Human languages are not static entities. Linguistic conventions, whose social and communicative meaning are understood by all members of a speech community, are gradually altered or replaced, whether by changing their forms, meanings, or by the loss of or introduction of altogether new distinctions. How do large speech communities go about re-negotiating arbitrary associations in the absence of centralised coordination? This thesis first provides an overview of the plethora of explanations that have been given for language change. Approaching language change in a quantitative and evolutionary framework, mathematical and computational modelling is put forward as a tool to investigate and compare these different accounts and their purported underlying mechanisms in a rigorous fashion. The central part of the thesis investigates a relatively recent addition to the pool of mechanisms that have been proposed to influence language change: I will compare previous accounts with a momentum-based selection account of language change, a replicator-neutral model where the popularity of a variant is modulated by its momentum, i.e. its change in frequency of use in the recent past. I will discuss results from a multi-agent model which show that the dynamics of a trend-amplifying mechanism like this are characteristic of language change, in particular by exhibiting spontaneously generated s-shaped transitions. I will also discuss several empirical predictions made by a momentum-based selection account which contrast with those that can be derived from other accounts of language change. Going beyond theoretical arguments for the role of trends in language change, I will go on to present fieldwork data of speakers’ awareness of ongoing syntactic changes in the Shetland dialect of Scots. Data collected using a novel questionnaire methodology show that individuals possess explicit knowledge about the direction as well as current progression of ongoing changes, even for grammatical structures which are very low in frequency. These results complement previous experimental evidence which showed that individuals both possess and make use of implicit knowledge about age-dependent usage differences during ongoing sound changes. Echoing the literature on evolutionary approaches to language change, the final part of the thesis stresses the importance of explicitly situating different pressures either in the domain of the innovation of new or else the selection of existing variants. Based on a modification of the Wright-Fisher model from population genetics, I will argue that trend-amplification selection mechanisms provide predictions that neatly match empirical facts, both in terms of the diachronic dynamics of language change, as well as in terms of the synchronic distribution of linguistic traits that we find in the world.

Internationally, female L2 learners of English are believed to outperform males in all areas including writing. However, in the context of Sweden, the gender gap has been reducing in recent decades. A body of literature focusing on gender differences and syntactic complexity of Swedish high school L2 learners of English using the Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC) has not provided strong evidence to suggest female students outperform male students. Furthermore, the analyses of most of these studies do not take into consideration other important control variables, lack thorough statistical testing and use small datasets. This study uses linear regression analysis to test the hypothesis of whether females outperform males. It uses the ratio of dependent clauses to total clauses (DC/C) as a proxy of syntactic complexity which is estimated using the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA). A total of 663 essays written by year one and year two senior high school L2 learners taken from the ULEC dataset are used in the analysis. The results clearly reject the hypothesis that females outperform males. An inconclusive yet interesting insight which requires further investigation is some evidence from the results which suggests that males may, in fact, outperform females when programme fixed effects are considered.

Cette thèse dont la problématique est partie de la polémique au niveau du nombre des affixes dans la langue fon, elle nous a conduits à nous demander si l'on peut procéder à la dérivation affixale sur les noms propres fon ? Nous avons résolu cette problématique à travers les différentes parties qui constituent cette thèse.Nous avons d'entrée, abordé la théorie de la "Commutation" dont l'application commence par l'identification des unités phonologiques, leur définition et leur classement en fonction de leurs traits oppositionnels, et contrastifs, et aussi comment ces unités se combinent entre elles. Nous réalisons que dans langue fon, la composition et la dérivation sont aussi des facteurs de formation des noms et des verbes. Notre démarche dans ce domaine a été de suivre un ordre logique en partant des unités les plus petites en allant vers les plus grandes : phonèmes, syllabes, mots phonologiques.Un état de l'art de la lexicologie et de la lexicographie est fait. Il reste néanmoins encore embrionnaire, malgré le fait qu'il ait été débuté avec la pénétration européenne, les œuvres des missionnaires, et la mise en œuvre de nouveaux chantiers à l'avènement de l'indépendance.Une partie, traite de la morphologie dérivationnelle, c'est une des parties les plus importantes de la thèse. Dans une approche onomastique, elle met en œuvre la dérivation de la nomenclature du nom des rois d'Abomey, la structure organisationnelle du pouvoir à la cour royale à laquelle s'ajoute la méthode matricielle de création de nouveau noms. Dans le même orde d'idée, une étude syntaxico-morphologique du système de numération a été faite afin de facilter le comptage en langue fon. A travers une analyse ethnolinguistique, nous avons traité à travers une typologie variée, les anthroponymes événementiels : choix des noms de personnes ayant trait à la vie, au sort, à la destinée, à la mort, à la famille, à la fécondité, à l'amitié et à la réussite, du nom des jours, des mois et les noms de personnes qui sont nées tel ou tel jour de la semaine, ces noms qui tiennent compte des réalités locales et ethnologiques.Dans une perspective dynamique, après avoir fait le bilan de la lexicologie et de la lexicographie depuis la période mécanographique jusqu'au début d'informatisation, c'est-à-dire la lexicologie et l'automatisation, la dictionnairique pour aboutir à la création d'un dictionnaire étymologique bilingue dans les langues fon et français.Les apports sont à la fois quantitatifs et qualitatifs, car, notre problématique ayant été résolue, nous avons ouvert une perspective vers l'informatisation des langues d'une part et d'autre part sur le problème d'émergence des langues nationales en tant que facteurs de développement pour répondre aux Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement (OMD).Mots clésAffixe, axe syntagmatique, axe paradigmatique Bénin commutation, dérivation, langue fon néonymie, monème, onomastique, noms propres, phonème, royaume du Danxomε, roi d'Abomey modélisation, TICE. / This thesis that the issue is part of the controversy in the number of affixes in the Fon language , it led us to ask if we can make the affixal derivation on his own names ? We solved this problem through the different parts that make up this thesis .We input , discussed the theory of "Switch " , the application starts with the identification of phonological units , their definition and their classification according to their oppositional traits , and contrastive , and also how these units are combined they . We realize that in his language, composition and derivation are also factors training nouns and verbs . Our approach in this area has been to follow a logical order from the smallest units up to larger : phonemes , syllables, phonological words.A state of the art of lexicology and lexicography is done. However there is still embrionnaire , despite the fact that it was started with the European penetration , the works of missionaries, and the implementation of new projects in the advent of independence.Part deals with derivational morphology , it is one of the most important parts of the thesis. In an onomastic approach, it implements the derivation of the nomenclature of the names of the kings of Abomey , the organizational structure of power in the royal court to which is added the matrix method of creating new names. At the same orde idea, a syntactic and morphological study of the numbering system was made to facilter counting in his language. Through an ethno-linguistic analysis, we processed through a varied typology , event anthroponyms : choice of personal names related to life, fate , the destiny, death, family, fertility, friendship and success , the names of days, months and names of people who were born on a certain day of the week, names that reflect local and ethnological realities.In a dynamic perspective , after taking stock of lexicology and lexicography for tabulating the period until the beginning of computerization , that is to say, lexicology and automation, dictionaric to lead to the creation bilingual etymological dictionary in fon and French languages.Inputs are both quantitative and qualitative , because our problem has been resolved, we opened a perspective towards the computerization of languages on the one hand and the other hand on the problem of the emergence of national languages as factors of development to meet the Millennium development Goals (MDGs ) .KeywordsAffix, syntagmatic, paradigmatic axis, Benin, switching bypass néonymie Fon language , morpheme , onomastics , names, phoneme kingdom Danxomε king of Abomey modeling CTBT.

This thesis examines the historical development of the expletive það in Icelandic, from the earliest texts to the present day. This development is set against the backdrop of Icelandic clause structure, with particular attention to verb-second, information structure and the left periphery. The study combines corpus linguistic data and quantitative techniques with theoretical analysis, conducted within Lexical Functional Grammar. I show that Icelandic underwent three syntactic developments in the period 1750-present and argue that these all reflect one overall change: the establishment of það as a structural placeholder for the topic position (the clause-initial prefinite position). I claim that það functions as a topic position placeholder in the earliest attested stage of Icelandic (1150-1350), but is restricted to a specific context: topicless subjectless constructions with a clausal object, where það has cataphoric reference. The three changes in the period 1750-present represent the establishment of this topic position placeholder in new contexts: (1) það generalises to all types of topicless subjectless construction, beyond those with a clausal object; (2) það emerges in presentational constructions (which inherently lack a topic), out-competing the earlier expletive form þar; (3) in cataphoric contexts with a clausal subject, það begins to transition from subject to topic position placeholder. The majority of these contexts exhibit at least a short period in which það - or alternatively þar - behaves like a subject. Icelandic thus exhibits the emergence of a topic position placeholder expletive from an earlier subject-like element. This shift towards prefinite expletives, which sets Icelandic apart from e.g. Mainland Scandinavian, happens relatively late in the diachrony (1750-present). Moreover, the Icelandic development challenges the standard claim in the literature on Germanic expletives, which assumes that subject expletives emerge from prefinite expletives.

O presente trabalho levanta a questão da derivação sintática em diferentes contruções de tópico. Essa diferenciação foi estabelecida por Frascarreli & Hinterhölzl (2007) com base na abordagem de Rizzi (1997) que propõe uma estrutura mais articulada para o complexo CP. Assim Frascarelli & Hinterhölzl (2007) realizam um levantamento de corpora determinando três tipos de tópico em sentenças do italiano e do alemão, a saber: a) Tópico conversacional (aboutness topic): informação que é o tema da sentença (REINHART, 1981); b) Tópico contrastivo: constituinte que cria um par opositivo a outro tópico (CHAFE, 1987) c) Tópico familiar: constituinte acessível, geralmente realizado em uma forma pronominal (PESETSKY, 1987). Para dar uma ideia do problema considere os exemplos, abaixo: 1) O JOÃO (*ele) leu o livro de sintaxe (não o Pedro). Foco contrastivo 2) O livro de sintaxe, o João leu ø/ele ontem. Tópico 3) O João, ele leu o livro de sintaxe. Tópico 4) O João, ø leu o livro de sintaxe ontem. Tópico Os autores avaliam o contorno entoacional de cada uma das construções (2 e 3) e a sentença (4) que coloca uma ambiguidade estrutural entre moviemnto e geração na base. Os autores, então, propõem que todas sejam geradas na base deixando a estrutura de cujo sintagma é inequivocamente movido para a expressão de foco, sentença (1). Com base nesse trabalho realizamos um estudo comparativo entre as estruturas de tópico em PB. Contrapomos a entoação de sentenças como as decritas acima e avaliamos se existe um melhor tratamento sintático para tais estruturas, seja derivação via movimento, ou geração na base. No primeiro capítulo apresentamos o problema e a arquitetura da fonética articulatória, autossegmental e métrica e prosódica que embasam o estudo. Em seguida apresentamos alguns estudos já realizados nessa matéria que contam com a descrição prosódica de sentenças neutras do PB e sentenças com foco prosódico sobre o sujeito, além de sentenças com tópicos já levantadas em pesquisas anteriores. No segundo capítulo apresentaremos a teoria sintática que ampara nosso entendimento das estruturas envolvidas e o tipo de derivação em jogo. A teoria gerativa formulada por Chomsky servirá como guia balizador da derivação, especialmente a partir do programa minimalista (COMSKY 1995 e posteriores) Após essa introdução aprsentaremos algns estudos sobre esse conjunto de sentenças os possíveis caminhos a serem seguidos. No terceiro capítulo descrevemos o experimento, no quarto apresentamos e discutimos os resultados. Por fim, o quinto e último capítulo oferece um panorama geral do que foi exposto e as conclusões. / This study is about different topic constructions and their darivations. This differentiation was established by Frascarreli & Hinterhölzl (2007) based on the approach developed by Rizzi (1997), which proposes a more articulated CP structure. So Frascarelli & Hinterhölzl (2007) conducted corpora syrvey and unveal three types of topics in the Italian and German: a) shifting topic (aboutness topic): information that is the subject of the sentence, relativaly (Reinhart, 1981); b) contrastive topic: a phrase that creates a opposition to another pharse (Chafe, 1987) c) familiar topic: a given or accessable constituint (PESETSKY, 1987). To give an ideato this problem, please, consider the examples, below: 1) JOHN (* he) reads the syntax book (not Peter). Contrastive focus 2) The syntax book, John read ø / it yesterday. Topic 3) John, he read the syntax book. Topic 4) John ø syntax read the book yesterday. Topic These sentences ar all fine in BP. Sentence (1) can not have the strong pronoun. Sentence (2) is accetable in both forms either with a strong pronoun or wth the empity category. Sentence (3) is accetable because John is based generated at spell out. Sentence (4) is ambiguous bettween movment or base generation. The authors evaluate the intonation of each one of the structures like (2, 3 and 4) and propose that: they are all based generated leaving the derivation via movment to express focus, sentence (1). Based on this work, we carried out a comparative study of the topic structures in BP. Analizing sentences like (2-4) we stabilishs the intonational contour of them and look for a better treatment for such syntactic structures: derivation via movement, or base generation. In the very first chapter we present the problem and the architecture of the phonetic articulation, the autossegmental and metric phonology and prosodic structure that will guide this study. Then, some previous studies in this area are show wtih the descriptions of the PB neutral sentences and sentences with prosodic focus on the subject, and, also, sentences with already raised topics in the recent past. In the second chapter, we will present the syntactic theory that supports our understanding of the structures involved here and the type of analisys envolved. The generative theory formulated by Chomsky will serve as base line, especially from the Minimalist Program (COMSKY 1995 and laters). After this introduction, we will present some findings on this set of sentences and two possible paths to follow. In the third chapter we describe the experiment, in the fourth we present and discuss the results. Finally, the fifth and final chapter offers an overview of the foregoing and the conclusions.

Research has shown that children with language impairment (LI) exhibit difficulties with both social communication and syntax. This study analyzed the effect of a social communication intervention on syntactic development, focusing on grammatical complexity in three children with LI when enacting stories. The intervention included reading and enacting stories, playing games with picture emotion cards and journaling. Each child's mean length of terminal unit (t-unit), the number and type of subordinate clauses they produced per t-unit, and the grammaticality of their complex sentences was analyzed. While none of the children increased their mean length of t-unit or the grammaticality of their sentences, one participant showed a slight increase in the number of subordinate clauses she used and another participant changed the basic format with which she enacted stories to a more mature format. The results of this study did not support the claim that a single intervention could target both social communicative and syntactic goals simultaneously. There were limitations to this study that, if addressed, could potentially support this claim.

Thesis (M. A. (African Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2002 / Refer to the document

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2002 / Refer to document

This present study investigates the development of second language (L2) Chinese learners’ writing by 1) subjective ratings of essay quality, 2) a battery of objective measures representing the general syntactic complexity as well as specific syntactic features, and 3) the sources of verb phrase complexity used by learners of different institutional levels. This study first compares the subjective ratings of the essays written by learners across four institutional levels and then uses Cumulative Linked Model to examine the contribution of the objective measures of linguistic features to the essay ratings. This study further identifies a number of sources used by learners to construct complex verb phrases, which is an important contributor of the essay rating, and compares the amount of usages by learners at different institutional levels. The purpose of the study is to better understand L2 Chinese learners’ syntactic development in writing from multi-dimensional perspectives, and to identify the most crucial elements that determine the quality of writing. This study recruits 105 L2 Chinese college learners to write a narrative essay and an argumentative essay according to the prompts. Each of the writing sample is rated by two independent raters according to the holistic ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, as well as the analytic rubric which was adapted from the ESL Composition Profile for this study. The derivation of syntactic complexity measures was based on the rank scales of lexicogrammar in Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014), involving 12 features at the levels of clause complex, clause, and verb phrase, some of which represent constructions unique to Chinese. A series of statistical tests, including Kruskal-Wallis tests, Dunn’ tests, Spearman’ correlation tests, and CLM are performed to answer that research questions. The findings show that 1) learners’ overall writing quality measured by holistic and analytic ratings do not show significant differences across the first several academic years; 2) higher-level learners are more heterogeneous in writing ability than lower-level learners; 3) phrasal complexity contributes more to the essay quality than clausal complexity; 4) syntactic complexity features that learners develop fastest hardly overlap with those that contribute most to the essay rating; 5) complex verbal phrases come from 10 different sources and the composition of complex verbal phrases remain stable across the groups; and 6) essay types makes significant differences in terms of holistic and analytic ratings, use of syntactic complexity features, as well as their contribution to the essay ratings. From the pedagogical view, this study points out that instruction should focus more on complexity at the phrasal level, especially nominalization and complex verb phrases, that play a more important role to determine the writing quality. Some of the current focus in instruction may not necessarily lead to better quality or higher proficiency in Chinese writing.

This thesis aims to analyse several translations of J.D. Salinger's short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish: namely two translations and two edited versions of the latter one. The contrastive view is used to discern the main differences in meaning of the original and the translated texts. There are several points of view adopted to recognise the differences. On the syntactic level, the contrast between the texts was found to be present in the treatment of the author's style, predominantly in the narrative perspective. Not employing nominal structures a great deal, the author's style was not lost in the translation process. Comparing the translated texts, a tendency to adhere to the syntactic surface structure of the original text was found in the less recent versions. Another level of analysis explored the temporal relations of the texts, with the original text relying mostly on structures expressing sequences of events and also simultaneity of events, but not the perfective aspect to a great degree. These time relations are also found to be communicated in the translated texts successfully. It is not only the narrator that is discussed in this thesis, as a great portion of the short story consist of dialogues. The analysis aimed, using certain excerpts of the story, to find to what degree...