Semi-lexical heads in Czech modal structures

This thesis argues for a semi-lexical interpretation of Czech modal verbs. It demonstrates that Czech modals participate in syntactic structures that contain a finite verb followed by multiple infinitives (verb clusters), such as Jan musel chtít začít studovat lingvistiku ‘John had to want to begin studying linguistics.’ The term Complex Verbal Domain (CVD) is devised for the verbal part of these structures. The analysis seeks to offer a unified account of modal verbs in Czech in respect of their subcategorization frame in the Lexicon and semantic properties (‘modal meaning’). It also attempts to clarify the confusion regarding modal verbs and modality in traditional Czech grammars by shifting the attention from pragmatics to an approach based on recent development of generative syntax (Chomsky 1998, 2000, 2001). Following the examination of syntactic behaviour of Czech modals in the CVD structure, the thesis proceeds to modify Emonds’ (1985, 2000) theory of semilexicality. This approach assumes that Czech modals are neither fully functional (due to properties such as rich morphological paradigm, ability to undergo Negation, Reflexivization and PF movement), nor fully lexical (they are unable to take clausal complements and distinguish between aspectual pairs). The semi-lexical analysis also shows that there is evidence for the existence of two types of Czech modals, True modal verbs (TMVs) and Optional modal verbs (OMVs). Whilst the former cannot nominalize or denote events, but are able to convey epistemic meaning, the latter undergo nominalization and are capable of event denotation, but do not attain epistemic reading. The semi-lexical properties of both TMVs and OMVs are syntactically reflected in their specific subcategorization frame X, +MODAL, +mod, +__ [V, INF]. The cognitive syntactic feature +MODAL cospecifies the syntactic derivation of Czech modal verbs in the ‘light’ vº, which takes an infinitival VP as a complement. Therefore, I argue that the CVD is syntactically vP. If the original CVD structure involves multiple infinitives (Jan vPmusí VPchtít(INF) začít(INF) číst(INF) tu knihu ‘John has to want to begin reading that book’), the VP complement has characteristics of a flat structure, adapted from Emonds (1999a, 1999b, 2001). On the other hand, +mod is a semantic feature that specifies the lexical behaviour of Czech modals and conveys the ‘modal meaning’, which is formalized in terms of possible worlds semantics as quantification over the modal base. The semi-lexical analysis also investigates the root v. epistemic dichotomy. The thesis argues that this dichotomy does not affect the unified theory of modality in Czech in terms of its derivational and semantic status, but is a result of covert processes at the level of Logical Form (LF), which realize different levels of modal quantification.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Re-reading in Stylistics

Cognitive stylistics is primarily concerned with the cognitive processes – mental simulations – experienced by readers. Most cognitive stylisticians agree that experiences of reading texts are dynamic and flexible. Changes in the context of reading, our attentional focus on a given day, our extra background knowledge about the text, and so on, are all factors that contribute to our experience of a fictional world. A second reading of a text is a different experience to a first reading. As researchers begin to systematically distinguish between the ‘solitary’ and ‘social’ readings that constitute reading as a phenomenon (Peplow et al., 2016), the relationship between multiple readings and the nature of their processing become increasingly pertinent. In order to explore this relationship, firstly we examine the different ways in which re-reading has previously been discussed in stylistics, grounding our claims in an empirical analysis of articles published in key stylistics journals over the past two decades. Next, we draw on reader response data from an online questionnaire in order to assess the role of re-reading and the motivations that underpin it. Finally, we describe an exercise for the teaching of cognitive stylistics, specifically applying schema theory in literary linguistic analysis (Cook, 1994), which illustrates the need to distinguish between readings as part of an analysis. Through these three sections we argue that our experiences of texts should be considered diachronically, and propose that the different readings that make up an analysis of a text should be given greater attention in stylistic research and teaching