A Set-Based Semantics for Obviation and Animacy
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Animacy and Alienability: a Reconsideration of English
Running head: ANIMACY AND ALIENABILITY 1 Animacy and Alienability A Reconsideration of English Possession Jaimee Jones A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2016 ANIMACY AND ALIENABILITY 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University. ______________________________ Jaeshil Kim, Ph.D. Thesis Chair ______________________________ Paul Müller, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Jeffrey Ritchey, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Brenda Ayres, Ph.D. Honors Director ______________________________ Date ANIMACY AND ALIENABILITY 3 Abstract Current scholarship on English possessive constructions, the s-genitive and the of- construction, largely ignores the possessive relationships inherent in certain English compound nouns. Scholars agree that, in general, an animate possessor predicts the s- genitive while an inanimate possessor predicts the of-construction. However, the current literature rarely discusses noun compounds, such as the table leg, which also express possessive relationships. However, pragmatically and syntactically, a compound cannot be considered as a true possessive construction. Thus, this paper will examine why some compounds still display possessive semantics epiphenomenally. The noun compounds that imply possession seem to exhibit relationships prototypical of inalienable possession such as body part, part whole, and spatial relationships. Additionally, the juxtaposition of the possessor and possessum in the compound construction is reminiscent of inalienable possession in other languages. Therefore, this paper proposes that inalienability, a phenomenon not thought to be relevant in English, actually imbues noun compounds whose components exhibit an inalienable relationship with possessive semantics. -
Language in the USA
This page intentionally left blank Language in the USA This textbook provides a comprehensive survey of current language issues in the USA. Through a series of specially commissioned chapters by lead- ing scholars, it explores the nature of language variation in the United States and its social, historical, and political significance. Part 1, “American English,” explores the history and distinctiveness of American English, as well as looking at regional and social varieties, African American Vernacular English, and the Dictionary of American Regional English. Part 2, “Other language varieties,” looks at Creole and Native American languages, Spanish, American Sign Language, Asian American varieties, multilingualism, linguistic diversity, and English acquisition. Part 3, “The sociolinguistic situation,” includes chapters on attitudes to language, ideology and prejudice, language and education, adolescent language, slang, Hip Hop Nation Language, the language of cyberspace, doctor–patient communication, language and identity in liter- ature, and how language relates to gender and sexuality. It also explores recent issues such as the Ebonics controversy, the Bilingual Education debate, and the English-Only movement. Clear, accessible, and broad in its coverage, Language in the USA will be welcomed by students across the disciplines of English, Linguistics, Communication Studies, American Studies and Popular Culture, as well as anyone interested more generally in language and related issues. edward finegan is Professor of Linguistics and Law at the Uni- versity of Southern California. He has published articles in a variety of journals, and his previous books include Attitudes toward English Usage (1980), Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Register (co-edited with Douglas Biber, 1994), and Language: Its Structure and Use, 4th edn. -
Introduction to Case, Animacy and Semantic Roles: ALAOTSIKKO
1 Introduction to Case, animacy and semantic roles Please cite this paper as: Kittilä, Seppo, Katja Västi and Jussi Ylikoski. (2011) Introduction to case, animacy and semantic roles. In: Kittilä, Seppo, Katja Västi & Jussi Ylikoski (Eds.), Case, Animacy and Semantic Roles, 1-26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Seppo Kittilä Katja Västi Jussi Ylikoski University of Helsinki University of Oulu University of Helsinki University of Helsinki 1. Introduction Case, animacy and semantic roles and different combinations thereof have been the topic of numerous studies in linguistics (see e.g. Næss 2003; Kittilä 2008; de Hoop & de Swart 2008 among numerous others). The current volume adds to this list. The focus of the chapters in this volume lies on the effects that animacy has on the use and interpretation of cases and semantic roles. Each of the three concepts discussed in this volume can also be seen as somewhat problematic and not always easy to define. First, as noted by Butt (2006: 1), we still have not reached a full consensus on what case is and how it differs, for example, from 2 the closely related concept of adpositions. Second, animacy, as the label is used in linguistics, does not fully correspond to a layperson’s concept of animacy, which is probably rather biology-based (see e.g. Yamamoto 1999 for a discussion of the concept of animacy). The label can therefore, if desired, be seen as a misnomer. Lastly, semantic roles can be considered one of the most notorious labels in linguistics, as has been recently discussed by Newmeyer (2010). There is still no full consensus on how the concept of semantic roles is best defined and what would be the correct or necessary number of semantic roles necessary for a full description of languages. -
Verbal Agreement with Collective Nominal Constructions: Syntactic and Semantic Determinants
ATLANTIS Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 39.1 (June 2017): 33-54 issn 0210-6124 | e-issn 1989-6840 Verbal Agreement with Collective Nominal Constructions: Syntactic and Semantic Determinants Yolanda Fernández-Pena Universidade de Vigo [email protected] This corpus-based study investigates the patterns of verbal agreement of twenty-three singular collective nouns which take of-dependents (e.g., a group of boys, a set of points). The main goal is to explore the influence exerted by theof -PP on verb number. To this end, syntactic factors, such as the plural morphology of the oblique noun (i.e., the noun in the of- PP) and syntactic distance, as well as semantic issues, such as the animacy or humanness of the oblique noun within the of-PP, were analysed. The data show the strongly conditioning effect of plural of-dependents on the number of the verb: they favour a significant proportion of plural verbal forms. This preference for plural verbal patterns, however, diminishes considerably with increasing syntactic distance when the of-PP contains a non-overtly- marked plural noun such as people. The results for the semantic issues explored here indicate that animacy and humanness are also relevant factors as regards the high rate of plural agreement observed in these constructions. Keywords: agreement; collective; of-PP; distance; animacy; corpus . Concordancia verbal con construcciones nominales colectivas: sintaxis y semántica como factores determinantes Este estudio de corpus investiga los patrones de concordancia verbal de veintitrés nombres colectivos singulares que toman complementos seleccionados por la preposición of, como en los ejemplos a group of boys, a set of points. -
The “Person” Category in the Zamuco Languages. a Diachronic Perspective
On rare typological features of the Zamucoan languages, in the framework of the Chaco linguistic area Pier Marco Bertinetto Luca Ciucci Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa The Zamucoan family Ayoreo ca. 4500 speakers Old Zamuco (a.k.a. Ancient Zamuco) spoken in the XVIII century, extinct Chamacoco (Ɨbɨtoso, Tomarâho) ca. 1800 speakers The Zamucoan family The first stable contact with Zamucoan populations took place in the early 18th century in the reduction of San Ignacio de Samuco. The Jesuit Ignace Chomé wrote a grammar of Old Zamuco (Arte de la lengua zamuca). The Chamacoco established friendly relationships by the end of the 19th century. The Ayoreos surrended rather late (towards the middle of the last century); there are still a few nomadic small bands in Northern Paraguay. The Zamucoan family Main typological features -Fusional structure -Word order features: - SVO - Genitive+Noun - Noun + Adjective Zamucoan typologically rare features Nominal tripartition Radical tenselessness Nominal aspect Affix order in Chamacoco 3 plural Gender + classifiers 1 person ø-marking in Ayoreo realis Traces of conjunct / disjunct system in Old Zamuco Greater plural and clusivity Para-hypotaxis Nominal tripartition Radical tenselessness Nominal aspect Affix order in Chamacoco 3 plural Gender + classifiers 1 person ø-marking in Ayoreo realis Traces of conjunct / disjunct system in Old Zamuco Greater plural and clusivity Para-hypotaxis Nominal tripartition All Zamucoan languages present a morphological tripartition in their nominals. The base-form (BF) is typically used for predication. The singular-BF is (Ayoreo & Old Zamuco) or used to be (Cham.) the basis for any morphological operation. The full-form (FF) occurs in argumental position. -
About Pronouns
About pronouns Halldór Ármann Sigurðsson Lund University Abstract This essay claims that pronouns are constructed as syntactic relations rather than as discrete feature bundles or items. The discussion is set within the framework of a minimalist Context-linked Grammar, where phases contain silent but active edge features, edge linkers, including speaker and hearer features. An NP is phi- computed in relation to these linkers, the so established relation being input to context scanning (yielding reference). Essentially, syntax must see to it that event participant roles link to speech act roles, by participant linking (a subcase of context linking, a central computational property of natural language). Edge linkers are syntactic features–not operators–and can be shifted, as in indexical shift and other Kaplanian monster phenomena, commonly under control. The essay also develops a new analysis of inclusiveness and of the different status of different phi-features in grammar. The approach pursued differs from Distributed Morphology in drawing a sharp line between (internal) syntax and (PF) externalization, syntax constructing relations–the externalization process building and expressing items. Keywords: Edge linkers, pronouns, speaker, phi-features, context linking, context scanning, indexical shift, inclusiveness, bound variables 1. Introduction* Indexical or deictic items include personal pronouns (I, you, she, etc.), demonstrative pronouns (this, that, etc.), and certain local and temporal adverbials and adjectives (here, now, presently, etc.). In the influential Kaplanian approach (Kaplan 1989), indexicals are assumed to have a fixed reference in a fixed context of a specific speech act or speech event. Schlenker (2003:29) refers to this leading idea as the fixity thesis, stating it as follows: Fixity Thesis (a corollary of Direct Reference): The semantic value of an indexical is fixed solely by the context of the actual speech act, and cannot be affected by any logical operators. -
Published in Papers of the Twenty-Third Algonquian Conference, 1992, Edited by William Cowan
Published in Papers of the Twenty-Third Algonquian Conference, 1992, edited by William Cowan. Ottawa: Carleton University, pp. 119-163 A Comparison of the Obviation Systems of Kutenai and Algonquian Matthew S. Dryer SUNY at Buffalo 1. Introduction In recent years, the term ‘obviation’ has been applied to phenomena in a variety of languages on the basis of perceived similarity to the phenomenon in Algonquian languages to which, I assume, the term was originally applied. An example of a descriptive use of the term occurs in Dayley (1989: 136), who applies the terms ‘obviative’ and ‘proximate’ to two categories of demonstratives in Tümpisa Shoshone, the obviative category being used to introduce new information or to reference given participants which are nontopics, the proximate category for topics. But unlike the obviative and proximate categories of Algonquian languages, the Shoshone categories for which Dayley uses the terms are categories only of a class of words he calls ‘demonstratives’, and are not inflectional categories of nouns or verbs. Similarly, Simpson and Bresnan (1983) use the term ‘obviation’ to refer to a system in Warlpiri in which certain nonfinite verbs occur in forms that indicate that their subjects are nonsubjects in the matrix clause. These phenomena in non-Algonquian languages to which the term ‘obviation’ has been applied may bear some remote resemblance to the Algonquian phenomenon, but I suspect that most Algonquianists examining them would conclude that the resemblance is at best a remote one. The purpose of this paper is to describe an obviation system in Kutenai, a language isolate of southeastern British Columbia and adjacent areas of Idaho and Montana, and to compare it to the obviation system of Algonquian languages. -
Person-Based Prominence in Ojibwe
PERSON-BASED PROMINENCE IN OJIBWE A Dissertation Presented by CHRISTOPHER MATHIAS HAMMERLY Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2020 Linguistics © Copyright by Christopher M. Hammerly 2020 All Rights Reserved PERSON-BASED PROMINENCE IN OJIBWE A Dissertation Presented by CHRISTOPHER MATHIAS HAMMERLY Approved as to style and content by: Brian Dillon, Chair Rajesh Bhatt, Member Adrian Staub, Member Joe Pater, Department Chair Department of Linguistics For the Anishinaabeg of Nigigoonsiminikaaning and Seine River “How odd I can have all this inside me and to you it’s just words.” — David Foster Wallace, The Pale King ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is at once a beginning and an end. It is the beginning of what I hope to be a lifetime of work on obviation, agreement, and my ancestral language Ojibwe; and the end of what I have figured out so far. It is the end of five incredible years of graduate studies at UMass; and the beginning of the relationships that I have built over the past half-decade. I am most deeply indebted to the Anishinaabe communities at Nigigoonsiminikaan- ing and Seine River in Ontario, especially those who participated in this study. Gi- miigwechiwi’ininim. Nancy Jones is a keeper of endless knowledge and experience, and I am so lucky that she has been willing to take me in and share it. Not only has she made this dissertation possible, she has made it possible for me to reconnect to my own roots. -
Deixis and Reference Tracking in Tsova-Tush a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Division of the University of Hawaiʻi at M
DEIXIS AND REFERENCE TRACKING IN TSOVA-TUSH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS MAY 2020 by Bryn Hauk Dissertation committee: Andrea Berez-Kroeker, Chairperson Alice C. Harris Bradley McDonnell James N. Collins Ashley Maynard Acknowledgments I should not have been able to finish this dissertation. In the course of my graduate studies, enough obstacles have sprung up in my path that the odds would have predicted something other than a successful completion of my degree. The fact that I made it to this point is a testament to thekind, supportive, wise, and generous people who have picked me up and dusted me off after every pothole. Forgive me: these thank-yous are going to get very sappy. First and foremost, I would like to thank my Tsova-Tush host family—Rezo Orbetishvili, Nisa Baxtarishvili, and of course Tamar and Lasha—for letting me join your family every summer forthe past four years. Your time, your patience, your expertise, your hospitality, your sense of humor, your lovingly prepared meals and generously poured wine—these were the building blocks that supported all of my research whims. My sincerest gratitude also goes to Dantes Echishvili, Revaz Shankishvili, and to all my hosts and friends in Zemo Alvani. It is possible to translate ‘thank you’ as მადელ შუნ, but you have taught me that gratitude is better expressed with actions than with set phrases, sofor now I will just say, ღაზიშ ხილჰათ, ბედნიერ ხილჰათ, მარშმაკიშ ხილჰათ.. -
Full and Null Pronouns in Spanish: the Zero Pronoun Hypothesis
Full and Null Pronouns in Spanish: the Zero Pronoun Hypothesis*. Luis Alonso-Ovalle & Francesco D’Introno University of Massachusetts at Amherst 1. The Puzzle Montalbetti (1984) points out certain semantic differences between phonetically full and phonetically empty pronouns (henceforth full and null pronouns) that challenge the traditional interpretive parallelism between empty and full categories (see Chomsky 1981, 1982). He shows that both in subject (1) and object position (2), while null pronouns can be interpreted as bound variables (as in (1a) and (2a) ), full pronouns cannot (as in (1c) and (2c)).1 (1) a. Nadiei sabe que proi vendrá. Nobody know:3S that pro come:3SFUT ‘Nobodyi knows that hei will come’. b. ~∃x ( person’ (x) & ( know’ (x) ( come’(x) ) )2 c. *Nadiei sabe que éli vendrá. Nobody know:3S that pro come3SFUT ‘Nobodyi knows that hej will come’. d. ~∃x ( person’ (x) & ( know’ (x) ( come’(y) ) ) (2) a. Nadiei sabe que el profesor lo vigila proi Nobody know:3S that the teacher HIM-CL watch-over:3S pro ‘Nobodyi knows that the teacher watches over himi’. b. ~∃x ( person’ (x) & know’ (x) (watch-over’ (p) (x) ) ) c. *Nadiei sabe que el profesor lo vigila a éli. Nobody know:3S that the teacher HIM-CL watch-over:3s him ‘Nobodyi knows that the teacher watches over himj’. d. ~∃x ( person’(x) & know’ (x) (watch-over’ (p) (y) ) ) Contrasts like those under (1) and (2) seem to suggest that a principle equivalent to (3) has to be taken to describe the strategy responsible for anaphora resolution in Spanish3. (3) Variable binding is restricted to null pronouns. -
Chapter 3 Basic Concepts
Monica Macaulay DRAFT last updated 3/8/13 1 Chapter 3 Basic Concepts 1. Introduction This chapter introduces some basic concepts and facts about Menominee that will be needed to understand the material in subsequent chapters. Here we look at parts of speech, person, animacy, obviation, and verb types. 2. Parts of speech Different languages have different inventories of parts of speech. It’s safe to say that virtually all languages have nouns and verbs, but beyond that we find a lot of differences. According to Bloomfield, Menominee has the following parts of speech: (1) Menominee Parts of Speech (Bloomfield 1962:25) • Nouns • Verbs • Pronouns • Particles • Negator There are also prefixes (which come before words) and lots of suffixes (which come after words). The prefixes are discussed briefly below, and both the prefixes and suffixes are discussed further in Chapters 4, 5, and 6. Brief discussion of each of the parts of speech appears in this chapter, and more detail is given in later chapters. 2.1. Nouns We all learn in school that nouns describe a “person, place, or thing.” That works for many nouns, but not necessarily all of them. For example, it leaves out abstract concepts like joy or independence. In Menominee, beyond looking at the meaning, you can tell if something is a noun by the following factors (among other things): (a) whether it can be pluralized (by -ak or -an), (b) whether it can have the locative ending -eh added, (c) whether it can be possessed (using the three person-marking prefixes discussed below) (d) whether it can have a demonstrative (like eneh ‘that (inan.)’ or enoh ‘that (an.)’) before it. -
The Place of Ad Hoc Categories Within the Typology of Plural Expressions
Language Sciences 81 (2020) 101298 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Language Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/langsci The place of ad hoc categories within the typology of plural expressions Edith Moravcsik Department of Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413, USA article info abstract Article history: In this paper, ad hoc categories are assigned a place among plurals. It is shown that they Available online 20 July 2020 fall into the same subtypes that other plural expressions do: they may be based on sim- ilarity or contiguity and, like other plurals, at least some of their forms tend to involve Keywords: humans. Ad hoc categories differ from other plurals in that they involve partial rather than Ad hoc categories complete lists and thus they fill a systematic gap in the typology of plurals. plurals Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. taxonomy artonomy 1. Introduction The interpretation of any linguistic expression and of the categories they include is context-dependent at least to an extent (Smith and Samuelson, 1997; Lasersohn, 1999; Croft and Cruse, 2004: 92-106; Mauri, 2014, 2016; Mauri and Sansò, 2018). For example, in the sentence Here is the paper, the word paper may refer to an essay, to a newspaper, or to a ream of paper depending on context. Or in the sentence It is cold, the temperature referred to is understood differently on a summer day and in January. Daniel Casasanto and Gary Lupyan have argued that there are in fact no stable categories at all that would be entrenched ready-made in people's minds: all categories emerge from current situations as people create them on the fly (Casasanto and Lupyan, 2015).