1 SYNTACTIC UNIVERSALS AND SEMANTIC CONSTRAINTS Statistical and other Comparative Evidence from the Study of Verbs and A djectives by Martin Hugh Prior School of Oriental and African Studies Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London 1985 ProQuest Number: 10673219 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673219 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 Abs tr a c t This study is concerned with the examination of word-order universals and the attempt to explain the diverse statistical patterns by means of a variety of semantic structures. Central to my study is a critique (a) of Hawkins's approach, the Universal Consistency Hypothesis, and its concentration upon apparently exceptionless universals, and (b) the Bartsch-Vennemann approach which breaks down structures generally into OPerator-Operand pairs. In Part I, I introduce a geographically and genetically representative sample of 75 languages, and show that not only are violations to be found to Hawkins's principles of consistency, but that they are statistically predictable. The statistical results are also useful in relating word-order patterns with fusional, agglutinative and isolating morphology: in particular fusion i s ■associated with violations of statistical universals. In Part II, I concentrate on adjectives and verbs and here the patterns of non-exceptionless universals become important: instead of distinguishing intensional and extensional adjectives after Montague, I identify a semantic principle of Adjunction, which includes some intensional adjectives, over and above those adjectives for which an analysis as (intensional) operators is still approp ri ate. The analysis further suggests that the Bartsch- Vennemann identification of operators and operands is often the reverse of what it should be, especially for genitival and verb-object constructions, and I 3 discuss the implications of this for the verb and its semantic relationship with the subject and obj e ct. Finally I consider determiners, tense and focus as operators upon operators, showing why their syntactic behaviour leads to asymmetric statistical patterns. 4 Acknowle dgements Many people have been instrumental in the prepar­ ation of this study: bearing in mind the number of languages I have either sampled or needed to investigate, acknowledgement of all concerned a. would surely be^mammoth task. I would first of all like to express my debt of gratitude to Deirdre Wilson, who first urged me to consider linguistics. Though ray decision at the time was undoubtedly a gamble, it was one I have not looked back on. One of the greatest assets in pursuing research is the stimulation of one's academic colleagues, and I would especially like to thank David Bennett, Kate Burridge, Andrew Carstairs, Annabel Cormack, Malcolm Edwards, David Hatcher, Dick Hayward, Dick Hudson, Mary McIntosh, Baz McKee and Neil Smi th. Over the past few years I have sought - and pestered - a variety of people for their native intuitions and other knowledge of specific languages, and I would like to thank in particular Margaret Bainbridge, Peter Bee, Bruce Biggs, James Bynon, Jack Carnochan, Jeremy Davidson, John Dodgson, Hailu Habtu, David Hawkins, George Hewitt, Martin Jones, Khalid Khattak, David Marshall Lang, Rose Morris, John Okell, Hale CJztekin , R.H. Robins, Susan Rollin, David Ryecroft, Christopher Shackle, Sho Jiro Sekine , Peter Sherwood, Janig Stephens and John Wells. I would also like to thank Julian Leslie of the Birkbeck College Department of Statistics for his 5 assistance in statistical questions. Here I would also like to acknowlege a much longer-standing debt to J*. Johnstone and his colleagues in the Department of Econometrics at Manchester University, where I gained my undergraduate degree of BA (Econ). I shall always value greatly the statistical training they provided me. I would like to express a general thanks to the staff of the School of Oriental and African Studies for their assistance during the course of my research there: in this regard the wide-ranging and unique collection of the SOAS Library has proved indispens­ able. But in particular I would like to thank Dr Theodora Bynon , my supervisor, who often attempted to struggle through my earlier writings long before they deserved to reach the light of day. Her patience as I put together the present study is especially appreciated. I must finally thank both my parents for their contribution to the course of my present research: although I have no detailed familiarity with the works of my late father, I was familiar from an early age with his espousal of Polish notation, and the importance he attached to the syntax and ordering of elements in mathematical notation: I tn was thus no stranger to a consistftet VSO language! I am lucky to have in my mother someone who has already successfully completed a PhD, and her understanding has been a tremendous source of strength to me over the past few years. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abs tract..................................................... - 2 Acknowledgements.......... ..................................4 Contents....................................................... 6 Tables, etc................................................... 9 Note on Abbreviations.................................... 11 List of Symbols and Abbreviations.....................12 Note on Glosses........................................... 13 INTRODUCTION................................................ 15 PART I. SYNTACTIC UNIVERSAL^............................. 22 CHAPTERS AND SECTIONS 1. Problems of Explanation.............................23 1.1 Internal Factors versus External................ 26 1.2 Semantic Constraints: a First-order Level....31 1.3 Semantic Constraints: a Second-order Level...41 2. Statistical Requirements: SamplingData ........ 50 2.1 Allowance for Language Families................. 51 & > tc(& K C C 2.2 Synchronic •R-e'g-u -1-t-s from Synchronic Data.......59 2.3 Diachronic Results from..Synchronic Data....... 62 3. Statistical Requirements: Implicational P at te rns........................................ 7 3 3.1 Exceptionless Universals.......................... 76 3.2 Statistical Universals.............................95 3.3 Arguments for the Prediction Chain............ HO 3.4 Some Difficulties with the Prediction Chain.125 3.5 The Trigger Chain...... - ..........................140 7 Table of Contents (continued) 4. Agglutination, Fusion and Isolation........... 149 4.1 Tripartite Typology: a Re-assessment..........151 4.2 The Motivation for Fusion........................158 4.3 Fusion and Subject and Object Marking........ 163 4.4 The Relevance fo the Prediction Chain.........191 FOOTNOTES TO PART I ...................................... 211 PART II. SEMANTIC CONSTRAINTS........................ 230 5. Syntactic Universals and Semantic Cons train ts....................................231 6. Adjectives........ 241 6.1 Types of Adjectives................................ 243 6.2 Evidence from a Survey on Ordering.............255 6.3 Conclusion............................................ 283 7. Adjuncts ..............................................286 7.1 Problems with Natural Serialisation............287 7.2 Adjectives as Operators........................... 293 7.3 The Appositional Relationship......... 302 7.4 Adjectives as Operands.............................306 7.5 Adjunction............................................ 309 8 . Verbs...................................................320 9. Identification of Constraints....................328 9.1 Limitations of the Prediction Chain............329 9.3 The Importance of Deixis.......................... 349 9.4 Indeterminacy of Semantic Structure............357 9.5 Summary................................................ 359 FOOTNOTES TO PART II....................................362 Conclusion.................................................. 370 8 Table of Contents (continued) APPENDIX I. LANGUAGES AND REFERENCES............. 374 APPENDIX II. LANGUAGES AND THEIR TYPOLOGY..........378 BIBLIOGRAPHY A. GENERAL REFERENCES................................383 B. LANGUAGE REFERENCES...............................386 9 LIST OF TABLES AND PAGES Table P age T ab le P age 2 . 1 51 4. 1 164 2 . 2 55 4 . 2 165 2 . 3 60 4 . 3 172 2 . 4 63-4 4.4 173 2 . 5 65 4.5 192 2 . 6 66 2 . 7 68-9 4.6 197 2 . 8 71 4 . 7 199 4 . 8 202-4 4 . 9 205-7 3. 1 76 4 . 10 208-2 10 3.2 77 3. 3 79 3. 4 82 3.5 96-7 6 . 1 265 6 . 2 283 3.6 99 6 . 3 283 3. 7 103 6 . 4 284 3. 8 104 6 . 5 284 3. 9 106 3. 10 110 3. 11 110 9 . 1 331-2 3. 12 111 9 . 2 333-4 3.13 111 9 . 3 335-6 3. 14 112 9 . 4 337 3. 15 114 9 . 5 338 3. 16 114 9 . 6 340-2 3. 17 115 9 . 7 345 3. 18 116 9 . 8 346 3. 19 116 9 . 9 346 3 .20 118 9 . 10 346 3.21 118 9 . 11 352 3. 22 118 9 . 12 352 3.2 3 118 9.13 352 3. 24 121 3. 25 121 3.26 126 3.27 128 3.28 130 3. 29 130 3. 30 132-3 3. 31 134 3. 32 135 3.33 147 3. 34 148 10 MAPS Map 1 Page 52