Zugl.: Liège, Univ., Diss., 2007

No description available.

This dissertation is a theoretical investigation of the thesis of Minimalist Interfaces, namely, that syntax-external linguistic interfaces that interact with the core syntactic computation and language-independent sound and concept systems play a more critical role in manipulating syntactic objects to make them legible to those systems than is currently assumed in the recent minimalist inquiry. The core theme of this thesis lies in the idea that syntax is not entirely crash-proof but could make a variety of derivational mistakes; phonological and semantic linguistic interfaces conduct a handful of independent domain-specific operations to attempt to legitimize illicit syntactic objects, if any, for the purposes of legibility at the language-external sound and concept systems. Evidence is provided that the syntax-external components use whatever resources they can to repair certain "imperfections" created by syntax but only within the range of options made available by the universal principles of syntax in tandem with the language-specific parameter values. This dissertation explores some of the ramifications and empirical consequences of this thesis based on the comprehensive description of a sizable portion of the grammar of Indonesian and Javanese collected by my fieldwork with three native Indonesian and Javanese consultants. Phenomena discussed here include the distribution of active voice morphology, P-stranding under sluicing, the denotation and morphosyntax of bare nominals, wh-in-situ questions, and reduplication asymmetries between nominal and verbal derivational affixes. These diverse ranges of phenomena in the two languages are analyzed in depth to provide converging evidence that the thesis of minimalist interface as defined above yields a deep understanding of the way the syntax interacts with the language-dependent interfaces responsible for phonological and semantic interpretation. The investigation conducted here, necessitates serious reconsideration of the commonly held view of linguistic interfaces as passive, merely ornamental components of natural language grammar ruled by the universal law of syntax.

This thesis presents a feature-based approach to aspect. I argue that both viewpoint aspect and lexical aspect are generated from the presence of functional properties that operate at three levels of syntactic structure: lexical, predicate, and clausal. The same aspectual feature has a different effect on the aspectual properties of the clause as a whole depending on the level at which it is active and the contrasts in which it participates. I illustrate this for English and Japanese, showing that a small number of syntactic features can capture the differences and similarities between the aspectual systems. I propose that aspect in English is determined by two functional heads: AspQ, which encodes quantity (i.e., telicity), and AspA, which encodes atomicity (i.e., punctuality). AspQ may either be a root modifier, lexically encoding quantity, or head a separate functional projection within the vP system, where it is licensed by a quantized argument. AspA may also be a root modifier, lexically encoding atomicity; it may also appear in the inflectional domain, where it encodes clausal non-atomicity (i.e., imperfective aspect). I propose that Japanese is like English in that AspA may be active at the root level; however, it differs from English in that AspA may also be active at the vP level, where it encodes the fact that the predicate is represented as a single unit. Japanese also differs from English in that it does not make use of the feature AspQ, meaning that Japanese has no quantity distinction, and makes use of the feature State, which heads a functional projection where light verbs such as iru ‘be’ are merged. Thus, the differences in the aspectual systems of English and Japanese are attributed to a few features that are active at different levels of syntactic structure.

This thesis presents a feature-based approach to aspect. I argue that both viewpoint aspect and lexical aspect are generated from the presence of functional properties that operate at three levels of syntactic structure: lexical, predicate, and clausal. The same aspectual feature has a different effect on the aspectual properties of the clause as a whole depending on the level at which it is active and the contrasts in which it participates. I illustrate this for English and Japanese, showing that a small number of syntactic features can capture the differences and similarities between the aspectual systems. I propose that aspect in English is determined by two functional heads: AspQ, which encodes quantity (i.e., telicity), and AspA, which encodes atomicity (i.e., punctuality). AspQ may either be a root modifier, lexically encoding quantity, or head a separate functional projection within the vP system, where it is licensed by a quantized argument. AspA may also be a root modifier, lexically encoding atomicity; it may also appear in the inflectional domain, where it encodes clausal non-atomicity (i.e., imperfective aspect). I propose that Japanese is like English in that AspA may be active at the root level; however, it differs from English in that AspA may also be active at the vP level, where it encodes the fact that the predicate is represented as a single unit. Japanese also differs from English in that it does not make use of the feature AspQ, meaning that Japanese has no quantity distinction, and makes use of the feature State, which heads a functional projection where light verbs such as iru ‘be’ are merged. Thus, the differences in the aspectual systems of English and Japanese are attributed to a few features that are active at different levels of syntactic structure.

No description available.

Michif is a mixed language spoken in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota in which the majority of the noun phrase is derived from French and the verb phrase is derived from Cree. This thesis provides an analysis of the structure of the determiner phrase (DP) in Michif, based on data from The Michif dictionary: Turtle Mountain Chippewa Cree, by Patline Laverdure and Ida Rose Allard (1983). Even though the majority of the DP is French, Cree contributes demonstratives and quantifiers. This thesis examines the use of articles, quantifiers and discontinuous constituents(where part of the DP appears to the left of the verb and the remainder is on the right). The syntax of the Michif DP is mixed, which two syntaxes at work in which the French-derived DP is embedded within the Cree-derived DP.

This thesis takes as its starting point the proposal in Kayne (1994) that all syntactic structures are underlyingly spec-head-complement, and that they are right-branching. I will investigate this proposal taking data from English degree constructions, namely result clauses and comparatives. A comparison will be made between these constructions and English VPs, on which the majority of the phrase structure debate in the literature has been based. The evidence for left-branching and for right-branching in VPs will be considered, and similar evidence sought for degree constructions. We will see that VPs have a mostly right-branching structure, although left-branching structures are required in restricted circumstances. Also reason and manner adjuncts are argued to be right-adjoined to the VP node, a conclusion that is re-inforced by considering the constituency of VP adjuncts and some PP sequences noted by Jackendoff (1973). In degree constructions too, we argue that both left-branching and right-branching structures are necessary. My conclusion will be that Kayne's proposal is too strong, even though it is ideal from the perspective of a minimalist approach to syntax.

Digitaliseringen har varit en drivkraft för planerare att effektivt använda geografiska informationssystem (GIS) som ett verktyg för att förstå tillgång och närhet till stadens målpunkter. Samtidigt har forskare uppmärksammat en implementeringslucka mellan forskare, utvecklare och slutanvändare inom digitala planeringsverktyg. Det är luckan mellan digitala planeringsverktyg framtagna av forskare och de verktyg som idag är vanliga bland planerare. Syftet med studien var att utifrån tre svenska städer undersöka orsaken bakom implementeringsluckan och hur den kan avhjälpas med målet att främja planerares förståelse för tillgänglighetsanalyser av kollektivtrafik med space syntax. Undersökningen har genomförts med en blandmetod som kombinerar kvantitativ GIS-analys med kvalitativ återkoppling från planerare inom offentlig förvaltning. GIS-analysen har undersökt tillgängligheten tillbusshållplatser i Falun, Gävle, och Uppsala med det space syntax-besläktade konceptet place syntax. Med place syntax beräknades täckningsgraden av kollektivtrafik i vardera stad tillsammans med space syntax-relaterade mått påstädernas topologi. Därefter genomfördes en kompletterande korrelationsanalys för att närmare förstå sambandet mellan befolkningsfördelning och avstånd till busshållplatser. Intervjuer genomfördes med planerare som arbetar med kollektivtrafikplanering, samt en konsult och en forskare inom ämnet. Resultatet av GIS-analysen skickades ut till samtliga respondenter från kommun och region för att låta dem beskriva sina tankar om metodens tillämpbarhet i deras arbete. Resultatet visar att utvecklingen av digitala planeringsverktyg sker i snabbare takt än offentlig förvaltning kan hänga med, vilket bidrar till implementeringsluckan. Bidragande faktorer till det är offentlig förvaltnings begränsade resurser och att avancerad kompetens, om den finns, kan bli personbunden och därmed flyktig. Offentlig förvaltnings forskningskontakt är begränsad men via inhyrda konsulter kan viss forskningskontakt uppnås. Tillämpbarheten av place syntax tool (PST) anses vara god bland de undersökta utövarna inom offentlig förvaltning, men kräver viss grundläggande GIS-kunskap. För att motarbeta implementeringsluckan föreslås att möjligheten för ett nationellt samarbete mellan planeringsutövare och utvecklare av forskningsanknutna planeringsverktyg bör utredas. / Digitalization has been a driving force behind urban planners’ adoption of geographic information systems as a tool for understanding accessibility to urban points of interest. Meanwhile researchers have identified an implementation gap between researchers, developers, and end users of digital planning tools - the gap between digital planning tools developed by researchers and the ones commonly in use by practitioners. The aim of the study was to identify causes behind the implementation gap and how it may be reduced, with the goal of improving planning practitioners’ understanding of accessibility analyses of public transport with space syntax. The study was conducted using mixed methods that combined quantitative GIS analysis with qualitative feedback from planning practitioners from two municipalities and one region. The GIS analysis investigated the accessibility to bus stops in Falun, Gävle, and Uppsala using the space syntax-related concept place syntax. Place syntax was used to calculate the coverage of public transport in each city along with space syntax-related measurements of urban topology. A correlation analysis was then performed in order to gain further understanding of the correlation between population distribution and their distance to bus stops in each city. Interviews were conducted with respondents knowledgeable about public transport planning from each of the cities, along with an expert consultant and a researcher in the field. The results of the GIS analyses were shared with the respondents from the municipalities and region to allow them to share their thoughts about the method’s applicability in their work. The result shows that planning practitioners cannot keep up with the development of digital planning tools, contributing to the implementation gap. This is at least in part because of planning practitioners’ limited resourcesand that advanced knowledge, if available, may be tied to individual people and therefore fleeting. Planning practitioners’ contact with research is limited although some research contact can be achieved by hiring consultants. The applicability of place syntax tool (PST) for is considered to be good for planning practitioners, although some GIS knowledge is required. To mitigate the implementation gap the study suggests that the feasibility of a national cooperation between planning practitioners and planning researchers shouldbe investigated.

This thesis investigates language acquisition and evolution, using the methodologies of Bayesian inference and expression-induction modelling, making specific reference to colour term typology, and syntactic acquisition. In order to test Berlin and Kay�s (1969) hypothesis that the typological patterns observed in basic colour term systems are produced by a process of cultural evolution under the influence of universal aspects of human neurophysiology, an expression-induction model was created. Ten artificial people were simulated, each of which was a computational agent. These people could learn colour term denotations by generalizing from examples using Bayesian inference, and the resulting denotations had the prototype properties characteristic of basic colour terms. Conversations between these people, in which they learned from one-another, were simulated over several generations, and the languages emerging at the end of each simulation were investigated. The proportion of colour terms of each type correlated closely with the equivalent frequencies found in the World Colour Survey, and most of the emergent languages could be placed on one of the evolutionary trajectories proposed by Kay and Maffi (1999). The simulation therefore demonstrates how typological patterns can emerge as a result of learning biases acting over a period of time. Further work applied the minimum description length form of Bayesian inference to modelling syntactic acquisition. The particular problem investigated was the acquisition of the dative alternation in English. This alternation presents a learnability paradox, because only some verbs alternate, but children typically do not receive reliable evidence indicating which verbs do not participate in the alternation (Pinker, 1989). The model presented in this thesis took note of the frequency with which each verb occurred in each subcategorization, and so was able to infer which subcategorizations were conspicuously absent, and so presumably ungrammatical. Crucially, it also incorporated a measure of grammar complexity, and a preference for simpler grammars, so that more general grammars would be learned unless there was sufficient evidence to support the incorporation of some restriction. The model was able to learn the correct subcategorizations for both alternating and non-alternating verbs, and could generalise to allow novel verbs to appear in both constructions. When less data was observed, it also overgeneralized the alternation, which is a behaviour characteristic of children when they are learning verb subcategorizations. These results demonstrate that the dative alternation is learnable, and therefore that universal grammar may not be necessary to account for syntactic acquisition. Overall, these results suggest that the forms of languages may be determined to a much greater extent by learning, and by cumulative historical changes, than would be expected if the universal grammar hypothesis were correct.