This thesis investigates lexical and grammatical aspect in two unrelated languages, Sencoten(the Saanich dialect of Straits Salish) and Japanese. In particular, the main focus is on how various perfect readings are derived in the two languages, which show striking similarities in this respect. In Sencoten, a particle kwlh yields various readings depending on the situation aspect and viewpoint aspect of the predicate with which it occurs (Kiyota 2006b). These various readings include an inceptive reading, an on-going situation reading, and a completion reading. The Japanese aspectual marker -tei- also induces a range of different readings: a progressive reading, a resultant state reading, and a perfect reading (Ogihara 1998a, Nishiyama 2006, a.o.). To account for these various readings, I propose that both kwlh in Sencoten and -tei- in Japanese are perfect markers. However, the actual semantic function of each is different: kwlh in Sencoten introduces a perfect time span (Pancheva 2003), whereas -tei- in Japanese denotes an anteriority relation between an event time and a reference time (Reichenbach 1947, Klein 1992, 1994), where the event time can be the time interval of a sub-event of a larger event. -Tei- also has a pragmatic component (or presupposition), just as Portner (2003) claims for the English perfect. Aspectual properties of predicates also play a crucial role in yielding the range of different readings. Therefore, this thesis also proposes a new aspectual classification of predicates in Sencoten and Japanese, which departs from the common classification of predicates based on Indo-European languages. In Sencoten, various readings are derived by interaction between the semantics of verbal predicates (i.e. lexical aspect), the semantics of the grammatical aspect (perfective or imperfective), and the semantics (and possibly pragmatics) of the perfect. In Japanese, the range of interpretations is due to interaction between the semantics of verbal aspect, the function of an adverb, and the semantics and pragmatics of the perfect. In other words, the same factors enter into my analysis of both Sencoten and Japanese, though there is one striking difference between the two languages: the perfective/imperfective opposition is involved in Sencoten, but not in Japanese.

This thesis investigates lexical and grammatical aspect in two unrelated languages, Sencoten(the Saanich dialect of Straits Salish) and Japanese. In particular, the main focus is on how various perfect readings are derived in the two languages, which show striking similarities in this respect. In Sencoten, a particle kwlh yields various readings depending on the situation aspect and viewpoint aspect of the predicate with which it occurs (Kiyota 2006b). These various readings include an inceptive reading, an on-going situation reading, and a completion reading. The Japanese aspectual marker -tei- also induces a range of different readings: a progressive reading, a resultant state reading, and a perfect reading (Ogihara 1998a, Nishiyama 2006, a.o.). To account for these various readings, I propose that both kwlh in Sencoten and -tei- in Japanese are perfect markers. However, the actual semantic function of each is different: kwlh in Sencoten introduces a perfect time span (Pancheva 2003), whereas -tei- in Japanese denotes an anteriority relation between an event time and a reference time (Reichenbach 1947, Klein 1992, 1994), where the event time can be the time interval of a sub-event of a larger event. -Tei- also has a pragmatic component (or presupposition), just as Portner (2003) claims for the English perfect. Aspectual properties of predicates also play a crucial role in yielding the range of different readings. Therefore, this thesis also proposes a new aspectual classification of predicates in Sencoten and Japanese, which departs from the common classification of predicates based on Indo-European languages. In Sencoten, various readings are derived by interaction between the semantics of verbal predicates (i.e. lexical aspect), the semantics of the grammatical aspect (perfective or imperfective), and the semantics (and possibly pragmatics) of the perfect. In Japanese, the range of interpretations is due to interaction between the semantics of verbal aspect, the function of an adverb, and the semantics and pragmatics of the perfect. In other words, the same factors enter into my analysis of both Sencoten and Japanese, though there is one striking difference between the two languages: the perfective/imperfective opposition is involved in Sencoten, but not in Japanese.

This thesis investigates lexical and grammatical aspect in two unrelated languages, Sencoten(the Saanich dialect of Straits Salish) and Japanese. In particular, the main focus is on how various perfect readings are derived in the two languages, which show striking similarities in this respect. In Sencoten, a particle kwlh yields various readings depending on the situation aspect and viewpoint aspect of the predicate with which it occurs (Kiyota 2006b). These various readings include an inceptive reading, an on-going situation reading, and a completion reading. The Japanese aspectual marker -tei- also induces a range of different readings: a progressive reading, a resultant state reading, and a perfect reading (Ogihara 1998a, Nishiyama 2006, a.o.). To account for these various readings, I propose that both kwlh in Sencoten and -tei- in Japanese are perfect markers. However, the actual semantic function of each is different: kwlh in Sencoten introduces a perfect time span (Pancheva 2003), whereas -tei- in Japanese denotes an anteriority relation between an event time and a reference time (Reichenbach 1947, Klein 1992, 1994), where the event time can be the time interval of a sub-event of a larger event. -Tei- also has a pragmatic component (or presupposition), just as Portner (2003) claims for the English perfect. Aspectual properties of predicates also play a crucial role in yielding the range of different readings. Therefore, this thesis also proposes a new aspectual classification of predicates in Sencoten and Japanese, which departs from the common classification of predicates based on Indo-European languages. In Sencoten, various readings are derived by interaction between the semantics of verbal predicates (i.e. lexical aspect), the semantics of the grammatical aspect (perfective or imperfective), and the semantics (and possibly pragmatics) of the perfect. In Japanese, the range of interpretations is due to interaction between the semantics of verbal aspect, the function of an adverb, and the semantics and pragmatics of the perfect. In other words, the same factors enter into my analysis of both Sencoten and Japanese, though there is one striking difference between the two languages: the perfective/imperfective opposition is involved in Sencoten, but not in Japanese. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 222-227) and abstract. Also available on Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 222-227) and abstract.

Graduate

Drawing data from a variety of sources, this thesis compares functional evidence regarding lexical categories from a number of Salish and Wakashan languages, as well as from the Michif language. It then applies Prototype Theory to examine the structure of the lexicons of these languages. They are described in terms of prototype categories that overlap to varying extents, with each category and each area of overlap defined by a central set of prototypical features. A high degree of gradience appears to exist between categories in Salish and Wakashan languages, with no clear boundary between categories or areas of overlap, indicating that lexical categories in these languages, rather than being clearly demarcated, are instead fuzzy categories with very little distinguishing them. Categories in Michif, on the other hand, exhibit far less overlap. This variation is compared to variation in conceptual categories across languages, and challenges the notions of the universality of clearly demarcated lexical categories and the existence of separately stored language module in the human mind. In spite of the variation in lexical category demarcation observed across the languages studied, it is possible to demarcate the categories of Noun and Verb to at least some extent in all languages, as well as a category of Adjective in some languages. This supports the proposed universality of the categories of Noun and Verb, as well as the implicational universals proposed in the Amsterdam Model of Parts of Speech (Hengeveld 1992a, b). It is also possible to identify a number of defining characteristics for each lexical category that appear to hold across languages. Since similar characteristics can be identified across languages for all categories, but the categories themselves display varying degrees of overlap in individual languages, this research supports the proposal that language universals, rather than consisting of structures, rules, and categories that are identical in all languages, are rather collections of prototypical characteristics for grammatical categories that are similar across languages (Croft 2000).

This dissertation presents the first full grammatical description of unprompted (spontaneous) speech in pidgin Chinook Jargon [synonyms Chinúk Wawa, Chinook]. The data come from a dialect I term ‘Kamloops Chinúk Wawa’, used in southern interior British Columbia circa 1900. I also present the first historical study and structural analysis of the shorthand-based ‘Chinuk pipa’ alphabet in which Kamloops Chinúk Wawa was written, primarily by Salish people. This study is made possible by the discovery of several hundred such texts, which I have transliterated and analyzed. The Basic Linguistic Theory-inspired (cf. Dixon 2010a,b) framework used here interprets Kamloops Chinúk Wawa as surprisingly ramified in morphological and syntactic structure, a finding in line with recent studies reexamining the status of pidgins by Bakker (e.g. 2003a,b, forthcoming) among others. Among the major findings: an unusually successful pidgin literacy including a widely circulated newspaper Kamloops Wawa, and language planning by the missionary J.M.R. Le Jeune, O.M.I. He planned both for the use of Kamloops Chinúk Wawa and this alphabet, and for their replacement by English. Additional sociolinguistic factors determining how Chinuk pipa was written included Salish preferences for learning to write by whole-word units (rather than letter by letter), and toward informal intra-community teaching of this first group literacy. In addition to compounding and conversion of lexical roots, Kamloops Chinúk Wawa morphology exploited three types of preposed grammatical morphemes—affixes, clitics, and particles. Virtually all are homonymous with and grammaticalized from demonstrably lexical morphs. Newly identified categories include ‘out-of-control’ transitivity marking and discourse markers including ‘admirative’ and ‘inferred’. Contrary to previous claims about Chinook Jargon (cf. Vrzic 1999), no overt passive voice exists in Kamloops Chinúk Wawa (nor probably in pan-Chinook Jargon), but a previously unknown ‘passivization strategy’ of implied agent demotion is brought to light. A realis-irrealis modality distinction is reflected at several scopal levels: phrase, clause and sentence. Functional differences are observed between irrealis clauses before and after main clauses. Polar questions are restricted to subordinate clauses, while alternative questions are formed by simple juxtaposition of irrealis clauses. Main-clause interrogatives are limited to content-question forms, optionally with irrealis marking. Positive imperatives are normally signaled by a mood particle on a realis clause, negative ones by a negative particle. Aspect is marked in a three-part ingressive-imperfective-completive system, with a marginal fourth ‘conative’. One negative operator has characteristically clausal, and another phrasal, scope. One copula is newly attested. Degree marking is largely confined to ‘predicative’ adjectives (copula complements). Several novel features of pronoun usage possibly reflect Salish L1 grammatical habits: a consistent animacy distinction occurs in third-person pronouns, where pan-Chinook Jargon 'iaka' (animate singular) and 'klaska' (animate plural) contrast with a null inanimate object/patient; this null and 'iaka' are non-specified for number; in intransitives, double exponence (repetition) of pronominal subjects is common; and pan-Chinook Jargon 'klaksta' (originally ‘who?’) and 'klaska' (originally ‘they’) vary freely with each other. Certain etymologically content-question forms are used also as determiners. Kamloops Chinúk Wawa’s numeral system is unusually regular and small for a pidgin; numerals are also used ordinally in a distinctly Chinook Jargon type of personal name. There is a null allomorph of the preposition 'kopa'. This preposition has additionally a realis complementizer function (with nominalized predicates) distinct from irrealis 'pus' (with verbal ones). Conjunction 'pi' also has a function in a syntactic focus-increasing and -reducing system. / Graduate