Modelling lexical diffusion in syntax: non-finite complementation in Modern English

这个项目旨在更好地了解自1500年以来英语中非限定补语的不同模式的发展，致力于建立一个解释理论，解释为什么以及如何以这种方式在动词词汇中传播这些模式。具体地说，该项目将语言变化与语言习得联系起来，假设充分性原则在决定儿童(早期)现代英语习得者能够形成的产出性概括方面起着至关重要的作用。一个特定的矩阵动词使用特定类型的补语的确切条件仍然不清楚，我们认为，儿童获得的概括性概括不是绝对地反映语义因素，而是输入驱动的，并容忍一定数量的例外：历时发展涉及词汇扩散，受到充分性原则的原则性限制。在方法上，该项目将以大型历史语料库为基础；将特别注意接触，特别是整个时期从拉丁语和法语等语言中复制的新动词​，因为这些词可能在推动建筑类型超过或低于生产率门槛方面发挥关键作用。这个项目的首要研究问题是：新类型的非限定补语是否通过词汇扩散在1500后的英语中传播？如果是这样的话，是如何做到的呢？

This project aims to better understand the development of different patterns of non-finite complementation in English since 1500, working towards an explanatory theory of why and how these patterns diffused through the verbal lexicon in the way that they did. Concretely, the project links language change to language acquisition by hypothesizing that the Sufficiency Principle (Yang 2016) plays a crucial role in determining the productive generalizations that the child acquirer of (Early) Modern English is able to form. The precise conditions under which a particular matrix verb takes a particular type of complement remain obscure, and we propose that, rather than categorically reflecting semantic factors, the broad-brush generalizations that the child attains are input-driven and tolerate a certain number of exceptions: the diachronic developments then involve lexical diffusion, constrained in a principled way by the Sufficiency Principle. Methodologically the project will be based on large historical corpora; special attention will be paid to contact, specifically new verbs copied​ from languages such as Latin and French throughout the period, as these may play a key role in pushing construction types over or under the threshold of productivity. The overarching research question for this project is: Did new types of non-finite complementation spread in post-1500 English via lexical diffusion? If so, how?