| ROA: | 720 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Predicting the Dative Alternation |
| Authors: | Joan Bresnan |
| Comment: | co-authored by Joan Bresnan, Anna Cueni, Tatiana Nikitina, R. Harald Baayen |
| Length: | 35 |
| Abstract: | In this essay on the dative alternation we show that linguistic data are more probabilistic than has been recognized in theoretical syntax and that persistent questions about corpus syntactic studies of usage data can be addressed empirically by using modern statistical theory and modeling strategies. We develop a probabilistic model that can predict the choice of dative structures in spontaneous telephone conversations with 94% accuracy. We use the model to show that along with formal syntactic and semantic properties, animacy and discourse accessibility have an irreducible effect on dative syntax across written and spoken modalities, across verb senses, and across speakers, in the familiar pattern of harmonic alignment. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | Syntax |
| Article: | Version 1 |