Dissertations / Theses: 'Linguistics ; Minimalist theory (Linguistics)'

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Samek-Ludovici, Vieri. "Optimality theory and the minimalist program." Universität Potsdam, 2006. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3232/.

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Mobbs, Iain Jerome. "Minimalism and the design of the language faculty." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709016.

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Gamon, Michael. "The derivational formation of chain-links : minimalism and binding theory /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8416.

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De, Bruin Jeané. "A minimalist analysis of expletive daar (“there”) and dit (“it”) constructions in Afrikaans." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/6513.

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Thesis (MA (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study deals with syntactic aspects of expletive daar (“there”) and dit (“it”) constructions in Afrikaans. Previous analyses of these constructions have mostly been of a non-formalistic nature (e.g. Barnes 1984; Donaldson 1993; Du Plessis 1977; Ponelis 1979, 1993). The present study investigates the properties of Afrikaans expletive constructions within the broad theoretical framework of Minimalist Syntax. Four recent minimalist analyses of expletive constructions in English, Dutch and German are set out, namely those proposed by Bowers (2002), Felser and Rupp (2001), Richards and Biberauer (2005), and Radford (2009). Against this background, an analysis is proposed of transitive, non-passive unaccusative, passive unaccusative, and unergative expletive constructions in Afrikaans. Throughout, the focus is on whether the devices available within Minimalist Syntax, and specifically the Expletive Conditions proposed by Radford (2009), provide an adequate framework in which the relevant facts of Afrikaans can be described and explained. Where required, modifications to the devices in question are proposed.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie handel oor sintaktiese aspekte van ekspletiewe daar- en dit-konstruksies in Afrikaans. Vorige analises van dié konstruksies was grootliks nie-formalisties van aard (bv. Barnes 1984; Donaldson 1993; Du Plessis 1977; Ponelis 1979, 1993). Die huidige studie ondersoek die eienskappe van Afrikaanse ekspletiewe konstruksies binne die breë teoretiese raamwerk van Minimalistiese Sintaksis. Vier onlangse minimalistiese analises van ekspletiewe konstruksies in Engels, Nederlands en Duits word uiteengesit, naamlik dié wat voorgestel is deur Bowers (2002), Felser en Rupp (2001), Richards en Biberauer (2005), en Radford (2009). Teen hierdie agtergrond word ’n analise voorgestel van transitiewe, nie-passiewe onakkusatiewe, passiewe onakkusatiewe, en onergatiewe ekspletiewe konstruksies in Afrikaans. Die fokus is deurgaans op die vraag of die meganismes wat beskikbaar is binne Minimalistiese Sintaksis, en spesifiek die drie Ekspletiewe Voorwaardes wat voorgestel word deur Radford (2009), ’n toereikende raamwerk bied waarbinne die tersaaklike feite van Afrikaans beskryf en verklaar kan word. Waar nodig, word aanpassings aan die betrokke meganismes voorgestel.

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Hwang, Kyu-Hong. "Nominative and default case checking in minimalist syntax /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8401.

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Denham, Kristin E. "A minimalist account of optional wh-movement /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8369.

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Zushi, Mihoko. "Long-distance dependencies." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28974.

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This thesis proposes a modification of Chomsky's (1992) theory of locality to deal with restructuring phenomena which allow an apparent violation of the locality condition on certain local processes. Various restructuring phenomena including long-distance NP movement exemplified by long-distance Object Preposing (Chapter 2) and long-distance head movement exemplified by clitic climbing (Chapter 3) are examined cross linguistically. Long-distance anaphora (Chapter 4) are also examined based on the view the locality on various types of anaphor-antecedent relationships follow from the theory of movement.
It is argued that the peculiar behavior of restructuring constructions in terms of locality follows from the lexical properties of restructuring verbs that allows a defective Tense to occur in the complement clause. The following effects result: (i) Case checking within the embedded clause becomes impossible; (ii) the defective Tense triggers incorporation of the infinitive verb into the matrix verb. As a result, the embedded element that requires Case is forced to raise into the matrix clause as a last resort operation, hence motivation long-distance movement.
In order to reconcile long-distance movement with the economy principle which requires chain links to be minimal, this thesis refines Chomsky's (1992) theory of locality. The proposed hypothesis claims that the locality condition on certain operations such as NP movement and head movement follows from the economy principle in such a way that an element can move to the closest position in which its morphological requirement can be satisfied. This notion of the shortest movement is further clarified in that the domain in which the shortest movement requirement is satisfied can be extended if there is an appropriate linked chain formed by head movement. The proposed system not only provides principled account for the phenomena of restructuring, but also has some important implications for the notion of economy of derivation.

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Park, Hyeson. "Child second language acquisition and grammatical theories: The Minimalist Program and optimality theory." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/252897.

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The aim of linguistic theory is to explain what knowledge of language consists of and how this knowledge is acquired. Generative linguistics, which had set out to achieve this goal, has recently seen the development of two main approaches to Universal Grammar (UG). One is the Minimalist Program (MP) and the other is Optimality Theory (OT). In the MP framework, language is claimed to be acquired through parameter setting, while in OT language acquisition is viewed as a constraint reranking process. In this study, I compare the two evolving linguistic theories in relation to child L2 acquisition phenomena; that is, how and whether the two different approaches to UG could be used to account for language development in real time. The database for this study was a corpus of natural and elicited-interview speech collected by the National Center for Bilingual Research from six Korean children learning English as an L2 in a bilingual education school program. Two constructions, null arguments and wh-questions produced by the Korean children in their developing L2 English, were chosen for in-depth investigation. The data analysis shows that (1) the children dropped few subjects from the early stages, (2) the children dropped more objects than subjects, (3) the children did not apply subject-verb inversion in why -questions, and (4) of the wh-questions, when-questions were one of the last to appear in the children's developing English. It was examined whether these four findings could be explained within the MP and the OT frameworks. The MP and OT in their present forms, however, do not seem to be able to fully account for the data. I have proposed some adaptations of the theories and explored plausible explanations. The overall picture emerging from the study is that the gradual nature of language development can best be explained as being a result of the incremental acquisition of the lexicon. The relationship between linguistic theory and acquisition studies, especially second language acquisition studies, has been unidirectional, from theory to acquisition (SLA) studies. It is to be hoped that this study may contribute to connecting the gap between linguistic theory and SLA studies, and making their relationship more bidirectional.

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Lona, Jennifer S. "Negation and clausal structure /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8387.

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Nakamura, Masanori 1966. "Economy of chain formation." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=40211.

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This thesis investigates chain formation processes in syntax within the general framework of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1993, 1994, 1995), where comparison among derivations plays a central role. It is primarily concerned with interactions between Grammatical Function changing (Baker 1988a) and wh-movement. Constructions such as antipassive, applicative, and Object Preposing: (special "passive") from typologically different languages are examined together with their implications for extraction. On a theoretical level this thesis proposes a modification of the notion of reference set (Chomsky 1994, 1995), which fixes the domain of comparison for the purpose of economy. In particular, the notion of reference set is defined in terms of non-distinctness of numerations; this in turn is sensitive to the Interpretability of features (Chomsky 1995). It is also argued that the Minimal Link Condition is an economy condition that elects among convergent derivations on the basis of the notion of chain link comparability. The system advanced here, in combination with some independently motivated Minimalist assumptions, explains phenomena which have so far defied a unified account, thereby providing important empirical support for the leading ideas of the Minimalist Program.

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Hacken, Pius ten. "The nature, use and origin of explanatory adequacy." Universität Potsdam, 2006. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3229/.

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If we want to compare the explanatory and descriptive adequacy of the MP and OT, the original definitions by Chomsky (1964) are or little direct use. However, a relativized version of both notions can be defined, which can be used to express a number of parallels between the study of individual I-languages and the language faculty. In any version of explanatory and descriptive adequacy, the two notions derive from the research programme and can only be achieved together. They can therefore not be used to characterize the difference in orientation between OT and the MP. Even if ‘OT’ is restricted to a particular theory in Chomskyan linguistics (to the exclusion of, for instance, its use in LFG), it cannot be said to be stronger in descriptive adequacy than in explanatory adequacy in the technical sense of these terms.

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Sohng, Hong Ki. "Topics in the syntax of East Asian languages : long-distance anaphora and adverbial case /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8376.

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Lyle, James. "Aspects of ergativity /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8417.

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Komen, Erwin R. "Branching constraints." Universität Potsdam, 2009. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3227/.

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Rejecting approaches with a directionality parameter, mainstream minimalism has adopted the notion of strict (or unidirectional) branching. Within optimality theory however, constraints have recently been proposed that presuppose that the branching direction scheme is language specific. I show that a syntactic analysis of Chechen word order and relative clauses using strict branching and movement triggered by feature checking seems very unlikely, whereas a directionality approach works well. I argue in favor of a mixed directionality approach for Chechen, where the branching direction scheme depends on the phrase type. This observation leads to the introduction of context variants of existing markedness constraints, in order to describe the branching processes in terms of optimality theory. The paper discusses how and where the optimality theory selection of the branching directions can be implemented within a minimalist derivation.

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Kim, Jung-tae. "The initial state of second language syntax : an investigation of L2 wh-movement and null-subjects from the minimalist perspective /." Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3004306.

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Kobele, Gregory Michael. "Generating copies an investigation into structural identity in language and grammar /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1273094861&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

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Nakamura, Masanori 1966. "Move a, scope, and relativized minimality." Thesis, McGill University, 1992. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=56651.

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This thesis deals with two aspects of operators within the framework of Government and Binding theory; (i) how they are assigned their scope, and (ii) how they are licensed. In an attempt to answer these questions, the relation of Move $ alpha$ (such as scrambling, NP-movement, and wh-movement) to the scope of operators and the licensing of wh-elements, negative polarity items, and adverbs are examined. It is argued that scope assignment is dictated by the Scope Principle and the Empty Category Principle. It is also argued that licensing of operators is determined by the Feature-Dependent Item Criterion. These principles and criterion make use of the concept of Government Theory Compatibility, which is built into Relativized Minimality. It is suggested that this concept should be characterized in terms of a set of lexical features. The approach advocated here accounts for the interpretive and distributional behavior of operators without recourse to parameterization of LF principles.

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Broekhuis, Hans. "Derivations (MP) and evaluations (OT)." Universität Potsdam, 2006. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3234/.

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The main claim of this paper is that the minimalist framework and optimality theory adopt more or less the same architecture of grammar: both assume that a generator defines a set S of potentially well-formed expressions that can be generated on the basis of a given input, and that there is an evaluator that selects the expressions from S that are actually grammatical in a given language L. The paper therefore proposes a model of grammar in which the strengths of the two frameworks are combined: more specifically, it is argued that the computational system of human language CHL from MP creates a set S of potentially well-formed expressions, and that these are subsequently evaluated in an optimality theoretic fashion.

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Herring, Joshua. "Grammar construction in the minimalist program." Thesis, Indiana University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10251430.

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The Minimalist Program is in principle nothing more than a set of guidelines for cognitive syntactic research. Because of its historical pedigree and foundational assumptions, in practice it functions and is perceived as something closer to a formal theoretical framework. This opens the door to implementational possibilities. Though it is not possible to strictly delineate `"minimalist'" and `"non-minimalist'" linguistic theories by choice of theoretical device alone, it is possible to identify, and make concrete, shared theoretical assumptions and formal devices that minimalist theories draw from. This project surveys the recent minimalist literature and catalogs the most important such devices, unifying them where possible, to build a set of implementational primitives capable of accurately representing a large section of recent proposals in Minimalism. The utility of this approach is demonstrated through the development of a grammar development software toolkit for the Minimalist Program which makes these primitives available to researchers. By implementing theories in this system, it is possible to validate their empirical claims and adjudicate disputes over empirical coverage between competing theories. Sample implementations relevant to the ongoing dispute over the Movement Theory of Control are given.

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Koizumi, Masatoshi. "Phrase structure in minimalist syntax." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11348.

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Grove, Kyle Wade, and Mike Putnam. "Deriving pairedness in vP structure : minimalist yet optimal." Universität Potsdam, 2009. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3228/.

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Minimalist accounts lack a natural theory of markedness, whereas Optimality-Theoretical accounts fundamentally encode markedness. We think the duality of interfaces assumed in Minimalism is a step towards explaining pairedness behavior, where a given language exhibits a marked/ unmarked pair of items occupying the same niche. We argue that while Minimalism articulates the derivational aspect of language, and underlies grammaticality, an Optimality Theoretic articulation of PF and LF is conceptually natural and explains pairedness behavior. We adopt this ‘hybrid’ account, first, to explain the existence of marked (often termed ‘reflexive’) and unmarked anticausatives in German, recently studied in depth by Sch¨afer [2007].

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Moinzadeh, Ahmad. "An antisymmetric, minimalist approach to Persian phrase structure." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9399.

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In this thesis, I investigate phrase structure in Persian within the Minimalist framework of Chomsky (1995, 1998). Adopting Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom, which examines the relation of hierarchical structure and linear order, I propose a head-initial analysis for Persian, and develop an analysis of SVO word order based on the examination of all lexical and functional categories. Prior to investigating categories which are common to other languages, I examine the Ezafe Phrase (EzP), a functional phrasal category specific to Persian. The EzP is headed by a morpheme which may be phonetically realized as e/ye or null o. This morpheme regulates the occurrence of more than one complement in DPs/NPs and APs. Like the other phrasal categories investigated, the EzP is shown to follow the Spec-Head-Complement configuration (of the Linear Correspondence Axiom). My argumentation for a head-initial configuration for Persian, and the implication of a basic SVO word order is based largely on evidence for noun phrases and verb phrases. I provide support for a DP analysis of Persian nominal phrases, and demonstrate that both DPs and lexical NPs display a head-initial configuration. While Persian VPs exhibit both VO and OV word order in unmarked sentences, I argue that they consistently display a head-initial configuration, an analysis which is theoretically preferable to one based on dual directionality. I support my proposal for a head-initial analysis of VPs and a basic SVO word order in Persian with a variety of empirical evidence about verbal complements, including the exclusive post-verbal generation of CP complements, the placement of clitics, and the position of adverbs relative to verbal heads and their complements. While concentrating on DPs and VPs, I further support my analysis of a head-initial configuration for Persian by examining the Spec-Head-Complement configuration in APs, PPs, IPs and in less detail, the internal structure of CPs and TopPs. On the basis of both theoretical and empirical evidence, I propose a head-initial analysis for all phrasal categories in Persian. In conclusion, I turn to diachronic data which also provides evidence of the Spec-Head-Complement analysis I have proposed for Modern Persian.

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Oosthuizen, Johan. "Obligatory reflexivity in Afrikaans : a minimalist approach." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/80305.

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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the phenomenon of obligatory reflexivity in Afrikaans. Despite a considerable literature on this phenomenon as it is reflected in other languages, the Afrikaans data have not received any systematic attention. Hence, a first major aim is to address this empirical gap. Secondly, informed by the Afrikaans data, the study aims to develop an analysis that can provide a conceptually adequate account for the facts, and that is amenable to extension beyond Afrikaans. The proposed nominal shell analysis (of obligatory reflexivity) (NSA) is developed within, on the one hand, the general framework of Minimalist Syntax and, on the other hand, the specific framework of proposals about word order and linearisation phenomena in Germanic languages worked out in, amongst others, Holmberg (2000), Biberauer (2003), Biberauer & Richards (2006), Biberauer & Roberts (2006), and Biberauer et al. (2009, 2011). The basic idea underlying the NSA is that two expressions which enter into an obligatory coreferential relationship are initially merged into a nominal shell structure headed by an identity focus light noun n. It is argued that the identity focus n belongs to a natural class of identificational elements which also includes a contrastive focus n, a presentational focus n, a possessor focus n, and a quantity focus n. In terms of the NSA, the identity focus n takes a reflexive pronoun as its complement, with such a pronoun being analysed as a syntactic compound that is derived by merging a category-neutral lexical root √PRON with a D constituent containing unvalued φ-features. This means, then, that a reflexive pronoun is defined in syntactic terms and not in terms of special lexical features. The reflexive is subsequently raised to the identity focus n – which forms the locus of the suffix -self associated with morphologically complex reflexive pronouns – where it is spelled out as part of the compound n that is derived in this manner. The antecedent expression is next merged as the specifier of the compound light noun, resulting in a configuration where the antecedent can value the φ-features of the reflexive, with the n serving as mediator. In this configuration, the φ-valued pronoun is semantically interpreted as an anaphor and the nominal expression in the specifier position of the nP as its antecedent; that is, the pronoun is interpreted as obligatorily coreferential with this nominal expression. The details of the NSA and its empirical and conceptual consequences are worked out with reference to six constructions in which reflexive pronouns can occur: verbal object constructions, prepositional object constructions, double object constructions, infinitival constructions, small clause constructions, and possessive constructions. Brief attention is also given to the possibility of extending the ideas underlying the NSA to (i) languages of the Southern Bantu family, where the reflexive element surfaces as a verbal affix, and (ii) two further types of construction in Afrikaans which seem amenable to such a nominal shell approach, namely floating quantifier constructions and expletive daar (“there”) constructions.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die verskynsel van verpligte refleksiwiteit in Afrikaans. Ten spyte van ’n aansienlike literatuur oor die realisering van hierdie verskynsel in ander tale, is daar nog geen sistematiese aandag gegee aan die Afrikaanse data nie. ’n Eerste hoofoogmerk van die studie is derhalwe om hierdie empiriese leemte te vul. ’n Tweede hoofoogmerk is om, in die lig van die Afrikaanse data, ’n analise te ontwikkel wat ’n konseptueel toereikende beskrywing en verklaring van die feite kan gee, en wat hopelik na ander tale uitgebrei kan word. Die voorgestelde nominale skulp-analise (van verpligte refleksiwiteit) (NSA) word ontwikkel binne, enersyds, die algemene raamwerk van Minimalistiese Sintaksis en, andersyds, die spesifieke raamwerk van voorstelle oor woordvolgorde en lineariseringsverskynsels in Germaanse tale soos uiteengesit in, onder meer, Holmberg (2000), Biberauer (2003), Biberauer & Richards (2006), Biberauer & Roberts (2006), and Biberauer et al. (2009, 2011). Die basiese idee onderliggend aan die NSA is dat twee uitdrukkings wat in ’n verhouding van verpligte koreferensie staan, inisieel saamgevoeg word in ’n nominale skulpstruktuur met ’n identiteitsfokus-ligte naamwoord n as hoof. Daar word geargumenteer dat hierdie n tot ’n natuurlike klas van identifikatoriese elemente behoort, waaronder ook ’n kontrasfokus-n, ’n presentasiefokus-n, ’n besittersfokus-n, en ’n kwantiteitsfokus-n. Volgens die NSA neem die identiteitsfokus-n ’n refleksiewe voornaam-woord as komplement, waar so ’n voornaamwoord ontleed word as ’n sintaktiese samestelling wat afgelei word deur die samevoeging van ’n kategorie-neutrale leksikale wortel √PRON met ’n D wat beskik oor ongewaardeerde φ-kenmerke. ’n Refleksiewe voornaamwoord word dus in sintaktiese terme gedefinieer en nie in terme van spesiale leksikale kenmerke nie. Die refleksief word vervolgens gehys na die identiteitsfokus-n – die lokus van die suffiks -self wat geassosieer word met morfologies komplekse relatiewe voornaamwoorde – waar dit uitgespel word as deel van die n-samestelling wat op dié manier afgelei word. Die uitdrukking wat as antesedent dien, word op sy beurt saamgevoeg as die spesifiseerder van die n-samestelling. Dit lei tot ’n konfigurasie waarin die antesedent waardes aan die φ-kenmerke van die refleksief kan toeken – via die n, wat dus as ’n tussenganger optree. In hierdie konfigurasie word die φ-gewaardeerde voornaamwoord semanties geïnterpreteer as ’n anafoor en die nominale uitdrukking in die spesifiseerderposisie van die nP as sy antesedent; met ander woorde, die voornaamwoord word geïnterpreteer as verplig koreferensieel met dié nominale uitdrukking. Die besonderhede van die NSA en die empiriese en konseptuele konsekwensies daarvan word uitgewerk aan die hand van ses konstruksies waarin refleksiewe voornaamwoorde kan voorkom: verbale-objekkonstruksies, preposisionele-objekkonstruksies, dubbelobjekkonstruksies, infinitiefkonstruksies, beknopte-sinkonstruksies, en besitskonstruksies. Daar word ook kortliks aandag gegee aan die moontlikheid om die idees onderliggend aan die NSA uit te brei na (i) tale van die Suidelike Bantoe-familie, waar die refleksiewe element voorkom as ’n verbale affiks, en (ii) twee verdere konstruksies in Afrikaans wat moontlik aan die hand van so ’n nominale skulp-benadering ontleed kan word, nl. swewende-kwantifiseerderkonstruksies en ekspletiewe-daar-konstruksies.
National Research Foundation (NRF)

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24

Fernández, Fuertes Raquel. "A comparative analysis of verb-movement effects in English and Spanish: Pollock and the Minimalist approach." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/10128.

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Recent developments in linguistic theory carried out within the Principles and Paramater Model and the Minimalist Program provide an excellent framework for the comparison of languages. In this thesis we use said framework to analyze the Verb-movement phenomena of English and Spanish. We specifically concentrate on the Null Subject parameter and the Verb-movement parameter in order to provide a comparative account of word order differences and similarities between English, Spanish and French. We show that the $\lbrack+/-$ strong) agreement differences are responsible for: (1) the relationship between auxiliary verbs and participles in compound verbal constructions; (2) the placement of adverbs in these constructions, and (3) the movement relationships established in existential constructions and other constructions with auxiliaries.

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25

Backhouse, Rene. "An analysis of the grammatical structure of small clauses in Afrikaans : a minimalist approach." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/95928.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The main goal of this study is to provide a grammatical analysis of small clauses in Afrikaans. A proper analysis of this phenomenon has not yet been attempted in the literature on Afrikaans syntax. However, within the framework of generative grammar, including the most recent versions of Minimalist Syntax, extensive research has been conducted on the small clause phenomenon for a wide range of other languages. In these studies, various types of small clause constructions have been identified. For the purpose of this study, a systematic analysis is given for seven of these small clause construction types, focusing specifically on the Afrikaans data. In order to establish whether the Afrikaans small clause constructions exhibit the same characteristics as those found in other languages, a taxonomy is given of their Dutch, English, West Flemish and Polish counterparts as described by, among others, Hoekstra (1988a, 1992), Bennis, Corver and Den Dikken (1998), Citko (2008) and Haegeman (2010). It is against this background that the characteristics of the different Afrikaans small clause constructions are described. In addition, an explication is given of the various proposals regarding the underlying structure of such constructions. Based on proposals by Oosthuizen (2013), it is argued that a small clause construction is a projection of a particular functional category, namely a defective light verb, sc-v. It is claimed that such a light verb analysis can provide an adequate account of the Afrikaans facts.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoofoogmerk van hierdie studie is om ’n grammatikale analise van beknopte sinne (“small clauses”) in Afrikaans te verskaf. ŉ Behoorlike analise van hierdie verskynsel is nog nie tevore aangebied in die literatuur oor Afrikaanse sintaksis nie. Binne die raamwerk van generatiewe grammatika, insluitend die mees onlangse versies van Minimalistiese Sintaksis, is daar egter uitgebreide navorsing gedoen oor die verskynsel van beknopte sinne in ŉ verskeidenheid ander tale. In die betrokke studies is verskeie tipes beknopte sin-konstruksies geïdentifiseer. Vir die doel van hierdie studie word ’n sistematiese analise gegee van sewe van hierdie konstruksie-tipes, met spesifieke fokus op die Afrikaanse data. Ten einde vas te stel of die Afrikaanse beknopte sin-konstruksies dieselfde eienskappe toon as dié in ander tale, word ’n taksonomie verskaf van die ooreenstemmende konstruksies in Nederlands, Engels, Wes-Vlaams en Pools, soos beskryf deur onder meer Hoekstra (1988a, 1992), Bennis, Corver en Den Dikken (1998), Citko (2008) en Haegeman (2010). Dit is teen hierdie agtergrond dat die eienskappe van die verskillende Afrikaanse beknopte sin-konstruksies beskryf word. Verder word ŉ uiteensetting gegee van verskeie voorstelle oor die onderliggende struktuur van sulke konstruksies. Gebaseer op voorstelle deur Oosthuizen (2013), word daar geargumenteer dat ’n beknopte sin-konstruksie ’n projeksie is van ’n spesifieke funksionele kategorie, naamlik ’n defektiewe ligte werkwoord, sc-v. Daar word aangevoer dat so ’n ligte werkwoord-analise ’n toereikende verklaring kan bied van die Afrikaanse feite.

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26

Flynn, Michael. "Linguistics and General Process Learning Theory." University of Arizona Linguistics Circle, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/226547.

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This paper is sort of an extended footnote, with a faint Borgesian flavor. What I'm going to do is show how one rather prominent argument in the linguistics literature against one aspect of the research program of behaviorism fails to go through. But I'll also observe that this argument appears to have had no practical effect on linguistic investigations, and that many people seem to assume (tacitly, at least) that this argument fails anyway. So my remarks here don't move the field forward any, but what I hope they do is help to get us all a bit clearer about where we are. The argument I'll be examining, given by Noam Chomsky in Reflections on Language (Chomsky 1975), is against a point of view called "general process learning theory ", a view that regards one goal of psychological theorizing to be the discovery of laws of learning that hold across species and across domains of acquisition. Psychological theorizing is by no means a new development on the linguistics scene. It is true, I think, that in most cases the people who have thought about language (including but not limited to people we would call linguists) have done so against the backdrop of a psychological theory that they assumed to be at least on the right track, and the idea was often to see what you could make of language by applying the analytical tools that the given psychological theory made available. Bloomfield (1926) is an example of this. (For some discussion of Bloomfield's views on psychology, see Lyons 1978, chapter 3.) One also in this context thinks of Piaget, Skinner of course, as well as philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries of both the continental Cartesian variety and the so-called British Empiricists. I also think it's true that Chomsky's impact on psychology is somewhat unusual in that the flow of influence is in the other direction; that is, the question is, "If human language is like this, then what must the mind be like ?" rather than the other way around. Be that as it may, Chomsky has been, by far and away, the leading expositor of the implications of linguistics for the study of the structure of the human mind. It goes without saying that the ramifications of this work have been very rich, the pivotal role of linguistics in the "cognitive sciences" being just one indication of its influence. One of the earliest engagements at discipline boundaries was Chomsky's forceful assault on B.F. Skinner's attempt to extend the domain of behaviorist psychology to human languages. It's this argument that I want to have another look at. To do this it will be useful to try to isolate several facets of the discussion. I should perhaps reiterate, for the connoisseurs of counterrevolution who I know are out there, that my conclusion will be a modest one. I will not be concluding that after all Skinner was right and Chomsky was wrong. On the contrary, I'm going to assume that this game is over, and has been for quite some time. My goal is to call attention to what I think is an Unsolved problem which acquires its interest because it bears on how we regard linguistics as influencing our judgment about the structure of the human mind.

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Rodier, Dominique. "Prosodic domains in optimality theory." Thesis, McGill University, 1998. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=35933.

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Cross-linguistically, the notion 'minimal word' has proved fruitful grounds for explanatory accounts of requirements imposed on morphological and phonological constituents. Word minimality requires that a lexical word includes the main-stressed foot of the language. As a result, subminimal words are augmented to a bimoraic foot through diverse strategies like vowel lengthening, syllable addition, etc. Even languages with numerous monomoraic lexical words may impose a minimality requirement on derived words that would otherwise be smaller than a well-formed foot. In addition, the minimal word has been argued to play a central role in characterizing a prosodic base within some morpho-prosodic constituent for the application of processes such as reduplication and infixation.
The goal of this thesis is to offer an explanation as to why and in which contexts grammars may prefer a prosodic constituent which may not be reducible to a bimoraic foot. I provide explanatory accounts for a number of cases where the prosodic structure of morphological or phonological constituents cannot be defined as coextensive with the main stressed foot of the language. To this end, I propose to add to the theory of Prosodic Structure (Chen 1987; Selkirk 1984, 1986, 1989, 1995; Selkirk and Shen 1990) within an optimality-theoretic framework by providing evidence for a new level within the Prosodic Hierarchy, that of the Prosodic Stem (PrStem).
An important aspect of the model of prosodic structure proposed here is a notion of headship which follows directly from the Prosodic Hierarchy itself and from the metrical grouping of prosodic constituents. A theory of prosodic heads is developed which assumes that structural constraints can impose well-formedness requirements on the prosodic shape and the distribution of heads within morphological and phonological constituents.

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Denzer-King, Ryan. "The Distribution of /s/ in Blackfoot: An Optimality Theory Account." The University of Montana, 2009. http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06032009-114400/.

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In this thesis I propose that the distribution of /s/ in Blackfoot can be explained by positing that /s/ is inherently moraic in Blackfoot, and explore this hypothesis via two proposals about moraic /s/. The first is that /s/ in complex onsets, e.g., stsiki, another, is extrasyllabic, and that a moraic /s/ reduces the markedness of these extrasyllabic segments. The second is that because /s/ is moraic, it can act as a syllable nucleus, which explains why the distribution of geminate /ss/ is more similar to long vowels than to geminate consonants. In Blackfoot, clusters of more than two consonants occur only with /s/, and clusters of more than three consonants occur only with geminate /ss/. The Blackfoot syllable seems to be overwhelmingly simple, with /ss/ clusters being the only outliers. While all other geminates occur between vowels, geminate /ss/ often occurs before, after, or between other consonants. This thesis aims to make three specific contributions: (i) to describe the distribution of /s/ in Blackfoot, (ii) to propose that a non-vocoid may be inherently moraic, and (iii) to introduce the PROSODICSEQUENCING constraint, which explains the tendency for onsets to be non-moraic, and predicts that light CVC syllables will be less marked than heavy CVC syllables.

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Mellander, Evan W. "A prosodic theory of prominence and rhythm /." Thesis, McGill University, 2002. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=82932.

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Building on earlier work, notably Kager (1993, 1995) and framed in Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993), this thesis presents a theory of foot structure in which the asymmetric maximal expansions of iambic and trochaic feet (cf. the Iambic/Trochaic Law: 1TL, e.g. Hayes 1995) are accounted for by a single constraint, HEAD GOVERNMENT (Mellander 2001c, 2002b). The present analysis devotes special attention to a class of quantitative processes in trochaic systems which generate uneven (HL) trochaic feet. In contrast to previous analyses (e.g. Hayes 1995), such processes are shown to be of phonological rather than phonetic nature in certain languages, and the ramifications of this conclusion are explored with regard to a variety of issues in prosodic theory.
The evidence for the phonological status of (HL)-creating processes comes from published data on Mohawk, Selayarese, Gidabal, and Oromo, as well as original field data from Central Slovak. Following Piggott (1998, 2001) and Mellander (2001a, c, 2002b), these processes are seen to follow from H EAD PROMINENCE, a constraint which requires greater relative intrinsic prominence in the head of a prosodic constituent. Since HEAD PROMINENCE is sensitive to intrinsic prominence, its effects are shown to hold irrespective of derived prominence resulting from the application of stress rules. H EAD PROMINENCE is also shown to play a central role in accounting for diphthongal quantity-prominence relations, where cross-linguistic patterns of long vowel diphthongization in bimoraic syllables mirror those of (HL)-creating processes in disyllabic feet.
In contrast to previous work on HEAD GOVERNMENT (Mellander 2001c, 2002b), the absence of languages which require violations of this constraint implies that it is universally undominated, contra the standard Optimality Theoretic assumption of universal constraint violability. This view is also supported by the analysis of ternary stress systems, where the absence of unattested quaternary and quinternary systems relies crucially on the inviolability of HEAD G OVERNMENT.
A final aspect of this thesis is the development of a preliminary model to explain asymmetries in structure and markedness between iambic and trochaic systems, including distributional asymmetries, Iambic Lengthening, and the ITL. Based on work by Van de Vijver (1998) this approach abandons traditional symmetric notions of iambicity and trochaicity in favour of an asymmetric pair of constraints---PEAK-FIRST and *E DGEMOST. Iambic/trochaic asymmetries consequently emerge as artefacts of constraint interaction and require no additional theoretical machinery.

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Cunningham, U. M. "A linguistic theory of timing." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.373610.

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Kreps, Christian John Manfred. "Extraction, movement and dependency theory." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.300589.

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Terry-itewaste, Cosette Lelani, and Cosette Lelani Terry-itewaste. "Quinault Language Revitalization: Bridging Linguistic Theory to Community Classrooms." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621357.

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The Quinault language must be revitalized. The question addressed in this dissertation is, "What are the best possible strategies for the Quinault community and its language to achieve language revitalization?" This dissertation provides the strategies that will lay the foundation for Quinault language revitalization. These strategies include utilizing documentary linguistics to analyze previous documentation, selecting Revitalization methods best suited for a community without L1 speakers, ensuring Revitalization documentation meets the community's goals, and planning the first lessons to initiate fluency in the Quinault community. This research is important because the Quinault Indian Nation has prioritized the revitalization of the Quinault language. Based upon previous documentation of Quinault, fluency in its language has proven difficult without a linguistic analysis of its structure. This research will allow the Quinault community to recognize linguistic structures inherent to Quinault. Finally, new language learners and teachers will benefit from the historical and qualitative reviews, the recommendations for language revitalization and the linguistic findings within this dissertation.

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Cook, Guy William Davidson. "A theory of discourse deviation : the application of schema theory to the analysis of literary discourse." Thesis, University of Leeds, 1990. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/12996/.

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Schema theory suggests that people understand texts and experiences by comparing them with stereotypical mental representations of similar cases. This thesis examines the relevance of this theory (as developed in some Artificial Intelligence (AI) work of the 1970s and 1980s) to literary theory and the analysis of literary texts. The general theoretical framework is that of discourse analysis. In this approach, the usefulness of schema theory is already widely acknowledged for the contribution it can make to an explanation of 'coherence': the quality of meaningfulness and unity perceived in discourse. Building upon this framework, relevant AI work on text processing is discussed, evaluated, and applied to literary and non-literary discourse. The argument then moves on to literary theory, and in particular to the 'scientific' tradition of formalism, structuralism and Jakobsonian stylistics. The central concept of this tradition is 'defamiliarization': the refreshing of experience through deviation from expectation. In structuralism, attention has been concentrated on text structure, and in Jakobsonian stylistics on language. It is argued that whereas AI work on text pays little attention to linguistic and textual form, seeking to 'translate' texts into a neutral representation of 'content', the literary theories referred to above have erred in the opposite direction, and concentrated exclusively on form. Through contrastive analyses of literary and non-literary discourse, it is suggested that neither approach is capable of accounting for •literariness* on its own. The two approaches are, however, complementary, and each would benefit from the insights of the other. Human beings need to change and refresh their schematic representations of the world, texts and language. It is suggested that such changes to schemata are effected through linguistic and textual deviation from expectation, but that deviations at these levels are no guarantee of change (as is often the case in advertisements). Discourses which do. effect changes through text and language are described as displaying 'discourse deviation*. Their primary function and value may be this effect. Discourse categorized as 'literary' is frequently of this type. Discourse deviation is best described by a combination of the methods of A1 text analysis with formalist, structuralist and Jakobsonian literary theories. In illustration of these proposals, the thesis concludes with analyses of three well-known literary texts.

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Gonzalez-Rivera, Melvin. "On The Internal Structure of Spanish Verbless Clauses." The Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1291837748.

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Rosta, Andrew. "English syntax and word grammar theory." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288690.

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Tsai, Cheng-Yu. "Toward a Theory of Mandarin Quantification." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467512.

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The goal of this dissertation is to show that certain puzzles in the syntax and semantics of Mandarin quantification can be explained from the perspective of Hamblin semantics. Following Kratzer and Shimoyama (2002), it is proposed that certain Mandarin quantificational expressions (including wh-phrases, numeral phrases, and strong quantificational phrases) denote sets of individual alternatives. They expand to sets of propositions in a pointwise manner and are selected by propositional operators. The distribution and interpretation of Mandarin quantificational expressions are constrained by the way alternatives interact with associated operators. Chapter 1 illustrates a number of issues in the behavior of Mandarin existential wh-phrases and numeral phrases, which cannot be easily explained by previous accounts. Chapter 2 investigates the properties of three logical operators haishi, huoshi and haiyou, which provide the initial motivation for a Hamblin-style approach to the system of Mandarin quantification. It is argued that these three operators make a case for reading off Hamblin alternatives directly from the clausal syntax, and that, based on evidence from morphology and existential construal, wh-phrases in Mandarin pattern together with haishi-disjunctions and thus should receive a uniform semantic treatment. All types of quantificational expressions discussed in the first two chapters interact with the preverbal particle dou in one way or another, and thus this element plays a special role in Mandarin quantification. Chapter 3 critically reviews three influential theories on dou: Shyu’s (1995) focus-based theory, Lin’s (1996) distributivity-based theory, and Giannakidou and Cheng’s (2006) maximality-based theory. Chapter 4 is devoted to a novel proposal on the syntax and semantics of dou, where it is argued that syntactically dou is a modal head that agrees with a universal quantifier that collects alternatives introduced by the quantificational phrase to its left, and semantically provides existential quantification over possible worlds. It is shown that this proposal allows for a uniform account of dou across different d¯ou-constructions, per the Hamblin-style analysis of quantificational phrases across-the-board. Finally, Chapter 5 reexamines the interpretations of existential wh-phrases and argues that in the few cases discussed the existential reading comes from not the c-commanding operator in the surface structure but from an invisible operator that collects alternatives. This operator is introduced into the syntax via agreement with the preverbal particle jiu, which is a related element to dou and is overt in some of the cases at hand but not in others. Further consequences of the present approach to the behavior of NumPs and strong quantifier phrases are also discussed.
Linguistics

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37

Aizu, Yoriko. "Japanese reflexive zibun and reflexivity theory." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9081.

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This thesis explores the reflexivity approach to zibun-binding. The paradoxical nature of zibun as an anaphor and a pronominal has invited much debate, and the status of zibun is still an unsolved subject in the framework of a standard binding theory proposed by Chomsky (1981). A reflexivity analysis proposed by Reinhart and Reuland's gives a satisfactory account of the Japanese reflexive zibun and its binding behavior. Under their analysis, zibun is categorized as a SE anaphor. The reflexivity refers to the function of marking two arguments of a verb as coreferential. When verbs are reflexive-marked, two arguments are coreferential. Then anti-locality of zibun can be explained with different verb types: one type is verbs which are intrinsically reflexive and the other is verbs which are not reflexive-marked.

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Petersen, Stacy Jennifer. "Accounting for Diphthongs| Duration as Contrast in Vowel Dispersion Theory." Thesis, Georgetown University, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13422602.

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This dissertation investigates the production and perception properties of diphthong vowels at different speech rates in order to advance the understanding of diphthong phonetics and to incorporate diphthongs into the phonological theory of vowel dispersion. Dispersion Theory (Flemming, 2004; Liljencrants & Lindblom, 1972; Lindblom, 1986) models vowel inventories in terms of contrast between all vocalic elements, yet currently only accounts for quality contrasts. Problematically, diphthongs have been excluded from previous acoustic and theoretical work due to their complex duality of being composed of two vowel targets while acting as one phonological unit. Two experiments are presented which test diphthong production and perception by altering speech rate and duration to determine fundamental properties of diphthongs cross-linguistically.

In an elicitation experiment that uses a novel methodology for speech rate modulation, it is shown that speakers maintain diphthong endpoint targets in Vietnamese, Faroese, and Cantonese. Both diphthong endpoints and monophthong targets show similar movement as a natural effect of reduction of the vowel space at faster speech rates, unifying monophthongs and diphthongs in terms of their phonetic properties. Contra the predictions of Gay (1968), it is shown that diphthong slope is variable across speech rates and slope variability is language-dependent.

The second section examines the effect of duration manipulation on diphthong perception with a vowel identification experiment. Results show that the effect of duration manipulation is dependent on phonological vowel length, but otherwise increasing duration improves perception through an increase in percent correct, lower confusability, and lower reaction times. Increasing duration also reduces confusability between diphthongs and monophthongs.

This study finds that duration is an important dimension of contrast both within diphthongs and the vowel inventory as a whole. The analysis shows that in order to adapt Dispersion Theory to account for diphthongs, the theory must include an additional contrast dimension of time. Based on the results of the experiments, three constraints are proposed to initiate the inclusion of diphthongs into Dispersion Theory: *DUR, MINDIST ONSET, and MINDIST OFFSET. Including duration in theoretical models of vowel dispersion is the first step in accounting for vocalic elements that are contrastive along multiple dimensions.

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Kang, Chorong. "Copy Theory of Movement and PF Conditions on Spell-Out." Thesis, University of Southern California, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10608530.

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In this dissertation, I investigate how agreement, movement, and pronunciation determine surface position of a phrase. The main interest of this dissertation is in the question why in some cases an element is pronounced in the position where it is interpreted while in other cases, there is a discrepancy between the position for interpretation and the position for pronunciation. To investigate this issue, I will first discuss a relation between agreement and movement. Inspired by Reverse Agree (Wurmbrand 2012), I will clarify a condition of movement. Based on the suggested relation between agreement and movement, I will propose three different types of movement: phrasal movement, parasitic phrasal movement, and parasitic head movement. The crucial difference between phrasal movement and parasitic (phrasal/head) movement is that an element does undergo movement in the case of phrasal movement, while an element does NOT undergo movement in the case of parasitic movement.

Following the copy theory of movement, I assume that an element that undergoes phrasal movement leaves its copies in its base position and its destination along with other intermediate positions, unlike one that undergoes parasitic movement. Thus, PF needs to choose which copy to pronounce when there is more than one copy in a chain. Zooming in the issue of selection of copy for pronunciation, I will discuss PF constraints that play a role in copy-selection. Especially, adopting Landau (2007)’s intuition that EPP is a pure PF requirement, I will argue that a high-copy privilege assumed in the previous studies are misled by pronunciation-wise reinterpreted EPP. Furthermore, I will argue that once we get rid of the effects of EPP, a low copy is rather preferred to be selected for pronunciation due to economy conditions. I will show how the interaction between the EPP as a PF constraint and an economy condition favoring low-copy pronunciation accounts for both (i) prevalent high-copy pronunciation and (ii) apparent lack of a high-copy privilege across languages.

Based on the system developed, I will provide a typological study in two representative cases of movement: (i) subject agreement/movement and (ii) wh-agreement/movement. This system provides a new approach for the typology of in-situ subjects and in-situ wh-phrases. In the proposed system, in-situ subject/wh-phrases are the results of either parasitic movement or low-copy pronunciation in phrasal movement. An in-situ phrase generated by parasitic movement does not have a copy in a higher position, so it cannot take a high scope. Furthermore, since the phrase does not undergo movement, it is insensitive to movement constraints (e.g. island constraints). By way of contrast, an in-situ phrase generated by a low-copy pronunciation in a movement chain shows “high” behaviors in addition to sensitivity to movement constraints. I will show how the two theoretically possible in-situ subjects/wh-phrases are realized in languages.

Furthermore, based on the definition of the EPP, I will propose various ways to satisfy the EPP. Instead of filling the specifier position of a functional head, I will argue that morphology can be inserted as a means of satisfying the EPP. In addition, I assume that morphology insertion as a way of satisfying the EPP includes a case of inserting an intonation morpheme, suggested by Cheng and Rooryck (2000). This additional way to satisfy the EPP accounts for a range of otherwise puzzling prosody relevant phenomena: i) acceptance of inverse scope reading in so-called rigid scope languages with the help of prosody; ii) ameliorating the intervention effects in Korean and Japanese with the help of prosody. Finally, by reviewing previous studies, I will show how the proposed system accounts for exceptional low-copy pronunciation.

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Harbour, Daniel 1975. "Elements of number theory." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17581.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-205).
The dissertation argues for the necessity of a morphosemantic theory of number, that is, a theory of number serviceable both to semantics and morphology. The basis for this position, and the empirical core of the dissertation, is the relationship between semantically based noun classification and agreement in Kiowa, an indigenous, endangered language of Oklahoma. The central claim is that Universal Grammar provides three number features, concerned with unithood, existence of homogeneous subsets, and properties of those subsets. The features are used to analyze a wide variety of data. Semantic topics include the difference between granular and non-granular mass nouns, collective, non-collective and distributive plurals, and cardinality. Syntactic topics include the structure of DP, noun marking, agreement and suppletion. Morphological topics include the inventory of morphological operations, the featural basis of complex syncretisms, the difference between agreement and suppletion, whether features are privative or binary, and the nature of the Kiowa/Tanoan inverse. Keywords: Kiowa-Tanoan, number, morphology, semantics, agreement, suppletion, inverse, noun class, singular, dual, plural, features, binary, privative.
by Daniel Harbour.
Ph.D.

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Heiberg, Andrea Jeanine. "Features in optimality theory: A computational model." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288983.

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This dissertation presents a computational model of Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993). The model provides an efficient solution to the problem of candidate generation and evaluation, and is demonstrated for the realm of phonological features. Explicit object-oriented implementations are proposed for autosegmental representations (Goldsmith 1976 and many others) and violable OT constraints and Gen operations on autosegmental representations. Previous computational models of OT (Ellison 1995, Tesar 1995, Eisner 1997, Hammond 1997, Karttunen 1998) have not dealt in depth with autosegmental representations. The proposed model provides a full treatment of autosegmental representations and constraints on autosegmental representations (Akinlabi 1996, Archangeli and Pulleyblank 1994, Ito, Mester, and Padgett 1995, Kirchner 1993, Padgett 1995, Pulleyblank 1993, 1996, 1998). Implementing Gen, the candidate generation component of OT, is a seemingly intractable problem. Gen in principle performs unlimited insertion; therefore, it may produce an infinite candidate set. For autosegmental representations, however, it is not necessary to think of Gen as infinite. The Obligatory Contour Principle (Leben 1973, McCarthy 1979, 1986) restricts the number of tokens of any one feature type in a single representation; hence, Gen for autosegmental features is finite. However, a finite Gen may produce a candidate set of exponential size. Consider an input representation with four anchors for each of five features: there are (2⁴ + 1)⁵, more than one million, candidates for such an input. The proposed model implements a method for significantly reducing the exponential size of the candidate set. Instead of first creating all candidates (Gen) and then evaluating them against the constraint hierarchy (Eval), candidate creation and evaluation are interleaved (cf. Eisner 1997, Hammond 1997) in a Gen-Eval loop. At each pass through the Gen-Eval loop, Gen operations apply to create the minimal number of candidates needed for constraint evaluation; this candidate set is evaluated and culled, and the set of Gen operations is reduced. The loop continues until the hierarchy is exhausted; the remaining candidate(s) are optimal. In providing explicit implementations of autosegmental representations, constraints, and Gen operations, the model provides a coherent view of autosegmental theory, Optimality Theory, and the interaction between the two.

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42

McKay, David Andrew. "Metrical theory and English verse." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10777.

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Lind, Marcia Susan. "Emotions and Hume's moral theory." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14740.

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Vaysman, Olga. "Segmental alternations and metrical theory." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47830.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-268).
This dissertation focuses on phonological alternations that are influenced or constrained by word-internal prosody, i.e. prominence and foot structure, and what these alternations can tell us about metrical theory. Detailed case studies of several cases of prosody sensitive segmental alternations, as well as a survey of such phenomena mentioned in the literature were the empirical basis for this study. I have offered an empirically motivated proposal that constituency and prominence have to be separate entities in the grammar, since some segmental alternations cannot be accounted for without reference to foot boundaries, while others require reference to prominence. The data also shows that there are languages with mismatches between stress assignment pattern and foot structure. Based on the empirical data that prosody-sensitive alternations provide, I develop the formal proposal of representation of prominence and foot structure and their interaction. Prominence is represented by gridmarks on an autosegmental tier, while foot structure is not built on the gridmarks, but is a function of syllables grouped into higher-level constituents. I propose that the relationship between foot structure and prominence should be mediated by violable constraints relating the two entities. I call them Prominence Alignment constraints. Mismatches between foot structure and prominence assignment in a given language are caused, under the present theory, when one of the constraints that refer to prominence but not to foot structure outranks a Prominence Alignment constraint. The factorial typology generated by such ranking is substantiated by the case studies throughout this dissertation. I argue that the model developed in this dissertation generates all types of interaction between foot structure and prominence attested and does not generate unattested patterns.
by Olga Vaysman.
Ph.D.

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Levin, Juliette. "A metrical theory of syllabicity." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/15321.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1985.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES
Includes bibliographical references.
Juliette Levin.
Ph.D.

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46

Fanselow, Gisbert, Matthias Schlesewsky, Damir Cavar, and Reinhold Kliegl. "Optimal parsing: syntactic parsing preferences and optimality theory." Universität Potsdam, 1999. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2011/5716/.

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47

Wilson, J. "Conversational matters : Towards a theory of everyday conversation." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.374222.

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48

Sheu, Ying-yu. "Topics on a categorial theory of Chinese syntax." The Ohio State University, 1990. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392905045.

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49

Bedi, Indira. "Reading emotion : functional linguistics and the theory of Rasa." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.302182.

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50

Barss, Andrew. "Chains and anaphoric dependence : on reconstruction and its implications." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8833.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1986.
Includes bibliographical references (v. 3, leaves 575-581).
This thesis is concerned with developing an account within the Government and Binding (GB) theory of the grammaticality of such structures as (1), and exploring the implications of this account for the theory of empty categories, chains, and scope. The hallmark characteristic of such grammatical S-Structure representations as (1) is that the anaphor is outside the c-command domain of its understood antecedent. The basic anaphoric effect is termed connectivity. 1) [which of each other's friends][did the men see t]? Chapter 1 is a brief overview of the necessary definitions presumed in the thesis, and an outline of the subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 introduces a large body of data which must be treated on a par with (1), and reviews and criticizes several existing proposals which have been made to account for (1). The chapter argues that the binding theory must apply to structures having the essential form of (1). We demonstrate that no treatment which involves lowering the anaphor into the c-command domain of the antecedent via "reconstruction" operations, or involves applying the Binding Theory at a level at which WH movement is not represented, can be maintained. Chapter 3 develops a revision of the binding theory, focusing on Condition A, which is capable of treating all the connectivity data in a unified way. The major formal construct proposed in the chapter is the chain accessibility sequence, essentially a path of nodes through which the potential antecedents for an expression are accessed. The revised binding theory is defined in terms of such sequences; as the name implies, the notion chain plays a prominent role. This approach to connectivity is developed in the spirit of the Path theory of Kayne (1983) and Pesetsky (1982). We also discuss properties of structures of the form of {l), but where the constituent containing the anaphor is predicative in nature. We shall see that the predicative nature of the constituent significantly constrains the possibilities of assigning the anaphor an antecedent. This chapter adopts, and argues in favor of, the Linking theory of binding introduced by Higginbotham (1983). Chapter 4 focuses on the theory of empty categories, arguing that it is desirable to construct the theory so that no empty categories bear binding features (the features[+/- anaphoric] and[+/- pronominal] are thus restricted to overt categories). This proposal, which I term the No Features Hypothesis, departs from the characteristic treatment of ECs in GB theory. The chapter adopts Brody's (1985) proposals concerning the distribution of PRO and NP-trace. We adopt, and later extend, the Local Binding Condition (LBC) on A chains, argued by Rizzi (1982) to constrain the well-formedness of A chains. We reformulate it in terms of Linking theory, as the Chain Obviation Condition (CCC), and argue that it holds of all chain types. This is shown to be a principle with considerable generality, subsuming the LBC, Condition C of the binding theory, and the anti-c-command condition on linking. Adopting the COC, along with the NFH, allows the elimination of the class R-expression from the inventory of binding types. It will be shown that the anti-c-command condition on parasitic gaps derives directly from the CCC, with no stipulations. The chapter concludes with a defense of the proposal that the theory of anaphora must recognize anaphoric dependence and obviation as separate relations (as argued by Lasnik (1976), (1981), and Higgginbotham (1985)). Chapter 5 discusses constraints on the interpretation of sentences in which a quantificational NP is the antecedent of an NP-trace which it does not c-command. These considerations lead us to formulate a constraint on movement operations. The chapter also argues that the operations of WH-movement and QR are strictly ordered in the LF component.
by Andrew Barss.
Ph.D.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Linguistics ; Minimalist theory (Linguistics)'

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