Elicitation Experiments: Sequence of Tense

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Elicitation ExperimentsSequence of Tense

• Bart Hollebrandse
• University of Groningen
• b.hollebrandse_at_let.rug.nl

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Introduction

• Elicitation task
• providing tenses in direct speech
• John There is a horse on the roof.
• eliciting tenses in indirect speech by asking
• What did X say about Y?
• that there was a horse on the roof.

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Sequence of Tense

• Direct speech
• Jan Ik ben op school
• J I am at school
• Indirect speech
• Jan zei dat hij op school was.
• J. said that he at school was
• Hollebrandse, Bart (2000), Sequence of Tense,
  Umass, Amherst dissertation.

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Sequence of Tense

• Direct speech
• Jan Ik zal op school zijn.
• J I will at school be
• Indirect speech
• Jan zei dat hij op school was.
• J. said that he at school was
• Jan zei dat hij op school zou zijn.
• J. said that he at school would be

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Sequence of Tense

• Direct Speech Indirect Speech
• past tense past tense
• present tense past tense
• future tense future tense

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Sequence of Tense

• Experimental evidence for different pattern using
  a grammatical judgement task
• before NOW (relative future) ? past
• future Direct
• after NOW (absolute future) ? future

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Sequence of Tense

• Direct speech
• Jan Ik zal op school zijn.
• J I will at school be
• Situation before NOW/relative future
• Jan zei dat hij op school was.
• J. said that he at school was
• Situation after NOW/absolute future
• Jan zei dat hij op school zou zijn.
• J. said that he at school would be

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Sequence of Tense

• Adult Child
• DirectS IndirectS
• past past
• present past
• relative future past
• absolute future future

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Experiment

• Subjects 62 Dutch children (27 - 72)
• Material toys handpuppets
• Design Experimenter acted out a story
• including direct speech acts
• Test Question wh-question
• What did X say about Y?

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• ltThere is a horse on the roofgt
• BZo we zijn in de dierentuin. Kijk, bovenop het
  dak staat een paardje.
• (so, we are in the zoo. Look, on-top the roof
  stand a horse)
• KMJa, Bert.
• (yes, B)
• Exp Wat zei Bert over het paardje?
• (what say-pst B. about the horse)
• What did Bert say about the horse?
• Answer dat er een paardje op het dak stond.
• That there a horse on the roof stood

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• ltThere is a horse on the roofgt
• BZo we zijn in de dierentuin. Kijk, bovenop het
  dak staat een paardje.
• (so, we are in the zoo. Look, on-top the roof
  stand a horse)
• KMJa, Bert.
• (yes, B)
• Exp Wat zei Bert over het paardje?
• (what say-pst B. about the horse)
• What did Bert say about the horse?
• Answer dat er een paardje op het dak stond.
• That there a horse on the roof stood

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Conclusion

• Elicitation task
• providing tenses in direct speech
• eliciting tenses in indirect speech by asking
• What did X say about Y?
• That he
• Worked fine with Dutch 3-7!