LANGUAGE IN INDIA

PREDICATE COGNATE CONSTRUCTIONS IN UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR

C. U. C. Ugorji, Ph.D.

Preliminaries

The paper provides a description of cognate constructions occurring in grammatical predicates and proposes that such constructions be viewed essentially as semantic not syntactic operations. This position, which is endorsed by Chomsky1995, Marantz1995 among others, conceptualises "Language" as comprising "meaning" and "form" (Uwajeh1996, 2002). Our data are drawn from English, Edo and Igbo. Whereas English is spoken as the official language of Nigeria, the latter two are regional and national languages respectively. Edo is a minority language spoken in the western region, and Igbo is one of the most populous ethnolinguistc groups, occupying the east and parts of the Niger-Delta region. Both languages belong to the New Benue-Congo phylum (Williamson and Blench2000).

Introduction

David Crystal (1980) defines (predicate) COGNATE as a term applied to the description of some kinds of SYNTACTIC RELATIONS: a cognate object is one which has the same historical derivation as the VERB which governs it (or, more loosely) is SEMANTICALLY dependent upon the action of the verb.

For further explications, an examination of "grammatical objects" is needful as such is necessary in providing insight into other concepts such as "syntactic relations," "semantic dependence," and "phonological semblance" which follow later. The grammatical object is realised by as NP (a noun phrase) Brown and Miller (1980:230). This may be characterised by four grammatical features in active declarative constructions, namely, the object directly follows the verb; it is not in construction with a preposition; it can become the subject-matter of the corresponding passive sentence and it is an obligatory constituent with transitive verbs. Brown and Miller further state that the most clear-cut cases of objects are those constituents traditionally referred to as direct objects or affected objects. They, thus, adopt syntactic criteria in defining objects which are themselves semantically specified as "affected objects".

This is apparently what David crystal tries to capture as being "semantically dependent upon the action of the verb"; although his "syntactic relation" betrays a recognition for syntactic criteria, his definition fails to sustain it, as it slips into semantic criteria via a morphological note, not to undermine formal cognacy. "Syntactic relation" may be explained simply as Brown and Miller suggest by a frame.

Predicate Constructions

Traditionally, 'predicate' refers to 'a word or a group of words doing or saying something about the subject'. In other words, a 'subject' is the 'topic' of discussion and the predicate is the statement about the topic. Modern linguistics recognizes a predicate phrase to comprise a verb or a verb phrase among other phrases such as nominals and adjectivals (see Allerton1979). An object is then one member of a predicate construction.

Considering examples such as 'sing a song', 'run a race', etc., which Hartman and Stock (1972) suggest, cognate constructions comprise NPs usually morphologically derived from their verb forms or at least seem to be overt reflexes of historical derivations involving particular verbs in relation to particular nouns in the predicates whose morphological features appear 'copied' onto their relevant collocating nouns. We continue with discussions on morphological criteria in section 3. (Please see the printer-friendly version.)

Brown and Miller (1980) have classified them as 'range' nouns which should not be seen as objects of their verbs. If this is true, as we assume, it is another indication that cognate constructions are issues for semantics not syntactically explained. In summary then, 'predicate cognate constructions' refer to those constructions in the predicate which contain verbal heads whose form and meaning are copied onto their respective (nominal) complements.

Predicate Cognate Constructions: Types

Using three languages, English, Edo and Igbo, we propose three types: the 'completive' type which occurs in the three languages, the 'semantically bound type' and the verbal type. Consider the following data for English (some were suggested earlier):

sing a song
run a race
die a death
dream dreams
fight a good fight

They comprise V + NP structure with the form and meaning of the verb copied onto the NP, see earlier comments; and for Brown and Miller (1980) the NPs should not be seen as objects of their verbs but should be seen as merely complementing the sense initiated in their respective verbs. Further more, such NPs cannot become the subjects of their corresponding passive sentences and are not obligatory constituents with their verbs, neither do the constructions in which they occur pass the transitivity tests.

This is only a very brief summary of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Adverbials in Bangla - A Structural and Semantic Perspective | Mean Length Of Utterance and Syntactic Complexity
In the Speech of the Cerebral Palsied | Language of Corporate Dress In Cross-cultural Business Communication | The Impact of Bilinguality on
Pre-University Students in English Achievement in Musore, India | Prologue as a Technical Device in Amy Tan'S
THE JOY LUCK CLUB | Predicate Cognates Constructions in Universal Grammar | Abnormality and Nonverbal Communication | HOME PAGE OF MARCH 2007 ISSUE | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR