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A Morphosyntactic Investigation of Nominal Possession in Tigrinya

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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-05-28 Projecting possessors: A Morphosyntactic Investigation of Nominal Possession in Tigrinya Gebregziabher, Keffyalew Gebregziabher, K. (2013). Projecting possessors: A Morphosyntactic Investigation of Nominal Possession in Tigrinya (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27453 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/741 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Projecting possessors: A Morphosyntactic Investigation of Nominal Possession in Tigrinya By Keffyalew Gebregziabher A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS CALGARY, ALBERTA May 2013 © Keffyalew Gebregziabher 2013 Abstract In this dissertation, I examine the grammatical expression of possession in Tigrinya, a lesser-studied Semitic language of Ethiopia and Eritrea. I show that possession in Tigrinya is encoded by two strategies, which differ in both structure and function: (i) PREDICATIONAL STRATEGY has the particle nay and is used for alienable possession; (ii) ARGUMENTAL STRATEGY or BARE POSSESSION has no nay and is used for inalienable possession. To account for such differences, I propose different treatments for both types of possession. For alienable or nay-marked possession, I consider two competing hypotheses that have been proposed for a similar element yå- in Amharic, a very closely related language: Either yå- is a genitive case-marker (Ouhalla 2004) or yå- is a LINKER (den Dikken 2007a). I argue that the two hypotheses are untenable because they fail to account for all the facts of Tigrinya. I develop an alternative proposal and claim that nay is a nominal copula and that its role is to introduce a predicational relation between the nay- marked predicate (e.g., possessor) and its subject (e.g., possessee). For inalienable or bare possession, I first compare them with similar constructions in Hebrew: Construct state nominals (CSNs). I show that Tigrinya bare possessive nominals (BPNs) are a type of CSN. I also consider two competing hypotheses previously proposed for Semitic CSNs: Head movement (SHM) (Ritter 1991) and snowballing phrasal movement (SPM) (Shlonsky 2004). I argue that SPM is both theoretically and empirically inadequate for Tigrinya and that HM should be recast in line with current Minimalist assumptions (Chomsky 1995b et seq.). I develop an alternative analysis arguing that both Tigrinya and Hebrew CSNs involve a non-standard head movement – head-to-Spec movement accompanied by Morphological Merger (Matushansky 2006) in their DP structure. Additionally, I claim that differences between Tigrinya and Hebrew arise due to unique properties of the categories N and D: While Hebrew Ns are inherently specified for a [DEF] feature, Tigrinya Ns are not. Also, while the [DEF] feature of the D head in Hebrew is inherently unvalued and strong ([_DEF*]) and causes the N to move to D, the [DEF] feature of the D head in Tigrinya is inherently valued ([±DEF]) and does not cause the noun to move. Finally, generalizing from the proposal of possession herein, the dissertation makes predictions about alienable and inalienable possession in natural languages in general. It proposes that cross-linguistic variation arises due to the availability of both an argumental and a predicative strategy for expressing alienable possession. Each of these strategies requires different functional categories and induces substantial differences in the syntactic structure. ii Acknowledgements ንዝገበረልካ ሓደን ግበረሉ ሓደንድማ ንገረሉ። Many people have contributed to this project in particular and to my academic life in general in various ways over the years. It will be impossible to list all of them and to thank every one of them properly but I will use this space to thank everyone including those whose name is slipped from my mind. First of all I would like to thank the Department of Linguistics at the University of Calgary for provided me with generous financial support and an interesting and stimulating working environment throughout of my stay in the department. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to get the kind of encouragement, kindness and experience I have received over the years and I want to take this opportunity to once again to thank you for all that and anything good in between. Thanks are also due to the University of Calgary Research Grants Committee and the Faculty of Graduate Studies for supporting my travel to conferences and workshops to present the results of my research. I am also deeply indebted to my supervisor, Elizabeth Ritter. This thesis would have never been written without her relentless advice. She has been very generous with her time, support and advice. Her unwavering advice and incredible expertise in her field have taught me how to think in terms of a theoretical syntactician and to become a better linguist. She was always available not only for advice about linguistics, but also for linguistic politics, job-hunting, and life in general. You’d be hard pushed to find someone who is as dedicated to her students as she is. Her enthusiasm, constructive criticism and unwavering support over the years are immeasurable, and whatever I jot down here !Toda raba), Betsy) רבה תודה .wouldn’t do her justice I’d like to thank also to the other members of my dissertation committee: Karsten Koch read and reread several drafts of the dissertation, provided thoughtful comments both written and oral and made himself available whenever I had questions and offered comments that immensely improved the dissertation. Carlos de Cuba also read several drafts of the manuscript, made himself available whenever I had questions and offered comments that improved the dissertation significantly. iii Ruth Kramer served as my external examiner and followed up with another brief meeting after the defense in order to discuss some Amharic facts. She offered insightful comments and asked questions that have opened new lines of investigation for me in the future. አመሰግናሎህ, Ruth! Nicole Wyatt served as the internal examiner in my oral defense. Her meticulous understanding of the facts of the dissertation and deep-rooted questions substantially helped me improve the quality of the dissertation. Amanda Pounder served as neutral chair at my defense; beyond that, she taught me morphology and guided my interest in morphology in the early stages of my doctoral studies as well as made time available whenever I have questions to discuss. Vielen Dank, Amanda! I owe a tremendous gratitude to Nicholas Welch. He has been the source of my friendliness, laughter, enthusiasm and having fun for the last four years. I am very thankful for his hours of stimulating discussion, for (re)reading several drafts of the manuscripts and correcting my English, for being a good friend and his funky and humorous character, for sharing my love for coffee, data, and playing squash (even if I beat him all the time). Nick, as you put it very nicely, “I’m [also] proud to be your doctor-brother.” During my years at University of Calgary, I have enjoyed invaluable friendships with my classmates, especially Jamison Cooper, Kelly Murphy, Nicolas Welch, Silke Weber, Stephani Archer and Yuri Yerstov. I thank them all for doing syntax problem sets in and out of classroom together, sharing the fun and hardships in graduate school. I had also a chance to work and have fun with a number of people in the department, including Aysun Kunduraci, Ashley Burnett, Danica MacDonald, Joey Windsor, Kyumin Kim, Sameera Alhibi, Susan Jackson, and other members in the department. Once again my heartfelt thanks to all of them! I feel incredibly lucky to be part of the University of Calgary Department of Linguistics community. Over the years, I had the privilege to work and take classes with some of the previous and present faculty members, including Amanda pounder, Carlos de Cuba, Darin Flynn, Elizabeth Ritter, John Archibald, Jürgen Meisel, Karsten Koch, iv Kimiko Nakanishi, Martha McGinnis, Robert Murray, Stephen Winters, Susanne Carrol, and Suzanne Curtin. I thank all of them for sharing their time and wisdom with me. For helping me with the administrative work and bureaucracy, I thank Francesca Pisicoli and Biljana Arnautovic. You guys were incredibly helpful for me beyond your admin jobs and I thank and commend you for that. I also want to thank Girma Demeke for being a good friend, for hours of stimulating discussion on Ethiopian politics, what’s going on at Addis Ababa University and any Ethio-Semitic topics, for helpful comments and questions on some of my earlier dissertation manuscripts, and for his constant encouragement. He’s been wonderful to me over the years since our first acquaintance as colleagues back in Ethiopia at Addis Ababa University as well as after he moved to the US, and I want to thank him for all that. አመሰግናሎህ, Girma! My parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends tolerated my disappearance into this project with broadmindedness and understanding and cheered me up and welcomed me back with warm-heartedness, despite the long disruptions and gaps in communication. I thank all of them for their incredible encouragement and unwavering support. Finally, I want to thank my families in Ethiopia, UK and US, particularly my mother, Atsede Mekonnen, sisters, Belaynesh, Berizaf, and Yalem, brothers, Haile and Luel and Mulugeta and other close relatives and friends for their incredible moral support and love.
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