This dissertation deals with the interpretation of tense and aspect morphology in would-conditionals. These are conditionals headed by the modal would. Would-conditionals have been widely discussed in the philosophical literature, usually in the context of counterfactual reasoning. In this dissertation I propose a linguistic analysis that seeks to derive properties of would-conditionals from the compositional interpretation of tense and aspect morphology. In Chapter 1 I present an introduction to the main problems, and discuss some aspects of the theoretical framework that I will be adopting. In Chapter 2 I present an analysis of the interpretation of past tense morphology in would-conditionals. In dealing with would-conditionals, we are usually interested in worlds that are very similar the actual world up to the time corresponding to the event described by the antecedent clause. I propose to account for this by analyzing would-conditionals as de re claims about the past. I characterize the semantics of the modal would in terms of quantification over worlds that contain counterparts of the actual-world past. In Chapter 3 I present an analysis of ‘backtracking’ conditionals. These are would-conditionals that manage to quantify over worlds that differ from the actual world at some time before the antecedent clause event. I claim that this is because in backtracking counterfactuals there is an extra layer of auxiliaries that makes relevant laws that are not usually taken into account when identifying counterparts of the actual-world past in other worlds. In Chapter 4 I present an analysis of the difference between would-conditionals with simple past tense morphology in the antecedent clause and would-conditionals with past perfect morphology in the antecedent clause. Some simple would-conditionals appear not to allow for a counterfactual interpretation, and this militates against a unified analysis of would. However, I show that a unified analysis can be maintained, and the differences explained in terms of the interpretation of tense and aspect morphology. The crucial piece of my analysis will be a characterization of perfective aspect as a deictic aspectual head.

The study presents an analysis of an array of grammatical patterning that characterize Thai. The analysis is primarily concerned with the Thai Noun Phrase and with quantificational behavior in such Noun Phrases. Data to be explained are the following: (1) Thai lacks or morphological marking of plurality in NPs, (2) Bare nouns (expressions like khon 'person') function as full NPs have a wide range of interpretations (universal, existential, definite, generic, etc.), (3) Quantified Noun Phrases require the presence of a Classifier, and (4) Reciprocal expression kan, akin to English each other, functions as an adverb, and not as an NP. The problems are confronted within the theoretical framework of Montague Grammar. The syntax employed is a categorial syntax, the semantics, a model theoretic interpretation of the language. The semantics is handled indirectly, by first translating Thai expressions into a logic and then interpreting that logic by means of a model. The problems concerning syntactic patterning are approached by asking generally how quantificational structure is handled in Thai. It is shown that what corresponds to a count common noun in English (e.g. bird), in Thai is characterized by a Noun + Classifier combination. The array of grammatical patterning and semantic interpretations are exhibited by constructing two explicit grammars of the syntax and semantics of Thai. In the first grammar, Thai bare NPs are associated with lambda expressions denoting sets of properties of groups. As a group may have one or more members, Thai Noun Phrases remain indeterminate with respect to plurality. Such behavior is compared to that of collective nouns in English (e.g. group). In the second grammar, a Thai bare-NP denotes a set of properties of an individual, such individuals being characterized by axioms appropriate for a calculus of individuals. Given the freer characterization of just what an individual is, we again get the desired array of patterning and interpretation. Comparisons are made to the behavior of mass nouns and bare plurals in English. After construction of the two grammars, the fragment of Thai is extended to include the verb phrase modifer, kan, a word acting as a reciprocal marker (cf. English each other), symmetric predicate marker, plurality marker, floating quantifier (cf. English together) and definite marker (cf. English the). In both grammars kan attributes parts to the denotation of the subject NP. Its various functions are then explained in terms of this added complexity attributed to the subject NP. Crucially, it is argued in the second grammar that given basic assumptions concerning the form of the grammar, and the interpretation of kan, Quantified NPs in Thai of the form Noun + Quantifier + Classifier are nondistributive. The analyses presented suffer from a common problem caused by a failure to consider a theory of context. Hopefully though, the thesis does approach problems of syntactic typology and Universal Grammar by asking questions such as the following: What is the behaviour of languages in which NPs (bare NPs) denote individuals? What role do Classifiers play in contributing to the quantificational structure of a sentence? How do languages lacking non-derived count common nouns exhibit quantificational behavior? In particular, how may a language employ verbal markers (such as kan) to mimic NP quantificational behavior. In the final chapter areas of additional research are presented that may help in an analysis of quantificational behavior, and grammatical patterning of Thai.

The main purpose of this dissertation is to define the syntactic domains for dependent elements. By dependent elements are meant such elements as empty categories (wh-traces and NP-traces) and reflexives and reciprocals. They lack independent reference and have to depend on some other elements for their full interpretation. They also include such elements as wh-phrases in situ, negative polarity items and narrow scope quantifiers. It seems fair to say that these elements enter into some sort of binding-like relations with their "antecedents" or "licensors." The central claim of this dissertation is that the licensing of these dependent elements observes locality and that this locality is determined by the common three notions and conditions: (i) barrier, (ii) directionality, and (iii) Subjacency. Each of these notions has been argued in the literature to hold of one or some dependent elements in particular. But we make the stronger claim that all the three notions constrain the distribution of any type of dependent elements, including anaphoric elements. In Chapter 2 we observe a number of scope phenomena in English and Japanese, concerning wide scope interpretation. We point out that scope-bearing items have to occupy the peripheral position of the domain of the element licensing them when they take wide scope. Later this Peripherality Condition is reduced to several independent notions mentioned above, together with a certain assumption concerning adjunction structure. Chapter 3 deals with the question of how the domain for a dependent element is to be determined. Two conceptions of domain are conceivable: it may be defined by the presence of a possible licensor or it may be defined regardless of the licensor, as the minimal category that meet some requirements. We argue that the second approach is right, while discussing English negation as a case study. In Chapter 4 we are concerned with the comparison of English and Japanese binding phenomena. Extending the Barriers Approach of Chomsky (1986b), we show that the notions of barrier, directionality, and Subjacency constrain the distribution of anaphors. These results, if correct, would lead to significant unification in linguistic theory.

Based on the perspectives and findings of descriptive linguists and typologists, this thesis presents a largely discursive qualitative analysis of how the morphosyntactic changes in Spanish, since its emergence as a separate code from Latin, are linked to both external and internal systems. The morphosyntactic changes follow the course of the three distinct phases of Spanish: Medieval Spanish, Early Modern Spanish and Modern Spanish. Medieval Spanish (español medieval or romance castellano) was used from the 9th to the start of the 15th century. Early Modern Spanish (español medio or áureo) was used from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Modern Spanish (español moderno) has been used since the 17th century. The external systems are understood as the political, historical, societal, and individual elements at play, whereas the internal system refers to systematic linguistic changes. This perspective of the analysis is concerned with how exposure to other language communities, including those speaking substrate languages of former times, as well as other social contexts including ruling social communities has influenced the changes which emerged in the shape of present-day Spanish. However, the findings in this analysis also show that the reasons for the acceptance of many of the structural changes have been due to their frequent use in the spoken form. The analysis investigates the sociolinguistic context for these morphosyntactic developments, supported by existing research on language contact, historical linguistics, including grammaticalisation and sound change regularity. In doing so, this study considers how the past has influenced the present shape of Spanish and considers which sociolinguistic and contact factors were involved. The main findings are that, however great the exposure of Spanish to other language communities has been, the changes to its morphosyntactic system have been subjected to a number of internal grammatical and sociolinguistic conditions. Grammatical conditions may include its typological profile, grammaticalisation, and phonological changes. Sociolinguistic conditions include the speaker's choice, linguistic adaptation and receptiveness to change. The role the Real Academia Española (RAE) has played since the 18th century in promulgating linguistic uniformity in the grammar, orthography and lexicon of the Spanish language has been pivotal for the standard written form of the language. Whilst bringing about uniformity in the written language, it has still allowed for linguistic variation in the vernacular, both within Spain and beyond its borders. This is in line with its role as the umbrella academy to the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE). This would suggest that the uniformity in the written language has managed to bolster effective communication amongst the different Spanish speaking nations.

The construction of English passives is formed by placing the noun which denotes the subject of the action in the sentence to the object position and then making the object of the sentence dislocate to the subject position. Other transformations include the change of the auxiliary verb and the inflection of the main verb. The focus of this study however is on Yoruba passives, a topic that is very passive in the Yoruba grammar literature. The study's primary aim then is to investigate the passives in Yoruba. No study to the best of my knowledge has lay claim of the existence of passives in Yoruba, a Kwa language under the Niger-Congo language family which is spoken mostly in the Western part of Nigeria. This study provides evidence to argue for the existence of (forms of) passives in the language. In the realization of Yoruba passives, the subject in the active verb is physically dislocated to become an agent phrase of the passive sentence or deleted. However, the object's position in particular differs strikingly from the English passive as the object of the active verb does not move to the subject position. The pronoun a occupies the subject position, and it is in [Spec, TP] as the object makes no movement. In Yoruba, the auxiliary of the passive is not a consistent form in that auxiliaries change based on the sentence they are used in. Similarly, the Yoruba verbs are not morphologically inflected. Hence, the verb of the active sentence retains its form in the passive. I speculate that object DP cannot fulfil the requirement of T's EPP, hence its inability to move. The analysis of the study will be done in comparison to English passive constructions and selected languages that have peculiar cases of passives and analyses will be represented in tree diagrams. The paper is cast within the Minimalist Program of syntax.

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