{"title":"An acceptability study of triadic constructions in Hong Kong Cantonese","authors":"Angel Man-Shan Tong , Albert Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103749","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper investigates age-graded variation in the use of the Inverted Double Object Construction (IDOC) in Hong Kong Cantonese. IDOC is unique because it is currently only attested in Cantonese, not in Mandarin or English, and its grammaticality is determined by prosodic factors rather than purely syntactic ones; however, its use is now declining. We conducted a web-based acceptability task using audio stimuli that contrasted different types of direct objects (DO) and indirect objects (IO), and the presence or absence of a pause between DO and IO. The effect of age was also analysed. Participants were asked to rate test sentences produced with neutral focus intonation on a Likert scale. Our results showed that the acceptability of IDOC was determined by (i) the prosodic weight of IO; (ii) the relative prominence of DO and IO; (iii) the presence of a pause; and (iv) listeners’ age.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"307 ","pages":"Article 103749"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Lingua","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384124000780","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper investigates age-graded variation in the use of the Inverted Double Object Construction (IDOC) in Hong Kong Cantonese. IDOC is unique because it is currently only attested in Cantonese, not in Mandarin or English, and its grammaticality is determined by prosodic factors rather than purely syntactic ones; however, its use is now declining. We conducted a web-based acceptability task using audio stimuli that contrasted different types of direct objects (DO) and indirect objects (IO), and the presence or absence of a pause between DO and IO. The effect of age was also analysed. Participants were asked to rate test sentences produced with neutral focus intonation on a Likert scale. Our results showed that the acceptability of IDOC was determined by (i) the prosodic weight of IO; (ii) the relative prominence of DO and IO; (iii) the presence of a pause; and (iv) listeners’ age.
期刊介绍：
Lingua publishes papers of any length, if justified, as well as review articles surveying developments in the various fields of linguistics, and occasional discussions. A considerable number of pages in each issue are devoted to critical book reviews. Lingua also publishes Lingua Franca articles consisting of provocative exchanges expressing strong opinions on central topics in linguistics; The Decade In articles which are educational articles offering the nonspecialist linguist an overview of a given area of study; and Taking up the Gauntlet special issues composed of a set number of papers examining one set of data and exploring whose theory offers the most insight with a minimal set of assumptions and a maximum of arguments.
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