117 research outputs found
Presenting and predicating lower events
The effects of different forms of predication have been insightfully (and almost exclusively) studied for 'simple' cases of predication, of which the 'presentational sentence' is maybe the paradigm instantiation. It is the aim of this paper to show that thc same kind of effects as well as in fact the same kind of structures are present at embedded levels in thematically and otherwise more complex structures. Beyond presentational sentences, 'unaccusative' experiencing constructions involving a dative subject, 'double object constructions' and - to a lesser extent - spraylload constructions are discussed. For all of these, it is argued that they comprise a predication encoding the ascription of a transient temporal property to a location. On this basis, a proposal is made as to how the scope asymmetry between the two arguments involved in the colistructions can be explained. Furthermore, a proposal is made as to how what has been called 'argument shift' is motivated
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Arguments and adjuncts in Oâdam : language-specific realization of a cross-linguistic distinction
This dissertation examines the properties that distinguish argument and adjunct dependents in the Oâdam language (Tepiman<Uto-Aztecan) of Durango, Mexico. Verbal dependents, which express the participants involved in the eventuality described by the verb,
are divided into different grammatical relationships with that verb (e.g. subject, object,
oblique, etc.). Such grammatical functions are commonly assumed to be grouped into two
overarching functions: arguments, which express core participants of a predicate and are
closely tied to the verb, and adjuncts, which express peripheral participants of a predicate
and lack any special morphosyntactic status in regards to the particular verb. There has been
a long been an attempt to identify a cross-linguistically valid set of grammatical properties
that will cross-linguistically distinguish arguments from adjuncts.
I show that Oâdam adds a typologically new type of language that does not conform
to the standard view of the argument/adjunct distinction. Head-marking underpredicts the
number of arguments that ditransitives and denominal verbs have, while most other standard
cross linguistically-applied tests for different grammatical function in a large part do not
distinguish dependents at all. Instead, the evidence for a thematically-rooted distinction
between arguments and adjuncts found in argumenthood tests that mostly constitute wholly
language-internal properties.
I propose two new language-specific tests of argumenthood specific to Oâdam: preverbal (discontinuous) quantification and applicativization.
In addition to subjects and objects, preverbal quantification distinguishes different types of benefactive objects, and distinguishes recipients from recipient benefactives. The
output of applicativization is hierarchically determined by the valency and argument structure of the verb, providing another probe into underlying argument structure. However, while
there is overlap among the various argumenthood tests, the subsets of dependents each test
identifies as an argument are not co-extensive. Valency effects on applicativization do not
match such effects on head-marking, nor do either line up with preverbal quantification.
Rather than finding a uniform behavior for arguments, I ultimately show that adjuncts are
the only grammatical function with uniform syntactic behavior, purely because they are
the only set of dependents that consistently fails every test. Notable among these are instruments and locatives, which behave as adjuncts regardless of their semantic relation to a
predicate. Additionally, I show that Oâdam realizes many of the properties predicted to hold
for a Pronominal Argument Language (Jelinek 1984), suggesting that argument saturation is
done within the verb. However, the interpretation of overt and covert nominals suggests that
such argument saturation is not done through an equivalent to a lexical pronoun. This investigation of the argument/adjunct distinction in Oâdam adds a more comprehensive empirical
account of Oâdam verbal syntax, and suggests that the cross-linguistically useful notion of
distinctions between grammatical function can sometimes play out through almost entirely
language-specific properties.Linguistic
Factive And Assertive Attitude Reports
This dissertation investigates the semantics, pragmatics, and syntax of propositional attitude
reports; in particular, how assertion and presupposition are reflected in these different
parts of the grammar. At the core of the dissertation are factive attitude reports, involving
predicates like know, discover, realize, resent, appreciate, and like. Since Stalnaker (1974),
factivity is taken to encompass both the discourse status of the embedded proposition p as
Common Ground and the projection of the inference that the speaker is committed to p
from the scope of operatorsâin both cases, unlike asserted content. Syntactically, factivity
and assertion are argued to provide the semantic-pragmatic underpinnings for a range of
complementation patterns (Kiparsky and Kiparsky 1970, Hooper and Thompson 1973, Rizzi
1997, a.o.).
The central contributions of the dissertation are: (i) demonstrating what precise dimensions
of assertion and presupposition are reflected in the syntax and semantics of clausal
embedding, and (ii) decomposing the classically multifaceted notion of factivity into a set
of more specific theoretical notions; importantly, dissociating the discourse status of p and
the projection-prone speaker commitment inference.
We attribute the speaker commitment inference to a lexical presupposition of an evidential
modal base that entails p. We argue that this evidential base is always anchored to a
Judge, which, depending on the type of factive predicate, is bound by different individuals.
In the case of doxastic factives like discover, the judge is bound by the speaker, whereas in
the case of emotive factives like appreciate, it is bound by the attitude holder, and for fact
that nominals, it is realized as an index on the noun. The discourse status of p, we attribute
to a separate dimension of discourse new vs. Given content (in the sense of Schwarzschild
1999), which cross-cuts both factive and non-factive verbs. Among the predicates which
treat their complements as Given, we differentiate between the requirement (of response
predicates like accept and not say) that p has an antecedent in the discourse, and the requirement
(of emotive factives like resent and appreciate) that the situation or individual
providing the attitude holderâs evidential basis for p is contextually accessible. We further
argue for a fundamental semantic distinction between primarily acquaintance-based predicates
âwhich include both factives (evidentials) like discover and non-factives like fearâ
and fundamentally doxastic or epistemic predicates, like believe and trust.
Making these distinctions allows us to account for a wide range of apparently connected,
yet clearly disparate empirical phenomena, some of which represent open problems in the
literature and some of which are new observations made in the dissertation. Importantly, we
are able to capture: (i) the dissociation of the discourse status of p and the commitment-to-p
inference in doxastic factives (Chapters 3 and 5); (ii) a number of asymmetries between doxastic
and emotive factives regarding their apparent entailment properties, interactions with
operators, and sensitivities to contextual effects (Chapter 5); (iii) variations in entailment
and argument-structural patterns across verbs like know and believe (Chapter 4); and (iv)
the distribution of a set of proposed syntactic correlates of assertion and presupposition;
in particular, V-to-C movement, wh-extraction, and selection for DP vs. CP-complements
(Chapters 2 and 3)
Diversity in African languages: Selected papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on DaatsâiÌin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands
Diversity in African languages: Selected papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on DaatsâiÌin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands
Diversity in African languages: Selected papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on DaatsâiÌin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands
Diversity in African languages: Selected papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on DaatsâiÌin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands
Diversity in African languages: Selected papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on DaatsâiÌin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands
Diversity in African languages: Selected papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on DaatsâiÌin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands
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