The paper presents work in progress on the interaction between information structure and word order in Old High German based on data from the Tatian translation (9th century). <br>The examination of the position of the finite verb in correspondence with the pragmatic status of discourse referents reveals an overall tendency for verb-initial order in thetic/all-focus sentences, whereas in categorical/topic-comment sentences verb-second placement with an initial topic constituent is preferred. <br>This conclusion provides support for the hypothesis stated in Donhauser & Hinterhölzl (2003) that the finite verb form in Early Germanic serves to distinguish the information-structural domains of Topic and Focus. <br>Finally, the investigation sheds light on the process of language change that led to the overall spread of verb-second in main clauses of modern German.

The paper presents a novel approach to explaining word order variation in the early Germanic languages. Initial observations about verb placement as a device marking types of rhetorical relations made on data from Old High German (cf. Hinterhölzl & Petrova 2005) are now reconsidered on a larger scale and compared with evidence from other early Germanic languages. The paper claims that the identification of information-structural domains in a sentence is best achieved by taking into account the interaction between the pragmatic features of discourse referents and properties of discourse organization.

Two aspects of cognitive control were investigated using the item-recognition task and the verb generation task. The item-recognition task had two conditions, high and low interference. The verb generation task was manipulated in three ways, for different levels of interference and time interval. The intention was to more deeply investigate one aspect of the item-recognition task, comparing response times for different trial types in different conditions, and to investigate a fatigue effect between the item-recognition and verb generation task. Thirty-two participants were tested at two occasions, in a within-subjects design. Results for the verb generation task revealed effects for levels of interference and time interval, although there was no difference in the manipulation. Results for the item-recognition task revealed effects for condition and trial type, as well as an interaction effect between these. The non-familiar trials in the high interference condition resulted in faster response times compared to the same kind of trials in the low condition. The result from the item-recognition task extends those from previous studies, revealing details for differences between trial types. This finding demonstrates a carry-over facilitation effect.

This work deals with verb inflections in a Finnish dialect spoken by descedants of Finnish-speaking settlers in northern Sweden. The dialect has been given the name Jukkasjärvi Finnish, as the main area where it is spoken lies within the parish of Jukkasjärvi. Jukkasjärvi Finnish belongs to the Vittangi Finnish dialect group within the principal Torne-Finnish dialect, the use of which extends along both sides of the Swedish-Finnish border. The documentation of the dialect is based on the language spoken by older people, as younger people are with increasing frequency using Swedish for their spoken language. The linguistic material has been collected by means of direct questioning, tape recordings and questionnaires. In the documentation, the principles for Keruuopas by Terho Itkonen and others have been used. In this study the dialect is compared with standard Finnish. The result of the investigation shows that Jukkasjärvi Finnish has the following characteristics: short vowels in endings, low frequency of gemination, syllable contraction, roots as the infinitive forms of contracted verbs, and to a certain extent analogical formations. An earlier influence from Saamish (Lappish) can also be discerned. Recently the dialect has also been influenced by those Finland-Finnish dialects that scarcely deviate from standard Finnish. / digitalisering@umu

This thesis explores the structure of the verb stem in Ojicree, a dialect of Ojibwe. I argue that the surface complexity of the stem structure in this language can be explained if we distinguish between two types of roots: strong roots and weak roots. Strong roots combine with a verbal head to build a full stem. I call these simple stems. Weak roots build a more complex structure. Their combination with a verbal head is not enough to build a complete verb stem and some additional material needs to appear to the left of the root to form a full stem. I refer to these stems as complex stems and to the requirement posed by the weak roots the left edge requirement. In the traditional templatic view of the Algonquian stem weak roots correspond to an element called ‘pre-final’ or the lexical portion of the concrete final. Strong roots fall into the traditional slot ‘initial’. In the first part of the thesis I argue that weak and strong roots build two fundamentally different structures. Complex stems (build from weak roots) are dynamic syntactic constructs, while simple stems (build from strong roots) need to be stored. I bring both syntactic and phonological evidence for this distinction. In the second part of the thesis I explore the nature of the left edge requirement in complex stems, arguing that it is a semantic constraint that has to do with event composition. Weak roots are semantically deficient elements, and the left edge element fills a gap in their semantics and completes event composition. The syntactic composition of the stem reflects event composition. Finally, I extend the idea of the left edge requirement to a certain type of noun incorporation construction. The proposed analysis advances our understanding of the Ojicree morphosyntax by moving away from the traditional templatic view of the stem, situating it within the current syntactic framework of Minimalism and proposing answers to some long standing questions from a new perspective. More broadly, it furthers our understanding of how words are formed in the Algonquian languages and in polysynthetic languages in general.

This thesis explores the structure of the verb stem in Ojicree, a dialect of Ojibwe. I argue that the surface complexity of the stem structure in this language can be explained if we distinguish between two types of roots: strong roots and weak roots. Strong roots combine with a verbal head to build a full stem. I call these simple stems. Weak roots build a more complex structure. Their combination with a verbal head is not enough to build a complete verb stem and some additional material needs to appear to the left of the root to form a full stem. I refer to these stems as complex stems and to the requirement posed by the weak roots the left edge requirement. In the traditional templatic view of the Algonquian stem weak roots correspond to an element called ‘pre-final’ or the lexical portion of the concrete final. Strong roots fall into the traditional slot ‘initial’. In the first part of the thesis I argue that weak and strong roots build two fundamentally different structures. Complex stems (build from weak roots) are dynamic syntactic constructs, while simple stems (build from strong roots) need to be stored. I bring both syntactic and phonological evidence for this distinction. In the second part of the thesis I explore the nature of the left edge requirement in complex stems, arguing that it is a semantic constraint that has to do with event composition. Weak roots are semantically deficient elements, and the left edge element fills a gap in their semantics and completes event composition. The syntactic composition of the stem reflects event composition. Finally, I extend the idea of the left edge requirement to a certain type of noun incorporation construction. The proposed analysis advances our understanding of the Ojicree morphosyntax by moving away from the traditional templatic view of the stem, situating it within the current syntactic framework of Minimalism and proposing answers to some long standing questions from a new perspective. More broadly, it furthers our understanding of how words are formed in the Algonquian languages and in polysynthetic languages in general.

<p>Two aspects of cognitive control were investigated using the item-recognition task and the verb generation task. The item-recognition task had two conditions, high and low interference. The verb generation task was manipulated in three ways, for different levels of interference and time interval. The intention was to more deeply investigate one aspect of the item-recognition task, comparing response times for different trial types in different conditions, and to investigate a fatigue effect between the item-recognition and verb generation task. Thirty-two participants were tested at two occasions, in a within-subjects design. Results for the verb generation task revealed effects for levels of interference and time interval, although there was no difference in the manipulation. Results for the item-recognition task revealed effects for condition and trial type, as well as an interaction effect between these. The non-familiar trials in the high interference condition resulted in faster response times compared to the same kind of trials in the low condition. The result from the item-recognition task extends those from previous studies, revealing details for differences between trial types. This finding demonstrates a carry-over facilitation effect.</p>

Texte remanié de: Disertační práce (ThDr.)--Evangelická teologická fakulta--Praha--Univerzita Karlova v Praze, 2005. / Bibliogr. p. [329]-334.

Saabrücken, Université, Thesis (doctoral), 2001.

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2009