Movement in the Afrikaans left periphery: a view from anti-locality

Abstract

It has been convincingly argued that the so-called "left periphery" of the sentence makes available multiple positions which host topicalised and focalised phrases, among other elements. Projections in the C-domain have been shown to have a fixed ordering, the violation of which results in ungrammaticality. Rizzi (1997) provides a template that specifies this ordering. Botha and Oosthuizen (2009) examine this template's ability to account for ordering phenomena in the Afrikaans left periphery and make certain necessary adjustments to Rizzi's template to account for their data. This short paper takes Botha and Oosthuizen's observations regarding the (im)possibility of a certain ordering in the Afrikaans CP as a case in point. Broadly put, the paper's premise is that although the template provided for the Afrikaans CP may be descriptively adequate, in that it can accommodate and predict possible orderings, it falls short in that it does not account for why such a template should exist. That is, the template itself does not explain why certain orderings are permissible and others are not. It is the paper's modest aim to test the ability of one theoretical perspective, namely Grohmann's (2003) theory of anti-locality, to account for the illegality of a particular ordering in the Afrikaans CP. Antilocality's ban on 'too local' movement is shown to predict the illicitness of this ordering. Due to the paper's limited scope, the analysis is not extended to other constructions. Its aim is to prompt further efforts to account for the observed ordering in the CP domain, and it offers the theory of anti-locality as a possible starting point for these efforts.

Using self-paced reading in research with heritage speakers: a role for reading skill in the online processing of Spanish verb argument specifications

“…An L1 comparison group in Roberts and Felser (2011) failed to show the effect on either stimulus region. In addition, Berghoff (2020) observed a prolonged processing effect among a childhood L2 group, with longer reading times on two post-critical words (and no effect on the critical noun itself). The L1 group in that study also showed a prolonged effect over the same two stimulus regions as did the L2 group, although the numerically longer reading times were only marginally significant on the second post-critical word with the L1 group.…”

“…Another difference between that investigation and the present one was that the linguistic stimuli for that study manipulated the semantic plausibility of the post-verbal noun phrase as an object (e.g., As the men drank the song … versus As the men drank the beer …; Roberts and Felser, 2011 ) to create conflict with the processing principle of Late Closure, whereas the present study manipulated the transitivity of the verb. Berghoff (2020) compared the early Afrikaans-English bilinguals to late English-Afrikaans bilinguals and both groups showed the expected reading time increases on a post-verbal noun phrase that was implausible as a direct object of the verb versus a noun phrase that was a plausible object. In other words, they appeared to rapidly integrate verb argument specifications during online processing.…”

“…The present study examined a processing effect that is known to occur in both English and Spanish and which has been observed with both self-paced reading ( Berghoff, 2020 ) and eyetracking ( Staub, 2007 ). In sentences like (1) below, processing difficulty typically occurs on the first post-verbal noun phrase the veterinarian when the verb it follows is intransitive as in (1b), compared to when the verb is transitive as in (1a).…”

“…To our knowledge, no prior investigation has examined the verb transitivity effect targeted in the present study among heritage speakers, so it is not known whether they are sensitive to this type of information during online processing. There have been two related studies that included early bilinguals ( Berghoff, 2020 ; McCormick, 2020 ), but the target languages were not minoritized, so the participants were not heritage speakers. The first of these two prior investigations was Berghoff’s (2020) self-paced reading study, in which the bilingual participants were L1 Afrikaans speakers tested in their L2, English, in South Africa.…”

“…There have been two related studies that included early bilinguals ( Berghoff, 2020 ; McCormick, 2020 ), but the target languages were not minoritized, so the participants were not heritage speakers. The first of these two prior investigations was Berghoff’s (2020) self-paced reading study, in which the bilingual participants were L1 Afrikaans speakers tested in their L2, English, in South Africa. Another difference between that investigation and the present one was that the linguistic stimuli for that study manipulated the semantic plausibility of the post-verbal noun phrase as an object (e.g., As the men drank the song … versus As the men drank the beer …; Roberts and Felser, 2011 ) to create conflict with the processing principle of Late Closure, whereas the present study manipulated the transitivity of the verb.…”