From grammatical functions to inflections

Bock & Levelt (1994), sections III to VI

Utku Turk

LING 449U, How words are built

2026-09-17

Function assignment and case

She was handing him some broccoli.

Selected pronoun	Assigned function	Form
Feminine	Nominative / subject	she
Masculine	Dative / recipient object	him

If the functions are exchanged: He was handing her some broccoli.

Why do we get he and her, rather than him and she?

Assigning nominative first

“… at least in English, there is a preference for combinations of elements that permit the nominative function to be assigned first.”

She seems to be feeding the dog.

What must the speaker have planned before assigning nominative to she? Which verb determines her role in the event: seems or feeding?

Function words and affixes

For a definite, plural noun phrase: the goats.

	Garrett	Lapointe and Dell
Article the	Already in the frame	Inserted into a definite determiner slot
Plural -s	Already in the frame	Already in the frame
Stem goat	Supplied separately	Supplied separately

In Lapointe’s aphasia data, function words tended to be omitted; affixes tended to be replaced.

Inflectional stranding

Intended: You ended up ordering some fish dish.

Produced: You ordered up ending some fish dish.

	First verb	Second verb
Intended	end + ed	order + ing
Produced	order + ed	end + ing

The stems exchange; the inflections stay. Both frame accounts predict this.

Plural number and its realization

Selected noun	SINGULAR	PLURAL
goat	goat	goat + s
sheep	sheep	sheep

PLURAL is a grammatical feature. Its realization depends on the noun.

Two sheep are outside. Which word shows number agreement, even though sheep has no plural suffix?

How does the verb get its number?

The key to the cabinets is missing.

The keys to the cabinet are missing.

In the first sentence	What gets specified
Subject head	key: SINGULAR
Agreement	The finite verb receives the subject’s number
Realization	Present-tense be, third-person singular: is

Attraction error: The key to the cabinets are missing.

Which property causes attraction?

The picture of the ___ is on the wall.

Local noun	Grammatical number	Ends in /s/ or /z/?
cabinet	Singular	No
cabinets	Plural	Yes
children	Plural	No
rose	Singular	Yes

In the studies reviewed, grammatical plurality reliably caused attraction, including when the plural was irregular.

Agreement across a clause boundary

Phrase: The claim [about the newborn babies] …

Clause: The claim [that wolves had raised the babies] …

In both, singular claim requires was. Plural babies can attract were.

Errors were more likely after phrase modifiers. Putting babies in an embedded clause reduced its interference with main-clause agreement.

Design an agreement experiment

Modifier	Singular local noun	Plural local noun
Phrase	The claim about the newborn baby …	The claim about the newborn babies …
Clause	The claim that wolves had raised the baby …	The claim that wolves had raised the babies …

Groups of three, ten minutes:

1. Write one new item in all four versions.
2. Specify how you will elicit and score agreement.
3. Predict where speakers will produce a plural verb in error.
4. Identify one confound and address it.

Change the subject

She was handing him some broccoli.

Grammatical information	Realization in this sentence
Subject and object functions	she, him
Past progressive	was + handing
Singular subject agreement	was

Replace she with they. Which forms change? Which stay? Where does the information for each change come from?