Le dialecte syrien de Tartous ne dispose pas d’adverbes dérivés d’un adjectif, comme c’est le cas en français, pouvant fonctionner comme adverbes de manière. Par contre,Les deux langues utilisent deux moyens similaires pour exprimer la manière. Le premier concerne la construction introduite par la préposition avec en français et parla préposition bə (‘associatif’) en syrien de Tartous, et le second, l’objet interne en français et l’objet dit absolu en syrien de Tartous. Compte tenu de la différence entre les systèmes linguistiques des deux langues, nous pourrons faire l’hypothèse que même dans les cas des deux moyens comparables dont disposent les deux langues pour exprimer la manière, ils ne sont pas soumis aux mêmes types de contraintes syntaxiques et sémantiques en français et en syrien de Tartous. Cette étude comparative nous permettra de comprendre le fonctionnement de chacun des moyens utilisés dans les deux langues pour exprimer la manière, et par là de faire ressortir les différences syntaxique et sémantique qui séparent les compléments de manière dans les deux langues. / The Syrian dialect of Tartous does not have adverbs derived from adjectives that work as adverbs of manner, like in French. On the other hand, both languages use two similar ways of expressing condition ; the first one is construct introduced by thepreposition ‘with’ (‘avec’ in French, ‘bi’ in Syrian). The second way is the cognate object, or what is known in Syrian as ‘absolute effect’.With the differences between the two language systems in mind, we can assume that even if we have similar ways of expressing manner, yet they are controlled by different grammatical and semantic rules.Comparing the two languages allows us to understand the method of expressing manner in each language, and then identify the semantic and grammatical distinctions between the adverbs of manner in the two languages.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the discourse function of connectives in Chinese narratives. It is found that connectives , being a kind of cohesive ties , operate at different levels of discourse as boundary markers. The present study also points out that the occurrences of Chinese connectives are governed by semantic relatedness and discourse structure of the connected discourse units. Chinese connectives are classified on the basis of their meanings into four categories. In describing the positions of the four types of connectives in discourse , the author asserts that Chinese discourse is hierarchically composed of recursive micro-structures and macro-structures , with units occuring at a lower level exhibiting tighter connection. The four categories of connectives occur in discourse to link units at different levels. Additives , with the meaning of “in addition” , generally occur within topic chain to link micro-structures. Causals, which serve to connect expressions bearing causal relations , are mostly used at the connections of micro-structures and less frequently to link macro-structures. Adversatives, which mean "contrast" or "contrariness" , occur at the connections of macrostructures where discourse usually shifts to a different view point. Temporals , indicating temporal sequence , may be used either to link micro-structural expressions of events or actions or to mark shifts of the temporal settings at macro-structural level. The above findings are verified with a quantitive analysis of topic continuity which is proposed to be the indicator of semantic relatedness. The quantative analysis reveals that additives are associated with high topic continuity , and causals , adversatives and temporals are related to low continuity. The thesis also includes an experiment on empirical validity of the findings. The results of the test show that the conclusion proposed in this study adequately describes the native speakers ' competence in using Chinese connectives to organize discourse.

This PhD thesis examines a phenomenon known as Monosyllabic Circumflexion (MC, hereafter) from a historical linguistics / phonological point of view. MC denotes a Lithuanian or Balto-Slavic phenomenon according to which long vowels and diphthongs in monosyllabic words exhibit a circumflex tone instead of the expected acute tone.  It is observed in the following four categories: I. 3rd person future forms of monosyllabic stems (e.g., šõks ― šókti `to jump;' vy͂s ― výti `to drive') II. reflexes of PIE root nouns (e.g., Latv. gùovs `cow;' Lith. šuõ `dog') III. prepositions/adverbs (e.g., nuõ `from' ~  nùotaka `bride;' vė͂l `again' ~ Latv. vêl `still, yet,' tė͂ (permissive particle) < *teh1) IV. pronominal forms (e.g., tuõ ~ gerúoju `the good (m.~sg.~instr.),' tie͂ ~ tíeji `id. (pl.nom)'). The unexpected circumflex tone in these categories is problematic and important for the solution of a Balto-Slavic accentological question on the etymological background of acute and non-acute tones. The aim of this thesis is to partially contribute to the solution of this problem by establishing the existence of MC and its relative chronology. The first category, the 3rd person future forms, provides a substantial number of examples and counterexamples. The examination of them has revealed the fact that the counterexamples constitute a morpho-semantic group of verbs whose future stems underwent considerable morphological changes in the prehistory, hence not exhibiting MC. This shows that the regular tonal reflex of the 3rd person future forms of monosyllabic acute stem must be circumflex, allowing for the establishment of MC as a regular phonological process, although this category does not provide much information on the relative chronology of MC. The second category, the reflexes of Proto-Indo-European root nouns, gives an important clue as to where MC is located in the relative chronology of Balto-Slavic sound changes. Next, there is a discussion of whether the results of the examinations of the first two categories can be maintained for the data of the third and fourth categories, which show an irregular distribution of the acute and circumflex tones in monosyllabic forms. It is shown that various morphological factors, such as homonymic clashes within the paradigms for pronouns, can explain why some monosyllabic forms have acute tone. Also, the linguistic feature of West Aukštaitian dialects of Lithuanian that tend to preserve the results of MC is revealed. These dialects are known to have played an important role in the formation of standard Lithuanian. In this way, the monosyllabic forms with unexpected circumflex tone in Lithuanian are explained as a combination of MC in the Proto-Balto-Slavic time and the dialectal tendency of West Aukštaitian dialects of Lithuanian.

Neste trabalho, com base na Abordagem multissistêmica (CASTILHO 2010) e na Linguística Cognitiva (LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1985/1980, JOHNSON 1987, LAKOFF 1990/1987, LANGACKER 1993), é estudado o processo de semanticização (CASTILHO, 2010) do elemento em. Nos estudos direcionados a esse elemento, uma grande quantidade de categorias semânticas lhe é atribuída. Por isso, esta pesquisa buscou a redução desse número de categorias. Na análise, foram usados o estudo de Kewitz et al. (no prelo) direcionado ao estudo das preposições e os sentidos históricos do elemento em (NUNES 1930, FARIA 1958, MAURER Jr. 1951, 1959, COUTINHO 1962/1938, SAID ALI 1964/1921, CÂMARA Jr. 1979/1975, ALMEIDA NM 1983, CART et al. 1986/1955). Os dados usados em nossa análise, séculos XVIII e XIX, foram coletados nos corpora do projeto Para História do Português Paulista (PHPP), ou projeto Caipira II. Segundo Kewitz et al. (no prelo), a heterossemia é responsável pela perspectivização de cenas promovida por preposições. As diferentes maneiras pelas quais uma preposição pode perspectivizar uma cena foram organizadas pelos autores (op. cit.) em três funções semântico-cognitivas. Na primeira, uma preposição pode exprimir um EI (LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1985/1980, JOHNSON 1987, DEWELL 2005); na segunda ela estabelece relações dentro de um MCI (LAKOFF 1990/1987, KEWITZ et al., no prelo), via metonímia (LAKOFF 1990/1987, LANGACKER 1993, SOARES DA SILVA 2006) e na terceira, relações entre MCI, via metáfora (LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1985/1980, LAKOFF 2006). Quanto aos sentidos históricos, o elemento em é capaz de ativar sentidos como interioridade, limitação, direção/objetivo, modo/maneira e transformação (NUNES 1930, FARIA 1958, MAURER Jr. 1951, 1959, COUTINHO 1962/1938, SAID ALI 1964/1921, CÂMARA Jr. 1979/1975, ALMEIDA NM 1983, CART et al. 1986/1955). A partir dessas concepções, foi feita uma categorização prototípica dos dados (LAKOFF 1990/1987) - preposição e chunk (BYBEE 2010, p. 34). Foi constatado nessa análise que o elemento em desempenha as funções propostas por Kewitz et al. (no prelo) de acordo com o sentido histórico ativado em um certo contexto de uso. Por meio deste estudo, nos foi possível reduzir a quantidade de categorias semânticas atribuídas ao elemento em. Comprovamos também que o elemento em é polissêmico, mostrando assim que sentido é ativado pelas palavras e não que estas os somam (LAKOFF 1990/1987, SOARES DA SILVA 2006). / In this work, according to Abordagem mustissistêmica (CASTILHO 2010) and concepts from cognitive linguistics (LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1985/1980, JOHNSON 1987, LAKOFF 1990/1987, LANGACKER 1993) the process of semantization of the element em is researched. In the works about this element, multiple semantic categories are given to it. That is why this research aims at the redution of this categories number. The analysis was based on the Kewitz et al. (no press) study about the meaning prepositions and the element ems historic meaning (NUNES 1930, FARIA 1958, MAURER Jr. 1951, 1959, COUTINHO 1962/1938, SAID ALI 1964/1921, CÂMARA Jr. 1979/1975, ALMEIDA NM 1983, CART et al. 1986/1955). The data used in the analysis, was from between the XVIII and XIX centuries, and were extracted from corpora of project Para Historia do Portugues Paulista (PHPP), also know project Caipira II. Accoring to Kewtiz et al. (in press), the heterossemy is responsible for the perspectivization of scenes promoted by prepositions. The different ways prepositions perspectivize a scene were organized by authors in three cognitivesemantic functions. In the first, a preposition can express an EI (LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1985/1980, JOHNSON 1987, DEWEL 2005); in the second it establishes relations inside an MCI (LAKOFF 1990/1987, KEWITZ et al., in press), via metonymy (LAKOFF 1990/1987, LANGACKER 1993, SOARES DA SILVA 2006) and in the third, relations between MCI, via metaphor (LAKOFF & JOHNSON 1985/1980, LAKOFF 2006). Relative to the historic meanings, it was noted that the element em is capable of activating meanings such as interiority, limitation, direction/objective, way/method and transformation (NUNES 1930, FARIA 1958, MAURER Jr. 1951, 1959, COUTINHO 1962/1938, SAID ALI 1964/1921, CÂMARA Jr. 1979/1975, ALMEIDA NM 1983, CART et al. 1986/1955). From this conception, was made a prototypical categorization of data (LAKOFF 1990/1987) - prepositions and chunk (BYBEE 2010, p. 34). It was noted in this analisys that the element em works the three cognitive-semantic functions proposed by Kewitz et al. (no press) according to the historic meanings activated in determined context. By means of this study, it was possible to reduce the number of semantic categories given to element em. We also noted that the element em is polysemic, therefore, showing that the words themselves dont have meaning, but instead, activate meaning.

A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo buscar uma rede polissêmica para a preposição alemã über. Esta dissertação insere-se nos estudos de semântica cognitiva, mais precisamente nas pesquisas de polissemia. Para a semântica cognitiva, há polissemia quando um mesmo item lexical tem diferentes significados que são necessariamente relacionados e formam um continuum. O modelo utilizado para a análise da rede semântica é o método de Polissemia Sistemática que os pesquisadores Andrea Tyler e Vyvyan Evans (2003) desenvolveram para o estudo das preposições de língua inglesa. Neste estudo os autores definem critérios para encontrar o sentido primário de uma preposição a partir do qual são gerados os demais sentidos. Por meio desses critérios, o modelo de Tyler e Evans pôde ser adaptado para estabelecer a rede polissêmica da preposição alemã über. A fim de determinar quais sentidos fazem parte da rede semântica de über, foi feito um levantamento de suas acepções em gramáticas e dicionários de língua alemã. Após este levantamento, utilizamos os critérios propostos por Tyler e Evans para montar a rede semântica de über. Por fim, foi constituído um corpus formado por textos de jornais alemães, para atestar se esses sentidos são realmente correntes e observar se há novos usos da preposição über que ainda não foram incorporados aos dicionários. / The aim of the present research is to find a polysemous network for the German preposition über. This work pertains in the studies of Cognitive Semantics, more precisely in the research of polysemy. For the cognitive semantics, polysemy is when the same lexical item has different meanings which are necessarily related and form a continuum. The model used for the analysis of the semantic network is the method of Principled Polysemy that researchers Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans (2003) developed for the study of prepositions in English. In this study the authors define criteria for finding the primary sense of a preposition from which the other senses are generated. By means of these criteria, the model of Tyler and Evans could be adapted to establish the polysemous network of the German preposition über. In order to determine which senses are part of the semantic network of über, a survey was made of its meanings in grammars and dictionaries of the German language. After this survey, we used the criteria proposed by Tyler and Evans to build the semantic network of über. Finally, it was constituted a corpus composed of texts from German newspapers, to attest that these meanings are really current and observe whether there are new uses of the preposition über not yet incorporated into the dictionaries.

In this study an outline is presented of the semantic network of the preposition up in American English in sentences extracted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), which was done to determine what the most common uses and meanings of the preposition are, as well as to determine if most of its possible meanings are concrete or abstract. The results show that there is a salient use and also prototypical meaning of up, and that these are major factors that impact the semantic network of the preposition. This study was designed to be a source of information for EFL students who struggle to understand how prepositions function in the English language, and also what the prepositions can actually represent in a sentence. Concomitantly, the goal is to give information about the preposition up in a way that will allow students to analyze other prepositions and perhaps even other word classes.

Ce travail porte sur l’étude sémantique de l’emploi de quelques prépositions en berbère (tachelhit) et en français à savoir f « sur », ddu « sous », ġ « dans » et n « de ».Nous avons fait dans un premier point un état des lieux de la recherche sur les prépositions en général dans les deux langues, puis nous avons établi un aperçu général sur la notion e l’espace et celle du temps en relation avec la préposition. Ensuite nous avons fait une présentation du berbère suivie d’un état des lieux de la recherche sur les prépositions berbères. Du reste nous avons présenté la méthode de recherche à savoir celle dite non instrumentale qui stipule que la valeur (spatiale, temporelle, fonctionnelle) de chaque préposition n’est que le fruit de l’interaction de celle-ci avec son cotexte en écartant l’idée de la primauté du sens spatial des prépositions, par la suite nous avons présenté notre corpus qui est tiré de deux ouvrages d’Arsène Roux. En outre nous avons étudié chacune des prépositions berbères (tachelhit) cités ci-dessus selon un plan quasi uniforme à savoir en premier lieu l’état des lieux de la recherche sur chaque préposition ainsi que celui de sa contrepartie en français, en deuxième lieu l’étude ladite préposition selon l’approche non instrumentale et en troisième point l’étude contrastive de l’emploi de la préposition en question en français et en tachelhit. À la fin de cette thèse nous avons dressé un tableau de quelques résultats de l’étude contrastive de ces prépositions dans les deux langues. / This work deals with the semantic study of the use of some prepositions in Berber (tachelhit) and in French namely f "sur", ddu "sous", ġ "dans" and n "de". In a first point, we made an overview of the research on prepositions in general in both languages, and then we made a general overview of the notion of space and of time in relation to the preposition. Next, we made a presentation of Berber followed by an inventory of research on Berber prepositions. Moreover, we have presented the research method, namely the so-called non-instrumental one, which states that the value (spatial, temporal, functional) of each preposition is only the result of the interaction of this preposition with its cotext, it means that there is no primacy of the spatial sense of the prepositions, afterwards we presented our corpus which is taken from two works by Arsène Roux. In addition, we have studied each of the Berber prepositions (tachelhit) mentioned above in a quasi-uniform plan, namely firstly the state of the art of the research on each preposition as well as that of its counterpart in French. This preposition is based on the non-instrumental approach and thirdly the contrastive study of the use of the preposition in question in French and Tachelhit. At the end of this thesis we drew up a table of some results of the contrastive study of these prepositions in both languages.

Generating computer animation from natural language instructions is a complex task that encompasses several key aspects of artificial intelligence including natural language understanding, computer graphics and knowledge representation. Traditionally, this task has been approached using rule based systems which were highly successful on their respective domains, but were difficult to generalise to other domains. In this thesis, I describe the key theories and principles behind a domain-independent machine learning framework for constructing natural language based animation systems, and show how this framework can be more flexible and more powerful than the prevalent rule based approach. / I begin this thesis with a thorough introduction to the goals of the research. I then review the most relevant literature to put this research into perspective. After the literature review, I provide brief descriptions to the most relevant technologies in both natural language processing and computer graphics. I then report original research in semantic role labelling and verb sense disambiguation, followed by a detailed description and analysis of the machine learning framework for natural language based animation generation. / The key contributions of this thesis are: a novel method for performing semantic role labelling of prepositional phrases, a novel method for performing verb sense disambiguation, and a novel machine learning framework for grounding linguistic information in virtual worlds and converting verb-semantic information to computer graphics commands to create computer animation.

Resumo: Partindo da concepção de que as línguas não constituem realidades estáticas, a presente pesquisa trabalha com duas sincronias linguísticas, focalizando as mudanças morfossintáticas sofridas pelo sistema das preposições, de forma a identificar convergências entre essas variedades linguísticas. A primeira sincronia é um estágio do processo de evolução do sistema latino. Para isso, é utilizada a coleção de documentos e textos medievais intitulada Portugaliae Monumenta Historica, que datam do século VIII ao século XV. A coleção consta de quatro partes, das quais se trabalha com uma amostragem dos fascículos 1, 3 e 5 da parte intitulada Leges et Consuetudines. O material estudado abrange as cartas constitutivas dos municípios, ou forais, e foi publicado entre 1856-1868. Nessa sincronia, as preposições analisadas são: ad, cum, de e in. Para a outra sincronia, trabalha-se com um córpus de redações escritas por estudantes que estejam concluindo ou que tenham concluído o ensino médio na rede paulista de ensino, especificamente nas cidades de Ribeirão Preto, Rio Claro e Itirapina. Para o estudo dessa sincronia, as preposições analisadas são: a, com, de, em, para e por, que constituem as preposições mais gramaticalizadas no português. Considera-se que há diglossia nas duas sincronias: na primeira, por haver uma língua usada na fala e outra na escrita; e, na segunda, por haver uma variedade falada e outra escrita; ou seja, são utilizadas variedades diferentes, sendo que a forma representada pela escrita das duas sincronias é aprendida com a educação formal. Os objetivos do trabalho são: (i) fazer um estudo do uso do emprego das preposições e dos casos regidos por elas em um estágio tardio do sistema latino; (ii) analisar o português paulista moderno, considerando o comportamento das preposições, dando ênfase a seu apagamento em determinadas funções... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Leading from the idea that the languages are not static realities, this research works two linguistic synchronies, focusing the morphosyntatic changes made by the system of prepositions, in order to identify similarities among these linguistic varieties. The first synchrony is a process phase of evolution for the Latin system. Therefore, it is used the collection of documents and medieval texts that is called Portugaliae Monumenta Historica, dating from the eighth to the fifteenth century. The collection consists in four parts, of which are together worked with a sampling of issues 1, 3 and 5 of the part called Leges et Consuetudines. The studied material includes the charters of cities, and it was published in 1856-1868. In this study, the analyzed prepositions are: ad, cum, de and in. To synchrony the other one, is used a corpus of essays written by students who are completing or have completed high school in the São Paulo network of education, specifically in the cities of Ribeirão Preto, Rio Claro and Itirapina. To study this synchrony, the analyzed prepositions are: a, com, de, em, para e por, which constitute the most grammaticalized prepositions in Portuguese. It is considered that there is a diglossia in the two synchronies: first, because there is one language used in speaking while there's another used in writing; and second, because there is a variety spoken and another variety written; that is, different varieties are used, and the shape represented by the writing of two synchronies is learned through formal education. The study aims to: (i) make a study of the use of prepositions and employment cases governed by them at a later stage of the Latin system; (ii) analyze the modern Brazilian pattern of language from the state of São Paulo, considering the positioning of prepositions, emphasizing its erasing related with some functions; and (iii) make a relation between... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: Rosane de Andrade Berlinck / Coorientador: João Batista Toledo Prado / Banca: Bruno Vinícius Gonçalves Vieira / Banca: Verena Kewitz / Mestre

We propose to investigate the syntactic behavior of clitics ME during the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) as a mother language. We present, using data from two monolingual Brazilian children, aged 1;9.8 to 3;0.15, the use of the clitic ME in BP declarative sentences . We intend to observe which syntactic elements require the use of ME during the acquisition of BP. For this, we note specifically the relationship between the ME and the use of prepositions in the speech of children (PIRES, 2010). We aim to present the predominance of the null object in the sentences produced by them, configuring, thus the most used during the acquisition period. We also observe the alternation between the clitic and the "nominative" pronoun EU, as another possibility to fill the object used in BP, since such a phenomenon can be seen in some sentences of children. For these purposes, we use the theoretical framework of Generative Grammar (Chomsky, 1981 onwards) and methodological support of the CHILDES system to the treatment and encoding all data analyzed. / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas / Neste trabalho, propomos investigar o comportamento sintático do clítico ME durante o processo de aquisição do Português Brasileiro (PB) enquanto língua materna. Buscamos apresentar, através dos dados de duas crianças brasileiras monolíngues, com idades entre 1;9.8 a 3;0.15, o uso do clítico ME em sentenças declarativas do PB. Pretendemos observar quais elementos sintáticos condicionam o uso do ME durante o período de aquisição do PB. Para tanto, observamos, especificamente, a relação entre o uso do ME e das preposições na fala das crianças (PIRES, 2010). Almejamos apresentar a predominância do objeto nulo nas sentenças das crianças analisadas, configurando, desse modo, a forma mais utilizada durante o período de aquisição. Observamos, ainda, a alternância entre o clítico e o pronome nominativo EU, como mais uma possibilidade utilizada de preenchimento do objeto no PB, já que tal fenômeno pode ser encontrado em algumas construções do nosso corpus. Para tais propósitos, fazemos uso do aporte teórico da Gramática Gerativa (CHOMSKY, 1981 e seguintes) e do suporte metodológico do sistema CHILDES para o tratamento e codificação de todos os dados analisados.