Institutt for språkvitenskap

Grammatical profiles and the interaction of the lexicon with aspect, tense and mood in Russian

Janda, Laura Alexis — 2010-12-31T23:00:00Z

Janda, Laura Alexis; Lyashevskaya, Olga

Aspectual pairs in the Russian National Corpus

Janda, Laura Alexis — 2010-12-31T23:00:00Z

Janda, Laura Alexis; Lyashevskaya, Olga

Objevta sadje ja struktuvrra indikatijva gárgadisájn

Mikkelsen, Inga Lill Sigga — 2011-05-14T22:00:00Z

Mikkelsen, Inga Lill Sigga
Dutkamus giehtadallá objevta sajev ja struktuvrav julevsáme indikatijva gárgadisájn. Julevsámegielan le muhtem mærráj friddja báhkogárges ja danen de le tjanádum iehpevissesvuohta objevta vuodosadjáj. Dát dutkamus tjuottjot julevsámebáhkogárges le rievddamin SOV vuodobáhkogárggás SVO vuodobáhkogárggáj. Duodden de dutkamus guoradallá objevtaj struktuvrav Minimalisssta prográmmajn vuodon.

Åarjelsaemien ovagkusatijvh jïh kausatijve molsedimmie

Jonasson, Nils Jonas David — 2011-04-30T22:00:00Z

Jonasson, Nils Jonas David
I den här uppsatsen undersöks den icke-ackusativa gruppen av sydsamiska verb, där verb som tsoepkenidh ’gå av’, gaahpanidh ’gå upp/öppnas’ och bæjjanidh ’höjas’ återfinns. Den icke-ackusativa gruppen är en undergrupp till de intransitiva verben, och kännetecknas av en oförmåga att uttrycka den semantiska rollen Agens. I många språk är den kausativa alternationen använd som en icke-ackusativ diagnostik. Därför är fokus i den här uppsatsen främst på att undersöka den den kausativa alternationen i sydsamiska, som i sydsamisk grammtikbeskrivningar endast givits marginellt utrymme. Den andra intransitiva undergruppen, de icke-ergativa verben, har en agent, men deltar in i den kausativa alternationen. De verb som finns i den kausativa alternationen grupperas beroende på typ av händelse de beskriver. Sex grupper bildas. Nästan alla av dem uttrycker en tillståndsförändring. Sydsamiska beter sig som många andra språk (t.ex. engelska, ryska och finska) i detta avseende. Morfologin undersöks också i förhållande till den lexikaliska semantiken, vilket ger en uppfattning om de olika sätt verb deltar i den kausativa alternationen är markerade med olika avledninssuffix. Med hjälp av lexikalisk fonologi beskrivs hur intransitiva och transitiva ytformer av verb deriveras under olika cykler där grammatiskt och lexikaliskt innehåll läggs till. Syntaktiska bevis för existensen av icke-ackusativitet såsom icke-ergativa verbs för- måga att bilda en syntaktisk kausativ i kontrast till icke-ackusativ verb, som saknar denna förmåga, diskuteras i korthet. En förståelse för den icke-ackusativ gruppen verb är nödvändig för att förstå rikedomen av sydsamiskans morfologi. Uppsatsen förklarar ett fenomen inom avledningsmorfologi i ljuset av både syntax och lexikalisk semantik och ger därmed denna förståelse. Det öppnar också nya möjligheter att förbättra arbetet inom området språkinlärning för både första- och andraspråksinlärare.

Une étude de l'expression adverbiale du coup

Malm, Katrine — 2011-05-31T22:00:00Z

Malm, Katrine
L’objet de ce mémoire est l’expression adverbiale du coup. Nous avons observé que même si cette expression est couramment utilisée, il est difficile de décider de son interprétation dans certains contextes, et par conséquent il est aussi difficile de décider de son utilisation. De plus, nous avons l’impression qu’elle n’est pas beaucoup décrite dans la littérature linguistique. Par cette étude, nous chercherons donc à en savoir plus sur l’expression du coup. Notre but principal est de répondre aux questions suivantes concernant l’expression du coup : A-t-elle un sens net ? Dans quelles conditions est-il possible de l’utiliser ? Quelle est son origine? Quelles règles s’appliquent à son positionnement dans la phrase ? Le premier chapitre du mémoire prend en compte la définition et la classification de l’expression du coup. Nous aborderons d’abord son sens, avant d’entrer dans le domaine de la catégorisation et de l’usage. Ensuite, nous définirons les critères de placement qui ont rapport à du coup. Dans le second chapitre nous présenterons une analyse d’un ensemble d’exemples pertinents tirés de la base textuelle Frantext, qui se base sur la théorie du premier chapitre. Premièrement, nous décrirons notre méthode de recherche. Ensuite, nous examinerons les différents sujets abordés par rapport aux exemples du corpus : nous commencerons avec les critères de placement, avant que nous considérions les conditions d’emploi. Ultérieurement, nous discuterons les deux sens de du coup, c’est-à-dire le sens consécutif et le sens temporel. Nous ferons aussi mention de du coup comme une expression de « nonce sense ». Enfin, nous exploiterons le processus de grammaticalisation pour illustrer son évolution historique. Une conclusion générale récapitulera les points principaux du mémoire.

Optimality theory and other theories of the mind : a system architecture comparison

Mikalsen, Karl-Erlend — 2011-05-31T22:00:00Z

Mikalsen, Karl-Erlend
In this thesis Optimality Theory is described in as non-linguistic terms as possible with the goal of making it possible to compare it to other theories of the mind, especially with regards to GEN, CON and EVAL. GEN is the generator of output candidates, CON are the available constraints and EVAL is a structure that evaluates the constraints based on some criteria. Connectionism, Motivational Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuropsychology and various theories of perception are presented in an equal manner. These theories are then compared to Optimality Theory to see if we can find commonalities. These commonalities are then presented. Structures similar to GEN, CON and EVAL can be found in several of the psychological theories. The similarity between Optimality Theory and Motivational Psychology is especially striking, taking into consideration the difference between their fields of study.

To shape the world for the better : an analysis of metaphors in the speeches of Barack Obama

Lesz, Barbara — 2011-04-30T22:00:00Z

Lesz, Barbara
Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States in probably one of the hardest periods for his country. The U.S. was fighting with one of the worst economic crises in its history and, additionally, waged two unpopular wars that had shattered its reputation as the moral champion of the democratic countries. Obama brought hope in the lives of many. He was a contrast to his predecessor, viz. George W. Bush Jr. He was eloquent, he inspired trust of American citizens and raised their hopes for the better future. It could be argued that Barack Obama was elected partly on the strength of his inspiring speeches. The thesis explores the topic of metaphors in Obama’s speeches and their possible ideological repercussions. The speeches from the period of Obama’s presidential campaign and the early period of his presidency have been analyzed. The topics of the speeches range from terrorism to nuclear power and other threats to the security of the U.S. The identification of metaphorical expressions in twelve texts was conducted using a method based on Metaphor Identification Procedure. Conceptual metaphors underlying the metaphorical expressions were identified and put into groups. The three most numerous groups were analyzed in the framework of Cognitive Metaphor Theory. The analysis showed that metaphors can be argued to be partly responsible for Obama’s image, as well as for his success in evoking feelings of comradeship between himself and his followers and trust in his politics. Moreover, it was observed that Obama used metaphors to convince his followers that despite the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Guantanamo Bay detention camp America is still the moral leader of the world abiding by democratic rules.

Object-sharing as symmetric sharing : predicate clefting and serial verb constructions in Kusaal

Abubakari, Hasiyatu — 2011-05-14T22:00:00Z

Abubakari, Hasiyatu
This research investigates object-sharing in Serial Verb Constructions in Kusaal, a Gur language spoken in Ghana. In an attempt to investigate whether the object in object sharing SVCs in the said language can be said to be symmetrically shared as in the case of Dagaare, (Hiraiwa and Bodomo 2008), it is observed that the object in object sharing SVCs interacts with Predicate Cleft Constructions in a way similar to what happens in Dagaare. Data from this language reveals several patterns of predicate cleft constructions alongside object pied-piping. All the patterns observed are again realised to be consistent with what happens in Dagaare. As a result, it is argued that the object in object sharing SVCs in Kusaal is symmetrically shared. Building on the works of Citko (2005), and Hiraiwa and Bodomo (2008), symmetric sharing in Kusaal is argued to be an instance of Parallel Merge. This, as indicated by Hiraiwa and Bodomo, “provides support to Baker’s (1989) insight of Double-Headedness and against Collins’ (1997) VP-shell structure with a pro”. Instances of object sharing as symmetric sharing are quite rare in languages. Kusaal is therefore argued to provide further evidence to the observation of Hiraiwa and Bodomo (2008) with data from Dagaare “for a permissible structure of object sharing SVCs and the availability of symmetric structure in UG” Hiraiwa and Bodomo (2008).

DP internal agreement in Amharic : a reverse agree solution

Workneh, Desalegn Belaynew — 2011-05-14T22:00:00Z

Workneh, Desalegn Belaynew
The main objective of this thesis is demonstrating that the DP internal functional elements in Amharic are the lexicalizations of the agreement between the functional projections in higher positions with the lexical elements in the c-command domains of these functional projections. The complex distribution of the functional elements such as the gender, number, definiteness and case markers is argued to be derived via the same mechanism, Multiple/Reverse Agree. Describing the lexical and functional elements, the thesis starts from sketching the basic framework of the DP structure in the language. Emphasizing on the striking similarities the functional elements exhibit, it then goes to propose that these functional elements are the reflexes of the same syntactic operation, Multiple/Reverse Agree, established between the functional heads (K, D, C and Num) and the lexical heads in the c-command domains of these functional heads. By focusing on many of the issues that escaped attention in the literature such as the dependency of the adjectival agreement on the definiteness article, the thesis comes with a strong claim that the phi features (specifically the gender feature) merge on D, rather than on the head noun, contra to the standard assumption. Arguing that Multiple/Reverse Agree is an obligatory operation in definite noun phrases, the apparent optionality of the functional elements on the modifiers is also analyzed to be an effect of a feature incorporation operation on the PF (interface) domain of the grammar. The placement of the traditionally dubbed `complementizer' element, yä, is also derived in the same way to other agreement elements. Assuming that all the yä-phrases, such as relative clauses, possessives and complement phrases are headed by null C--head, the thesis derives the complicated distribution of the particle, yä, in all the yä-phrases in a uniform fashion. Yä is taken to be, just like the rest of the functional elements in the DP, the reflex of the Multiple/Reverse Agreement between the C and the lexical heads in the c-command domains of C.

Long-distance anaphora in Latin

Solberg, Per Erik — 2011-05-14T22:00:00Z

Solberg, Per Erik
This thesis investigates the distribution of long-distance anaphors (LDAs) in Latin and proposes an analysis which takes into account both syntactic and pragmatic factors. It is generally assumed in the grammatical literature that complement clauses of reported speech/thought constitute a relevant domain for long-distance anaphora in Latin. This claim has been challenged in Benedicto (1991), as there are examples of LDAs in non-reported environments. I show that reported speech/thought is relevant for long-distance anaphora in Latin, and that LDAs outside of reported environments need a separate treatment. The LDAs in reported complements, which I have called the normal Latin LDAs, obligatorily take as an antecedent the noun referring to the person whose thought the clause expresses. This happens regardless of the syntactic position of this noun. The group of LDAs which occur outside of reported contexts, the special Latin LDAs in my terminology, have their own domain restrictions and binding properties. Giorgi (2006) and (2007) propose a syntactic account of long-distance anaphora which links long-distance binding to the temporal anchoring of complement clauses expressing propositional attitudes. The predictions this theory makes are in part borne out in Latin: The distribution of the normal LDAs seem to be sensitive to the syntactic distinction between complements and adjuncts. It might also be correct that the relevant complement clauses are those which express propositional attitudes. It is probably not correct, however, that long-distance anaphora is related to temporal anchoring in Latin. Moreover, the special LDAs are unexpected in this approach. A discourse approach to long-distance anaphora based on Sells (1987) can account for the attested patterns in a descriptively better way. While Sells theory makes empirically good predictions, it needs to be adapted in some way to a modular view of language. Syntax should play a part in such an adaption, as the complement/adjunct distinction is relevant to long-distance anaphora in Latin. I have therefore suggested an approach to long-distance anaphora in Latin which combines insights from both theories. In this approach, LDAs are indexical pronouns anchored to internally specified contextual coordinates. Certain verbs, notably those which take reported complements, specify a new set of contextual coordinates, referring to the speech or thought event. The normal LDAs are anchored to internally specified agent-coordinates in such complements. I also tentatively suggest that the space-coordinates can be internally specified in certain non-reported environments, and that the special LDAs refer to such coordinates.