No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>This dissertation sheds light on the semantic domain of causation in Arabic. The aim is to examine two Arabic causative verb forms, Form I and Form II, and their associations with (in)directness of causation. The central working hypothesis throughout this work is the verb-semantics hypothesis by Shibatani and Pardeshi (2002), which posits that autonomy of the causee, degree of directed causation, requirement for an external causer, and merger of two subevents into one conceptual event are factors that predict the morpho-syntactic complexity of a causative construction. Following the lead of Ambridge et al. (2020) on their operationalization of the verb-semantics hypothesis by Shibatani and Pardeshi (2002), two experiments were conducted. In both experiments, 60 animations for 60 verbs were used to depict various causative scenarios. The first experiment explored how Arabic speakers mentally perceived 60 events that depicted various degrees of causativity. This was achieved through collecting ratings from 20 Arabic speakers on four semantic variables: autonomy of the causee, degree of directed causation, degree of event-merge, and the requirement for an external causer. The second experiment obtained judgments of the relative acceptability of the less- and more-transparent causative forms of the same 60 verbs from 24 native-speaking Arabic adults. </p> <p>Three analyses were conducted on the results to better understand how causatives manifest in language use cross-linguistically, with a dedicated focus on the Arabic language.The first analysis addressed whether the four semantic variables of the verb-semantics hypothesis of Shibatani and Pardeshi (2002) account for the restrictions on the use of Arabic verb Form I and Form II. It was found that the variables autonomy of the causee, degree of directed causation, and the requirement for an external causer each showed strong positive correlations with Form I. The variable degree of event-merge showed a weak positive correlation with Form I. No correlations were noticed between any of the four variables and Form II. The second analysis addressed whether Arabic speakers perceive events in a similar way to speakers of other languages. Because this study followed the methodology Ambridge et al. (2020) used to examine causatives in English, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese and Kʼicheʼs, the results could be directly compared. It was discovered that yes, Arabic speakers conceptualize the events tested similarly to speakers of the five other comparison languages. Twenty-three verbs (>38.3%) were rated the same by all speakers (120 speakers, 20 from each language) on all four semantic variables. From the remaining thirty-seven verbs, twenty-three verbs received the same ratings in three of the semantic variables, but not in event-merge. The remaining fourteen verbs were associated with numerous disagreements among the participants. The third and final analysis addressed the claim that all human languages use morphosyntax to mark the difference between direct versus indirect causative events by testing whether this holds true for Arabic. Across-linguistic computational model developed by Aryawibawa et al. (2021) was used to answer this question on the reasoning that if the principle is truly cross-linguistic, then the universal model should be able to utilize speaker semantic judgements to make accurate predictions about the grammatical acceptability of the different morphosyntactic forms. The model accurately predicted Arabic speaker judgments by a moderate correlation of 0.05, suggesting that Arabic conceptualizes directness of causation in a similar way to other languages, which supports the view that the underlying semantic distinction of more versus less direct causation maps onto and manifests as a morphosyntactic distinction. </p>

African Languages / M.A. (Bantu Languages)

No description available.

<p>Motion events have been argued to be decomposable into a subeventive structure. The aim of this dissertation is to provide a formal syntactic analysis of motion predicates in Limonese Creole, an endangered Creole language spoken in Costa Rica. Motion predicates denote a motion event in which a figure traverses a given space, with or without an endpoint (TELIC/ATELIC). On the structure of these events, Ramchand (2008, p. 39) among others, suggests that even if the event is analyzed as a single one, its syntax can contain three important subeventive components: a causing subevent, a process denoting subevent and a subevent corresponding to result state (yielding the TELIC interpretation). Contrastive analyses (especially Osei-Tutu, 2019; and Taherkhani, 2019), however, have found that a division between a TELIC and a RESULTATIVE subevent is possible as well. For encoding those different subcomponents of complex motion predicates, serial verb constructions (SVCs) have been attested in different languages, including other Pidgins and Creoles e.g., Ghanaian Student Pidgin, Jamaican Creole. However, those findings contrast with the presence of certain linking elements in Limonese Creole, conceptually related to elements like the “linker” (in terms of den Dikken, 2006). It is precisely this difference what motivates this study, since the presence of the linker an in Limonese Creole does not affect the monoeventivity of the macro-eventive structure of the motion predicate as defined by Bohnemeyer et al. (2007, p. 502). This dissertation proposes that subevents are assembled within the motion event in a layered complement structure (Larson 1991; Benedicto et al., 2020), and that the linker an does not involve coordination, rather it marks the structural border between subeventive components. </p> <p><br></p> <p>CHAPTER 1 introduces the main objective of this project: to provide a formal syntactic analysis of motion predicates in Limonese Creole. Then it refers to relevant issues on motion predicates, namely, a contrast between the approaches that have been used to study motion predicates. Additionally, the gap that the study fills and its contribution to the field are discussed. The study also serves the purpose of visibilizing Limonese Creole as a language and empowering its speakers. Finally, the main sociohistorical features of Limonese Creole are analyzed. </p> <p><br></p> <p>CHAPTER 2 outlines the hypothesized structure for motion predicates in Limonese Creole with all its subcomponents. I provide supporting evidence for the hypothesis by proving the monoeventivity of the complex predicate, the complement relation among subcomponents, and the structural connection between subevents with the LINKER that serves as boundary between subcomponents of motion predicates.</p> <p><br></p> <p>CHAPTER 3 describes the methodological procedures that were implemented for this study. Participants, data collection, and data analysis are described for each of the two stages from which the findings of this dissertation stem. The first stage consisted of a controlled data collection with an instrument of 175 clips with figures in motion with the participation of four speakers. This stage elicited contrasts between parameters of motion predicates. Complementarily, a second stage of  qualitative data collection was conducted to look for clarification, evaluation, and validation of items previously elicited or designed during the first stage. </p> <p><br></p> <p>CHAPTER 4 deals with the vectorization of the trajectory, which corresponds to the PROCESS subevent. I discuss how the vectorization is represented, what elements are present within the vectorization and what elements are prioritized or discarded. Based on this information, I identified the structural conditions behind the combinations in which the subcomponents of MANNER (verbs) and PATH (verbs, particles, and prepositional phrases) are expressed within this PROCESS subcomponent, namely the operations triggered by the [_u +V] feature in v. </p> <p><br></p> <p>CHAPTER 5 discusses the structure of the TELIC and RESULTATIVE subcomponents within the motion predicate in Limonese Creole. Even though this dissertation claims that TELIC and RESULTATIVE are two separate subcomponents, this chapter comprises the two of them as they are intricately related. First, I define TELICITY as a compositionally determined subcomponent which brings an event to its endpoint, then I introduce the hypothesis for the TELIC subcomponent, a semi-grammaticalized VP which I name EndP. The chapter discusses the conditions for TELICITY, more specifically, an interpretation that is returned by the functional projection AspQ after being assigned range by EndP. Additionally, I analyze the role of the outer aspect in the TELIC interpretation of motion predicates. Lastly, I examine the structure of the RESULTATIVE subcomponent by defining it and contrasting it with the TELIC subcomponent. There, I present the hypothesized structure for the subcomponent and examine the positions of the RESULTATIVE projection. </p> <p><br></p> <p>CHAPTER 6 discusses the conclusions, contributions, and areas for future research of this project.</p> <p><br></p>

Studies have looked at various factors that affect pronunciation including phonetic context (e.g., Canfield 1940), style variation (e.g., Diaz-Campos 2006, Gonzales-Bueno 1995, Major 2004, Shively 2008, Zampini 1994), L1 transfer (e.g., Major 2001), and experience abroad (e.g., Diaz-Campos 2004, 2006, Lafford 2006, Stevens 2001). Motivation has been shown to affect language learning in general (Gardner 1985) but its role in pronunciation has yet to be explored. The relationship between cultural sensitivity and the acquisition of pronunciation has also been relatively understudied. The current study further explores the relationship between these variables and pronunciation. Many studies have shown that students' pronunciation improves as they progress through levels of instruction (e.g. Face 2006, Rose 2010). Including this as a variable will provide an idea of the relative strength of the relationships of the other variables (i.e., motivation and cultural sensitivity) and pronunciation. The current study includes 102 adult learners of Spanish as a foreign language from 4 levels of instruction (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd years and graduating majors). Students from the 3rd year were divided into two groups, those with extensive experience abroad and those without. The participants participated in a brief oral interview similar to ACTFL's Oral Proficiency Interview and completed a background questionnaire, the Survey of Motivational Intensity (Gardner 1985), and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as a measure of cultural sensitivity. Pronunciation scores were determined by a panel of seven native Spanish speakers who rated one-minute segments of the learners' speech on a 100-point scale (e.g., Munro and Derwing, 1995; Derwing and Munro, 1997; Derwing, Munro, and Rossiter, 2004). Multiple regression analyses examine the relationships that cultural sensitivity, motivation, level of instruction, and experience abroad have with pronunciation.

William Clarke (1976) and Nathan Greenberg (1980) offer an objective framework for the study of alliteration in Latin poetry. However, their definition of alliteration as word initial sound repetition in a verse is inconsistent with the syllabic nature both of the device itself and also of the metrical structure. The present study reconciles this disparity in the first half of the Aeneid by applying a similar method to syllable initial sound repetition. A chi-square test for goodness-of-fit reveals that the distributions of the voiceless obstruents [p], [t], [k], [k^w], [f], and [s] and the sonorants [m], [n], [l], and [r] differ significantly from a Poisson model. These sounds generally occur twice per verse more often than expected, and three or more times per verse less often than expected. This finding is largely consistent with existing observations about Vergil's style (e.g. Clarke, 1976; Greenberg, 1980; Wilkinson, 1963). The regular association of phonetic features with differences in distribution suggests phonetic motivation for the practice.

No description available.