Assessing the complexity of lectal competence: the register-specificity of the dative alternation after give

Alexandra Engel*, Jason Grafmiller, Laura Rosseel, Benedikt Szmrecsanyi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that probabilistic grammars may be modulated by communication mode and genre. Accordingly, the question arises how complex language users’ lectal competence is, where complexity is proportional to the extent to which choice-making processes depend on the situation of language use. Do probabilistic constraints vary when we talk to a friend compared to when we give a speech? Are differences between spoken and written language larger than those within each mode? In the present study, we aim to approach these questions systematically. Guided by theorizing in cognitive (socio)linguistics and using logistic regression based on corpus materials, we analyzed the dative alternation with give (The government gives farmers money vs. The government gives money to farmers) in four broad registers of English: spoken informal, spoken formal, written informal, and written formal. Corpus analysis was supplemented with a scalar rating experiment. Results suggest that language users’ probabilistic grammars vary as a function of register.
Original languageEnglish
JournalCognitive Linguistics
Early online date22 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 22 Sept 2022

Keywords

  • syntactic variation
  • probabilistic grammar
  • dative alternation
  • Dutch language
  • English language
  • register variation

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