We propose a syntactic approach to apparent blocking effects in the realization of definiteness marking in the Scandinavian languages. The claim is that the differences in definiteness marking can be attributed to a requirement that a definiteness feature ([def], a property of N) must be located at the left edge of the DP phase in order to be PIC-accessible for probes outside of the DP. As a result, [def] can be spelled out on N if N is the only element within DP and [def] is therefore part of DP’s edge domain (giving rise to suffixal marking). In contrast, the presence of an (overt) adjectival modifier (at the left edge of DP) requires feature movement of [def] to D, which is then realized as a prenominal article (with additional spell-out of the lower copy of [def] in Swedish). The paper also addresses the (slightly different) behavior of definiteness marking in the context of relative clauses and certain issues pertaining to the interpretation of the different strategies.

The subject matter of the diploma thesis is the bare noun phrase and its referential properties with focus to (in)definiteness. The aim is to present an empirical evaluation of factors that influence the interpretation of definiteness of bare noun phrases in Czech. The first part of the thesis recounts on existing theories of reference and definiteness, both in general and with focus to Czech as a language without obligatory determination. Our basic assumption is that the interpretation of definiteness of bare noun phrases is based on their position within a syntactic and semantic sentence structure, topic-focus articulation and word- or situational context. We focus on the relation between definiteness and an absolute position within a sentence, a verb-relative position and modification of the NP. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

O objetivo principal deste trabalho é refletir sobre como é construída a relação entre definitude e Caso no hebraico por meio da análise do Construct State e do fenômeno da Marcação Diferencial de Objeto. Dessa forma, pretendemos com essa pesquisa suscitar reflexões sobre o fenômeno da Definitude Espraiada, sobre a Teoria do Caso, sobre a formação do Construct State e dos compounds na sintaxe e sobre a semântica do et. Utilizamos para a análise dos dados o arcabouço teórico da Morfologia Distribuída (Cf. HALLE; MARANTZ (1993), HALLE (1997) e MARANTZ (1997)), além das últimas observações feitas acerca do Programa Minimalista (Cf. CHOMSKY (1998, 2001)), ambos desenvolvimentos recentes da Teoria Gerativa. Assim sendo, de modo diferente de outras análises do Construct State, que não levam em consideração os compostos, nossa análise proporciona uma explicação para a formação, tanto do Construct State, quanto dos compounds, na sintaxe, focalizando a estrutura de cada uma dessas construções: o primeiro possuindo uma estrutura composta de duas raízes abstratas e o segundo constituído apenas por uma raiz. A estrutura dos compounds procura refletir a não composicionalidade entre os dois nomes que o formam. Já a estrutura do Construct State privilegia a composicionalidade dos membros do construto, a Definitude Espraiada e a não modificação direta do núcleo. Enfim, sugerimos que a relação entre Caso e definitude no hebraico seja uma relação formal e dependente. Formal, porque ela se expressa por meio dos traços dos nominais que devem ser valorados, checados, mantidos para a inserção de conteúdo fonológico e, até mesmo, inseridos tardiamente pelo Componente Morfológico. Dependente, porque sem a definitude, Caso não pode ser checado. / The main aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between definiteness and Case in Hebrew. This will be done by analyzing the Construct State and the phenomenon of Differential Object Marking. By doing so, we intend to shed some light on the phenomenon of Definiteness Spreading, on the Case Theory, on the Construct State and syntactic compounds and on the semantics of ´et. In order to analyze the data, we worked within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Cf. HALLE; MARANTZ (1993), HALLE (1997) e MARANTZ (1997)), considering, as well, the Minimalist Program (Cf. CHOMSKY (1998, 2001)), both of them, recent developments of Generative Theory. Due to this fact - and differently from other Construct State analysis that dont take the compounds into consideration our analysis provides an explanation for the formation of both the Construct State and the syntactic compounds. This is achieved by focusing on the structure of these constructions: the former is a structure derived from two abstract roots, and the later is formed by a single root. The structure of the compounds aims at reflecting the non-compositional interpretation, which is typical in these cases. The Construct State structure, on the other hand, emphasizes the compositionality in its interpretation, the Definiteness Spreading and the non-direct modification of the head. In other words, we suggest that the relationship between Case and definiteness in Hebrew is a formal and dependent one. It is formal because it is expressed by the features of the nominal that must be valued, checked, maintained for proper insertion of phonological content, and late-inserted by the Morphological Component; and it is dependent because Case cannot be checked without definiteness.

O objetivo principal deste trabalho é refletir sobre como é construída a relação entre definitude e Caso no hebraico por meio da análise do Construct State e do fenômeno da Marcação Diferencial de Objeto. Dessa forma, pretendemos com essa pesquisa suscitar reflexões sobre o fenômeno da Definitude Espraiada, sobre a Teoria do Caso, sobre a formação do Construct State e dos compounds na sintaxe e sobre a semântica do et. Utilizamos para a análise dos dados o arcabouço teórico da Morfologia Distribuída (Cf. HALLE; MARANTZ (1993), HALLE (1997) e MARANTZ (1997)), além das últimas observações feitas acerca do Programa Minimalista (Cf. CHOMSKY (1998, 2001)), ambos desenvolvimentos recentes da Teoria Gerativa. Assim sendo, de modo diferente de outras análises do Construct State, que não levam em consideração os compostos, nossa análise proporciona uma explicação para a formação, tanto do Construct State, quanto dos compounds, na sintaxe, focalizando a estrutura de cada uma dessas construções: o primeiro possuindo uma estrutura composta de duas raízes abstratas e o segundo constituído apenas por uma raiz. A estrutura dos compounds procura refletir a não composicionalidade entre os dois nomes que o formam. Já a estrutura do Construct State privilegia a composicionalidade dos membros do construto, a Definitude Espraiada e a não modificação direta do núcleo. Enfim, sugerimos que a relação entre Caso e definitude no hebraico seja uma relação formal e dependente. Formal, porque ela se expressa por meio dos traços dos nominais que devem ser valorados, checados, mantidos para a inserção de conteúdo fonológico e, até mesmo, inseridos tardiamente pelo Componente Morfológico. Dependente, porque sem a definitude, Caso não pode ser checado. / The main aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between definiteness and Case in Hebrew. This will be done by analyzing the Construct State and the phenomenon of Differential Object Marking. By doing so, we intend to shed some light on the phenomenon of Definiteness Spreading, on the Case Theory, on the Construct State and syntactic compounds and on the semantics of ´et. In order to analyze the data, we worked within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Cf. HALLE; MARANTZ (1993), HALLE (1997) e MARANTZ (1997)), considering, as well, the Minimalist Program (Cf. CHOMSKY (1998, 2001)), both of them, recent developments of Generative Theory. Due to this fact - and differently from other Construct State analysis that dont take the compounds into consideration our analysis provides an explanation for the formation of both the Construct State and the syntactic compounds. This is achieved by focusing on the structure of these constructions: the former is a structure derived from two abstract roots, and the later is formed by a single root. The structure of the compounds aims at reflecting the non-compositional interpretation, which is typical in these cases. The Construct State structure, on the other hand, emphasizes the compositionality in its interpretation, the Definiteness Spreading and the non-direct modification of the head. In other words, we suggest that the relationship between Case and definiteness in Hebrew is a formal and dependent one. It is formal because it is expressed by the features of the nominal that must be valued, checked, maintained for proper insertion of phonological content, and late-inserted by the Morphological Component; and it is dependent because Case cannot be checked without definiteness.

This thesis investigates the second language acquisition of the English article system by Turkish learners in order to find out the role of certain semantic universals of the Universal Grammar during the acquisition process. More specifically, the purpose is to see whether or not L1 Turkish learners of English fluctuate between two semantic notions namely / specificity and definiteness, and the effect of this fluctuation on acquisition. 120 students from three groups of learners at different proficiency levels (40 elementary, 40 intermediate and 40 upper &ndash / intermediate students) were tested. Data collection instrument, a forced-choice elicitation task is used. The task consists of 40 short and contextualized dialogues. The target sentence in each dialogue is missing an article and learners were asked to fill the gap with an appropriate article / a/an, the or &Oslash / on the bases of their understanding of the proceeding context. Dialogues in the task belong to four different contexts / i.e. definite/specific, definite/non-specific, indefinite/specific and indefinite/non-specific. Each context has 10 dialogues with four different contexts that are randomized. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17 packet program (descriptive analysis and one-way ANOVA). The results showed that intermediate level learners exhibited fluctuation between definiteness and specificity to a great extent in (+definite/-specific) and (-definite/+specific) contexts. Elementary level learners were more accurate in these contexts exhibiting article omission errors in definite contexts. Overall, despite certain unexpected results, upper intermediate level students were quite successful in article assignment in defined contexts. This revealed that there is a positive correlation between article system acquisition and proficiency.

「存在句」普遍的存在人類的語言之中，華語存在句主要有兩種語序「處所＋動詞＋人/事物」如例 (1)；「人/事物＋動詞＋處所」如例 (2)。 　　 (1) 桌子上有書。 (2) 書在桌子上。 「在」字句的主語屬於「有定」或「有指」的「人/事物」，而「有」字句只能帶「無定」的「人/事物」作賓語。華語語言學家通常將「有」字句稱為「存現句」表示「某處存在某事物」，或者表示「位於某處所的事物的出現或者消失」。在語法形式上表示處所的名詞出現在存現句的句首，而表示存在、出現、消失的人或事物的名詞組出現在動詞後。從語言學習角度來說，華語的「存現句」對於外籍生是一個較為陌生的結構。本文從功能語法角度分析華語的「存現句」。以「認知分析」、「引介功能」、「傳達信息」、「焦點」、「主題」、「有定到無定」、「名詞的定性」為理論架構而處理存現句的形成與結構。 韓語沒有對應於華語存現句的句型，表示存在的動詞「在、有、是」都翻譯成韓語「있다(itta)」，使用助詞「著」的存現句翻譯成「V+아/어/여(ɑ/ə/yeo) 있다(itta)」。韓語存在句的基本語序為「處所詞組＋名詞組＋存在動詞」，例如： (3) 산 에 나무 가 있다.　(山上有樹。) San e namu ga itta. 山 在 樹 有 本論文探討韓語存在句如何表現主題、焦點、定性，如何傳達信息而進行與華語存在句的對比分析。此外，從功能的角度提供適當的教學策略，並且針對韓籍學生設計存現句語法課程而應用在實際教學上，藉此探討功能語法在教學上應用的可行性。 / Existential Sentences generally exist in human languages. There are two kinds of word orders of Existential Sentences in Mandarin: locations+verbs+people/things(Example 1); people/things+verbs+locations(Example 2). Example 1: Zhuozi shang you shu. (桌子上有書。) Example 2: Shu zai zhuozi shang. (書在桌子上。) 　Subject of Example 2 is definite people/things; however, Example 1 can only use indefinite people/things as its object. Example 1 is generally considered as Existential Sentence. Mandarin Existential Sentence is an unfamiliar structure for students learning Mandarin as a foreign language. This thesis analyzes Mandarin Existential Sentence from the perspective of Functional Grammar. Topics covered in the discussion of Mandarin Existential Sentence include cognitive perception of space, presentative function, information packaging, focus, topic and definiteness. There is no corresponding Mandarin Existential Sentence in Korean. Verbs meaning “zai ‘to be at’(在), you ‘to have’(有), shi ‘to be’(是)” are translated to 있다(itta) ‘be, have’ in Korean. This thesis discusses how Existential Sentences express their topic, focus, definiteness and information in Korean. This thesis also provides suggestions for teaching Mandarin Existential Sentence to Korean students and discusses the feasibility of Functional Grammar in teaching .

The central theme of complex systems research is to understand the emergent macroscopic properties of a system from the interplay of its microscopic constituents. The emergence of macroscopic properties is often intimately related to the structure of the microscopic interactions. Here, we present an analytical approach for deriving necessary conditions that an interaction network has to obey in order to support a given type of macroscopic behaviour. The approach is based on a graphical notation, which allows rewriting Jacobi’s signature criterion in an interpretable form and which can be applied to many systems of symmetrically coupled units. The derived conditions pertain to structures on all scales, ranging from individual nodes to the interaction network as a whole. For the purpose of illustration, we consider the example of synchronization, specifically the (heterogeneous) Kuramoto model and an adaptive variant. The results complete and extend the previous analysis of Do et al. (2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 194102).

Este trabalho trata da organização de sintagmas nominais no armênio, revelando uma interação peculiar entre a expressão de definitude e a marcação morfológica de Caso e as conseqüências dessa relação para a organização estrutural desta língua. Mostra se que os sintagmas nominais são interpretados como definidos como resultado de atribuição de Caso estrutural, e que existe uma assimetria entre os Casos estruturais e os Casos inerentes quanto à atribuição de definitude. Como ponto de partida, discute-se o estatuto do sufixo n/y, chamado de artigo definido pela gramática tradicional do armênio. A investigação das propriedades morfossintáticas desse sufixo mostra que o mesmo é uma marca com características mistas, que atua na atribuição de definitude e Caso de uma maneira não atestada nas línguas naturais e questiona o recorte entre as funções de Caso e os meios de expressão de definitude. Baseando-nos nos trabalhos de Chomsky (1986b), Longobardi (1994) e Giusti (2002), propomos a reanálise do sufixo -n/y como uma marca de Caso estrutural, que transforma os sintagmas nominais em argumentos sintáticos, e é associada ao nível DP na estrutura frasal. Ademais, mostra-se que a ausência de marcação de Caso estrutural resulta numa série de restrições semântico-sintáticas nos sintagmas nominais (nus), a mais proeminente sendo o movimento desses sintagmas para uma posição antes do verbo, seguidos imediatamente pelo auxiliar. Isso leva a diferentes ordens superficiais para sintagmas marcados por Caso estrutural (SVO) e sintagmas nus (SOauxV). Tal evidência, junto com o quadro das características dos sintagmas nus no armênio, leva à análise dos mesmos como pseudo-incorporados, conforme proposto por Massam (2001) para o niueano, com a diferença de que o sintagma nu se adjunge à projeção funcional TP no armênio, sem passar pela operação de alçamento do predicado. Quanto à expressão de definitude nos Casos inerentes, mostramos que em contraste com os sintagmas nos Casos estruturais, que podem aparecer com ou sem marcação aberta de Caso e ter, respectivamente, leitura definida ou indefinida, os inerentes devem sempre carregar a morfologia casual e são ambíguos quanto à definitude. Nesse aspecto, analisamos as projeções nominais Genitivas e constatamos que, apesar da aparente semelhança superficial, as mesmas exibem propriedades distintas que correspondem a duas estruturas internas diferentes do sintagma nominal, viii podendo ser caracterizadas como duas classes distintas: o Genitivo Referencial, que aparece em Spec/DP e é interpretado como definido por se associar ao nível DP, e o Genitivo Modificador, que permanece no domínio do NP no percurso da derivação. As conclusões a que chegamos provam que mesmo sem possuir um artigo definido canônico, o armênio oferece evidências a favor da postulação do nível DP como universal, responsável pelas interpretações definidas dos sintagmas nominais. Nos Casos estruturais, a definitude vem da atribuição de Caso, enquanto no Genitivo (um exemplo de Caso inerente) vem da posição ocupada dentro do sintagma nominal. Por conseguinte, o presente trabalho traz uma contribuição teórica valiosa para a análise unificada das projeções nominais, além de auxiliar na elucidação de alguns assuntos empíricos controversos do armênio e abrir caminho para pesquisas futuras. / This thesis investigates the structural organization of noun phrases in Armenian, an Indo-European language with mixed properties, focusing on the interaction between Case and (in)definiteness. The main claim of the study is that, contrary to traditional view, Armenian has no (definite) article, and definiteness in this language is a result of structural Case marking on NPs. This claim has implications for the analysis of bare nominals as NPs that lack both Case and referential properties and are syntactically restricted to a peculiar configuration, resulting in different superficial orders for Case-marked (SVO) and bare noun phrases (SOauxV). Moreover, this analysis casts light on a rather intriguing question of how definiteness is expressed in inherent Cases. It is shown that, unlike structural Cases, which express a direct correlation between definiteness and Case, inherent Cases, more precisely Genitive NPs, are interpreted as (in)definite by associating themselves to distinct structural positions. The starting point of our discussion is the re-analysis of the suffix -n/y, traditionally classified as a definite article. Highlighting Case and (in)definiteness as two independent conditions on argumenthood (Chomsky (1986b), Longobardi (1994), Giusti (2002)) that are closely correlated in Armenian, we argue that this suffix is in fact a structural Case marker, which turns nominals into syntactic arguments, and is associated with DP level. Focusing on the morpho-syntactic behavior of bare nominals in Armenian, it is shown that in the absence of structural Case marking, their distribution is syntactically restricted to a position in which they appear to the left of the verb and must be adjacent to the auxiliary. This distribution is accounted for by adopting the pseudo-incorporation analysis of Massam (2001). We show that bare nouns in Armenian exhibit typical properties of pseudo-incorporated nominals, as lack of reference, number-neutrality, phrasal nature, among others. Turning our attention to Genitive constructions, which always appear with Case morphology, we analyze a number of properties that superficially distinguish two (main) types, which we propose to call Referential and Modifying Genitives. The difference between them is syntactic, as they have different structural representations: Spec/DP for Referential and NP domain for Modifying Genitive. x As a result, we conclude that there exists an asymmetry between inherent and structural Cases as to how they express definiteness. Moreover, we conclude that in spite of the fact that Armenian does not have canonical (definite) article, a DP level must be postulated for this language, as a projection responsible for the referentiality/definiteness of the noun phrases. Thus, this study contributes to the outgoing debates about the precise functions of D as universal category and provides a valuable theoretical contribution to the cross-linguistic investigations of nominal projections.

Apresentamos uma caracterização das funções positivas definidas em esferas complexas, generalizando assim, um resultado de Schoenberg ([41]). Como no caso real, uma classe importante dessas funções é aquela composta pelas funções estritamente positivas definidas de uma certa ordem; estas podem ser utilizadas para resolver certos problemas de interpolação de dados arbitrários associados a pontos distintos distribuídos nas esferas. Com esse objetivo, obtivemos algumas condições necessárias e suficientes (separadamente) para que funções positivas definidas sejam estritamente positivas definidas. Os resultados apresentados fornecem uma caracterização final elementar para funções estritamente positivas definidas de todas as ordens em quase todas as esferas complexas. Funções estritamente positivas definidas de ordem 2 são caracterizadas em todas as esferas complexas. Analisamos também a relação entre funções estritamente positivas definidas em esferas complexas e funções estritamente positivas definidas em esferas reais. / We characterize positive definite functions on complex spheres, generalizing a famous result due to I. J. Schoenberg ([41]). As in the real case, we study the so-called strictly positive definite functions. They can be used to perform interpolation of scattered data on those spheres. We present (separated) necessary and sufficient conditions for a positive definite function to be strictly positive definite of a certain order. These conditions produce a final characterization for those positive definite functions which are strictly positive definite of all orders, on almost all spheres. Strictly positive definite functions of order 2 are identified. Finally, we study a connection between strictly positive definite functions on real spheres and strictly positive definite functions on complex spheres.

Early in the genesis of Mauritian Creole (MC), the quantificational determiners of its lexifier language, French, incorporated into a large number of the nouns that they combined with, resulting in the occurrence of bare nouns in argument positions, yielding (in)definite, singular, plural and generic interpretations. These early changes were accompanied by the loss all inflectional morphology, as well as the loss of the French copula, and that of the Case assigning prepositions à ('of') and de ('of') which are used in partitive and genitive constructions respectively. I argue that these changes triggered a parametric shift in noun denotation, from predicative in French to argumental in MC, and account for the fact that MC has a very different determiner system from its lexifier. My analysis is motivated by both Longobardi's (1994) claim that only DPs can be arguments, NPs cannot, and Chierchia's (1998b) seemingly incompatible claim that N can be an argument when it is Kind denoting. I provide detailed account of the emergence of the new MC determiners, from their first attestations in the early 18th century, to the end of the 19th century, when the determiner system settles into a form that is still used today. Following an analysis of the modern MC determiner system, I propose that MC nouns are lexically stored as argumental, Kind denoting terms, which share some of the distributional properties of English bare plurals, such as their ability to occur in argument positions without a determiner. The new quantificational determiners are analyzed as 'type shifting operators' that shift Kinds and predicate nominals into argumental noun phrases. The singular indefinite article enn and the plural marker bann assign existential quantification over instances of Kind denoting count nouns, and the null definite determiner is an operator that quantifies over the totality of a set. The differential behaviour of MC count vs. mass nouns is accounted for in terms of the Number argument which must be realized for common count nouns. Some seemingly 'bare' nouns comprise a phonologically null definite determiner equivalent to French le/la and English the. Subject-object asymmetry of count nouns in MC provides evidence for the occurrence of this null element which requires licensing in certain syntactic environments. The Specificity marker la, which serves to mark anaphoric definiteness, is shown to be a 'last resort' means of licensing the null definite determiner. My syntactic analysis is within Chomsky's (1995b) Minimalist framework and a Formal Semantics (Partee 1986), both of which stipulate legitimate operator variable constructions. The loss of the French quantificational determiners, and that of the copula meant that early MC lacked overt sources of quantification at both the nominal and clausal levels. In my analysis of the emerging MC determiner system, I look at the new sources of quantification that arise in order to establish the referential properties of nouns, and I show how these various strategies are linked to the means by which the semantic features of Definiteness, Deixis, Number and Specificity are expressed, and also the means by which the syntactic function of predication is realized.