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Zugl.: Leipzig, Univ., Diss., 2009

This report presents a classification of the verbs of Zenzontepec Chatino (ZEN) based on which allomorphs of the aspect markers they select. The selection of aspect markers is determined by the semantics of the verbs, derivational morphology, and phonological factors. Before now, aspect marking in Chatino has proven opaque because previously documented varieities have undergone considerable phonological and morphological reduction, wiping out some of the earlier patterns. ZEN, on the other hand, is conservative in this respect. There are three verb classes, each with a few sub-classes, and they line up well with the verb classes that Kaufman (1993) has proposed for Proto-Zapotec. In addition to describing the verb class system for ZEN in synchronic terms, this study provides insight into the Proto-Zapotecan verb class system and documents in Chatino several derivational morphemes reconstructed for Proto-Zapotec, proving that they are of Proto-Zapotecan vintage. / text

The debate of the genesis of creole languages has been ongoing for many years. Although there are many theories that have been proposed, there are two that are the most polarized and have received the most amount of attention. These include universal theories and substrate theories. The central goal of the present paper is to investigate the role that serial verb construction (SVCs) can play in providing evidence for substrate influence in creoles. It does this by looking at the use of SVCs or lack thereof in the following creoles: Louisiana Creole, Haitian Creole, Papiamento, and Palenquero. I provide evidence that demonstrates that the presence of SVCs in a creole depends on whether they can also be found in their substrate language. By doing this, I successfully prove that substrate influence plays a bigger role than suggested by universalist. / text

This report describes inflectional verb morphology in Nomatsigenga, an Arawak language spoken in Peru. I first describe Nomatsigenga's systems of person, number, directionals, aspect, and reality status marking, cognates of which are also found in other Kampan languages. I also describe aspect markers, which seem to be a Nomatsigenga innovation among the Kampan languages. I will describe the structure of these markers, which show an interesting pattern of agreement with the absolutive argument. I further discuss the historical development of these markers, which have their source in the reanalysis of a set of noun class markers that also served as adjectivizers. I also discuss points relating to verb syntax, major word classes, and (morpho)phonology necessary in order to present a coherent description of verb morphology. / text

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An important problem in lexical semantics is the explanation of how verbal meaning interacts with the syntactic realization of arguments. Levin (1993) recognizes the relation between syntax and semantics in her classification of English verbs, in which similar syntactic behavior among verbs is assumed to reflect shared meaning components. However, her classes do not accurately predict the verbs’ semantic and syntactic properties. Other researchers (Taylor 1996, Boas 2008) argue for the inclusion of detailed encyclopedic meaning in explanations of syntactic behavior. Frame Semantics provides the necessary tools for fine-grained analyses of the syntax-semantics interface because it offers a rigorous method for the description of meaning and documents syntactic information about argument realization from corpus data. This report uses concepts from Frame Semantics and data from its practical application, FrameNet (http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu), to assess the importance of fine-grained verbal meaning for argument realization by comparing the verbs embezzle, pilfer, shoplift, snatch and steal. Each verb construes the general semantics of the Theft frame differently, emphasizing or specifying individual participants in the event (frame elements). They also exhibit subtle differences in whether and how these frame elements are syntactically realized. In linking their syntax to their semantics, I show that the verbs’ syntactic distribution may be influenced by aspects of meaning such as their degree of descriptivity, the detailed specification of certain frame elements, and their occurrence as LUs in different frames. / text

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy