This thesis focuses on the interpretation of pronouns, in particular as subjects of the consequent clauses of counterfactual conditionals. More specifically, the constructions under consideration have been termed proxy counterfactuals. They are characterized as identifying two individual-denoting expressions in such a way that a new, composite individual is hypothesized. This hypothetical individual shares certain properties with both of the individuals denoted in the antecedent clause. Pronouns in the consequent clause referring back to this composite individual exhibit unusual binding properties. Their morpho-syntactic realization is uniquely determined by the subject of the antecedent clause, while their semantic interpretation is bound to both individuals denoted in the antecedent clause. I will examine cases involving first and second person pronouns, and adopt a previously put forth analysis which treats them as rigidly designating (Thomas, 2009). Cases involving the third person will require additional attention. The proposed analysis makes use of the Formal Link condition on e-type anaphora (Kadmon, 1987; Heim, 1990) in combination with a constraint on the use of gender features (Yanovich, 2012) in order to account for the observed constraints. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This thesis investigates how fluent bilinguals make use of the grammar of their two languages when they construct verb- and pronoun-agreement only in one language (monolingual mode) or in both their languages (bilingual mode). We are particularly interested in the impact of the non-response language in sentence processing on the response language. Bilingual research has provided evidence for language integration in bilingual speech (e.g., Hartsuiker, Pickering, & Veltkamp, 2004) which is also consistent with the phenomenon of code-switching whereby speakers can use elements of each language in producing mixed-language utterances (e.g., Myers-Scotton, 2002). So far, studies at the lexical level have provided support for parallel language activation (e.g., Colomé, 2001), yet the issue of whether activation of either language can be strong enough to influence the workings of the other is still in dispute (e.g., Hermans, Bongaerts, de Bot, & Schreuder, 1998, but see Costa, La Heij, & Navarrete, 2006). In three separate sections of the thesis we employ a sentence-completion paradigm widely used in monolingual agreement literature (Bock & Miller, 1991) to examine language interaction effects in the monolingual and the bilingual modes of speech (Grosjean, 2000). English-Greek and Greek-English fluent bilinguals produced completions to singular or plural subjects when the number of the translation was either the same or different, and when their completion either did or did not switch languages. The first section investigates whether there is influence of the divergent number properties of the nonresponse native language (L1) on verb-agreement in the response second language (L2). The results of Greek-English bilinguals show influence of the underlying number of the L1 on completions in the L2. We interpret this in terms of a markedness account (e.g., Eberhard, 1997) whereby parallel activation and competition between an L2 singular subject noun and its L1 plural translation results in plural verbagreement because the singular form is more vulnerable to the marked plural form. English-Greek bilinguals who perform on the same monolingual mode do not show influence of their L1 when speaking in the L2 (Greek). We attribute this finding to a difference of morphological/inflectional properties between the two languages which renders a language that displays fewer overt markings (English) easier to control when utterances are produced in a language that displays more overt markings (Greek) (e.g., Vigliocco, Butterworth, & Semenza, 1995).

This dissertation is a study of the syntactic structure of noun phrases. In particular, this study focuses on the Pronoun-Noun Construction (PNC) which is composed of a non-possessive pronoun and a common noun as in We Tucsonans love rain. The core theme of this thesis lies in the idea that the PNC forms a natural class with the Demonstrative-Noun Construction (DNC). Though this idea is not radical (Giusti 1997, 2002), neither this claim nor its consequences has been adequately recognized or explored. This study advances this idea by demonstrating the existence of syntactic and semantic parallels between the PNC and the DNC. This hypothesis leads to a unified analysis of the two constructions: the pronoun merges in the specifier of an extended nominal projection and moves to [Spec, DP], on analogy with previous analyses of the structure of the DNC (Giusti 1997, 2002; Panagiotidis 2000; Rosen 2003). This proposed analysis necessitates reconsideration of important theoretical issues in syntax. In particular, the current analysis of the PNC implies a novel view of the DP-internal locus of person, which demarcates pronominal DPs from non-pronominal DPs. That is, the source of the valued person feature is the pronoun embedded in the DP, rather than the D head of the DP. This view of the locus of person leads in turn to a proposal of the agreement between PNC subject and predicate in which DP-internal agreement feeds DP-external agreement. Third, the proposed analysis of agreement provides a straightforward account for the optionality of the pronoun in the PNC across languages, if coupled with a pro-drop theory in which an empty category is postulated (e.g., Rizzi 1986). I justify the particular choice of a pro-drop theory by showing that the competing head-movement-based approaches to pro-drop (e.g., Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou 1998) not extendable to pro-drop in the PNC. Lastly, I show that the dislocation of demonstratives and pronouns to the left periphery of DP patterns with the wh-movement to the left periphery of CP in a given language. This constitutes a new piece of evidence for the parallelism between DP and CP. Evidence used in this thesis is primarily drawn from Modern Greek and English, with additional data from Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Hebrew Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

Drawing on in-depth, semistructured interviews with 42 nonbinary-identified individuals in Texas, I examine both the relationship between pronouns and identity and how individuals use pronouns in interaction. Some individuals speak about their pronoun set as a crucial component of their gender identity, adopting what I refer to as an essential expression strategy, while others discuss their pronoun set as more loosely connected to their non-binary identity, adopting what I refer to as a flexible expression strategy. Whether an individual adopts an essential or flexible expression strategy informs pronoun use in a particular context. Specifically, I find that respondents adopting an essential expression strategy are more likely to emotionally invest in using/enforcing a particular pronoun set and report strong emotions from the use of correct or incorrect pronouns in interaction. In contrast, respondents adopting a flexible expression approach are less emotionally invested in a particular pronoun set. As a result, these respondents are more likely to defer pronoun choice to the audience and prioritize the ease of interaction with less emotional consequences.

This dissertation investigates syntactic and semantic agreement in Czech, French, Latvian, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian/Croatian, and Turkish. When more than one target agrees with a controller with a mismatch between its form and meaning, different patterns of agreement are attested: uniform syntactic agreement (e.g. these/*this pants are/*is cute), uniform semantic agreement (e.g. this aircraft is fast/ these aircraft are fast), and mixed agreement (e.g. this/*these committee has/have decided in British English). Diverse agreement patterns are shown to arise through an interaction of three components of agreement: different types of agreement controllers, different types of agreement targets, and the Agreement Marking Principle (Wechsler and Hahm to appear). A distinction between CONCORD, INDEX, and semantic agreement features is adopted (Wechsler and Zlatic 2003). Agreement controllers are specified for different phi-features in CONCORD and INDEX. The types of agreement targets differ in whether they are sensitive to the CONCORD or INDEX features of their controllers. The relation between controllers and targets is governed by the Agreement Marking Principle, which states that an agreement target checks for a feature of its controller, but the target defaults to semantics when its controller lacks the feature. For example, the noun committee in British English is specified for singular in CONCORD but lacks number in INDEX, and thus a CONCORD target (e.g. a demonstrative determiner) agrees in singular syntactically, whereas an INDEX target (e.g. a finite verb) defaults to semantics because it fails to find an INDEX number feature specified for the controller. This research focuses on agreement with polite second person plural pronouns across languages. Such pronouns are plural but can refer politely to a single addressee. All languages discussed exhibit syntactic agreement on finite verb targets when the controller is a polite plural pronoun, while other types of target vary across languages in how they agree. This generalization is explained by two factors: pronouns possess INDEX features and finite verbs are necessarily INDEX targets if they are specified for the person feature, which only belongs to INDEX. A Hybrid Pronoun generalization, which encompasses all types of hybrid pronouns, is supported by evidence from Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages. / text

This essay has identified and analysed rhetorical devices in Gordon Brown’s speech delivered at the Labour Party conference on September 25, 2006. The aim of the study was to identify specific rhetorical devices which are described as interactional resources, analyse their uses and discuss possible effects that they may have when included in a political speech. The results are based on my own interpretations but are supported by information provided in current literature by analysts and researchers of rhetoric use. The result findings could probably serve as evidence of the need for better understanding of the devices used by politicians in their relentless endeavours to influence audience decisions.

Pronouns play a key role in the construction of ‘self’ and ‘other’. They are not merely a way of expressing person, number and gender as is suggested by traditional grammarians nor do they only do referential and deictic work. Rather, they must be thought of in the context of interaction and in terms of the ‘identity work’ that they accomplish. In this thesis, it is argued that pronouns are used to construct favourable images of themselves, and ‘others’.¶ The context of this study is the Australian political media interview. In this study, the pronouns ‘I’ ‘you’ ‘we’ and ‘they’ are examined individually, then, as they occur in sequence. This investigation reveals that pronouns are used to construct politicians’ multiple ‘selves’ and ‘others’ and that as they occur in sequence, the changing ‘selves’ of politicians and different ‘others’ are created. The construction of these multiple ‘selves’ and ‘others’ is a version of reality that politicians construct discursively and is not an objective representation of facts.¶ This analysis of pronouns in political interviews also reveals striking and hitherto unresearched uses of pronouns, which can be used to show affiliation or create distance between people where it would not traditionally be expected. Politicians actively exploit the flexibility of pronominal reference to construct the different identities of themselves and ‘other’ and use them to create different alignments to, and boundaries between, their multiple ‘selves’ and ‘others’. Thus, pronouns are pivotal in the construction of reality – a reality that is created and understood in the discourse of the moment.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the null subject phenomenon in the acquisition of English by Taiwan EFL learners to see whether the participants are influenced by their L1 knowledge or UG and whether they can reset their L1 value of null subject parameter. Two experimental tasks in questionnaire, grammaticality judgment task (GJ) and paragraph translation task (PT), and one oral task, storytelling task (ST), were adopted in this study. As for the participants, in the questionnaire part the GJ and PT tasks were given to 132 EFL learners, which were divided into the lower proficiency group (n=56) and the higher proficiency group (n=76), and 15 native speakers of English as a control group. Besides, we reanalyze the data of the ST task in Lin & Wu (2005), which consisted of 20 high English proficiency participants and 20 low English proficiency participants. Overall, the main findings are summarized as follows: 1. Chinese topic constructions seem to influence profoundly on the L2A of English by EFL learners. This may imply that L2 learners acquire the L2 through L1-based knowledge. 2. The asymmetry of null subjects and null objects was found in our data across the three tasks, which suggests EFL learners treated both features differently and have difficulty in unlearning null objects. We support Kong¡¦s (2005) claim that Chinese learners are influenced by L1 topic structure but they adjust this rule to: every sentence must have an overt topic in the sentence-initial position. 3. The different judgments between matrix and embedded clauses with null subjects and null expletives may infer EFL learners do not intrinsically reset the parameter of null subjects. 4. According to our results in ST task, there seems to be several patterns which make null subjects and null objects easier to occur, such as structures with coordinate relationship or clear reference relationship. These sentence patterns prove that the EFL learners are still easier to be influenced by the discourse-oriented feature in Chinese. According to the result, we may infer that the position of Partial Access to UG probably the best answer to our research questions since it is assumed that through Partial Access to UG, L2 learners will not be able to acquire the L2 values of parameters when these differ from the L1; that is, UG is accessible but only via the setting of the L1.

Hen beskrivs som ett könsneutralt pronomen som används när könstillhörigheten är okänd, oväsentlig eller ska otydliggöras samt där människan inte vill kategoriseras i grupperna “man” eller “kvinna”. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilken inverkan det könsneutrala pronomenet hen har på människor. Tre frågeställningar användes ”påverkas attityden till författaren när pronomenet hen används i text?”, ”hur upplevs den språkliga kvalitén när författaren väljer att använda pronomenet hen?”, ”är en text med hen mer påverkande än en text utan hen?”. Experiment utformades där fyra fiktiva insändare utdelades med medföljande egenkonstruerad enkät. Två vinjetter med “hen” och två med ”han”, där författarens kön varierade. Deltagare var 133 personer varav 69 kvinnor, i åldrarna 18-73. Genom variansanalys visades att attityden till författaren var mindre positiv och den språkliga kvalitén uppfattades som lägre då hen förekom i texten. Hen rekommenderas att nyttjas med försiktighet då pronomenet ger en negativ inställning till texten samt författaren.

This thesis investigates reflexivity in ancient Greek literature and philosophy from Homer to Plato. It contends that ancient Greek culture developed a notion of personhood that was characteristically reflexive, and that this was linked to a linguistic development of specialized reflexive pronouns, which are the words for 'self'.