Functional Projections and Non-Local Relations in Tongan Nominal Phrases
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Functional Projections and Non-Local Relations in Tongan Nominal Phrases by Catherine Marie Macdonald A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Linguistics University of Toronto © Copyright by Catherine Marie Macdonald 2014 Functional Projections and Non-Local Relations in Tongan Nominal Phrases Catherine Marie Macdonald Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Linguistics University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This dissertation explores several phenomena within Tongan nominal expressions – interactions amongst determiners, demonstratives, and definiteness; the morphosyntax of pronouns and possessive constructions; and the interactions of nominal aspect with numerals, number, and classification. Several motifs emerge, particularly the distributed nature of classification and quantification within nominal expressions, and the underlying locality of superficially long-distance syntactic relations. Although Tongan has pre-nominal articles often called definite and indefinite, I show that these encode specificity and non-specificity. Definiteness is marked via an anaphoric demonstrative clitic, the Definite Accent (DA), in the right periphery. A diachronic connection between the DA and spatial demonstratives has previously been shown, yet they do not instantiate the same syntactic category. The DA is now a marker of anaphoric deixis, interpreted as definiteness. It is merged above D0 and stranded at the right edge of a nominal expression when its complement DP moves into its specifier. The DA selects as its ii complement a DP containing [SPECIFIC], and this local selection and movement derive the apparent long-distance relation between articles in the left periphery and the DA on the right. I decompose the rich paradigm of Tongan pro-forms into several syntactic categories: Determiners, DPs, Adverbs, and ö0s. Possessive pronominal determiners are syntactically derived via cliticization of ö0 and K0 to D0. Possessive structures also involve predicate- fronting of the possessum. Parallels are drawn to clause-level predicate-fronting and “subject” cliticization. I also show that several of what have been deemed number markers in Tongan are actually markers of nominal aspect. Most Tongan nouns are Set or General Object nouns; aspect markers derive Set from General nouns by adding an aspectual head (inner Asp0) with [SHAPE], and they derive Singulative and Collective sets from these by adding an outer Asp0 which specifies a value for [HOMOGENEITY]. In Tongan, outer aspect is also the locus of [HUMAN] and possibly [DIMINUTIVE]. Number markers pluralize Collective or Singulative Set nominals, and numbers do not count individuals but, rather, Singulative or Collective Sets. The locality of the relation between numerals and aspect is obscured by the robustness and left-headedness of AspP, to which numeral clauses are right-adjoined. iii Acknowledgments I would like to begin by thanking my Tongan consultant, La´aina Mo´ungaloa Kavouras. La´aina contributed not only her knowledge of the beautiful Tongan language, but also humour and endless patience. I have not yet been to Tonga, but I have felt its warmth in her smile. Thanks also to my first Tongan consultant, Siokatame Vahavaha´i Moengangongo, for his careful and insightful assistance. Earlier work completed with his assistance is cited in this dissertation. It is impossible to thank my supervisor, Diane Massam, enough. She has been a marvellous source of inspiration, encouragement, and ideas. She has borne with me through countless cycles of procrastination and panic (countless but not endless; here I am at the end!) with patience and humour. I always loved our meetings, which often went long past their allotted time; they were characterized by laughter, great brainstorming, and tons of encouragement. Many times I walked into her office in a flood of tears and left beaming. I am immensely grateful to my external advisor, Yuko Otsuka, who provided invaluable feedback on the data and theory in this paper. Her challenging and insightful comments and questions have helped me to better understand its strengths and weaknesses and have set my mind racing with a million ways I might improve on it. I owe similar debts of gratitude to my other two internal committee members, Elizabeth Cowper and Susana Béjar. Their encouragement, feedback, questions and suggestions were essential in helping me to clarify and formalize my analyses. Many thanks also to my "internal external" committee members, Arsalan Kahnemuyipour and Alana Johns, whose comments and questions greatly improved the final product. There are many other members of the Linguistics faculty and staff who have helped and encouraged me along the way, especially Keren Rice and Elaine Gold, who have always been there with smiles and kind words when I've needed them. iv In so many ways, linguistics is a communal effort. Along the way, I have met many wonderful people through conferences and workshops. In particular, I am grateful to be part of two linguistics communities: An informal group of Canadian syntacticians, and the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association. I have been particularly inspired and supported by Lisa Travis, Betsy Ritter, Ileana Paul, Edith Aldridge, and Mark Donohue. I would not have gone to grad school in the first place had it not been for my overwhelmingly positive undergraduate experience at the University of Manitoba. The linguistics department there may be small, but it punches above its weight in terms of teaching and scholarship. In particular, I wish to thank Kevin Russell, Rob Hagiwara, Lorna MacDonald, Christopher Wolfart, David Pentland, Terry Janzen and, most of all Jila Ghomeshi. Their classes inspired me, and their support motivated me. From the day I entered the department at the University of Toronto, I knew I was somewhere special. I was immediately made to feel welcomed and included. I am forever grateful to Manami Hirayama, Sara Mackenzie, Chiara Frigeni, Daniel Currie Hall, Mike Barrie, Kenji Oda, Midori Hayashi, Christine Pittman, Emma Johnson, Bridget Jankowski, and Jonathon Herd for helping me feel at home. Special thanks go to two members of my cohort, Eugenia Suh and Richard Compton, for commiseration and laughter. I must also thank my many non-linguist friends who have supported believed in me throughout this journey. Some are old friends, some new. Special thanks to the Superchurch gang: Derek Newton and Mullein Thorleifson, Shane Dzioba, Jodie Brown, Kelly Hooper, Scott Mitchell, Steve Appleyard and Leanna Zamonsky, Craig Medwyduk and Jacqueline Germin, Shawn Frosst and Marlo Stooke. Our yearly summer gatherings – full of food, drink, music, laughter, and games – have been essential to my emotional and mental well-being all year long. They are the greatest group of friends one could ask for, my chosen family (I'm glad they'll never read this, because I'd never live down all this sentimentality). Thanks also to the wonderful friends I've made here in Toronto: Lindsay Gladkowski and Meaghan Patrick, Lauren Kravetsky, the Dodgy Ballers, and Kim McCollum have been especially supportive, as have the staff and volunteers at AMI, particularly Jason Vermes, Paul Daniel, Jerry Bagelman, Dawn Dickinson, and Marianne D'Eon Jones. v There are two people I've left out of the above lists because they're uncategorizable and because their support has been especially generous and constant: Leigh Hayden and Sarah Clarke. I've been so very, very lucky to count them among my friends, and to have had them with me when I needed comfort, encouragement, and distraction. My family has been a wonderful source of moral support through all of this. Even when I didn't believe I could finish, they kept believing in me. Special thanks to my parents, John and Julie Macdonald; to my brother, Ian Macdonald, and my sister-in-law, Kerri Walters; my parents-in-law, Peter and Grace Engbrecht; to my brother in law and his wife, Tim and Esther Engbrecht; and to all the extended Macdonald and Engbrecht families, especially Rod Bucknell, Marlee Groening, Joanna Buhr, and "Grandpa and Grandma" Ed and Nettie Groening. Grandpa in particular has been the head of my family cheerleading squad, and I can't thank him enough for his interest and encouragement. Finally, I most need to thank my constant companion on this journey, without whom the entire thing would have been impossible – my loving, funny, kind, generous, compassionate, patient partner, Jonathan Engbrecht. He has fueled me with coffee, food, wine, walks, talks, hugs, and laughter. He has cried with me through the difficult times and celebrated with me in the victorious moments. He has always believed in me far more than I have believed in myself. He makes the best coffee and gives the best hugs. He is my best friend and the best partner I could ever have. This dissertation is dedicated to him. vi Table of Contents List of Tables. xii List of Figures. xiii Chapter 1: A Sketch of the Tongan Nominal Expression. 1 1.1. Elements to the left of N0.. 5 1.1.1. Determiners. 5 1.1.2. Number markers.. 7 1.2.3. Nominal aspect markers.. 7 1.2.4. Pre-nominal adjectives.. 11 1.2. Elements to the right of N0.. 12 1.2.1. Spatial demonstratives. 12 1.2.2. Post-nominal adjectives. 13 1.2.3. Genitive DP possessors. 14 1.2.4. Numerals. 15 1.2.5. Anaphoric demonstrative – the definite accent. 16 1.2.5. The universal quantifiers. 18 1.3. Proposed structure of Tongan nominal expressions. 19 1.4. Roadmap to the dissertation.. 22 1.4.1. A note on the data. 24 Chapter 2: Determiners, Demonstratives, and Quantifiers. 25 2.1. Basic Tongan determiners and the definite accent.. 28 vii 2.2. Specificity and definiteness. 30 2.2.1. What is specificity?. 30 2.2.2. What is definiteness?. 31 2.2.3. Definiteness, determiners, and D0. 35 2.2.4. The relationship of specificity to definiteness.