A Study of Verbs of (Change of) State in - ArtSites

RÉSUMÉS DE THÈSES • DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS
Internal Structure of Verb Meaning: A Study of Verbs of (Change of) State in
Tamazight (Berber), PhD Dissertation.
Karim Achab (2006), [email protected]
The dissertation investigates the internal structure and the predicate-argument
structure of verbs of (change of) state in Tamazight (Berber). The verbs
investigated include unaccusatives, spatial configuration verbs, causatives, and
those traditionally called verbs of quality in the Tamazight linguistic literature.
The latter class includes intransitive verbs that have the particularity to occur with
nominative clitics when they indicate a change of state or a resultative state, but
with accusative clitics when they indicate a pure state.
In Chapter 1, I provide a general outline of the dissertation and state the
objectives pursued in the subsequent chapters. In Chapter 2, I sketch out the
theoretical framework adopted, which is a combination of lexical and conceptual
semantics on the one hand, and the Minimalist Program/Government and Binding
on the other hand. I also specify the different levels that compose the organization
of the grammar, which includes an extra-linguistic cognitive level where events
are represented mentally, a (pre-syntactic) lexical-conceptual level where event
structure is mapped onto its appropriate lexical structure, and a syntactic level
where the argument structure is represented.
In Chapter 3, I argue that verbs of quality have the monadic structure
state
[V [√ROOT]] when they are combined with accusative clitics, and the dyadic
structure [Vinch[Vstate[√ROOT]]] when combined with nominative clitics. In
passing, the combination of verbs of quality with accusative clitics constitutes
counterevidence to the view that intransitive verbs do not assign accusative case.
The change of state interpretation is to be viewed from the perspective of the
initial (or higher) event undergoing change while the resultative state is to be
understood from the perspective of the final (or lower) state.
I account for the difference between the two interpretations of the dyadic
structure in terms of a scope operator associated with two distinct positions. That
is, when the operator is in [Spec, Vinch], the structure yields a change of state
interpretation; on the other hand, when the operator is in [Spec, Vstate] the
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
structure yields a resultative or a stative interpretation. This analysis carries over
to the class of unaccusative verbs.
In Chapter 4, I further elaborate on the differences between the accusative and
the nominative clitics, and the positions they are associated with. I argue that the
accusative form is associated with a defective T, lacking the EPP effect (Chomsky
2000, 2001), which explains why the clitic fails to raise to the subject position,
whence the accusative Case. By contrast, the nominative form involves a nondefective T, therefore the clitic raises to the subject position where it surfaces in
the nominative.
In Chapter 5, I demonstrate that verbs of spatial configuration are disguised
reflexives and have the triadic structure [Vact[Vinch[Vstate([√ROOT])]]]. I explain
that the reflexive interpretation results from the association of the internal
argument with two thematic positions, which correspond to [Spec, Vact] and
[Spec, Vinch].
Chapter 6 is devoted to causative verbs, both lexical and morphological. I
argue that lexical causatives have a transitive basic structure while morphological
causatives have an intransitive basic structure. Accordingly, I demonstrate that the
transitive structure of morphological causatives is derived by augmenting the
intransitive structure with a causative layer. I further contrast lexical causatives
that alternate with the intransitive use with those that do not have an intransitive
alternate. I conclude that transitive/intransitive alternating causatives are derived
by conflating the lexical root with the lower event (BE)COME, while exclusively
transitive causatives are derived by conflating the lexical root directly with the
higher event CAUSE. This idea also explains why verbs belonging to the same
semantic class alternate in some languages but not in others.
References
Chomsky, Noam (2000). Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In Roger Martin,
David Michaels, & Juan Uriagereka (eds.) Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist
Syntax in Honor of Howard Lasnik. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 89–115.
Chomsky, Noam (2001). Derivation by phase. In Michael Kenstowicz (ed.) Ken
Hale: A Life in Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 1–52.
214
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
Le pronom personnel sujet de la troisième personne : grammaticalisation,
réanalyse et variation dans le parler d’Ottawa-Hull, Thèse de doctorat.
Alphonse Kabano (2004)
L’usage du pronom personnel (PP) en contexte de redoublement du sujet est une
caractéristique marquante du français parlé (canadien), selon nombre d’études
(Auger 1991, 1993, 1995 ; Nadasdi 1995, 2000 ; King et Nadasdi 1995, Ossipov
1997, Heap 2000, entre autres). Des énoncés du type Les enfants ils en ont trop où
le PP est variablement utilisé représenteraient une structure appelée tôt ou tard à
se généraliser (Auger 1998). Théoriquement, cette généralisation serait l’une des
manifestations d’une tendance, pour le français, à passer au statut de langue à
sujet nul et/ou alors à prédominance topique (voir Lambrecht 1981, Friedemann
1997, entre autres). Sur la base du Corpus du français parlé à Ottawa-Hull
(Poplack 1989), région de la capitale nationale du Canada, la thèse démontre que
des indices synchroniques prédisant un changement d’envergure sont quasi
inexistants. Ceci n’est pas surprenant, la structure en question est aussi vieille que
la langue française (Blasco-Dulbecco 1999), et de longs siècles n’ont pas (encore)
réussi à l’imposer comme structure de base aux diverses variétés du français. À la
perspective de changement, la thèse propose de substituer une approche qui met
l’accent sur la stabilité du système.
En termes d’analyse, la thèse teste deux approches qui ressortent de la
littérature sur le phénomène sous examen. La première approche — la plus
populaire dans les études sur le français canadien — rend compte de la présence
du PP à partir de la réanalyse de la structure disloquée. Ce processus contribuerait
à démotiver pragmatiquement la dislocation (Auger 1995, 1998 ; King et Nadasdi
1995) créant, par là, une structure syntaxique sous-jacente. La deuxième approche
est axée sur le processus quasi universel de grammaticalisation du PP comme
marque verbale (Givôn 1976, 1984, 1995 ; Lehmann 1985, 1987, 1995, Lyons
1990, entre autres). S’appliquant en premier lieu, le processus entraînerait par la
suite la possibilité de redoublement ‘apparent’ du sujet.
La thèse soulève trois questions fondamentales: (i) Comment articuler les
deux processus de grammaticalisation et de réanalyse dans un même modèle
d’analyse? (ii) Comment justifier le rôle de marque d’accord, généralement
dévolu au PP, à l’intérieur d’une théorie générale de l’accord ? (iii) Vu que le PP
reste optionnel, quelle prédiction formuler au niveau de son cheminement à
moyen et à long terme ?
215
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
Pour répondre à ces questions, la thèse procède à une série de tests effectués
sur des données issues de la performance réelle de 38 locuteurs répartis sur toutes
les couches socio-économiques de la communauté (Poplack 1989). 5004 énoncés
répondant à la structure SN (PP) SV sont analysés pour déterminer le taux
d’usage du PP vs son absence, ainsi que le conditionnement exercé par des
facteurs linguistiques et sociaux. L’analyse multivariée des données dûment
codées est réalisée à l’aide de GoldVarb 2001.
Les résultats amènent aux conclusions suivantes. Premièrement, un modèle
hybride incluant la grammaticalisation et la réanalyse permet d’expliquer le
fonctionnement du PP en contexte variable SN (PP) SV. D’une part, il existe une
force d’intégration du PP dans la composante verbale même en présence du SN
sujet qu’il était supposé remplacer; cependant, cette tendance reste restreinte à un
petit nombre de formes verbales, ce qui implique que le processus est loin d’être
complété. La nature de cette force est liée à la possibilité, pour le PP, de ne pas
absorber le Cas (Roberge 1990). D’autre part, l’importance de la contrainte de
proximité du SN vis-à-vis du SV révèle qu’une opération similaire à la réanalyse
(de la structure disloquée) est envisageable ; cependant, cette contrainte, qui a été
du reste mentionnée dans nombre de grammaires anciennes, ne semble pas être de
nature à provoquer une généralisation rapide de la structure à sujet redoublé.
Deuxièmement, le PP semble peu jouer le rôle de marque d’accord, accord
entendu au double sens de la coindexation et de la configuration syntaxique
(Chung 1998, Bessler 1999). Les facteurs impliquant la saillance des traits
d’accord du SN et le degré de syncrétisme verbal (discrimination sing./plur.)
conditionnent minimalement le PP. La tendance de ce dernier à former corps avec
le verbe n’apparaît pas comme une stratégie de réparation du système d’accord
sujet-verbe, mais par rapport à l’attirance exercée par quelques formes verbales
spécifiques dans un contexte de contiguïté et en dehors de filtres phonologiques.
À la proposition minimaliste de Auger (1998) selon laquelle la forme verbale
incorporant le PP en redoublement porte le trait [+accord fort], la thèse suggère au
contraire de minimiser la fonction d’accord elle-même.
Troisièmement, réalisé à 31 % dans les données, le PP ne persiste pas auprès
de la composante verbale dans un sens qui laisse croire à une tendance à la
généralisation de la structure, et cela pour quelques raisons. D’abord, si la thèse
parvient à circonscrire la signification sociale véhiculée par la structure sous
examen — ce que bon nombre d’études n’étaient pas parvenues à faire —
l’impact des facteurs sociaux reste néanmoins de faible portée. La gradation en
216
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
âge ne montre pas de sauts très significatifs d’une génération à une autre, et ne
permet pas de conclure à un changement en cours. Par contre, un certain prestige
et même une tendance conservatrice dans certains milieux ont pour effet de
ralentir la propagation du phénomène. Des facteurs comme le sexe et le degré de
maîtrise de l’anglais n’ont, quant à eux, aucune influence. Dans l’ensemble, les
conditions sociales n’étant pas déterminantes, la thèse s’inspire de Weinreich,
Labov, et Herzog (1968) pour suspecter la possibilité d’un changement non
orchestré socialement. Ensuite, le taux d’usage du PP n’est pas corrélé à la
fréquence du verbe hôte. Les verbes les plus fréquents n’incorporant pas
systématiquement cet élément, il est difficile de croire à l’avènement d’une table
de conjugaison du genre je-parle, tu-parles, il-parle (Brunoî et Bruneau 1949). De
plus, l’étendue des formes verbales auxquelles le PP s’associe massivement est
très réduite, ce qui bloque le mécanisme de productivité (Bybee 1985, 1988,
1995 ; Bybee et Thompson 1997).
En bout de ligne, en français parlé à Ottawa-Hull dans les années 80, la
localisation du PP sous I (ou Agr), site des marques d’accord affectant le verbe,
est une donnée qui n’est pas (encore) enregistrée dans la composante de la
grammaire à titre permanent. Et rien n’autorise à penser que l’on va aujourd’hui
dans cette direction. Recoupant un certain nombre d’études sur d’autres variables
en français d’Ottawa-Hull (Poplack 1992, 1997 sur le subjonctif ; LeBlanc 1999
sur le conditionnel, Willis 2000 sur les auxiliaires être et avoir, Klapka 2002 sur
l’accord du genre, entre autres), la thèse contribue à faire ressortir l’évidence que
cette variété exhibe jusqu’à un certain point de la stabilité interne, ce qui va à
rencontre de l’idée que des changements rapides et d’envergure sont en cours.
217
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
The Syntax and Semantics of Optional Wh-movement: The Case of Egyptian
Arabic, PhD Dissertation.
Boutheina Lassadi (2005)
In forming wh-questions, Egyptian Arabic (EA) exhibits apparent optional whmovement whereby both options of fronting the wh-phrase or leaving it in situ are
possible. I argue in this dissertation that optionality in EA wh-question formation
does not contradict minimalist assumptions since the two options of fronting or
leaving the wh-phrase in situ correspond to two different derivations that have
two different syntactic structures and two different semantic interpretations. As a
consequence, I do not adopt the idea that wh-movement is triggered by a [+wh]
feature and I also reject the covert LF movement of wh-in-situ.
I claim that wh-question formation in EA is driven by focus and propose that
focus is embodied in the form of an intonational morpheme.
There are two distinct options to form wh-questions in EA, so I claim that
there are two distinct focus morphemes that enter the computational system: an
information focus morpheme and a contrastive focus morpheme. When the
information focus morpheme enters the derivation, it is a variable that is bound to
the focused constituent in-situ. When the contrastive focus morpheme enters the
derivation with the operator illi which has scopal properties and EPP features that
accounts for its leftward location in the clause, it is bound to the particle illi.
Being bound to the operator illi, the contrastive focus morpheme is located at the
left-periphery of the clause. When a wh-phrase enters the derivation with the
contrastive focus morpheme and the particle illi, it moves to the leftward position
triggered by features of the focused morpheme. Fronting of the wh-phrase is
therefore triggered by features of the particle illi. However, the particle illi is not
always present when the wh-phrase is fronted. This occurs with subject whphrases where the presence of the particle is optional and with adjunct wh-phrases
where fronted adjunct wh-phrase cannot occur with illi. In case of the subject whphrase, wh-in-situ form is not possible because subject wh-phrase must always be
fronted for two reasons: EPP features which trigger movement of the wh-phrase
to [Spec, TP] and contrastive focus features which trigger movement of the
subject wh-phrase from [Spec, TP] to [Spec, FP], the latter, which is interpreted
as information focus, contains an overt illi particle but not the former, which
denotes contrastive focus. In case of the object wh-phrase, fronted wh-phrase is
always associated with an overt illi particle. In the case of adjunct wh-phrase, the
218
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
fronted wh-phrase can never take an overt illi particle. I postulate that the
presence of the particle illi in the derivation is triggered by an overt movement of
the wh-phrase (this happens with subject wh-phrase denoting contrastive focus
and fronted object wh-phrases). The absence of the particle illi with adjuncts
suggests that adjuncts wh-phrases do not undergo movement but are adjoined to
the derivation postcyclically.
219
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
Le futur périphrastique dans le français parlé : une question d’habitude,
Thèse de doctorat.
Carmen LeBlanc (2007), [email protected]
L’objectif de la recherche présentée dans cette thèse est de rendre compte de
l’emploi du futur périphrastique, formé du verbe ALLER au présent suivi d’un
infinitif pour le présent habituel en français québécois. Le cadre méthodologique
est celui de l’analyse variationniste en sociolinguistique et de la méthode
comparée en linguistique historique. Les données de l’analyse sont tirées des
entrevues de trois corpus de parole déposés au Laboratoire de sociolinguistique de
l’Université d’Ottawa (Poplack 1989, Poplack et St-Amand 2007, Poplack et
Bourdages CRSH 410-2005-2108).
Le dépouillement d’ouvrages anciens et récents sur la langue, jumelé à la
composante diachronique telle que représentée par la comparaison de trois corpus,
permet de démontrer que l’usage en question n’est ni récent, ni particulier à la
variété de français étudiée. De manière plus importante, l’analyse statistique et
comparée des facteurs linguistiques démontre que la grammaire sous-jacente à la
variation des formes n’a à toutes fins pratiques pas changé pour toute la période
concernée. En outre, les résultats indiquent que certaines des contraintes
s’appliquent à la forme elle-même, quels que soient sa fonction grammaticale et
son taux d’usage. La montée du verbe ALLER comme auxiliaire, joue de toute
évidence un rôle de premier plan dans plusieurs secteurs de l’irrealis où la
périphrase a presque entièrement remplacé le futur simple. Pour ce qui concerne
le présent habituel, la variante qui domine dans tous les contextes est en revanche
l’indicatif présent et non le futur simple.
Les résultats en temps apparent, autant que la comparaison en temps réel et
l’emploi de la périphrase en rapport à la fréquence lexicale, indiquent que la
variation n’est pas impliquée dans un changement en cours. Les analyses des
facteurs externes à la langue dans leur ensemble ne permettent pas d’écarter
entièrement la possibilité que l’emploi constitue un indicateur sociolinguistique.
Elles démontrent en revanche qu’il n’est pas stigmatisé et qu’il n’a jamais fait
l’objet d’une prescription normative.
220
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
La thèse contribue au moyen de son analyse empirique très détaillée au
développement de l’application des méthodes variationniste et comparée à l’étude
et à la connaissance des phénomènes morphosyntaxiques en état de variation.
Références
Poplack, Shana (1989). The care and handling of a mega-corpus : the Ottawa-Hull
French Corpus. Dans Ralph W. Fasold et Deborah Schiffrin (dirs.) Language
Change and Variation. Philadelphie : Benjamins, pp. 411–451.
Poplack, Shana et Anne St-Amand (2007). A real-time window on 19th century
vernacular French : The Récits du français québécois d’autrefois. Language in
Society 36 : 5.
Poplack, Shana et Johanne Bourdages (CRSH 410-2005-2108). Le Corpus du
français de l’Outaouais au nouveau millénaire : milieu scolaire et milieu
social. Ottawa : Laboratoire de sociolinguistique.
221
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
Morphological and Phonological Units in the Arabic Mental Lexicon:
Implications for Theories of Morphology and Lexical Processing, PhD
Dissertation.
Abdessatar Mahfoudhi (2005), [email protected]
This dissertation investigates the cognitive relevance of selected morphological
and phonological units in the Arabic mental lexicon. The morphological units are
sound and weak roots, etymons, phonetic matrices, and sound and weak patterns.
The phonological units are vowels and consonants. The work is motivated by a
controversy in Arabic morphology that is paralleled by a cross-linguistic debate in
lexical processing. There are two views in Arabic morphology, the stem-based
theory and the morpheme-based theory that is represented by two sub-theories.
The first sub-theory argues that derivations are based on roots and patterns and the
second proposes that the root should be replaced by the etymon and the phonetic
matrix. The morpheme-based theory is congruent with lexical processing
hypotheses that propose that complex words are accessed and represented as
morphemes. The stem-based theory maintains that derivation is stem or wordbased and is in line with the whole word hypothesis of lexical processing.
These theoretical positions on Arabic morphology and lexical processing were
tested in six priming experiments. One objective of these experiments was to test
which of these morphemes prime word recognition. Another objective was to test
the prediction of connectionism, another lexical processing hypothesis, that
priming time correlates with prime-target overlap. A third objective was to
examine how abstract the processing of these morphemes could be. The cognitive
status of vowels and consonants was tested using a letter-circling task.
The results of the online studies have shown that both roots and etymons
facilitate word recognition significantly more than orthographic controls.
However, non-ordered etymons, phonetic matrices, and patterns did not facilitate
word recognition. Weak roots had priming effects only when primes and targets
shared a vague semantic relationship. There was no correlation between priming
time and meaning and/or form overlap. The lack of priming with non-ordered
etymons suggests that there could be limits on abstractness in lexical processing.
The results of the offline task suggest that root consonants are more salient than
other letters. On the whole, the results support a morpheme-based theory of
Arabic morphology and a localist view of lexical processing that assumes a
morphemic stage in word recognition.
222
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
On the Processing of Thematic Features of Deverbal Nominals, PhD
Dissertation.
Christina Manouilidou (2006), [email protected]
The primary motivation for the research reported in the present dissertation was to
investigate the status of thematic features (TFs) in deverbal nominals (DNs) in
Modern Greek. The investigation addressed two independent issues with respect
to TFs of DNs. The first was whether the processing of TFs of DNs constitutes a
necessary step in accessing their mental representation. The second concerned the
status of thematic constraints in deverbal word formation. Three on-line lexical
decision tasks and one off-line grammaticality judgment task were carried out.
The stimuli for these tasks included deverbal nouns, deverbal adjectives and
pseudo-words violating thematic constraints. The findings showed that TFs
appear to increase processing load only for those DNs with an increased eventive
character (e.g. plysimo ‘washing’, kallymenos ‘covered’), with a decomposition
access route possibly playing a facilitatory role. In contrast, TFs do not appear to
affect processing in the case of DNs with a diminished ‘verb-like’ character (e.g.
conqueror). Furthermore, lexical access results for pseudo-words indicated that
TFs impose constraints which operate at a later stage of word formation compared
to other constraints, such as categorial specifications of the base. This strongly
suggests that TFs play a crucial role in the creation of new DNs, independently of
the type of nominal.
The findings of the present study have implications for both psycholinguistics
and theoretical linguistics. The psycholinguistic implications relate to the stagelike nature of lexical access, the existence of a general representational
component called feature representation, and the role of grammatical class in both
lexical access and the organization of the lexicon. The linguistic implications
principally inform theories of word formation postulating feature percolation, as
well as the role of various constraints operating during derivation. The
experimental results support the view that the creation of a new word is subject to
constraints specific to the morphological operations involved in it, such as
thematic constraints for DNs. Furthermore, constraints seem to apply sequentially,
with degrees of violability even for those constraints which are considered to be
strong. More importantly, there appears to be a relationship between violability
and late application, with those constraints that apply at a later stage being more
violable.
223
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
An Optimality Theoretic Approach to Variable Consonantal Alternations in
Qatari Arabic, PhD Dissertation.
Eiman Mustafawi (2006), [email protected]
This thesis investigates two variable phonological processes exhibited in Qatari
Arabic (QA). One is the affrication of the velar stops [k] and [ɡ] to [tʃ] and [dʒ], a
process that has been traditionally assumed to be triggered by adjacency to a front
vowel. The other alternation concerns the lenition of /dʒ/ to [j], taken to be
phonetically unconditioned. Previous studies, however, recognize the existence of
a large number of exceptions to these processes. By reconsidering the data in the
light of new advancements in phonological theory, affrication and lenition are
analyzed as regular processes, and cases that were previously considered to be
exceptions to affrication and lenition are accounted for. First I argue for the
inclusion of the segments /ɡ/ and /tʃ/, which are traditionally assumed to derive
from an underlying /q/ and /k/, respectively, in the phonemic inventory of QA. I
find that affrication can be triggered only by adjacency to [i(ː)], to the exclusion of
any other segment, within the stem. Also, affrication interacts with
pharyngealization, a process that retracts/lowers vowels in a certain domain and
removes the required context for affrication to apply. Lenition is argued not to be
context-free, as it is blocked in coda position preceded by a non-low vowel, as
well as in geminates. Exceptions to lenition are accounted for by employing the
notion of prespecification/underspecification. Both processes are subject to OCP
restrictions and paradigmatic effects. Typologically, the current study adds QA to
the small list of languages in which lenition of an obstruent to a glide applies. It
also discusses a unique case of interaction between variation and paradigmatic
effects, and it provides evidence for the necessity of the OP model (McCarthy,
2005) in addition to regular OO-faithfulness constraints. This study suggests that
the OCP is a synchronically active constraint in Arabic which restricts segmental
alternations, in addition to restricting static patterns of phonological
representation. The discussion is based on a large amount of data, systematically
extracted from a local dictionary and complemented by additional forms provided
by the author. The analysis is cast in an optimality theoretic (OT) framework
(Prince & Smolensky, 2004), which holds that linguistic forms are the outcome of
the interaction among violable universal constraints, and in OT’s recent
development into a model that accounts for linguistic variation.
224
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
References
McCarthy, John (2005). Optimal paradigms. In Laura J. Downing, Tracy Alan
Hall, and Renate Raffelsiefen (eds.) Paradigms in Phonological Theory.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 170–210. Available at http://
roa.rutgers.edu/files/485-1201/485-1201-MCCARTHY-0-2.PDF
Prince, Alan & Paul Smolensky (2004). Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction
in Generative Grammar. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
225
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
The Second Language Acquisition of Irish Relative Clauses: The
Morphology/Syntax Interface, PhD Dissertation.
Sheila Scott (2005), [email protected]
The thesis explores whether or not overt bound morphology triggers the
acquisition of distinct structural representations or whether these representations
are acquired independently of the morphology. Second language learners of Irish
were tested to determine their level of sensitivity to distinct complementizer
forms in Irish, aL which triggers lenition on the verb in the presence of a gap in
the clause and aN which triggers eclipsis on the verb in the presence of a
resumptive pronoun in the clause. Adult second language learners of Irish were
tested using aural and written acceptability judgements tasks to determine if they
had acquired a resumptive strategy according to the form of the complementizer.
Results indicated that learners were not sensitive to the distinct
complementizer, i.e., to the distinct mutations of the verbs. Gap structures were
preferred regardless of the mutation on the verb. An emerging resumptive strategy
appears to be present based on the acceptance of resumptive pronouns in the form
of prepositional pronouns in the clause. It is argued that access to Universal
Grammar has facilitated this development independently of the acquisition of the
prescribed morphology.
Results also appear to indicate that there is a generation gap between native
speakers and their ability to distinguish between the aL and aN complementizers.
A lack of sensitivity to the mutations appears to be present in the young bilingual
speakers of Irish who grew up with both languages in the home. It is argued that
increased exposure to a variety of dialects through the media as well as pressures
of language contact, have had an impact.
226
Résumés de Thèses | Dissertation Abstracts
Subject-predicate Agreement Restrictions in Persian, PhD Dissertation.
Anousha Sedighi (2005), [email protected]
This work investigates two distinct constructions which appear to induce a
constraint on verbal agreement. The first construction involves inanimate plural
subjects and verbs appearing in third person singular/default morphology.
Adopting the framework of Distributed Morphology which has recently been used
as a key to capturing several agreement restrictions in languages, I propose that
the restriction caused by Animacy in Persian resides in post-syntactic morphology
through an impoverishment operation. The second construction I study contains
Psychological predicates which have not been entirely explored from the point of
view of Psychological Constructions in the previous literature. The nominative
experiencer does not induce agreement on the verb and the verb appears in third
person singular, which provides evidence for separation of agreement and
Nominative case assignment. I argue that the lack of verbal agreement in Persian
Psychological constructions is only apparent and I provide evidence to show that
they do not involve compound verbs. I propose that these constructions have a
Tense requirement and involve applied arguments. The experiencer is licensed by
a Super High Applicative head which takes a TP (a sentential predication/full
proposition) as complement. Furthermore, I propose that the Super High
Applicative phrase is a strong phase, a new category to be added to the set of
strong phases proposed by Chomsky 1999-2004.
227