Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1970. / Bibliography: leaves 231-238. / xi, 238 l illus., tables

Recently, researchers have begun to use syntactic priming to investigate the mental representation of the two languages of bilinguals and their accessibility during comprehension and production (e.g. Bernolet, et al, 2007). In the syntactic priming technique, a priming sentence is presented to elicit a structurally similar target response, when an alternative structure is also available. Previous studies, which focused mainly on the L2 syntactic priming effects of dative structures, found priming effects when the target L2 structure is similar to the L1 but not when they are dissimilar (e.g. Branigan, 2007). The present study investigated priming effects on the English L2 production of relative clauses by 18 Advanced adult Japanese-English bilingual speakers, using a modified version of Bock's (1986) sentence-repetition and picture-description task. It was predicted that the cross-linguistic differences between Japanese and English could potentially influence their L2 production. Experiment 1 comprised three prime-types (Full-relatives, Reduced-relatives, and simple actives) in English. Experiment 2 contained two Prime-types (Full-relatives and simple actives) in Japanese. In both experiments, the target responses were in English. Repeated-measures two-factor ANOVAs was used to test for Main and Interaction effects of Prime Type and Response Type on the mean proportion of responses in each Response Type category. The results of both Experiment 1 (L2-to-L2) and Experiment 2 (L1-to-L2) indicated a significant main effect of Response Type; in both experiments, the participants preferred Simple Actives for picture-description regardless of Prime type. As for the interaction between Prime Type and Response Type, significant results were obtained only in the case of Experiment 1, where the directionality was from L2 prime to L2 response, but not in the case of Experiment 2 (Japanese-to-English). Specifically, in Experiment 1, the participants used Reduced-Relatives more often in the Reduced-Relative clause priming conditions than in the Full-Relatives and the Simple Active condition. The findings bolster the position that the L1 mental representation and the L2 mental representation of complex structures are separate, particularly when a bilingual speaker's two languages are typologically different, as in the case of Japanese and English. The findings also indicate that the L1 mental representation is not accessed during L2 production.

This thesis examines the regulation behind exclusion clauses and their use in third party motor insurance policies. The thesis answers three key questions. First, to what extent are exclusion clauses valid in third party motor insurance policies against third parties? Second, what is the effect of the use of exclusion clauses on third party claims? Third how should the law in this area be reformed? It further examines the effect on exclusion clauses of general contractual and insurance contract regulation on third party victims. Finally, the thesis will examine the role of the MIB and whether it provides adequate protection as a ‘fund of last resort’.

This thesis investigates an exclamative construction very used by the native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, but under-researched, namely, the Free Small Clauses (FSCs), juxtaposition of a predicate and its subject, in that order, without any verb or morphological specification for tense on the surface, as in the following construction Bonita a sua roupa Your Clothes are beautiful , for example. The main goal of this study is to answer the following question: what is the internal structure of the FSCs of Brazilian Portuguese? In order to answer this question, at first, this work establishes what are the syntactic-semantic restrictions which govern the constitutive elements of this kind of constructions, describing the contexts in which the predicate and the subject can act. For the analysis of FSCs, we took as the theoretical assumptions the generative enterprise in its minimalist model (cf. CHOMSKY, 2000 et passim), as well as the notion of predication and phase extension as delimited in Den Dikken (2006, 2007). To answer the question put before, i.e., what is the internal structure of FSCs, we did several tests to understand what would be the internal composition of this type of structure and what is the structural position of its elements. What we could conclude in the end of this work is that the FSCs are root TPs, that is, one TP phase. Differently of Chomsky (2000), who admits that only CP and v*P can be strong phases, this thesis bring some evidences from Brazilian Portuguese in favor of the idea that TP would also be a phase. / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Esta tese investiga uma construção exclamativa muito usada pelos falantes do português brasileiro, mas pouco estudada, nomeadamente, as Small Clauses Livres (SCLs), a justaposição de um predicado e seu sujeito, nessa ordem, sem nenhum verbo nem nenhuma informação de tempo na superfície, como na construção Bonita a sua roupa, por exemplo. O principal objetivo deste estudo é responder a seguinte questão: qual a estrutura interna das SCLs do Português Brasileiro? Para tal investigação, o presente trabalho, num primeiro momento, estabelece quais são as restrições sintático-semânticas que regem os elementos constitutivos desse tipo de construção, descrevendo os contextos em que o predicado e o sujeito podem atuar. Para a análise das SCLs, tomamos como embasamento teórico os pressupostos da Teoria Gerativa no seu modelo minimalista (cf. CHOMSKY, 2000 e seqüência), bem como a noção de predicação e extensão de fase de Den Dikken (2006, 2007). A fim de desvendar qual a estrutura interna das SCLs, fizemos diversos testes no sentido de entender qual seria a composição interna desse tipo de estrutura e qual a posição estrutural de seus elementos. O que esta pesquisa conclui é que as SCLs são TPs raízes, ou seja, uma fase TP, desse modo, diferentemente de Chomsky (2000), que admite apenas CP e v*P como uma fase forte, esta tese traz evidências a favor da idéia TP também seria uma fase.

This dissertation discusses the continued existence and enforceability of exemption clauses within the framework of the subsequent movement towards consumer protection. It is argued that the provisions of the Act will lead to the consequence that unfair exemption clauses will be phased out because it could be declared void in terms of this Act and consequently its use will become impractical. Although exemption clauses can be viewed as an essential part of most contracts, such clauses are regarded as one of the most contentious clauses in practice, because they usually exclude the liability of the supplier for losses resulting from defective performance. This Act will lead to a shift away from the strict rule of freedom of contract towards a position of consumer awareness and fair contracting. The Act further provides consumers with the right to, inter alia, good quality goods and services and guarantees these rights by prescribing and controlling the liability of the suppliers. As a result, liability due to defective goods and services may no longer be exempted through exemption clauses. Disputes regarding the fairness of such clauses must further also be considered in view of the guidelines set out in the Act. This study however welcomes the enactment of the Act and believes that it could benefit the country as a whole. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

No description available.

Les sociétés sont traditionnellement classées en sociétés de personnes et sociétés de capitaux. L’intuitus personae constitue le fondement sur lequel repose cette distinction. Fort présent dans les sociétés de personnes, l’intuitus personae serait, en théorie, absent dans les sociétés de capitaux. Toutefois, cette distinction classique ne correspond plus, aujourd’hui, à la réalité. Nous assistons, en effet, à la résurgence de la considération de la personne dans les sociétés de capitaux à travers le développement de techniques contractuelles dont le but est de contrôler l’accès à ces sociétés. Ce mouvement de personnalisation a été renforcé par le législateur, d’abord, par la création de la société par actions simplifiée, mais aussi par la reconnaissance, dans les sociétés cotées, de la notion de concert ou encore d’un droit de sortie au profit des actionnaires minoritaires. La consécration de la validité de l’exclusion, qu’elle soit conventionnelle ou le résultat d’un mécanisme spécifique du droit des sociétés comme le retrait obligatoire ou le coup d’accordéon, participe également de ce phénomène. Cette présence a des conséquences majeures sur le fonctionnement de ces sociétés, mais aussi sur le droit des sociétés en général. En effet, d’une part, la reconnaissance de la primauté des relations entre actionnaires sur les capitaux offre une nouvelle perspective de la notion d’affectio societatis et du principe majoritaire. Et d’autre part, la mise en oeuvre de l’intuitus personae dans des sociétés dans lesquelles il est censé être absent affecte la cohérence même du droit des sociétés en anéantissant la summa divisio sur laquelle ce droit est bâti et en dénaturant le choix du pluralisme juridique, fait de longue date par le législateur français, qui commande en présence d’une pluralité de structures offertes aux opérateurs, une distinction de chacune d’elles reposant sur des critères précis et invariables. / Companies are traditionally classified into partnerships and joint stock companies. Intuitus personae is the basis for this distinction. Clearly present in partnership companies, intuitus personae is, in theory, absent in joint stock companies. However, this traditional distinction does not correspond today to reality. We are, in fact, witnessing a resurgence of the consideration of the individual in joint stock companies by means of contractual techniques whose aim is to control access to these companies. This resurgence has been further strengthened by the legislator, first by the creation of the status of simplified stock company and also by the recognition in listed companies of the existence of concerted action and a right to voluntary withdrawal benefiting minority stockholders. The admission of the validity of exclusion, either conventional or resulting from mechanisms specific to company law such as a squeeze out or even an “accordion squeeze”, add to the growth of this phenomenon. This presence of intuitus personae has major implications on the functioning of joint stock companies and on company law, in general. Indeed, on the one hand, the primacy of shareholder relationships over capital offers a new perspective of the notion of affectio societatis and the principle of majority rule. On the other hand, the introduction of intuitus personae into companies where this concept should have been absent affects the coherence of company law by destroying the summa divisio basis on which this law is founded and by distorting the legal pluralism long ago adopted by the French legislator which, in the presence of diverse legal structures, necessitates a distinction amongst them based on precise and invariable criteria.

by Cheung Yam Leung. / Thesis submitted in: August, 1997. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-137). / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iv / ROMANIZATION SCHEME --- p.vi / COPYRIGHT --- p.vi / ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS --- p.vii / ABSTRACT --- p.viii / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- THEORETICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DISLOCATION IN LINGUISTIC STUDY --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- COMPARISON OF RD IN CANTONESE AND ENGLISH --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- Structure of RD in Cantonese and English --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Types of Right Dislocation --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Dislocated String and Co-referential Linking --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2 --- Approaches to RD --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Functional Approaches --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Syntactic Approaches --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3 --- Summary --- p.19 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- SYNTAX OF CANTONESE RIGHT DISLOCATION --- p.21 / Chapter 3.1 --- Dislocation Types --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Dislocation Type I: XP in Preclausal Position --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Dislocation Type II: Subj. + Predrear (+SP) + Predfront --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Dislocation Type III: Sentence Fragment --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2 --- Sentence Particles --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Function of SPs in Dislocation --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Prohibition of Dual SPs in Dislocation --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Co-occurrence Restriction between SP and Other Elements --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3 --- Why a Single Syntactic Unit? --- p.42 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Afterthought is not a Panacea --- p.43 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Syntactic Dependency in RD --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4 --- Why Leftward Movement? --- p.55 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Base-generation Approach --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Rightward Movement Approach --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Leftward Movement Approach --- p.60 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Dislocation vs. Topicalization --- p.62 / Chapter 3.5 --- Sru's (1992) Proposal --- p.67 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Phrasal Constituent Preposing --- p.67 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Substitution vs. Adjunction --- p.70 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Maximal Attachment Level --- p.71 / Chapter 3.5.4 --- Subjacency --- p.72 / Chapter 3.6 --- Syntactic Representation of Dislocation Structure --- p.73 / Chapter 3.7 --- Summary --- p.83 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- CONSTRAINTS ON DISLOCATION STRUCTURE --- p.84 / Chapter 4.1 --- Coordinate Structure Constraint --- p.84 / Chapter 4.2 --- DislocatiON-Adjacency Constraint --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Prohibition of Non-D-Adjacent Components in Dislocation --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- "Dislocation Structure, Topicalization and the Syntax of SP" --- p.91 / Chapter 4.3 --- Focus --- p.94 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Question-Answer Test --- p.96 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Wh-Phrase --- p.100 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- "Focus Adverb´ؤZing hai "" Only""" --- p.104 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- Focus Sentence Particles --- p.106 / Chapter 4.4 --- Negation --- p.108 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- DISLOCATION STRUCTURE AND MINIMALIST ASSUMPTIONS --- p.114 / Chapter 5.1 --- Review of Reconstruction --- p.114 / Chapter 5.2 --- Reconstruction in Dislocation Structure --- p.115 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- CONCLUSION. --- p.122 / ENDNOTE --- p.131 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.139

No description available.

The present dissertation focuses on the question whether and under which conditions infants recognise clauses in fluent speech and the role a prosodic marker such as a pause may have in the segmentation process. In the speech signal, syntactic clauses often coincide with intonational phrases (IPhs) (Nespor & Vogel, 1986, p. 190), the boundaries of which are marked by changes in fundamental frequency (e.g., Price, Ostendorf, Shattuck-Hufnagel & Fong, 1991), lengthening of the final syllable (e.g., Cooper & Paccia-Cooper, 1980) and the occurrence of a pause (Nespor & Vogel, 1986, p. 188). Thus, IPhs seem to be reliably marked in the speech stream and infants may use these cues to recognise them. Furthermore, corpus studies on the occurrence and distribution of pauses have revealed that there is a strong correlation between the duration of a pause and the type of boundary it marks (e.g., Butcher, 1981, for German). Pauses between words are either non-existent or short, pauses between phrases are a bit longer, and pauses between clauses and at sentence boundaries further increase in duration. This suggests the existence of a natural pause hierarchy that complements the prosodic hierarchy described by Nespor and Vogel (1986). These hierarchies on the side of the speech signal correspond to the syntactic hierarchy of a language. In the present study, five experiments using the Headturn preference paradigm (Hirsh-Pasek, Kemler Nelson, Jusczyk, Cassidy, Druss & Kennedy, 1987) were conducted to investigate German-learning 6- and 8-month-olds’ use of pauses to recognise clauses in the signal and their sensitivity to the natural pause hierarchy. Previous studies on English-learning infants’ recognition of clauses (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 1987; Nazzi, Kemler Nelson, Jusczyk & Jusczyk, 2000) have found that infants as young as 6 months recognise clauses in fluent speech. Recently, Seidl and colleagues have begun to investigate the status the pause may have in this process (Seidl, 2007; Johnson & Seidl, 2008; Seidl & Cristià, 2008). However, none of these studies investigated infants’ sensitivity to the natural pause hierarchy and especially the sensitivity to the correlation between pause durations and the respective within-sentence clause boundaries / sentence boundaries. To address these questions highly controlled stimuli were used. In all five experiments the stimuli were sentences consisting of two IPhs which each coincided with a syntactic clause. In the first three experiments pauses were inserted either at clause and sentence boundaries or within the first clause and the sentence boundaries. The duration of the pauses varied between the experiments. The results show that German-learning 6-month-olds recognise clauses in the speech stream, but only in a condition in which the duration of the pauses conforms to the mean duration of pauses found at the respective boundaries in German. Experiments 4 and 5 explicitly addressed the question of infants’ sensitivity to the natural pause hierarchy by inserting pauses at the clause and sentence boundaries only. Their durations were either conforming to the natural pause hierarchy or were being reversed. The results of these experiments provide evidence that 8-, but not 6-month-olds seem to be sensitive to the correlation of the duration of pauses and the type of boundary they demarcate. The present study provides first evidence that infants not only use pauses to recognise clause and sentence boundaries, but are sensitive to the duration and distribution of pauses in their native language as reflected in the natural pause hierarchy. / Die vorliegende Dissertation geht der Frage nach, ob und ab wann Deutsch lernende Kinder in der Lage sind, Clauses in gesprochener Sprache zu erkennen und welche Rolle dabei ein prosodischer Marker wie die Pause spielen kann. Im Sprachstrom sind syntaktische Clauses oft durch Intonationsphrasen (IPhs) repräsentiert (Nespor & Vogel, 1986). Die Grenzen solcher IPhs werden markiert durch Veränderungen in der Grundfrequenz (z.B., Price, Ostendorf, Shattuck-Hufnagel & Fong, 1991), die Längung der grenzfinalen Silbe (z.B., Cooper & Paccia-Cooper, 1980) und das Vorhandensein einer Pause (Nespor & Vogel, 1986, p. 188). Man kann also davon ausgehen, dass die Grenzen von IPhs zuverlässig markiert sind und Kleinkinder diese Hinweisreize zu deren Wahrnehmung nutzen. Ein weiterer Hinweis ist die Dauer einer Pause, die systematisch mit der Art der Grenze korreliert an der sie vorkommt (z.B., Butcher, 1981, fürs Deutsche). Es finden sich kaum oder gar keine Pausen zwischen Wörtern, etwas längere Pausen an Phrasengrenzen, noch längere Pausen an Clausegrenzen und die längsten Pausen an Satzgrenzen. Das legt die Existenz einer Natürlichen Pausenhierarchie nahe, die die prosodische Hierarchie (Nespor & Vogel, 1986) auf der Seite des Sprachsignals ergänzt. Diese prosodischen Hierarchien korrespondieren mit der syntaktischen Hierarchie einer Sprache. In der vorliegenden Studie werden fünf Experimente präsentiert, die mittels der Headturn Preference Methode (Hirsh-Pasek, Kemler Nelson, Jusczyk, Cassidy, Druss & Kennedy, 1987) durchgeführt wurden. Die Fragestellung war, ob Deutsch lernende 6 und 8 Monate alte Kinder Pausen nutzen, um Clauses im Sprachstrom zu erkennen und ob sie bereits sensitiv für die natürliche Pausenhierarchie sind. Vorläuferstudien (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 1987; Nazzi, Kemler Nelson, Jusczyk & Jusczyk, 2000) haben gezeigt, dass bereits 6 Monate alte Englisch lernende Kinder Clauses in der Sprache erkennen. Erstmals haben Seidl und Mitarbeiterinnen (Seidl, 2007; Johnson & Seidl, 2008; Seidl & Cristià, 2008) den Status der Pause in diesem Zusammenhang näher untersucht. Keine der genannten Studien hat jedoch die Sensitivität von Kindern gegenüber der natürlichen Pausenhierarchie und besonders die Sensitivität gegenüber der Korrelation von Pausendauer und Clause-, bzw. Satzgrenzen erforscht. Um dieser Frage nachzugehen, wurde in der vorliegenden Studie ein hoch kontrolliertes Stimulusmaterial verwendet: Sätze die aus zwei IPhs bestehen, welche jeweils einem syntaktischen Clause entsprechen. In den ersten drei Experimenten wurden Pausen zum einen an den Clause- und den Satzgrenzen und zum anderen innerhalb der ersten Clauses und an den Satzgrenzen eingefügt. Die Dauer der Pausen variierte zwischen den Experimenten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass 6 Monate alte Kinder in der Lage sind, Clauses in gesprochener Sprache zu erkennen, aber nur ein einer Bedingung, in der die eingefügten Pausen eine Dauer hatten, die mit der natürlichen Sprache übereinstimmte. In den Experimenten 4 und 5 wurde explizit getestet, inwieweit die Kinder sensitiv gegenüber der natürlichen Pausenhierarchie sind. Dafür wurden Pausen nur noch an den Clause- und den Satzgrenzen eingefügt, die jeweilige Dauer der Pausen entsprach dabei einmal der Pausenhierarchie, zum anderen widersprachen sie ihr. Die Ergebnisse der beiden Experimente zeigen, dass 8 Monate alte Kinder, nicht jedoch 6 Monate alte Kinder, sensitiv für die Verbindung von Pausendauer und der jeweiligen prosodisch/syntaktischen Grenze sind. Die Ergebnisse der Dissertation zeigen erstmals, dass Kinder Pausen nicht nur nutzen, um Clauses in gesprochener Sprache zu erkennen, sondern dass sie auch sensitiv gegenüber Pausendauer und Pausenverteilung in ihrer Muttersprache sind und damit gegenüber der Natürlichen Pausenhierarchie.