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Allomorphic variation is a common linguistic phenomenon in Jersey (Jersey Norman French). Definite articles in Jersey each have at least two allomorphs. The occurrence of each allomorph has been attributed to the composition of word initial syllable following the article (Liddicoat 1994). Instead of using a ruled-based approach, this thesis examines the variation found among Jersey definite articles and uses sonority-based principles to analyze the allomorphic variation. Using Jersey phonotactics, this thesis first puts forth a Jersey specific sonority hierarchy and then utilizes that hierarchy and principles of syllabification to syllabify phrases containing definite articles. Then using sonority based principles, such as the Sonority Sequencing Principle and Syllable Contact Law, this thesis analyzes the syllabified phrases. The analysis identifies the sonority based conditions that trigger the allomorphic variation found in the data. This thesis contributes to the field of linguistics in several ways. It supports the use of both the Universal Sonority Hierarchy and language specific sonority hierarchies. This thesis also supports the practice of using available data sources for analysis. The analysis of a described but analyzed phenomenon contributes valuable information to the general knowledge of Jersey and sonority. Finally, this thesis also serves as an important resource for the study of Norman dialects in Europe such as Guernsey, Sark and Norman, as Jersey is a member of this linguistic group. This thesis contributes to both the field of Jersey linguistics and to the field of theoretical linguistics, while accounting for the allomorphic variation of Jersey definite articles.

The context of this thesis is the long-debated issue of whether or not adult second language (L2) development is basically similar to child first language (L1) development. The thesis approaches the issue through research dealing with L1 acquisition of Chinese classifiers and a pilot study of L2 adult classifier acquisition. First, evidence that children acquire specific classifiers earlier than measure classifiers is discussed and explained in light of existing language learning theories. With the aim of providing comparable data regarding L2 adult classifier acquisition a pilot study was conducted in which nine adult English-speaking learners of Chinese were tested on their production of both specific and measure classifiers. The results show that L2 adults overgeneralized use of the general classifier ge in a way similar to L1 children, suggesting that both L1 and L2 learners are aware of the syntactic requirement for classifiers, but avoid semantic complexities related to shape and other perceptual features. Despite this apparent similarity, L2 adults differ from L1 children in that they develop measure classifiers more successfully than specific classifiers, indicating that the underlying process of classifier acquisition is influenced by L1 knowledge and cognitive maturation. Overall, these findings provide support for the argument that fundamental differences between L1 child and L2 adult acquisition exist, shed light on methods for successful classifier instruction, and open the door for further exploration into L2 development of classifier languages.

This thesis explores how Cairene Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, and Najdi Arabic speakers deal with complex syllable margins in their L2 English. While previous studies have attributed Cairene and Iraqi speakers pronunciations of English syllables that contain consonant clusters to transfer of allowed syllable structures from their native language, this thesis illustrates that the universal markedness of consonant clusters could be a factor that motivates L2 speakers to simplify complex syllable margins. Universal markedness has to do with the frequency that a structure occurs cross-linguistically. Languages that allow complex syllable margins, such as English, also contain simple syllable margins. Many languages contain simple syllable margins but do not allow complex syllable margins; thus, complex syllable margins are more marked than simple syllable margins. A markedness approach to second language phonology would consider the markedness of complex syllable margins to be an important factor in whether L2 learners have difficulty with this structure. By using Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993,McCarthy and Prince 1993), this thesis illustrates the role that markedness plays in Cairene Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, and Najdi Arabic. This thesis also presents the results of a study of L2 English data produced by native speakers of Najdi Arabic and uses the data to support a markedness approach for accounting for syllable errors in L2 English.

This thesis makes a claim about the processes of prior pidginization and creolization, and a process of current decreolization in Moroccan Arabic (a colloquial dialect of Arabic spoken in Morocco). The claim of this thesis is based on the theory of pidginization and creolization in Arabic as posited by Versteegh (1984). A case-study is built for the aforementioned processes having occurred in Moroccan Arabic through fulfillment of Southworths (1971) two principles for determining the credibility of a pidginization and/or creolization claim: (1) That the required socio-linguistic frameworks are in place, and (2) that the linguistic effects of such processes are evident. Moroccan Arabic is analyzed alongside other languages that have undergone the processes of pidginization and creolization in its socio-diglossic history as well as in the linguistic features that are common to most pidgin and creole languages (e.g. transformed TMA system, SVO word order, analytic genitive, periphrastic interrogative, indefinite article). The conclusions drawn upon by the data presented in this thesis is that claims for the processes of prior pidginization and creolization, and the current process of decreolization in Moroccan Arabic are substantiated.

In this thesis I propose that the distribution of /s/ in Blackfoot can be explained by positing that /s/ is inherently moraic in Blackfoot, and explore this hypothesis via two proposals about moraic /s/. The first is that /s/ in complex onsets, e.g., stsiki, another, is extrasyllabic, and that a moraic /s/ reduces the markedness of these extrasyllabic segments. The second is that because /s/ is moraic, it can act as a syllable nucleus, which explains why the distribution of geminate /ss/ is more similar to long vowels than to geminate consonants. In Blackfoot, clusters of more than two consonants occur only with /s/, and clusters of more than three consonants occur only with geminate /ss/. The Blackfoot syllable seems to be overwhelmingly simple, with /ss/ clusters being the only outliers. While all other geminates occur between vowels, geminate /ss/ often occurs before, after, or between other consonants. This thesis aims to make three specific contributions: (i) to describe the distribution of /s/ in Blackfoot, (ii) to propose that a non-vocoid may be inherently moraic, and (iii) to introduce the PROSODICSEQUENCING constraint, which explains the tendency for onsets to be non-moraic, and predicts that light CVC syllables will be less marked than heavy CVC syllables.

In this thesis I argue that verbs in embedded clauses are temporally interpreted by being bound to the temporal arguments of AspP and VP in the matrix clause. I build up this claim by proposing that (i) Reichenbachs relation of association can be expressed in terms of Binding Theory in the syntax, (ii) Tense is subject to different binding principles depending on its syntactic realization so that T in main clauses must be free (i.e., subject to Principle B) but in embedded clauses T must be bound (i.e., subject to Principle A), (iii) the Spanish present subjunctive is a tenseless form which behaves syntactically very similar to an infinitive and (iv) (non)-finiteness can be defined in terms of binding. This thesis aims to contribute to linguistic theory by presenting a solution to the problem of the Spanish subjunctive and the violation of the rule of concordantia temporum, by establishing another parallel across domains, namely between the nominal and the temporal domain, which are argued in this thesis to be subject to the same syntactic principles of Binding Theory, and by providing empirical evidence that natural language makes use of syntactic relations to arrive at semantic interpretations. Finally, the findings and proposals in this thesis predict that cross-linguistically languages should prefer to use syntactic configurations over morphological systems for semantic interpretation.