M.A. / The traditional approach regarding the demonstrative in Northern Sotho, in several instances, is only partially correct.This approach is primarily concerned with the morphology of the demonstrative, whilst the semantic and syntactic elements thereof are only briefly and superficially attended to ...

M.A. (African Languages) / In spite of the fact that Northern Sotho is reasonably established as a written language and is used as an educational medium at schools and universities, there are still aspects of its grammar that are either incorrectly or incompletely described. Where the relative construction is concerned, quite a few such insufficiencies exist. This study aims to clarify these problems. The aim of the study is threefold. First the different forms of the relative clause as published in existing works are examined. Second, the nature of constructions in spoken and written Northern Sotho is tested with existing conceptions as published and possible variants charted. Third the 'linguistic implications and the validity of existing opinions regarding the relative clause are tested. The possible influences of other Sotho languages are also taken into consideration...

M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Traditional prescriptive grammar for English states that the epicene or gender neutral pronoun for third person singular use is he. Research into speaker perceptions has clearly demonstrated that he is not perceived as neutral. Research has also shown traditionally proscribed epicene pronouns such as he or she and singular they to be commonly used, despite the long-standing proscriptions against them. The author examines the endurance of such proscribed options through the lens of markedness theory, considering the impact of cultural values on speakers' epicene pronoun choices. Gender in language is also considered, as well as Kuryłowicz‘s 4th Law of Analogy as a means for understanding patterns of language change. Second person pronoun change is considered as a model for understanding third person pronoun changes currently underway in Modern American English. The author conducts and reports on a corpus study designed to assess the current usage of three epicene pronouns in Modern American English, namely he or she and its variant she or he; one; and singular they. The results of the study are considered in terms of medium, spoken or written, and register, colloquial, standard, or formal. The study suggests that they is generally the preferred epicene pronoun, particularly in spoken language, but that one is the preferred epicene pronoun for formal writing.

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Donkey pronouns seem to defy the conventional categories of referential and anaphoric pronouns and hence cannot be analyzed as variables. An orthodox treatment is that donkey pronouns are semantically equivalent to definite descriptions. I argue on the contrary that donkey pronouns can be analyzed as bound variables given a distinct notion of binding. I provide a systematic comparison between the static, description-theoretic approach and Discourse Representation Theory (DRT), a representative of dynamic semantics. By exposing the inadequacy of various descriptivist theories, I motivate and argue that DRT is the better alternative. DRT is superior for being a coherent and flexible analysis of donkey pronouns, a unified analysis of pronouns in general, and an intuitively appealing model of meaning. In addition, I uncover the similarities between the situational descriptivist account and DRT. I show that when fully elaborated, the former turns out to be a notational variant of the latter. I then trace their common problems to the Lewisian assumptions of quantification and conditionals; my proposed solutions suggest non-trivial modifications to and clarifications of the underlying Lewisian framework. / text

Esta dissertação estuda, em uma perspectiva comparativa entre o português brasileiro (PB) e o português europeu (PE), a representação do argumento dativo de terceira pessoa em um corpus de língua escrita formal, constituído pelas traduções brasileira e lusitana feitas diretamente do espanhol do romance Cem anos de solidão de Gabriel Garcia Marques. A análise detém-se ao comportamento de três variantes do dativo o clítico lhe/lhes, os PPs a/para ele(s)/ela(s) e o pronome nulo nos contextos de predicados ditransitivos, inacusativos, causativos, incoativos e inergativos. Dentro do quadro teórico da Teoria Gerativa e da Teoria da Variação, pretende-se explicitar diferenças entre o PB e o PE que possam corroborar, ou não, a hipótese de que essas duas variedades do português apresentam gramáticas distintas. / This dissertation discusses, in a comparative perspective between Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and European Portuguese (EP), the expression of the dative argument of the third person in a formal writing corpus constituted by the Brazilian and European translations directly from Spanish of the book A Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marques. The analysis considers the behaviour of three dative variants the clitic lhe/lhe, the PPs a/para ele(s)/ela(s) and the null pronoun in ditransitive, inaccusative, causative, incoative and inergative predicates. In the context of the Generative Theory and the Variation Theory, the goal is to show differences between BP and EP that can confirm, or not, the hypothesis that the two variants of Portuguese reveal distinct grammars.

Esta dissertação estuda, em uma perspectiva comparativa entre o português brasileiro (PB) e o português europeu (PE), a representação do argumento dativo de terceira pessoa em um corpus de língua escrita formal, constituído pelas traduções brasileira e lusitana feitas diretamente do espanhol do romance Cem anos de solidão de Gabriel Garcia Marques. A análise detém-se ao comportamento de três variantes do dativo o clítico lhe/lhes, os PPs a/para ele(s)/ela(s) e o pronome nulo nos contextos de predicados ditransitivos, inacusativos, causativos, incoativos e inergativos. Dentro do quadro teórico da Teoria Gerativa e da Teoria da Variação, pretende-se explicitar diferenças entre o PB e o PE que possam corroborar, ou não, a hipótese de que essas duas variedades do português apresentam gramáticas distintas. / This dissertation discusses, in a comparative perspective between Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and European Portuguese (EP), the expression of the dative argument of the third person in a formal writing corpus constituted by the Brazilian and European translations directly from Spanish of the book A Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marques. The analysis considers the behaviour of three dative variants the clitic lhe/lhe, the PPs a/para ele(s)/ela(s) and the null pronoun in ditransitive, inaccusative, causative, incoative and inergative predicates. In the context of the Generative Theory and the Variation Theory, the goal is to show differences between BP and EP that can confirm, or not, the hypothesis that the two variants of Portuguese reveal distinct grammars.