4.1. Arnold, Losongco,Wasow and Ginstrom (2000)

Source

Arnold, Jennifer, Wasow, Thomas, Losongco, Anthony and Ryan Ginstrom (2000). Heaviness vs. newness: the effects of structural complexity and discourse status on constituent ordering. Language 76. 28–55.

Overview

This study examines the influence of grammatical complexity (heaviness) and discourse status (newness) on the heavy noun phrase shift and dative alternation. The researchers analysed the Aligned-Hansard Corpus containing transcriptions of political debates. Besides, they conducted an experiment about the dative alternation: US-American native speakers had to give each other cards with different pictures, and therefore often used the expressions to give someone something and to give something to someone. With the help of statistical instruments, the researchers found out that both grammatical complexity and discourse status simultaneously and independently influence constituent order, and that constituent ordering is done for the benefit of both hearers and speakers.

Assessment

The article requires little previous knowledge and illustrates its findings with examples and graphs. Like Bresnan and Ford, and myself, the scholars examine heaviness (which is related to length difference) and the dative alternation in addition to further aspects such as newness and the heavy noun phrase shift, and use convergent evidence. Moreover, the inventive experiment yields relatively natural language production. The only drawback of the study is that two datasets are used what renders a comparison more difficult.

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