syntax

Non-finite verbal forms in ancient Indo-European languages: diachronic, synchronic and cross-linguistic perspectives

Non-finite verbal forms in ancient Indo-European languages: diachronic, synchronic and cross-linguistic perspectives

The primary aim of the project is to explore the morphological and syntactic properties of non-finite verbal forms in certain ancient Indo-European languages. Non-finite verb forms, which include infinitives, participles, verbal adjectives, verbal nouns and gerunds, are “mixed” categories in the sense that they display features and behaviour typical of at least two lexical classes (i.e., the verb, on the one hand, and the noun, adjective or adverb on the other).

Narrative and persuasive texts written by pupils across primary school

The study was designed to compare syntactic properties and mental state language (MSL) used in narrative stories and persuasive essays written by 162 children attending the third and the fifth grades of the Italian elementary schools. Results showed as children used a higher number of total words and total propositions, independent and coordinate propositions in narrative writing compared to persuasive writing. Conversely, in persuasive essays, a major number of subordinate propositions and MSL was used.

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