PRO and (Under)Specification of Person in Imposter Constructions

This paper examines a particular type of English control constructions that exhibits morphosyntactic variation. The constructions that are investigated are control that appears in the imposter phenomenon studied by Collins & Postal (2012). Using minimalist syntax in combination with the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM), a syntactic account is offered that validates such variation and shows evidence for PRO in infinitives with imposter constructions, rather than a trace of NP via movement. Furthermore, comparing PRO and pro for the subject gap of control, it shows that PRO can account for binding alternations unlike pro. The current analysis demonstrates that the lack of the underspecification of phi-feature valuation does not result in ungrammaticality whereas the failure of Agree itself leads to ungrammaticality. Moreover, the current analysis offers a systematic picture of the morphosyntactic variation of English nominals in terms of the person feature and it also accounts for cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation in agreement displayed in Chinese and Japanese.

Projected self: the de se across dimensions and beyond pronouns

This dissertation is about how attitudes de se are encoded in content outside the assertive domain, as well as by expressions which are not really pronouns, such as nouns. First of all, it provides evidence that expressives are necessarily de se, which means that non-pronominal expressions, such as nouns, verbs etc. can be de se in a non-assertive dimension. Next, it examines in full detail the landscape of expressive (or as it is more recently known, use-conditional) meaning and the extant dedicated frameworks, arguing that they are misguided, due to conceptual issues and not being restrictive enough to be theoretically meaningful. I then move to the debate of whether expressives are presuppositions or a distinct kind of meaning, arguing for a conciliatory solution which proposes that expressives are ordinary presuppositions endowed with a compositionally irrelevant, indexical kind of meaning which I call ‘associative’. This solution explains the ambivalent behaviour of expressives, i.e. that they may display filterability and non-displaceability simultaneously. The next topic is that of self-reference of Japanese, a language which lacks genuine personal pronouns and where speakers may use a multitude of expressions instead for this function: a long list of so-called personal pronouns which are actually nouns, then also common nouns and proper names. After a thorough description of the data, I offer a formal account of self-reference in Japanese, accommodating all the different kinds of expressions used. The main theoretical implication of this account is that the absolute distinction between indexicals and names is denied, as names in Japanese can encode the de se. Moreover, it is shown that Japanese so-called 1st person pronouns are de se in both dimensions, as they are used as self-referring expressions but they are also endowed with associative meaning.PhD funded by the Leverhulme Foundation (Grant ID/Ref: RPG-2014-017

Understanding the Lived Experience of Illusory Social Agents in Psychosis: A Corpus Linguistics Analysis

Several studies have shown that positive symptoms of psychosis are highly social in nature. The presence of illusory social agents in psychosis have been reported in studies spanning a number of years in different cultures and etiologies. However, there is currently a limited understanding of the social phenomenology of psychosis and the presence of illusory social agents in the positive symptoms. Part 1 of this thesis is a conceptual introduction that provides an overview of the literature on the social phenomenology of psychosis. The introduction highlights gaps in the literature, including a need for more research that explores illusory social agent representation in the lived experience of psychosis. Part 2 is an interdisciplinary study exploring the characterisation of illusory social agents in the lived experience of community and ward based participants. Corpus linguistics was used to analyze phenomenological data that was gathered using semi-structured interviews. Frameworks from Clinical Psychology and Corpus Linguistics were used to interpret the findings. Illusory social agents were represented as active and dynamic beings that engaged in a range of verbal, mental, behavioural and material processes. Part 2 discusses the impact of these behaviours on participants lives. It concludes with clinical and research implications and ideas for future research. Part 3 offers the considered thoughts on the process of undertaking the study. It considers the strengths and limitation of the study and offers thoughts on how these could be addressed by future researchers

Perspectives on information structure in Austronesian languages

Information structure is a relatively new field to linguistics and has only recently been studied for smaller and less described languages. This book is the first of its kind that brings together contributions on information structure in Austronesian languages. Current approaches from formal semantics, discourse studies, and intonational phonology are brought together with language specific and cross-linguistic expertise of Austronesian languages. The 13 chapters in this volume cover all subgroups of the large Austronesian family, including Formosan, Central Malayo-Polynesian, South Halmahera-West New Guinea, and Oceanic. The major focus, though, lies on Western Malayo-Polynesian languages. Some chapters investigate two of the largest languages in the region (Tagalog and different varieties of Malay), others study information-structural phenomena in small, underdescribed languages. The three overarching topics that are covered in this book are NP marking and reference tracking devices, syntactic structures and information-structural categories, and the interaction of information structure and prosody. Various data types build the basis for the different studies compiled in this book. Some chapters investigate written texts, such as modern novels (cf. Djenar’s chapter on modern, standard Indonesian), or compare different text genres, such as, for example, oral narratives and translations of biblical narratives (cf. De Busser’s chapter on Bunun). Most contributions, however, study natural spoken speech and make use of spoken corpora which have been compiled by the authors themselves. The volume comprises a number of different methods and theoretical frameworks. Two chapters make use of the Question Under Discussion approach, developed in formal semantics (cf. the chapters by Latrouite & Riester; Shiohara & Riester). Riesberg et al. apply the recently developed method of Rapid Prosody Transcription (RPT) to investigate native speakers’ perception of prosodic prominences and boundaries in Papuan Malay. Other papers discuss theoretical consequences of their findings. Thus, for example, Himmelmann takes apart the most widespread framework for intonational phonology (ToBI) and argues that the analysis of Indonesian languages requires much simpler assumptions than the ones underlying the standard model. Arka & Sedeng ask the question how fine-grained information structure space should be conceptualized and modelled, e.g. in LFG. Schnell argues that elements that could be analysed as “topic” and “focus” categories, should better be described in terms of ‘packaging’ and do not necessarily reflect any pragmatic roles in the first place

Picture Book as Personal Journey: A Kristevan Reading of Peter Sís’s Tibet: Through the Red Box

oai:ojs.jeunessejournal.ca:article/1Peter Sís’s semi-autobiographical picture book, Tibet: Through the Red Box, is about a father’s inexplicable disappearance many years ago. The father, lost in Tibet, had many serendipitous adventures, and the book celebrates that extraordinary journey. But Sís’s book is also about the crippling pain of loss felt by a child when his father disappeared. Through an innovative use of word-picture interactions, Sís conveys the pleasure and poignancy of the experience. This essay considers text-image relations in Tibet through a Kristevan lens and concludes that Sís’s picture book is a psychologically therapeutic artistic journey from childhood trauma to self-healing. The analysis not only sheds light on Sís’s remarkable work, but also explores the potentiality of the picture-book genre as a vehicle for psychological processes.   DOI: 10.1353/jeu.0.000

The Abstraction of Meaning in the Digital Landscape and the Communities that Form There

Computer-mediated technologies are changing how we communicate; the boundaries between oral, visual, and verbal communication, already difficult to distinguish, has blurred, becoming a construction with its own grammar and diction. One such visual/verbal-mixed unit of communication is the internet meme, an image, text, video, or performance meant to be circulated within digital communities. This open-ended medium begs for rhetorical study in this evolving digital landscape. Preceding scholarship that has blended the field of rhetoric with internet memes has tended to focus on a study of circulation (Mills; Taecharungroj and Nueangjamnong; Guadagno, et al.) or the use of specific forms and modes within memes (Huntington; Segev, et al.; Davis, et al.). It seems only recently that an eye has turned towards meme-sharing communities and the larger effects these meme communities have on the internet and non-internet culture altogether (Shifman; Milner; Massanari). This thesis attempts to add to the literature an analysis of specific internet communities’ incorporation of ironic, absurd, and surreal elements in their visual rhetoric. Through an analysis of subreddits /r/DankMemes, /r/DeepFriedMemes, and /r/SurrealMemes, I will attempt to answer how these communities make meaning out of digital objects, as well as how they form create and reinforce the boundaries of their communities through interactions with such objects

Perspectives on information structure in Austronesian languages

Information structure is a relatively new field to linguistics and has only recently been studied for smaller and less described languages. This book is the first of its kind that brings together contributions on information structure in Austronesian languages. Current approaches from formal semantics, discourse studies, and intonational phonology are brought together with language specific and cross-linguistic expertise of Austronesian languages. The 13 chapters in this volume cover all subgroups of the large Austronesian family, including Formosan, Central Malayo-Polynesian, South Halmahera-West New Guinea, and Oceanic. The major focus, though, lies on Western Malayo-Polynesian languages. Some chapters investigate two of the largest languages in the region (Tagalog and different varieties of Malay), others study information-structural phenomena in small, underdescribed languages. The three overarching topics that are covered in this book are NP marking and reference tracking devices, syntactic structures and information-structural categories, and the interaction of information structure and prosody. Various data types build the basis for the different studies compiled in this book. Some chapters investigate written texts, such as modern novels (cf. Djenar’s chapter on modern, standard Indonesian), or compare different text genres, such as, for example, oral narratives and translations of biblical narratives (cf. De Busser’s chapter on Bunun). Most contributions, however, study natural spoken speech and make use of spoken corpora which have been compiled by the authors themselves. The volume comprises a number of different methods and theoretical frameworks. Two chapters make use of the Question Under Discussion approach, developed in formal semantics (cf. the chapters by Latrouite & Riester; Shiohara & Riester). Riesberg et al. apply the recently developed method of Rapid Prosody Transcription (RPT) to investigate native speakers’ perception of prosodic prominences and boundaries in Papuan Malay. Other papers discuss theoretical consequences of their findings. Thus, for example, Himmelmann takes apart the most widespread framework for intonational phonology (ToBI) and argues that the analysis of Indonesian languages requires much simpler assumptions than the ones underlying the standard model. Arka & Sedeng ask the question how fine-grained information structure space should be conceptualized and modelled, e.g. in LFG. Schnell argues that elements that could be analysed as “topic” and “focus” categories, should better be described in terms of ‘packaging’ and do not necessarily reflect any pragmatic roles in the first place

Black Freemasonry and middle-class realities

Includes indexIncludes bibliographical references (page 139-156) and indexThis book documents some of the realities of success as being racially delimited. For more than two hundred years this segment of the black middle class has at the same time dealt with the system of exclusion and yet achieved some of the system's proffered rewards. It is the story of the Prince Hall Masons, an organization within the black community established over two hundred years ago. By examining this black organization, from the colonial period to the present, one can more fully understand the struggles of the black, middle-class men. Black Freemasonry, as a separate structure, emerged in response to the discriminatory practices and policies of mainstream American Freemasonry, an institution dedicated to the universal brotherhood of mankind.The emergence of Prince Hall Freemasonry -- The free black context -- Nineteenth-century realities for free blacks -- The growth of Prince Hall Freemasonry -- The masonic realities -- The discrepancy in universalism: minorities -- Black association: pragmatic adaptation? -- The commitment of black masons -- The middle-class phenomenon -- Implications of phillarizationDigitized at the University of Missouri--Columbia MU Libraries Digitization Lab in 2012. Digitized at 600 dpi with Zeutschel, OS 15000 scanner. Access copy, available in MOspace, is 400 dpi, grayscale

Authenticity framing and market creation for meta organisations: The case of the Swartland Independent Producers in the South African wine field

This PhD thesis studies the Swartland Independent Producers (SIP) meta-organisation, located in the Western Cape wine region of South Africa, and asks: how and why the collective rendering of authenticity creates markets? Seventy-one interviews were realised with producers making “authentic wine” and other market participants active in the South African wine industry between 2010 and 2016. How and why businesses create markets by rendering authenticity through collective action organised within meta-organisations has not been fully explored in the organisational authenticity literature. The framework developed through a qualitative analysis of the SIP case, contributes to filling this gap by showing that authenticity can be constructed, and new markets created for meta-organisations, via the interplay of two sets of intersecting meta-framings: authenticity work and authentication work, and hot and cool authenticity framing. This thesis demonstrates that authenticity work may comprise three meso-framings: claiming purity, performing charisma and meta-organisational tethering. Simultaneously, this study conceptualises how market participants purposively engage in authentication work through meso-framings of polarising evaluation, valorising status, and reframing meaning. The theoretical framework refines the current scholarly explanation of why rendered authenticity creates markets. By bridging the sociology and organisational literatures dedicated to authenticity, this PhD developed four novel authenticity meta-framing constructs: hot and cool authenticity work and hot and cool authentication work. Through further theorising their interactions, this study advances current academic knowledge on how and why rendering authenticity is a central concern for businesses intending to create markets through meta-organisational collective action