatives are mostly

anti-causatives with inanimate subjects, voice alternating anti-causatives receive

equally transitive and anti-causative readings with inanimate subjects and activities

are exclusively transitives. NACT forms are highly reflexives with animate subjects,

although high rates of anti-causative and passive readings are attested among voice

alternating anti-causatives and high rates of passive readings are attested among

activities. Finally, NACT forms with inanimate subjects are highly passives, although

some percentages of anti-causative readings are attested among voice-alternating anti-

causatives and activities.

4.4. The PPs

In this section it is important to further comment on the nature of the PPs that often

served as a disambiguating cue for the decision on whether the verb in question

received a reflexive, a passive or an anti-causative reading in the non-active

morphology. More specifically, we will discuss the nature of apo-phrases used, as

well as other PPs found, with respect to verb morphology (ACT-NACT) and [+/-

animacy] of syntactic subject among the various readings that received the verbs

examined in the corpora.

We proceed with a general presentation of the distribution of the various

readings that apo-phrases received in the corpora examined. More specifically, we

show that apo-phrases are not only used in the syntactic structures we are interested in

(passive, anti-causative), but they are also attested in other syntactic structures

modifying the Verb. With regard to the structures that are the main focus of this

research, not only apo-phrases but other PPs are also found in the corpora used. After

presenting a general distribution of the various PPs found in anti-causative (ACT-

NACT) and passive structures, we analyse in more detail PP-agents, causes and

instruments found in each corpus.

4.4.1. The apo-phrase

a. The status of apo-phrase: previous evidence

Starting with the apo-phrase, it is useful that the reader is reminded of some

remarks on its status. It is suggested that the presence of an apo (by/from) in Greek


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cannot be used as a criterion for passivization as the corresponding by-phrase in

English (cf Tsimpli, 2006). Furthermore, as suggested in the literature (Tsimpli, 2006;

Alexiadou et al., 2006; Zombolou, 2004) it is used in a number of different types of

PPs, expressing source (danistika to CD apo ton Kosta ‘I borrowed the CD from

Kostas’), location (or it is construed with locatives (to kadhro ine pano apo ton

kanape ‘the frame is above the sofa’), direction (o Petros irthe apo to sholio ‘Peter

returned from school’), time (vrehi apo noris to proi ‘it rains from early in the

morning’), cause (to dentro lijise apo to varos ‘the tree bent by the weight’),

instrument (htipithika apo to tuvlo pou epese ‘I got/was hit from the falling brick’).

Note crucially that under ‘cause’ we illustrate abstract notions, while under

‘instrument’ concrete materials.

The above were supported by a previous study on the use of the apo-phrase

interacting with voice morphology, verb reading and animacy of the syntactic subject

(Fotiadou, 2007). The study, a sentence completion task was administered to 50 adult

native speakers of Greek. Data revealed a distribution of native speakers’ preferences

with regard to apo-agent and apo-cause phrases, showing that they are available in the

production of sentences containing ACT and NACT verbs, but at different rates. More

specifically, when the anti-causative verb was in ACT form, subjects produced

(67/1400) 4.7% apo-agent (only with inanimate sentence subjects), (633/1400) 45.2%

apo-cause (with either animate or inanimate subjects) and a (57/1400) 4% apo-

instrument (irrespective of the subject animacy) while the remaining (231/1400)

16.5% included other uses of the PP (denoting source, location, time, complement) or

it was not filled (42/1400; 3%). Note with regard to these results that the apo-agent,

although not very frequent, was allowed with active verbs. On the other hand, when

these same verbs were used in NACT, subjects produced (504/1400) 36% apo-agent,

(416/1400) 29.7% apo-cause, (139/1400) 9.92% apo-instrument (irrespective of the

subject animacy) while the remaining (320/1400) 22.85% included other uses of the

PP or it was not filled (21/1400; 1.5%).

The findings of the present corpus analysis also support the claim that the apo-

phrase is not an adequate criterion for passivization in Greek and that it is generally

used with other meanings. We thus provide evidence for the claim that the use of apo-

phrase in passives introducing the agent and in anti-causatives introducing a cause PP

is regarded as a result of ‘apo’s’ underspecified semantic features, which increase its

compatibility with a larger number of interpretive contexts.


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b. The corpus frequencies

Table 53 presents the distribution of the different meanings the preposition ‘apo’

(‘by’) receives in structures with verbs both in active and non-active morphology,

irrespective of the reading it receives (passive, anti-causative, reflexive, reciprocal,

transitive and unergative readings, all being included). We should note however that

we indexed only the apo-phrases that were found inside the VP examined each time.

Table 53: all apo (by/from)-phrases

apo-phrase freq ILSP freq Web Total

agent 136 462 598

% 10.19 12.87 12.15

cause 149 579 728

% 11.16 16.13 14.79

instrument 65 240 305

% 4.9 6.69 6.2

locative 553 810 1363

% 41.45 22.57 27.69

source (directional) 167 325 492

% 12.52 9.06 9.99

temporal 125 182 307

% 9.37 5.07 6.24

by-other 71 720 791

% 5.32 20.07 16.07

complement 68 270 338

% 5.09 7.54 6.87

Total 1334 3588 4922

According to the distribution cited in the Table, the apo-phrase is used in various

ways in Greek: total frequencies (from both ILSP and Web corpus) show that apo-

locative (including expressions where apo- is construed with locatives such as epano

(over), piso (behind) a.o., is the most frequent use attested, followed by apo-various

other meanings (comparison etc), while apo-cause (14.79%) and apo-agent (12.15%)

are shown to be equally used (no significant difference between their frequencies). It


186

is noteworthy that the more frequent uses (locative, other) are, however, distributed in

a very different way in the two corpora, due to discourse factors (formal vs colloquial

register in the ILSP and Web corpus). More specifically, apo-locative is significantly

more frequent in the ILSP than the Web corpus (χ2=5.063, p=.024), while other uses

of apo-phrases are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus (χ2=9.000,

p=.003). With respect to apo-agent and apo-cause, we note that both are more used in

the Web than the ILSP corpus, but not significantly so.

Note, however, that the above frequencies are not only attested in contexts

where the verb receives an anti-causative or a passive reading, but they are also found

in contexts that involve other readings, i.e. transitive and unergative (for the ACT

verb forms) and reflexive (for the NACT verb forms).

In general, while we frequently noticed the contribution of other syntactic

points (i.e. a purpose clause, ‘self’) in reflexives or a pronoun (i.e. each other) in the

reciprocal readings, apo- and me- phrases were not rare. Moreover, the use of

structures such as the ones mentioned above, was not rare in verbs of active

morphology, both in verbs used transitively (i.e. apo-phrase) and in ergative/anti-

causative and unergative structures (i.e. purpose clause, other adverbs).

We next turn to a discussion of the various syntactic elements used to

disambiguate between passive and anti-causative readings.


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4.4.2. PPs in anti-causative (ACT-NACT) and passive structures

a. General remarks

Let us focus on specific verb readings within the scope of the present research ((ACT-

NACT) anti-causative and passive ones) and the nature of PPs used.

Before proceeding with a comparison of the various PPs, note that the

distribution of the total PPs used among these readings varies with respect to the

research variables and the corpus examined (Graph 18).

Graph 18: Total distribution of PPs used among (ACT-NACT) anti-causative

and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus)

As shown in the Graph, Class I verbs were followed by PPs mostly in the anti-

causative readings (ACT) (differences between animate and inanimate subjects were

not significant) and the Web examples drawn were significantly more than the ILSP

examples (ILSP<Web among antic with animate subjects (84 vs 405): χ2=210.718,

p<.001 and antic with inanimate subjects (50 vs 332): χ2=208.178, p<.001).Very few

PPs were also found among passive readings (NACT), specifically more with

inanimate than animate subjects ILSP (3 vs 6): χ2=1.00, p=.317 and Web (19 vs 101):

χ2=56.033, p<.001. Among Class II verbs in the ILSP corpus various PPs co-occurred

with all available readings (no significant differences were attested), while in the Web

corpus PPs were mostly attested among NACT anti-causative readings with animate

subjects (antic (426) vs pass (161): χ2=119.634, p<.001) but no significant differences


188

were attested between anti-causative and passive readings with inanimate subjects

(332 vs 318: n.s.). Note also that PPs among active anti-causatives were significantly

fewer among Class II than Class I verbs (both with animate (ILSP: 84 vs 14:

χ2=50.00, p<.001; Web: 405 vs 24: χ2=338.371, p<.001) and inanimate subjects

(ILSP: 106 vs 32: χ2=39.681, p<.001; Web: 467 vs 157: χ2=154.006, p<.001). Finally,

among Class III verbs passive readings with animate subjects co-occurred more

frequently with PPs in the ILSP than the Web (300 vs 75: χ2=135.00, p<.001), while

passive readings with inanimate subjects co-occurred with PPs more frequently in the

Web than the ILSP corpus (206 vs 594: χ2=188.180, p<.001). Note also that, only in

the Web, PPs were attested among anti-causative readings with animate and inanimate

subjects (the former more frequently than the latter but not significantly), while very

few examples were also found in the ILSP (only with animate subject). Note finally

that PPs co-occurred with passive readings more frequently among Class III than

Class II verbs. The above frequencies show clearly that the PPs are used differently in

the two corpora, revealing that register difference affect their distribution.

In the following Tables (54-56) we present the distribution of the PPs used,

for each verb reading, with regard to voice morphology, subject animacy and verb

class in each corpus. Let us first consider the various PPs among active anti-causative

readings of Class I and II verbs (Table 54).

Table 54: The distribution of PPs among active verbs with anti-causative readings Class I Class II ILSP Web ILSP Web anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim apo-agent 1 10 12 4 0 0 0 0 % 1.19 9.43 2.96 0.08 apo-cause 19 38 67 141 2 3 1 16 % 22.62 35.85 16.54 30.19 14.28 18.75 4.16 10.19 me-cause 0 2 11 20 0 0 0 1

% 1.88 2.71 4.28 0.06 pp-cause 4 2 77 170 0 0 0 0 % 4.76 1.88 19.01 36.40 apo-instr 0 10 2 5 1 1 0 6 % 9.43 0.04 1.07 7.14 3.12 3.82 me-instr 2 4 8 115 0 0 2 36 % 2.38 3.77 1.97 24.62 8.33 22.93 apo-self 2 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 % 2.38 5.66 0.04


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self 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 % 0.02 4.16 1.27 other pp 53 31 224 0 11 26 21 96 % 63.09 29.24 55.30 78.57 81.25 87.5 61.14 apo-other 3 3 4 9 0 2 0 7 % 3.57 2.83 0.10 1.92 6.25 4.45 With respect to the total frequencies of PPs, as shown in the Table, the anti-causative

reading that active verb forms with animate subjects receive is most frequently

followed by other expressions which denote the cause of the action (ILSP: 63.09%

and Web: 55.30%). Among anti-causative readings with inanimate subjects we mostly

found apo-cause (35.85%) or other PPs (29.24%) in the ILSP, apo-cause (30.19%),

PP-cause (36.4%) and me-instr (24.62%) in the Web corpus, with no significant

differences among them. Class II verbs were followed by other PPs in both corpora

(irrespective of subject animacy). With respect to apo-agent phrases, considered as

animate cause, note that they occurred only with Class I verbs as in the example

below:

τα ταραγµένα βαλκάνια βράζουν απο τους Κουστουρίτσες και τους

Μπρέγκοβιτς. http://leftliberalsynthesis.blogspot.com/

Table 55: The distribution of PPs among non-active verbs with anti-causative

readings

Class II Class III ILSP Web ILSP Web

anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim apo-agent 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 % 2.38 apo-cause 21 35 121 114 0 1 0 11 % 50 70 28.40 34.33 100 6.58 me-cause 7 4 48 19 0 0 0 6

% 16.66 8 11.26 5.72 3.59 pp-cause 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 % apo-instr 6 0 78 36 0 0 0 2 % 14.28 18.30 10.84 1.19 me-instr 4 0 25 35 0 0 2 47 % 9.52 58.68 10.54 0.08 28.14 apo-self 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 % 0.03 1.79 self 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 % 0.07 0.06


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other pp 3 11 146 120 11 0 111 81 % 7.14 22 34.27 36.14 84.61 47.63 48.5 apo-other 0 0 0 5 2 0 120 17 % 1.5 15.38 51.50 10.18

*Note that few occurrences of NACT forms among the Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives were also attested. Very few examples were attested only in the Web corpus: these were apo-cause (anim: 0; inanim: 3), me-cause (anim: 0; inanim: 2), me-instr (anim: 1; inanim: 0).

As shown in the Table the anti-causative readings that non-active verb forms receive,

were most frequently followed by apo-cause in the ILSP corpus except for Class III

verbs with animate subjects, mostly followed by other PPs (84.61%): Class II: (anim)

50%; and (inanim) 70%; Class III (inanim) 100%. In the Web corpus, NACT anti-

causatives of Class II verbs with animate subjects co-occurred with me-instrument

(58.68%), of Class III verbs with other PPs (47.63%), while NACT anti-causative

readings of Class II verbs with inanimate subjects co-occurred with apo-cause

(32.33%) and other PPs (36.14%) (no significant differences between them) and with

inanimate subjects with other PPs (48.5%). The apo-agent found among Class II verbs

are considered as an animate cause as in the example below:

Ο συνάδελφος απέναντι είπε ότι πιθανόν να µπερδεύτηκαν από τους άλλους

που ήταν πολιτικώς ενάγοντες.

http://www.eksegersi.gr/efeteio/praktika/22_2.htm

Table 56: The distribution of PPs among verbs with passive readings

Class II Class III ILSP Web ILSP Web

anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim apo-agent 19 10 93 88 10 52 36 139 % 41.30 13.69 57.76 27.67 3.33 25.24 48 23.4 apo-cause 0 2 2 5 3 0 2 0 % 2.73 1.24 1.57 1 2.66 me-cause 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

% pp-cause 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 % apo-instr 17 22 17 34 0 3 0 27 % 36.95 30.13 10.55 10.69 1.45 4.54 me-instr 10 25 35 119 69 62 26 284 % 21.73 34.24 21.73 37.42 23 30.1 34.66 47.81 apo-self 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


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% self 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 % other pp 0 2 14 61 6 23 11 144 % 2.73 8.69 19.18 2 11.16 14.66 24.24 apo-other 0 12 0 11 212 66 0 75 % 16.44 3.45 70.66 32.04 12.62

*Note that few occurrences of NACT forms among the Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives were also attested. They were followed by various PPs: in the ILSP corpus we found apo agent (anim: 2; inanim: 5), apo-cause (anim: 1; inanim: 1). In the Web corpus we found apo-agent (anim: 15; inanim: 26), apo-cause (anim: 0; inanim: 3), others pp-cause (anim: 0; inanim: 18), apo-instr (anim: 1; inanim: 3), me-instr (anim: 3; inanim: 51)

As shown in the Table the passive readings that receive the non-active forms of the

verbs examined are most frequently followed by apo-agent, apo-instrument and me-

instrument phrases. More specifically Class II verbs with animate subjects are

followed in the ILSP by apo-agent (41.30%) and apo-instrument (36.95%), with no

significant differences between the frequencies, while in the Web they are mostly

followed by apo-agent (57.76%). In sentences with inanimate subjects the most

frequently attested PPs were apo- and me- instrument (30.13% and 34.24%

respectively) in the ILSP, apo-agent (27.67%) and me-instrument (37.42%) in the

Web. Class III verbs with animate subjects were followed by other apo-phrases

(70.66%) in the ILSP while by apo-agent (48%) in the Web; in sentences with

inanimate subjects they were followed by apo-agent (25.24%), apo-instrument

(30.1%) and apo-other (32.04%) in the ILSP, while mostly by me-instrument

(47.81%) in the Web. Note also that Class I verbs were also found in NACT forms co-

occurring with passive readings, mostly with apo-agent and apo-cause PPs.

Let us finally see how the PP-agent, cause and instrument were distributed

with respect to verb reading and subject animacy in each verb class.


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b. The apo-agent

Graph 19: Total distribution of the apo-agent phrases used among (ACT-NACT)

anti-causative and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus)

The apo-agent co-occurred mostly with passive readings. Note however, that it was

not very frequent with respect to the total number of passive readings attested in both

corpora, but significantly more frequent in the ILSP than the Web Corpus (χ2=18.253,

p<.001), since it was found in almost half of the passive occurrences in the ILSP

(1097/1966; 55.57%), while in less than one fourth in the Web (1268/6779; 18.7%).

This is consistent with previous assumptions (Laskaratou & Philippaki-Warburton

1984, Joseph & Philippaki-Warburton 1987, a.o.), which suggest that the use of an

overt apo-phrase is considered marked in Greek. Also, in the ILSP apo-agent phrases

were more frequently attested among Class III verbs with animate (Class III: 300 vs

other Classes: 49 (χ2=180.519, p<.001)) and with inanimate subjects (Class III: 206 vs

other Classes: 79 (χ2=56.593, p<.001). In the Web corpus apo-agent phrases were

more frequent among Class III verbs with inanimate subjects (Class III: 594 vs Class

II: 318: (χ2=83.526, p<.001) and Class III: 594 vs Class I: 101 (χ2=349.711, p<.001),

while when we compared sentences with animate subjects, apo-agent were more

frequent among Class II verbs (Class II: 161 vs Class III and I: 75 +19 (χ2=17.604,

p<.001). Note however that some apo-agent phrases were attested also among active

anti-causatives (Class I) in both corpora, irrespective of subject animacy and very few


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occurrences are attested among Class II verbs with animate subjects receiving anti-

causative readings in the Web.

c. The apo- and other- cause phrases

Graph 20: Total distribution of PP-cause used among (ACT-NACT) anti-

causative and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus)

The apo-cause is usually found among (ACT-NACT) anti-causative readings, while

total frequences differ with respect to the corpora, due to the small size of the ILSP

corpus. Apo-cause phrases co-occur more frequently with anti-causative readings

among Class I verbs with inanimate significantly less than with animate subjects both

in the ILSP (anim:19 vs inanim:38) (χ2=6.333, p=.012) and the Web (anim: 67 vs

inanim: 141) (χ2=26.327, p<.001). They are also highly frequent among NACT Class

II verbs with anti-causative readings; note however that in the ILSP apo-cause phrases

are more frequent with inanimate subjects (anim: 21 vs inanim: 35), while in the Web

with animate (anim: 121 vs inanim: 114), but no significant differences are attested.


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Note also few examples of apo-cause phrases among anti-causative readings of Class

III verbs with inanimate subjects and among passive readings of all verb classes.

The remaining PP-causes drawn from the corpora were more frequent in the

Web than the ILSP corpus in Class I (8 vs 278: χ2=254.895, p<.001) and Class II

verbs (11 vs 67: χ2=40.205, p<.001), while few examples of Class III were attested

only in the Web. More specifically, in the ILSP corpus they were marginally used

among Class I verbs in ACT receiving anti-causative readings and among Class II

verbs in NACT also receiving anti-causative readings, while no significant differences

were attested with respect to subject animacy. In the Web corpus other PP-causes

among active anti-causative readings of Class I verbs were significantly more

frequent with inanimate than animate subjects (anim: 88 vs inanim: 190) (χ2=37.424,

p<.001). Among NACT anti-causative readings of Class II verbs other PP-causes

were more frequent with animate than inanimate subjects (anim: 48 vs inanim: 19)

(χ2=12.552, p<.001), but in a much smaller scale than Class I verbs.

Turning to a comparison between apo- and other PP- causes the former are

more frequent than the latter in all cases examined except for the anti-causative

readings of Class I verbs in ACT in the Web corpus, where they are equally used with

animate subjects (67 vs 88: χ2=2.845, p=.092), while other PP-causes are more

frequent than apo-cause with inanimate subjects (141 vs 190: χ2=7.254, p=.007).


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d. The apo- and me- instrument phrases

Graph 21: Total distribution of apo- and me- instrument phrases used among

(ACT-NACT) anti-causative and passives (Verb-Classes, ILSP-Web Corpus)

Apo-instrument phrases were mostly frequent among Class II verbs in both corpora

(ILSP: 47/60 and Web: 171/211), while few examples were also attested to co-occur

with anti-causative readings among Class I verbs with inanimate subjects in the ILSP

(10/60) and the Web corpus (5/211) and some other examples were attested to co-

occur with passive readings among Class III verbs with inanimate subjects

specifically in the Web corpus (27/211). With respect to Class II verbs note that apo-

instrument phrases co-occurred with passive readings in the two corpora both with

animate (ILSP: 17 and Web: 17) and inanimate subjects (ILSP: 22 and Web: 34).

However, they co-occurred on a larger scale with anti-causative readings specifically

in the Web corpus. More specifically, apo-instrument was significantly more frequent

among NACT Class II verbs with animate than inanimate subjects (78 vs 36:

χ2=15.474, p<.001), finding which can be attributed to semantic reasons. Their

frequency rates differed significantly from passives when animate subjects were

involved in the sentence (78 vs 17: χ2=39.168, p<.001) while they did not differ when

inanimate subjects were involved (36 vs 34: χ2=.057, p=.811). Few occurrences of


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apo-instruments were also attested among Class II verbs in ACT with inanimate

subjects receiving anti-causative readings.

Turning to me-instrument phrases they were mostly frequent among Class III

verbs (ILSP: 131 and Web: 351), while some were also attested among Class II verbs

(ILSP: 39 and Web: 252) and few among Class I verbs (ILSP: 6 and Web: 178).

Starting with a discussion concerning the environments where they were mostly

frequent, i.e Class III verbs, passive readings favoured the presence of PP-instrument

both with animate and inanimate subjects in the ILSP corpus (69 vs 62), but more

frequently with inanimate than animate subjects in the Web corpus (284 vs 26:

χ2=214.723, p<.001). With respect to Class II verbs, PP-instrument were attested with

passive (anim: 10 and inanim: 25) and anti-causative readings with NACT verb forms

(anim: 4) in the ILSP corpus and with passive (anim: 35 and inanim: 119) and anti-

causative readings both with ACT (anim: 2 and inanim: 36) and NACT forms (anim:

35 and inanim: 35) in the Web corpus.

Overall me-instrument phrases were used instead of apo-instrument more

frequently among passive readings of Class III verbs (32 vs 490: χ2=401.847, p<.001).

On the other hand, me- and apo-instrument phrases are equally used with Class II

verbs (218 vs 291: χ2=1.960, p=.162). Finally, me-instrument phrases are

significantly more frequent than apo-instrument phrases among Class I verbs (21 vs

184: χ2=129.605, p<.001).

Summary

The use of apo-phrase is rather infrequent: apo-agent phrases are attested only in

4.10% (98/1966) of passive interpretations in the ILSP corpus and 5.85% (397/6779)

in the Web corpus. Apo-cause phrases are attested in 5.66% (57/1006) of anti-

causative interpretations in the ILSP corpus and 6.8% (249/3661) in the Web corpus

with NACT verbs and 2.24% (62/2765) in the ILSP and 2.62% (225/8569) in the Web

corpus with ACT verbs. On the other hand, apo-phrases are used for other purposes

(to express location, time, directionality a.o.) which represent the 66.86% of the total

apo-phrases attested in the two corpora.


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On the other hand, different structures under ‘other PP’ are the most frequent

phrases that serve to disambiguate the verb reading. In other words, context is

frequently supportive to the verb interpretation in adult Greek language: hence, a

large percentage of other PPs used with prepositions such as me (with) or se (in) tend

to be often used: among ACT verb forms 4.88% (135/2765) in the ILSP and 9.11%

(781/8569) in the Web and among NACT verb forms 3.97% (40/1006) in the ILSP

and 17.48% (640/3661) in the Web denoting an anti-causative reading and among

NACT verb forms 10% (197/1966) in the ILSP and 10.62% (720/6779) in the Web

denoting a passive reading.

5. Discussion

5.1. The size of the samples

Overall, we should note that the results analysed come from the Web Corpus, since it

represents the 70.92% of the total data. In fact, the small size of the ‘ILSP corpus’ and

the lack of a sample with colloquial speech were the reasons why we enlarged the

research database and created a new one, the ‘Web corpus’ with sentences drawn

from the Internet (Google search machine).

Frequencies drawn from the two corpora present a similar pattern in the use of

active and non-active verbs irrespective of verb class, i.e. more active (68.70%) than

non-active verb forms (31.30%) are attested with respect to the total of Class I, II and

III verbs. However, when we consider the frequencies obtained in each verb class

examined, we distinguish differences between the two corpora. More specifically,

while in both corpora ACT forms of Class I verbs (Voice non-alternating anti-

causatives) were more frequent than NACT ones, the NACT forms were significantly

more frequent in the Web than the ILSP corpus. Also, ACT forms of Class I verbs

were rare in the ILSP corpus, except for klini (close) which was more frequent in the

ILSP than the Web and stegnoni (dry) for which the frequencies obtained in the two

corpora did not differ significantly. Moreover, non-active verb forms of Class I

remain rather infrequent in the Web as in the ILSP Corpus, given the fact that they

involve neologisms. With respect to Class II (Voice alternating anti-causatives) we

note that ACT forms are more frequent than NACT ones in both corpora, except for


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berdevi (mingle) which is similarly used in both corpora. However, the verbs tendoni

(stretch) and leroni (spill) present low frequency in the ILSP corpus, while tsalakoni

(crumple) is infrequent in both corpora. Class III verbs (activity predicates) present a

different distribution in the two corpora. In the ILSP the verbs htenizi (comb), pleni

(wash) and dini (dress) are infrequent in ACT and not used at all in NACT. Only the

NACT occurrences of metaferi (transfer) and krivi (hide) are frequent in the ILSP. On

the other hand, no such problems were evidenced in the Web. It is worth noting also,

that, among ‘reflexives’, dini (dress) was more frequent in NACT than ACT in both

corpora, while pleni (wash) was more frequent in ACT than NACT in the ILSP, but

more frequent in NACT than ACT in the Web; htenizi (comb) was found only in

NACT in the ILSP, while it was more frequent in ACT than NACT in the Web, a

pattern attested in the remaining verbs of this class in both corpora.

The fact that the examined verbs did not present the same frequency of use in

the two corpora is probably due to the difference of genre of the texts found in the

corpora: the ILSP corpus comprises texts drawn from literature sources, from daily

newspapers, from other scientific and rather formal texts. The Web Corpus comprises

mostly texts drawn from various informal sources (blogs), from chat pages and other

messages produced by non-professional writers, cited in various written texts, which

are likely to illustrate a quasi-oral informal speech.

5.2. The interpretations

With regard to the interpretations they received, the active verb forms were found to

co-occur with transitive (72.77%) and anti-causative readings (25.42%), while the

non-active verb forms were mostly used with passive readings (44.15%), anti-

causative (23.56%) and reflexive (27.85%) ones being also available. The two corpora

did not differ with respect to the distribution of the various readings, but for the

reflexive interpretation which was more frequent in the Web than the ILSP. The fact

that ACT forms were mostly used as transitives while the NACT forms as passives,

shows that Agent-Theme structures are ‘prototypical’, hence more frequent.

When we consider the combination of the [+/-animacy] of the syntactic

subject with the [+/-active] verb morphology, the frequencies of the readings attested

are distributed as follows: the active forms in sentences with animate subjects are

used transitively, while in sentences with inanimate subjects they co-occur both with


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anti-causative (preferred) and transitive readings. However, in the act-inanim

condition the use of anti-causative readings is higher in the Web Corpus, since the

difference between anti-causative and transitive uses is not significant in the ILSP

while it is significant in the Web. The non-active verb forms with animate subjects

receive more frequently reflexive than passive/anti-causative readings in total, an

effect of the Web corpus, larger in size, given that in the ILSP, this combination is

mostly passive (again, probably an effect of speech genre). In NACT verbs with

inanimate subjects passive readings are preferred over anti-causative ones, in both

corpora.

In other words, when an animate subject is involved, active verbs are mostly

used transitively. Change-of-state verbs with internal cause, such as sapizi (rot), are

also attested with a transitive/causative reading in the presence of an animate subject

(cf. also Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2001; Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007), which however

is commonly a non-literal one, contrary to the fact that they do not appear to have a

transitive version (Levin & Rappaport, 1995). Anti-causative readings seem to be

blocked, as also argued in the literature (Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou, 2004,

Tsimpli, 2005, 2006). However, some instances of anti-causative readings found in

sentences involving an animate subject are to be further discussed. In fact, they

mostly come from examples with non-literal readings of Voice Non-alternating Anti-

causatives (Class I), drawn mostly from the Web corpus. More specifically, the anti-

causative readings attested among Class I verbs are distributed as follows: klini

(close): 6/2010; 0.3%; vrazi (boil): 144/300; 13.62%; jerni (lean); 71/521; 13.662%;

sapizi (rot): 339/523; ljoni (melt): 205/371; 55.26%; lijizi (bend): 609/910; 66.92%;

stegnoni (dry): 38/156; 24.36%. The few occurrences of anti-causative readings

among Class II verbs with animate subjects (with katharizi (clean) (n=2) (one

example in each corpus) and leroni (spill) (n=2) (both examples in the Web) may be

accounted for as ‘incorrect’ uses, while the fact that the verb htipai (hit) yielded a

more elevated frequency in the use of anti-causative readings in the act-anim

condition (110/2288; 4.81%) in both corpora should be taken into consideration.

When an inanimate subject is involved, the degree of preference of transitive

over intransitive (anti-causative/unergative) readings with active verb forms varies

with respect to verb classification: more specifically, Class I verbs are mostly used as

anti-causatives, while Class II & III verbs as transitives/causatives. Note however,

that in Class II verbs, although the pattern attested is similar in both corpora, anti-


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causative readings are more frequent in the ILSP than the Web, while transitive

readings are more frequent in the Web than in the ILSP. Note also, that the

availability of the non-active verb form in Class II verbs may be considered as a

possible reason why active anti-causatives are less frequent than Class I verbs. Before

proceeding with a detailed review of the data with respect to verb classification, let us

first consider how they are interpreted.

Non-active verbs with animate subjects received in total more often reflexive

readings (although in the ILSP passive readings were preferred instead); NACT with

inanimate subjects were passive in both corpora. However, the above pattern does not

remain the same when verb classification is controlled for. More specifically with

respect to NACT verbs with animate subjects, while Class I verbs preferably receive a

reflexive reading in both corpora, Class II verbs co-occur more often with anti-

causative readings. Moreover, the distribution of the various readings differs in the

two corpora: in the ILSP the next preferred reading is the passive one, while in the

Web the reflexive. Class III verbs with animate subjects are overall interpreted as

reflexives, an effect of the Web corpus, given that in the ILSP the passive readings are

preferred instead. On the other hand, with respect to NACT verbs with inanimate

subjects, the attested pattern is also mixed: Class I and III verbs are preferably

interpreted as passives in both corpora, the only difference between them being that

the difference between passive and the next frequent anti-causative readings in Class

III verbs is not significant in the Web, while it is in the ILSP. Class II verbs with

inanimate subjects are, overall, ambiguous between passive and anti-causative

readings, an effect of the sizes of the two corpora, given that they are actually

passives in the ILSP, while anti-causative are more preferred over passive readings in

the Web. Note also that some reflexive interpretations found, were more frequent in

the Web than the ILSP.

Data showed that an analysis with respect to verb classification would allow

us to obtain a clearer picture of the different behavior that verbs included in the

present study. Starting with Class I verbs, we should point out that in sentences with

animate subjects speakers prefer to use the active verb form in order to illustrate a

(non)-literal anti-causative reading (though causative uses are more frequent), while

they tend to use the non-active verb form in order to attribute more preferably a

reflexive reading or even a passive, but not an anti-causative one. Note furthermore,

that anti-causative uses are more frequent in the Web than the ILSP Corpus. In


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sentences with inanimate subjects, speakers prefer to use the active verb form in order

to illustrate an anti-causative reading (few causative uses are also available), while

they tend to use the non-active verb forms in order to express more preferably a

passive non-literal reading. It should also be pointed out that non-active verb forms

are not highly frequent in either of the corpora used, but they are significantly more

frequent in the Web than the ILSP, showing a tendency of productive use of the

NACT morphology in informal speech.

Turning to Class II verbs, we should first notice that active forms are less

frequent than non-active ones among the Voice Alternating Anti-causatives examined

in the study. In sentences with animate subjects, speakers tend to use the active forms

in order to illustrate causative/transitive readings, while a small percentage of anti-

causative uses is also attested, an effect of the verb htipai (hit) in both corpora, in

contrast with the suggestion (Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou, 2004) that animacy

blocks the anti-causative reading. On the other hand, the non-active forms co-occur

with anti-causative (preferred) and reflexive readings, while some passives are also

available. However, the frequency of reflexives preferred over the passives is

attributed to the Web Corpus, given that in the ILSP passive readings are more

frequent than reflexive ones. Turning to sentences with inanimate subjects ACT forms

are used more frequently to illustrate causative/transitive readings in both corpora,

while anti-causative readings are also highly available (though more frequent in the

ILSP than the Web). The NACT forms, on the other hand, are, generally, equally used

to denote passive or anti-causative readings, an effect of the Web corpus, since in the

ILSP passives are the most frequent readings attested. We should also draw attention

to the fact that the availability of both ACT and NACT voice marking affects the

distribution of anti-causative readings: while these verbs are classified as anti-

causatives, speakers tend to prefer to use the active verb form to illustrate a non-

agentive event, while no such preference is attested in the presence of non-active

voice morphology, where passive readings are more frequent than anti-causatives, but

not significantly (although in the ILSP corpus there is a clear preference of the passive

readings with these structures, attributed to register difference).

Finally, Class III verbs are attested only with transitive readings in the active

voice morphology, irrespective of subject animacy; the only difference between the

two corpora is their size. Non-active verb forms, however, differ with respect to

subject animacy and corpora. When the syntactic subject is animate, NACT forms are


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overall significantly preferred with reflexive over passive readings - also highly

frequent -an effect attributed to the Web, given that in the ILSP passive readings are

more frequent than reflexive ones. When the syntactic subject is inanimate, passive

readings are the most frequent in both corpora, while anti-causative readings which

are also available, are significantly less frequent in the Web, but not significantly so in

the ILSP.

Up to this point, we have tried to show that the presence of an animate subject

in sentences where active forms are used favours the causative/transitive use, while

some anti-causative uses are also allowed, specifically when the verb is classified as

Voice Non-alternating Anti-causative. On the other hand, the presence of an animate

subject in sentences where non-active verb forms are used renders the reflexive

reading highly frequent, irrespective of verb classification. The availability of passive

and anti-causative readings however depends crucially on the verb’s classification: the

passive is more frequent than the anti-causative for Class I & III verbs, while the anti-

causative is more frequent than the passive for Class II verbs.

As far as inanimate subjects are concerned, active verb forms are more

frequently used as causatives/transitives, with the exception of Class I verbs, which

are preferred as anti-causatives, while non-active verb forms are highly preferred as

passives in Classes I and III, anti-causatives being also available. However, Class II

non-active verbs evince higher availability of anti-causative readings than the other

classes, hence passive (preferred) readings do not significantly differ from the anti-

causative ones (an effect of the Web corpus where anti-causative readings are

preferred over passive ones).

Overall, when the active verb forms are used, we should notice that Class I

verbs behave generally as anti-causatives, Class II allow anti-causative readings,

while Class III verbs do not have anti-causative readings. Moreover, with respect to

Class II verbs, note that a voice effect is attested in sentences with animate subjects,

i.e. NACT forms are preferred over ACT ones to denote an anti-causative reading; no

such effect is attested with inanimate subjects where both ACT and NACT forms are

used. When non-active verb forms are used, the distribution of the various readings is

more complicated: animate subjects favour reflexive readings, while passive or anti-

causative readings may also be available depending on pragmatic and semantic

factors among others. Inanimate subjects co-occur with passive and/or anti-causative

readings, some non-literal reflexive uses being also available.


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We next turn to a discussion of the PPs that are drawn form sentences found

in the research corpora with respect to verb interpretation, subject animacy, voice

morphology and verb class.

5.3. The PPs involved

Starting with the apo-phrase we should note that the corpora examined, revealed a

large variety of possible readings of the preposition ‘apo’, as a result of its

underspecified semantic features, as suggested in the literature (Tsimpli, 2006 a.o.).

Note also that the use of an overt agent ‘by-phrase’ is considered marked in Greek

(Laskaratou & Philippaki-Warburton 1984, Joseph & Philippaki-Warburton 1987,

a.o.). This leads to an infrequent use of apo-agent even where the passive reading is

independently available, also attested in the corpora: only 4.10% (98/1966) in the

ILSP corpus and 5.85% (397/6779) in the Web corpus of the passive readings were

followed by an apo-phrase. For these reasons, the presence of an apo-agent cannot be

used as a criterion for passivisation as the corresponding by-phrase in English

(Tsimpli 2006).

The distribution of the PPs discussed with respect to verb interpretation, verb

morphology, verb class and subject animacy is illustrated (repeated) below for ease of

exposition:

Table 57: Distribution of PPs

PPs morph-

reading

Class I Class II Class III Total

anim inanim anim inanim anim inanim

act-antic 13 14 0 0 0 0 27

nact-antic 0 0 6 0 0 0 6

apo-

agent

(n=528) nact-pass 17 31 112 98 46 191 495

act-antic 2 15 1 7 0 0 25

nact-antic 0 0 84 36 0 2 122

apo-

instrument

(n=268) nact-pass 1 3 34 56 0 30 124

act-antic 10 119 2 36 0 0 167 me-

instrument nact-antic 1 0 29 35 2 47 114


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(n=959) nact-pass 3 51 45 144 95 340 678

act-antic 86 179 3 19 0 0 287

nact-antic 0 3 142 149 1 12 307

apo-

cause

(n=613) nact-pass 1 4 2 7 5 0 19

In a total of 528 apo-agent phrases, the 93.75% (495/528) are found among NACT

verbs with passive readings, while 5.11% are found among ACT verbs with anti-

causative readings (anim: 13 and inanim: 14); 6 occurrences among NACT anti-

causatives with an animate subject, expressed an animate cause. While the percentage

of apo-agent is small with respect to the total number of passive readings, though

different in the two corpora, due to different registers, i.e. in the ILSP (1097/1966;

55.57%), and the Web (1268/6779; 18.7%), note that in a total of 528 occurrences, it

is more frequent among NACT Class II verbs (39.77 %), with both animate and

inanimate subjects and NACT Class III verbs with inanimate subjects (36.17%).

Recall that Class II verbs were the only NACT verbs that favoured passive (and anti-

causative) readings with animate subjects, the remaining favouring reflexive readings

instead. It was thus expected that apo-agent would not be frequent among Class III

verbs with animate subjects, which prefer reflexive readings instead.

Turning to the apo-instrument phrases we should notice that they are mostly

attested with Class II verbs (218/268; 81.34%) among the passive and (N)ACT anti-

causative readings, while they are attested more frequently among the passive

interpretations (90/268; 33.58%) and the non-active anti-causatives (90/268; 33.58%)

and less frequently among the active anti-causatives (8/268; 2.98%). Let us not forget

that apo-instrument are also attested among ACT Class I anti-causatives, their

percentage being significantly more elevated than the one of ACT Class II anti-

causatives (χ2=12.960, p<.001) (Class I: 17/25; 68% and Class II: 8/25; 32%).

Some remarks are also noteworthy with regard to me-instrument phrases,

which appear to be rather frequent overall. More specifically, me-instrument PPs are

mostly found with passive verb readings (678/959; 70.69%) (Class I: 54/959, Class II:

189/959 and Class III: 131/959), as in to ksirafaki stegnonete me to pistolaki (the

raiser is dried with the hairdryer) while they are also used both with active (167/959;

17.41%) (Class I: 121/167 and Class II: 38/167) and non-active anti-causatives

(114/959; 11.89%) (Class I: 1/114, Class II: 64/114 and Class III: 49/114) o oros


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meraferete me to ema (the serum is transferred by (or through) the blood). As a matter

of fact, it seems that they are preferred over apo-instrument with ACT anti-causatives

and passives (in NACT), while they are equally used with NACT anti-causatives, as

in I thermotita metaferete apo ta kafsaeria (the hit transfers through pollution) ,the

examples drawn from the corpus.

On the other hand, apo-cause phrases are more frequently attested with ACT

Class I verbs (265/613) and NACT Class II (291/613) denoting an anti-causative

reading, while they are not preferred among the passive interpretations in either verb

Class, as expected.

Overall, results from the frequencies of the PPs involved in the passive and

(ACT-NACT) anti-causative structures of Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causative

verbs and Activity predicates show that they all contain an implicit external argument.

Following the assumption that the implicit external argument of verbs entering the

causative-inchoative alternation can optionally be an agent or a causer (Levin &

Rappaport-Hovav, 1995, Reinhart, 2000, 2002) data provide evidence supporting that

anti-causatives can license agents and instruments as well as causers and causing

events.

On the other hand, the few apo-cause phrases that co-occurred with passive

readings of NACT forms of Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causative verbs and

Activity predicates show that the passive interpretation allows causers and causing

events modifying the verb. The thematic restriction on the Greek passive suggesting

that the implicit external argument of alternating verbs is necessarily an agent

(Alexiadou, Anagnostopoulou & Shäfer, 2006), contra Reinhart (2000, 2002), is not

supported by the frequencies attested in this research.

Also the presence of both apo- and me- instrument phrases in passive and

(ACT-NACT) anti-causative structures pointing to the presence of an implicit external

argument suggests that there is no difference between the two relevant verb readings

expressed in terms of the presence or absence of implicit arguments.

ON-LINE PROCESSING CHAPTER 4 OF TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIOSN

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CHAPTER 4

ON-LINE PROCESSING OF TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

1. Introduction

We now turn to the presentation of the empirical data of the on-line and the off-line

psycholinguistic experiments conducted in this thesis. In the present chapter we are

going to present findings from an on-line word-by-word self-paced reading (SPR)

task followed by an acceptability judgment task (AJ), which has been conducted with

adult native speakers of Greek. We investigated the degree of acceptability of

sentences involving Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives, as well as the parsing

difficulties related to factors such as voice morphology and subject animacy. The

verbs examined are mostly verbs whose frequencies were calculated in the corpora

(Chapter 3) so that empirical findings from the on-line task can be compared to the

frequencies attested. The verbs included are classified as Voice Non-Alternating

Anti-causatives (Class I) and Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II).

In what follows we discuss the Rationale of the task (Section 2) and describe

the SPR and AJ tasks (Section 3). In Section 3 a detailed description of the materials

used (Section 3.1), the procedure (Section 3.2), the participants (Section 3.3) and a

reference to the specific research questions (Section 3.4) are presented. We next

present the results (Section 4): In Section 4.1 we explain the analyses and

measurements performed. In Section 4.2 we provide analyses of the AJ task (ratings

and RTs): we start with a presentation of the total sentences not evaluated (Section

4.2.1) and we next present analyses of the ratings with regard to total experimental

sentences (Section 4.2.2), the two verb-classes used (Section 4.2.3) and individual

verbs (Section 4.2.4). RTs of the AJ task are next analysed, with respect to total

results (Section 4.2.5), with respect to results from the two verb classes examined


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(Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives’ (Section 4.2.6) and with respect to results

from each verb included in the task (Section 4.2.7). In the following sections we

present the results of the SPR task (Section 4.3): we first provide evidence of the

effects attested with a presentation of the total mean RTs (Section 4.3.1) and next of

RTs on the 3rd critical segment (Section 4.3.2), the fourth (Section 4.3.3), the fifth

(Section 4.3.4), the sixth (Section 4.3.5) and the seventh segment (Section 4.3.6). In

Section 4.3.7 we discuss RTs received per verb. Finally (Section 5), we discuss

findings in the light of recent models of sentence processing.

2. Rationale

2.1 Previous research on on-line processing of transitivity alternations

Findings from previous studies conducted to examine the Unaccusativity Hypothesis

(Perlmutter 1978, Perlmutter and Postal 1984), suggest that the processing of

unaccusative verbs differs from that of unergatives (Burkhardt, Piñango and Wung,

2003; Friedmann, Taranto, Shapiro & Swinney, 2008; Shetreet, Friedmann & Hadar,

2009, for English; Peristeri, Tsimpli & Tsapkini, submitted, for Greek)25. However,

the results are not interpreted in the same way. We thus proceed with a brief overview

of their findings.

Data from Burkhardt et al.’s study (2003), though limited to unergative and

unaccusative verbs participating in the causative/inchoative alternation26, supported

the Split Intransitivity Hypothesis (Perlmutter, 1978; Levin & Rappaport-Hovav,

1995 a.o.). More specifically, data from control subjects (9 adults) showed that a

statistically significant priming effect appears right after the verb for unergatives,

while later on for unaccusatives. Authors attributed the effect right after the 25 In these researches Cross Modal Lexical Priming (CMLP) tasks were administered to agrammatic (Burkhardt, Piñango and Wung, 2003 for English and Peristeri, Tsimpli & Tsapkini, submitted, for Greek) and normally developing English speaking adults (Friedmann, Taranto, Shapiro & Swinney, 2008). In these CMLP taks sentences were presented orally at a normal speaking rate and, at some point during each sentence a letter sequence (word or non-word) was briefly visually displayed on a screen. The participants were asked to make a lexical decision on the letter sequence. With respect to traces created under movement, a priming effect on the trace position means that the moved element has been reactivated in this position, facilitating Response Time. 26 Authors claim to have limited data since no clear pattern of the non-alternating unaccusatives subtype was evidenced in the performance of Broca’s aphasics (2003:17).


208

unergative verb to the existence of a trace of the subject base-generated in Spec-VP

(according to the VP-Internal Hypothesis (Koopman & Sportiche, 1991 a.o.)), the

trace of the moved NP in unaccusatives being located lower in the structure.

In Friedmann et al. (2008), data from 120 English speaking adults showed

that subjects of (non-alternating)27 unaccusatives reactivate after the verb, while

subjects of unergatives do not, also supporting the Split Intransitivity Hypothesis

(Perlmutter, 1978; Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995 a.o.). However, a mixed pattern

attested in the reactivation of alternating unaccusatives (see fn.27) was attributed to

the different distribution of the most frequent uses of the verbs examined. A search in

the Brown Corpus revealed that the ones which behaved like unaccusatives were

frequently found with an affected subject (in Dowty’s terms, 1991), while the ones

which behaved like unergatives were often found with a subject ‘volitionally engaged

in the activity denoted by the verb’ (Friedmann et al., 2008:18), supporting the claim

that alternating unaccusatives have their single argument base-generated in subject

position (Haegeman 1994, Belletti 1988). However, evidence from neuroimaging

(Shetreet et al., 2009) suggests that activation of the middle temporal gyrus reveals a

lexical operation that derives unaccusative verbs, while activation of the inferior

frontal gyrus may be involved with the execution of the syntactic operation in the

case of unergatives.

Peristeri et al. (submitted) studied Greek agrammatic patients and 15

unimpaired controls. Voice morphology and [+/-animacy] of the syntactic subject

were manipulated, factors which have been proved to determine Greek speakers’

choices (cf. Tsimpli, 2006) and are also used in our research. There was a priming

effect right after the verb in the unergative condition (attested only in one patient and

three controls), which was accounted for in terms of the productivity of the

transitivization of unergative verbs in Greek (see also Roussou & Tsimpli, 2007) and

not in terms of the VP-internal subject hypothesis (as suggested in Burkhardt et al.,

2003). Furthermore, what is interesting for Greek, given the availability of ACT

unergatives and anti-causatives/unaccusatives as well as anti-causatives/

unaccusatives with both ACT/NACT morphology, is that data from patients revealed

27 In the sense of Haegeman (1994), i.e. not having a transitive/causative counterpart (eg. vanish) vs alternating, i.e. inchoative that have a transitive/causative counterpart (eg break); see also 1.1


209

‘limited access to the lexicon-filtered information constraining ACT verbs as

unaccusatives rather than unergatives’ (Peristeri et al., submitted: 37). Finally, an

animacy effect interacting with voice morphology was registered in both controls and

aphasics. More specifically, with respect to NACT unaccusatives, priming was

exhibited only with inanimate subjects, suggesting that NACT unaccusatives with

animate subjects were perceived as reflexives, the level of interpretational ambiguity

being raised. In ACT, controls were not influenced by the subject animacy, a finding

which shows that they were lexically driven, in contrast to aphasics whose

performance was affected by animacy. Although aphasics are suggested not to be

able to establish the A-chain between the antecedent and the post-verbal gap for ACT

verb types of both voice ‘alternating’ and ‘non-alternating’ verbs, the availability of

NACT functioning as a marker of transitivity is suggested to facilitate processing of

the former case. This sensitivity to optional voice alternation in aphasics shows

access to a distinct morpho-phonological component (something that reminds us of

the independent availability of a morpho-phonological component in Borer’s system

(2004) raising implications for child developing grammars in language acquisition).

On-line research studies have also been conducted on other structures

involving NP movement, such as the passive in English, aiming to examine whether

there is a processing load in non-canonical constructions. Ferreira (2003) using biased

reversible (The dog bit the man), non-reversible (The mouse ate the cheese) and

reversible-symmetrical (The woman visited the man) sentences, and also

manipulating plausibility (The dog bit the man vs. The man bit the dog), asked

participants (English-speaking adults) to identify the thematic roles in the sentence

orally presented (e.g., Who was the do-er?). She suggested that participants

misinterpreted passives, especially when they expressed implausible ideas. In

addition, RTs to actives were significantly shorter - 1899 ms - than to passives - 2156

milliseconds, reflecting that passives pose greater processing load than actives.

Nevertheless, surface frequency of a syntactic form did not seem to determine ease of

processing, as active sentences and subject-clefts were comprehended equally easily

despite the rareness of the latter type. Contrary to that, in Rohde & Gibson (2003), the

processing of actives was not easier than the processing of passives when the word-

by-word self-paced reading task adult participants encountered, contained active


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sentences involving subject-extraction (passive sentence: The reporter that was

attacked by the senator ignored the president vs active sentence: The reporter that

attacked the senator ignored the president). Authors noticed that reading rates were

in line with frequency data taken from counts in the Penn Treebank (Brown and WSJ)

and suggested that the online sentence reading control mechanism is not necessarily

sensitive to processing difficulty at the thematic level. Finally, in Stromswold et al.

(2002), a study on English L1 acquisition, investigating the processing of actives and

passives in real-time using eye-tracking in a sentence-picture matching task, adult

controls were attested to make use of acoustic, morphological, and semantic cues and

decide on-line, i.e. “at or before the verb stem (i.e., before participle)” for the active

sentences and “at the past participle” for the passive sentences (Stromswold et al.,

2002).

In Greek, a morphologically rich language, NACT voice morphology marks

transitivity alternations. In previous research on subject-object ambiguity resolution

(Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005), it has been suggested that Greek speakers are

sensitive to morphological cues during processing. Thus, it is interesting to examine

the degree of sensitivity to morphological marking. Moreover, results suggesting an

interaction of voice morphology and subject animacy (Peristeri et al., submitted)

receive support from the present study, as will be shown next. Finally, we hope that

the comparison of the data obtained in our SPR task to frequencies drawn from adult

written corpora will shed some light on the question regarding the possibility of a

statistically driven parser, as implied in previous research (eg. Friedmann et al., 2008;

Rohde & Gibson, 2003) and the degree of the interaction of Voice morphology and

subject animacy with these ‘statistical records’ with respect to voice ‘alternating’ and

‘non-alternating’ anti-causatives in Greek (Chapter 6).


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2.2. Specific rationale

Based on the research aims stated above, the effect of the morpho-phonological

properties of Greek active and non-active voice, of the animacy of the syntactic

subject and their potential interaction are to be investigated. More specifically, the

SPR task was designed to determine Greek native speakers’ perception of the role of

these features in sentences where Voice (Non) - alternating anti-causative verbs are

always in the anti-causative structure, i.e. no object is present.

All the verbs examined have been argued to belong to the lexically

determined verb class of ‘anti-causatives/ergatives’ (cf. Anagnostopoulou &

Alexiadou, 2004; Levin & Rappaport Hovav, 1995). Alternatively, it has been

suggested that specific readings assigned to these verbs are the result of pragmatic or

encyclopaedic information attached to verb/conceptual entries in the adult grammar

as well as the interaction of this information with Voice marking and animacy of the

subject (Tsimpli, 2006). The implication is that while NS’ acceptability judgments

will exhibit preferences according to verb classes, reaction times in sentence

processing, as well as on the decision making segment will vary when voice

morphology, animacy of the syntactic subject and choice of verb are controlled for.

ACT/NACT voice morphology is of primary importance in verb processing

since active morphology does not show unaccusativity in a transparent way and is

typically associated with unergative and transitive structures as well (Tsimpli, 2006).

Non-active morphology too can give rise to reflexive or non-reflexive (passive, anti-

causative) readings. Animacy is relevant as a semantic feature which ‘affects’

syntactic derivations, in that it affects the preference for one of the grammatically

available syntactic derivations: In combination to active verbs it strongly favours a

causative structure since its presence blocks the ‘alternating’ status of voice

alternating anti-causatives (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004), although there are

metaphorical uses, some quite common. Inanimate subjects with active verbs co-

occur both with causative and anti-causative readings. In combination to non-active

verbs, animacy allows for all available readings, i.e. reflexive and non-reflexive, the

former involving an external argument while the latter a derived subject (Tsimpli,

2006). Inanimate subjects with non-active verbs co-occur with passive and anti-


212

causative readings distinguished at an interface level where the cause or agent

interpretation of the external argument becomes relevant, but there are also

metaphorical reflexive uses, some quite common (see Chapter 3). Verb Classes are

also relevant at an interface level, since they are assumed to determine NS’

preferences with respect to Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives.

Predictions for the acceptability judgment (AJ) task

With regard to acceptability judgments, given that all the sentences presented are

unaccusative structures (no object is present), participants are expected to consider

acceptable all active forms with an inanimate subject (both Class I and II verbs), as

well as non-active forms with either animate or inanimate subjects for the Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II). On the other hand, participants are expected to

consider marginal or unacceptable all the non-active forms of Class I verbs and the

active forms with animate subject of Class II verbs, since animacy has been argued to

‘block’ the anti-causative reading (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004).

Active morphology does not show unaccusativity in a transparent way and is

typically associated with unergative and transitive readings/structures (Tsimpli,

2006), thus, the time needed for the decision making (RTs) should be higher with

ACT than NACT forms, where there is a clear marking of transitivity alternations.

Moreover, the RTs for ACT forms with animate subjects should be higher than the

ones in ACT forms with inanimate subjects: the subject animacy is expected to affect

the processing of unaccusative structures, given that inanimate subjects are associated

with a theme-role (Dowty 1991; 2003), as is the case in these structures. RTs for

NACT forms with inanimate subjects should be faster than NACT with animate

subjects: participants are expected to attempt to resolve the ambiguity between a

reflexive and a non-reflexive reading (a derived and a non-derived structure), in

sentences involving an animate subject, or between a passive and an anti-causative

reading (two derived structures) in the presence of inanimate subjects. Finally, Voice

Non-alternating Anti-causatives (Class I verbs) in NACT morphology are expected to

yield shorter RTs than Class I ACT verbs and Voice Alternating Anti-causatives

(Class II verbs) irrespective of voice morphology (ACT/NACT) because participants

consider the given sentences marginal or unacceptable.


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Predictions for the self-paced reading (SPR) task

A common assumption in psycholinguistics is that language processing is sensitive to

morphological marking among other properties. As far as voice morphology is

concerned, we expect that RTs in the processing of the verb segment, i.e. the critical

segment, in the present experiment would provide longer reaction latency in the non-

active voice morphology condition, since NACT is morphologically more marked

than ACT, and NACT always signals transitivity alternations, with the exception of

deponents.

Furthermore, given the variety of interpretations of the voice morpheme

(ACT/NACT), the test was designed to investigate the other syntactic and pragmatic

factors found on later segments, since no disambiguation of the verbal interpretation

was included by the end of the sentences. Animacy is predicted to affect the reaction

times after the verb (critical) segment. This is based on the grounds that animacy,

being a semantic feature, will be relevant to later stages of the processing, supporting

models which suggest the priority of syntax over semantics in the course of sentence

processing (cf. Serial autonomous models eg. Ferreira and Clifton, 1986; Frazier,

1987a, b, 1990; Frazier and Rayner, 1982). If the animacy effect were attested earlier,

it would provide evidence in favour of multiple constraint satisfaction models


Tanenhaus, 1993; Spivey-Knowlton & Tanenhaus, 1994; Taraban & MacClelland,

1990; Thornton, Gil & MacDonald, 1998; Thornton, MacDonald & Gil, 1999;

Trueswell & Tanenhaus, 1994; Trueswell, Tanenhaus & Garnsey, 1994) which

assume that lexical, semantic, syntactic, pragmatic or other discourse information

immediately affect parsing.

A further note with regard to the Syntax-Semantics Interface: in line with the

Principles and Parameters framework (Chomsky, 1981, 1986), a principle-based

parsing theory (eg. Pritchett, 1992) would suggest that every principle of the grammar

must be satisfied as early as possible (Generalized Theta Attachment: Pritchett, 1992:

155) and syntactic reanalysis for a re-interpretation of a ‘θ-marked constituent as

outside of a current theta domain’ will be costly (Theta reanalysis constraint:

Pritchett, 1992: 15). With regard to the mapping between argument positions and


214

theta-roles, an NP subject is usually associated with an Agent while an NP object is

associated with a Theme (depending on the reading); hence, non-canonical thematic

structures where the syntactic subject is actually a Theme would give rise to longer

latencies.

We anticipate that the act-anim condition will elicit shorter RTs on the verb

segment because the animate subject is very likely to be the Agent. The act-inanim

condition will manifest a delay because the inanimate subject is a Theme in a derived

position. On the other hand, both nact-anim and nact-inanim conditions will exhibit a

delay on the verb segment because the non-active morphology is ‘marked’ when

compared to the active morphology and signals transitivity changes (Tsimpli, 2006),

i.e. involves ‘non-canonical’ structures. ACT and NACT ‘non-canonical’ thematic

structures are also assumed to differ with respect to RTs, since the ACT (anti-

causative) involves a simpler derivation (one-theta feature, borne by the DP in subject

position) than the NACT (anti-causative), where the external theta-feature is

syntactically active and thus, two theta features are computed in the derivation.

An effect of the interaction between voice and animacy is expected on the

segments following the verb. In sentences with ACT verbs and animate subjects,

participants should highly expect a post-verbal object, its lack causing a processing

load, hence a delay. Also, in line with the Unaccusativity Hypothesis (Perlmutter,

1978; Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, 1995 a.o.), the reactivation of the subject in its

post-verbal position, is expected in sentences with ACT verbs. Reactivation of the

subject in its post-verbal position is moreover expected with NACT marked verbs.

However, RTs on the segments following the NACT verbs are expected to vary with

respect to the animacy of the subject. More specifically, when an inanimate subject is

involved, RTs should be similar to the ones received in the active voice, because both

structures involve a derived subject; although NACT morphology has a clearer

marking, ACT involves the simplest derivation. Recall that Tsimpli (2006) accounts

for passive and anti-causative readings in terms of the same syntactic derivation, i.e.

the agentive feature is attracted by Voice (cf. Embick, 2004) and is left

underspecified with regard to interpretation at LF, allowing for a passive, an anti-

causative or a middle reading. When an animate subject is involved, we anticipate


215

shorter RTs resulting from a concurrent computation of reflexive and non-reflexive

readings, the latter being derived while the former not (Tsimpli, 2006).

Finally, in order to explore whether the parser resolves ambiguities based on

previous experience, as suggested by experience-based models of the parsing

mechanism, we compare the RTs obtained in the task, to frequencies drawn from

adult written corpora of formal and informal speech. We consider verb-type

frequencies of interpretations supporting a coarse-grained storing system as the

‘Tuning Theory’ (Brysbaert & Mitchell, 1996; Mitchell & Brysbaert, 1998; Mitchell,

Cuetos, Corley & Brysbaert, 1995) and item-based frequent interpretations

suggesting a more fine-grained storing system of lexical, semantic, syntactic,

pragmatic or other discourse frequency information (MacDonald, 1997; Spivey-

Knowlton & Tanenhaus, 1994; Thornton, MacDonald & Gil, 1999, a.o.).


216

3. The SPR and AJ tasks

The SPR task in which sentences are presented in a word-by-word or phrase-by-

phrase fashion are supposed to reflect initial parsing choices since the reader cannot

go back to the words or phrases (s)he has previously read and, thus, (s)he is

encouraged to keep-up-to-date with sentence processing. The basic rationale

underlying this task is that increased reading times (RTs) on a particular segment

(compared to the same segment in a control condition) indicate relatively higher

processing difficulty (Just et al., 1982). Moreover, the word-by-word fashion would

serve the present study because the ease or speed of access to a word during sentence

processing has been shown to be affected by several factors: in several studies,

specific lexical items were controlled in terms of their most frequent occurrence in

multiple environments with respect to their morpho-syntactic apparatus, although no

explicit reference of a morpho-syntactic analysis is provided. For example, the more

frequent use of that as a complementizer than a demonstrative determiner is

suggested to affect parsing even in environments that unambiguously favour the

second reading (cf. Tabor et al., 1997). By analogy, we specifically wanted to see if

frequency alone, its combination with morpho-syntactic and pragmatic factors, or

animacy affected the time needed to process the verb segment.

In the present word-by-word SPR task the participants also performed an AJ

task at the end of each sentence. Namely, they were asked to determine the

acceptability of the sentences they were presented with, on a rating scale from ‘1’

(=totally unacceptable) to ‘9’ (=totally acceptable). The choice of a ‘?’ was also

provided in case the participants were not able to judge the acceptability of the

sentence due to non-experimental factors, i.e. they had not paid attention, or they had

forgotten the sentence. They were encouraged to base their judgments on their own

intuition and not on prescriptive rules. The AJ task was to serve a triple role. First, it

would ensure that participants paid attention to the task, since the reader was

encouraged to process sentences in order to comprehend and evaluate them. Second,

the degree of acceptability of the sentences reflects the adults’ preferred

interpretations, so that they could be then compared with the frequency rates found in

the corpora examined (see Chapter 3 for detail). The evaluation of the sentences


217

could also provide evidence for the adults’ sensitivity to various types of grammatical

and semantic information and the relative processing difficulty in the structures

examined. Thus, a 9-point rating scale was chosen because of the nature of the

sentences under investigation, which may not be categorically considered

grammatical or not. Also, reaction times for the AJ task were recorded, in order to

investigate possible processing difficulties for specific conditions.

3.1. Design and materials

The materials consisted of 56 experimental sentences, all involving unaccusative

structures. There were 14 activity verbs, presented in active and in non-active

morphology and each form was included in sentences with an animate or an

inanimate syntactic subject, giving rise to four experimental conditions (act-anim,

act-inanim, nact-anim, nact-inanim) as shown in (19) to (22) below (see the Appendix

I for the total list of experimental sentences):

(19) Το / αγόρι / τσαλάκωσε / αφού / ήρθαν / οι / καλεσµένοι.

The / boy / crumple ACT.PAST.3Sg / after / come PERF.PAST.3Pl/ the / guests.

“The boy crumpled after the guests had come.”

(20) Το / ύφασµα / τσαλάκωσε / αφού / ήρθαν / οι / καλεσµένοι.

The / tissue / crumple ACT.PAST.3Sg / after / come PERF.PAST.3Pl/ the / guests.

“The tissue crumpled after the guests had come.”

(21) Το / αγόρι / τσαλακώθηκε / αφού / ήρθαν / οι / καλεσµένοι.

The / boy / crumple NACT.PAST.3Sg / after / come PERF.PAST.3Pl/ the / guests.

“The boy got crumpled after the guests had come.”

(22) Το / ύφασµα / τσαλακώθηκε / αφού / ήρθαν / οι / καλεσµένοι.

The / tissue / crumple NACT.PAST.3Sg / after / come PERF.PAST.3Pl/ the / guests.

“The tissue got crumpled after the guests had come.”


218

Note however that twenty-eight quartets of experimental sentences were created out

of the fourteen verbs to be tested28. These quartets were equally distributed across

four versions, so that in each version there were seven sentences per each

experimental condition (see (19)-(21) and (22)-(25)). Consequently, each participant

saw all conditions but never saw the same item more than once. Moreover, each

participant saw either the two animate or the two inanimate conditions of a specific

verb.

The fourteen verbs examined in this task are all in the 3rd singular simple past

or simple present tense29. The sentences across the four conditions were minimally

different, in the sense that they included the same words and they differed only in the

syntactic subject (animate vs inanimate) and the verb morphology (active vs non-

active).

The following 14 verbs, classified as voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives in

the literature (see Theophanopoulou-Kontou, 2000; Anagnostopoulou & Alexiadou,

2004; Tsimpli, 2005, 2006), are used in the task.

28 Two quartets were designed for each verb, so that participants did not see the same context more than once. In the alternative quartet, which also comprised seven segments, the syntactic subject and the subordinate clause that followed the verb were different as in (22) to (25) below:

(22) Η / κοπέλα / τσαλάκωσε / όταν / έπαιζε / το / ράδιο. The / girl / crumple ACT.PAST.3Sg / while / play IMP.PAST.3Sg/ the / radio. “The girl crumpled while the radio was on.”

(23) Η / φούστα / τσαλάκωσε / όταν / έπαιζε / το / ράδιο. The / skirt / crumple ACT.PAST.3Sg / while / play IMP.PAST.3Sg / the / radio. “The skirt crumpled while the radio was on.”

(24) Η / κοπέλα / τσαλακώθηκε / όταν / έπαιζε / το / ράδιο. The / girl / crumple NACT.PAST.3Sg / while / play IMP.PAST.3Sg / the / radio. “The girl got crumpled while the radio was on.”

(25) Η / φούστα / τσαλακώθηκε / όταν / έπαιζε / το / ράδιο. The / skirt / crumple NACT.PAST.3Sg / while / play IMP.PAST.3Sg/ the / radio. “The skirt got crumpled while the radio was on.”

Thus, participants who were presented with Version 1 of the task saw example (19) for the active-animate condition but example (22) for the non-active - animate, example (21) for the active-inanimate but example (25) for the non-active- inanimate. This way, they saw a total of 14 experimental sentences with seven different verbs but never saw the same context, in order to avoid any repetition effect on the RTs of the SPR or the AJ task, as well as on the degree of acceptability. 29 Tense was not included in the research variables, so verbs were presented in present or past tense, depending on the frequency of their use in corpora. Present tense was used only with neologisms attested in corpora (see Chapter 3), which of course remain not frequently used (Fotiadou, in press).


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(i) Seven voice non-alternating anti-causatives (Class I): jerni (bend), lijizi

(bend), ljoni (melt), sapizi (rot), vrazi (boil), stegnoni (dry), and klini (close) which

are preferably marked for active voice when used with an ergative/anti-causative

reading.

(ii) Seven voice alternating anti-causatives (Class II): leroni (‘spill’),

katharizi (‘clean’), tripai (‘pierce’), htipai (‘hit’), tendoni (‘stretch’), berdevi (mingle)

and tsalakoni (crumple) which are used both with active and non-active morphology

On the basis of [+/- animacy] of the syntactic subject, [+/- ACT] voice

morphology and [+/- Voice Alternation], the following conditions were constructed.

(a) Class I (Voice non-alternating anti-causatives):

(i) ACT verb morphology with animate subject

(26) Το εγγόνι στέγνωσε αν και ήταν πολύ βρεγµένο

The grand-son dry ACT.PAST.3Sg though be IMPERF.PAST.3Sg very wet.

“The grand-son dried though he was very wet”

(ii) ACT verb morphology with inanimate subject

(27) Το παντελόνι στέγνωσε αν και ήταν πολύ βρεγµένο

The pair of trousers dry ACT.PAST.3Sg though be IMPERF.PAST.3Sg very wet.

“The pair of trousers dried though he was very wet”

(iii) NACT verb morphology with animate subject

(28) ?*Το εγγόνι στεγνώθηκε αν και ήταν πολύ βρεγµένο

The grand-son dry NACT.PAST.3Sg though be IMPERF.PAST.3Sg very wet.

“The grand-son dried though he was very wet”

(iv) NACT verb morphology with inanimate subject

(29) ?* Το παντελόνι στεγνώθηκε αν και ήταν πολύ βρεγµένο

The pair of trousers dry NACT.PAST.3Sg though be IMPERF.PAST.3Sg very wet.

“The pair f trousers dried though it was very wet”

(b) Class II (Voice alternating anti-causatives):

(i) ACT verb morphology with animate subject

(30) Η µπέµπα χτύπησε αν και όλοι προσέχαµε.


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The baby-girl hit ACT.PAST.3Sg though all watch PERF.PAST.1Pl

“The baby-girl hit /got hurt though we were all watching (her)”

(ii) ACT verb morphology with inanimate subject

(31) Η καµπάνα χτύπησε αν και όλοι προσέχαµε.

The bell hit ACT.PAST.3Sg though all watch PERF.PAST.1Pl

“The bell rung / got hit though we were all watching (it)”

(iii) NACT verb morphology with animate subject

(32) Η µπέµπα χτυπήθηκε αν και όλοι προσέχαµε.

The baby-girl hit NACT.PAST.3Sg though all watch PERF.PAST.1Pl

“The baby-girl got hurt / hit herself though we were all watching (her)”

(iv) NACT verb morphology with inanimate subject

(33) Η καµπάνα χτυπήθηκε αν και όλοι προσέχαµε.

The bell hit NACT.PAST.3Sg though all watch PERF.PAST.1Pl

“The bell rung /was hit though we were all watching (it)”

The verb was always the third segment – the critical segment in the task. From the

fourth to the seventh (last) segment (the end of the sentence) there was a subordinate

clause that did not lead to ambiguity resolution with regard to verb reading.

Apart from the experimental sentences each version also contained 10 practice

sentences as well as 63 filler sentences (30 grammatical and 33 ungrammatical

sentences). The practice and the filler sentences were the same in all four versions.

The filler sentences made use of different kinds of syntactic constructions. They were

also divided into 7 segments and followed by an acceptability judgment question.

3.2. Procedure

The experiment was administered individually. The participants sat in front of a

computer and were presented with a fixed set of instructions. The sentences were

presented in a non-cumulative segment-by-segment fashion, with the presentation of

each new segment being triggered by the participants’ pressing the “space” button.

The participants were instructed to read each segment as quickly as possible and then

press the button in order to read the next segment. The times between button presses


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provide the crucial experimental measure. The end of each sentence was indicated by

a full stop. The sentences were divided into seven segments as shown in (19)-(25).

The last segment of each sentence (filler and experimental) was followed by a rating

scale from “1” to “9” and a “?”. Participants were instructed to judge the acceptability

of the sentence they had read, grading it by pressing pre-indicated buttons: “1” for the

least acceptable sentence, “9” for the most acceptable sentence and “?” if they had

not paid attention to the sentence they read and, thus, could not judge its

acceptability. In-between numbers were supposed to indicate higher than ‘1’ or lower

than ‘9’ degrees of acceptability. We cite below the instructions given, exactly as

these were shown on the computer screen that the participants read before the

beginning of the experimental procedure.

Before the main experiment began, the participants also read 10 practice sentences to

familiarize themselves with the task. Furthermore, they had the option to take a rest

three times during the experiment.

The experiment was designed and set up with the E-prime 1.0 software

(Schneider et al. 2002). All reading times per segment as well as the reaction times

for the acceptability judgments were recorded. The entire task did not last longer than

30 minutes on average.


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3.3. Participants

Forty five adult native speakers of Greek (mean age: 30, age range: 17-43, 24 females

and 21 males) all living in Thessaloniki, Greece, participated in the experiment. They

all had higher education but none had studied linguistics and they were all naïve with

respect to the research questions of the study.

3.4. Research questions

This self-paced reading task aimed to investigate the parsing mechanisms operating

during sentence comprehension of unaccusative verbs conditioned by voice

morphology, subject animacy and verb class. The main research questions of the

study are the following:

a. Does Voice morphology affect NS judgment and processing?

b. Does animacy affect NS judgments and processing?

c. Is there variation in self-paced reading and the degree of acceptability when voice

alternating and voice non-alternating anti-causatives are compared?

4. Results

4.1. Analyses and measurements

The participants’ RTs for each segment and scorings in the acceptability judgment

were inserted into a database using the statistical software SPSS 14.0 for Windows.

Mean reading times per experimental condition for each segment were calculated and

accuracy of the fillers as well as number of answers on scoring the sentences were

also measured for each participant. Two participants (No 2 and No 35) were excluded

from all further analyses, because in many cases their reading times (RTs) were two

standard deviations (2SD) above the mean for each condition, they rated many


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ungrammatical fillers as grammatical and did not provide judgment for several

critical items. Thus, the analysis that follows presents the data from the remaining 43

subjects. Reading times (RTs) that were two standard deviations (2SD) above or

below the mean for each condition were replaced with the mean for each condition.

This resulted in the replacement of 3.67% (354/9640), of the data set across all

versions. Table 58 presents the distribution of the total RTs which have been

replaced.

Table 58: Outliers (above or below 2SD)

act-anim act-inanim nact-anim nact-inanim Segment First 12 7 12 17 Second 7 13 5 17 Third 11 5 10 9 Fourth 10 10 14 10 Fifth 9 15 12 8 Sixth 12 12 11 13 Seventh 10 13 10 12 Response 10 13 12 13

The following analyses were carried out:

a. For the acceptability judgment task, the mean acceptability rates and the

measurements of RTs in the decision making segment were calculated (Section

4.2).

b. For the sentence processing, measurements of RTs in the processing of each

segment were calculated (Section 4.3).

In each of the two analyses we included measurements of:

i. the total number of sentences in each experimental condition (act/nact verb

morphology and [+/- animacy] of the syntactic subject and verb class)

ii. each verb in each experimental condition (act/nact verb morphology and [+/-

animacy] of the syntactic subject)


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4.2. Results of the Acceptability Judgment Task (rates and RTs)

4.2.1. Total sentences not evaluated

Recall that participants were asked to determine the acceptability of the sentences on

a rating scale from ‘1’ to ‘9’ or use ‘?’ when they could not judge the sentence. Out

of 1204 answers 33 were not evaluated (Table 59). Participants chose ‘?’ or used

other keys, instead of the ‘1’ to ‘9’ rating scale. Table 59 illustrates their distribution

with respect to verb classes and experimental conditions: note that even if it seems

accidental, the verb tendose (stretch) was the most problematic (8 utterances in the

total of the 33 not judged sentences). Furthermore, participants omitted evaluation of

sentences with voice alternating verbs (23/33) more often than with voice non-

alternating ones (10/33). Moreover, neither verb morphology nor animacy influenced

individuals’ performance in the AJ: non-active and active verbs were equally difficult

to evaluate (act: 16/33 vs nact: 17/33) while the presence of an animate subject

caused more problems than the presence of an inanimate one but not significantly so

(anim: 20/33 vs inanim: 13/33).

Table 59: Total of sentences not evaluated

act-anim act-inanim nact-anim nact-inanim klini 1 lijizi jerni 3 stegnoni 1 1 lioni 1 vrazi sapizi 1 1 1

Voice Non-

Alternating Anti-

causative Verbs

total 4 1 5 0 berdevi 1 2 1 tsalakoni 1 2 leroni 1 tendoni 3 2 3 tripai 1 2 katharizi 1 1 htipai 1 1

Voice Alternating

Anti-causative

Verbs

total 7 4 4 8


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4.2.2. Total Mean Rates with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy

Turning to a discussion with regard to the sentences that were actually judged, Graph

22 presents the mean acceptability ratings in each experimental condition. Overall,

the sentences with verbs in active voice present extreme tendencies: when an

inanimate syntactic subject was included in the sentence and the verb was active,

mean acceptability was high, while sentences with a verb in active voice and an

animate syntactic subject were the least accepted. Overall, sentences with verbs in

non-active voice were low in acceptability. Furthermore, animate syntactic subjects

seem to have been equally accepted regardless of voice morphology.

Graph 22: Acceptability rates

To explore whether these findings are statistically significant we ran 2x2 repeated-

measures ANOVAs with Voice (actives vs non-active) and Animacy (animate vs non-

animate subject) as the within-subjects factors. The statistical analyses have been

performed with two random effects, subjects (F1, t1) and items (F2, t2). The two main

effects (voice: F1(1,42)=29.944, p<.001; F2(1,26)=1.733, p=.199; animacy:

F1(1,42)=115.500, p<.001; F2(1,26)=20.279, p<.001 ) as well as the interaction

between voice and animacy (F1(1,42)=46.232, p<.001; F2(1,26)=21.306, p<.001)

were significant in the per subject analysis (F1), but not always in the per item

analysis (F2), because of the different behavior of the verbs used (we will discuss this

in detail, in the per verb analysis, below). Paired-samples t-tests were conducted to


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explore the direction of this interaction. They revealed that sentences with inanimate

subjects received higher scores than those with animate subjects in both the active

(t1(42)=-10.313, p<.001; t2(26)= -5.796, p<.001) and the non-active verb morphology

(t1(42)= -2.465, p<0.01; but t2(26)= -1.126, p=.270), as predicted. More specifically,

the effect of voice morphology was significant in the inanimate condition where

sentences with inanimate subjects received higher scores in the active than in the non-

active voice (t1(42)= 7.366, p<0.001; t2(26)= 2.702, p=.012), whereas voice did not

have an effect on the judgments for sentences with animate subjects (t1(42)= -.382,

p=.704; t2(26)= -.461, p=.649). Since all the verbs can appear in unaccusative

structures in ACT, this is expected. On the other hand, the effect of animacy was

significant both in the active and the non-active verb morphology, i.e. verbs in active

morphology were much better accepted with an inanimate than an animate syntactic

subject (t1(42)= -10.313, p<.001; t2(26)= -5.796, p<.001) and verbs in non-active

morphology were also more accepted with an inanimate syntactic subject (though not

significantly in the per item analysis, due to the lexical semantics of specific verbs

used in the task30) (t1(42)= -2.465, p=.018; t2(26)= -1.126, p=.270), as predicted.

30 Specific verbs used in the task, as htipise/htipithike for example, present a pattern that deviates from

the overall mean rating scores, resulting to an effect in the per item analysis (see further discussion in

Section :Verb analysis)


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4.2.3. Mean Rates per Verb Class (voice morphology and subject animacy)

Given the fact that the rating scale was very large (9-point), we further classified

judgments as sentences of ‘low acceptability’ when they were rated 1-3, of ‘mid

acceptability’ when they were rated 4-6 and of ‘high acceptability’ when they were

rated 7-9. The distribution of acceptability rates for ACT and NACT verb forms with

regard to each verb class is illustrated in the Table below:

Table 60: Distribution of the degree of acceptability in each verb class (ACT-

NACT voice morphology)

‘high acceptability’ ‘mid acceptability’ ‘low acceptability’ not evaluated

Class I Class II Class I Class II Class I Class II Class I Class II

ACT 169/602 82/602 35/602 58/602 92/602 150/602 5/602 11/602

% 26.91 13.62 5.81 9.63 15.28 24.92 0.8 1.83

NACT 23/602 168/602 36/602 31/602 237/602 90/602 5/602 12/602

% 3.8 27.9 5.98 5.14 39.37 14.95 0.8 1.99

Data show that participants accepted active forms of Class I verbs (‘high’ vs ‘low’:

χ2=22.716, p<.001) but not non-active ones (‘high’ vs ‘low’: χ2= 176.138, p<.001).

The reverse pattern is attested among voice alternating anti-causatives: participants

accepted non-active forms of Class II verbs (‘high’ vs ‘low’: χ2=23.581, p<.001) but

not active ones (‘high’ vs ‘low’: χ2= 19.931, p<.001).

If we want to further examine the effect of the combination of (ACT-NACT)

voice morphology and [+/- animacy] of the syntactic subject on the degree of

acceptability of Class I and Class II verbs, let us consider the less frequent

acceptability rates, illustrated in the Table above.

In fact, despite the tendency to accept Class I verbs with ACT forms, there are

also 92/602 (15.28%) low evaluations. As shown in the Table below they come from

the combination of Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives with animate subject (anim

(79) vs inanim (13): χ2=47.348, p<.001). On the other hand, despite the tendency to

dis-prefer these verbs with NACT forms, there are few sentences of ‘high

acceptability’ which come more from the combination of Voice Non-alternating Anti-


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causatives in NACT with inanimate subject (anim: 7 vs inanim: 16), but not

significantly.

Moreover, despite the fact that Class II verbs are assumed to freely alternate,

except for the case of the combination of ACT verb forms with animate subjects, data

showed that NACT forms were more accepted. However, there are few occurrences

in which NACT forms are not accepted irrespective of subject animacy (anim: 46 and

inanim: 44) and some occurrences in which ACT forms are not accepted with

inanimate subjects. Finally, the ACT forms accepted do not come only from the

combination of ACT with inanimate subjects (52/82), but with animate subjects as

well (30/82).

Table 61: Distribution of the degree of acceptability in each verb class (voice


‘high acceptability’ ‘mid acceptability’ ‘low acceptability’ not evaluated

Class I Class II Class I Class II Class I Class II Class I Class II

act-anim 46 30 21 23 79 91 4 7

act-inanim 123 52 14 35 13 59 1 4

nact-anim 7 81 11 20 127 46 5 4

nact-inanim 16 87 25 11 110 44 0 8

In order to account for the descriptive facts stated above, we need to further analyse

the acceptability rates provided for each verb of the voice (non)-alternating anti-

causative classes.


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4.2.4. Mean Rates per Verb (voice morphology and subject animacy)

An individual verb analysis is presented next in order to facilitate understanding of

the descriptive findings mentioned above. Table 62 illustrates the mean scoring of

each verb tested across the four experimental conditions.

Table 62: Mean acceptability rates per condition

Verb Class

VERB act-anim act-inanim nact-anim nact-inanim

klini 3,50 7,73 3,76 4,23 lijizi 6,00 7,48 1,73 3,24 jerni 6,18 7,10 1,63 1,67 stegnoni 5,25 7,86 1,86 2,73 ljoni 3,30 7,91 1,43 2,68 vrazi 1,71 7,91 1,24 2,00

Class I

sapizi 2,57 7,55 1,73 2,00 berdevi 1,48 3,33 5,81 7,50 tsalakoni 1,76 3,62 2,18 6,33 leroni 2,70 3,68 7,67 6,68 tendoni 2,58 4,71 7,10 5,67 tripai 3,82 5,62 6,27 4,05 katharizi 3,45 6,90 5,23 6,55

Class II

htipai 7,48 5,29 5,95 4,14

Voice non-alternating anti-causatives are accepted in active voice, while they are

generally rejected in the non-active morphology. Furthermore, vrazi (boil) and sapizi

(rot) are accepted only with inanimate subjects. Recall, that these verbs are classified

as anti-causatives denoting an internally caused change-of-state. The verb ljoni (melt)

differs from the previous two verbs in that it is also accepted (though to a small

degree) with animate subjects too. Furthermore, jerni (lean) and stegnoni (dry) are

accepted with animate or inanimate subjects to a similar degree. Lijizi (bend) is

accepted with animate and inanimate subjects: it is less accepted in NACT with

inanimate subjects, while it is rejected in NACT with animate subjects. Finally, klini

(close) is more accepted in active voice with an inanimate subject, but it is not

completely rejected across the other conditions, perhaps due to its’ highly frequent

use (see Chapter 3, for a detailed discussion).

Among voice alternating anti-causatives, berdevi (mingle), tsalakoni

(crumple), leroni (spill) and tendoni (stretch) are not accepted in active morphology


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with an animate subject, as expected. Given the fact that the above combination

favours a causative/transitive reading, the lack of an object DP led to a negative

scoring, i.e. low acceptability rates. In this specific experimental condition,

participants did not have a problem with tripai (pierce), as well as with katharizi

(clean) and htipai (hit), because both verbs allow for null objects. The coexistence of

an inanimate subject with active verb morphology was accepted for all the above

mentioned verbs, though not highly so, except for katharizi (clean). Turning next to

non-active morphology, acceptability rates were high in general. Note also that the

sentences with berdevi (mingle), tsalakoni (crumple) and katharizi (clean) were more

accepted with inanimate subjects, while leroni (spill), tendoni (stretch) and tripai

(pierce) were more accepted with animate subjects, presumably for pragmatic

reasons.

Statistical analyses of the acceptability rates were conducted for each verb

separately in order to support the above descriptive facts. Table 63 presents the

significant effects found in each verb examined.

Table 63: Significant effects across verbs

Verb class VERB voice effect

animacy effect interaction

klini √ √ √ lijizi √ √ jerni √ stegnoni √ √ ljoni √ √ √ vrazi √ √ √

Voice

Non-alternating Anti-causative

Verbs (Class I)

sapizi √ √ √ berdevi √ √ tsalakoni √ √ √ leroni √ √ tendoni √ √ tripai √ katharizi √ √

Voice

Alternating Anti-causative

Verbs (Class II)

htipai √

We next present the effects attested for each verb of the two verb classes. All the

acceptability rates of Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives yielded a significant

Voice effect, attributed to the ungrammaticality of NACT forms. A significant


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Animacy effect was also found in all verbs but jerni (lean) which was accepted with

both animate and inanimate subjects in ACT forms. Lack of a significant interaction

between the two main effects (Voice and Animacy) in lijizi (bend) and stegnoni (dry)

is attributed to the fact that grammatical ACT and ungrammatical NACT do not differ

significantly with respect to Animacy possibly because anti-causatives are primarily

preferred with inanimates. Significant interaction between the two main effects

(Voice and Animacy) in ljoni (melt), vrazi (boil) and sapizi (rot) are due to the fact

that only NACT with inanimate subjects are considered grammatical, while in klini

(close) it is due to the preference of ACT and NACT verbs with inanimate over

animate subjects as well as the preference of ACT over NACT forms.

More specifically, starting with the verb klini (close) note that acceptability

rates were affected both by voice (F(1,19)=8.717, p=.008) and animacy

(F(1,19)=16.471, p=.001) as well as by the interaction between voice and animacy

(F(1,19)=13.330, p=.002). T-tests showed that participants preferred inanimate to

animate subjects with active verbs (t(19)= -5.571, p<.001) but no significant

differences arose between animate and inanimate subjects with non-active verbs31.

Namely, sentences like ‘To parathiro eklise an ke emis de thelame’ (The window

closed even if we didn’t want to) is more preferred than ‘O jitonas eklise an ke emis

de thelame’ (The neighbor closed even if we didn’t want to), while no such

preference is attested in the presence of non-active verb morphology. Furthermore,

active was more accepted than non-active verb morphology only with inanimate

subjects (t(21)= 4.516, p<.001)32.

Acceptability rates on the verb lijizi (lean) depended on voice

(F(1,20)=47.817, p<.001) and animacy (F(1,20)=10.807, p=.004) but the interaction

was not significant. Overall, active verb morphology is preferred to non-active one

31 Differences between nact-anim vs nact-inanim (3.76 vs 4.23) are not significant because nact morphology is generally not accepted even if largely used (see Corpora). Furthermore, variation among participants in the judgments resulted to non-significant mean differences. 32 Differences between act-anim vs nact-anim (3.50 vs 3.76) are not significant because animate subjects are not preferred in a sentence with this specific verb, though structures cannot be characterised as ungrammatical ones, since no violations are observed: the presence of an object is optional in cases like (she closed the store); moreover the use of these specific structures is attested in corpora but with a non-litteral reading (i.e. I mitera eklise (act) meta to atichima = mother was finished after the accident) or ‘I mitera klistike (nact) meta to atichima = mother was closed to herself after the accident).


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(for animate subjects: act (6.00) > nact (1.73) and for inanimate subjects: act (7.48) >

nact (3.24)). The sentences ‘O fandaros / I alisida lijise horis na prospathiso poli’

(The soldier / The chain bent without my trying hard) are preferred to their non-active

counterparts. Note also that inanimate subjects are slightly more accepted in

sentences with both active and non-active verbs.

Acceptability rates for the verb jerni (bend) yielded a significant effect of

voice (F(1,17)=68.338, p<.001). The verb is more accepted in the active voice

morphology both with animate (act-anim: 6 vs nact-anim: 1.73) and inanimate

subjects (act-inanim: 7.48 vs nact-inanim: 3.24). Namely, the sentences ‘To luludi / I

neari ejire prin pesi I nihta’ (The flower / The young girl leaned before the night

arrives) are the most accepted ones.

Acceptability rates on the verb stegnoni (dry) were affected both by voice

(F(1,19)=118.686, p<.001) and animacy (F(1,19)=15.804, p=.001) but interaction

was not significant. In other words, participants scored high sentences where the verb

was in active morphology (as To engoni /To pandeloni stegnose an ke itan poli

vregmeno’ (The grandson / The trousers dried although it was/they were very wet)

over To engoni /To pandeloni stegnothike an ke itan poli vregmeno’ (The grandson /

The trousers was/were dried although it was/they were very wet)) and preferred an

inanimate over an animate subject: i.e. act-anim (5.25) vs act-inanim (7.86); nact-

anim (1.86) vs nact-inanim (2.73). Notice however that low acceptability of the act-

anim condition may be due to the use of the NP to engoni (the grandson).

Acceptability ratings of the verb ljoni (melt) revealed the two main effects

(Voice: F(1,19)=97.675, p<.001; Animacy: F(1,19)=39.457, p<.001) as well as a

significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy (F(1,19)=6.370,

p=.021). Active morphology was more accepted than non-active both in sentences

involving an animate (t(19)= 2.557, p=.019) or an inanimate subject (t(21)= 8.472,

p<.001), as in the example of ‘To pedi / To keri eljose horis na to katalavo’ (The boy

/ The candle melted without me noticing). Furthermore, the presence of an inanimate

subject was more accepted than the presence of an animate one regardless of voice

morphology (for ACT: t(19)= -4.990, p<.001; for NACT: t(20)= -2.272, p=.034).


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Acceptability ratings of the verb vrazi (boil) revealed also the two main

effects, namely voice (F(1,20)=141.386, p<.001) and animacy (F(1,20)=83.478,

p<.001), as well as the interaction between voice and animacy (F(1,20)=69.871,

p<0.001). The above mentioned effects can be attributed to the fact that in sentences

with active verbs the participants preferred an inanimate than an animate subject

(t(20)= -10.772, p<.001), as in ‘o kafes evrase prin pame sto saloni’ (the coffee

boiled before we went to the living room) to the ‘o ergatis evrase prin pame sto

saloni’ (the worker boiled before we went to the living room). However, in the

corpora (Chapter 3) we also attested a frequent metaphorical use of the verb with

animate subjects as in o Jiannis vrazei apo thimo (John boils from anger). Also, when

an inanimate subject was involved, participants preferred active over non-active voice

(t(20)= 12.587, p<.001), as in ‘o kafes evrase (the coffee boiled) vs ‘o kafes vrazete’

(the coffee is being boiled).

Finally, acceptability ratings of the verb sapizi (rot) revealed the two main

effects (Voice: F(1,18)=57.564, p<.001; Animacy: F(1,18)=33.999, p<0.001) as well

as a significant effect of the interaction between them (F(1,18)=47.509, p<.001).

When the sentences involved active verbs, participants preferred inanimate over

animate subjects (t(18)= -7.838, p<.001), whereas non-active verbs were not highly

accepted irrespective of subject animacy. In other words they liked better ‘to fruto

sapise’ (the fruit rot) than ‘o nearos sapise prin arhisun i zestes’ (the young man

decomposed before the big heat). Furthermore, participants preferred active than non-

active verb morphology both in sentences involving an animate (t(20)= 2.318,

p=.031) or an inanimate subject (t(19)= 8.904, p<.001).

Before proceeding to evidence from Voice Alternating Anti-causatives note

that the verbs berdevi (mingle) and katharizi (clean) yielded a significant Voice and

Animacy effect. In both verbs there is a preference of NACT over ACT voice

morphology and inanimate over animate subjects. In tsalakoni (crumple) both main

effects (Voice and Animacy) and their interaction were significant, since not only

NACT morphology is preferred over ACT but inanimate subjects are also preferred

over animate ones in a way that co-occurrence with animate subject renders

ungrammatical both ACT and NACT verb forms. In leroni (spill) and tendoni

(stretch) NACT forms are significantly more preferred over ACT forms, hence a


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significant Voice effect, while the co-occurrence of ACT with animate subjects is

considered ungrammatical and the co-occurrence of NACT with inanimate is less

accepted than with animate subject. Htipai (hit) which is equally accepted in both

ACT and NACT (no Voice effect) yielded an Animacy effect, due to the preference

of animate over inanimate subjects. Finally, no Voice or Animacy effects but only a

significant interaction of the two effects is attested in tripai (pierce) which is more

accepted in ACT with inanimate and NACT with animate subjects. Let us now

examine each verb in more detail.

Starting with berdevi (mingle) we note that acceptability rates were affected

both by voice (F(1,17)=39.147, p<.001) and animacy (F(1,17)=11.552, p=.003) while

interaction was not significant. Native speakers of Greek tend to prefer a sentence

where the verb in question is used in non-active verb morphology, evaluating such

structures with higher scores (nact-anim: 5.81 and nact-inanim: 7.50) than structures

involving a verb in active verb morphology (act-anim: 1.48 and act-inanim: 3.33). In

other words, participants accepted (score: 7.50/9) the sentence ‘O kotsos berdeftike

eno to htenisma telione’ (the bun got mixed up while the hair dressing was almost

finished) but also accepted the sentence ‘O kommotis berdeftike eno to htenisma

telione’ (the hair dresser got mixed up while the hair dressing was almost finished)

and totally rejected the active alternatives.

Rates for the verb tsalakoni (crumple) varied both with respect to voice

(F(1,20)=141.386, p<.001) and animacy (F(1,20)=83.478, p<.001) as well as to the

interaction between the two (F(1,20)=69.871, p=<.001). More specifically, the

presence of an inanimate subject was more accepted than an animate one, both in

structures involving an active (t(19)= -2.799, p=.011) and a non-active verb (t(20)= -

5.227, p<.001). Furthermore, non-active verb morphology was more accepted than

active in the presence of both animate (t(21)= -3.395, p=.003) and inanimate subjects

(t(20)= -3.089, p=.006). In other words, participants preferred the sentence ‘To

ifasma tsalakothike afou irthan i kalesmeni’ (the tissue got crumpled after the visitors

arrived) to the active alternant, and while they overall rejected the presence of

animate subjects, they preferred the use of non-active verb morphology as in ‘To

agori tsalakothike afou irthan i kalesmeni’ (the boy got crumpled after the visitors

arrived).


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An analysis on the mean ratings of the verb leroni (spill) reveal an effect of

voice (F(1,19)=43.413, p<.001) but not of animacy as well as of the interaction

between voice and animacy (F(1,19)=6.714, p=.018). Non-active verbs are more

accepted than active ones both with animate (t(19)= -8.128, p<.001) and inanimate

subjects (t(21)= -3.711, p=.001). More specifically, the sentences ‘o athlitis lerothike

prin teliosi o agonas’ (the sportsman got dirty before the end of the game) and ‘I

fanela lerothike prin teliosi o agonas’ (the T-shirt got dirty before the end of the

game) were the most preferred ones. No significant differences are attested for

structures involving active morphology, which were the least accepted.

Acceptability rates of the verb tendoni (stretch) were also affected by voice

(F(1,17)=471.133, p<.003) and its interaction with animacy (F(1,17)=9.912, p=.006).

More specifically, participants preferred non-active to active morphology, when

sentences involved an animate subject (nact-anim: 7.10 vs act-anim: 2.58; t(18)= -

6.332, p<.001) and more specifically, animate to inanimate subjects in the non-active

voice in general (nact-inan: 5.67 vs nact-anim: 7.10; t(18)= -2.655, p=.016). In other

words, they mostly accepted the sentence ‘O horeftis tendothike an ke itan poli

diskolo’ (the dancer stretched even if this was hard) but also liked the sentence ‘To

lastiho tendothike an ke itan poli diskolo’ (the rope stretched even if this was hard),

while rejected their active alternants. Thus, no statistically significant differences are

attested across the other conditions.

Acceptability ratings of the verb tripai (pierce) yielded an effect of the

interaction between voice and animacy (F(1,18)=14. 653, p=.001). This illustrates the

fact that when an animate subject was involved, participants preferred non-active to

active verb morphology (t(21)= -3.395, p=.003) while when an inanimate subject was

involved, only a marginally significant preference of the active morphology is

attested (t(18)= 2.036, p=.057) instead. They preferred for example the sentence ‘I

modistra tripithike molis stamatisa na kitao’ (the tailor got pierced when I stopped

looking) to its active alternate, but equally accepted tripise and tripithike iin the

clause ‘to ifasma tripise/tripithike molis stamatisa na kitao’ (the cloth got pierced as

soon as I stopped looking). In the overwhelming majority of the active verbs, the

participants preferred the presence of inanimate to animate subjects (t(20)= -2.513,


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p=.021), while in the majority of the non-active verbs, they exhibited a strong

preference of animate to inanimate subjects (t(18)= 2.689, p=.015).

As far as katharizi (clean) is concerned, the two main effects were significant

(voice: F(1,19)=5.894, p=.025 and animacy: F(1,19)=10.074, p=.005), but the

interaction between voice and animacy was not. In other words, participants preferred

non-active to active verb morphology both in the presence of an inanimate and an

animate subject (like in the sentence ‘To pukamiso/To agoraki katharistike an ke itan

poli vromiko’ (the shirt / the boy got cleaned even if it was very dirty) and inanimate

subjects both in structures involving active and non-active verbs ‘To pukamiso

katharise/katharistike an ke itan poli vromiko’ (the shirt got cleaned even if it was

very dirty).

The verb htipai (hit) was rated according to animacy (F(1,19)=10.100,

p=.005). More specifically, participants preferred animate to inanimate subjects

irrespective of verb morphology (for ACT: anim (7.48) > inanim (5.29); for NACT:

anim (5.95) > inanim (4.14)). Note that acceptability rates are equally high in all

conditions. That is, the participants preferred the sentences ‘I beba htipise/htipithike

an ke oli prosehame’ (The baby girl got hit though we were watching that she did

not) but did not reject the sentences ‘I kabana htipise/htipithike an ke oli prosehame’

(The bell rung/was hit though we were watching that it did not).


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4.2.5. Total Mean RTs on the AJ task

An analysis of the RTs in the AJ task (Graph 23) reveals that deciding whether to

accept as grammatical or not a sentence containing an anti-causative verb in active

morphology has been a more difficult task than deciding whether or not to accept a

verb in non-active voice morphology.

Graph 23: RTs on acceptability judgment (in ms.)

Judgments for the act-anim condition were found to elicit extremely high RTs. More

specifically, although we would expect fast RTs to the negative judgment of an ‘odd’

sentence (like ‘I mathitria eklise afu teliosan i dhiagonismi’ (the pupil closed, after

the end of the exams), elevated RTs may be attributed to a sentence reanalysis due to

various interpretational reasons. Participants could have analyzed the sentence as

transitive attempting to assign an object to the ACT verb and when this was not

interpretatively possible, assign a non-literal meaning instead. Final judgment shows

that no such interpretation was always accepted after all. The long delay in the

condition of an active verb with an inanimate subject may be attributed to increased

processing load due to the complex syntactic derivation (i.e. unergative, anti-

causative). Furthermore, given that active morphology does not show unaccusativity

in a morphologically transparent way, participants may have tried to analyse the

sentence with inanimate subjects as transitive too, which is also time consuming.


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Turning to non-active verb morphology, note that short RTs on the decision

making segment in the nact-anim condition may support the assumption that the

presence of an animate subject facilitates processing, i.e. while NACT voice

morphology signals transitivity alternations, its co-occurrence with animate subjects

favours reflexive readings, which are not derived, as suggested by Tsimpli (2006).

Alternatively, short RTs on the decision making segment in sentences with NACT

verb forms (with animate or inanimate subject) can be an effect of the ‘low’

acceptability rate attributed to NACT morphology for several of the verbs used in the

task. NACT verb morphology, although very frequently attested in the corpora, is not

generally preferred unless a middle reading is attributed to the verb. Given the fact

that verbs in the task were mostly used in the Past Tense (only few occurrences of

verbs in Present Tense were included, albeit the less frequent ones), middle readings

were not favoured, leading thus to a negative judgment on the sentences.

In order to further support these descriptive facts we conducted a 2x2

repeated-measures ANOVA with voice (active vs non-active) as the within-subjects

factor, and animacy (animate vs inanimate subject) as the between-subjects factor.

This analysis revealed only a significant voice effect (F(1,170)= 4.770, p=0.030).


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4.2.6. Mean RTs per Verb Class (voice morphology and subject animacy)

The Graph below presents the total Mean RTs received for each verb class. Voice

Non-alternating Anti-causatives present a small degree of variation among the RTs

received in the nact-anim and nact-inanim conditions, while all the other variables of

both verb classes present a large deviation between the maximal and minimal RTs

received. This could be attributed to the grammaticality effect, already discussed,

among Voice Non-Alternating Anti-causatives in NACT voice.

Graph 24: Mean RTs on acceptability judgment (in ms.)

However, note that the RTs received for ungrammatical fillers did not significantly

differ from the RTs received for the grammatical fillers (χ2= .642, p=.423), as shown

by their statistics: participants needed the same time to evaluate grammatical (max:

18717; min: 155; Mean: 1353.61; Std. Deviation: 1372.56) and ungrammatical fillers

(max: 17179; min: 137; Mean: 1394.87; Std. Deviation: 1513.58). Nevertheless, these

results cannot be taken into account, because (a) Std. Deviation is very large and (b)

the structures included in filler sentences were relevant to a large range of syntactic

phenomena and cannot be directly associated with the RTs received for transitivity

alternations with anti-causative predicates, since completely different. Crucially, if

we compare the RTs received for the fillers to the RTs received for the test sentences


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(as illustrated in the Graph), we observe that the Mean for both grammatical and

ungrammatical filler sentences is very low in comparison with RTs for all the

variables, but for the NACT non-alternating anti-causatives with animate subjects

Even if premature, we could conclude that the RTs received in this condition are not

faster; it is rather RTs received for the remaining conditions which are extremely

high, showing the increased complexity of the phenomenon.

Turning to a statistical analysis of the RTs on the decision making segment

comparing Voice Alternating and Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (the verb

classes used in the task which were added in the within-subjects factor), we note that

the voice effect was significant (F(1,84)= 10.834, p=0.001), as well as the interaction

between voice and verb class (F(1,84)= 9.303, p=0.003), but not the interaction

between voice and animacy.

Furthermore, a verb class effect was found (F(1,84)= 4.805, p=0.031), while

the interaction between verb class, animacy and voice just reached significance

(F(1,84)= 3.918, p=0.051) and the interaction between verb class and animacy was

not significant. This is accounted for a different degree of significance in the voice

and animacy effects among the two verb classes used: in Voice Non-alternating Anti-

causatives, voice effect was significant (F(1,84)= 12.245, p=0.001), but animacy was

not, while in Voice Alternating Anti-causatives neither voice nor animacy effect were

significant.


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4.2.7. RTs on the AJ task (per verb)

Table 64 presents the mean RTs on the AJ task (after the final segment) per condition

for each verb tested. Note, however, that various significant effects were found

mostly in the verbs classified as Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (in Table the

effects attested are marked with gray (the fastest RTs with yellow)). The lack of

significant effects in the remaining verbs implies that these verbs are truly alternating,

as in the examples of klini (clos) and lijizi (bend) despite their classification as Voice

Non-alternating Anti-causatives. On the other hand, results from the verb tsalakoni

(crumple) do not justify its classification as Voice Alternating Anti-causative, while

results from the remaining verbs in the Verb Class do.

Table 64: Mean reading times (in ms.) in the AJ for each condition

VERB act-anim act-inanim nact-anim nact-inanim klini 1713,34 1639,68 1359,33 1776,91 lijizi 2131,68 1492,86 1353,41 1295,16 jerni 1774,38 1783,52 1039,27 1238,86 stegnoni 2201,14 1286,59 1176,29 1198,05 ljoni 1949,38 1787,95 1117,25 1524,33 vrazi 1368,1 1845,56 1183,71 1265,55

Class I

sapizi 1619,09 1600,88 1299,68 1504,67 berdevi 1549,73 1452,1 1957,09 2135,86 tsalakoni 1205,91 1819,1 1923,32 1770,22 leroni 1711,05 1867,49 1791,24 1148,12 tendoni 1609,86 1688,32 1320,83 1872,14 tripai 1888,41 2350,29 2287,67 2354,39 katharizi 2017,14 1861,67 1672,41 1365,86

Class II

htipai 1458,69 1639,63 1880,88 1856,97

Starting with the RTs in the AJ of the Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (Class

I), note that klini (close) and lijizi (lean) did not yield any significant effects.

Furthermore, the verbs jerni (lean), ljoni (melt), vrazi (boil), sapizi (rot) and stegnoni

(dry) present an animacy effect, the latter an effect of the interaction between voice

and animacy too.

More specifically, klini (close) did not present any statistically significant

differences among the test conditions, but participants decided faster for the nact-

anim condition than all the others. On the other hand, RTs on the AJ of lijizi (lean)


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suggest a processing load in the act-anim condition, but no significant effects are

attested. Furthermore, RTs on the AJ of jerni (bend) yielded a significant animacy

effect (F(1,20)=7.491, p=.013). Participants needed more time to judge a sentence

involving an inanimate subject both in sentences with active (act-anim: 1774.38 vs

act-inanim: 1783.52) and non-active verbs (nact-anim: 1039.27 vs nact-inanim:

1238.86). The RTs on the AJ of stegnoni (dry) reveal a significant effect of animacy

(F(1,20)=4.500, p=.047) as well as of the interaction between voice and animacy

(F(1,20)=6.739, p=.017). More specifically, participants needed more time to decide

whether they will accept a sentence involving a non-active verb than a sentence

involving an active verb in the presence of an animate subject (nact-anim vs act-anim:

t(20)= 2.655, p=.015). Moreover, when the verb was in active morphology, they

needed more time to judge a sentence with an animate than an inanimate subject (act-

anim vs act-inanim: t(20)= 2.118, p=.047). In other words, sentences like ‘to engoni

stegnose an ke itan poli vregmeno’ (the grandson dried even though he was very wet)

were the most time consuming on the AJ, even if not highly accepted after all (RT:

2201.14; AJ rate: 5.25). It seems that the problem is with the ‘odd’ engoni (grandson)

in this case. RTs on the AJ of the verb ljoni (melt) also revealed an animacy effect

(F(1,21)=8.214, p=0.009). In other words, animacy affected RTs of the judgment of

sentences both with active and non-active verbs but not in the same direction (i.e. act-

anim (1949.38ms.) > act-inanim (1787.95ms.); while nact-anim (1117.95ms.) < nact-

inanim (1524.33ms.)). RTs on the AJ of the verb vrazi (boil) varied according to

animacy (F(1,20)=4.618, p=.044). RTs were higher when sentences involved an

inanimate rather than an animate subject, irrespective of verb morphology. Finally, an

analysis of the RTs on the AJ of the verb sapizi (rot) revealed an animacy effect

(F(1,20)=9.751, p=.005). The delay was attested in sentences both with active and

non-active verbs but not in the same direction (i.e. act-anim (1619.09ms.) > act-

inanim (1600.88ms.); while nact-anim (1299.09ms.) < nact-inanim (1504.67ms.)).

Among Voice Alternating Anti-causatives the verb tsalakoni (crumple) is the

only verb which yielded a voice effect.

More specifically, RTs on the AJ of the verb berdevi (mingle) did not reveal

any statistically significant differences among the test conditions; note that the

judgments for the sentences with active verbs were found to elicit shorter times than


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the sentences with non-active verbs. RTs on the AJ of the verb tsalakoni (crumple)

differed with respect to voice (F(1,20)=5.002, p=.037). The time needed for the

judgment of a sentence differed significantly with respect to verb morphology but not

in the same direction with animate or inanimate subject; the participants needed more

time to decide for a sentence with non-active verbs when the subject was animate

(act-anim: 1205.91ms < nact-anim: 1923.32ms), but they needed more time to judge

a sentence with an active verb when the subject was inanimate (act-inanim: 1819.1ms

> nact-inanim: 1770.22ms). RTs on the AJ of the verb leroni (spill) did not exhibit

any statistically significant differences among the test conditions. Nevertheless, a

tendency to faster decide on the acceptability of sentences in the nact-inanim

condition was observed. Participants decided on the judgment of the verb tendoni

(stretch) in almost identical RTs but for the nact-anim condition. RTs on the AJ of the

verb tripai (pierce) are higher than the previous ones and additionally present a

difference in favour of the act-anim condition. The verb katharizi (clean) manifested

a large variation on the RTs among test conditions: the participants needed more time

to judge a sentence with an active verb both when the subject was animate (act-anim:

2017.14ms > nact-anim: 1672.41ms) and when it was inanimate (act-inanim:

1861.67ms > nact-inanim: 1365.86ms). Moreover, the processing load was more

obvious in the presence of animate subject irrespective of verb morphology. RTs on

the AJ of htipai (hit) yielded a different pattern: active verbs were judged faster than

non-active ones (act-anim (1458.69ms) < nact-anim (1880.88ms) and act-inanim

(1639.63ms) > nact-inanim (1856.97ms)) while inanimate subjects were found to

elicit high RTs in their majority.

Summary

The overall results of the AJ task suggest that the degree of acceptability of verbs

varies with respect to voice morphology and animacy of the syntactic subject. More

specifically, ratings of the AJ task revealed a clear preference for the use of active

verb morphology with inanimate subjects and a clear rejection of the active verb

morphology with animate subjects. This is probably due to a transitivity effect

associated with ACT and animate subjects. Non-active verb morphology does not


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distinguish between animate and inanimate subjects since a transitivity change is

expected in both cases, though animate subjects are less preferred than inanimate

subjects, but not significantly so. On the other hand, acceptability of sentences with

inanimate subjects is affected by verb class, i.e. inanimate subjects favour active verb

morphology if the verb is a voice non-alternating anti-causative, while they favour

the non-active verb morphology when the verb used is a voice alternating anti-

causative. Individual verbs’ differences are also attested.

Thus, the AJ ratings show that NS judgments are affected by Verb Class (in

terms of the Voice alternating property), Voice morphology and subject animacy.

A final note with regard to RTs and ratings received should be made. Among

the verbs tested, low scores were received for NACT forms of Class I (Voice Non-

alternating Anti-causatives) and ACT forms with animate subjects with Class II

(Voice Alternating Anti-causatives). The participants were very fast in rejecting Class

I verbs in NACT, regardless of animacy. However they were very slow in rejecting

Class II verbs in ACT with animate subjects. With respect to the remaining

conditions, note that participants were very slow in deciding on the acceptability of

Class II verbs in ACT with inanimate subjects, although rates received are not

elevated; similarly they were slow in giving high rates for Class I verbs in ACT with

inanimate subjects and Class II verbs irrespective of animacy (see Graph 24, Table 64

and relevant discussion).


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4.3. RTs per segment

4.3.1. Total Mean RTs with respect to voice morphology and subject animacy

The data from the first and second segment do not reveal any statistically reliable

differences among the four conditions, suggesting that no difficulties arise before the

critical experimental manipulation. Graph 25 presents a general picture of the RTs

received in the course of sentence processing.

Graph 25: Mean RTs line across test variables

RTs from the third (critical) segment onwards indicate divergent processing

preferences depending on the experimental manipulations, particularly an effect of

Voice rather than verb class. This is evidence for a syntactic processing of movement

dependencies or activation of a trace on the NACT verb segment.

Let us next present RTs differences attested on each segment.


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4.3.2. RTs on the third segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with

respect to total and per verb class results)

Starting with a general picture of the RTs received on the 3rd segment, Graph 26

shows large deviation between ACT and NACT verb forms, but no differences

between animate and inanimate subjects.

Graph 26: RTs on verb segment (in ms.)

More specifically (as shown in Graph 26), participants needed less time to process the

verb segment when the verb was in active morphology, while non-active morphology

caused delay (act-anim<nact-anim: t1(42)= 3.976, p<0.001; t2(26)=-2.589, p=.016 and

act-inanim<nact-inanim: t1(42)=3.966, p<0.001; t2(26)=-3.402, p<0.01). This finding

provides evidence for the status of voice distinctions in the syntax and the implied

transitivity alternations. On the other hand, when the structure involved the presence

of an animate subject (irrespective of verb morphology) the participants processed the

sentences faster, but not significantly so (act-anim<act-inanim: t1(42)=-1.119,

p=.269; t2(26)=-.904, p=.374 and nact-anim<nact-inanim: t1(42)=-1.398, p=.169;

t2(26)=-.645, p.524).

Animate subjects are in general associated with an Agent role, while

inanimate ones with a Theme/Patient role, A-movement, but animacy did not have an

effect on the critical segment. In line with models which suggest the priority of


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syntax over semantics in the course of sentence processing animacy effects were

expected at later segments. Segments that followed present an interest in the analysis

since the verb’s interpretation was not actually disambiguated by the end of the

sentence. These descriptive facts were supported by statistical analyses.

Graph 27 presents the maximal, minimal and mean RTs received in each verb

class with respect to the test variables.

Graph 27: Hi-low RTs on the 3rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class)

non-alternating

alternating

verbclass

800,00

600,00

400,00

non-alternating

alternating non-alternating

alternating non-alternating

alternating

nact_inanimnact_animact_inanimact_animvoice_animacy

mean

max min

Mean

An ANOVA with voice (actives vs non-active) and animacy (animate vs non-animate

subject) as the within-subjects factors performed for the RTs received from the

processing on the 3rd critical (verb) segment revealed only a significant effect of

voice (F1(1,42)=26.527, p<0.001; F2(1,26)=18.510, p<0.001). Furthermore, taking

into consideration that verb class may affect RTs, we further compared Voice

Alternating to Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (i.e. the verb classes to which

the verbs used belong) (Graph 27). In this analysis we performed an ANOVA with

voice (active – non-active) as the within-subject factor and verb-class (alternating and


248

non-alternating) and animacy (animate – inanimate) as the between subjects factors.

Only a significant voice effect (F(1,598)=37.487, p<.001) was found.

4.3.3. RTs on the fourth segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with


The ANOVA with voice (actives vs non-active) and animacy (animate vs inanimate

subject) as the within-subjects factors for the RTs on the fourth segment did not

reveal any significant effects. Instead, if we consider the two verb classes used, the

picture changes, as shown in the Graph below.

Graph 28 Hi-low RTs on the 4rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class)

An ANOVA with voice (active – non-active) as the within-subject factor and verb-

class (Voice Alternating and Non-alternating) and animacy (animate – inanimate

subject) as the between subjects factors revealed a significant voice effect

(F(1,598)=4.939, p=.027) as well as a significant effect between voice and verb class


249

(F(1,598)=6.731, p=.010). Notably, this is evidence that verb class effect comes in

later (after the verb segment). The Verb Class effect stemmed from the non-active

conditions: both nact-anim and nact-inanim received shorter RTs when sentences

involved one of the Voice Alternating Anti-causatives: t(6)=-3.607, p=.011 and t(6)=-

2.709, p=.035 respectively. Thus, with regard to Voice Alternating Anti-causatives all

possible readings remain active, both for active (they read for example ‘I beba htipise

an ke’ (the baby girl hit even if), or ‘I kabana htipise an ke’ (the bell hit even if) and

for non-active verbs (they read for example ‘I beba htipithike an ke’ (the baby girl

was hit even if), or ‘I kabana htipithike an ke’ (the bell was hit even if). But when it

comes to Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives, RTs vary possibly due to the highly

marked (infrequent) non-active morphology used: as shown in Graph 28, we received

higher RTs in the non-active verbs than in the active ones. Note furthermore that the

large range of RTs received in the act-anim condition for the non-alternating verbs

did not affect the analyses performed.

4.3.4. RTs on the fifth segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with


On the fifth segment (see also Graph 25) the ANOVA with voice (actives vs non-

active) and animacy (animate vs inanimate subject) as the within-subjects factors

revealed also a significant voice effect (F1(1,42)=4.945, p=.032, η=.105;

F2(1,26)=7.508, p=.011, η=.224). Furthermore, an effect of the interaction between

voice and animacy (F1(1,42)=4.879, p=.033, η=.104; F2(1,26)=7.054, p=.013,

η=.213) is attested. More specifically, when an animate subject is involved,

participants read faster the segment when sentences involved non-active verb

morphology than when sentences involved active verb morphology (t1(42)= 3.148,

p=.003; t2(26)= 3.337, p=.003). This specific effect may be attributed to the fact that

at this point readers understand that the clause introduced does not affect the verb

interpretation; both reflexive and non-reflexive (passive/anti-causative) readings are

available in the non-active verb condition while the causative reading in the active

verb condition is problematic due to the absence of an object in postverbal position,

causing great delay. The presence of an inanimate subject does not entail any effect.


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On the other hand, comparing structures where active verbs are involved, paired-

samples t-tests showed that sentences with inanimate subjects are read faster than

sentences with animate ones, but not significantly so (t1(42)=1.201, p=.236, t2(26)=

2.044, p=.051). If participants read for example ‘to pukamiso katharise an ke itan’

(the shirt cleaned even if it was) only the anti-causative reading is favored, while if

they read ‘to agori katharise an ke itan’ (the boy (got) cleaned even if it was) both

causative and anti-causative readings are still available causing delay33. Turning to a

comparison of sentences where non-active verbs are involved, notice that participants

read faster the specific segment when the syntactic subject was animate (t1(42)= -

1.644, p=.108), t2(26)= -1.802, p=.083), but not significantly so. This may support the

derivational distinction between reflexive and non-reflexive readings according to

Tsimpli’s account (2005, 2006).

Graph 29: Hi-low RTs on the 5rd segment (voice-animacy, verb-class)

33 Even when the anti-causative reading does not seem possible, unless metaphorically used (as in the

example of anti-causatives with internal causation), the reader cannot be sure of the ungrammaticality

of the sentence; the causative reading is also still available: an object may (or may optionally not)

appear later in the sentence (recall that Greek is a flexible word order language).


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The above findings are supported also by a comparison between the two verb-classes

(Graph 29): an ANOVA with voice (active – non-active) as the within-subject factor

and verb-class (Voice Alternating and Non-alternating Anti-causatives) and animacy

(animate – inanimate subject) as the between subject factors revealed a significant

effect of voice (F(1,598)=6.366, p=.012) and an effect of the interaction between

voice and animacy (F(1,598)=6.029, p=.014), while no effect of the verb class is

attested.


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4.3.5. RTs on the sixth segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with


RTs received on the sixth segment (see also Graph 25) are also shown to be affected

by verb morphology and animacy of the syntactic subject. The ANOVA with voice

(actives vs non-active) and animacy (animate vs inanimate subject) as the within-

subjects factors that was computed, revealed that the effect of voice (F1(1,42)=4.677,

p=.036, η=.100; F2(1,26)=6.223, p=.019, η=.193) as well as the interaction between

voice and animacy (F1(1,42)=4.365, p=.043, η=.094; F2(1,26)=4.919, p=.036,

η=.159) are still significant. Paired-samples t-tests showed that in the presence of an

animate subject participants read the next segment more slowly when the verb was

active than non-active (t1(42)= 2.492, p=.017; t2(26)= 2.893, p=.008) (see fn.33).

Inanimate subjects did not differentiate processing of active and non-active verbs. An

animacy effect was found significant only in the non-active condition: participants

read the sequence that followed an animate subject faster than the sequence that

followed an inanimate subject (t1(42)= -2.110, p=.041; t2(26)= -1.354, p=.187)34.

Graph 30: Hi-low RTs on the 6th segment (voice-animacy, verb-class)

34 Recall that n.s. t2 is attributed to individual verb differences.


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Moreover, an ANOVA with voice (active – non-active) as the within-subject factor

and verb-class (Voice Alternating and Non-alternating Anti-causatives) and animacy

(animate – inanimate subject) as the between subjects factors was performed. As

shown in Graph 30, the voice effect (F(1,598)=6.168, p=.013) and the interaction

between voice and animacy (F(1,598)=4.776, p=.029) were found significant, but no

verb class effect was found.

4.3.6. RTs on the seventh segment (voice morphology and subject animacy with


No statistically reliable differences in the various experimental conditions were found

on the seventh segment in statistical analyses for the total number of RTs received, or

for the RTs received in each verb class used in the task.

Graph 31: Hi-low RTs on the 7th segment (voice-animacy, verb-class)

However, as shown in Graph 31, RTs present a large range of variation. This may be

illustrated by specific effects found in some verbs when individually tested. For this

reason we next proceed to a Per Verb analysis.


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4.3.7. Mean RTs (voice morphology and subject animacy) (per verb results)

We examined each verb separately performing an ANOVA with voice (active – non-

active) as within-subject factor and animacy of the syntactic subject (animate –

inanimate) as the between subject factor, since participants saw either the animate or

the inanimate condition of specific verbs.

Graph 32: All verbs: RTs on the 3rd segment

RTs received on the 3rd verb segment (see Graph 32) revealed a significant voice

effect in the verbs tendoni (stretch) (F(1,41)=6.040, p=.018, η= .128), htipai (hit)

(F(1,41)=3.650, p=.063, η= .082)and katharizi (clean) (F(1,41)=6.582, p=.014, η=

.138) among the voice alternating anti-causatives. Note, furthermore that no effects

are found on the following segments for the first two verbs. On the other hand, a

voice effect is found in lijizi (lean) (F(1,41)=5.628, p=.022, η= .121), marginally in

jerni (bend) (F(1,41)=4.072, p=.050, η= .090) and in sapizi (rot) (F(1,41)=10.080,

p=.003, η= .197) among the voice non-alternating anti-causatives. This effect is

maintained at least up to the next (4th) segment. While no animacy effect was found

on this segment for the verbs examined, an effect of the interaction between voice

and animacy was significant only in stegnoni (dry) (F(1,41)=4.087, p=.050, η=.091).

In this case we further conducted Independent-Samples t-tests which revealed that the

effect of animacy was significant in the verbs of non-active morphology (t(41)=


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2.099, p=.042), where the combination of inanimate subject with non-active

morphology was read faster, while in verbs with active morphology there was not a

significant effect of animacy (t(41)= -.207, p=.837). It is also noteworty that no

effects are attested for this verbs on the following segments.

Graph 33: All verbs: RTs on the 4th segment

With respect to the RTs received on the 4th segment (Graph 33), we observe that

voice alternating anti-causatives did not manifest any significant differences on this

segment while voice non-alternating anti-causatives did. More specifically, in the

verb lijizi (bend) the voice effect that firstly appeared on the 3rd segment, was still

significant (F(1,41)=10.080, p=.003, η= .140). This is also the case for jerni (lean)

(F(1,41)=5.718, p=.021, η= .122) and sapizi (rot) (F(1,41)=5.212, p=.028, η= .113).

Also, we found a voice effect in ljoni (melt) (F(1,41)=9.393, p=.004, η= .186) and

this is the only effect attested for this verb. No animacy effect or an effect of the

interaction between voice and animacy were found on this segment.


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Turning to the 5th segment (RTs illustrated in Graph 34) we note that, among voice

alternating anti-causatives, tsalakoni (crumple) is the only verb that yielded a

significant voice effect on this segment (F(1,41)=5.325, p=.026, η= .115). Note

moreover, that no effect was found on previous segments for this specific verb. On

the other hand, among voice alternating anti-causatives, a voice effect is found in the

verb jerni (bend) (F(1,41)=3.914, p=.055, η= .087) and this is only marginal. Besides,

this effect remains active from the 3rd segment for this specific verb. Moreover, a

significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy is attested in lijizi

(bend) (F(1,41)=5.548, p=.023, η=.119). Independent-Samples t-tests revealed that

the effect of animacy was significant in the verbs of non-active morphology (t(41)= -

2.739, p=.009), where the combination of animate subject with non-active

morphology was read faster, while in verbs with active morphology there was not a

significant effect of animacy (t(41)= .466, p=.644).


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No voice or animacy effects are found on the sixth segment (Graph 35) for any of the

verbs tested. Recall that while the analyses in the RTs received for the total number

of verbs (both irrespective of verb class and with regard to verb classification) had

revealed a significant effect of voice and of the interaction between voice and

animacy, t-tests conducted to explore the direction of this interaction did not reveal

any significant differences in the per item analysis. However, the effect of the

interaction between voice and animacy remains significant in the voice non-

alternating anti-causative lijizi (bend) (F(1,41)=10.196, p=.003, η=.199). The

Independent-Samples t-tests we conducted revealed that the effect of animacy was

significant in the verbs of non-active morphology (t(41)= -2.037, p=.048), where the

combination of animate subject with non-active morphology was read faster, while in

verbs with active morphology there was not a significant effect of animacy (t(41)=

1.257, p=.216). Also, a marginal effect of the interaction between voice and animacy

was found in the voice alternating anti-causatives tripai (pierce) (F(1,41)=3.923,

p=.054, η=.087), where t-tests did not reveal any significant differences among the

variables tested.


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RTs on the seventh segment (the end of the sentence) yielded a Voice effect for the

voice alternating anti-causative tsalakoni (crumple) (F(1,41)=6.646, p=.014) and for

the voice non-alternating anti-causative jerni (bend) (F(1,41)=4.728, p=.036) (Graph

36). Also, a significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy was

evidenced in the voice non-alternating anti-causative sapizi (rot) (F(1,41)=6.788,

p=.013, η=.142): t-tests showed that in the presence of non-active verbs the segment

was read faster with inanimate than with animate subjects (t(41)=2.390, p=.022), but

no animacy effect was attested for active verbs. A marginally significant effect of the

interaction between voice and animacy was also evidenced in the voice alternating

anti-causative tripai (pierce) (F(1,41)=3.923, p=.054, η=.087), but t-tests performed

did not reveal significant differences among the variables tested. Notice also that

participants often did not realize that the sentence was over, until the moment they

encountered the 9-grade scale on the next segment for the AJ task and this the reason

why we discuss effects found on this segment. Finally, recall that no significant

effects were found in the analysis of the RTs in the total number of verbs.

Overall, among the voice non-alternating anti-causatives in sapizi (rot) a

significant voice effect was found on the 3rd and 4th segments and a significant effect

of the interaction between voice and animacy on the 7th segment; in lijizi (bend) on


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the 3rd and 4th segments a significant voice effect was attested while a significant

effect of the interaction between voice and animacy was evidenced on the 5th and 6th

segments; in jerni (lean) we found a significant voice effect on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th

segments; in ljoni we found only a significant voice effect on the 4th segment while in

stegnoni (dry) only a significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy

on the 3rd segment. The remaining klini (close) and vrazi (boil) yielded no significant

effects. Among the voice alternating anti-causatives tendoni (stretch) and htipai (hit)

and katharizi (clean) yielded a significant voice effect on the 3rd segment and

tsalakoni (crumple) on the 5th and 7th segments. The verb tripai (pierce) yielded a

significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy on the 6th segment,

while the remaining verbs of the class yielded no significant effects on any of the

segments analysed.

No significant differences were attested in the processing of the third, fourth,

fifth, sixth or on the seventh segment in the verbs berdevi (mingle), leroni (spill),

tripai (pierce), leroni (spill) or htipai (hit) among the voice alternating anti-causatives

and klini (close), stegnoni (dry) and vrazi (boil) among the voice non-alternating anti-

causatives.

Summary

The overall results of the SPR task show that processing of NACT verb forms causes

more delay than ACT verb forms. The animacy effect is manifested on segments

following the verb and not on the verb itself. More specifically, RTs received on the

5th segment exhibit a significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy:

animate subjects facilitate the processing of sentences that involve both active and

non-active verbs (nact-anim<nact-inanim and act-anim<act-inanim) and they are

faster processed when the verb is a non-active one (nact-anim<act-anim); inanimate

subjects do not give rise to significant RTs differences (nact-inanim-act-inanim=

n.s.). Some of these effects remain active on the 6th segment as well (nact-anim<act-


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anim and nact-anim<nact-inanim). Individual verb differences as well as differences

between the two verb-classes of anti-causatives used in the experiment are also

attested: sentences that involve voice alternating anti-causatives do not show large

variations (i.e. effects are attested only in very few verbs), while sentences that

involve voice non-alternating anti-causatives reveal a variety of effects during

sentence processing for almost each verb tested.

5. Discussion

On the basis of the AJ and SPR task results, we can now return to the research

questions presented in (3.4). The question whether the two verb classes studied

regulate the judgment of adult native speakers with regard to the acceptability of

specific verb forms (ACT-NACT) combined with +/- animate subjects receives a

positive answer only partially. Let us next describe in more detail the results.

Starting with acceptability rates received, Voice Non-alternating Anti-

causatives yielded a significant Voice effect, attributed to the ungrammaticality of

NACT forms. In other words, ACT forms (169/602) were more accepted than NACT

forms (23/602), as shown in Table 60. Moreover, a significant Animacy effect was

found in all verbs but jerni (lean) which was accepted with both animate and

inanimate subjects in ACT forms. Lack of a significant interaction between the two

main effects (Voice and Animacy) in lijizi (bend) and stegnoni (dry) is attributed to

the fact that grammatical ACT and ungrammatical NACT did not differ significantly

with respect to Animacy, i.e. the presence of animate subject was not rejected with

ACT verb forms. Significant interaction between the two main effects (Voice and

Animacy) in klini (close) was due to the preference of ACT and NACT verbs with

inanimate over animate subjects as well as the preference of ACT over NACT forms.

In ljoni (melt), vrazi (boil) and sapizi (rot) significant interaction between the two

main effects (Voice and Animacy) was due to the fact that only ACT with inanimate

subjects are considered grammatical.


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Turning to Voice Alternating Anti-causatives, acceptability rates provided do

not justify a clear distinctive property of Class II verbs as being freely alternating in

voice morphology: participants accepted more the NACT (168/602) than the ACT

verb forms (82/602), as shown in Table 60. Moreover, both NACT and ACT forms

co-occurred with animate or inanimate subjects (see Table 60 for relevant

information) (NACT: anim (81/168), inanim (87/168); ACT: anim (30/82), inanim

(52/82)) contrary to the suggestion that animacy blocks the ‘alternating’ status of

Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004). More

specifically, the verbs berdevi (mingle) and katharizi (clean) yielded a significant

Voice and Animacy effect: in both verbs there was a preference of NACT over ACT

voice morphology and inanimate over animate subjects. In tsalakoni (crumple) both

main effects (Voice and Animacy) and their interaction were significant, since not

only NACT morphology was preferred over the ACT one but inanimate subjects were

also preferred over animate ones in a way that co-occurrence with animate subject

rendered ungrammatical both ACT and NACT verb forms; in other words this verb

was accepted only in NACT form with inanimate subjects. In leroni (spill) and

tendoni (stretch) NACT forms were significantly more preferred over ACT forms,

hence a significant Voice effect, while the co-occurrence of ACT with animate

subjects was considered ungrammatical (it was not preferred with inanimate subjects

either (mean rate: 3.83; rate range: 3.33-4.71)). Also, although the co-occurrence of

NACT with inanimate was less accepted than with animate subject, both

combinations were accepted. On the other hand, htipai (hit) which was equally

accepted in both ACT and NACT (no Voice effect) yielded an Animacy effect, due to

the preference of animate over inanimate subjects. Also, no Voice or Animacy effects

but only a significant interaction of the two effects was attested in tripai (pierce)

which was more accepted in ACT with inanimate and NACT with animate subjects.

RTs received on the AJ task, the decision making segment after the end of the

sentence, revealed a significant Voice and Verb Class effect and a significant

interaction between them. Hence, with respect to the significant interaction between

Voice and Verb Class, Class I ACT verbs induced shorter RTs than Class II ACT

verbs: results support the suggestion that the former are lexically constrained

(Tsimpli, 2006), while the optional availability of both ACT and NACT morpheme in


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the latter added a processing load for the judgment. Class I NACT verbs induced also

shorter RTs than Class II NACT verbs, given the ungrammaticality of the former.

Moreover, with respect to each verb class, in Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives,

voice effect was significant (F(1,84)= 12.245, p=0.001), but animacy was not. This

finding is attributed to the ungrammaticality of NACT with Class I (Voice Non-

Alternating Anti-causative) verbs. Judgment of ACT verb forms was time consuming

for both Verb Classes (see Graph 24), given that ACT does not signal unaccusativity

in a transparent way: both causative and anti-causative readings were activated,

although the former were not favoured due to the lack of an object DP in the test

sentences. In Voice Alternating Anti-causatives neither voice nor animacy effect

were significant. Lack of significant effects in Class II (Voice Alternating Anti-

causative) verbs implies that these verbs are in their majority truly alternating, except

for tsalakoni (crumple) (Voice effect); only acceptability rates provided can point to a

differentiation among them.

Turning to the SPR task, RTs on the third (critical) segment onwards (Graph

25) indicated divergent processing preferences depending on the experimental

manipulations. More specifically, the 3rd critical (verb) segment yielded a Voice

effect, shown by a delay in the processing of NACT forms. This indicates that NACT

leads to antecedent reactivation or signals a transitivity change. The Verb Class effect

was manifested on the 4th segment and the animacy effect (interaction between voice

and animacy) was manifested on the 5th and 6th segment mostly, suggesting the

priority of morpho-syntactic over semantic processing. Syntax-based models of

sentence processing (eg. Ferreira and Clifton, 1986; Frazier, 1987a, b, 1990; Frazier

and Rayner, 1982) which prioritize syntax over semantics during processing are not

verified.

Starting with the verb segment, ACT was processed faster than NACT voice

morphology. In other words, participants were sensitive to the non-active

morphological marking and its θ-attractor role, signaling transitivity alternations

(Tsimpli, 2006).

Processing of the fourth segment revealed a Verb Class effect only in the non-

active forms, where the Voice Alternating Anti-causatives were faster processed than


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Voice Non-alternating ones. This effect can be accounted for by the reduced

acceptability of non-active forms of the latter verbs, which however do not seem to

be ungrammatical, leading to fast RTs.

Processing of the fifth segment yielded a significant Voice effect and an

interaction between Voice and Animacy. The above effects were maintained in the

processing of the sixth segment, where Voice effect and the interaction between

Voice and Animacy were still significant.

More specifically, on the fifth segment ACT verbs were read faster with

inanimate than animate subjects: in the two conditions both causative and anti-

causative readings are available in principle; thus, in sentences with ACT verbs and

animate subjects, the anti-causative reading is ‘odd’ if not metaphorically used and

the possibility of the emergence of an object DP is still available, given the flexibility

in word order patterns in Greek. Hence, RTs received are slower. This difference was

not maintained on the next (6th) segment, where no effect is attested.

Also, on the fifth segment, NACT verbs were read faster with animate than

inanimate subjects: this may support the derivational distinction between reflexive

and non-reflexive readings according to Tsimpli’s account (2005, 2006). In other

words, the difference is that animates can be reflexive (not derived) while inanimates

cannot; thus NACT with animate subjects is simpler than NACT with inanimate

subjects, since participants seem to go for a reflexive interpretation, where no

movement is involved. This difference was maintained significant on the next (6th)

segment too, where in the presence of animate subjects NACT forms were processed

faster than ACT: the reflexive (non-derived) was computed faster than the anti-

causative in the latter.

The presence of an inanimate subject does not entail any effect on the fifth or

the sixth segment. The fact that NACT and ACT forms induce similar RTs may be

attributed to the fact that both structures involve ‘non-canonical’ sentences: although

NACT morphology has a clearer marking, ACT involves the simplest derivation. The

former results from a unified syntactic derivation in line with Tsimpli’s derivational

account (2006) and the latter, also derived, involves a reactivation of the subject in its


264

t-position, in line with the Unaccusativity Hypothesis (Perlmutter, 1978; Levin &

Rappaport-Hovav, 1995, 2005 a.o.).

Finally, in the presence of animate subjects NACT verb forms were read

faster than ACT ones, on the fifth and sixth segment. The sequences in the latter case

are ‘odd’, causing a delay, but not ungrammatical yet.

Turning to a discussion of the data obtained for each verb examined (Picture

6), we note that, although in all the verbs there is a tendancy of slower RTs on the 3rd

segment in NACT forms, there is individual variation; this variation is even more

evident, on later segments.

Picture 6: Graphic illustration of RTs in each verb examined.

In many cases the individual variation is due to the subject’s animacy: while all voice

non-alternating anti-causatives yielded slower RTs in NACT than in ACT, the

difference between RTs for ACT and NACT forms is significant in sapizi (rot), lijizi

(bend) and jerni (lean), while only in stegnoni (dry) the NACT forms with inanimate

subjects were read faster than the ACT forms (irrespective of subject animacy).

Among voice alternating anti-causatives the delay caused by the NACT morphology

is significant in katharizi (clean) and tendoni (stretch), while in the remaining verbs

the delay, although still available, is not significant: for example in htipai (hit) NACT

forms with both animate and inanimate subjects are processed slower than ACT ones,


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but in the remaining verbs RTs do not present a similar pattern with respect to the

research variables, i.e. voice morphology and subject animacy. On the following

segments we also notice variation in individual verbs. Some effects are found in sapizi

(rot), lioni (melt), lijizi (bend) and jerni (lean) among voice non-alternating anti-

causatives and in katharizi (clean), tendoni (stretch), tsalakoni (crumple) and htipai

(hit) among voice alternating anti-causatives, but they cannot be grouped. Thus, the

semantics of specific verbs are also to be taken into consideration.

For the moment we leave aside the evaluation of experience-based models of

sentence processing because they will be discussed in detail in the General Discussion

(Chapter 6).

ACQUISITION CHAPTER 5 OF TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIOSN

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CHAPTER 5

ACQUISITION OF TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS

1. Introduction

In the present chapter we are going to present data from a sentence-picture matching

task (SPM) investigating the interpretation of voice morphology and its interaction

with transitivity alternations in Greek as a native language. Most of the verbs

examined have been analysed in terms of frequency calculated in the corpora (Chapter

3). Child L1 learners of Greek (age range: 3-6) and adult controls were tested on the

choice of interpretation of verbs classified in the literature as ‘anti-causative’ (voice

alternating or non-alternating), ‘reflexive’ or neither (activity predicates).

In the next section we briefly discuss the Rationale underlying the acquisition

of transitivity alternations (Section 2) and we present the SPM task addressed to

Greek L1 adults and children (Section 3). More specifically we present the

experimental design (3.1), the procedure followed (3.2), the participants (3.3.) and the

specific research questions (3.4). In Section 4 we present the results of the SPM task;

after a general illustration of the responses received with respect to voice morphology

and subject animacy (4.1), the presentation proceeds according to these same

variables (Voice morphology and subject animacy) for each verb class tested (4.2):

ACT (anti-causative) verbs with inanimate subjects (4.2.1), NACT (anti-causative and

activity predicate) verbs with inanimate subjects (4.2.2), NACT (anti-causative and

activity predicate) verbs with animate subjects (4.2.3) and ACT-NACT (reflexive)

verbs with animate subjects (4.2.4). In Section 4.3 we present a per verb analysis and

in Section 5 we discuss the findings in the light of previous hypotheses proposed for

the acquisition of transitivity alternations cross-linguistically and in Greek.


267

2. The Rationale

2.1 Notes on previous research on language acquisition

Previous research on language acquisition has repeatedly focused on phenomena of

transitivity alternations. One of the first interests of research has been to account for

cross-linguistic variation in the time of mastery of passive structures. More

specifically, while English verbal passives are observed to appear late, roughly at

around the age of five (Bever, 1970; Strohner & Nelson 1974, Wasow 1977, de

Villiers 1985, Borer & Wexler 1987, Roeper 1987), productions of ‘short’ passives

(without the ‘by-phrase’) have been attested earlier, by the age of four (Maratsos et

al., 1985). Furthermore, it has been suggested that 3 to 3;5 year-old children can learn

to produce get-passives (Brooks & Tomasello, 1999; Tomasello, Brooks & Stern,

1998). On the other hand unergative structures are suggested to appear earlier than

passive/unaccusative ones (Valian, 1991; also Babyonyshev et al., 2001 for the

acquisition of unaccusatives in Russian L1). Discrepancies in the results of

observational studies regarding the acquisition of passives are also attested cross-

linguistically. For example, in Sesotho (a language with no adjectival passives)

children are suggested to acquire non-truncated actional verbal passives early and use

them productively (from age 2;8) (Demuth, 1989). Furthermore, data from Dutch L1

acquisition with respect to passive and anti-causative structures (Verrips, 2000) show

also an early acquisition of abstract syntactic knowledge. In Verrips’ research (an

elicited production task), children (2;6-6;6) produced instrument phrases in both

passive and anti-causative structures, although the adult grammar allows for an

implicit argument only in the former case and despite the fact that the two structures

differ morphologically (as in wet gebroken (‘was broken’) for passive vs brak

(‘broke’) for anti-causative). Moreover, in Romance languages, where both reflexive

and anti-causative structures can be expressed through clitics, research on longitudinal

data shows that the emergence of reflexive clitics is attested after subject clitics, and

simultaneously or following the emergence of object (accusative) clitics (Müller et al.,

2006; Schmitz & Müller, 2008). Previous research in the acquisition of passive/anti-

causative and reflexives in Greek L1 and L2 child data (Tsimpli, 2006) shows that


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comprehension and production of monolingual children differ from adults up to

school age (at around 6;0).

Towards an explanation of the above findings, researchers suggested various

explanations. The Maturation Hypothesis (Borer & Wexler 1987; 1992), was one of

the first attempts to explain the ‘delay’ in the acquisition of full passives with non-

actional verbs in English (attested in Hebrew as well). A-Chains involved in passive,

unaccusative and other raising structures are assumed to be subject to maturation;

hence, children cannot assign a thematic-role to the moved element (the argument).

Nevertheless, ‘short’ passives, appearing earlier, are analysed as adjectival passives,

derived in the lexicon. Further evidence supporting the nominal status of early

passives is that they lack a ‘by-phrase’. On a different account, Fox & Grodzinsky

(1998) suggested that the problem of the production of non-actional full passives in

children lies in the ‘by-phrase’: children cannot establish a link between the by-phrase

and the suppressed external argument, due to the lack of θ-transmission. Hence, the

non-agentive role of by-phrases with non-actional passives is problematic.

On the other hand, Verrips (2000) argued that the non-adult-like performance of

children is not indicative of some representational problem in syntax, but data indicate

that in child grammars implicit arguments are present in both verbal passives and anti-

causatives, even in the absence of by-phrases. Results showing the use of instrument

phrases with both passive and anti-causatives, reveal a ‘strong’ application of the

Projection Principle. Borer (2004) also suggested that the overgeneralisations attested

in Hebrew L1 children up to the age of 6;0 are not indicative of lack of syntactic

knowledge, but are accounted for in terms of the priority of a morpho-phonological

stage before the morpho-syntactic one. The child produces novel (non-existing in

adult language) words because, as assumed, she fails to associate syntactic knowledge

already in place (i.e. transitivity) to the matching morpho-phonological form. Even

later, during the morpho-syntactic stage, children’s non adult-like formations are

produced on-line, due to vocabulary and memory limitations and show consistency

with grammar constraints but not with adult performance.

Similarly, data from Tsimpli (2005, 2006) show that Greek monolingual

children are sensitive to voice morphology distinctions from the age of 3;0. Reflexive


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and passive readings are available but children of preschool age differ from adults in

the degree of preference for reflexive, passive and anti-causative readings for

particular verbs or verb classes. Later (in early school years), children’s responses

converge with the adult choices, showing a developmental pattern with respect to

their knowledge of verb classes. Nevertheless, early production and comprehension of

morphologically distinct ACT/NACT forms is on-line in line with Borer (2004), in

that data do not show access of pragmatically established knowledge leading to strong

preferences in an adult-like way. Furthermore, reflexive vs non-reflexive readings

depend on the animacy of syntactic subject interacting with Voice morphology,

providing evidence for a distinct syntactic derivation. Data obtained in Fotiadou &

Tsimpli (to appear) are consistent with Tsimpli’s account (2006) in that child group

performance diverges from adult, not because of lack of syntactic knowledge or

‘deficient’ pragmatics, but because ‘the perception and interpretation of transitivity

alternations […] requires the development of an interaction between syntax, lexical

and pragmatic knowledge of verb-classes, as well as the ability to suppress

pragmatically-derived inferences in the evaluation of an event or action’ (Fotiadou &

Tsimpli, to appear).

From the non-generative framework, usage-based approaches (Tomasello, 1992,

2003) suggest that it is not the complexity of passive structures but mostly the reduced

frequency of passives in English child-directed speech35 that are responsible for the

late emergence of these structures in English speaking children. It is thus explained

how in other languages where passive formations are equally complex, children

acquire them early. For example, in the Sesotho language passives are frequently

attested in child-directed speech (Demuth, 1989): subject questions often used in

child-directed speech are obligatorily formed with the passive. Previous research on

the acquisition of passives in English (Tomasello, Brooks & Stern, 1998) suggests

that young children (3;0-3;5 years old) learn both full and ‘truncated’ get-passives

when taught to, i.e. the mastery of the structures depends on the relevant adult input

and children follow the model they heard. However, an age effect is attested: all

children produced full passives, although younger ones needed more exposure to

35 Gordon and Chafetz (1990) report that 1 full passive in 20 000 adult utterances and 1 truncated

passive in 1000 adult utterances is attested.


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input than the older ones (69.2 utterances vs 26.7 utterances for the two age groups

respectively). Furthermore, in Brooks & Tomasello (1999) children under the age of

3;0 were trained to use passive or active structures (two age groups were created with

mean age of ‘younger’: 34;6 and ‘older’: 40;6 months). Results showed that 90% of

the passive group and 12% of the active group produced passive constructions in

response to patient-oriented and ‘neutral’ (‘what happened?’) questions. In response

to agent-oriented questions the entire active group produced active utterances, while

only 11/20 (older) and 4/20 (younger) of the passive group did. Furthermore, results

of the production of full or truncated passives yielded an effect (a) of the type used in

the input, (b) of the question type and (c) of the interaction between the two. Finally,

questioning the performance limitations resulting to deviation in child performance

when compared to adult one (Valian, 1991), Theakston et al. (2001) claim that

frequency in the input is also responsible for the more frequent production of

intransitive over transitive frames. In Theakston et al. (2001) data with respect to

transitive (hit), intransitive (go) and alternating (break) verbs come from nine children

(1;10.7-2;0.25). The researchers supported that (a) children used the verbs transitively

or intransitively only, suggesting that they were not making a choice between the two

on the basis of performance factors, (b) children did not use alternating verbs more

often as intransitives or transitives and (c) the way children used particular verbs was

very well predicted by the way their mothers used those same verbs.

Overall, these models suggest that child productions are not creative, but simple

imitations of expressions they hear: they reproduce expressions or verb-types without

prior morphological analysis. Furthermore, they produce verb-islands, putting

together animate or inanimate subjects with verbs to describe actions, not because

they have generalized the notion of animacy but by simple reproducing frequent noun

+ verb constructions from their input.

Transitivity alternations in Greek, which is a language with a rich inflectional

system is a very interesting case study, given that ACT and NACT morphology does

not always correspond to transitive and intransitive readings. This, together with the

rareness in the use of passive structures, with or ‘without a by-phrase, should make

passives more difficult for the child to acquire than in languages where a one-to-one


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correspondence is found between form and meaning, as is the case with the English

passive.

2.2 Specific rationale

Based on previous research on language acquisition, the effect of the morpho-

phonological and morpho-syntactic properties of Greek active and non-active voice

and their potential interaction with verb class and animacy of the syntactic subject are

to be investigated in Greek L1 children and adult controls.

Transitivity alternations are found in Greek both with ACT and NACT verb

forms. While active morphology is not transparent with respect to transitivity

alternations, non-active morphology is. More specifically, according to Tsimpli

(2006) Grammar distinguishes between reflexive and non-reflexive (passive/anti-

causative) readings, in that the latter involve a derived subject, while the former does

not. Animacy of the syntactic subject is a strong determinant in that inanimate subject

cannot co-occur with reflexive readings. However, Voice, lacking nominal features,

leaves the attracted feature underspecified with regard to interpretation at LF. Hence,

the preferred reading (reflexive, passive or anti-causative) is the result of the

semantics of the predicate and pragmatic information (i.e. naturalness, frequency and

transparency of the relation between the subject and the event described by the verb)

or clausal information (Tsimpli, 2006: 23-25). Thus, while Grammar constrains the

reflexive vs non-reflexive readings (Voice morphology and +/-derived subject), [+/-

animacy] of the syntactic subject and verb classification also affect native speakers of

Greek. The notion of verb class is considered a side-effect of pragmatic properties

interacting with grammatical constraints (cf. Borer 2004, Tsimpli 2006); the

implication is that verb classification is part of the lexical/encyclopeadic information

attached to verb entries acquired on the basis of pragmatic knowledge through

exposure with language. Hence, child data will differ from adult data in that Grammar

is assumed to constrain the interpretative choices of all child groups (Borer 2004;

Tsimpli 2006).


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Thus, the SPM task is expected to reveal ambiguity in child data between the

readings allowed with respect to the combination of voice morphology and subject

animacy, in contrast to adult responses unambiguously interpreted according to verb

classification. For example, given that the verbs used in the task are classified as

Voice (Non)-alternating Anti-causatives, Reflexives (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou

2004, a.o.) or neither (activity predicates used in NACT with animate and inanimate

subjects), adults are expected to provide responses according to verb classification in

most cases. A developmental pattern in Greek L1 is however expected. Children will

approximate adult responses at later stages of development (at around 5 years of age).

Nevertheless, adults are predicted to provide responses that deviate from the

verb classification in the presence of animate subject with NACT verb forms. Recall

that the syntactic derivation can distinguish between reflexive or non-reflexive

(passive/anti-causative). Thus, reflexive responses are expected also in the cases

where verb classification shows a preference of another reading, i.e. in the verbs

classified as ‘anti-causatives’. Passive or anti-causative readings are expected in high

rate for individual verbs according to the semantics of the predicate and relevant

pragmatic information.

Children are predicted to allow all available readings for NACT verb forms with

animate subjects (passive, anti-causative and reflexive) irrespective of verb

classification. More specifically, in order to test early acquisition of passive the SPM

test includes the choice of an agent reading for all ‘non-canonical’ sentences

(ACT/NACT anti-causatives, NACT activity predicates) and for ACT/NACT

reflexives. Child groups are thus expected to allow a passive reading, denoting the

presence of an implicit argument in all NACT forms with inanimate subjects, given

that NACT signals transitivity alternations. Nevertheless ambiguity between reflexive

and passive/anti-causative readings is expected in NACT verbs with animate subjects.

Furthermore we expect that passive readings will be attested in ACT anti-causatives

(with inanimate subject), where the argument is not syntactically realized but assumed

to be possibly present at the level of conceptual structure (in line with Verrips 2000,

Tsimpli 2006; contra Borer & Wexler 1987, 1992); overgeneralization of passive

interpretations in the remaining ACT verb forms used is also expected, although at a

smaller rate in sentences with an animate subject.


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An evaluation of ‘usage-based’ approaches to language acquisition is presented

in the next chapter, given that a comparison of the experimental results to frequencies

of the preference of passive/anti-causative or reflexive readings in adult speech is

presupposed.

3. The SPM task

Picture Selection (PS) or Sentence-Picture Matching (SPM) tasks are commonly used

to assess children’s linguistic capabilities especially in cases where subjects fail to

produce particular linguistic forms or maintain particular production contrasts

(Gerken & Shady, 1996). Thus, these are tasks used to assess the effects of

morphosyntactic manipulations on children’s sentence comprehension, as is the case

of assessing semantic interpretation of morphosyntactic contrasts (i.e. comprehend

particular linguistic forms as passive vs active sentences a.o.) as in the case of the

current study. Moreover, this kind of method is used to infer the nature of children’s

morphosyntactic representations by examining the errors that they make or to

determine the developmental relation between production (PS tasks) and

comprehension (SPM tasks) of particular forms (Tsimpli, 2006 a.o.). In the present

study, however, we included only comprehension data: The specific SPM task tests

the preference for the anti-causative or passive reading as compared to the reflexive or

the transitive. It aims to examine whether the preference depends on the animacy of

the subject, voice morphology and verb class. Child data will be compared with adult

native controls.

3.1. Design and Materials

Forty sentences were constructed in order to test whether animacy, verb class

and voice morphology jointly affect the way participants interpret events depicted by

sets of 3 pictures presented to them while listening to a sentence. More specifically,

for each sentence orally produced by the researcher, three pictures were presented

simultaneously. The position of the target picture and the order of presentation of the


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sentences were (pseudo)-randomized with respect to the type of structure tested. Each

sentence consisted of a subject DP and a verb in the present tense. All verbs were in

the 3rd person singular. No by-phrase was included in any of the sentences. In the

triplets of pictures (designed by the author of the thesis), apart from the sentence

subject which was depicted, there was also an animate (agent or cause) participant for

the picture depicting the ‘passive’ reading or an inanimate cause for the picture with

the ‘anti-causative’ reading.

Twenty verbs belonging to four verb classes (5 verbs in each) were used (see

Appendix II for the complete list of sentences). The following four classes of verbs

were included:

(i) Five verbs from the ‘voice non-alternating ACT anti-causative’ class were

used once each: klini (‘close’), stegnoni (‘dry’), spai (‘break’), lijizi (‘bend’), ljoni

(‘melt’). The subject in all five sentences was inanimate and the preferred reading the

anti-causative.

(ii) Five verbs of the ‘voice alternating anti-causative’ class were used three

times each giving a total of fifteen sentences: leroni (‘spill’), tripai (‘pierce’), htipai

(‘hit’), tendoni (‘stretch’), dhiploni (‘fold’). In five sentences the verb was in ACT

form and the subject inanimate while in the remaining ten sentences, the verb was in

NACT form and the subject was either animate or inanimate. The preferred reading in

all sentences is the anti-causative.

(iii) Five verbs from the ‘reflexive’ class were used twice each, once in ACT

and once in NACT morphology: pleni (‘wash’), htenizi (‘comb’), skoupizi (‘wipe’),

ksirizi (‘shave’), dini (‘dress’). These verbs were always preceded by an animate

subject giving a total of ten sentences. The preferred reading in the NACT form

would be the reflexive while in the ACT the transitive one.

(iv) Finally, five ‘activity predicates’ in NACT form only were used twice each

(vrehi (‘wet’), stolizi (‘decorate’), metaferi (‘transfer’), krivi (‘hide’), vafi (‘paint’),

once with an animate and once with an inanimate subject, i.e. a total of ten sentences.

Given that the verbs do not belong to either the reflexive or the anti-causative class,

the animate subject sentences would be ambiguous between the reflexive, the passive


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and the anti-causative reading while the inanimate subject sentences would show no

preference between the passive and the anti-causative reading.

Some examples of the test sentences with their preferred reading, according to

verb class, are presented below:

(34) To klidhi spai Anti-causative

the key breaks-ACT

(35) I bala tripai / tripjete Anti-causative

the ball pierces-ACT/pierces-NACT

(36) O Mickey tripjete Anti-causative

the Mickey pierces-NACT

(37) To agori plenete Reflexive

the boy washes-NACT

(38) To agori pleni Transitive

the boy washes-ACT

(39) To pedhi vafete Reflexive/Passive/Anti-caus.

the child paints-NACT

(40) I porta vafete Passive/Anti-causative

the door paints-NACT

There were thirty sets of pictures used to test the critical sentences, some of which

were used twice. Specifically, the five triplets designed for ‘reflexives’ and

‘alternating anti-causatives’ with animate subjects, respectively, were used twice in

order to test voice morphology. The rest of the pictures were seen only once. In order

to avoid repetition, the experiment was administered in two sessions with at least

three weeks distance between them. Participants were presented with twenty

sentences in the first session and the remaining twenty in the next one. Sentences

were distributed so that participants heard a total of ten sentences with animate

subjects (five with verbs in ACT and the other five in NACT morphology) and ten

with inanimate subjects (five with ACT verbs and five with NACT verbs) in each

session and never saw the same picture or heard the same verb during the same

session.


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Each set of pictures was designed on the basis of the following variables: verb

morphology, subject animacy and verb class. In each set of pictures there was a

‘preferred’ picture whose preference status is accounted for by a combination of all of

the above variables36. For each group of verbs, every triplet of pictures included the

following choices:

(a) Class I (Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives):

The sentences with ‘Non-alternating’ (ACT) anti-causative’ verbs were presented

with inanimate subjects and there was a preferred picture (anti-causative), a dis-

preferred one (transitive)37 and a non-target one (passive), given ACT morphology.

Thus, in a sentence like to klidhi spai (the key breaks-ACT), the ‘preferred’ picture is

the one showing the key breaking due to an external cause, in this example by falling.

One of the other pictures showed the key breaking something else, in this example,

the key hole, (the ‘transitive’ reading). The third picture showed someone (an agent)

breaking the key (the ‘passive’ reading).

(b) Class II (Voice Alternating Anti-causatives):

(a) For sentences with ACT morphology and inanimate subject, there was a preferred

picture (anti-causative), a non-target one (passive) given ACT verb morphology and a

dis-preferred one (transitive). Thus, in a sentence like i bala tripai (the ball pierces-

ACT), the preferred picture is the one showing the ball with a hole with air blowing

out and a nail next to it. One of the other pictures showed the ball piercing something

else; in this example the ball was intact in front of a painting with a hole in it (the

‘transitive’ reading) which is non-target given NACT verb morphology. The third

picture showed someone (an agent) opening a hole to the ball with a nail (the

‘passive’ reading).

36 The term ‘preferred’ is used instead of ‘target’ since the latter refers to grammaticality. Moreover, preference is argued to be determined on the basis of animacy, verb class and voice morphology, of which animacy and verb-class are semantic/pragmatic properties while voice morphology is lexical-syntactic. Since the grammar allows more than one reading in most cases, the grammatical but less preferred reading is referred to as ‘dis-preferred’. 37 The reason why the transitive option is termed dis-preferred for this category as well as category (IIc) verbs is because null objects do not seem to be easily accessible with anti-causatives in ACT morphology (Perez-Leroux, Pirvulescu & Roberge 2008).


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(b) For sentences with NACT morphology and inanimate subject, there was a

preferred picture (anti-causative), a dis-preferred one (passive) and a non-target one

(transitive). The set of pictures used is the one used for (a).

(c) For sentences with NACT morphology and animate subject, there was a preferred

picture (anti-causative) and two dis-preferred ones (passive and reflexive). Thus, in a

sentence like o Mickey tripiete (o Mickey pierces-NACT), the preferred picture is the

one showing Mickey pricked by accident in a cactus. One of the other pictures

showed Mickey pierced by someone else, in the example by a nurse, with a needle

(the ‘passive’ reading). The third picture showed Mickey deliberately piercing himself

with a needle (the ‘reflexive’ reading).

(c) Class III (Reflexives):

(a) For sentences with NACT morphology and animate subject, there was a preferred

picture (reflexive), a dis-preferred one (passive) and a non-target one (transitive).

Thus, in a sentence like to agori plenete (‘the boy washes-NACT’), the ‘preferred’

picture is the one showing the boy washing himself. One of the other pictures showed

the boy being washed by someone else (the ‘passive’ reading) which is allowed by the

grammar but dis-preferred in terms of verb class. The third picture showed the boy

washing someone else (the ‘transitive’ reading) which is non-target given NACT

morphology.

(b) For sentences with ACT morphology and animate subject, there was a preferred

picture (transitive) and two non-target ones (passive and reflexive) given ACT verb

morphology. For both (a) and (b) the same set of pictures was used.

(d) Class IV (Activity predicates):

(a) For sentences with NACT morphology and animate subjects, there was a

reflexive, a passive and an anti-causative event. There is no preference based on verb-

class in this case. Thus, in a sentence like to pedhi krivete (the boy hides-NACT) one

of the pictures showed the boy hiding behind an armchair (the ‘reflexive’ reading),

another picture showed someone else hiding the boy, in the example a woman

pushing the boy behind the armchair (the ‘passive’ reading). The third picture showed


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the boy standing still behind an armchair partly hiding him (the ‘anti-causative’

reading).

(b) For sentences with NACT morphology and inanimate subjects, there were two

pictures, the anti-causative and the passive, both equally preferred, and a non-target

one (transitive) given NACT verb morphology. Thus, in a sentence like to kuti krivete

(the box hides-NACT) one of the pictures showed a big box behind an armchair, only

the edges of the box were free at sight (the anti-causative’ reading) and another

showed a woman pushing a big box behind an armchair in order to hide it (the

‘passive’ reading). The third picture showed a big box in front of a hiding armchair

(the ‘transitive’ reading).


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3.2. Procedure

Participants at the beginning of the session were informed that they will be seeing sets

of three pictures and simultaneously hear a sentence: they were instructed to decide as

soon as possible which picture matched the sentence they heard. Participants were

presented with sets of three pictures by picture cards, such as the ones illustrated

below, thus the three alternative readings were simultaneously presented. At the same

time, the investigator uttered a sentence in isolation, as in the examples also cited

below, corresponding to the sets of triplets demonstrated for the different verb classes

examined as shown in Picture (6) for the sets of triplets illustrating Voice Alternating

Anti-causatives, in Picture (7) for the two sets of triplets illustrating Voice Non-

alternating Anti-causatives, in Picture (8) for the sets of triplets illustrating Reflexives

and in Picture (9) for the sets of triplets illustrating Activity Predicates:


(Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives)

To klidi spai

the key breaks-ACT


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(Voice Alternating Anti-causatives)

(a) I bala tripai / tripjete (b) O Mickey tripjete

the ball pierces-ACT /pierces-NACT the Mickey pierces-NACT


(Reflexives)

(a) To aghori plenete (b) To aghori pleni

the boy washes-NACT the boy washes-ACT


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(Activity predicates)

(a) To pedhi krivete (b) To kouti krivete

the kid hides-NACT the box hides-NACT

The total of sentences presented in each session were pseudo-randomized in that

sentences with verbs of the same class and of the same voice morphology were not

sequentially presented to subjects. Furthermore, the triplets used twice and the triplets

designed for the same verb as (a) and (b) above were always presented in separate

sessions.

Sessions were administered individually in dedicated rooms in the children’s

schools and in other isolated areas for adults. Participants saw each triplet of pictures

while at the same time they heard the experimental sentence uttered by the

experimenter at a normal speaking rate. Sessions were video-recorded. Every session

lasted approximately fifteen minutes. Parental and school consent were obtained prior

to the children’s participation in the study.

3.3. Participants

The SPM task includes 100 subjects in total. Participants were 75 children (age range:

3-5;10), divided in three age groups, and 25 adult controls (age range: 20-38). The

relevant information is presented in Table 65.


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Table 65: Participants

Subjects N Age range Mean Age

Group 1 25 3-3;10 3;7

Group 2 25 4-4;10 4;2

Group 3 25 4;11-5;10 5;4

Adult controls 25 20-38 28

Children in all child groups were born in Northern Greece and live in the towns of

Veria and Thessaloniki. At the time of the study they all attended pre-school and

nursery classes. The native language of all children is Greek, their home and school

language. Children were recruited in four nursery schools (Spring in Panorama

Thessaloniki, Smurfs and Little House on the Prairie and the 3rd State Nursery School

of Veria, in Veria).

The task performed 3 more children (age range: 2;9-2;11) who were excluded

because during the task they showed repeatedly the picture positioned in a particular

spot (for example always the central one). Also data from 10 more children were

eliminated, because they were incomplete. No pre-tests were performed to find out if

children are normally developed, but no diagnosed cases were included in the task.

The Adults control group, also live in the areas of Veria and Thessaloniki. All

the participants had higher education but none had studied linguistics and they were

all naïve with respect to the research questions of the study.


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3.4. Research Questions

This interpretation task aimed to identify the preferred interpretation among the

choices of transitive, passive, reflexive and anti-causative readings with verbs marked

with active and non-active voice in sentences with animate or inanimate subjects. The

specific research questions are listed below:

a. Is there evidence for the +/-reflexive difference in adult NS data (Tsimpli, 2006)?

In other words do adult data show a preference of reflexive interpretations in NACT

verbs with animate subject, irrespective of verb class?

b. Do data provide evidence for the existence of a lexical verb class of anti-causatives

(Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004)?

c. Does the Grammar (voice morphology and +/- reflexive difference) constrain the

possible readings of a verb in NS Greek speaking children (Tsimpli, 2006)? Is there

more ambiguity in the interpretation of non-active verb forms in Greek L1 children,

compared to adult native controls (eg. Class of reflexive verbs)?

d. Is there evidence for the absence of a syntactic passive in the groups of L1 Greek

children (cf. Borer & Wexler 1987, 1992)?

e. Is there a preference for an implicit agent in passives and anti-causatives alike

regardless of voice morphology in child groups (cf. Verrips, 2000)?


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4. Results

4.1. Distribution of readings with respect to Voice Morphology and Subject

Animacy

Starting with the analysis of the total responses received in the task with regard to

(ACT-NACT) verb forms in combination to animate and inanimate subjects, Graph

37 presents the adult controls’ preferences.

Graph 37: distribution of preferred readings with respect to Voice Morphology

and Subject animacy (Adults)

Before proceeding with a presentation, we specifically need to notice that the

percentages of ACT verb forms with animate subject illustrate the preferred reading

of five activity predicate verbs which are classified as ‘inherently reflexives’ in

NACT (cf. Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 2004) (Class III); in that sense there are no

unergative or anti-causative (metaphorical or literal) readings found with ‘Voice

(Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives’ in the corpus (see Chapter 3). ACT verbs with

inanimate subjects illustrate the preferred readings of ten ‘Voice (Non)-Alternating

Anti-causative’ verbs (Classes I and IIa): no ACT forms of ‘activity predicates’ are

included, resulting to a relatively low rate of transitive uses. NACT verb-forms, on the


285

other hand, seem more representative: the rates of preferred readings in NACT forms

with animate subjects illustrate results from three verb-classes, namely ‘Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives’ (Class IIc), ‘activity predicates’ (Class IVa) and

‘reflexives’ (Class III), a total of fifteen verbs, while the rates of preferred readings in

NACT forms with inanimate subjects illustrate results from two verb-classes, namely

‘Voice Alternating Anti-causatives’ (ClassIIb) and ‘activity predicates’ (Class IVb), a

total of ten verbs.

More specifically, as shown in the Graph, when ACT verb forms were

presented in sentences with animate subjects the only reading depicted was the

transitive one, while in sentences with inanimate subjects transitive, anti-causative

and passive readings were available. The reader is reminded that the verbs used in this

condition were Voice (Non)-Alternating Anti-causatives, hence the preference of the

anti-causative reading (antic (63.8%) vs other readings (37.2%): χ2=6.760, p=.009)

and the availability of an ungrammatical passive one, given ACT morphology, which

will be discussed in the next section.

When NACT forms of the verbs were presented in sentences with animate

subjects, the reflexive readings were preferred over the anti-causative and passive,

also available (refl (80.54%) vs other readings (19.46%): χ2=38.440, p<.001). The

mostly preferred reflexive reading reinforces the assumption that animacy is a

stronger determinant than verb-class (Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear; see also Tsimpli,

2006). In the presence of inanimate subjects, however the preferred passive and anti-

causative readings did not differ (pass (39) vs antic (34): χ2=.342, p=.558). Few

ungrammatical transitive responses with NACT verbs (n=7) are attributed to a

methodological problem with the pictures designed for two of the ‘Voice Alternating

Anti-causatives’ and will be further discussed in the next section.


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Graph 38: distribution of preferred readings with respect to Voice Morphology

and Subject animacy (Child Groups)

All child Groups performed different from the Adult controls. Starting with the non-

target responses, all child groups incorrectly allowed for passive and reflexive

readings of ACT verbs with animate subjects and transitive readings of NACT verbs

with animate subjects. Moreover, due to a strong pragmatic bias, non-target responses

are somehow regulated depending on the knowledge of the world they have

estabished based on their own experience (Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear): the non-

target passive reading gradually decreases, given that the action involved in the

‘reflexives’ used in the task do no longer involve an agent other than ‘self’. With

respect to ACT verbs with inanimate subjects all child groups allowed for an incorrect

passive reading, as Adults.

Turning to the distribution of the other available readings with respect to the

research variables note that grammatical transitive responses increase from Group 1 to

Group 3, but not significantly. Nevertheless, if we compare the transitive choice in

ACT and NACT voice in the child data, all within-group differences are significant:

Group 1 (χ2=12.255, p<.001), Group 2 (χ2=12.600, p<.001), Group 3 (χ2=44.085,

p<.001) indicating that knowledge of the effects on transitivity due to voice change is


287

aleady part of the child grammar. In ACT verbs with inanimate subjects the rates of

an anti-causative reading also increase (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=,5.018 p=.025), while the

‘ungrammatical’ passive responses decrease (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=10.385, p=.001). With

respect to NACT verb forms with animate subjects the availability of reflexive

readings increases from Group 1 to Group 3 (χ2=6.000, p=.014); in the presence of

inanimate subjects all child groups provided ambiguous (passive and anti-causative)

responses. In all, child data show that there is a tendency that the responses from

Group 3 approximate adult choices, in that ungramatical responses decrease while

grammatical ones increase; however child data differ from adult data depicting not

lack of abstract syntactic knowledge, but insufficient exposure to pragmatic properties

of verbs that would regulate child responses according to verb classification (Tsimpli,

2006; Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear). The distribution of the available readings is

next discussed in detail for each verb class used in the task.

Summary

Overall, adults mostly perceived active verbs with inanimate subject as anti-

causatives: their preferred readings seem to rely on verb classification, since these

verbs are labeled as such in the literature. Nevertheless, when adults encountered non-

active verbs with animate subjects they provided more reflexive than passive or anti-

causative responses, irrespective of verb classification. Finally, NACT verbs with

inanimate subjects were considered ambiguous between passive and anti-causative

readings.

Child data differed from the adult controls’ in that incorrect passive and anti-

causative readings were provided for active verb forms and transitive for non-active

verb forms. These findings are discussed in more detail in the next section. With

respect to grammatical responses the pattern attested is in line with the adults’

preferences.


288

4.2. Interpretations with respect to Morphology and Animacy per Verb Class

For the reader’s convenience, the presentation of the results will be according to

Voice Morphology and Subject Animacy (the variables tested) in each Verb Class.

The classification of verbs follows the example of the presentation in Chapter 3,

except for Class III of Chapter 3 which is divided here into (III) ‘reflexives’ and (IV)

‘activity predicates’.

4.2.1. ACT verb morphology and Inanimate Subject: Voice (Non)-alternating

Anti-causatives (Classes I and IIa)

Starting with the ten verbs (five voice ‘non-alternating’ and five ‘alternating’ anti-

causatives) and the relevant sentences included in this category, results presented in

Graph show that all groups allow for all readings. Note also that Class IIa differ from

Class I only in the availability of a NACT alternate.

Graph 39: voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives (I)-(IIa): ACT morphology and

Inanimate Subject


289

Transitive responses are found in all groups, but the adults provide more transitive

responses for class IIa. Moreover, in both verb classes there is no developmental

pattern attested with respect to the choice of the transitive reading, thus supporting the

claim that null objects are allowed in Greek child grammars (Tsimpli &

Papadopoulou 2006). Transitive responses across age groups may be accounted for as

an effect of ACT morphology. Moreover, ACT voice in combination with verb class

may be responsible for the difference in transitive responses in the adult group

(χ2=24.923, p<.001). Among Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (Class I),

transitive responses are found in all groups, but the adults provide fewer transitive

responses than any child group (Group 1 vs Adults: (χ2=5.828, p=.016), Group 2 vs

Adults: (χ2=5.828, p=.016), Group 3 vs Adults: (χ2=4.481, p=.034)). Among Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives (Class IIa) transitive responses are also found in all

groups, but the adults provide more transitive responses than child groups 1 and 2

(Group 1 vs Adults: (χ2=11.951, p=.001), Group 2 vs Adults: (χ2=8.138, p=.004). The

rates of transitive responses in child groups gradually increase (Group 1 vs Group 3:

(χ2=4.083, p=.043)), up to the point that children in Group 3 approximate adult

choices (Group 3 vs Adults: (χ2=2.253, p=113)).

Turning to anti-causative readings note that the same pattern is attested in both

verb classes with respect to child responses, while adults gave significantly more anti-

causative responses for Class I than Class IIa verbs (χ2=8.720, p=.003). More

specifically, anti-causative readings are significantly more frequent than transitive in

all child groups for both voice ‘non-alternating’ (Group 1: (χ2=7.563, p=.006), Group

2, (χ2=18.050, p<.001), Group 3 (χ2=22.827, p<.001)), and ‘alternating’ anti-

causatives (Group 1: (χ2=23.211, p<.001), Group 2, (χ2=19.512, p<.001), Group 3

(χ2=10.894, p=.001)). In Adults, anti-causative readings were significantly more

frequent than transitives only in Voice Non-alternating Anti-causatives (Class I:

χ2=75.438, p<.001; Class IIa: χ2=2.462, p=117).

Finally, all groups incorrectly allowed also for passive readings. In both verb

classes (I and IIc) Group 1 gave more passive than anti-causative readings, but not

significantly so. While the rate of passive readings decreases for both Class I and IIc

verbs, a significant difference that evinces a developmental pattern is attested only in

Class IIc verbs (Group 1 vs Group 3: χ2=8.711, p=.003). With respect to the passive


290

(non-target) readings in Class I verbs, their rate decreases between Groups 1 and 3,

but the difference is only significant between each child group and the controls

(Group 1 vs Adults: (χ2=20.753, p<.001), Group 2 vs Adults: (χ2=9.615, p=.002),

Group 3 vs Adults: (χ2=9.00, p=.003)). Also, anti-causative readings are significantly

more frequent than passives in Class I verbs, only in the responses that adults gave

(χ2=38.088, p<.001). In Class IIa, Groups 1 and 2 equally allowed for anti-causative

and incorrect passive readings. The rate of incorrect passive readings decreases

developmentally (Group 1 vs Group 3 (χ2=8.711, p=.003)), up to the point that

passives are significantly less frequent than anti-causatives in the responses that

children of Group 3 (χ2=10.894, p=.001) and adults gave (χ2=17.778, p<.001). The

fact that adults also allow for the (non-target) passive reading is problematic.

Thus, we next present results from each experimental sentence.

Table 66: Non-target passive reading among ACT verbs with inanimate subject

(Classes I and IIa)

Class I Class IIa

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Mean

Total S6 S7 S8 S9 S10

Mean

Total

Group 1 9 17 11 15 9 61 12 14 10 11 12 59

Group 2 1 11 13 14 6 45 1 11 13 10 8 43

Group 3 3 9 12 14 6 44 1 7 5 11 6 41

Adults 9 2 2 7 0 20 1 1 12 3 4 21

The passive non-target reading in the adult data with respect to Class I verbs is mostly

found with the sentences to klidhi spai (the key breaks) (S1) and I porta klini (‘the

door closes’) (S4). It should be noted that these two verbs are change-of-state verbs

with external cause; hence contextually the ‘agent’ reading may be more salient than

with the other verbs included in this class. The ‘agent’ reading was salient for child

groups for all the verbs used; child groups do not seem to disallow the passive reading

for ACT anti-causatives, a result which is consistent with Verrips’ (2000) data from

Dutch.


291

The passive non-target reading in the adult data with respect to Class IIa verbs

is found with the sentence I karekla dhiploni (S8), less with I kaltsa leroni (S9) and I

bala tripai (S10) and once with to trapezi htipai (S6), to shini tendoni (S7). The

problem was specifically evident with (S8) and the ‘passive’ reading was depicted by

a woman folding the chair. It is possible that this was perceived as a middle structure,

i.e. the chair can fold, i.e. folding is one of its properties. Given that 12/25 responses

from the adults were non-target with this particular sentence, it is possible that the

increased number of passive readings is an artifact. Alternatively, the passive non-

target reading received for these and the rest of the sentences may be attributed to the

middle reading available for all verbs.

Turning to the transitive and anti-causative readings, Table 67 below presents

the distribution of all test sentences in each Verb Class for the child and adult control

groups.

Table 67: Transitive and anti-causative readings with ACT anti-causative verbs

(inanimate subject)

Class I Class IIa

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Mean

TotalS6 S7 S8 S9 S10

Mean

Total

Group 1 6 1 5 5 4 21 7 1 3 5 1 17

Group 2 4 4 7 4 2 21 9 5 4 3 0 21

Group 3 2 2 5 7 3 19 16 6 7 2 0 31

trans

itive

Adults 3 1 0 4 0 8 8 5 5 21 5 44

Group 1 10 7 9 5 12 43 6 10 12 9 12 49

Group 2 20 10 5 7 17 59 15 9 8 12 17 61

Group 3 20 14 8 4 16 62 8 12 13 11 19 63

anti-

caus

ativ

e

Adults 13 22 23 14 25 97 16 19 8 1 16 60

The dis-preferred transitive reading in the adult data, with respect to Class I verbs, is

found only with the sentences to klidhi spai (the key breaks) (S1), to dhentro lijizi (the

tree bends) (S2) and I porta klini (the door closes) (S4), while child groups did not

show specific preferences depending on the sentences used. The dis-preferred


292

transitive reading in the adult data, with respect to Class IIa verbs, is found with all

the sentences but specifically with I kaltsa leroni (the sock spills/is spilled) (S9) and

To trapezi htipai (the table hits/is hit) (S6). Child groups gave transitive responses

mostly for (S6), while less to no transitive answers is provided for (S9) and I bala

tripai (the ball pierces/is pierced) (S10).

The anti-causative reading in the adult data is the preferred one for all verbs

included for Class I, while among Class IIa it is mostly evidenced in to shini tendoni

(the cord stretches/is stretched) (S7), as well as in to trapezi htipai (the table hits/is

hit) (S6) and I bala tripai (the ball pierces/is pierced) (S10) among Class IIa verbs. In

the child data, the sentences (S1) and (S5) among Class I verbs and (S10) among Class

IIa verbs are mostly anti-causative. In the remaining sentences the passive reading

(preferred over the other readings) gradually decreases and the anti-causative

increases.

4.2.2. NACT verb morphology and Inanimate Subject: Voice Alternating Anti-

causatives and Activities (Classes IIb and IVb)

Turning to the ten verbs (five ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ and five ‘activities’)

and the relevant sentences included in this category, results presented in Graph show

that all child groups allow for all readings while Adults allow for transitive (incorrect)

readings only with Class IIb verbs. Recall that these verbs may appear with ACT

voice morphology too. The same verbs and relevant sentences included for IIa are

presented here under IIb, the only difference being that the verb is in NACT voice

morphology. Class IVb verbs are activity predicates presented here in NACT with

inanimate subjects.


293

Graph 40: voice alternating anti-causatives and activities (IIb)-(IVb): NACT

morphology and Inanimate Subject

The responses provided for the two verb classes do not differ in any age group: For

both verb classes (IIb and IVb) Group 1 children prefer the passive over the anti-

causative interpretation (IIb: χ2=4.00, p=.046; IVb: χ2=7.397, p=.007), while child

groups 2 and 3, as well as Adults do not show significant preference of one reading

over the other, for any of the two verb classes.

With respect to the non-target (transitive) reading, children incorrectly allow it

with both classes of verbs. Nevertheless, the difference between the non-target and the

two target readings is significant for all child groups and for both classes: for Class

IIb: Group 1 (χ2=45.00, p<.001), Group 2 (χ2=49.928, p<.001), Group 3 (χ2=49.928,

p<.001); for Class IVb: Group 1 (χ2=60.552, p<.001), Group 2 (χ2=52.488, p<.001),

Group 3 (χ2=88.200, p<.001). In the ‘voice alternating anti-causative’ class of verbs,

Adults also produced a few non-target responses (7/125). Thus, we next present

results from each experimental sentence.


294

Table 68: Non-target transitive reading with NACT Voice alternating anti-

causative verbs (inanimate subject)

Class IIb Class IVb

S11 S12 S13 S14 S15Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 2 3 7 7 6 25 6 0 10 2 1 19

Group 2 3 1 7 4 8 23 6 0 10 3 3 22

Group 3 0 0 5 5 13 23 3 0 6 0 1 10

Adults 0 0 2 2 3 7 0 0 0 0 0 0

The transitive non-target reading in the adult data with respect to Class IIb verbs is

found with the sentences to shini tendonete (the cord is stretched) (S13), I karekla

dhiplonete (the chair is folded) (S14), to trapezi htipiete (the table is hit) (S15). It is

possible that the transitive responses are due to a problem with the ‘triplets’ for these

verbs and more specifically to the pictures depicting the transitive reading not clearly

enough. In (S13) a man was pulling a rope to stretch the sail in a boat, thus the passive

interpretation was possible due to the presence of an agent. In (S14) a folded chair

was closing the table cloth in it, the illustration being also suitable for the description

of a state of affairs, i.e. the anti-causative reading. Finally, in (S15) the illustration of

the transitive reading differed from the anti-causative only in that in the former the

wall touching the table was damaged, while in the latter the table itself. This problem

may also account for the difference in the transitive responses produced by Group 3

which are significantly higher in IIb than IVb (χ2=5.021, p=.024). If this is correct,

then children in Group 3 approximate adult choices with respect to transitive

responses, given that they are found only in these three sentences. Also, transitive

responses of the other two child groups were higher in theses sentences compared to

(S11) and (S12).

The transitive non-target reading in the child data with respect to Class IVb

verbs is mostly found in the sentence I ammos metaferete (the sand is transferred)

(S38) (Group 1: 10/19, Group 2: 10/22 and Group 3: 6/10) where the picture

illustrated a boy seating in the seaside holding shells transferred with the sand because

of the wind. Thus, the transitive interpretation was not easily depicted for pragmatic


295

reasons. Also, the sentence I obrela vrehete (the umbrella is wet) (S36) seems to have

caused some interpretational problem specifically in child groups 1 and 2, since the

picture illustrating the transitive reading included a girl opening un umbrella full of

water; the existence of an animate may have disoriented younger children with respect

to the attributed reading.

If we compare the readings of ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ in (IIa) and

(IIb), where the difference is only voice morphology, adults produce significantly

more transitive responses for ACT (n=44) than NACT (n=7) marked verbs

(χ2=26.843, p<.001). The number of transitive responses produced by children is not

significantly different. This could be due to an overgeneralization that children make

of the ‘alternating’ property of this class of verbs with inanimate subjects. Recall that

voice changes on these verbs when the subject is inanimate do not correspond to

transitivity changes, in that the anti-causative reading is available with either voice

marking. The overgeneralization consists in the children assuming that voice

morphology does not affect the availability of the transitive reading either, which is

nevertheless the least preferred in both ACT and NACT compared to the passive and

the anti-causative.

With regard to the passive and anti-causative readings Table 69 below

presents the distribution of all test sentences in each Verb Class for the child and adult

control groups.

Table 69: passive and anti-causative readings with NACT verbs with inanimate

subjects (Classes IIb and IVb)

Class IIb Class IVb

S11 S12 S13 S14 S15Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 16 13 12 10 9 60 5 23 9 13 7 67

Group 2 11 11 11 14 3 50 4 23 5 10 16 58

Group 3 13 9 10 16 3 51 2 25 4 14 16 61

Pass

ive

Adults 19 20 3 6 11 59 1 21 9 5 16 52

ausa Group 1 7 9 6 8 10 40 14 2 6 10 7 39


296

Group 2 11 13 7 7 14 52 15 4 10 12 6 45

Group 3 12 16 10 4 9 51 20 0 15 11 8 54

Adults 6 5 20 17 11 59 24 4 16 20 9 73

Among Class IIb verbs, with regard to adult data, the passive reading is particularly

evident in the sentences I kaltsa leronete (the sock is spilled) (S11) and I bala tripiete

(the ball is pierced) (S12), the anti-causative is the preferred reading in the sentences

to shini tendonete (the cord is stretched) (S13) and I karekla dhiplonete (the chair is

folded) (S14), while to trapezi htipiete (the table is hit) (S15) is ambiguous between

the two readings. With regard to child data the passive reading is preferred over the

anti-causative for Group 1, while ambiguity between the two readings is attested for

Groups 2 and 3, except for to trapezi htipiete (the table is hit) (S15) for which the anti-

causative reading is referred over the passive one in all child groups. Among Class

IVb verbs, adults and all child groups preferred the passive over the anti-causative

reading for to dhentro stolizete (the tree is decorated) (S37), but the anti-causative for

I obrela vrehete (the umbrella is wet) (S36). With regard to the remaining sentences

adult differ from child data: while to kuti krivete (the box is hidden) (S39) is anti-

causative for adults, it is ambiguous for all child groups; I ammos metaferete (the sand

is transferred) (S38) is anti-causative for adult and child groups 2 and 3, while Group

1 prefer the passive reading; I porta vafete (the door is painted) (S40) is passive for all

but Group 1 who showed ambiguity between passive and anti-causative

interpretations.


297

4.2.3. NACT verb morphology and Animate Subject: Voice Alternating Anti-

causatives and Activities (Classes IIc and IVa)

In Graph 41, the same verbs and relevant sentences as in Graph 40 are presented (five

‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ and five ‘activities’), the difference being that the

subject is animate. Given that the passive and the anti-causative readings are assumed

to involve the same derivation and differ only in the ‘agent’ or ‘cause’ implicit

argument, we present these responses separately and jointly in order to compare them

with reflexive readings.

Graph 41: voice alternating anti-causatives and activities (IIc)-(IVa): NACT

morphology and Animate Subject

Overall children consider sentences of both Class (IIc) and (IVa) ambiguous between

the reflexive and the non-reflexive (passive/anti-causative) readings. However,

Groups 1 and 2 gave fewer reflexive than pass/antic responses in class IIc verbs and

the difference is significant (Group 1: χ2=12.168, p<.001; Group 2: χ2=5.000, p=.025).

However, reflexive readings in class IIc gradually increase up to the point that in

Group 3 the difference between reflexive and non-reflexive readings is not significant,

providing evidence for a developmental pattern; the difference between Groups 1 and


298

3 is significant (χ2=7.807, p=.005). The difference between reflexive and non-

reflexive readings in class (IVa) verbs was not significant in any of the child groups.

If we compare reflexive with pass/antic responses in both verb classes, Group 1

children produced more pass/antic responses than reflexives overall (χ2=7.744,

p=.005). The difference between the reflexive and the pass/antic. choice for Groups 2

and 3 was not significant for either group jointly for both verb classes, the implication

being that the two ‘classes’ of verbs are not represented as separate in child

grammars, as yet.

Adult controls gave more reflexive than pass/antic responses for both verb

classes and the difference is significant (Class IIc: χ2= 31.752, p<.001 and Class IVa:

χ2=16.200, p<.001). This finding indicates that for adults the reflexive interpretation is

based on the combination of animacy and NACT morphology, and not verb class.

The only verb class effect in the adult responses is that in Class IIc the anti-causative

reading was preferred over the passive (χ2=11.645, p=.001) and the reverse is attested

in Class IVa, i.e. the passive is preferred over the anti-causative (χ2=14.400, p<.001).

Child Groups present ambiguity between passive and anti-causative readings in both

verb classes. However, in Class IIc the anti-causative reading increases gradually but

not significantly, while in Class IVa the passive reading increases gradually up to the

point that Group 3 significantly prefers the passive over the anti-causative reading

(χ2=10.881, p=.001).

We next present results from each experimental sentence. The Table below

presents the distribution of all test sentences in each Verb Class for the child and adult

control groups with respect to reflexive readings.

Table 70: Reflexive readings with NACT anti-causative and activity verbs

(animate subject)

Class IIc Class IVa

S16 S17 S18 S19 S20Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 2 5 19 6 11 43 16 12 16 13 3 60


299

Group 2 2 7 21 7 13 50 21 11 16 11 4 63

Group 3 5 10 21 5 16 57 15 16 15 11 1 58

Adults 15 22 23 12 22 94 22 24 20 19 0 85

The reflexive reading is the preferred reading in all adults data, but for the to pedhi

metaferete (the kid is transferred) (S35) of Class IVa verbs. On the other hand, child

Groups 1 and 2 do not show this preference for the verbs of either verb class, except

for to pedhi leronete (the kid spills himself) (S18) in Class IIc verbs. Responses of

Group 3 show a preference of the reflexive reading in all verbs irrespective of verb

class except for (S35) among Class IVa verbs, as adults, as well as the sentences to

koritsaki htipiete (the girl hits herself) (S16) and o Mickey tripiete (Mickey pierces

himself) (S19) among Class IIc.

The Table below presents the distribution of all test sentences in each Verb

Class for the child and adult control groups with respect to non-reflexive

(passive/anti-causative) readings.

Table 71: Passive and anti-causative readings with NACT verbs and animate

subjects (Classes IIc and IVa)

Class IIc Class Iva

S16 S17 S18 S19 S20Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 8 3 7 10 4 32 5 10 1 2 15 33

Group 2 6 14 2 9 1 32 4 5 5 8 15 37

Group 3 4 13 1 6 0 24 9 1 6 11 20 47 pass

ive

Adults 5 0 0 0 1 6 3 0 1 6 22 32

Group 1 15 13 3 9 10 50 4 8 3 10 7 32

Group 2 17 4 2 9 11 43 0 9 4 6 6 25

Group 3 16 2 3 14 9 44 1 8 4 3 4 20

anti-

caus

ativ

e

Adults 5 3 2 13 12 25 0 1 4 0 3 8

Adult controls attribute a passive reading only in (S16) and (S20) among Class IIc

verbs, while anti-causative responses are attested more in o Mickey tripiete (Mickey is


300

pierced) (S19) and to pedhi tendonete (the boy is stretched) (S20) and remain very few

for the remaining sentences. Among Class IVa verbs they choose the passive reading

mostly in to pedhi metaferete (the kid is transferred) (S35) and less in to pedhi krivete

(the boy is hidden) (S31) and I nifi stolizete (the bride is decorated) (S34); the anti-

causative responses are very few and are attested in o kirios vrehete (the man is wet)

(S33), (S35) and to pedhi vafete (the boy is painted) (S32).

Child Groups show a mixed pattern with respect to the readings they attribute

in sentences in either verb class: all child groups prefer a passive reading in (S35),

while Group 1 attributes also a passive reading in (S32), while an anti-causative in

(S34); for Group 2 (S32) is ambiguous between reflexive and anti-causative; for

Group 3 (S34) is ambiguous between reflexive and passive; the remaining sentences

include few responses of either reading.


301

4.2.4. NACT-ACT verb morphology and Animate Subject: ‘Reflexive’

We finally turn to the verbs classified as ‘reflexives’ (Class III); participants were

addressed sentences with these verbs in NACT and ACT voice morphology with

animate subjects. The Graph below illustrates the distribution of the readings attested

in each Group.

Graph 42: reflexive verbs (III): NACT-ACT morphology and Animate Subject

Starting with the analysis of Class III verbs with NACT morphology, participants of

all groups allowed for both reflexive and passive readings. More specifically, Group 1

accepts both the reflexive and the passive reading (χ2=2.893, p=.089), whereas

Groups 2, 3 and adults significantly prefer the reflexive over the passive (Group 2:

χ2=9.797, p=.002; Group 3: χ2=54.223, p<.01; Adults: χ2=117.128, p< .01). With

respect to the non-target reading, all three groups of children allow for the transitive

interpretation, which, nevertheless, shows a developmental pattern between Groups 1

and 3 (χ2= 4.765, p=.029).

When these verbs are in ACT form, all child groups incorrectly allow for

passive and reflexive readings, while adults interpret them as transitives only.

Furthermore, passive readings decrease significantly from Group 1 to Group 3


302

(χ2=6.149, p=.013), while reflexive remain equally available; transitive readings

increase, but not significantly. It is noteworthy that Group 2 presents a simultaneous

increase of incorrect passive readings and a decrease of correct transitive ones, but the

effect disappears in Group 3. Note also, that if we compare the transitive choice in

NACT and ACT voice in the child data, all within-group differences are significant:

Group 1 (χ2=12.255, p<.001), Group 2 (χ2=12.600, p<.001), Group 3 (χ2=44.085,

p<.001) indicating that knowledge of the effects on transitivity due to voice change is

already part of the child grammar. Thus, the overgeneralization attested in Classes IIa

and IIb (Sections 3.2.2.1. and 3.2.2.2.) are not concluded to indicate lack of Voice in

child grammar, since in the ‘reflexive’ class, voice changes signal significant changes

in the transitive preference.

We next present results from each experimental sentence. With respect to the

passive and reflexive readings Table illustrates the distribution of all test sentences in

NACT voice morphology (IIIa) for the child and adult control groups.

Table 72: Passive and reflexive readings of NACT verbs with animate subjects

(Reflexives (IIIa))

passive reflexive

S21 S22 S23 S24 S25Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 13 8 3 12 11 47 10 11 20 11 13 65

Group 2 7 12 5 10 8 42 16 11 18 14 17 76

Group 3 6 7 2 4 1 20 18 16 22 21 24 101

Adults 0 2 0 0 0 2 25 23 25 25 25 123

With respect to adult controls responses, all verbs were attributed a reflexive reading

except for to pedhi dinete (the kid is dressed) (S22) where passive was also allowed.

With respect to child data, passive readings are attested for all the sentences; they are

more frequent than reflexive in to pedhi skupizete (the kid is wiped) (S21) and to

pedhi plenete (the kid is washed) (S24) for Group 1and in to pedhi dinete (the kid is

dressed) (S22) for Group 2; in the remaining sentences the passive is highly frequent

also.


303

With respect to the transitive readings Table illustrates the distribution of all

test sentences of Class III verbs for the child and adult control groups. Results include

non-target responses provided for NACT voice morphology (IIIa) and target

responses provided for ACT voice morphology (IIIb).

Table73: (Non)-target transitive reading of (N)ACT verbs with animate subjects

(Reflexives (IIIa-b))

NACT ACT

S21 S22 S23 S24 S25Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 2 6 2 2 1 13 7 6 9 6 10 38

Group 2 2 2 2 1 0 7 5 7 6 6 4 28

Group 3 1 2 1 0 0 4 10 9 12 11 13 55

Adults 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 25 25 25 25 125

The non-target transitive responses of NACT verb forms are more attested in child

groups 1 and 2; they are found in all sentences but mostly in Group 1 responses for to

pedhi dinete (the kid is dressed) (S22). Given that non-target responses of this

sentence are more than any other, a methodological problem of the illustration of the

mother who looked childish may be to blame. No non-target transitive responses are

attested in adult controls data. Target readings of these same verbs in ACT voice

morphology are attested in all sentences and increase gradually from one group to the

other. Adult responses are target transitives in their majority.

With respect to the non-target passive and reflexive readings Table illustrates

the distribution of all test sentences in ACT voice morphology (IIIb) for the child and

adult control groups.


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Table 74: Non-target passive and reflexive readings of ACT verbs with animate

subjects (Reflexives (IIIb))

passive reflexive

S26 S27 S28 S29 S30Mean


Mean

Total

Group 1 9 6 7 3 7 32 9 13 9 16 8 55

Group 2 8 11 10 3 14 46 12 7 9 16 7 51

Group 3 3 4 3 0 5 15 12 12 10 14 7 55

Adults 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The non-target passive and reflexive readings with ACT verb forms are attested in all

child groups but not in adult controls. The fact that passive responses increase from

Group 1 to Group 2 is problematic; also while the reflexive decreases, it increases

form Group 2 to Group 3. In other words, while Group 1 shows no preferences, Group

2 prefers the passive interpretation and Group 3 prefers the reflexive even if

ungrammatical, given ACT verb morphology.

Summary

To summarize, adult responses in the SPM task show that ‘non-alternating anti-

causatives’ (I) seem to form an independent verb class for the adult group, while child

data show in general a mixed pattern; nevertheless, results from individual verbs (as

from spai (break) mostly interpreted as anti-causative from all child groups) show that

children were influenced from lexical properties of some verbs too. Also, the

availability of the NACT morpheme in Class IIa verbs may be responsible for the

more frequent transitive responses provided by adults for these verbs compared to

Class I verbs. Child data did not seem to differentiate between preferred readings

according to alternating vs. non-alternating anti-causatives. All groups (children and

adult controls) also allowed some passive responses, strictly speaking ungrammatical

due to ACT voice. These readings are attributed to the salience of the agent reading

possibly due to the semantics of anti-causatives (i.e. change-of-state) in general.


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However, on a more specific level, given that the passive reading with ACT verbs is

elicited with specific sets of pictures and specific verbs, the acceptability of the agent

interpretation could be due to a possible agent depicted with Class I verbs or with the

possible property reading with Class IIa verbs.

NACT verbs of the ‘alternating anti-causative’ class (IIb) and the ‘activities’

class (IVb) with inanimate subjects, show ambiguity between the passive and the anti-

causative reading in adult and child data. This finding supports the assumption that

these readings are not different syntactically. It should be noted however that

preference for the passive over the anti-causative reading or the reverse is found in

adult and child responses for individual verbs.

NACT verbs of the ‘alternating anti-causative’ class (IIc) and the ‘activities’

class (IVa) with animate subjects, show a strong reflexive preference in the adult data

with no corresponding class distinction. Child data show ambiguity between the

reflexive and the non-reflexive readings, once again showing that their preferences are

not based on verb class and that NACT morphology is truly ambiguous. When

individual verbs are examined some exceptions are attested: for example, both child

groups and adult controls interpreted (S35, i.e. the verb metaferi ‘transfer’ in NACT)

as passive.

Finally, reflexives (III) - always presented with animate subjects - are

exclusively interpreted by adults as such when occurring in NACT morphology and as

transitive verbs when in ACT, the implication being that in combination with voice

morphology adult grammars include a reflexive verb class. In contrast, child groups

show ambiguity in the interpretation of this class of verbs as well; they allow both

passive and reflexive readings as well as some ungrammatical transitive readings. The

same finding is attested when these same verbs were used in ACT: child groups

provided some transitive responses but also some ungrammatical reflexive and

passive ones.


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4. 3. Per Verb analysis

The per verb analysis presented below aims to explore the degree of the interaction

between verbal semantics and verb classification with subject animacy and Voice

morphology.

4.3.1. Voice Non-Alternating Anti-causatives (Class I)

In the Graph below we included all the verbs that participate in transitivity

alternations only in ACT form.

Graph 43: Distribution of readings in each Class I verb

While adults consider these verbs mostly anti-causative, only for stegnoni (dry) this

reading is the only response provided. In the remaining verbs transitive and passive

responses are also provided: significant difference between anti-causative and the

remaining readings is significant in lijizi (bend) (χ2=14.440, p<.001) and ljoni (melt)

(χ2=17.640, p<.001), while spai (break) and klini (close) are ambiguous between

passive and anti-causative. Also, passive responses were significantly more than

transitive in spai (break) (χ2=12.000, p=.001) and lijizi (bend) (χ2=17.818, p<.001)


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while in the remaining verbs these readings were equally preferred. Child Groups

responses deviate from adults’ with respect to their interpretative preferences and

differ to each other. We present child data according to verb reading in all age groups

for each verb. Two verbs (i.e. spai ‘break’ and stegnoni ‘dry’) are interpreted as anti-

causatives, while the remaining three (i.e. lijizi ‘bend’, ljoni ‘melt’ and klini ‘close’)

are mostly interpreted as passives.

More specifically, in the verb spai (break), the anti-causative reading is more

preferred over the transitive and passive (also available) in Groups 2 (χ2=9.000,

p=.003) and 3 (χ2=9.000, p=.003), while the responses of Group 1 children are

ambiguous among the three readings. The transitive responses decrease from Group 2

to Group 3, the passive increase, while both transitive and passive significantly

decrease from Group 1 to Group 3 (trans: χ2=12.000, p=.001; pass: χ2=8.000, p=.005).

(χ2=, p<.001).

In the verb lijizi (bend) child groups 1 and 2 prefer the passive reading, while

Group 3 responses are ambiguous between passive and anti-causative. Passive

readings decrease from Group 1 to Group 3 (χ2=9.846, p=.002), while anti-causative

increase (χ2=9.333, p=.002). Very few transitive responses are also provided in all

child groups, as in adults.

In the verb ljoni (melt) all child groups prefer the passive over the anti-

causative or transitive readings (responses of all groups are ambiguous between these

two readings), but differences are not significant within or between groups.

In the verb klini (close) also all child groups prefer the passive over the anti-

causative or transitive readings; within group difference is significant both between

passive and anti-causative (Group 1: χ2=20.000, p<.001; Group 2: χ2=9.333, p=.002

and Group 3: χ2=22.222, p<.001) and between passive and transitive responses

(Group 1: χ2=20.000, p<.001; Group 2: χ2=22.222, p<.001 and Group 3: χ2=9.333,

p=.002). No between groups significant differences are attested.

In the verb stegnoni (dry) the anti-causative reading is preferred over the

passive, but the difference is significant only in Group 2 (χ2=21.043, p<.001) and 3

(χ2=18.182, p<.001). Very few transitive responses are provided in all groups.


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4.3.2. Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II)

We now present the verbs that participate in the transitivity alternations either in

ACT or NACT form, known also as ditipias (lit. ‘of two forms’) (Theophanopoulou-

Kontou, 2000 a.o.).

Graph 44: Distribution of readings in each ACT class II verb with inanimate

subject

The optionality in the voice morpheme seems to affect adults responses in that while

Class I verbs were mostly considered anti-causative, Class II verbs in ACT with

inanimate subject highly allow transitive readings, evidenced specifically in leroni

(spill) (trans: 84%), while anti-causative reading is the preferred reading of the

remaining verbs, except for dhiploni (fold) which is ambiguous between passive and

anti-causative readings. The fact that these verbs depict an anti-causative reading in

both active and non-active voice morphology does not affect the distribution of the

preferred readings attested in Group 1 while in the remaining child groups’ responses

rate of passive interpretations are decreased.

Group 1 prefers the passive interpretation for the verbs htipai (hit) (48%),

Group 2 the anti-causative (60%) and Group 3 the transitive (64%). Transitive

responses gradually increase (Group 1 vs Group 3: χ2=14.087, p<.001), passive


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decrease suddenly (Group 1 vs Group 2: χ2=37.231, p<.001) and remain low, while

anti-causative remain highly available in all three groups (no significant differences

are attested).

While Groups 1 and 2 considered the verb tendoni (stretch) ambiguous

between anti-causative and passive, Group 3 gave more anti-causative than passive

responses (χ2=5.263, p=.022). Transitive readings are the least preferred in all three

groups but their rate gradually increases (Group 1 vs Group 3: χ2=14.286, p<.001).

While Group 1 considers the verb dhiploni (fold) ambiguous between passive

and anti-causative readings, Group 2 prefers the passive over the anti-causative

(χ2=4.762, p=.029), while Group 3 the reverse (χ2=14.222, p<.001). Transitive

readings are the least preferred in all three groups but their rate gradually increases

(Group 1 vs Group 3: χ2=6.400, p=.011).

The verb leroni (spill) is considered ambiguous between passive and anti-

causative readings for all three child groups, while transitive responses are the least

preferred and gradually decrease (Group 1 vs Group 3: χ2=5.143, p=.023).

Group 1 considered the verb tripai (pierce) ambiguous between passive and

anti-causative, few transitive responses were also provided; while the former reading

decreases the latter increases so that both Groups 2 and 3 considered it anti-causative

(Group 2: χ2=12.960, p<.001; Group 3: χ2=27.040, p<.001), no transitive responses

provided.

The next Graph presents these same verbs with inanimate subject (as

previously), the only difference being that they are used in NACT form. Before

proceeding with the presentation of each verb, note that passive responses are more

frequent than those attested with ACT verbs for all test groups.


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Graph 45: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class II verb with inanimate

subject

In adults’ responses, although the verbs are presented in NACT there are some

transitive responses (attributed to methodological problems); htipai (hit) is ambiguous

between passive and anti-causative, while anti-causative readings are preferred over

passive in tendoni (stretch) (χ2=58.909, p<.001) and dhiploni (fold) (χ2=21.043,

p<.001) and the reverse in leroni (spill) (χ2=27.040, p<.001) and tripai (pierce)

(χ2=36.000, p<.001). In child groups’ responses passive readings are more elevated,

except for htipai (hit) where anti-causative readings are the most frequent for Groups

2 and 3.

More specifically in htipai (hit) the responses of Group 1 do not differ

eacother, while passive readings decrese significantly in Groups 2 (χ2=37.231,

p<.001) and 3 (χ2=37.231, p<.001). If the transitive reading which increase (Group 1

vs 3: χ2=14.087, p<.001) are an artifact, anti-causative readings seem to be the

preferred ones.

In the verb tendoni (stretch) Group 1 preferred the passive reading (56%); given that

the passive readings decrease (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=, 9.033 p=.002) and if the transitive


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reading which increase (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=14.286, p<.001) are an artifact, anti-

causative readings seem to be the preferred ones.

Group 1 considers the verb dhiploni (fold) ambiguous between anti-causative

and passive interpretations, Group 2 prefers the passive over the anti-causative

(χ2=4.762, p=.029) and Group 3 the reverse (χ2=14.222, p<.001); the transitive

reading also increases (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=6.400, p=.011).

All child groups considered the verb leroni (spill) ambiguous between passive

and anti-causative, while transitive readings decreased from Group 1 to 3 (χ2=5.143,

p=.023).

While Group 1 considered the verb tripai (pierce) ambiguous between passive

and anti-causative readings and also provided some transitive responses, the

remaining groups provided more anti-causative than passive (Group 2: χ2=12.960,

p<.001; Group 3: χ2=27.040, p<.001) and no transitive responses.

We now turn to the presentation of these verbs in NACT but with animate

subject.

Graph 46: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class II verb with animate

subject


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All adults responses were mostly reflexive (htipai (hit): (χ2=4.000, p=.046), tendoni

(stretch): (χ2=57.760, p<.001), dhiploni (fold): (χ2=57.760, p<.001) and leroni (spill):

(χ2=46.240, p<.001)), except for the verb tripai (pierce) which was ambiguous

between reflexive and anti-causative readings, no passive answers provided. The

responses of the child groups presented a mixed pattern, while tendencies were alike

for individual verbs.

More specifically, anti-causative was the most frequent reading that all child

groups provided for the verb htipai (hit), while reflexive responses increased from

Group 1 to Group 3 (χ2=5.143, p=.023) and passive decreased (Group 1 vs 3:

χ2=5.333, p=.021).

In tendoni (stretch) child responses were ambiguous between reflexive and

anti-causative; the former increased but not significantly, the latter remained in the

same rate for all groups, while few passive responses provided by Group 1 decreased

in Group 2 and turned to zero in Group 3 where reflexive was significantly preferred

over anti-causative (χ2=7.840, p=.005).

For dhiploni (fold) Group 1 preferred the anti-causative over the passive

(χ2=7.200, p=.007) or the reflexive readings (χ2=14.222, p<.001); Groups 2 and 3

preferred the passive instead (Group 2: 56%; Group 3: 52%). Nevertheless reflexive

readings increase (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=6.667, p=.010), so that ambiguity between

passive and reflexive is arisen in Group 3.

The verb leroni (spill) was unambiguously reflexive for all child Groups. Very

few responses of passive and anti-causative were attested in all groups.

Finally, all three groups allowed for all three readings for the verb tripai

(pierce); while reflexive responses remain at the same rate, anti-causative increase

(Group 1 vs 3: χ2=4.348, p<=037) and passive decrease (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=4.000,

p=.046).


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4.3.3.Reflexives (Class III)

The verbs presented in the following Graph are unambiguously reflexive for adult

controls. Child groups also prefer the reflexive reading, but provide some passive

responses as well as few ungrammatical transitive.

Graph 47: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class III verb (animate

subject)

More specifically, Group 1 considered ambiguous between the passive and the

reflexive reading the verbs pleni (wash), htenizi (comb), skupizi (wipe) and dini

(dress), while preferred the reflexive over the passive reading for ksirizi (shave)

(χ2=35.579, p<.001) and provided few transitive responses for all these verbs.

The reflexive reading increased from Group 1 to Group 3: pleni (wash)

(χ2=12.500, p<.001), htenizi (comb) (χ2=13.081, p<.001), skupizi (wipe) (χ2=9.143,

p=.002), dini (dress) (χ2=3.704, p=.054) and ksirizi (shave) (χ2=.381, p>.001).

Nevertheless, while the passive reading decreased from Group 1 to Group 3, a

temporal increase is attested for the verb dini (dress) in Group 2, but not significantly.


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Graph 48: Distribution of readings in each ACT Class III verb (animate subject)

When these same verbs are used in ACT they are transitive for adult controls, while

child groups incorrectly allow for passive and reflexive readings. With respect to the

grammatical transitive readings they are all significantly more frequent than the

incorrect transitive responses in the NACT condition pleni (wash) (χ2=12.500,

p<.001), htenizi (comb) (χ2=13.081, p<.001), skupizi (wipe) (χ2=9.143, p=.002), dini

(dress) (χ2=3.704, p=.054) and ksirizi (shave) (χ2=.381, p>.001). With respect to the

ungrammatical passive and reflexive responses they are less frequent from the same

readings in the NACT condition but not significantly. The implication is that while

sensitivity to the syntactic properties of the NACT morpheme is evidenced in the

difference between transitive responses attested more in ACT than NACT, the child

grammar allows for null objects and thus, reflexive interpretation was comprehended

as ‘washed (himself)’. Few passive responses may be an artefact or incorrect answers:

they are mostly provided from Group 2 (children aged 4-5); children lack of attention

may have developed a strategy and answered according to their own experience.


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4.3.4. Activity predicates (Class IV)

The verbs presented below when used in ACT are always transitive. The cases

included in the SPM task were always in NACT voice morphology and sentences

presented included an animate or an inanimate subject.

Graph 49: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class IV verb with animate

subject

Although these verbs are not classified as reflexives, all child groups and adult

controls prefer the reflexive over the passive or anti-causative readings for almost all

the verbs tested. More specifically, adults considered reflexives all the verbs except

for the verb metaferi (transfer) where passive responses are significantly more than

anti-causatives also provided (χ2=39.600, p<.001), no reflexive answers were atteted.

With respect to the distibution of the remaining verbs, the responses varied only in

that few passive responses were provided for krivi (hide) and stolizi (decorate), anti-

causative for vafi (paint) and both passive and anti-causative for vrehi (wet).

While Group 1 considered the verb krivi (hide) ambiguous between reflexive

and non-reflexive readings (no significant difference was attested between passive

and anti-causative either), Group 2 preferred the reflexive over the passive reading


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(χ2=26.240, p<.001), no anti-causative responses were provided and Group 3

considered it ambiguous between passive and reflexive (very few anti-causative

responses were also provided).

Group 1 considered the verb vafi (paint) ambiguous between reflexive and

non-reflexive readings. Reflexive and anti-causative responses gradually increased

(Group 1 vs 3: χ2=2.286, p=.131; Group 1 vs 3: χ2=9.091, p=.003, respectively), while

passive decreased (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=29.455, p<.001) in a way so that Group 3

preferred the reflexive over the other available readings (χ2=7.840, p=.005).

Reflexive responses provided for the verb vrehi (decorate) were highly

frequent in all child groups (Group 1: 64%; Group 2: 64%; Group 3: 60%). With

respect to the less preferred readings, while Group 1 preferred the anti-causative over

the passive reading (χ2=21.778, p<.001), the former decreased (Group 1 vs 3:

χ2=14.286, p<.001) while the latter increased (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=5.333, p=.021) so that

Group 3 preferred the passive over the anti-causative reading (χ2=1.600, p>.001), but

not significantly; the rate of the reflexive responses remained the same in all three

groups.

While Group 1 considered the verb stolizi (decorate) ambiguous between anti-

causative and reflexive, anti-causative responses gradually decreased (Group 1 vs 3:

χ2=15.077, p<.001) and passive increased (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=24.923, p<.001) so that

Group 3 considered the verb ambiguous between passive and reflexive; the rate of the

reflexive responses remained the same in all three groups.

All child groups preferred the passive over the anti-causative and reflexive

readings for the verb metaferi (transfer) (Group 1: χ2=4.000, p=.046; Group 2:

χ2=4.000, p=.046; Group 3: χ2=36.000, p<.001). Recall that adults did not provide any

reflexive responses, while child groups did.

We now turn to a presentation of these same verbs in NACT voice

morphology but with an inanimate subject. The reader is reminded that since these

verbs are not classified as anti-causative no such preference is expected.


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Graph 50: Distribution of readings in each NACT Class IV verb with inanimate

subject

Starting with the adult controls data the anti-causative reading was preferred over the

passive in the verbs krivi (hide) (χ2=36.000, p<.001), vrehi (wet) (χ2=84.640, p<.001)

and metaferi (transfer) (χ2=7.840, p=.005), while the passive was preferred over the

anti-causative in the remaining verbs (i.e. in vafi (paint): χ2=7.840, p=.005 and stolizi

(decorate): χ2=46.240, p<.001). With respect to child data, few ungrammatical

transitive responses were attested in all groups, while preferred readings of individual

verbs approximated adults’ responses except for krivi (hide).

More specifically, child groups 1 and 2 considered the verb krivi (hide)

ambiguous between passive and anti-causative, while few ungrammatical transitive

were also provided; in Group 3 no ungrammatical transitive responses are attested and

the passive reading is preferred over the anti-causative (χ2=4.400, p=.036).

All child groups performed adult-like with respect to the verb vafi (paint). The

passive reading was preferred over the anti-causative (and the incorrect transitive also

attested in Groups 1 and 2): Group 1(χ2=7.840, p=.005); Group 2 (χ2=7.840, p=.005);

Group 3 (χ2=7.840, p=.005).


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All child groups performed adult-like with respect to the verb vrehi (wet). The

anti-causative reading was preferred over the passive: Group1 (χ2=4.400, p=.036);

Group 2 (χ2=4.000, p=.046); Group 3 (χ2=36.000, p<.001); few ungrammatical

transitive and passive gradually decreased (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=4.000, p=.046 and Group

1 vs 3: χ2=5.143, p=.023, respectively).

All child groups performed adult-like with respect to the verb stolizi

(decorate). The passive reading was preferred over the anti-causative in Groups 1 and

2 (χ2=70.560, p<.001 and χ2=70.560, p<.001, respectively), while it was the only

option in Group 3.

All child groups accepted all the available readings for the verb metaferi

(transfer), included the ungrammatical transitive ones, which gradually decrease

(Group 1 vs 3: χ2=4.000, p=.046); no specific preferences are attested. Passive

readings decrease (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=7.692, p=.006), while anti-causative readings

increase (Group 1 vs 3: χ2=30.154, p<.001).

Summary

The per verb analysis presented in this section showed that with respect to Voice Non-

alternating Anti-causatives no different interpretational preferences are attested for

individual verbs with respect to the adult data. Child groups however, preferred the

passive reading for the verbs lijizi (bend), ljoni (melt) and klini (close) and the anti-

causative for the remaining spai (break) and stegnoni (dry).

The availability of both ACT and NACT voice morphology of the Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives affected adults’ responses in that transitive responses in

ACT verb forms are more frequent than the ones attested among Class I verbs. Also

some incorrect passive readings with ACT morphology are attested in the verb

dhiploni (fold) (see 4.2.1 for a discussion), while few incorrect transitive responses

with NACT morphology are attributed to methodological problems. We will proceed

comparing data of ACT and NACT forms of each verb with inanimate subject. In

htipai (hit) ACT morphology favoured anti-causative readings, while NACT raised


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the availability of passive readings also. In tendoni (stretch) anti-causative is the

preferred reading irrespective of voice morphology. In dhiploni (fold) passive reading

is more frequent in ACT than NACT (attributed to the availability of middle in

section 4.2.1.), while anti-causative responses are the most frequent in both ACT and

NACT verbs. In leroni (spill) transitive was the most preferred reading for ACT,

while passive for the NACT. Finally, in tripai (pierce) anti-causative was the most

preferred reading for ACT, while passive for the NACT. In the presence of animate

subjects with NACT forms of these verbs, adults’ responses were mostly reflexive,

except for the verbs htipai (hit) and tripai (pierce) where anti-causative responses

were also frequent (few passive were also attested in the former).

With regard to child data the patterns attested do not approximate adults’

choices in any verb tested. The availability of both ACT and NACT morphology

seems to have affected the responses provided from all child groups. Nevertheless

child groups presented similar patterns to each other and consistent to gradual

decrease or increase of specific readings. Transitive readings were overall more

frequent in ACT than NACT verb forms, while passive were more frequent in NACT

than ACT verb forms. When these same verbs were presented with animate subjects,

child groups’ preferences were different in each verb tested: htipai (hit) was mostly

anti-causative, tendoni (stretch) and tripai (pierce) were ambiguous between reflexive

and anti-causative, dhiploni (fold) was passive, leroni (spill) was reflexive. The

availability of reflexive readings remained high in most of the cases.

Turning to the reflexives, while in NACT they consist clearly a verb class for

adults, child groups provided reflexive responses at a high rate, but also attributed

some passive interpretations. In ACT these verbs were exclusively transitive for the

adults, while child groups incorrectly allowed for passive and reflexive readings.

Finally, activity predicates in NACT when they were presented with animate

subjects received a reflexive interpretation, except for metaferi (transfer), which was

conceived as passive. Child groups, also provided mostly reflexive responses, except

for metaferi (transfer) for which they provided passive responses; some anti-causative

readings were also attested in all the verbs tested.


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When activity predicates in NACT were presented with inanimate subject

responses depended on the verb tested. Both adult and child groups interpreted vafi

(paint) and stolizi (decorate) as passive, vrehi (wet) as anti-causative while krivi (hide)

and metaferi (transfer) were ambiguous between passive and anti-causative.

5. Discussion

Starting with the adult data we will now try to address the question whether verb

classes are a side-effect of pragmatic properties interacting with grammatical

constraints (cf. Borer 2004, Tsimpli 2006). Adult data show that only ‘reflexives’

(Class III) and ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ (Class I) seem to form

independent verb classes. While reflexives (Class III) are interpreted as such when in

NACT morphology and transitive when in ACT, the responses for the Voice

Alternating Anti-causatives (IIc) and Activities (IVa) in NACT with animate subjects

are not based on verb class distinctions. More specifically, adult responses, mostly

showing reflexive reading, indicate that animacy is a stronger determinant than verb

class. Only a few individual verbs were interpreted differently, as in the example of

the passive metaferi (transfer). Moreover, in Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (IIb)

and Activities (IVb) with inanimate subjects, adults provided responses that were

ambiguous between the passive and the anti-causative interpretations. Thus, we can

conclude that the two readings are contextually derived and not distinct in terms of

structure. The above show that question (a), namely whether there is evidence for a

+/-reflexive difference in adult data, irrespective of verb classification (Tsimpli, 2006)

receives a positive answer. On the other hand, with respect to question (b), namely

whether data provide evidence for the existence of a lexical verb-class of anti-

causatives (Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou, 2004) it seems that when transitivity

alternation is found without Voice alternation, the choices of adult speakers of Greek

are lexically driven in that anti-causative is their most preferred reading. On the other

hand, the availability of Voice alternation raises the rate of a transitive reading with

ACT anti-causatives, something that can be accounted for as an effect of the


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availability of NACT morphology where the external theta feature is syntactically

active. ACT (voice non-alternating) anti-causatives, on the other hand, involve the

simplest derivation (one theta-feature only), borne by the DP in subject position.

Turning to the question whether Grammar (voice morphology and +/- derived

subject) constrains the possible readings of verbs in NS Greek speaking children, as

suggested by Tsimpli (2006), i.e. question (c), the data presented seem to be

supportive. The attested ambiguity between reflexive and non-reflexive readings for

Class III (Reflexive) verbs shows that children’s preferences are not based on verb

class. On the other hand, the assumption of early syntactic knowledge indicating

argument representation -such as Voice morphology- is supported by the results of the

present study. Child groups, even the youngest group, provide responses that suggest

that voice morphology is already part of the child grammar. The type of ‘errors’ they

produced cannot provide evidence to the contrary, since they are clearly not randomly

distributed across voice markings: ‘transitive’ responses with NACT reflexives are

significantly fewer than the target ‘transitive’ responses with ACT forms of the same

verbs; recall that this choice indicates appropriate interpretation of the verb but not of

voice morphology. Overall incorrect responses may be an artifact, since they are also

found in adult data. Note also that a developmental pattern with regard to voice

morphology, its interaction with verb class and subject animacy is attested in the SPM

task.

Turning to the question concerning the availability of a syntactic passive in

child data, i.e. question (d), the ambiguity shown between passive and anti-causative

readings in the interpretation of NACT verbs (classes IIb and IVb) with inanimate

subjects indicate that the derivation of passive and anti-causative is available. The two

readings are contextually derived and they are not distinct in terms of structure.

Moreover, the availability of these readings shows that voice morphology and its

syntactic effects are already part of the child grammar. This is also suggested by the

existence of ‘dis-preferred’ passive responses with reflexive NACT verbs. Thus

question (d) receives a negative answer, in line with Tsimpli’s research (2006) and in

accordance to Borer’s (2004) theoretical account (contra Borer & Wexler, 1987,

1992).


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A final note with regard to the non-target passive interpretations that children

and adults provided for ACT anti-causatives (with inanimate subjects): this result is

consistent with the results in Verrips (2000) from Dutch children and was also

evidenced in the youngest group of Greek and Turkish children in Tsimpli (2006).

Question (e), namely, whether there is a preference for an implicit agent in passives

and anti-causative alike, regardless of voice morphology is supported by both child

and adult data. The agent reading seems to derive from the language specific property

of non-active voice morphology, i.e. that it is productively used in most cases of

transitivity alternations (Tsimpli, 2006:39). Hence, the thematic properties of the

syntactic subject take priority over syntax (Tsimpli, 2006:44).

Overall, the differences attested between adult controls and children are

attributed to the grammar taking priority over lexical and pragmatic constraints on

interpretation, which are arbitrarily attached to verb/conceptual entries in the adult

grammar (Tsimpli, 2006).

GENERAL DISCUSSION CHAPTER 6 COMPARING FREQUENCIES TO ADULT & CHILD LANGUAGE DATA

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CHAPTER 6

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

COMPARING FREQUENCIES

TO ADULT AND CHILD LANGUAGE DATA

1. Introduction

The primary aim of this thesis was to evaluate ‘experience- based’ models of sentence

processing in adult populations, so as to establish the importance of exposure facts in

the disambiguation of temporarily ambiguous information in sentences. The question

was addressed through the investigation of ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’ in

which morphological verb marking does not always correlate with one single reading.

A correlation of the frequency of the available readings that specific verbs receive in

corpora with on-line data of NS speakers of Greek could reveal whether processing

load is affected by statistical records in the parser. Alternatively, the potential

interaction of voice morphology and subject animacy during disambiguation of the

verb’s reading in the ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’ class was investigated.

The second aim was to evaluate ‘frequency-based’ accounts of language

acquisition, so as to establish the importance of input frequency in the development of

transitivity alternations. The question was addressed through the investigation of

‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’, ‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’. The

comparison of the frequency of the available readings that these verbs receive in

corpora with the preferred readings of three age-groups of Greek L1 children and an

adult control group could reveal whether language development is determined by

exposure to language alone, or alternatively, voice morphology in combination with

subject animacy are relevant.


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Given that the results obtained from each of the tasks have been discussed in the

respective chapters, this chapter aims to present an overview of the group

performance across tasks, aiming to provide a more global answer to the above two

research questions. Thus, Section 2 below focuses on the first question, namely the

evaluation of ‘experience-based’ models of sentence processing, by juxtaposing the

frequent readings of ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’ drawn from adult

(formal and informal) written corpora to factors that have been proposed to affect

parsing of transitivity alternations, i.e. the interaction of voice morphology and

subject animacy. Section 3 presents an overview of the differences between the

acceptability ratings received from the on-line task and the most preferred readings in

the SPM task. A further comparison with the most frequent readings attested in the

corpora, in order to identify whether NS judgments are consistent with the frequencies

of the verbs tested, is presented, while the on line data (RTs) are further discussed to

provide evidence with respect to the structure which was found to be easiest or most

difficult to process on-line. Section 4 then focuses on the second question, namely the

evaluation of ‘usage-based’ approaches to language acquisition. An account of the

findings is attempted in the light of recent theories on transitivity alternations, a

lexicon-syntax interface phenomenon. Section 5 includes general conclusions with

respect to the findings of the corpus analysis and experimental tasks with passive/anti-

causative and reflexive interpretations. Finally, in Section 6 we discuss some

methodological limitations and further research.

2. The ‘quest’ for a frequency of alternative readings’ effect

during sentence processing

Voice morphology and subject animacy have been suggested to affect the

disambiguation of preferred readings in transitivity alternations (Tsimpli, 2005, 2006),

and evidence from parsing (Peristeri et al., submitted) is supportive of this suggestion.

UG-constrained hypotheses have received partial support from previous processing

studies while frequency has also been shown to be relevant to the processing of


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transitivity alternations (Ferreira, 2003; Friedmann et al., 2008; Rohde & Gibson,

2003).

Accordingly, the domain of transitivity alternations is investigated through a

comparison of the on-line data of this study pertaining to ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-

causatives’ with these verbs’ most frequent readings in the analysed corpora. More

specifically, these comparisons concern the processing vs. the frequencies of: (i) ACT

and NACT morphology in general, in the attempt to evaluate ‘coarse-grained’ models

of sentence processing and (ii) ACT/NACT forms of specific verbs in the attempt to

evaluate more ‘fine-grained’ models of sentence processing. While ‘coarse-grained’

models of sentence processing advocate that the parser relies on statistical records of

syntactic environments (Brysbaert & Mitchell, 1996; Mitchell et al., 1995), ‘fine-

grained’ models of sentence processing presume that the parser relies on statistical

records of each lexical item added in the sentence during processing (information on

its form and relevant contexts of occurrence included). In addition, the comparisons

carried out also concern the processing results vs. the frequencies of (iii) verb classes

defined as a group of verbs which are morpho-syntactically and semantically relevant

to each other; Finally, they concern (iv) the semantic feature of animacy as this

distinguishes between surface (derived and non-derived) subjects, and how this

affects the predicate’s interpretation and its potential interaction with Voice

morphology already shown to affect the interpretation of verbs. If the comparisons for

(iii) and (iv) show similarities between the processing results and frequencies in

corpora, then predictions made by ‘fine-grained’ approaches to processing are

compatible with those postulating a Grammar-driven parser given that the latter allow

for integration of semantic properties such as animacy and verb class at a stage

subsequent to morphosyntactic processing.

An overview of the frequency counts in the corpora examined is provided in

the following Table. Although we provide information for each corpus (ILSP-Web) in

the discussion we refer to total frequencies, unless otherwise stated. We refer to total

frequencies because speakers of a language are normally exposed to both registers,

hence defining exposure to language as input that includes both formal and informal

registers. The present discussion attempts to determine the degree of the interaction


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between the morphological marking of Voice and the animacy feature on the subject

when input frequency is controlled. Table 75 includes the fourteen ‘voice (non)-

alternating’ verbs which were used in the on-line SPR task.

Table 75: Total frequencies of ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causative verbs in

ACT/NACT morphology in corpora

VOICE NON-ALTERNATING ANTI-CAUSATIVES ACT morphology NACT morphology

transitive anti-caus. passive anti-caus. reflexive VERB

N

(31072) anim. inan. anim. inan. anim. inanim anim. inan. anim. inan.

ILSP n=3317 1199 267 6 1727 20 53 6 38 1

klini (close) Web

n=2937 805 147 837 284 59 21 70 706 8

ILSP n=275 92 19 124 40 *

lijizi (bend)

Web

n=1552 205 241 485 600 9 2 10

ILSP n=155 25 18 9 103

jerni (lean) Web

n=1075 241 139 62 625 2 3 1 2

ILSP n=48 5 5 2 33 2 1

stegnoni (dry) Web

n=1818 113 165 36 1339 137 3 25

ILSP n=106 17 11 14 64

ljoni (melt) Web

n=699 149 224 191 78 2 50 4 1

ILSP n=231 30 2 34 158 7

vrazi (boil) Web

n=1042 126 11 110 482 17 293 1 2

ILSP n=183 2 8 51 122

sapizi (rot) Web

n=1756 182 69 288 1206 10 1


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VOICE NON-ALTERNATING ANTI-CAUSATIVES ACT morphology NACT morphology

transitive anti-caus. passive anti-caus. reflexive VERB

N anim. inan. anim. inan. anim. inanim anim. inan. anim. inan.

ILSP n=443 167 60 2 1 85 109 17 **

berdevi (mingle) Web

n=3021 851 761 19 757 605 26 2

ILSP n=26 14 2 1 4 2 2 1

tsalakoni (crumple) Web

n=268 71 45 37 1 7 13 93 1

ILSP n=46 25 9 1 7 4

leroni (spill) Web

n=735 269 227 2 32 42 160 3

ILSP n=71 42 9 1 3 9 7

tendoni (stretch) Web

n=1346 470 115 170 84 1 323 183

ILSP n=128 52 58 6 3 5 1 1 2 ***

tripai (pierce)

Web

n=1260 359 564 159 8 90 17 14 49

ILSP n=435 335 22 1 20 2 53 1 1 ****

katharizi (clean)

Web

n=1600 176 235 1 194 12 858 46 64 13 1

ILSP n=1829 770 275 48 306 85 271 24 30 18 2 *****

htipai (hit)

Web

n=4260 1404 658 62 667 331 272 215 200 432 19

Attested readings not included in the table: * unergatives (act-anim)= 4 **reciprocals (nact-anim)=1(nact-inanim)= 1 *** unergatives (act-anim)=3 and reciprocals (nact-anim)=1 **** unergatives (act-anim) =248 and (act-inanim)= 12 ***** unergatives (act-anim)=4 (act-inanim)=50 and reciprocals (nact-anim)=83 (nact-inanim)=6

The more frequent occurrence of ACT verb forms should elicit shorter RTs, according

to coarse-grained models of sentence processing. Frequency data from the total of

adult written corpora we examined showed that in a total of 63268 sentences analysed


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ACT (43466) verbs were included in the 68.7% of the sentences, thus clearly

significantly more frequent than NACT (19802) verbs used in 31.3% of the total

number of sentences. Considering the frequency of anti-causative readings among

ACT and NACT verbs, further evidence is provided with regard to the RTs received

in the SPR task: anti-causative readings show similar rates with ACT (25.42%) and

NACT (23.56%) verbs, indicating once again that ACT anti-causatives are more

frequent than NACT anti-causatives. Limiting furthermore the search to verbs

classified in the literature as ‘anti-causatives’, the data in Table 75 show that in the

total number of occurrences in the corpora of all the verbs included in the SPR task

(N=31072) ACT marked verbs (75.42%) are more frequent than NACT ones

(24.57%). Moreover, ACT verbs with animate subjects were mostly used transitively

(8196/10411; 78.72%), while ACT verbs with inanimate subjects were mostly

interpreted as anti-causatives (8857/13285; 66.67%). On the other hand, NACT forms

with inanimate subjects were mostly passive (2258/4003; 56.40%) and anti-causative

(1705/4003; 42.59%), while with animate subjects reflexive (1536/3631; 42.30%) and

anti-causative (1235/3631; 34.01%).

With respect to the processing data, RTs on the verb segment support coarse-

grained models given that a significant voice effect was registered: ACT verb forms

yielded significantly shorter reading times than NACT verb forms. However, this

finding is also consistent with the operation of a grammar-driven parser, since voice

morphology signals transitivity alternations. Moreover, NACT morphology is more

complex than ACT, hence the difference between RTs received.

The distribution of the most frequent readings of ACT and NACT forms per

verb is required in order to evaluate ‘fine-grained’ lexicalist accounts of sentence

processing. The verbs included in the SPR task are more frequently used in ACT than

NACT, and interpreted as transitives or anti-causatives. Few exceptions are attested,

where the frequency of ACT and NACT forms does not differ: specifically, the verbs

berdevi (mingle) and tendoni (stretch) were equally used in ACT and NACT, while

the verb katharizi (clean) was more frequently used in NACT than ACT. The high

availability of both transitive and anti-causative readings in ACT is attributed to the

two verb classes of anti-causatives included: ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’


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are interpreted as anti-causatives, while ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ are

interpreted as transitives instead. This implies that the verb class distinction based on

the possibility of voice alternation on verbs is registered in the lexicon of the native

speaker and regulates frequencies of readings and accessibility thereof, accordingly.

Among ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ (interpreted as anti-causatives

in the corpora) few exceptions are attested: the verbs klini (close) and ljoni (melt)

were equally frequently used as transitives and anti-causatives. The NACT forms of

these verbs were infrequent in the corpora, but with some exceptions: more

specifically, the verb klini (close) was highly used in NACT morphology too, with a

reflexive reading; the verb vrazi (boil), although appearing significantly less

frequently in NACT than ACT, was often used as passive. Among ‘voice alternating

anti-causatives’, the verbs berdevi (mingle) and tendoni (stretch) were used with a

transitive reading when in ACT and with an anti-causative reading when in NACT.

Also, the verb katharizi (clean) was mostly used as passive when in NACT. The

remaining verbs (i.e. tsalakoni (crumple), leroni (spill), tripai (pierce) and htipai (hit))

were mostly used in ACT and interpreted as transitives.

Based on these frequency data, in the SPR task a voice effect is expected on

the verb as well as the segments following it, in view of the more frequent readings

for each verb. At this point, we should remind the reader that no disambiguation point

was included in the sentences used in the task. As such, the voice effect should be

attested up to the end of the sentences.

Given that the verbs included are more frequently used in ACT than NACT,

we expect that on the verb segment RTs in the ACT condition would be shorter than

NACT (as already attested, with respect to the prediction concerning ‘coarse-grained

accounts’), except for berdevi (mingle) and tendoni (stretch) equally used in ACT and

NACT voice morphology, for which no effect should be attested; in katharizi (clean),

more frequent in NACT than ACT, we anticipate that the directionality of the voice

processing should be the reverse of that attested for the remaining verbs.

Nevertheless, according to the RTs from the on-line task, a voice effect was

not attested in berdevi (mingle), as predicted by the frequency counts, but was also


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not attested for the verbs tsalakoni (crumple), leroni (spill), tripai (pierce), htipai (hit)

klini (close), stegnoni (dry) ljoni (melt) and vrazi (boil), contrary to the frequencies

attested in the corpora. With respect to the prediction made for katharizi (clean), i.e.

that the directionality of the effect should be the reverse with NACT being more

frequent than ACT, RTs data do not seem to be supportive: ACT forms yield shorter

RTs than NACT ones, showing an effect similar to that with the other verbs.

Based on the above data, we can conclude that predictions made according to

‘fine-grained’ lexicalist accounts on sentence processing are not supported. Instead,

the processing data reveal that the parser is based primarily on morphological cues:

NACT forms, being morphologically more complex than ACT forms, are slower to

process, although some variation is attested with individual verbs.

Notice however, that the ‘fine-grained’ lexicalist accounts predict parsing

preferences of ambiguous structures based on the most frequent reading attested in

frequency counts. We thus turn to the ‘quest’ of voice effects on the segments

following the verb. The claim is that RTs received for the verbs used as anti-

causatives in ACT (i.e. for lijizi (bend), jerni (lean), stegnoni (dry), vrazi (boil) and

sapizi (rot)) should be shorter in the ACT than the NACT condition, hence a voice

effect is expected. On the same grounds, the verb ljoni (melt) showing more frequent

transitive uses, should show delay in the on-line task when ACT because there was no

expressed object available in the test sentences, leaving the anti-causative reading -

less frequent in the corpora- as the only acceptable alternative. We thus expect no

voice effect, given that both ACT and NACT forms are expected to yield high RTs for

different reasons: the ACT form does not ‘read’ as transitive while the NACT is

highly infrequent (if not ungrammatical). Finally, the verb klini (close) which is

ambiguous between transitive and anti-causative readings with ACT verb forms

(trans: 2418 vs antic: 2570), should give rise to high RTs in ACT, because the

transitive reading competes with the equally frequent anti-causative, but is not

eventually available due to the lack of a postverbal object; the NACT form is less

frequently used, and should thus show elevated RTs. Again, therefore, no voice effect

is expected. The verbs mentioned so far, are classified in the literature as ‘voice non-

alternating’ anti-causatives. We next turn to predictions with regard to the remaining


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verbs, classified as ‘voice alternating’ anti-causatives and next we turn to a discussion

with regard to the verb classes examined.

The verbs leroni (spill), tendoni (stretch), tripai (pierce) katharizi (clean) and

htipai (hit) are mostly used as transitives when in the ACT form: this reading is not

however available in the processing experiment due to lack of a DP complement in

the sentence. We thus predict increased reading times in ACT but also in NACT since

they are infrequent, as is the case for the vast majority of the verbs studied. Again, the

implication is that no voice effect is expected in the on-line experiment. The verbs

berdevi (mingle) and tsalakoni (crumple) are ambiguous between the transitive and

the anti-causative reading in ACT, the former being more frequent, while in NACT

form the passive is more frequent (than the anti-causative) (ACT: 1839 vs NACT:

1556, ACT: 132 vs NACT: 110 respectively): the transitive reading is not available in

the critical sentences, hence, a delay in RTs is expected in ACT, while slower RTs are

expected in NACT. A voice effect is thus not expected.

Overall, the verbs belonging to the two different classes of anti-causatives (i.e.

‘voice non-alternating’ and ‘voice alternating’), whose frequent readings were just

reported, share the anti-causative property and differ only in that the former have been

argued not to alternate (i.e. to surface only in ACT denoting an anti-causative

reading), while the latter are found in both ACT and NACT, voice change not

affecting the availability of the anti-causative reading. However, frequencies in the

corpora examined present a different pattern with respect to the most frequent

reading: the voice non-alternating verbs receive an anti-causative reading in the

corpora, while the alternating ones a transitive reading, instead. We could thus argue

in favour of a difference between the two classes in terms of syntactic representations.

Given that the transitive reading was not possible in the on-line task, RTs received for

the ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ should be higher than RTs received for the

‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’: hence, a verb class effect is predicted,

especially on the segment where a subordinate clause begins (the 4th segment), given

that after that point starts the processing of the subordinate clause.

Consider now the results from the on-line task which will help us evaluate

these predictions based on fine-grained frequency counts per verb. Starting with


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‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ we observe that a voice effect was evidenced

in lijizi (bend), jerni (lean) sapizi (rot) while this is not the case for the remaining

stegnoni (dry), vrazi (boil) for which we also predicted a voice effect. Instead, in

stegnoni (dry) a significant effect of the interaction between voice and animacy was

found on the 3rd segment, showing that NACT verbs with inanimate subjects were

read faster than with animate subjects, while no such difference was revealed for ACT

verbs.

More specifically, for the verb lijizi (bend) a significant effect of voice was

found on the third critical segment (namely, the verb) and the fourth one, as predicted.

Moreover, on the fifth and sixth segments we found a significant effect of the

interaction between voice and animacy revealing that NACT verbs with animate

subjects were read faster than with inanimate subjects, while animacy did not affect

RTs of ACT verbs.

For the verb jerni (lean), a significant effect of voice was found on the third

segment (the verb), which remained during the fourth and the fifth segment and

reappearing on the seventh segment, as predicted.

In sapizi (rot) we found a significant voice effect on the 3rd and 4th segments,

as predicted. Moreover, on the 7th a significant effect of the interaction between

voice and animacy was also evidenced. NACT verbs with inanimate subjects were

read faster than with animate ones, while no such difference was attested with ACT

verbs.

On the other hand, while we expected no voice effect in ljoni (melt), we found

a significant voice effect on the third critical (verb), fourth and sixth segments.

No effects were found for the verb klini (close), as predicted.

Among ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ a significant voice effect was found

on the verb segment for the verb katharizi (clean), contrary to our prediction, while

for the remaining verbs for which no voice effect was predicted, data is supportive

(except for the voice effect found on the verbs tendoni (stretch) and htipai (hit), which

has already been discussed). The verbs leroni (spill) and tripai (pierce) did not reveal


332

any significant voice effects, as predicted. However, the verb tripai (pierce) showed

significant interaction between voice and animacy on the sixth segment without

however revealing significant differences between the pairs examined with t-tests.

On the other hand, while we anticipated a voice effect for the verbs tsalakoni

(crumple) and berdevi (mingle), a voice effect was found on the fifth and seventh

segments for the verb tsalakoni (crumple) only.

Overall then, the predictions formulated with respect to ‘fine-grained’

accounts of processing were only partially supported by the on-line experimental data.

Although RTs were not always consistent with the frequency-based predictions,

variation is also attested with individual verbs.

Furthermore, the distinction between the two verb classes (voice (non)-

alternating anti-causatives) was crucial in the design of the on-line experiment in

order to examine whether a verb class effect will be attested on the grounds of the

prediction already formulated: indeed, a verb class effect was found on the fourth

segment, i.e. immediately after the verb. Given that these two verb classes differ only

in the availability of a morphological voice change and not in the availability of the

anti-causative reading the verb class effect attested boils down to a morphological

effect.

In the above discussion, we evaluated the predictions based on the most

frequent reading of each verb, according to which, as ‘fine-grained’ accounts on

sentence processing suggest, the parser should resolve temporarily ambiguous

structures. Data were not supportive to this prediction, but did provide evidence in

favour of a morphologically driven parser operating in a richly inflected language like

Greek (cf. Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005). Also, the semantic factor of subject

animacy predicted to affect the processing of the predicate’s interpretation was found

to be involved in the analysis of the present data too, in line with previous research

(Tsimpli, 2006, Peristeri et al., submitted). Finally, variation between individual verbs

should be taken into consideration: lexical and frequency factors can account for this

variation in the RTs of the verbs examined, but further research is needed for the

formulation of safer conclusions.


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3. Frequency effects in Acceptability Judgments (SPR task) vs.

Preferred Interpretations (SPM task)

In this section we present an overview of the acceptability ratings received in the on-

line task and we compare them to the most frequent readings attested in the corpora,

in order to identify whether empirical data received from adults NS are consistent

with the frequent uses of the verbs tested. RTs received in the acceptability judgment

task are also presented to provide further evidence on the degree of processing load

associated with the different conditions included in the SPR experiment. Finally, we

investigate whether there are differences between the acceptability rates received in

the on-line task and the most preferred readings that the adult control group obtained

in the SPM task (see also Appendix III). These comparisons aim to identify possible

task effects as well as the degree of consistent performance that NS show with respect

to the verbs included in this research.

It is useful to remind the reader at this point that the experimental sentences in

the SPR task included a DP (Det-N) in subject position (1st & 2nd segments), the

critical verb segment (3rd) followed by a subordinate clause introduced by a

conjunction or a preposition (4th – 7th segments). Thus in sentences with verbs in ACT

form only the anti-causative reading was available, while in sentences with verbs in

the NACT form, the anti-causative, the passive and the reflexive readings were

possible, though not equally accessible, partly depending on the animacy of the

surface subject. At the end of the sentence participants were shown a rating scale from

1 (=totally unacceptable) up to 9 (=totally acceptable) and judged the sentence they

read. RTs measured in this procedure, may provide evidence relevant to the

evaluation of ‘experience-based’ models.

Total RTs received on judgments yielded a significant voice effect.

Participants were very slow at evaluating sentences with ACT verbs compared to

sentences with NACT verbs. Given a) that the frequency data from the total of adult

written corpora we examined showed that ACT verbs were significantly more

frequent (68.7% of the sentences), than NACT verbs (31.3% of the total sentences)

and, in addition, the frequency of anti-causative readings among ACT and NACT


334

verbs is similar, the implication is that ACT anti-causatives are more frequent than

NACT anti-causatives. In view of these frequency counts, the significant difference

between RTs on ACT vs. NACT forms in the acceptability judgment cannot be

attributed to frequency effects, since the pattern is the reverse from that predicted.

As has already been suggested, parsing of sentences with transitivity

alternations is predicted to involve the morphosyntactic factor of voice morphology

and the semantic factor of subject animacy, jointly motivating facilitation or inhibition

of responses either in terms of segment RTs on in terms of accuracy of judgment. This

prediction is further supported from the distribution of the most frequent readings

associated with each of the two verbs classes examined: in ‘voice non-alternating anti-

causatives’ the anti-causative reading is the most frequent only in combination to

inanimate subjects (84.8%) while animate subjects were mostly interpreted as

transitives (66.32%). The few NACT occurrences found with animate subjects were

reflexive (69.41%) while with inanimate subjects the use was passive (91.29%). On

the other hand, in ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ the anti-causative reading is

never the most frequent one: in the ACT form, these verbs are used as transitives both

with animate (93.85%) and with inanimate (64.46%) subjects, although in the latter

case, anti-causative readings are also frequent (34.22%). In the NACT form, these

verbs denote anti-causative (48.37%), reflexive (30.35%) and passive (17.85%)

readings with animate subjects while with inanimate subjects, they express anti-

causative (48.82%) or passive (49.82%) readings.

According to the corpora frequencies summarized above, the SPR data from

‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ should show the anti-causative or the

unergative (with animate subjects) readings while the transitive interpretation should

be ungrammatical, due to lack of a DP in object position. In fact, all of the voice non-

alternating anti-causatives in the act-inanim condition received a score above 7 in a

grading scale from 1 (=totally unacceptable) to 9 (=totally acceptable). The remaining

three conditions tested, namely act-anim, nact-anim and nact-inanim, received low

scores (below 4), except for three verbs: the verbs lijizi (bend) and jerni (lean)

received a high score (above 6) in the act-anim condition, probably because they were


335

interpreted as unergatives. Also the verb stegnoni (dry) received a relatively high

score in this same condition (5.25).

The above data from the SPR task correspond to the corpora frequencies

insofar as the ACT form with inanimate subjects and the anti-causative reading were

the most frequent condition (klini (close) (2564/6258; 40.97%), lijizi (bend)

(640/1831; 34.95%), jerni (lean) (728/1230; 59.18%), stegnoni (dry) (1372/1866;

73.52%), vrazi (boil) (640/1273; 50.27%) and sapizi (rot) (1328/1939; 68.48%). An

exception was the verb ljoni (melt) for which the transitive (235/850; 27.64%) was

more frequent than the anti-causative reading (142/805; 17.63%). Note that in the

rates presented we consider the total occurrences of the verb examined each time.

RTs received in the act-inanim condition were faster than the act-anim for all

the verbs, with the exception of the verb vrazi (boil), which showed the reverse

pattern. Moreover, all RTs for these verbs in the act-inanim condition were slower

than in the nact-anim and nact-inanim conditions, which were the least acceptable

ones. Thus, participants rated the sentences with NACT verb forms faster than in any

of the other two conditions (relevant information on RTs is included in Table 64).

Thus, the frequencies attested in the corpora accurately predict speed of processing

only with respect to the acceptable structures, in this case the ACT form of voice non-

alternating anti-causatives.

Turning to the SPM data, the performance of the adult control group was

similar to the data presented so far, in that the anti-causative reading was their most

preferred reading in this same condition (act-inanimate). More specifically, four of the

verbs analysed so far were also used in the SPM task: klini (close), lijizi (bend),

stegnoni (dry) and ljoni (melt). In the task participants were instructed to point to one

of the three pictures they were presented with, according to the interpretation they

assigned to the sentence they heard each time. For the verbs just mentioned the

triplets used illustrated an inanimate subject, while the verb was always used in ACT.

The pictures depicted a transitive, a passive and an anti-causative reading, and the

most preferred reading identified was the anti-causative: klini (close) (56%), lijizi

(bend) (88%), stegnoni (dry) (100%) and ljoni (melt) (92%).


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Overall, data from ‘voice non-alternating anti-causative verbs’ show that the

judgments of native speakers of Greek are influenced by the frequency rates of these

specific verbs in specific combinations of voice morphology (ACT) and subject

animacy (inanimate) with the anti-causative reading being the most acceptable one.

On the other hand, the correlation of RTs received for the acceptability judgment task

revealed that the participants were very fast in rejecting sentences with NACT verbs

(irrespective of subject animacy). In fact, if we compare the RTs received for this

condition to the RTs of ungrammatical fillers (which did not differ from RTs of

grammatical ones) we observe that they are rather similar, thus showing a clear

acceptability effect of the NACT form of voice non-alternating anti-causatives.

We now turn to the other verb class examined, namely the ‘voice alternating

anti-causative’ verbs. The presentation of the results from the corpora, the SPR and

the SPM tasks and their in-between comparisons will be presented for each verb

separately, because the degree of variation between verbs belonging to this verb class

was very high.

The SPR task revealed that these verbs behave differently from the ‘voice non-

alternating anti-causative’ ones. More specifically, the scores they received were

distributed in a very different way both within the verb class and in comparison to the

‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’. More precisely, although these verbs are

expected to denote an anti-causative reading used in ACT or NACT morphology,

voice change not affecting their interpretation, they were mostly accepted in the non-

active voice, except for katharizi (clean) and htipai (hit). In all, these verbs received a

high score in different conditions; we will correlate the scores received to the most

frequent readings these verbs have in the syntactic environments tested drawn from

corpora. A parallel investigation of the RTs received on the AJ task is expected to

point towards an answer with regard to their alternating status, while the most

preferred readings adult controls attributed to these verbs in the SPM task, are finally

presented.

The verb tsalakoni (crumple) did not accept voice alternation and received a

high score only when used in NACT with inanimate subjects (mean score above 6 in a

scale from 1 to 9). This was also the most frequent reading that the verb received in


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the corpora examined (95/294; 32.31%), although we should notice that frequency

data with respect to this verb come mostly from the Web corpus; the ILSP corpus

contained few instances of the verb, mostly transitive ones, possibly due to a

difference in the register represented. However, the participants were very slow both

at rejecting ACT forms with inanimate subjects and NACT forms with animate ones

as well as in giving high scores to NACT forms with inanimate subjects, while fast

RTs were received only when they rejected ACT forms with animate subjects (the

unacceptable transitive reading).

The verbs berdevi (mingle) and leroni (spill) were accepted in NACT

morphology irrespective of subject animacy, while their ACT forms were in general

rejected (mean score below 3). However, the verb berdevi (mingle) in the NACT form

was more accepted in sentences with inanimate subjects, while the verb leroni (spill)

was equally accepted both with animate and inanimate subjects in the NACT form

(mean score anim: 7.67 and inanim: 6.68). The frequencies drawn from the corpora

show that the verb berdevi (mingle) was mostly used in NACT with both animate and

inanimate subjects (1556/3464 (44.91%): anim: 842/1903; 44.24% and inanim:

741/1558; 47.56%), while transitive uses were also very frequent (1839/3464;

53.08%). In an attempt to interpret the RTs received we can conclude that participants

were slower in accepting NACT forms than rejecting ACT forms, the latter being

considered unacceptable. The frequent transitive use attested in corpora did not affect

response times since the possibility of a transitive interpretation was not available in

the SPR task and the ACT sentences were deemed unacceptable. On the other hand,

the verb leroni (spill), accepted in NACT forms irrespective of subject animacy was

not frequently attested in this form in either corpus (though the two corpora differed

in size): the NACT forms which co-occurred with anti-causative readings were less

frequent (213/1181; 18.03%: anim: 49/1181; 4.14% and inanim: 164/1181; 13.88%)

than the passive and than the most frequently used ACT forms with transitive

readings (trans: 530/1181 (44.87%) vs ACT antic: 35/1181(2.96%)). The equally high

RTs received in the AJ task for all conditions but for the NACT -inanimate (shorter

RTs) can be thus justified: participants were slow at rejecting ACT forms frequent in

use, while they were faster only in accepting NACT forms with inanimate subjects

(more frequent than NACT with animate). This verb was also included in the SPM


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task. In the ACT form, the transitive reading was the preferred one (84%), as in the

corpora, while in the NACT form with inanimate subjects both the passive (76%) and

the anti-causative (24%) readings were allowed, again with preferences corresponding

to corpora frequencies. Note that in the nact-anim condition the most preferred

reading was the reflexive one (92%).

Turning to the remaining verbs used in the SPR experiment note that the verbs

tendoni (stretch) and tripai (pierce) received a high score (above 7) only in the NACT

form with animate subjects, while they were accepted, though not preferred (mean

score above 4) in sentences with inanimate subjects irrespective of voice morphology.

However, the most frequent use of the verb tendoni (stretch) in the adult corpora

included in the research was the transitive one (anim: 512/1417 (36.13%); inanim:

124/1417 (8.75%)). The NACT form of the verb was mostly interpreted as anti-

causative with inanimate subjects (419/1417 (29.56%) and as reflexive (being the

only available reading) with animate subjects (n=190) (except 1 sentence with anti-

causative reading found in the Web). In the SPR task, participants were faster only in

the nact-animate condition, which is also the most frequent one in the corpora. Short

RTs received in this condition may be accounted for in terms of a frequency effect,

only if we take into consideration the animacy effect. The verb tendoni (stretch) was

also included in the SPM task: both ACT and NACT forms were mostly interpreted as

anti-causative with inanimate subjects (ACT: 76% and NACT: 80%), while NACT

forms with animate subjects were unambiguously reflexives (88%), which is also

consistent with the corpus frequencies attested for this condition.

With respect to the verb tripai (pierce), frequency data from the corpora show

that the most frequent use of the verb is the transitive (anim: 411/1388 (29.61%);

inanim: 622/1388 (44.81%)). Data from NACT forms show that the passive reading is

the most frequent with inanimate subjects (95/110 (86.36%)) and the reflexive the

most frequent with animate subjects (51/69 (73.91%)). In the judgment of the SPR

task, participants were faster to accept NACT forms with animate subjects than the

remaining also highly acceptable combinations, while they were considerably slower

in all these conditions when compared to the act-inanim condition which was

negatively judged (mean score: 3.82). The preferred readings of this specific verb on


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the SPM task also differed with respect to the variables tested: ACT forms with

inanimate subjects were perceived as anti-causatives (64%), although this reading was

not frequently attested in the corpora, but it was accepted in the SPR AJ task. NACT

forms with inanimate subjects were passives (80%), which was also the most frequent

interpretation in the corpora and highly accepted in the AJ task. It is also worth noting

that both act-inanim and nact-inanim in the AJ, yielded similar RTs. NACT forms

with animate subjects were ambiguous between the anti-causative (52%) and reflexive

(48%) readings in the SPM task, although reflexives were the most frequent

interpretations in the corpora and also the condition which received the highest scores

and yielded the shortest RTs in the AJ task.

The verb katharizi (clean) received high scores in all the conditions tested in

the acceptability judgment question, but was preferred in sentences with inanimate

subjects irrespective of voice morphology (mean score above 6.5); the only condition

which did not receive a high score was the combination of animate subjects with ACT

verb forms (mean score 3.45) for the obvious reason that the transitive reading was

not available in the test sentences. Frequency data show that the verb is mostly used in

NACT voice with inanimate subjects receiving a passive interpretation (n=911/2035

(44.76%)). In this respect, the fact that the RTs received in this condition are the

shortest can be attributed to a frequency effect.

Finally, the verb htipai (hit) in the AJ task was mostly accepted in ACT with

animate subjects (mean score: 7.48). Inanimate subjects received middle-range scores

irrespective of voice morphology and the same scores were obtained for the NACT -

inanimate condition (mean scores 4-6). Frequency data show that the verb was overall

most frequently used as transitive (3107/6089 (51.02%)) when ACT: it was mostly

transitive in ACT form with animate subjects (2171/2284; %), but ambiguous

between transitive (933/1956 (47.69%)) and anti-causative (973/1956 (49.74%))

readings in ACT form with inanimate subjects. The passive reading (543/800

67.87%)) is more frequent than the anti-causative (233/800 (29.12%)) with NACT

forms and inanimate subjects, while passive (416/1188 (35.01%)), anti-causative

(239/1188 (20.11%)) and reflexive (450/1188 (37.87%)) readings are equally

available among NACT forms with animate subjects. The fact that the verb received


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higher scores in the act-anim condition and the fact that RTs received for this

condition were faster than all the remaining ones cannot be accounted for on

frequency grounds.

According to the results of the SPM task, ACT forms of the verb htipai (hit)

with inanimate subjects were perceived as anti-causatives (64%), while transitive

readings were also frequent (32%), the reverse of the pattern attested in corpora.

NACT forms with inanimate subjects were ambiguous between passive and anti-

causative readings (44% each) while frequency data show a preference for the

passive; NACT forms with animate subjects were mostly reflexives (60%) , while the

other two readings (namely the passive and the anti-causative) were equally attested

(20% each), a pattern similar to the one in corpora.

The above comparisons between the data across tasks and corpora, the

comparison between the RTs from the AJ task with the respective acceptability scores

as well as the comparison of these empirical findings with the most frequent uses in

the corpora examined, show that although frequency affects NS’s judgments, RTs do

not always coincide with frequencies nor with the most preferred readings from the

SPM task.

4. Frequencies in Language Acquisition

A second aim of this thesis was to evaluate ‘usage-based’ approaches on language

acquisition, according to which children reproduce specific ‘verb-types’ or other

‘item-based’ constructions (cf. Tomasello, 1992, 2003), based on frequently used

expressions in the input. From this perspective, syntactic knowledge, acquired in later

stages, is a derivative of the acquisition. While this framework capitalizes on input

frequency, nativist accounts propose that differences attested between children and

adult performance can be accounted for in terms of a developing grammar (eg. the

Maturation Hypothesis, Borer & Wexler, 1987). Alternatively, it has been argued that

while child language in early stages is grammar driven, exposure to input at later

stages promotes a development of an interaction between the syntax and the lexicon,


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as well as the integration of other pragmatic and extra-linguistic factors, resulting in

adult-like performance (cf. Tsimpli, 2005, 2006).

Consequently, the domain of transitivity alternations is investigated through a

comparison between the data from the SPM task with respect to ‘voice (non)-

alternating anti-causatives’, ‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’ and their most

frequent readings in corpora. The rationale underlying this comparison is to

investigate whether frequency in the occurrence of particular verbs in active and non-

active voice morphology and the corresponding transitivity alternations is a more

deterministic factor than the interaction of (ACT/NACT) voice morphology and [+/-

animate] feature of the syntactic subject, factors which have been found to account for

the distinction between reflexive and non-reflexive readings (Tsimpli, 2005, 2006).

More specifically, comparisons between frequency counts in corpora and

results received from the SPM task addressed to three age-groups of children and

adult controls concern: (i) ACT or NACT morphology, to address the evaluation of

the suggestion that children reproduce ‘verb-types’ (without a morphological analysis

of voice) and (ii) specific verbs (in ACT and NACT form), to address the evaluation

of the hypothesis that children’ productions are based on item-based frequencies; (iii)

the notion of verb classes, to evaluate whether child language at early stages is

sensitive to more fine-grained morpho-syntactic analyses, providing evidence in

favour of productivity and creativity, properties not predicted by ‘usage based’

approaches of language acquisition. Finally, (iv) the interaction between

(ACT/NACT) voice morphology (a morpho-syntactic factor) and [+/- animacy] of the

syntactic subject is controlled, in order to investigate whether child language consists

of ‘verb-islands’, in which the relationship between the subject and the verb is not

analysed, or, alternatively, children already have knowledge of thematic-roles

affecting predicate meaning. This question is for example specifically addressed with

regard to the ‘reflexive’ reading, attested not only with verbs classified as ‘reflexives’,

where input frequency might suggest an unanalyzed reproduction, but also with verbs

belonging to other verb-classes: the subject of a NACT verb in reflexive structures is

not the theme, as would be expected on the basis of the frequent occurrences of

passive interpretations of NACT verbs.


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The total frequencies reported include the total number of sentences examined

in the corpora, given that in the SPM task we include verbs which were not included

in the corpora counts; moreover, considering that input does not consist of specific

verbs only, the frequencies of each voice marking is compared to the most frequent

readings attributed. Furthermore, frequencies attested in the corpora examined are

correlated with previous findings from a small-scale analysis of child-directed speech

from Stephany’s (1981, 1997) data in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000) reported and

analysed in Fotiadou & Tsimpli (to appear).

We begin with the evaluation of the suggestion that children reproduce ‘verb-

types’. As already reported above, with respect to the evaluation of ‘coarse-grained’

models of sentence processing, we notice that ACT morphology (68.7%) is more

frequent than NACT (31.3%) in the corpora examined. The sample of ‘child-directed

speech’ (Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear) is also consistent with this finding: in a total

of 8671 verbs found ACT verbs (97.2%) are more frequently used than NACT verbs

(2.8%). Accordingly, child data from the SPM task should show more adult-like

responses with respect to ACT morphology. This prediction is not confirmed given

that whereas adults interpreted ACT verbs with animate subjects as transitives and

ACT verbs with inanimate subjects as anti-causatives, all the child groups performed

differently (Graphs 34 and 35).

We remind the reader that in the SPM task we included the following variables

per verb class: (a) in ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ we examined only the act-

inanim condition; (b) in ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ we examined the act-

inanim, nact-inanim and nact-anim conditions; (c) in reflexives we examined the act-

anim and nact-anim conditions and (d) in ‘activity predicates’ we examined the nact-

anim and nact-inanim conditions. In the following discussion we present the most

frequent readings attested in the corpora with respect to the distinction of voice

morphology and subject animacy.

In the corpora ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’ in ACT with animate

subjects were used transitively (78.72%) while with inanimate subjects were used as

anti-causatives (66.67%) (relevant information in Table 75). Activities (labeled as

‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’ in Table 76) were always used as transitive when


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in ACT form irrespective of subject animacy. Turning to NACT forms ‘voice (non)-

alternating anti-causatives’ with animate subjects were mostly reflexives (42.3%) and

anti-causatives (34.01%), while with inanimate subjects they were passive (56.4%)

and anti-causatives (42.59%). Activities with animate subjects were mostly reflexive

(3362/4325; 77.73%), while with inanimate subjects they were most frequently

interpreted as passives (3382/5138; 65.82%).

Data from the ‘child-directed speech’ (Fotiadou & Tsimpli, to appear) that are

relevant to this discussion show that ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’ are also

used transitively (4.11%), while NACT verbs are used with one reading only

(irrespective of whether they are reflexives, passives or reciprocals) and they rarely

appear in ACT form; notice that the NACT forms attested are mostly used as

reflexives (183/244). Consequently, children’s exposure to transitivity alternations is

limited.

Given the higher frequency of ACT forms in the input, children should perform

more adult-like with respect to ACT verbs. While adult data from the SPM task are in

most cases consistent with the above-mentioned frequencies, child responses diverge.

Starting with the ACT verb forms examined, we observe that while the adult control

group preferred an anti-causative reading with ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-

causatives’ and an exclusively transitive interpretation with ‘reflexives’, in

accordance with frequencies, child groups showed ambiguity between the available

readings. More specifically, children often perceived the ACT ‘voice (non)-

alternating anti-causatives’ (with inanimate subjects) as transitives and passives,

although these choices were not preferred by adults and only few transitives were

attested in the corpora; in child groups the anti-causative interpretations were not

more frequent than the other two readings. Moreover, child groups provided

‘transitive’ as well as ungrammatical reflexive and passive responses with ACT

‘reflexives’, while in the corpora these verbs in NACT are met mostly as reflexives.

Moreover, input from the ‘child-directed speech’ shows that these verbs are used only

as reflexives and appear in NACT and not ACT.

Turning to NACT forms with animate subjects we observe that adults, in line

with corpus frequencies, interpreted the ‘reflexives’ as such, while they also preferred


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this reading with ‘activities’ and ‘voice alternating anti-causatives’. Given that

reflexives in NACT represent the majority of the NACT verbs in the ‘child-directed

speech’, children perform better with ‘reflexives’ than with ‘activities’ and ‘voice

alternating anti-causatives’. However, children interpreted ‘reflexives’ as such but

equally often as passives, although a developmental pattern is attested with respect to

the passive interpretation decreasing with age. NACT ‘activities’ and ‘voice

alternating anti-causatives’ were ambiguous between reflexive and non-reflexive

(passive and anti-causative) readings, similarly to adults and frequencies. Finally,

turning to NACT forms with inanimate subjects, adults perceived both ‘activities’ and

‘voice alternating anti-causatives’ as ambiguous between passives and anti-causatives,

and so did children. However, corpus frequencies differ from both adult and child

data with respect to ‘activities’ which are mostly used as passives, while both adult

and child data are consistent with corpus frequencies with respect to ‘voice alternating

anti-causatives’.

Overall, child data did not show more adult-like performance with ACT verb

forms, contrary to input frequencies. However, child responses were consistent with

adult responses and corpus frequencies in NACT ‘activities’, both with animate and

inanimate subjects, approximated adult responses and frequencies with NACT ‘voice-

alternating anti-causatives’ with inanimate subjects (but not with animate ones) and

differed with ‘reflexives’. The above findings show that child performance cannot be

accounted in terms of frequency, since children’s responses diverge from adult and

corpora in the most unambiguous cases, i.e. the reflexives and the voice non-

alternating anti-causatives.

Turning to the evaluation of the next hypothesis, i.e. that child language

production is based on item-based frequencies we need to account for the readings of

specific verbs, also examined in the corpora. Hence, the discussion is limited to eight

of the ten ‘voice (non)-alternating anti-causatives’ included in the task, to three of the

five ‘reflexives’ and to two of the five ‘activities’ also examined in the task. The

Table below overviews the frequency counts of the five ‘activity predicates’

examined in the corpora, which constitute the verbs examined in the SPM task under

the verb classes of ‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’; frequencies from eight out of


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the ten ‘voice (non)’alternating anti-causatives’ also examined in the SPM task (klini

(close), lijizi (bend), stegnoni (dry), ljoni (melt) and leroni (spill), tendoni (stretch),

tripai (pierce), htipai (hit)) are included in the Table 75 above.

Table 76: Total frequencies of ‘reflexives’ and ‘activity predicates’ in

ACT/NACT morphology in the corpora

ACT morphology NACT morphology transitive anti-caus. passive anti-caus. reflexive

Verb Class

VERB

N (22769) anim. inan. anim. inan. anim. inanim anim. inan. anim. inan.

ILSP n=252 92 9 11 127 13 dini

‘dress’ Web n=3104 957 415 5 224 2 89 1363 49

ILSP n=170 126 22 1 21 pleni

‘wash’ Web n=2123 942 28 16 702 49 386

ILSP n=13 2 11

R

E

F

L

E

X

I

V

E

S

htenizi ‘comb’ Web

n=954 489 88 20 60 243 54

ILSP n=2371 1016 528 131 4 386 306

krivi ‘hide’ Web

n=3501 1069 865 9 259 36 433 782 48

ILSP n=4631 2028 1014 570 664 2 328 25

A C T I V I T I E S

metaferi ‘transfer’ Web

n=4562 1715 837 290 1307 9 304 98 2

The ‘reflexives’ used in the task are mostly interpreted as such both in the corpora

(98.04%) and the adult data (100%) when in NACT morphology, while they are

interpreted as transitives when in ACT morphology. In child data however along with

reflexive readings for NACT forms, passive interpretations were also very frequent,

though developmentally decreasing. Notice, for example that for the verb pleni (wash)

passive interpretations were highly available in Group 1 (48%) but significantly

reduced in Group 3 (16%); similarly the other two verbs were ambiguous between

passive and reflexive readings for Group 1 (htenizi (comb): 44% and dini (dress):

32%), while reflexive readings were preferred instead by Group 3 for the verbs (pleni


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(wash): 84%, htenizi (comb): 96% and dini (dress): 64%). Some transitive

(ungrammatical) responses also decreased with age. The ACT forms of these verbs

were also incorrectly perceived as passives or reflexives, as well as with the target

transitive reading. Thus, unambiguous input of these verbs does not seem to have

directed children towards an adult-like reading of these verbs.

The two ‘activities’ used in the task received the following interpretations with

animate subjects in the corpora: krivi (hide) was mostly used as reflexive (1088/1137;

95.69%), while metaferi (transfer) as passive (860/994; 86.51%). Adult controls’

preferences mirror these frequency data. Child data also show that the preferred

readings are similar to those of adults, though the other available readings (namely,

passive and anti-causative for krivi (hide) and reflexive and anti-causative for metaferi

(transfer) are also attested at different rates.

NACT forms of krivi (hide) with inanimate subjects were more frequently

used as anti-causative (819/1257; 65.15%) and NACT forms of metaferi (transfer) as

passive (1971/2605; 75.66%). Both adult and child data are not fully consistent with

these frequencies. While adults interpreted krivi (hide) as anti-causative, they

considered metaferi (transfer) ambiguous between passive and anti-causative

readings. Krivi (hide) was ambiguous between anti-causative and passive readings for

all child groups, while for metaferi (transfer) they provided highly divergent

responses across groups: Group 1 gave equal percentages of transitive

(ungrammatical), anti-causative and passive responses; in Group 2 there is a small

decrease of the passive interpretation and an increase of the anti-causative one; Group

3 perceived it more frequently as anti-causative.

Turning to voice non-alternating anti-causatives (see Table 75), recall that in

the SPM task these verbs are used only in ACT voice with inanimate subjects. The

most frequent reading in this condition (act-inanim) is the anti-causative in both

corpora and adults’ responses. Recall however that passive interpretations were also

attested in adult data, though considered ungrammatical due to voice morphology.

Passive interpretations were specifically attested in spai (break) (36%) and klini

(close) (28%). Children also allowed very frequently for passive readings with these

verbs.


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‘Voice alternating anti-causatives’ were included in active forms with

inanimate subjects and in non-active forms both with animate and inanimate subjects.

In the corpora ACT with inanimate subjects were transitive and not anti-causative

(leroni (spill): 236 vs 33; tripai (pierce): 622 vs 165; htipai (hit): 933 vs 973 and

tendoni (stretch): 124 vs 0). Adults instead, perceived these verbs mostly as anti-

causative, except for the verb leroni (spill) for which transitive interpretations were

more frequent (84%). Child group data included many anti-causative readings and

(ungrammatical) passive ones, while few transitives were presented for all the verbs:

the only exception where transitive uses were more frequent than the other

interpretations provided was Group 3’s responses for the verb htipai (hit) (64%).

NACT forms of these same verbs with inanimate subjects were most

frequently used as anti-causatives in the corpora, except for tripai (pierce) which was

found more as passive than as anti-causative (95 vs 15). For adult controls these verbs

were mostly considered as passives, except for tendoni (stretch). The only case where

we could assume that the adults’ responses converge with frequencies is to consider

only Web frequencies for htipai (hit) where passive readings are preferred over the

not significantly fewer anti-causative ones. Child data were ambiguous between

passive and anti-causative readings, while they also exhibited some ungrammatical,

due to NACT morphology, transitives.

Last, the most frequent readings in the corpora with respect to NACT ‘voice

alternating anti-causatives’ with animate subjects were distributed as follows: leroni

(spill) was anti-causative, tendoni (stretch) and tripai (pierce) were reflexives, while

htipai (hit) co-occurred with reflexive (450), passive (416) and anti-causative (239)

readings. Adults considered htipai (hit) more frequently reflexive (60%), while

passive and anti-causative readings were equally distributed; tendoni (stretch) and

leroni (spill) were also mostly reflexives, while tripai (pierce) was anti-causative.

Child groups attributed more frequently an anti-causative reading in htipai (hit), a

reflexive in leroni (spill), while they considered ambiguous between the reflexive and

the anti-causative the verb tendoni (stretch), and between the passive and the anti-

causative the verb tripai (pierce).


348

Overall, ‘item-based’ approaches do not seem to be supported by empirical

data of this research. Instead, a consideration of the interaction of subject animacy and

voice morphology is necessitated in order to account for the present findings. But if

we consider data from individual verbs already reported, it seems that the hypothesis

of ‘verb-island’ constructions is not supported either. Findings rather provide

evidence in favour of the hypotheses (iii) and (iv): namely, children seem to be

sensitive to more fine grained morpho-syntactic analyses, providing evidence in

favour of productivity and creativity in child language and evidence for knowledge of

thematic-roles affecting the predicate meaning.

Although children have not mastered the notion of verb-classes, as shown by

their performance with ‘reflexives’ and ‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’, they

seem to already have part of morpho-syntactic knowledge: they treat NACT

morphology verbs as involving non-canonical argument to position mappings. Their

few ungrammatical (transitive) responses may be attributed to their incomplete

mastery of morphology (cf. Borer, 2004); similarly the non-target passive

interpretations attributed to ‘voice non–alternating anti-causatives’ can be accounted

for by the existence of an implicit external argument in the derivation (cf. Verrips,

2000), while transitive readings with these verbs provide support for the claim that

null objects are allowed in child grammar (cf. Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005).

Attempting an overall evaluation of the hypotheses formulated for language

acquisition, the predictions according to the usage-based approach do not seem to be

valid in relation to this data. In contrast, the data seem to be supportive of the

assumption that children have abstract knowledge of transitivity alternations, but fail

to perform adult-like due to their incomplete mastery of morphological marking on

the verb mapped onto the effects on argument representation in syntax (e.g. transitive

readings for NACT verbs). Moreover, they fail to provide adult-like responses due to

the lack of sufficient exposure to individual verbs used in appropriate pragmatic

contexts, which would enable them to generalize and form verb classes. However, it

is possible that the elevated rate of passive interpretations for ‘reflexive’ verbs is an

effect of personal experience from the child’s perspective: at a young age for

example, children don’t wash, or dress all alone but some other person assists them.


349

Moreover, the frequently attributed ‘passive’ interpretation of ACT anti-causatives is

indicative of this same suggestion, i.e. that exposure to language input helps children

generalize abstract knowledge already at place in order to map particular meanings to

grammatical structures and incorporate notions such as verb classification, developed

at later stages (Tsimpli, 2005,2006).

5. Conclusion

This thesis has provided evidence related to ‘experience-based’ models of

sentence processing and ‘usage-based’ approaches to language acquisition with

respect to transitivity alternations in Greek. Morphological marking of Voice (ACT-

NACT) signals transitivity alternations although not in a deterministic way, since

there are ACT anti-causatives lexically-constrained while NACT marking allows for

various readings (passive, reflexive, anti-causative, middle). It is assumed that only

the reflexive derivation is distinct from the others, namely passive, anti-causative and

middle, in that the subject in reflexive structures is non-derived.

Assessing the processing of and the judgements on transitivity alternations

with an on-line SPR task addressed to monolingual Greek adults revealed a significant

voice effect as well as a significant interaction of voice morphology and subject

animacy. It has thus been demonstrated that the parser is sensitive to morphological

cues such as Voice marking on the verb, while semantic factors such as animacy are

integrated in subsequent stages. This conclusion is based on the fact that the voice

effect was evidenced on the 3rd (critical) segment and often remained active on the

segments following the verb, while the animacy effect, or the interaction between

voice morphology and subject animacy was evidenced only on segments following

the verb.

In accordance with ‘coarse-grained’ models of sentence processing, a

frequency effect was found, while predictions in line with more ‘fine-grained’ models

of sentence processing could not be evaluated with respect to frequency alone. The


350

present findings have shown that some effect of the input frequency is attested,

without however constituting a deterministic factor of processing transitivity changes.

On the other hand, a comparison of the findings from the acceptability

judgment and the RTs received in the SPR task, the most frequent readings obtained

in the SPM task and the corpora of adult written (formal and informal) speech reveals

that adult NS of Greek do base their final judgment and preferences on the most

frequently used structure. However, reaction times on the judgment itself do not

reveal any facilitation, evidenced, for example, by short RTs, when the structure

involved is a frequently used one. Instead, findings support a morpho-syntactic and

semantic analysis on-line, while delay is attested when pragmatic knowledge and

lexical properties of verbs such as their verb class, is not met with a desired reading.

The child groups who participated in the off-line SPM task have been shown

to provide non-adult like interpretations of the sentences examined with respect to

transitivity alternations. Their responses, however, differ from those of adults not in

terms of non-target performance but mainly due to the incomplete status of notions

such as ‘verb class’ that regulates, to a large extent, adult performance. Children

appear to be sensitive to grammatical constraints with respect to the difference

between reflexive and non-reflexive derivations, and the factors this difference is

based on, namely theta-feature attraction by NACT voice and the consequent (non)-

derived subject. The tendency towards unique, unambiguous readings of NACT

morphology with animate or inanimate subjects in adult performance is attributed to

the integration of lexical, pragmatic, frequency-based as well as syntactic and

semantic features. The last two are also part of child grammars; the former three

however, are strongly dependent on length of exposure and on the ability to rapidly

integrate consolidated lexical and pragmatic knowledge, such as semantic properties

of verb classes as well as felicitous readings in particular contexts.

The assumption that transitivity alternations consist of a lexicon-syntax

interface phenomenon is corroborated by the corpus analysis too. Verbs classified as

‘reflexives’ or ‘anti-causatives’ receive other interpretations too, depending on the

context in which they are embedded and on the speech register. For example, the

reflexive reading is favoured in the presence of an animate subject (or an inanimate


351

non-literal one) for the majority of the verbs examined, even though they are not

classified as such. The interaction of voice morphology and animacy of the syntactic

subject has been shown to significantly affect the reading of verbs classified as ‘voice

alternating anti-causatives’: in the availability of both ACT and NACT morphology

speakers tend to use ACT forms to denote transitive readings (specifically in informal

registers, such as that found in the Web corpus) and NACT to denote passive

interpretations (specifically in a formal register, as instantiated in the ILSP corpus).

Moreover, in instances of colloquial speech high productivity of NACT morphology

is observed, even with verbs that traditionally do not allow this morphological

marking (‘voice non-alternating anti-causatives’), specifically to express passive

interpretations. Finally, the use of the apo-phrase is considered a non-reliable criterion

for passivization in Greek, since it has been found to frequently co-occur with passive

readings only in the formal register (ILSP corpus), while it was associated more

frequently with readings other than the agent one.

The above summary of some of the main findings of this research and the

incompatibility between some theoretical accounts on one hand, and NS actual use of

these structures on the other, further support the suggestion that the grammar does not

distinguish between the passive, the middle, the anti-causative readings but leaves

them underspecified, while an interaction of lexico-semantic properties of the verb

and pragmatic information eventually leads to a strong or unique bias towards one of

these readings.


352

6. Methodological limitations and Further Research

Research conducted in the field of psycholinguistics aim to indirectly assess

the linguistic structures and processes underlying the human’s ability to speak and

understand language by means of observation of linguistic behaviour. General

conclusions however, should be drawn only following careful experimental design

and sufficient participants who would be assessed in various ways on the targeted

domains of inquiry. Thus, the present study should be carefully approached and

limitations on the methodology used should be taken into account.

Starting with the selection of the child participants, the fact that no pre-test

evaluation of cognitive or linguistic level of development was used to establish that

children are within the normal range is a drawback. Parents and teachers were asked

their opinion on each child’s development, although this information may still be

considered insufficient.

As far as the materials used are concerned, a general limitation involves the

test items, which were often problematic. More specifically, some of the triplets of

pictures used in the SPM task were identified as problematic and the responses

obtained from these pictures may be an artifact, as already noted in Chapter 5.

Experimental sentences used in the SPR task were created in relation to the variables

controlled: thus, in many cases clauses were problematic but this was part of the

experimental manipulation, given that an acceptability judgment task included in the

procedure aimed to identify the degree of their unacceptability. However, the fact that

mean RTs received are extremely high during sentence processing and, at the same

time, with considerable deviations in the per item analysis, might suggest further

research. Also, a potential effect of the verbs’ compatibility with a null object should

also be evaluated. This necessitates a frequency count with regard to transitive and

‘intransitive’ (i.e. with a null object) uses of the verbs, which was not included in the

present research.

Consequently, in order to improve the validity of the tasks and the

generalizability of the statistical results we consider repeating the procedure with

some changes. Also, we consider analyzing the per subject data in order to examine


353

whether there is individual variation in the processing of the verbs examined with

respect to the research variables already discussed (i.e. voice morphology and subject

animacy, as well as the frequency of use of the structures with specific

interpretations). These analyses could help us draw some conclusions in relation to

questions such as the differentiation between individual grammars in the native

speakers . The tasks used together with tests on elicited production of NACT and

ACT verbs as well as eye-tracking data would be of primary importance. Also, the

examination of deponents is of interest for future research, given that these verbs

receive transitive or unergative readings although they appear in non-active (NACT)

form.

It should also be noted that this study examined the effects of morpho-

syntactic and semantic properties of transitivity alternations in the language abilities

of monolingual child and adult populations. It did not however look into bilingual

populations and learners of Greek L2. The bilingual individuals, in particular, would

provide an insight into the intrinsically difficult areas of transitivity alternations since

they are expected, as bilinguals, to have better control of ambiguous interpretations

(Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009).

Following the above, further research focusing on the exploration of the

domain of VP on various populations could effectively shed light on the nature of the

phenomenon and its relation to Interfaces: anti-causative/passive and reflexive

readings attributed derive from a syntactically-constrained derivation interfacing with

the morphological component, lexical-semantic information attached to the verb entry

and extra-clausal pragmatic and encyclopeadic information (Tsimpli, 2006). It thus

opens up a number of distinct investigations with respect to different interfaces

involved and different populations known to show strengths and weaknesses in some

of these interfaces.

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Appendices

APPENDICES

372

Appendix I

The experimental sentences of the on-line SPR and AJ Task

(ACT-NACT)

Version 1 Voice Non-Alternating Anti-causatives (Class I)

1. (a) I mathitria eklise afu teljosan I dhiagonismi.

The student close- ACT. 3 Sg. after finish-PAST. 3Pl the exams

“The student closed after the end of the exams.”

(b) I porta eklise afu teljosan I dhiagonismi.

The door close- ACT. 3 Sg. after finish-PAST. 3Pl the exams

“The door closed after the end of the exams.”

(c) I mathitria klistike afu teljosan I dhiagonismi.

The student close- NACT. 3 Sg. after finish-PAST. 3Pl the exams

“The student was closed after the end of the exams.”

(d) I porta klistike afu teljosan I dhiagonismi.

The door close- NACT. 3 Sg. after finish-PAST. 3Pl the exams

“The door was closed after the end of the exams.”

2. (a) I kori lijise prin o iljos dhisi

The daughter bend-ACT. 3 Sg. before the sun set-PRES. 3Sg

“The daughter bent before the sun set.”

(b) To kladhi lijise prin o iljos dhisi

The branch bend- ACT. 3 Sg. before the sun set-PRES. 3Sg

“The branch bent before the sun set.”

(c) I kori lijistike prin o iljos dhisi

The daughter bend- NACT. 3 Sg. before the sun set-PRES. 3Sg

“The daughter was bent before the sun set.”

(d) To kladhi lijistike prin o iljos dhisi

The branch bend- NACT. 3 Sg. before the sun set-PRES. 3Sg

“The branch was bent before the sun set.”

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373

3. (a) To koritsi ejire prin erthi I epitropi.

The girl lean- ACT. 3 Sg. before come-PRES. 3Sg the committee

“The girl leaned before the committee arrived.”

(b) To dhentro ejire prin erthi I epitropi.

The tree lean- ACT. 3 Sg. before come-PRES. 3Sg the committee

“The tree bowed before the committee arrived.”

(c) O koritsi jernete prin erthi I epitropi.

The girl lean- NACT. 3 Sg. before come-PRES. 3Sg the committee

“The girl is being leaned before the committee arrives.”

(d) O dhentro jernete prin erthi I epitropi.

The tree lean- NACT. 3 Sg. before come-PRES. 3Sg the committee

“The tree is being bowed before the committee arrives.”

4. (a) To eggoni stegnose an ke itan poli vregmeno.

The grandchild dry-ACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very wet

“The grandchild dried although it was very wet.”

(b) To pandeloni stegnose an ke itan poli vregmeno.

The trousers dry- ACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very wet

“The trousers dried although they were very wet.”

(c) To eggoni stegnothike an ke itan poli vregmeno.

The grandchild dry- NACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very wet

“The grandchild was dried although it was very wet.”

(d) To pandeloni stegnothike an ke itan poli vregmeno.

The trousers dry- NACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very wet

“The trousers were dried although they were very wet.”

5. (a) To pedhi eljose horis na to katalavo

The kid melt-ACT.3Sg without it understand-PRES.1Sg

“The kid melted before I knew.”

(b) To keri eljose horis na to katalavo

The candle-ACT.3Sg without it understand-PRES.1Sg

“The candle melted before I knew.”

(c) To pedhi ljonete horis na to katalavo

APPENDICES

374

The kid melt-NACT.3Sg without it understand-PRES.1Sg

“The kid is being melted before I know.”

(e) To keri ljonete horis na to katalavo

The candle melt-NACT. 3Sg without it understand-PRES. 1Sg

“The candle is being melted before I know.”

6. (a) O ergatis evrase prin pame sto saloni.

The worker boil- NACT.3Sg. before go-PAST.3Pl to the living room

“The worker boiled before we went to the living room.”

(b) O kafes evrase prin pame sto saloni.

The coffee boil- ACT.3Sg. before go-PAST.3Pl to the living room

“The coffee boiled before we went to the living room.”

(c) O ergatis vrazete prin pame sto saloni.

The worker boil- NACT.3Sg. before go-PAST.3Pl to the living room

“The worker is being boiled before we went to the living room.”

(d) O kafes vrazete prin pame sto saloni.

The coffee boil- NACT.3Sg. before go-PAST.3Pl to the living room

“The coffee is being boiled before we went to the living room.”

7. (a) O nearos sapise prin arhisun I zestes.

The young man rot- ACT.3Sg. before start-PRES.3Pl the warmths

“The young man decomposed before the big heat.”

(b) To fruto sapise prin arhisun I zestes.

The fruit got rot - ACT.3Sg. before start-PRES.3Pl the warmths

“The fruit got rot before the big heat.”

(c) O nearos sapizete prin arhisun I zestes.

The young man rot - NACT.3Sg. before star-PRES.3Pl the warmths

“The young man is being decomposed before the big heat.”

(d) To fruto sapizete prin arhisun I zestes.

The fruit rot - NACT.3Sg. before start-PRES.3Pl the warmths

“The fruit is being rotten before the big heat.”

APPENDICES

375

Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II)

8. (a) O komotis berdhepse eno to htenisma telione.

The hairdresser mingle- ACT.3Sg. while the hairdressing finish-PAST.3Sg

“The hairdresser got mixed up while the hairdressing was almost finished.”

(b) O kotsos berdhepse eno to htenisma telione.

The ban mingle- ACT.3Sg. while the hairstyle finish-PAST.3Sg

“The ball got mixed up while the hairdressing was almost finished.”

(c) O komotis berdheftike eno to htenisma telione.

The hairdresser mingle- NACT.3Sg. while the hairstyle finish-PAST.3Sg

“The student got mixed up while the hairdressing was almost finished.”

(d) O kotsos berdheftike eno to htenisma telione.

The ban mingle- NACT.3Sg. while the hairstyle finish-PAST.3Sg

“The ban was mixed up while the hairdressing was almost finished.”

9. (a) To aghori tsalakose afu irthan I kalezmeni.

The boy crumple- ACT.3Sg. after come-PAST.3Pl the guests

“The boy crumpled after the guests arrived.”

(b) To ifasma tsalakose afu irthan I kalezmeni.

The cloth crumple- ACT.3Sg. after come-PAST.3Pl the guests

“The cloth crumpled after the guests arrived.”

(c) O aghori tsalakothike afu irthan I kalezmeni.

The boy crumple- NACT.3Sg. after come-PAST.3Pl the guests

“The boy was crumpled after the guests arrived.”

(d) O ifasma tsalakothike afu irthan I kalezmeni.

The cloth crumple- NACT.3Sg. after come-PAST.3Pl the guests

“The cloth was crumpled after the guests arrived.”

10. (a) I jineka lerose otan I jiorti teliose.

The woman spill- ACT.3Sg. when the party end-PAST.3Sg

“The woman spilled when the party was over.”

(b) To forema lerose otan I jiorti teliose.

The dress spill- ACT.3Sg. when the party end-PAST.3Sg

“The dress got spilled when the party was over.”

APPENDICES

376

(c) I jineka lerothike otan I jiorti teliose.

The woman spill- NACT.3Sg. when the party end-PAST.3Sg

“The woman was/got spilled when the party was over.”

(d) To forema lerothike otan I jiorti teliose.

The dress spill- NACT.3Sg. when the party end-PAST.3Sg

“The dress was spilled when the party was over.”

11. (a) O horeftis tendose an ke itan poli dhiskolo.

The dancer stretch- ACT.3Sg. although be- PAST.3Sg very difficult

“The dancer stretched although it was very difficult.”

(b) To lastiho tendose an ke itan poli dhiskolo.

The cord stretch- ACT.3Sg. although be -PAST.3Sg very difficult

“The cord stretched although it was very difficult.”

(c) O horeftis tendothike an ke itan poli dhiskolo.

The dancer stretch- NACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very difficult

“The dancer was stretched / stretched himself although it was very difficult.”

(d) To lastiho tendothike an ke itan poli dhiskolo.

The cord stretch- NACT.3Sg. although be -PAST.3Sg very difficult

“The cord got stretched although it was very difficult.”

12. (a) I modhistra tripise molis stamatisa na kitao.

The dressmaker pierce- ACT.3Sg. as soon as stop- PAST.1Sg to look

“The dressmaker pierced as soon as I stopped looking.”

(b) To ifasma tripise molis stamatisa na kitao.

The cloth pierce- ACT.3Sg. as soon as stop -PAST.1Sg to look

“The cloth (got) pierced as soon as I stopped looking.”

(c) I modhistra tripithike molis stamatisa na kitao.

The dressmaker pierce- NACT.3Sg. as soon as stop-PAST.1Sg to look

“The dressmaker got pierced / pierced herself as soon as I stopped looking.”

(d) To ifasma tripithike molis stamatisa na kitao.

The cloth pierce- NACT.3Sg. as soon as stop-PAST.1Sg to look

“The cloth got/was pierced as soon as I stopped looking.”

APPENDICES

377

13. (a) To aghori katharise an ke itan poli vromiko.

The boy clean- ACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The boy cleaned although it was very dirty.”

(b) To pukamiso katharise an ke itan poli vromiko.

The shirt clean- ACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The shirt (got) cleaned up although it was very dirty.”

(c) To aghori katharistike an ke itan poli vromiko.

The boy clean- NACT.3Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The boy was cleaned /cleaned himself up although it was very dirty.”

(d) To pukamiso katharistike an ke itan poli vromiko.

The shirt clean- NACT.3 Sg. although be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The shirt got/was cleaned up although it was very dirty.”

14. (a) I beba htipise an ke oli prosehame poli.

The baby girl hit- ACT.3 Sg. although all watch-PAST.1Pl a lot

“The baby girl hit though we were watching (her) carefully.”

(b) I kabana htipise an ke oli prosehame poli.

The bell hit- ACT.3Sg. although all watch-PAST.1Pl a lot

“The bell rung though we were watching it carefully.”

(c) I beba htipithike an ke oli prosehame poli.

The baby girl hit- NACT.3Sg. although all watch-PAST.1Pl a lot

“The baby girl was hurt though we were watching (her) carefully.”

(d) I kabana htipithike an ke oli prosehame poli.

The bell hit- NACT.3Sg. although all watch-PAST.1Pl a lot

“The bell was hit though we were watching it carefully.”

APPENDICES

378

Version 2 Voice Non-Alternating Anti-causatives (Class I)

15. (a) O jitonas eklise an ke emis dhe thelame.

The neighbor close- ACT.3Sg. although want-PAST.1Pl not

“The neighbor closed despite our will.”

(b) To parathiro eklise an ke emis dhe thelame.

The window close- ACT.3Sg. although want-PAST.1Pl not

“The window closed despite our will.”

(c) O jitonas klistike an ke emis dhe thelame.

The neighbor close- NACT.3Sg. although want-PAST.1Pl not

“The neighbor was closed despite our will.”

(d) To parathiro klistike an ke emis dhe thelame.

The window close- NACT.3Sg. although want-PAST.1Pl not

“The window was closed despite our will.”

16. (a) O fandaros lijise horis na prospathiso poli.

The soldier bend- ACT.3Sg. without try-PRES.1Sg much

“The soldier bent no effort needed.”

(b) I alisidha lijise horis na prospathiso poli.

The chain bend- ACT.3Sg. without try-PRES.1Sg much

“The chain bent no effort needed.”

(c) O fandaros lijistike horis na prospathiso poli.

The soldier bent- NACT.3Sg. without try-PRES.1Sg much

“The soldier was bent no effort needed.”

(d) I alisidha lijistike horis na prospathiso poli.

The chain bent- NACT.3Sg. without try-PRES.1Sg much

“The chain was bent no effort needed.”

17. (a) I neari ejire prin pesi I nihta.

The young girl lean- ACT.3Sg. before fall-PRES.3Sg the night

“The girl leaned before the night fell.”

(b) To luludhi ejire prin pesi I nihta..

The flower lean- ACT.3Sg. before fall-PRES.3Sg the night

APPENDICES

379

“The flower bowed before the night fell.”

(c) I neari jernete prin pesi I nihta..

The young girl lean-NACT.3Sg. before fall-PRES.3Sg the night

“The young girl is being leaned before the night falls.”

(d) To luludhi jernete prin pesi I nihta.

The flower lean- NACT.3Sg. before fall-PRES.3Sg the night

“The flower is being bowed before the night falls.”

18. (a) I ghata stegnose prin vji o iljos.

The cat dry-ACT.3Sg. before go-PRES.3Sg out the sun

“The cat dried before the sun came”

(b) I bluza stegnose prin vji o iljos.

The T-shirt dry- ACT.3Sg. before go-PRES.3Sg out the sun

“The T-shirt dried before the sun came”

(c) I ghata stegnothike prin vji o iljos.

The cat dry- NACT.3Sg. before go-PRES.3Sg out the sun

“The cat was dried before the sun came”

(d) I bluza stegnothike prin vji o iljos.

The T-shirt dry- NACT.3Sg. before go-PRES.3Sg out the sun

“The T-shirt was dried before the sun came”

19. (a) To aghori eljose an ke ehi poli krio.

The boy melt- ACT.3Sg. although have-PRES.3Sg very cold

“The boy melted although it is very cold.”

(b) To vutiro eljose an ke ehi poli krio.

The butter melt- ACT.3Sg. although have-PRES.3Sg very cold

“The butter melted although it is very cold.”

(c) To aghori ljonete an ke ehi poli krio.

The boy melt- NACT.3Sg. although have-PRES.3Sg very cold

“The boy is being melted although it is very cold.”

(d) To vutiro ljonete an ke ehi poli krio.

The butter melt- NACT.3Sg. although have-PRES.3Sg very cold

“The butter is being melted although it is very cold.”

APPENDICES

380

20. (a) To pedhi evrase prin ftasi o pateras.

The boy boil- NACT.3Sg. before arrive-PAST.3Sg the dud

“The boy boiled before dud arrived”

(b) To avgho evrase prin ftasi o pateras.

The egg boil- ACT.3Sg. before arrive-PAST.3Sg the dud

“The egg was ready before dud arrived”

(c) To pedhi vrazete prin ftasi o pateras.

The boy boil- NACT.3Sg. before arrive-PAST.3Sg the dud

“The boy is being boiled before dud arrives”

(d) To avgho vrazete prin ftasi o pateras.

The egg boil- NACT.3Sg. before arrive-PAST.3Sg the dud

“The egg is being cooked before dud arrives”

21. (a) O andras sapise prin analithun I eksetasis.

The man rot - ACT.3Sg before resolve-PRES.3Pl the exams

“The man decomposed before we got the results of the exams.”

(b) To kreas sapise prin analithun I eksetasis.

The meat rot - ACT.3Sg before resolve-PRES.3Pl the exams

“The meat got rotten before we got the results of the exams.”

(c) O andras sapizete prin analithun I eksetasis.

The man rot - NACT.3Sg. before resolve-PRES.3Pl the exams

“The man is being decomposed before we get the results of the exams.”

(d) To kreas sapizete prin analithun I eksetasis.

The meat rot - NACT.3Sg before resolve-PRES.3Pl the exams

“The meat is being decomposed before we get the results of the exams.”

APPENDICES

381

Voice Alternating Anti-causatives (Class II)

22. (a) O fititis berdhepse eno imun poli prosektiki.

The student mingle- ACT.3Sg. while be-PAST.1Sg very careful

“The student mixed up while I were very careful.”

(b) To kuvari berdhepse eno imun poli prosektiki.

The ball mingle- ACT.3Sg. while be -PAST.1Sg very careful

“The ball got mixed up while I were very careful.”

(c) O fititis berdheftike eno imun poli prosektiki.

The student mingle- NACT.3Sg. while be -PAST.1Sg very careful

“The student got mixed up while I were very careful.”

(d) To kuvari berdheftike eno imun poli prosektiki.

The ball mingle- NACT.3Sg. while be -PAST.1Sg very careful

“The ball got mixed up while I were very careful.”

23. (a) I kopela tsalakose otan epeze to radhio.

The girl crumple- ACT.3Sg. when play-PAST.3Sg the radio

“The girl crumpled while the radio was on.”

(b) I fusta tsalakose otan epeze to radhio.

The skirt crumple- ACT.3Sg. when play-PAST.3Sg the radio

“The skirt crumpled while the radio was on.”

(c) I kopela tsalakothike otan epeze to radhio.

The girl crumple- NACT.3Sg. when play-PAST.3Sg the radio

“The girl was crumpled while the radio was on.”

(d) I fusta tsalakothike otan epeze to radhio.

The skirt crumple- NACT.3Sg. when play-PAST.3Sg the radio

“The skirt was crumpled while the radio was on.”

24. (a) O athlitis lerose prin teliosi o aghonas.

The sportsman spill- ACT.3Sg. before end-PAST.3Sg the game

“The sportsman dirtied before the end of the game.”

(b) I fanela lerose prin teliosi o aghonas.

The T-shirt spill- ACT.3Sg. before end-PAST.3Sg the game

“The T-shirt got dirty before the end of the game.”

APPENDICES

382

(c) O athlitis lerothike prin teliosi o aghonas.

The sportsman spill- NACT.3Sg. before end-PAST.3Sg the game

“The sportsman got/was dirty before the end of the game.”

(d) I fanela lerothike prin teliosi o aghonas.

The T-shirt spill- NACT.3Sg. before end-PAST.3Sg the game

“The T-shirt got dirty before the end of the game.”

25. (a) O papus tendose otan bike I mitera.

The grandfather stretch- ACT.3Sg. when enter- PAST.3Sg the mother

“The grandfather stretched when mother got into the room.”

(b) To shini tendose otan bike I mitera.

The cord stretch- ACT.3Sg. when enter- PAST.3Sg the mother

“The cord stretched when mother got into the room.”

(c) O papus tendothike otan bike I mitera.

The grandfather stretch- NACT.3Sg. when enter- PAST.3Sg the mother

“The grandfather stretched himself when mother got into the room.”

(d) To shini tendothike otan bike I mitera..

The cord stretch- NACT.3Sg. when enter-PAST.3Sg the mother

“The cord got/was stretched when mother got into the room.”

26. (a) I nosokoma tripise prin jini I eghirisi.

The nurse pierce- ACT.3Sg. before become- PAST.3Sg the surgery

“The nurse pierced before the end of the surgery.”

(b) To sendoni tripise prin jini I eghirisi.

The sheet pierce- ACT.3Sg. before become – PAST.3Sg the surgery

“The sheet (got) pierced before the end of the surgery.”

(c) I nosokoma tripithike prin jini I eghirisi.

The nurse pierce- NACT.3Sg. before become - PAST.3Sg the surgery

“The nurse got pierced/pierced herself before the end of the surgery.”

(d) To sendoni tripithike prin jini I eghirisi.

The sheet pierce- NACT.3Sg. before become - PAST.3Sg the surgery

“The sheet was/got pierced before the end of the surgery.”

APPENDICES

383

27. (a) I kiria katharise kathos itan poli vromiki.

The lady clean- ACT.3Sg. since be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The lady cleaned as (she) was very dirty.”

(b) I kurtina katharise kathos itan poli vromiki.

The curtain clean- ACT.3Sg. since be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The curtain (got) cleaned up as it was very dirty.”

(c) I kiria katharistike kathos itan poli vromiki.

The lady clean- NACT.3Sg. since be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The lady was cleaned / cleaned herself up as (she) was very dirty.”

(d) I kurtina katharistike kathos itan poli vromiki.

The curtain clean- NACT.3Sg. since be-PAST.3Sg very dirty

“The curtain was/got cleaned up as it was very dirty.”

28. (a) To moro htipise horis na to thelo.

The baby hit- ACT.3Sg. without it want-PRES.1Sg

“The baby hit by accident.”

(b) To kudhuni htipise horis na to thelo.

The bell hit- ACT.3Sg. without it want-PRES.1Sg

“The bell rung by accident”

(c) To moro htipithike horis na to thelo.

The baby hit- NACT.3Sg. without it want-PRES.1Sg

“The baby was hurt by accident.”

(d) To kudhuni htipithike horis na to thelo.

The bell hit- NACT.3Sg. without it want-PRES.1Sg

“The bell was hit by accident.”

APPENDICES

384

Appendix II The SPM task: The test sentences

(I) Voice Non-alternating (ACT) anti-causative verbs

1. To klidhi spai (S1)

The key break-ACT.3Sg

‘The key breaks something / breaks (accidentally) / is broken by someone else’

2. To dhentro lijizi (S2)

The tree bend-ACT.3Sg

‘The tree bends something / bends (accidentally) / is bent by someone else’

3. To keri ljoni (S3)

The candle melt-ACT.3Sg

‘The candle melts something / melts (accidentally) / is melted by someone else’

4. I porta klini (S4)

The door close-ACT.3Sg

‘The door closes something / closes (accidentally) /is closed by someone else’

5. To pani stegnoni (S5)

The cloth dry-ACT.3Sg

‘The cloth dries something / dries (accidentally) / is dried by someone else)’

(II) Voice Alternating anti-causative verbs

(a) 1. To trapezi htipai (S6)

The table hit-ACT.3Sg

‘The table hits something / is hit (accidentally /by someone else)’

2. I karekla dhiploni (S8)

The chair fold-ACT.3Sg

‘The chair folds something / is folded (accidentally /by someone else)’

3. I kaltsa leroni (S9)

The sock spill-ACT.3Sg

‘The sock spills something /is spilled (accidentally /by someone else)’

4. I bala tripai (S10)

The ball pierce-ACT.3Sg

‘The ball pierces something / is pierced (accidentally /by someone else)’

APPENDICES

385

5. To shini tendoni (S7)

The cord strech-ACT.3Sg

‘The cord stretches something / is stretched (accidentally /by someone else)’

(b) 1. I kaltsa leronete (S11)

The sock spill-NACT.3Sg

‘The sock is spilled (accidentally /by someone else)’

2. I bala tripiete (S12)

The ball pierce-NACT.3Sg

‘The ball is pierced (accidentally /by someone else)’

3. To shini tendonete (S13)

The cord strech-NACT.3Sg

‘The cord is stretched (accidentally /by someone else)’

4. I karekla dhiplonete (S14)

The chair fold-NACT.3Sg

‘The chair is folded (accidentally /by someone else)’

5. To trapezi htipiete (S15)

The table hit-NACT.3Sg

‘The table is hit (accidentally /by someone else)’

(c) 1. To koritsi htipiete (S16)

The girl hit-NACT.3Sg

‘The girl hits herself / is hit (accidentally /by someone else)’

2. To pedhi dhiplonete (S17)

The boy fold-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy folds himself / is folded (accidentally /by someone else)’

3. To pedhi leronete (S18)

The father spill-NACT.3Sg

‘Father spills himself / is spilled (accidentally /by someone else)’

4. O miki tripiete (S19)

The Mickey pierce-NACT.3Sg

‘Mickey pierces himself / is pierced (accidentally /by someone else)’

5. To pedhi tendonete (S20)

The boy strech-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy stretches himself / is stretched (accidentally /by someone else)’

APPENDICES

386

(III) Reflexive verbs

(a) 1. To pedhi skupizete (S21)

The boy wipe-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy wipes himself / is wiped by someone else’

2. To pedhi dinete (S22)

The boy dress-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy dresses himself / is dressed by someone else’

3. O babas ksirizete (S23)

The father shave-NACT.3Sg

‘Father shaves himself / is shaved by someone else’

4. To pedhi plenete (S24)

The boy wash-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy washes himself / is washed by someone else’

5. To koritsi htenizete (S25)

The girl comb-NACT.3Sg

‘The girl combs herself / is combed by someone else’

(b) 1. To pedhi pleni (S26)

The boy wash-ACT.3Sg

‘The boy washes someone else’

2. To koritsi htenizi (S27)

The girl comb-ACT.3Sg

‘The girl combs someone else’

3. To pedhi skupizi (S28)

The boy wipe-ACT.3Sg

‘The boy wipes someone else’

4. O babas ksirizi (S29)

The father shave-ACT.3Sg

‘Father shaves someone else’

5. To pedhi dini (S30)

The boy dress-ACT.3Sg

‘The boy dresses someone else’

APPENDICES

387

(IV) NACT activity predicates

(a) 1. To pedhi krivete (S31)

The boy hide-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy hides himself / is hidden (accidentally /by someone else)’

2. To pedhi vafete (S32)

The boy paint-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy paints himself / is painted (accidentally /by someone else)’

3. O kirios vrehet (S33)

The man wet-NACT.3Sg

‘The man wets himself / is wet (accidentally /by someone else)’

4. I nifi stolizet (S34)

The bride decorate-NACT.3Sg

‘Mickey decorates herself / is decorated (accidentally /by someone else)’

5. To pedhi metaferete (S35)

The boy transfer-NACT.3Sg

‘The boy transfers himself / is transferred (accidentally /by someone else)’

(b) 1. I obrela vrehete (S36)

The umbrella wet-NACT.3Sg

‘The umbrella is wet (accidentally /by someone else)’

2. To dhentro stolizete (S37)

The tree decorate-NACT.3Sg

‘The tree is decorated (accidentally /by someone else)’

3. I ammos metaferete (S38)

The sand transfer-NACT.3Sg

‘The sand is transferred (accidentally /by someone else)’

4. To kuti krivet (S39)

The box hide-NACT.3Sg

‘The box is hidden (accidentally /by someone else)’

5. I porta vafete (S40)

The door paint-NACT.3Sg

‘The door is painted (accidentally /by someone else)’

APPENDICES

388

Appendix III Examples that illustrate all possible interpretations offered in the

SPM Task, in utterances drawn from the ILSP and Web corpora.

(I) Voice non-alternating (ACT) anti-causative verbs

(i)Anti-causative: Η πόρτα έκλεισε µε πάταγο πίσω από την πλάτη του παραιτηµένου

προπονητή.

‘The door shut with a bung behind the resigned coach’. (ILSP: 84869)

(ii) Passive: Το 40% έχει απολυθεί, το 5, 5% κατέστη άνεργο γιατί έκλεισε η

επιχείρηση στην οποία δούλεψε, ένα 9% έφυγε από τη δουλειά του γιατί δεν τον

ικανοποιούσε, το 5,5% ήταν απασχολούµενοι µε σύµβαση ορισµένου χρόνου και,

τέλος,[…].

‘40% was fired, 5.5% was out of work because the enterprise where he was

employed closed, 9% left his job because it didn’t satisfy them, 5.5% worked with

a specific time contract, and finally… (ILSP: 105838)

(iii) Transitive: Θεωρούµε ότι η απάντηση που δώσαµε χθες κλείνει το θέµα.

‘We believe that the answer we gave yesterday closes the matter’. (ILSP: 138107)

(II) Voice Alternating anti-causative verbs

(a) (i) Anti-causative: Σχέσεις που φέρνουν στην επιφάνεια το πρόβληµα της µητέρας

(είναι ναρκοµανής), αλλά και τους φόβους του γιου της, ιδιαίτερα όταν η µικρότερη

αδελφή του τρυπιέται κατά λάθος από τη βελόνα των ναρκωτικών της µητέρας.

‘Relationships that bring to light the mother’s problem (she is a drug-addict), as

well as her son’s fears, especially when the little sister pierces herself accidentally

with the mother’s drug needle’.

(ILSP: 1300081)

(ii) Passive: Το πιο τροµερό ήταν όµως οι ενδείξεις για το τι είχαν υποστεί οι

άνθρωποι στους οποίους ανήκαν αυτοί οι σκελετοί: είχαν τρυπηθεί από λόγχες, τα

πρόσωπά τους είχαν συνθλιβεί από κοντάκια όπλων και τα σαγόνια τους είχαν

σπάσει.

APPENDICES

389

‘The most terrible thing was the indices of what had happened to these people of

whom these skeletons were: They had been pierced with spears, their faces had

been crashed with butts and their jaws were broken’. (ILSP: 786133)

(iii) Reflexive: «Και αν ακόµη βρέθηκαν ναρκωτικές ουσίες στο αίµα του, δεν

πιστεύω ότι µόνος του τρυπήθηκε - τον σκότωσαν», µου είπε, και πάλι χθες, άλλος

εξάδελφός του, εδώ στην Ελλάδα, που δεν επιθυµεί να αναφέρουµε το όνοµά του.

‘“Even if drugs were found in his blood, I don’t believe that he pierced himself –

they killed him”, told me, yesterday again, another cousin of his, here in Greece,

who does not wish us to refer to his name.’ (ILSP: 1324680)

(a) (i) Anti-causative: Ήξερε πως δεν έπρεπε να κλαίει µπροστά στο παιδί, µα δεν

µπορούσε να µη νιώθει συγκίνηση. - Εγώ, άµα θα µεγαλώσω, θα πάω να τον βρω

όπου κι αν είναι, δήλωσε σοβαρά-σοβαρά ο Σταύρος. - ∆εν πρέπει να πας εσύ εκεί

που πάει αυτός, γιατί ο δρόµος του είναι γεµάτος αγκάθια και τριβόλια, και τα

µικρά σου ποδαράκια µπορεί να τρυπηθούν και να µατώσουν, του εξήγησε όσο

µπορούσε πιο φυσικά για να µην καταλάβει τι εννοούσε µε τα λόγια της.

‘She knew that she shouldn’t cry in front of the kid, but she couldn’t stay

untouched. –I, when I grow up, I’ll go find him, wherever he is, stated Stavros in a

serious tone. –You mustn’t go where he goes, because the road is full of thorns

and caltrops, and your little feet may get pierced and bleed, she explained as

naturally as she could, so as that he wouldn’t understand what she really meant.

(ILSP: 269217)

(ii) Passive: Ένα σχέδιο µπορεί να είναι έτοιµο σε ένα τέταρτο ή και σε έναν χρόνο -

µετά δηλαδή από συνεχείς επισκέψεις που χρειάζονται για να "τρυπηθεί", π.χ.,

ολόκληρη η πλάτη.

‘A project may get ready in a quarter or in a year –i.e. after several sessions which

are needed in order to get for example all the back pierced’. (ILSP: 883451)

(iii) Transitive: (Impossible) ungrammatical reading

(a) (i) Anti-causative: Τα δυο λάστιχα του αυτοκινήτου τρύπησαν από τα γυαλιά.

‘Both of the car’s tires were pierced by glasses’. (ILSP: 1607214)

(ii) Passive: Για να τρυπήσει το έλασµα σηκώστε το µοχλό προς το µέρος σας, και

για να βγει ο διατρητήρας από τη τρύπα ξαναγυρίστε το µοχλό στην αρχική του

θέση.

APPENDICES

390

‘In order to have the foil pierced, lift the stick up to your side, and in order to get

the key punch out of the whole, turn the stick back to its initial position’. (ILSP:

372256)

(iii) Transitive: Πρωί-Πρωί, ακόµα δεν είχα ξυπνήσει, και ένας φοβερός θόρυβος

τρύπαγε τα τύµπανα των αυτιών µου!

‘Early in the morning, before I was even awake, a terrible noise pierced my ears’.

(ILSP: 7334)

(III) Reflexive verbs

(a) (i) Reflexive: Αντίθετα, εκείνος σοβάρεψε κι έπαψε να χτενίζεται και ν' αλλάζει

ρούχα.

‘On the contrary, he got serious and stopped combing his hair and changing

clothes’.

(ILSP: 1742611)

(ii) Transitive: (Impossible) ungrammatical reading

(iii) Passive: Παίρνετε βαθιά ανάσα και περιεργάζεστε τις γριές που χτενίζονται

ακριβώς µπροστά σας[…] Ένα περίεργο πράγµα συµβαίνει µε τα κοµµωτήρια, πολύ

κουτσοµπολιό βρε…

‘You take a deep breath and watch old women having their hair done right in front

of you […] Something odd happens in hair dressers places, much gossip…

(Web Corpus: www.18-24.gr/modules.php?name+News&file=article&sid=37)

(b) The same set of pictures was used to control an utterance with a verb in ACT

where the only possible reading is the transitive.

(i) Transitive: Χτένιζε τα µαλλιά της αλογοουρά.

‘She combed her hair in ponytail. (ILSP: 1061555)

(IV) NACT activity predicates

(a) (i) Anti-causative: KATΑ ΒΑΘΟς, πίσω από το ατρόµητο, τάχα, προσωπείο του

«αδιάφθορου ερευνητή», κρύβεται ένα πολύ φοβισµένο ανθρωπάκι.

‘DEEP INSIDE, behind the fearless face of the ‘incorruptible researcher’, a

frightened person is hidden’. (ILSP: 1613341)

(ii) Passive: Σε θρίλερ, µε πρωταγωνιστές που δεν κατονοµάστηκαν αλλά

«κρύφτηκαν» πίσω από το γνωστό τίτλο «διαπλεκόµενα», µε καταγγελίες για τη

APPENDICES

391

µετατροπή της Ελλάδας, από την κυβέρνηση, σε χώρα του τζόγου, αλλά και µε

απειλές ακόµη και για παραποµπές στο Ειδικό ∆ικαστήριο, εξελίχθηκε η συζήτηση

διάταξης του φορολογικού νοµοσχεδίου που η Ν.∆. θεώρησε ότι αφορά το

βιντεολόττο και η κυβέρνηση διέρρηξε τα ιµάτιά της περί του αντιθέτου, χωρίς να

απαντήσει στην ουσία του θέµατος.

‘A horror film, with leading actors people who were not named but “hidden”

behind the well known title of “conflicting interests” with charges concerning the

transformation of Greece, by the Government, to a country of gamble, as well as

with threats even of committal to the Special Court, turned out to be the discussion

on the taxation bill, which the Party of ‘Nea Dimokratia’ thought relevant to

‘videolotto’ while the Government fought for the contrary, without really replying

to the matter.

(ILSP: 1664415)

(iii) Reflexive: Με το αυτοκίνητό του, µια µπλε BMW, έκλεισε το δρόµο στο

αυτοκίνητο της Παναγιώτας και κρύφτηκε πίσω από τους θάµνους.

‘He blocked the way to Panayota’s car with his car, a blue BMW, and hid behind

the bushes’. (ILSP: 599998)

(b) (i) Anti-causative: Το µικρό αυτοκίνητο στάθηκε µπροστά στο περίπτερο και

κρύφτηκε εντελώς.

The small car stood in front of the kiosk and got completely hidden’. (ILSP:

1052806)

(ii) Passive: Μήπως λησµόνησε η κυβέρνηση ότι το σκάνδαλο Κοσκωτά κρύφτηκε

πίσω από το διαβόητο απόρρητο των τραπεζικών καταθέσεων;

‘Did the Government forget that the Koskotas’ scandal was hidden behind the

notorious deposits secrecy?’ (ILSP: 1204233)

(iii) Transitive (only in ACT): ∆ιασχίζουµε ανηφορικό παγωµένο τµήµα του, που

κρύβει άπειρες παγίδες.

‘We cross its uphill glassy part, which hides numerous traps.’ (ILSP: 245938)

APPENDICES

392

Appendix IV Some extractions of the ‘Web corpus’ The complete Google corpus used for this research as well as the data from the ILSP corpus are available from the webpage of the Language Development Lab, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: www.enl.auth.gr/langlab.

APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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APPENDICES

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