Nadira Aljovic | University of Zenica (original) (raw)
Books by Nadira Aljovic
Non finite clauses in English 2nd edition, 2024
This book covers numerous aspects of structure and use of English gerunds, participles and infini... more This book covers numerous aspects of structure and use of English gerunds, participles and infinitives. The book clarifies English structures containing non-finite verbs and it will be particularly useful to foreign learners and students of English (grammar). Apart from this, it should prove useful for English teachers as a reference guide long after they studied English language/grammar. If you are a native speaker of Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian learning/studying English, the book provides you with useful contrastive comments comparing English non-finites with equivalent structures in your native language.
Papers by Nadira Aljovic
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, 2010
The present contribution studies the syntax of long- and short-form adjectives in Serbo-Croatian... more The present contribution studies the syntax of long- and short-form adjectives
in Serbo-Croatian. The discussion draws particularly on data from the Bosnian
variant that marks long- and short-forms by vowel-length and pitch-accent in
addition to inflectional suffixes. Based on evidence from ellipsis,
noun phrase-internal coordination and ordering of multiple adjectives, I propose
two different structures for attributive long- and short-form adjectives: attributive
long-form adjectives occupy the specifier of a functional projection dominating
NumP, while short-form attributive adjectives are adjoined to NumP. I also show that
this analysis contributes to explain the differences in agreement morphology
observed between long- and short-form adjectives. Finally, I propose to extend
the present analysis to German.
Ce numéro rassemble huit articles consacrés à la syntaxe de la définitude, c'est-à-dire aux c... more Ce numéro rassemble huit articles consacrés à la syntaxe de la définitude, c'est-à-dire aux corrélats morphosyntaxiques des propriétés sémantiques couramment regroupées sous l'étiquette "défini" (contrastant avec "indéfini"). L'un d'entre eux traite des conditions permettant l'interprétation "possessive", dite "inaliénable", de l'article défini, en français et en espagnol. Les autres études explorent diverses stratégies morphologiques et syntaxiques qui contribuent, à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur du groupe nominal, à l'identification des référents dans des langues avec et sans article : amwi (austro-asiatique), gbe (kwa), haïtien, lari (bantou), russe, serbo-croate, turc
In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remov... more In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remove the motivation for considering this process as optional. According to the view adopted here, clitics do not actually “climb”, they simply do not stay within domains incapable of hosting them (Lexical domain: vP/VP). Clitic climbing is not to be considered as a special case of clitic placement: whatever triggers clitic movement in a non-restructuring configuration, should trigger ‘clitic climbing’. Such account of the phenomenon allows for a unified theory of cliticization.
The book provides a detailed description of the structure and use of non-finite clauses in Englis... more The book provides a detailed description of the structure and use of non-finite clauses in English. Basic syntactic tools introduced can be helpful in achieving an understanding of syntactic structures in English, while contrastive comments and observations should prove useful for Bosnian (Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian) learners and students of English.
Cette these examine diverses questions afferant a la structure interne du groupe nominal serbo-cr... more Cette these examine diverses questions afferant a la structure interne du groupe nominal serbo-croate. Deux types de proprietes sont examinees : referentielles (definitude et specificite) et formelles : la syntaxe des adjectifs, l'origine de leur flexion longue ou courte, les proprietes morpho-syntaxiques du numeral et l'assignation du genitif de quantite, les contraintes aspectuelles sur la nominalisation des verbes, le statut du genitif adnominal. Les solutions envisagees font appel a l'analyse de la structure du groupe nominal connue sous le nom hypothese dp. L'examen des proprietes interpretatives et morphosyntaxiques des adjectifs epithetes, du numeral et des noms processifs en serbo-croate confirme que le domaine nominal peut etre analyse comme un syntagme complexe forme d'une projection lexicale (np) et de plusieurs projections fonctionnelles.
Slavic Languages in the Perspective of Formal Grammar
ABSTRACT
Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 2016
Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes, 2002
Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and p... more Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and production of L2. When such influence inhibits L2 production, it has been often referred to as interference or negative transfer (see Isurin 2005 among others). The present study is a report on a pilot survey with the aim of investigating whether cross-linguistic influence (CLI) or language transfer occurs when L2 is rendered into L1, i.e. to what extent L2 can influence production of L1. Fifteen translations from English into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian were examined (approx. 10500 words), done by 15 University of Zenica advanced (MA) students of English. The zero hypothesis was that the students' foreign language (English) would have certain influence on native language production and create instances of " language deviations from the norm " (see Weinreich 1966) in the students' native language (BCS), e.g. translating " visiting " in " The visiting Evlija Čelebi summarized (…) " as " gostujući " (appearing within " Gostujući Evlija Čelebija sažeo je(…) "). The primary objective has been to determine the linguistic categories in which instances of transfer occur, borrowing the taxonomy from Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008). The classification would serve as a starting point for the analysis of translations of a larger number of English texts, whereby it would be possible to identify those instances of lexical items, syntactic structures, morphological forms, etc. in the source language which are the most frequent triggers of language transfer in the target language. The translations can prove a fertile ground for such research. According to Hatim and Munday (2004) " translated language in general displays specific characteristics, known as universals of translation " , including the " law of interference – common ST lexical and syntactic patterns tend to be copied creating unusual patterns in TT ". In order to achieve the objective, the present study has two practical goals: the first is to find out which linguistic category/ies is/are most represented in the instances of transfer, and the other is to establish the ratio of negative transfer errors in all translation errors on the basis of a minute inspection of two individual translations.
Verbum, 2001
L'examen des variations de l'ordre des mots entre le demonstratif, le possessif et le num... more L'examen des variations de l'ordre des mots entre le demonstratif, le possessif et le numeral du serbo-croate me conduit a proposer que le numeral est la tete (Q) de la projection QP, qui peut se deplacer par dessus le demonstratif et le possessif (dans la tete D). Cette analyse favorise l'approche du genitif de quantite (GenQ) proposee par Leko (1997), selon laquelle seuls les numeraux tetes assignent le GenQ en serbo-croate ainsi qu'en russe. Toutefois, il semble que le GenQ en serbo-croate se propage dans le DP entier (a gauche et a droite du numeral), alors qu'en russe il n'est assigne qu'au complement du numeral (a sa droite).
Lingvistički vidici, 2005
In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remov... more In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remove the motivation for considering this process as optional.
According to the view adopted here, clitics do not actually “climb”, they simply do not stay within domains incapable of hosting them (Lexical domain: vP/VP). Clitic climbing is not to be considered as a special case of clitic placement: whatever triggers clitic movement in a non-restructuring configuration, should trigger ‘clitic climbing’. Such account of the phenomenon allows for a unified theory of cliticization.
Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta u Zenici. Filozofski fakultet Univerziteta u Zenici, Zenica., 2017
Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and p... more Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and production of L2. When such influence inhibits L2 production, it has been often referred to as interference or negative transfer (see Isurin 2005 among others). The present study is a report on a pilot survey with the aim of investigating whether cross-linguistic influence (CLI) or language transfer occurs when L2 is rendered into L1, i.e. to what extent L2 can influence production of L1. Fifteen translations from English into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian were examined (approx. 10500 words), done by 15 University of Zenica advanced (MA) students of English. The zero hypothesis was that the students' foreign language (English) would have certain influence on native language production and create instances of " language deviations from the norm " (see Weinreich 1966) in the students' native language (BCS), e.g. translating " visiting " in " The visiting Evlija Čelebi summarized (…) " as " gostujući " (appearing within " Gostujući Evlija Čelebija sažeo je(…) "). The primary objective has been to determine the linguistic categories in which instances of transfer occur, borrowing the taxonomy from Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008). The classification would serve as a starting point for the analysis of translations of a larger number of English texts, whereby it would be possible to identify those instances of lexical items, syntactic structures, morphological forms, etc. in the source language which are the most frequent triggers of language transfer in the target language. The translations can prove a fertile ground for such research. According to Hatim and Munday (2004) " translated language in general displays specific characteristics, known as universals of translation " , including the " law of interference – common ST lexical and syntactic patterns tend to be copied creating unusual patterns in TT ". In order to achieve the objective, the present study has two practical goals: the first is to find out which linguistic category/ies is/are most represented in the instances of transfer, and the other is to establish the ratio of negative transfer errors in all translation errors on the basis of a minute inspection of two individual translations.
In this paper we define and analyse morpho-syntactic properties of first conjunct agreement which... more In this paper we define and analyse morpho-syntactic properties of first conjunct agreement which arises when an adjective or verb agrees with the highest/first conjunct of a coordinate noun phrase. We derive this agreement pattern by means of the syntactic operation of Agree and a postsyntactic mechanism which acts as a filter on Vocabulary Insertion within the framework of Distributed Morphology. We call the filter Vocabulary Items Feature Harmony. It consists roughly in (phi-)feature identity between vocabulary items. Our bi-aspectual analysis, and especially the feature harmony, enables us to understand and account for gradable and variable acceptability of first conjunct agreement, as well as the distribution of this agreement pattern in relation to another agreement pattern, namely masculine plural agreement (with the coordinate phrase as a whole). The empirical domain of our investigation in this paper is confined to Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian first conjunct agreement but could be extrapolated to similiar cases in other languages.
Our main concern in this paper is to explain the interplay of syntactic and morphological mechani... more Our main concern in this paper is to explain the interplay of syntactic and morphological mechanisms allowing noun phrase internal first conjunct agreement. More precisely, we try to explain the complementarity of first conjunct agreement with plural agreement of a prenominal modifier of a coordinated noun phrase. We propose an account in terms of Agree where a Probe is able to establish agreeing relations with two Goals simultaneously. Assuming a hierarchical structure for nominal coordination with a shared modifier placed above the CoP, we propose that the AP probe selects the most (phi-feature) specified of two equally distant Goals (CoP and NP1) for the valuation of its own features. If the two coordinated nouns are of different Gender, NP1 will count as more specified than CoP (whose gender feature is not determined). This creates a feature bundle on AP with the same phi-values as those on NP1 (this is first conjunct agreement). Crucially, the agreeing relation with Goal1 is not ungrammatical but just overridden by agreement with a more specified feature set. Although the relation of Agree established in syntax accounts for the complementary alternation of plural vs. first conjunct agreement, it does not suffice to explain why the latter sometimes fails. We propose that these failures are due to a morphological factor – a preference for morphological harmony between the adjectival phi-features and those of the coordinated nouns. This harmony is disrupted when the two nouns have different phi-feature values (in Gender and/or Number). Since the harmony operates on postsyntactic structures, no " repair " mechanism is available at that point of the derivation and first conjunct agreement simply fails.
Ksenija Kondali i Faruk Bajraktarević (eds.) Critical and Comparative Perspectives on American Studies. , 2016
This paper examines negative concord and the behaviour of negative polarity items in African Amer... more This paper examines negative concord and the behaviour of negative polarity items in African American Vernacular English, often stigmatised by language purists as "English with mistakes" because of its negative concord. My primary objective is twofold: (1) to compare n-words in this dialect with n-words in Modern Standard English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, and (2) to compare the behaviour of negative polarity items in the three languages, especially those realized by n-words. The comparison aims at defining n-words in African American Vernacular English with respect to Progovac's (1994) typology of negative polarity items. The data examined show that n-words in African American Vernacular English do not pattern with n-words in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, although both function as negative polarity items. N-words in African American Vernacular English are not pure substitutes for Modern Standard English any-words (i.e. its negative polarity items), either. Rather, they seem to conform to another type of negative polarity items predicted by Progovac's model and appearing in Turkish, namely those licensed by negation and not obeying to strict locality conditions. Finally, two more properties of negative concord in African American Vernacular English will be presented, negative concord of verbs across clauses and negative inversion, which seem problematic and not easily accounted for by the negative-polarity-items oriented approach adopted by Progovac's (1994).
Key words: negative/positive polarity items, strict/non-strict negative concord, double negation, n-words, binding.
Non finite clauses in English 2nd edition, 2024
This book covers numerous aspects of structure and use of English gerunds, participles and infini... more This book covers numerous aspects of structure and use of English gerunds, participles and infinitives. The book clarifies English structures containing non-finite verbs and it will be particularly useful to foreign learners and students of English (grammar). Apart from this, it should prove useful for English teachers as a reference guide long after they studied English language/grammar. If you are a native speaker of Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian learning/studying English, the book provides you with useful contrastive comments comparing English non-finites with equivalent structures in your native language.
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, 2010
The present contribution studies the syntax of long- and short-form adjectives in Serbo-Croatian... more The present contribution studies the syntax of long- and short-form adjectives
in Serbo-Croatian. The discussion draws particularly on data from the Bosnian
variant that marks long- and short-forms by vowel-length and pitch-accent in
addition to inflectional suffixes. Based on evidence from ellipsis,
noun phrase-internal coordination and ordering of multiple adjectives, I propose
two different structures for attributive long- and short-form adjectives: attributive
long-form adjectives occupy the specifier of a functional projection dominating
NumP, while short-form attributive adjectives are adjoined to NumP. I also show that
this analysis contributes to explain the differences in agreement morphology
observed between long- and short-form adjectives. Finally, I propose to extend
the present analysis to German.
Ce numéro rassemble huit articles consacrés à la syntaxe de la définitude, c'est-à-dire aux c... more Ce numéro rassemble huit articles consacrés à la syntaxe de la définitude, c'est-à-dire aux corrélats morphosyntaxiques des propriétés sémantiques couramment regroupées sous l'étiquette "défini" (contrastant avec "indéfini"). L'un d'entre eux traite des conditions permettant l'interprétation "possessive", dite "inaliénable", de l'article défini, en français et en espagnol. Les autres études explorent diverses stratégies morphologiques et syntaxiques qui contribuent, à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur du groupe nominal, à l'identification des référents dans des langues avec et sans article : amwi (austro-asiatique), gbe (kwa), haïtien, lari (bantou), russe, serbo-croate, turc
In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remov... more In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remove the motivation for considering this process as optional. According to the view adopted here, clitics do not actually “climb”, they simply do not stay within domains incapable of hosting them (Lexical domain: vP/VP). Clitic climbing is not to be considered as a special case of clitic placement: whatever triggers clitic movement in a non-restructuring configuration, should trigger ‘clitic climbing’. Such account of the phenomenon allows for a unified theory of cliticization.
The book provides a detailed description of the structure and use of non-finite clauses in Englis... more The book provides a detailed description of the structure and use of non-finite clauses in English. Basic syntactic tools introduced can be helpful in achieving an understanding of syntactic structures in English, while contrastive comments and observations should prove useful for Bosnian (Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian) learners and students of English.
Cette these examine diverses questions afferant a la structure interne du groupe nominal serbo-cr... more Cette these examine diverses questions afferant a la structure interne du groupe nominal serbo-croate. Deux types de proprietes sont examinees : referentielles (definitude et specificite) et formelles : la syntaxe des adjectifs, l'origine de leur flexion longue ou courte, les proprietes morpho-syntaxiques du numeral et l'assignation du genitif de quantite, les contraintes aspectuelles sur la nominalisation des verbes, le statut du genitif adnominal. Les solutions envisagees font appel a l'analyse de la structure du groupe nominal connue sous le nom hypothese dp. L'examen des proprietes interpretatives et morphosyntaxiques des adjectifs epithetes, du numeral et des noms processifs en serbo-croate confirme que le domaine nominal peut etre analyse comme un syntagme complexe forme d'une projection lexicale (np) et de plusieurs projections fonctionnelles.
Slavic Languages in the Perspective of Formal Grammar
ABSTRACT
Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 2016
Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes, 2002
Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and p... more Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and production of L2. When such influence inhibits L2 production, it has been often referred to as interference or negative transfer (see Isurin 2005 among others). The present study is a report on a pilot survey with the aim of investigating whether cross-linguistic influence (CLI) or language transfer occurs when L2 is rendered into L1, i.e. to what extent L2 can influence production of L1. Fifteen translations from English into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian were examined (approx. 10500 words), done by 15 University of Zenica advanced (MA) students of English. The zero hypothesis was that the students' foreign language (English) would have certain influence on native language production and create instances of " language deviations from the norm " (see Weinreich 1966) in the students' native language (BCS), e.g. translating " visiting " in " The visiting Evlija Čelebi summarized (…) " as " gostujući " (appearing within " Gostujući Evlija Čelebija sažeo je(…) "). The primary objective has been to determine the linguistic categories in which instances of transfer occur, borrowing the taxonomy from Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008). The classification would serve as a starting point for the analysis of translations of a larger number of English texts, whereby it would be possible to identify those instances of lexical items, syntactic structures, morphological forms, etc. in the source language which are the most frequent triggers of language transfer in the target language. The translations can prove a fertile ground for such research. According to Hatim and Munday (2004) " translated language in general displays specific characteristics, known as universals of translation " , including the " law of interference – common ST lexical and syntactic patterns tend to be copied creating unusual patterns in TT ". In order to achieve the objective, the present study has two practical goals: the first is to find out which linguistic category/ies is/are most represented in the instances of transfer, and the other is to establish the ratio of negative transfer errors in all translation errors on the basis of a minute inspection of two individual translations.
Verbum, 2001
L'examen des variations de l'ordre des mots entre le demonstratif, le possessif et le num... more L'examen des variations de l'ordre des mots entre le demonstratif, le possessif et le numeral du serbo-croate me conduit a proposer que le numeral est la tete (Q) de la projection QP, qui peut se deplacer par dessus le demonstratif et le possessif (dans la tete D). Cette analyse favorise l'approche du genitif de quantite (GenQ) proposee par Leko (1997), selon laquelle seuls les numeraux tetes assignent le GenQ en serbo-croate ainsi qu'en russe. Toutefois, il semble que le GenQ en serbo-croate se propage dans le DP entier (a gauche et a droite du numeral), alors qu'en russe il n'est assigne qu'au complement du numeral (a sa droite).
Lingvistički vidici, 2005
In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remov... more In this paper I examine Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian clitic climbing and present arguments that remove the motivation for considering this process as optional.
According to the view adopted here, clitics do not actually “climb”, they simply do not stay within domains incapable of hosting them (Lexical domain: vP/VP). Clitic climbing is not to be considered as a special case of clitic placement: whatever triggers clitic movement in a non-restructuring configuration, should trigger ‘clitic climbing’. Such account of the phenomenon allows for a unified theory of cliticization.
Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta u Zenici. Filozofski fakultet Univerziteta u Zenici, Zenica., 2017
Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and p... more Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and production of L2. When such influence inhibits L2 production, it has been often referred to as interference or negative transfer (see Isurin 2005 among others). The present study is a report on a pilot survey with the aim of investigating whether cross-linguistic influence (CLI) or language transfer occurs when L2 is rendered into L1, i.e. to what extent L2 can influence production of L1. Fifteen translations from English into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian were examined (approx. 10500 words), done by 15 University of Zenica advanced (MA) students of English. The zero hypothesis was that the students' foreign language (English) would have certain influence on native language production and create instances of " language deviations from the norm " (see Weinreich 1966) in the students' native language (BCS), e.g. translating " visiting " in " The visiting Evlija Čelebi summarized (…) " as " gostujući " (appearing within " Gostujući Evlija Čelebija sažeo je(…) "). The primary objective has been to determine the linguistic categories in which instances of transfer occur, borrowing the taxonomy from Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008). The classification would serve as a starting point for the analysis of translations of a larger number of English texts, whereby it would be possible to identify those instances of lexical items, syntactic structures, morphological forms, etc. in the source language which are the most frequent triggers of language transfer in the target language. The translations can prove a fertile ground for such research. According to Hatim and Munday (2004) " translated language in general displays specific characteristics, known as universals of translation " , including the " law of interference – common ST lexical and syntactic patterns tend to be copied creating unusual patterns in TT ". In order to achieve the objective, the present study has two practical goals: the first is to find out which linguistic category/ies is/are most represented in the instances of transfer, and the other is to establish the ratio of negative transfer errors in all translation errors on the basis of a minute inspection of two individual translations.
In this paper we define and analyse morpho-syntactic properties of first conjunct agreement which... more In this paper we define and analyse morpho-syntactic properties of first conjunct agreement which arises when an adjective or verb agrees with the highest/first conjunct of a coordinate noun phrase. We derive this agreement pattern by means of the syntactic operation of Agree and a postsyntactic mechanism which acts as a filter on Vocabulary Insertion within the framework of Distributed Morphology. We call the filter Vocabulary Items Feature Harmony. It consists roughly in (phi-)feature identity between vocabulary items. Our bi-aspectual analysis, and especially the feature harmony, enables us to understand and account for gradable and variable acceptability of first conjunct agreement, as well as the distribution of this agreement pattern in relation to another agreement pattern, namely masculine plural agreement (with the coordinate phrase as a whole). The empirical domain of our investigation in this paper is confined to Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian first conjunct agreement but could be extrapolated to similiar cases in other languages.
Our main concern in this paper is to explain the interplay of syntactic and morphological mechani... more Our main concern in this paper is to explain the interplay of syntactic and morphological mechanisms allowing noun phrase internal first conjunct agreement. More precisely, we try to explain the complementarity of first conjunct agreement with plural agreement of a prenominal modifier of a coordinated noun phrase. We propose an account in terms of Agree where a Probe is able to establish agreeing relations with two Goals simultaneously. Assuming a hierarchical structure for nominal coordination with a shared modifier placed above the CoP, we propose that the AP probe selects the most (phi-feature) specified of two equally distant Goals (CoP and NP1) for the valuation of its own features. If the two coordinated nouns are of different Gender, NP1 will count as more specified than CoP (whose gender feature is not determined). This creates a feature bundle on AP with the same phi-values as those on NP1 (this is first conjunct agreement). Crucially, the agreeing relation with Goal1 is not ungrammatical but just overridden by agreement with a more specified feature set. Although the relation of Agree established in syntax accounts for the complementary alternation of plural vs. first conjunct agreement, it does not suffice to explain why the latter sometimes fails. We propose that these failures are due to a morphological factor – a preference for morphological harmony between the adjectival phi-features and those of the coordinated nouns. This harmony is disrupted when the two nouns have different phi-feature values (in Gender and/or Number). Since the harmony operates on postsyntactic structures, no " repair " mechanism is available at that point of the derivation and first conjunct agreement simply fails.
Ksenija Kondali i Faruk Bajraktarević (eds.) Critical and Comparative Perspectives on American Studies. , 2016
This paper examines negative concord and the behaviour of negative polarity items in African Amer... more This paper examines negative concord and the behaviour of negative polarity items in African American Vernacular English, often stigmatised by language purists as "English with mistakes" because of its negative concord. My primary objective is twofold: (1) to compare n-words in this dialect with n-words in Modern Standard English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, and (2) to compare the behaviour of negative polarity items in the three languages, especially those realized by n-words. The comparison aims at defining n-words in African American Vernacular English with respect to Progovac's (1994) typology of negative polarity items. The data examined show that n-words in African American Vernacular English do not pattern with n-words in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, although both function as negative polarity items. N-words in African American Vernacular English are not pure substitutes for Modern Standard English any-words (i.e. its negative polarity items), either. Rather, they seem to conform to another type of negative polarity items predicted by Progovac's model and appearing in Turkish, namely those licensed by negation and not obeying to strict locality conditions. Finally, two more properties of negative concord in African American Vernacular English will be presented, negative concord of verbs across clauses and negative inversion, which seem problematic and not easily accounted for by the negative-polarity-items oriented approach adopted by Progovac's (1994).
Key words: negative/positive polarity items, strict/non-strict negative concord, double negation, n-words, binding.
Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta u Zenici XII-2014, Dec 2014
U ovom radu cilj nam je da ispitamo aspekatske odlike neakuzativnih glagola u Engleskom jeziku, t... more U ovom radu cilj nam je da ispitamo aspekatske odlike neakuzativnih glagola u Engleskom jeziku, te da ih uporedimo sa neakuzativnim glagolima Bosanskog jezika. Bosanski neakuzativni glagoli (kao što su pasti, stići, uvenuti) uvijek su perfektivni te se stoga postavlja značajno pitanje: da li se radi o specifičnosti ovog jezika ili je perfektivnost univerzalna semantička odlika neakuzativnih glagola. Na primjeru Bosanskog i Engleskog jezika i kroz poređenje aspekatskih odlika njihovih glagola pokazaćemo da bi perfektivnost mogla biti univerzalno značenjsko obilježje tzv. neakuzativnih glagola.
The goal of this paper is to examine aspectual properties of English unaccusative verbs (such as fall, arrive, roll etc.) by comparing them with Bosnian unaccusatives (pasti, stići, uvenuti, etc.) which are always perfective. An interesting question is whether the perfectivity of Bosnian unaccusatives is language specific or a universal ingredient of unaccusative verbs crosslinguistically. Through a series of contexts, English verbs will be shown to be sensitive to perfective/imperfective distinction, although they are not able to show this distinction morphologically on the verbal stem. This will enable us to test unaccusatives against perfectivity in this language too, and eventually show that they possess the same type of perfective meaning as Bosnian unaccusatives.
Ključne riječi: neakuzativnost, neergativnost, aspekt, teličnost, kauzalnost, pomijeranje, argument predikata.
Key words: unaccusative, unergative, aspect, perfective, raising verbs, argument structure.
To which extent is cross-linguistic influence in form of negative transfer present in L1 translat... more To which extent is cross-linguistic influence in form of negative transfer present in L1 translations?
Which linguistic areas are most affected by negative transfer?
Book in preparation: Formal properties and function of non-finite clauses in English, with some ... more Book in preparation: Formal properties and function of non-finite clauses in English, with some contrastive (Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian) comments.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, 2000. University Paris 10.
Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and p... more Most language transfer studies focus on the influence that L1 may have on the comprehension and production of L2. When such influence inhibits L2 production, it has been often referred to as interference or negative transfer (see Isurin 2005 among others). The present study is a report on a pilot survey with the aim of investigating whether cross-linguistic influence (CLI) or language transfer occurs when L2 is rendered into L1, i.e. to what extent L2 can influence production of L1. Fifteen translations from English into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian were examined (approx. 10500 words), done by 15 University of Zenica advanced (MA) students of English. The zero hypothesis was that the students' foreign language (English) would have certain influence on native language production and create instances of " language deviations from the norm " (see Weinreich 1966) in the students' native language (BCS), e.g. translating " visiting " in " The visiting Evlija Čelebi summarized (…) " as " gostujući " (appearing within " Gostujući Evlija Čelebija sažeo je(…) "). The primary objective has been to determine the linguistic categories in which instances of transfer occur, borrowing the taxonomy from Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008). The classification would serve as a starting point for the analysis of translations of a larger number of English texts, whereby it would be possible to identify those instances of lexical items, syntactic structures, morphological forms, etc. in the source language which are the most frequent triggers of language transfer in the target language. The translations can prove a fertile ground for such research. According to Hatim and Munday (2004) " translated language in general displays specific characteristics, known as universals of translation " , including the " law of interference – common ST lexical and syntactic patterns tend to be copied creating unusual patterns in TT ". In order to achieve the objective, the present study has two practical goals: the first is to find out which linguistic category/ies is/are most represented in the instances of transfer, and the other is to establish the ratio of negative transfer errors in all translation errors on the basis of a minute inspection of two individual translations.