Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German
Coordinated subjects often show variable number agreement with the finite verb, but linguistic approaches to this phenomenon have rarely been informed by systematically collected data. We report the results from three experiments investigating German speakers’ agreement preferences with complex subj...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/2/67 |
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| author | Claudia Felser Anna Jessen |
| author_facet | Claudia Felser Anna Jessen |
| author_sort | Claudia Felser |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coordinated subjects often show variable number agreement with the finite verb, but linguistic approaches to this phenomenon have rarely been informed by systematically collected data. We report the results from three experiments investigating German speakers’ agreement preferences with complex subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions <i>sowohl…als auch</i> (‘both…and’), <i>weder…noch</i> (‘neither…nor’) or <i>entweder…oder</i> (‘either…or’). We examine to what extent conjunction type and a conjunct’s relative proximity to the verb affect the acceptability and processibility of singular vs. plural agreement. Experiment 1 was an untimed acceptability rating task, Experiment 2 a timed sentence completion task, and Experiment 3 was a self-paced reading task. Taken together, our results show that number agreement with correlative coordination in German is primarily determined by a default constraint triggering plural agreement, which interacts with linear order and semantic factors. Semantic differences between conjunctions only affected speakers’ agreement preferences in the absence of processing pressure but not their initial agreement computation. The combined results from our offline and online experimental measures of German speakers’ agreement preferences suggest that the constraints under investigation do not only differ in their relative weighting but also in their relative timing during agreement computation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:37:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b4b2d007f5eb436db627a8cec8a526a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:37:55Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-b4b2d007f5eb436db627a8cec8a526a42023-11-21T14:09:26ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2021-04-01626710.3390/languages6020067Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in GermanClaudia Felser0Anna Jessen1Potsdam Research Institute for Multilingualism, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, GermanyPotsdam Research Institute for Multilingualism, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, GermanyCoordinated subjects often show variable number agreement with the finite verb, but linguistic approaches to this phenomenon have rarely been informed by systematically collected data. We report the results from three experiments investigating German speakers’ agreement preferences with complex subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions <i>sowohl…als auch</i> (‘both…and’), <i>weder…noch</i> (‘neither…nor’) or <i>entweder…oder</i> (‘either…or’). We examine to what extent conjunction type and a conjunct’s relative proximity to the verb affect the acceptability and processibility of singular vs. plural agreement. Experiment 1 was an untimed acceptability rating task, Experiment 2 a timed sentence completion task, and Experiment 3 was a self-paced reading task. Taken together, our results show that number agreement with correlative coordination in German is primarily determined by a default constraint triggering plural agreement, which interacts with linear order and semantic factors. Semantic differences between conjunctions only affected speakers’ agreement preferences in the absence of processing pressure but not their initial agreement computation. The combined results from our offline and online experimental measures of German speakers’ agreement preferences suggest that the constraints under investigation do not only differ in their relative weighting but also in their relative timing during agreement computation.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/2/67correlative coordinationsubject–verb agreementGerman |
| spellingShingle | Claudia Felser Anna Jessen Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German Languages correlative coordination subject–verb agreement German |
| title | Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German |
| title_full | Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German |
| title_fullStr | Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German |
| title_full_unstemmed | Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German |
| title_short | Correlative Coordination and Variable Subject–Verb Agreement in German |
| title_sort | correlative coordination and variable subject verb agreement in german |
| topic | correlative coordination subject–verb agreement German |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/2/67 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT claudiafelser correlativecoordinationandvariablesubjectverbagreementingerman AT annajessen correlativecoordinationandvariablesubjectverbagreementingerman |