Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Researchers have paid a lot of attention to collecting and analyzing the language errors. Language learners commit various mistakes during the stages of language learning, and Subject Verb Agreement (SVA) is one of these mistakes. In this type of errors, the features of the person and the number of the verb and the subject do not match with each other. Based on the theory of Distributed Morphology (DM), in this type of errors, the morphologic features that should be specified on the final nodes are received from a wrong source. In this article, we analyze and examine the internal structure of the SVA errors produced by Persian learners in the framework of the DM in order to explain how copying a wrong feature from the wrong source can lead to the production of wrong sentences. The examined samples are related to the final writing test of Persian learners of Saadi Foundation, which were extracted from the corpus of this institution. The discussed errors are divided into two groups: local agreement and long distance agreement. In the first type, the source of error is linearly closer to the verb than the real subject, while in the second type, the source of error is located at a further distance from the subject. By examining examples of local agreement errors of Persian learners, we will show that the source of the error can be the goal, and instead of agreeing with its local subject, the verb agrees with the goal and takes its features. Also, by analyzing the internal structure of long distance agreement errors, we will introduce two new sources which verb can agree with them and takes their features. First, in a coordination structures the verb of the second conjunct mistakenly agrees with the subject of the first conjunct. Second, the verb of the relative clause can agree with the subject of the main clause.

Keywords

Main Subjects

احمدی، محیا و مزدک انوشه (1398). طبقه‌بندی واژه‌های مرکب زبان فارسی از منظر نظریة صرف توزیعی،پژوهش‌های زبانی. سال 10. شمارة 2، 20ـ1.
انوشه، مزدک (1394). فرافکن‌های نمود و زمان در صفت‌های فاعلی مرکب بر پایة نظریة صرف توزیعی. ماهنامة جستارهای زبانی، دورۀ 6، شمارۀ 5، 72-49.
انوشه، مزدک (1397). بازنگری در تصریف زمان گذشته در زبان فارسی بر پایة نظریة صرف توزیعی، ماهنامةجستارهای زبانی. دورۀ 9، شمارۀ 1، 80-57.
Ahmadi, M. & Anoushe, M. 2019, The Classification of Compounds in Distributed Morphology,Pazhuheshha-ye zabani, Volume 10, Issue 2, Page 1-20. [In Persian].
Anderson, Stephen R. (1992). A-morphous Morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Anoushe, M. 2015, Aspect and Tens projections in the complex agentiveAdjectives: A Distributed Morphology approach, Jostarhaye Zabani, Volume 6, Issue 5, Page 49- 72. [In Persian].
Anoushe, M.2018, A Revision of Persian Past Tense Inflection: A Distributed Morphology Approach, Jostarha-ye zabani, Volume 9, Issue 1, Page 57-80. [In Persian].    
Anwar, Mohamed S. 1979. Remarks on a collection of speech errors. International Journal of Psycholinguistics 6: 59–72.
Boomer, Donald S. & John D.M. Laver. 1968. Slips of the tongue. British Journal of  Disorders of Communication 3: 1–12 [reprinted in V.A. Fromkin (Ed.), 1973, 120–131].
Freud, Sigmund. 1901/2000. Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens. Über Vergessen,Versprechen, Vergreifen, Aberglaube und Irrtum. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.
Fromkin, Victoria A. 1968. Speculations on performance models. Journal of Linguistics 4: 47-68.
Fromkin, Victoria A. 1971. The non-anomalous nature of anomalous utterances. Language 47: 27–52.
Garrett, Merrill F. 1975. The analysis of sentence production. In Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol.9, G. Bower (Ed.), 133–177. New York: Academic Press.
Garrett, Merrill F. 2000. Remarks on the architecture of language processing systems. In Language and the Brain, Y. Grodzinsky, L. Shapiro & D. Swinney (Eds), 31–69. SanDiego: Academic Press.
Lashley, Karl S. 1951. The problem of serial order in behavior. In Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior,L.A. Jeffress (Ed.), 112–136. New York: Wiley.
Levelt, Willem J.M. 1989. Speaking: From Intention to Articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT  Press.
Levelt, Willem J.M., Ardi Roelofs & Antje S. Meyer. 1999. A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22: 1–75.
Meringer, Rudolf & Karl Mayer. 1895. Versprechen und Verlesen. Eine psychologisch linguistische Studie. Stuttgart: Göschen [reprinted as: Cutler, Anne & David Fay (Ed.), 1978. Classics in Psycholinguistics (Vol. 2). Amsterdam: Benjamins].
Nooteboom, Sieb G. 1969. The tongue slips into patterns. In Nomen Society: Leiden Studies in Linguistics and Phonetics, A.G. Sciarone, A.J. van Essen & A.A. van Raad (Eds), 114-    132.The Hague: Mouton.
Paul, Hermann. 1886. Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte. Halle: Niemeyer.
Pfau, Roland. 2000. Features and Categories in Language Production. Ph.D. dissertation. Johann Wolfgang-Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main.
Pfau, Roland. 2009. Grammar as processor: A Distributed Morphology account of spontaneous speech errors (Vol. 137). John Benjamins Publishing.