Jamon Jomncoin ed copy amt ‘The Nonnative Speaker’s Challenge: Multi-Word Verbs By K. Cutler Typically in English, word classifications are thought to apply only to single words, Sometimes, however, several words func ion as a single unit, fulfilling a single purpose. One iitipt is the occurrence of multi-word verbs, Multi-word verbs consist of ; lah a very a verb combined with either an adverb or a prepositional particle/ this combinatierraf we wih yer>-and pasticle yas a different syntactic or semantic meaning from the meanings of the two words in isolation, The idiomatic character of these constructions challenge nonnative English speakers, especially those speakers whose primary language does not contain comparable construct s. This paper will address the basic definition of multi- word verbs, challenges encountered by nonnative speakers when faced with these constructions, and approaches to teaching nonnatives that could aid in the mastering of these idiomatic expressions. Multi-word verbs are made up of a verb and prepositional or adverbial particle, and are used frequently in both standard and non-standard English. Linguists agree that multi-word verbs tend to occur more often in the informal spoken register and are colloquial in tone (Siyanova, 2007, p. 119). The lexical verbs that occur in multi-word verbs are generally the more common lexical verbs, mostly associated with physical movement, such as come, fall, give, go, keep, make, put, and take (Quirk, 1985, p. 1155). There are four main types of multi-word verbs: intransitive phrasal verbs, transitive phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs. gl phrasal-preposiional verbs, Intransiive phrasal verbs do not have an object, grow up in the sentence You need 10 grow up (Biber, wir 2002, p. 125). Transitive phrasal verbs, on the other hand, do have an object] shiv objectcan be placed either directly after the prepositional particle or between the verb and the i i prs. particle. For example, He picked up the phone could also be said as He picked Su} as Prepositional verbs do not have the same flexibility, as the object can only come after the prepositional particle, They depend on her cannot be rephrased as They depend her on (Biber, 2002, p. 125), Additionally, because of the idiomatic nature of multi-word verbs, they often have one-word counterparts. These one-word correspondents are more common in the academic register, while the multi-word verbs are generally used more frequently in the spoken register (Biber, 2002, p. 127). For example, go away is more colloquial than /eave; the same is true for show up and appear, put out and extinguish, give in and surrender; show off and boast (Liao, 2004, p. 222). The complex nature of cennon cor nce multi-word verbs often causes!nonnative speakersgganfustap, causing them to avoid these constructions, ‘The idiomatic quality of multi-word verbs is one reason nonnative English speakers misinterpret them. Nonnative speakers tend to decipher multi-word verbs literally, piece by piece, However, since most multi-word verbs do not derive their ‘meaning from the sum of their part, it is more difficult for nonnative speakers to know how to use them, and thus they do not use them as frequently (Siyanova, 2007, p. 120), For example, fo put up with someone does not literally mean to put something in a higher place with another person; rather, it means to tolerate someone. The variety of multi- ‘word verb structures also contributes to the confusion. It is especially difficult to differentiate between transitive phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs. Nonnative speakers fear putting the object in the wrong place, and therefore avoid using these constructions altogether (Siyanova, 2007, pg. 120)An additional impediment for nonnative speakers is that din multi-word verbs anh oun cin-Be polysemous, meaning they have several different definitions (Trebits, 2009, p. 471), The verb fo bring up can mean to nurture (She brought up the children), to mention (They brought up a good point), or to carry up (He brought up the books from the basement) (Siyanova, 2007, p. 120). Each of these examples is at a different level of idiomaticity; bring up, when it means to carry, is not very challenging to interpret. When it means to nurture, however, this verb becomes more figurative and opaque, leading to confusion for nonnative speakers (Siyanova, 2007, p. 119), Le a windnctice sport's fret (agua, tre cpcakork WhemaJenguage does not contain constructions like multi-word verbs, speakérs- wan i 5 ‘wf tfidse anguages become confused and avoidafLaBthese constructions. The multi-word verb is Germanic, Romance languages do not have any similar construction, which means a nonnative speaker whose primary language is Romantic has no familiarity with multi- word verbs. Ina study done by Dagut and Laufer, Hebrew speakers tended to avoid multi-word verbs, especially those with more figurative meanings (Liao, 2004, p. 197). In ford tat a follow-up study,t& Hulstijn and Marchena, Dutch speakers seemed much more epeakegs of Aunogh comfortable with multi-word verbs than Hebrew. Their research (y concluded that a contributing factor to these different results was likely the fact that genstice cawulan rou Englice yulti-qword verb Dutch, a Germanic language, has Similar cosSruction while Hebrew di not (Liso, 2004, p. 198), Hul "s and Marchena’s study revealed another interesting aspectiwnonnative avoidance of familiar constructiongwhich would need more research to be confirmed, tudeed ‘Dutch speakers!showed a tendency to avoid English multi-word verbs with literal Dutch ud counterparts (Liao, 2004, p. 199). The researchers hypothesized that this is weaidethe