Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-141). / This thesis examines the syntax of Tagalog with a particular focus on argument structure and its implications for clause structure. Through cross-linguistic comparison I show that Tagalog syntax is not as exotic as is often assumed and that it can be straightforwardly accounted for using available syntactic tools, primarily the theory of phases and Agree of Chomsky (1999, 2001). This study shows that there is no need to appeal to new parameter settings or newcomponents of the grammar in order to account for the syntactic behavior of Tagalog (cf. Sells 1998, Speas 1998, Carrier-Duncan 1985, Kroeger 1993). In this work I show that, contrary to widespread assumptions, the voice system of Tagalog does not reflect the thematic role of the subject argument. Instead, returning to the insight of Ramos 1974, I argue that voice morphology on the verb reflects the case that the subject argument receives in its base position. I also argue that the specificity properties of subjects and objects in Tagalog resemble those motivating object shift in Germanic languages; therefore, I conclude that Tagalog instantiates a system of generalized 'argument shift'. I show that the shift of specific arguments to the edge of the phase is strictly constrained by locality The analysis of voice and locality-constrained shift relies on a detailed study of argument positions in Tagalog. Using tests for hierarchical structure such as reflexive and pronominal variable binding, I examine the structural relations among external arguments, applicative arguments, direct objects, and adjuncts and show them to be in accordance with what is known about structural argument asymmetries cross-linguistically. / by Andrea Stokes Rackowski. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-145). / Peter Unger's puzzle, the problem of the many, is an argument for the conclusion that we are grossly mistaken about what kinds of objects are in our immediate surroundings. But it is not clear what we should make of Unger's argument. There is an epistemic view which says that the argument shows that we don't know which objects are the referents of singular terms in our language. There is a linguistic view which says that Unger's puzzle shows that ordinary singular terms and count nouns are vague. Finally, there is an ontological view which says that the puzzle shows that there are vague objects. The epistemic view offers the simplest solution to the problem of the many, but runs foul of a different problem, the problem of vague reference. The problem of vague reference is that given the presuppositions of the epistemic view there are too many too similar objects that might be the reference of a name such as 'Kilimanjaro' for it to be plausible that the name has a determinate reference. The linguistic view, spelled out in terms of semantic indecision and supervaluation, offers the same solution to the problem of the many and to the problem of vague reference. But it leaves no room for de re beliefs about ordinary material object. The ontological view offers a solution to the problem of the many that avoids the problem of vague reference and the problem of de re beliefs. For these reasons it is preferable to the other two. / (cont.) However, ontological vagueness has met strong objections. It has been argued that it is a fallacy of verbalism, that it is inconsistent and that once formulated in a consistent way it is not distinguishable from the linguistic view. These objections can be met, but not without cost. To avoid the charge of being inconsistent, friends of the ontological view have to give up the law of excluded middle. A positive account of vague parthood has two parts. First, parthood is not primitive but dependent on other primitive facts. The most important of the primitive facts are facts about to what kinds objects belong and how objects are causally related. Second, sometimes the primitive facts fail do determine of two objects whether one is part of the other. Given a notion of vague parthood, a notion of vague object can be defined roughly in the following way: An object 0 is vague iff there is an object a such that it is indeterminate whether a is part of 0. / by Ólafur Páll Jónsson. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1983. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 339-345. / by Jeffrey Stephen Poland. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-152). / In this thesis I ponder over a constellation of phenomena that revolve around switch reference and coordination, drawing mainly on their instantiation in Kisedje (Je, Brazil). I start by investigating Klsedje's case system. In this language there is a case split along the finite/non-finite axis. I argue that nominative is assigned by INFL, whereas ergative is assigned to the subject of INFL-less clauses. Importantly, the particles I take to instantiated INFL in Kisedje don't have tense semantics, but rather modal semantics. Investigating other properties of this modal INFL in Klsedje, I can determine the fine structure of its clause. This knowledge allows me to argue that the construction that has been identified elsewhere as clause chaining is actually asymmetric clausal coordination. The special properties that seem to distinguish clause chaining from asymmetric clausal coordination are argued to fall out from the structure of the clause in Kisedje. I further propose that the same type of structure is found in the other languages where asymmetric coordination has been called clause chaining. Asymmetric clausal coordination in Kisedje features morphology which indicates whether adjacent conjuncts have the same or different subjects (switch-reference marking). Important evidence for understanding how switch-reference is computed will come from the study of a deletion phenomenon that happens in the neighborhood of switch-reference markers in Kisedje. Besides isolating evidence for a direct agreement relation between switch-reference marking conjunction and the subject of one of the conjuncts, this study makes a contribution to the theory of morphology. Knowing the structure of the clause in Kisedje and the featural composition of switch-reference markers allows me to support a specific theory of switch-reference computation. Given this theory, I argue that asymmetric coordination (the kind of coordination where switch-reference is marked) instances an X-structure, whereas symmetric coordination (which can't be marked for switchreference) instances a flat structure. Such structural difference also allows me to explain other differences between symmetric and asymmetric coordination. Thesis Supervisor: / by Rafael Nonato. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1987. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES. / Bibliography: leaves 192-195. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1984. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES. / Bibliography: leaves 260-264. / by Nigel Alexander John Fabb. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1986. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES / Bibliography: leaves 132-137. / by Lorraine S. Levin. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2010. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-159). / This dissertation develops a grammar of phonetic implementation of phonologically significant F0 (pitch) events, which is applicable across languages. Through production studies of various languages, we show that phonetic universals exist which govern phonetic realization of the phonological representations of tones. In the previous literature, there have been two conflicting views concerning tonal timing: tones are aligned with respect to segments (the Segmental Anchoring Hypothesis) or tones occur at a fixed interval from other tones (the Constant Duration Hypothesis). In this dissertation, the two hypotheses are tested in languages with various tonal phonologies: Seoul Korean (phrasal boundary tone), Tokyo Japanese (lexical pitch accent), Mandarin (lexical tone), and English (intonational pitch accent). In all languages, both tendencies to maintain segmental alignment and a target duration for pitch rises are simultaneously observed. We thus adopt a weighted-constraint model (Flemming, 2001) where segmental alignment and target duration are interpreted as weighted constraints. In this model, timing of tones is determined to minimize the summed cost of violation of these conflicting constraints. Mixed-effects models were fitted to the data to obtain the actual weights in each language. Relative weights of the constraints reflect cross-linguistic differences in the alignment of tones. The relative weights of constraints in the phonetic realization grammar are not random but systematic, reflecting the phonological nature of tones in each language. The experimental studies in this dissertation show that tonal alignment patterns depend on phonological status and context of tones. Lexically-contrastive tones (Japanese accented words, Mandarin lexical tone) or prominence-lending tones (English pitch accents) are more strictly aligned with respect to their anchoring points than phrasal boundary tones (Seoul Korean, Japanese unaccented words), if other conditions are equal. Tones show different alignment patterns depending on phonological context: tones are more strictly aligned in word-final context than in word-medial context in Japanese accented words, and in lexical-tone context than in neutral-tone context in Mandarin. In addition, languages show different phonetic realization patterns depending on whether contour tones are contrastive in the language (Mandarin and English) or not (Korean and Japanese). These results point to the fact that details of phonetic realization of tones are determined by language-specific phonetic realization grammar, rather than by default universal rules. / by Hyesun Cho. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 272-279). / This dissertation reports the results of two English experiments on timing and perception. The first experiment demonstrates asymmetries in timing between consonants and vowels, which depend on the manner of the consonant. The second experiment shows that these asymmetries in speech production are mirrored by perceptual asymmetries among consonants with different manner features. We argue that these phenomena are best described in terms of auditory rather than articulatory representations. A formal analysis is developed using weighted, gradiently-violable constraints on segment and syllable duration. Because the constraints make reference to the auditory features of segments, the analysis can derive the relationship between asymmetries in speech production and asymmetries in speech perception. The patterns of timing discovered here appear to interact in limited ways with systems of phonological contrast. We incorporate the duration constraints proposed here into a phonetically-driven model of phonology, examining the predictions that such an approach makes about phonological typology. / by Jonah Katz. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-200). / This dissertation investigates the consequences of overt and covert movement on association with focus. The interpretation of focus-sensitive operators such as only and even depends on the presence of a focused constituent in their scope. I document the complex conditions under which operators are able to associate with a focused constituent which has moved out of their scope. In particular, I concentrate on the ability of English even but not only to associate "backwards" in this configuration. I propose a theory based on the Copy Theory of movement which predicts the attested patterns of backwards association. When an operator gives the appearance of associating backwards, it is in fact associating with focus in the lower copy of the movement chain, within its scope. This is possible with even but not only due to independent differences in their compositional semantics: only uses focus alternatives to compute new truth conditions, whereas even uses the alternatives to introduce a presupposition without modifying the truth conditions. I furthermore argue that neither syntactic reconstruction nor covert movement of even (the scope theory) are adequate as a general solution to the problem of backwards association. This analysis supports a view where focus is represented in the narrow syntax and then interpreted at the interfaces. The analysis is built upon a general framework for focus interpretation based on Kratzer (1991) which I apply to structures involving copy chains, combined with new facts regarding the projection behavior of the scalar inference of even. After presenting my proposal, I discuss its implications for the internal structure of DPs and show that it offers a new structural diagnostic for the derivational path of movement. Moreover, the inbty of scope reconstruction to feed focus association in English motivates a new approach to syntactic reconstruction. The proposal developed here explains a range constraints on patterns of focus association, and more generally contributes to our understanding of the interaction of syntactic operations such as movement with the semantic and information-structural notion of focus. / by Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine. / Ph. D.