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WORD ORDER TYPOLOGY, LEXICAL GOVERNMENT, AND THE PREDICTION OF MULTIPLE, GRADED EFFECTS IN L2 WORD ORDER
Author(s) -
Zobl Helmut
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1986.tb00377.x
Subject(s) - word order , word (group theory) , linguistics , government (linguistics) , typology , complement (music) , natural language processing , order (exchange) , psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , sociology , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , finance , complementation , anthropology , economics , gene , phenotype
Lexical government refers to the relationship between a phrasal head and its complement. In this paper it is used to define a centre and periphery in word order typology. The direction of the government relation gives rise to two word order types. It is proposed that grammars in which the phrasal heads show a major split in their direction of government are more marked than those with a uniform direction. This framework serves to generate multiple, graded predictions about word order in non‐primary acquisition and the predictions are tested on a broad range of available L2 word order data. The investigation indicates that while L2 learners do have access to the defining principle, they may not be as successful as L1 learners in acquiring peripheral word order attributes and word orders with a split in the direction of government.