Control in Bangla

Abstract

While exploring the processing differences found in two major types of obligatory empty category (EC) control, this dissertation attempts to substantiate a claim, that while processing any control clause, the language processor in human mind tends to link an argument NP with available event(s) in that sentence, showing an increment in processing load if there is an increment in semantic links between this performer and more given events, within the same sentence. It is claimed here that object control situations provide lesser number of links to process than subject control sentences where there is an increment of such links. This study reports the findings from seventeen self­paced reading experiments carried out in Bangla (an SOV Language in India), explaining preferences towards object control in terms of increment in the number of Agent­Event Association(s), and its interaction with preferences in the type of nominative or oblique roles that the matrix clause subject (semantically associated directly with a matrix event and indirectly with an embedded event) may get from both these events in Bangla. Increase in number of association links between an agent and any number of events (either from the matrix clause or embedded clause or both) showed a significant effect. Independent preference towards a [+AG] subject was also detected but a variation in agent­event association complexity was found to very strongly override even this preference as well, therefore showing a strong influence of Agent­Event Association load. At the end relevant ungrammatical and implausible sentential constructions are also used as evidence to show how Agent­Event Association load is capable of deciding the grammaticality in a language, clearly indicating that actual, measurable processing constraints have originally shaped certain grammatical restrictions of human language