Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2009. / "Major Subject: Linguistics." Title from author supplied metadata. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Description based on contents viewed Oct. 6, 2008; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-174).

Blackfoot (Siksika), an Algonquian language spoken in Southern Alberta and in Northwestern Montana, is claimed to have a pitch-accent system (Frantz 1991). However, no complete analysis of the Blackfoot word accent system is available in the literature. This thesis examines Blackfoot nominal accent by means of metrical analysis (Halle and Vergnaud 1987) in Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993). All of the data in this thesis are elicited from native speakers of Blackfoot. Regardless of noun type, every word contains one and only one pitch peak. Bare nouns (mono-morphemic nouns) and relational nouns (dependent nouns) show that Blackfoot has a mixed predictable and lexical accent system. Accent is quantity-sensitive, i.e. a heavy syllable attracts accent, while in nouns which contain no heavy syllable or more than one heavy syllable, it is lexically specified. An interesting contrast is found in long vowels - they contrast a high-level pitch, a falling pitch, and a rising pitch. Derived nouns (compounds) demonstrate four kinds of accent patterns, depending on the status (free vs. bound) and the accentual property (accented vs. unaccented) of morphemes. The leftmost accent of the compound members is retained, but the accent shifts to the juncture of them if it is word-final. If compound members are unaccented, the accent is assigned to word-final position by default. Speaker variation also occurs. One speaker systematically changes vowel length depending on the type of accented syllable, while the other speaker shows a wide variety of accent patterns. This thesis concludes that all the accent patterns can be accounted for by a single ranking of constraints in an OT analysis, in spite of the fact that the accent system is both lexical and predictable. Addition of constraints is needed specifically for compounds! Speaker variation is accounted for by reranking the same set of constraints. Priority is given to constraints that refer to the predictable accent in the grammar of one speaker. The lexical information is more respected in the other speaker's grammar. In addition to the analysis of general pitch-accent patterns, four types of irregular patterns are examined. The conclusions reached in this thesis demonstrate that the accent system interacts with other phonological properties of Blackfoot.

No abstract available / xi, 248 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm.

Blackfoot (Siksika), an Algonquian language spoken in Southern Alberta and in Northwestern Montana, is claimed to have a pitch-accent system (Frantz 1991). However, no complete analysis of the Blackfoot word accent system is available in the literature. This thesis examines Blackfoot nominal accent by means of metrical analysis (Halle and Vergnaud 1987) in Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993). All of the data in this thesis are elicited from native speakers of Blackfoot. Regardless of noun type, every word contains one and only one pitch peak. Bare nouns (mono-morphemic nouns) and relational nouns (dependent nouns) show that Blackfoot has a mixed predictable and lexical accent system. Accent is quantity-sensitive, i.e. a heavy syllable attracts accent, while in nouns which contain no heavy syllable or more than one heavy syllable, it is lexically specified. An interesting contrast is found in long vowels - they contrast a high-level pitch, a falling pitch, and a rising pitch. Derived nouns (compounds) demonstrate four kinds of accent patterns, depending on the status (free vs. bound) and the accentual property (accented vs. unaccented) of morphemes. The leftmost accent of the compound members is retained, but the accent shifts to the juncture of them if it is word-final. If compound members are unaccented, the accent is assigned to word-final position by default. Speaker variation also occurs. One speaker systematically changes vowel length depending on the type of accented syllable, while the other speaker shows a wide variety of accent patterns. This thesis concludes that all the accent patterns can be accounted for by a single ranking of constraints in an OT analysis, in spite of the fact that the accent system is both lexical and predictable. Addition of constraints is needed specifically for compounds! Speaker variation is accounted for by reranking the same set of constraints. Priority is given to constraints that refer to the predictable accent in the grammar of one speaker. The lexical information is more respected in the other speaker's grammar. In addition to the analysis of general pitch-accent patterns, four types of irregular patterns are examined. The conclusions reached in this thesis demonstrate that the accent system interacts with other phonological properties of Blackfoot. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / "Centennial anniversary publication, the American ethnological society, 1842-1942." "Selected bibliography": p. 70-73.

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / "Centennial anniversary publication, the American ethnological society, 1842-1942." "Selected bibliography": p. 70-73.

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.) Columbia University. / "Centennial anniversary publication, the American ethnological society, 1842-1942." "Selected bibliography" : p. 70-73.

Dispersion of mass is a measure of the deviation of transportation of fluid in a reactor from ideal reactor behavior (perfect mixing or plug flow) caused by the combined effects of diffusion, convection and migration. Axial dispersion is always undesirable because it reduces the driving force of the reaction and therefore causes a lower level of conversion. On the other hand, transverse dispersion is often a desirable feature since good transverse mixing will reduce the transverse concentration and temperature gradients and hence improve the selectivity of a thermochemical reactor. Transverse dispersion of mass is of more importance in a three-dimensional flow-by electrochemical reactor than that in a thermochemical reactor because the potential drop is in the transverse direction and the reaction rate and selectivity are determined by the potential as well as concentration and temperature distributions. The transverse dispersion of mass is expected to have a more profound effect on the performance of a 3D electrochemical reactor due to the strong interaction among the concentration, temperature and potential distributions in the transverse direction. In the present work, the axial and transverse dispersion of mass were studied with a twodimensional dispersion model in two types of rectangular packed bed: i) randomly packed glass beads with the average bead diameter of 2 mm and a macroscopic bed porosity of 0.41; ii) a representation of a 3D flow-by electrode - consisting of a bed of carbon felt with the carbon fibre diameter of 20 urn and a macroscopic bed porosity of 0.95. A tracer stimulation-response system was set up and axial and transverse dispersion of In Blackfoot, DPs appear to take obligatory wide scope with respect to the universal quantifier while bare nouns take obligatory narrow scope with respect to the universal quantifier. I propose that the difference in scope-taking properties of Blackfoot nominals is a consequence of their syntactic position. I propose that over argument DPs are adjoined to the clause whereas bare nouns are base generated in an argument position. I suggest that the scope properties fall out from this distinction in the syntax. The Blackfoot universal quantifier, ohkan-, is a preverb. That is, ohkan- occurs as a part of the verb stem preceding the verb root itself. I propose that ohkan- is head of its own QP which takes the VP as its complement. I follow Sportiche (1998) in categorizing ohkan- as a stranded quantifier since it is base generated external to VP. Bare nouns, since they are generated within VP, are structurally inferior to ohkan-, since they are within its c-command domain. The adjoined DPs, however, are structurally superior to ohkan-, since they are adjoined to the clause. I propose that the structural superiority of DPs translates to their obligatory wide scope. Conversely, the structural inferiority of bare nouns translates to their obligatory narrow scope. Blackfoot is a relatively understudied Algonquian language spoken in Southern Alberta and Northern Montana. The Blackfoot data presented in this work come primarily from my own work with two Blackfoot speakers. Both of my language consultants hail from Southern Alberta speak and the Blood dialect of Blackfoot.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 21, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-50).