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

该项目旨在更好地理解自1500年以来英语中不同的非有限补语模式的发展，并致力于解释这些模式为什么以及如何以他们所做的方式通过口头词汇传播。具体而言，该项目通过假设充分性原则（Yang 2016）在决定儿童（早期）现代英语习得者能够形成的生产性概括方面起着至关重要的作用，将语言变化与语言习得联系起来。一个特定的谓语动词采用特定类型的补语的确切条件仍然是模糊的，我们建议，而不是绝对地反映语义因素，儿童获得的粗略概括是输入驱动的，并容忍一定数量的例外：历时发展随后涉及词汇扩散，以原则性的方式受到充分性原则的约束。在方法上，该项目将基于大型历史语料库；在这一时期，我们将特别关注联系，特别是从拉丁语和法语等语言中复制的新动词，因为这些动词可能在推动结构类型超过或低于生产力门槛方面发挥关键作用。这个项目的首要研究问题是：新型的非有限补语是否通过词汇扩散在1500年后的英语中传播？如果有，怎么做？

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?