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Preferred argument structure in spoken French and Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

William J. Ashby  and
Paola Bentivoglio
William J. Ashby
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Paola Bentivoglio
Affiliation:
Universidad Central de Venezuela
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Abstract

This article uses the quantitative methodology of goldvarb to examine the variable distribution of lexical noun phrases representing core arguments of the verb in a corpus of spoken French and a corpus of spoken Spanish. It is shown that this distribution is not random, but instead conforms to a grammatically and pragmatically motivated pattern known as Preferred Argument Structure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 61 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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