[pt] Este trabalho trata do pronome interrogativo que no português falado no Brasil atualmente. Já foram detectadas sete diferentes formas de estruturas interrogativas para esse pronome interrogativo (que, o que, o que é que, que é que, o que que, que que, o quê in-situ), sem que no entanto tivesse sido feita uma análise que levasse em conta fatores de ordem pragmática. O presente estudo faz uma análise de base funcionalista a partir de um corpus de língua falada com o objetivo de depreender as regras de uso das várias formas do pronome interrogativo que visando sua aplicação ao ensino de português como língua estrangeira/ segunda língua. / [en] There have been detected many structures for the interrogative pronoun que (que, o que, o que é que, que é que, o que que, que que, o quê in-situ) in spoken brazilian portuguese. This paper focusses on the pragmatic functions of these forms, trying to deprehend the mechanism of their use, so that they can been properly explained to foreigners who learn brazilian portuguese.

Cette thèse se concentre sur deux groupes bien particuliers de propositions subordonnées dont, à l'heure actuelle, les définitions sont loin de faire consensus parmi les linguistes : les propositions interrogatives et exclamatives indirectes. L’étude syntaxique et textométrique effectuée dans le cadre de cette recherche part d'un vaste ensemble d’interrogatives et d’exclamatives indirectes, prélevées de manière exhaustive au sein d'un corpus de 68 pièces du théâtre français moderne s’étalant de 1775 à 1914. Les résultats de cette recherche, largement facilitée par les apports d’outils technologiques nouveaux et variés sont présentés dans ce travail. Les deux piliers substantiels de ces structures sont étudiés de manière circonstanciée : il s’agit des verbes et des outils qui les introduisent. Afin de mener à bien cette recherche, une banque de données, appelée Theatre68 a été constituée. Elle regroupe l'ensemble des attestations des séquences interrogatives (appelées SIC) et exclamatives complexes (appelées SEC) du corpus étudié. Cette banque est accessible sur le CD-Rom qui accompagne la thèse. Des cas d’ambiguïté syntaxique (relatives sans antécédent/interrogatives indirectes) et d’ambivalence sémantique (interrogative /exclamative) sont étudiés et commentés. Enfin, l’étude s’élargit vers des constructions particulières qui peuvent servir de supports aux structures exclamatives vu leur force expressive et le degré de figement qu’elles semblent avoir atteint. / This thesis concentrates on two particular groups of subordinate clauses: the indirect interrogative and exclamative clauses, the definitions of which, at the moment, are far from reaching a consensus among the linguists. The syntactic and textometrical study conducted for this thesis is based on a vast set of indirect interrogative and exclamative clauses, extracted from a collection of 68 theatrical plays of the modern French theater, from 1775 to 1914. The results of this research have been greatly facilitated by the contribution of new and varied technological tools (in particular the Lexico5 software). Both substantial pillars of these structures are thoroughly examined, mainly taking into account the introductive verbs and the linking words. To bring this research to a successful conclusion, a data bank, called Theatre68, was constituted. It includes all the examples of indirect interrogative and exclamative clauses and it is available on the CD-ROM attached to this thesis. Cases of syntactic ambiguity (relative/interrogative clauses) and semantic ambivalence (interrogative /exclamatory) are studied and commented upon. The study spreads upon particular constructions which can be used as supports to the exclamative structures considering their expressivity and the semi-fixed form which they seem to have reached.

Cette thèse propose une caractérisation syntaxique et sémantique de la subordonnée interrogative en anglais contemporain en l'opposant aux autres structures proches en surface (subordonnées introduites par des mots en WH- : relatives libres, exclamatives, circonstancielles en " if ", " when " et " whether "). Cette étude passe par un examen attentif des contextes d'emploi et des termes introducteurs de chacun de ces types de subordonnées. Nous abordons également les questions suivantes : quelle définition donner à la subordination ? Comment définir l'ambiguïté et traiter les cas limite (nous exploitons ici les notions d'ambivalence et de neutralisation) ? Quel rapport existe-t-il entre interrogatives et propositions en that ? Entre exclamatives et factivité ? Comment analyser des exemples comme Tell me the time ou Tell me if it's too expensive ? Et surtout que dire de I know who came ?...

The aim of this dissertation is to chart the development of interrogative syntax among Finnish-speaking children between the ages of 1 to 4 years living in Sweden. The material consists of language samples taken from eleven Sweden-Finnish children with Finnish as their first language. The data from the corpus have been compared with acquisition studies of Finnish-speaking children in Finland, with material from an adult-language corpus and with studies of children speaking other languages than Finnish. The first questions appearing in the corpus are wh-questions, on average at the age of 1.9 and one month earlier than yes/no-questions. Both wh-questions and yes/no-questions are produced by all children in the corpus, whereas disjunctive questions are used by only one child. Wh-questions comprise approximately two thirds of the interrogatives and yes/no-questions a third; only one disjunctive question is used. The older the child, the greater the proportion of yes/no-questions. The earliest wh-question words are tnikä 'what' nom. sg., missä 'where' and mita 'what' part, sg., used by one-year-olds. Kuka 'who' nom. sg., mihin 'where to' and miten 'how' all appear before the age of 2.6, and miksi 'why1, mista 'where from' and minkä 'what* acc. 1 sg. start being used before the age of three. The use of milloin 'when', kenen 'whose', minkä varinen 'of what color' and mitkä 'what' nom. pl. commences at the age of three. Other question words and question word forms are produced by a few children. Wh-interrogative clauses in this study have been divided into ellipses, on-clauses, V-clauses and Adnom-clauses. The ellipses and cm-clauses are acquired on average at the age of 1.9, V-clauses at 1.11 and Adnom-clauses at 2.3. The question words are used correctly for the most part, with the same references as in adult speech. Semantic misuse of mikä 'what' was detected in 2 % of the pronoun's occurrences; kuka 'who' is misused relatively often, 38 % of the time. The different case forms of the interrogative pronouns and adjectives are on the whole used correctly. One pronoun form susceptible to misuse is nom. sg. mikä 'what', often erroneously produced instead of some other case form. The interrogative adverbs are used according to adult norms almost without exception. The earliest yes/no-questions in the corpus are -kO-questions, starting on average at age 1.10; the use of -hAn-questions begins at age 2.5. Other yes/no-questions appear at a much later date. The first -kO-questions are neutral -kO-questions. Focused -kO-questions are acquired somewhat later on. The neutral -kO-questions have been divided into onko 'Is it?'-questions, Simple V+kO-questions, Aux+kO-questions and Neg+kO+V-questions; the various types of questions are acquired in that order. The interrogative clauses in the corpus have been categorized as information-eliciting questions, directive questions, conversational questions and expressive questions; their acquisition follows ibis order. / digitalisering@umu

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Este trabalho trata da descrição e da análise do contorno entoacional total de sentenças interrogativas globais e parciais, neutras e não-neutras, da variedade paulista do português brasileiro (PB). Investigamos a relação entre a associação de eventos tonais ao contorno entoacional dessas sentenças e a formação de domínios prosódicos. Nosso objetivo é identificar padrões entoacionais que codifiquem prosodicamente o significado pragmático dos diferentes tipos de sentenças interrogativas do PB. Partimos da hipótese de que o contorno entoacional total tem papel fundamental na codificação de significados pragmáticos, além do contorno nuclear. Em nosso trabalho, utilizamo-nos de corpora de fala controlada obtida em tarefa de leitura de sentenças interrogativas antecedidas por contextos propícios à produção de diferentes tipos frásicos interrogativos e de fala semicontrolada obtida em tarefa de leitura de mapa em dupla. A descrição e a análise prosódica das sentenças interrogativas de nossos corpora foram feitas à luz da visão integrada entre a abordagem Autossegmental e Métrica da Fonologia Entoacional (Pierrehumbert 1980; Pierrehumbert & Beckman 1988; Ladd 1996, 2008; Jun 2005/2014; entre outros) e a Fonologia Prosódica (Selkirk 1984, 1986, 2000; Nespor & Vogel 1986, 2007). Levamos em conta, para o desenvolvimento das análises desta investigação, os trabalhos desenvolvidos nesse mesmo quadro teórico e aplicados ao português (Frota & Vigário 2000; Tenani 2002; Fernandes 2007a, 2007b, Serra 2009, Toneli 2014; e, mais especificamente para sentenças interrogativas, Moraes 2008, Truckenbrodt, Sandalo & Abaurre 2009, Castelo 2011, 2016 e Frota et. al. 2015a). Os resultados obtidos a partir de nossa investigação revelam que (i) de maneira geral, o contorno nuclear das sentenças interrogativas da variedade paulista do PB tem um padrão ascendente-descendente; (ii) o contorno entoacional total tem papel importante na codificação do significado pragmático da interrogação; (iii) há características prosódicas especiais associadas ao contorno entoacional total que correspondem a significados pragmáticos específicos, como, por exemplo: (a) a marcação prosódica de foco e ênfase que varia a depender do significado pragmático associado à marcação de foco e ênfase nos diferentes tipos frásicos; (b) a associação de downstep ao contorno nuclear de sentenças interrogativas neutras; (c) a associação de upstep marcando o elemento enfático em sentenças interrogativas antiexpectativa; (d) o rebaixamento da gama de variação tonal no trecho do contorno entoacional correspondente à primeira palavra prosódica e o contorno nuclear em sentenças interrogativas retóricas; (e) as diferenças quanto à densidade tonal em sentenças interrogativas neutras e não-neutras; entre outras características prosódicas especiais associadas a significados pragmáticos específicos. Tais resultados revelam o cumprimento dos objetivos da pesquisa e confirmam nossa hipótese inicial de trabalho. / This study aims to describe the intonational contour of global and partial, neutral and non-neutral interrogative sentences of the Paulista variety of Brazilian Portuguese (BP). We investigate the relation between tonal events assignment and the formation of prosodic domains. Our goal is to find intonational patterns that codigy pragmatic meaning of different clause types of BP interrogative sentences. Our hypothesis is that the total contour has a fundamental role in codifying pragmatic meaning, besides the nuclear contour. In our work, the corpora analyzed includes controlled speech data obtained in a reading task that exposed interrogative sentences along with context to elicit the production of interrogatives with different pragmatic meanings and semicontrolled speech data recorded in a map task. The description and the prosodic analysis of the intonational phrasing of the interrogative sentences of our corpora were developed according to an integrated view of the Autossegmental Metrical approach within the framework of Intonational Phonology (Pierrehumbert 1980; Pierrehumbert & Beckman 1988; Ladd 1996, 2008; Jun 2005/2014; entre outros) and the Prosodic Phonology framework (Selkirk 1984, 1986, 2000; Nespor & Vogel 1986, 2007). Our analysis take into account previous works developed in this same framework and applied to Portuguese (Frota & Vigário 2000; Tenani 2002; Fernandes 2007a, 2007b, Serra 2009, Toneli 2014; and, more specifically regarding interrogative sentences, Moraes 2008, Truckenbrodt, Sandalo & Abaurre 2009, Castelo 2011, 2016 e Frota et. al. 2015a). The results achieved through this investigation reveal that (i) in general, the nuclear contour of interrogative sentences of the Paulista variety of BP show a rising-falling pattern; (ii) the total contour plays an important role in conveying pragmatic meaning of questions; (iii) there are special prosodic characteristics assigned to the total contour that correspond to specific pragmatic meaning, such as: (a) focus and emphasis marking that varies depending on the pragmatic meaning associated with different phrase types; (b) downstep association to the nuclear contour in neutral interrogative sentences; (c) upstep association to the emphatic element in counter expectation sentences; (d) lower tessiture of the range of variation in the portion of the intonational contour corresponding to the first prosodic word and the nuclear contour in rhetoric questions; (e) differences in tonal density between neutral and non-neutral sentences; among other prosodic characteristics associated with specific pragmatic meaning. These results confirm lead us to achieve our objectives and confirm our main hypothesis.

No description available.

The first part of this thesis addresses the following questions: where in the syntactic tree, and at what representational level is an NP Case-checked. To this end, it presents converging data from French, Welsh and Irish, which suggest (i) that Case-checking may be accomplished under a variety of functional projections (subject to parametric variation); and (ii) that Case positions are--at least partially--independent of the A/A$ sp prime$-distinction. It furthermore presents evidence from Irish and Welsh--VSO languages in which NPs typically raise to their Case position only at LF--that NPs are, under certain conditions, Case-checked at S-structure. / Chapter 2 investigates word order and cliticisation in Standard French and Quebec French interrogatives and proposes a typology of interrogatives. Chapter 3 and 4 account for complementizer variation, pre-verbal particles and agreement patterns in Welsh and Irish under a Case-theoretic approach. / The second part of this thesis concerns the conditions on the availability of structural accusative Case. A theory of structural Case is proposed according to which accusativity is a configurational rather than a lexical property--i.e., resulting from syntactic geometry and not from lexical feature specifications on verbs. To this end, a comparison between the syntactic mapping of stative and perfective predicates in Irish and English is undertaken.

Este trabalho trata da descrição e da análise do contorno entoacional total de sentenças interrogativas globais e parciais, neutras e não-neutras, da variedade paulista do português brasileiro (PB). Investigamos a relação entre a associação de eventos tonais ao contorno entoacional dessas sentenças e a formação de domínios prosódicos. Nosso objetivo é identificar padrões entoacionais que codifiquem prosodicamente o significado pragmático dos diferentes tipos de sentenças interrogativas do PB. Partimos da hipótese de que o contorno entoacional total tem papel fundamental na codificação de significados pragmáticos, além do contorno nuclear. Em nosso trabalho, utilizamo-nos de corpora de fala controlada obtida em tarefa de leitura de sentenças interrogativas antecedidas por contextos propícios à produção de diferentes tipos frásicos interrogativos e de fala semicontrolada obtida em tarefa de leitura de mapa em dupla. A descrição e a análise prosódica das sentenças interrogativas de nossos corpora foram feitas à luz da visão integrada entre a abordagem Autossegmental e Métrica da Fonologia Entoacional (Pierrehumbert 1980; Pierrehumbert & Beckman 1988; Ladd 1996, 2008; Jun 2005/2014; entre outros) e a Fonologia Prosódica (Selkirk 1984, 1986, 2000; Nespor & Vogel 1986, 2007). Levamos em conta, para o desenvolvimento das análises desta investigação, os trabalhos desenvolvidos nesse mesmo quadro teórico e aplicados ao português (Frota & Vigário 2000; Tenani 2002; Fernandes 2007a, 2007b, Serra 2009, Toneli 2014; e, mais especificamente para sentenças interrogativas, Moraes 2008, Truckenbrodt, Sandalo & Abaurre 2009, Castelo 2011, 2016 e Frota et. al. 2015a). Os resultados obtidos a partir de nossa investigação revelam que (i) de maneira geral, o contorno nuclear das sentenças interrogativas da variedade paulista do PB tem um padrão ascendente-descendente; (ii) o contorno entoacional total tem papel importante na codificação do significado pragmático da interrogação; (iii) há características prosódicas especiais associadas ao contorno entoacional total que correspondem a significados pragmáticos específicos, como, por exemplo: (a) a marcação prosódica de foco e ênfase que varia a depender do significado pragmático associado à marcação de foco e ênfase nos diferentes tipos frásicos; (b) a associação de downstep ao contorno nuclear de sentenças interrogativas neutras; (c) a associação de upstep marcando o elemento enfático em sentenças interrogativas antiexpectativa; (d) o rebaixamento da gama de variação tonal no trecho do contorno entoacional correspondente à primeira palavra prosódica e o contorno nuclear em sentenças interrogativas retóricas; (e) as diferenças quanto à densidade tonal em sentenças interrogativas neutras e não-neutras; entre outras características prosódicas especiais associadas a significados pragmáticos específicos. Tais resultados revelam o cumprimento dos objetivos da pesquisa e confirmam nossa hipótese inicial de trabalho. / This study aims to describe the intonational contour of global and partial, neutral and non-neutral interrogative sentences of the Paulista variety of Brazilian Portuguese (BP). We investigate the relation between tonal events assignment and the formation of prosodic domains. Our goal is to find intonational patterns that codigy pragmatic meaning of different clause types of BP interrogative sentences. Our hypothesis is that the total contour has a fundamental role in codifying pragmatic meaning, besides the nuclear contour. In our work, the corpora analyzed includes controlled speech data obtained in a reading task that exposed interrogative sentences along with context to elicit the production of interrogatives with different pragmatic meanings and semicontrolled speech data recorded in a map task. The description and the prosodic analysis of the intonational phrasing of the interrogative sentences of our corpora were developed according to an integrated view of the Autossegmental Metrical approach within the framework of Intonational Phonology (Pierrehumbert 1980; Pierrehumbert & Beckman 1988; Ladd 1996, 2008; Jun 2005/2014; entre outros) and the Prosodic Phonology framework (Selkirk 1984, 1986, 2000; Nespor & Vogel 1986, 2007). Our analysis take into account previous works developed in this same framework and applied to Portuguese (Frota & Vigário 2000; Tenani 2002; Fernandes 2007a, 2007b, Serra 2009, Toneli 2014; and, more specifically regarding interrogative sentences, Moraes 2008, Truckenbrodt, Sandalo & Abaurre 2009, Castelo 2011, 2016 e Frota et. al. 2015a). The results achieved through this investigation reveal that (i) in general, the nuclear contour of interrogative sentences of the Paulista variety of BP show a rising-falling pattern; (ii) the total contour plays an important role in conveying pragmatic meaning of questions; (iii) there are special prosodic characteristics assigned to the total contour that correspond to specific pragmatic meaning, such as: (a) focus and emphasis marking that varies depending on the pragmatic meaning associated with different phrase types; (b) downstep association to the nuclear contour in neutral interrogative sentences; (c) upstep association to the emphatic element in counter expectation sentences; (d) lower tessiture of the range of variation in the portion of the intonational contour corresponding to the first prosodic word and the nuclear contour in rhetoric questions; (e) differences in tonal density between neutral and non-neutral sentences; among other prosodic characteristics associated with specific pragmatic meaning. These results confirm lead us to achieve our objectives and confirm our main hypothesis.

Automatically generating questions from text for educational purposes is an active research area in natural language processing. The automatic question generation system accompanying this dissertation is MARGE, which is a recursive acronym for: MARGE automatically reads generates and evaluates. MARGE generates questions from both individual sentences and the passage as a whole, and is the first question generation system to successfully generate meaningful questions from textual units larger than a sentence. Prior work in automatic question generation from text treats a sentence as a string of constituents to be rearranged into as many questions as allowed by English grammar rules. Consequently, such systems overgenerate and create mainly trivial questions. Further, none of these systems to date has been able to automatically determine which questions are meaningful and which are trivial. This is because the research focus has been placed on NLG at the expense of NLU. In contrast, the work presented here infuses the questions generation process with natural language understanding. From the input text, MARGE creates a meaning analysis representation for each sentence in a passage via the DeconStructure algorithm presented in this work. Questions are generated from sentence meaning analysis representations using templates. The generated questions are automatically evaluated for question quality and importance via a ranking algorithm.