I argue that the shift of explanatory burden from the generator to the evaluator in OT syntax – together with the difficulties that arise when we try to formulate a working theory of the interfaces of syntax – leads to a number of assumptions about syntactic structures in OT which are quite different from those typical of minimalist syntax: formal features, as driving forces behind syntactic movement, are useless, and derivational and representational economy are problematic for both empirical and conceptual reasons. The notion of markedness, central in Optimality Theory, is not fully compatible with the idea of synactic economy. Even more so, seemingly obvious cases of blocking by structural economy do not seem to result from grammar proper, but reflect (economical) aspects of language use.

abstract: A question that has driven much of the current research in formal syntax is whether it is the lexicon or the syntax that determines the argument structure of a verb. This dissertation attempts to answer this question with a focus on Arabic, a language that has received little attention in the literature of argument structure. In this dissertation, argument structure realization is examined in relation to three different components, namely the root, the CV-skeleton and the structure around the verb. I argue that argument structure is not determined on a root level in Arabic. I also show that only few CV-skeletons (verb patterns) are associated with certain argument structures. Instead, the burden of determining argument structure lies on elements around the structure of VP. The determinants of inner aspect in Arabic and the relation between eventuality types and argument structure are also examined. A cartographic model is provided to show how elements around the VP play a role in determining the inner aspect. This model also represents a relationship between argument structure and eventuality types. The question of what determines argument structure is further addressed through the investigation of the causative/inchoative alternation in Arabic in light of recent semantic and syntactic accounts. I argue that most Arabic verbs that undergo the alternation are non-agentive change-of-state verbs. Although certain lexical characteristics may account for which verbs alternate and which do not, exceptions within a language and/or across languages do exist. I point to a range of phenomena that can be only explained from syntactic points of view. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2012

Across the lifespan, successful language comprehension is crucial for continued participation in everyday life. The success of language comprehension relies on the intact functioning of both language-specific processes as well as domain-general cognitive processes that support language comprehension in general. This two-sided nature of successful language comprehension may contribute to the two diverging observations in healthy aging: the preservation and the decline of language comprehension on both the cognitive and the neural level. To date, our understanding of these two competing facets is incomplete and unclear. While greater language experience comes with increasing age, most domain-general cognitive functions, like verbal working memory, decline in healthy aging. The here presented thesis shows that when the electrophysiological network relevant for verbal working memory is already compromised at rest, language comprehension declines in older adults. Moreover, it could be shown that, as verbal working memory capacity declines with age, resources may be- come insufficient to successfully encode language-specific information into memory, yielding language comprehension difficulties in old age. Age differences in the electrophysiological dynamics underlying sentence encoding indicate that the encoding of detailed information may increasingly be inhibited throughout the lifespan, possibly to avoid overloading the verbal working memory. However, limitations in verbal working memory could be attenuated by the use of language-specific constraints. That is, semantic and syntactic constraints can be used to establish relations between words which reduces the memory load from individual word information to information about word group. Here, it was found that older adults do not benefit from the use of syntactic constraints as much as younger adults while the benefit of using semantic constraints was comparable across age. Overall, the here presented thesis suggests that previous findings on language comprehension in healthy aging are not contradictory but rather converge on a simultaneous combination of selective preservation and decline of various language-specific processes, burdened by domain-general neurocognitive aging.

Descriptive perception verbs have failed to receive a uniform analysis in previous verb classifications (cf. Chomsky 1965, Rogers 1974, Hengeveld 1992, Levin 1993, Van Eynde et al. 2014). This thesis argues that the descriptive perception verbs in Dutch (i.e. eruitzien 'look', klinken 'sound', voelen 'feel', ruiken 'smell', and smaken 'taste') should be classified as copular verbs, much like lijken 'seem' and schijnen 'seem'. This classification is supported by both the synchronic and diachronic behaviour of these verbs in Dutch. Synchronically, proposing that Germanic copular verbs (as opposed to copulas) are defined by their syntax rather than their (empty) semantics, I discuss that the Dutch descriptive perception verbs behave like stereotypical copular verbs: they require a predicative complement, usually in the form of an adjective. Semantically, the Dutch descriptive perception verbs are much like the copular verbs blijken 'turn out', lijken 'seem' and schijnen 'seem' in terms of epistemicity and evidentiality. Diachronically, I hypothesize that the Dutch descriptive perception verbs have evolved from one of the following two origins: either from intransitive verbs (as is the case for klinken and ruiken), much like English remain, through grammaticalization processes of semantic bleaching and reanalysis; or from cognitive perception verbs (as is the case of eruitzien and voelen), as found in Latin, Japanese and Zulu, through the process of argument reordering. The origin of smaken is not clear, and is left for future research. I show that other Germanic evidential copular verbs (i.e. lijken, schijnen 'seem', scheinen 'seem', seem) have developed diachronically in a uniform fashion, suggesting the following grammaticalization path: from a lexical verb to a copular verb, to taking a that-complement, an infinitival complement or a like-complement, and eventually being used in parenthetical constructions. The results of this thesis indicate that the Dutch descriptive perception verbs are only at the beginning of this grammaticalization path, but are on their way to becoming grammaticalized evidential copular verbs.

La présente recherche doctorale traite des constructions causatives dans une perspective développementale et contrastive. Elle poursuit un double objectif. D'une part, démontrer que la complexité morphosyntaxique des mécanismes causatifs joue un rôle important dans le processus de leur acquisition par les enfants. D'autre part, prendre en considération plusieurs habiletés langagières (production, compréhension, imitation) pour explorer pleinement les divers niveaux de maitrise des constructions causatives. Les deux langues que nous étudions – le français et le bulgare – n'utilisent pas les mêmes mécanismes pour encoder la notion de causativité. Le français privilégie le prédicat complexe faire + Vinf, mais accepte également quelques causatifs lexicaux (nourrir X). Le bulgare fait appel à trois procédés : lexical (xranja X – nourrir X), morphologique (le préfixe ‘raz-' : razsmivam X – faire rire X) et périphrastique (karam X da V présent – inciter X à ce que V présent). Un total de 113 francophones (71 enfants et 42 adultes) et de 96 bulgarophones (56 enfants et 40 adultes) participent à cette étude contrastive ; tous sont des locuteurs natifs monolingues. Les enfants sont répartis en trois tranches d'âge (3-4 ans, 4-5 ans et 5-6 ans) et ils participent à trois tâches expérimentales (production, compréhension, imitation). Les adultes sont enregistrés uniquement en tâche de production. Notre recherche aboutit à quelques résultats intéressants. Premièrement, entre 3 et 6 ans, la conceptualisation de la causativité ne pose pas de problèmes particuliers aux enfants francophones et bulgarophones ; ils comprennent les mécanismes causatifs de leur langue. Deuxièmement, l'ordre d'acquisition des formes causatives est étroitement lié à leur degré de complexité morphosyntaxique. Dans les deux langues étudiées, les causatifs lexicaux sont complètement maitrisés par les enfants. En revanche, malgré son caractère compact et sa simplicité formelle, le causatif morphologique du bulgare semble apparaitre tardivement. La présence d'erreurs par surgénéralisation chez les enfants âgés de 5 à 6 ans révèle que l'acquisition de ce mécanisme causatif n'est pas achevée. La construction périphrastique karam X da V présent, quant à elle, peut être considérée comme maitrisée, puisqu'entre 4 et 5 ans, les habiletés des enfants bulgares à la produire sont déjà très proches de l'usage adulte. Enfin, le prédicat complexe faire + Vinf est en voie de stabilisation ; les enfants français doivent faire quelques ajustements au niveau de l'intégrité de la séquence faire + Vinf et de l'usage de l'argument causataire (sa fonction syntaxique et sa présence dans les énoncés). Troisièmement, le rappel de la structure des mécanismes causatifs en tâche d'imitation améliore les performances productives des enfants. En conclusion, par la prise en compte de trois habiletés langagières, cette étude apporte un éclairage dans la recherche sur les constructions causatives. Dans l'esprit du Modèle de compétition et des approches basées sur l'usage, notre travail valide également la pertinence de trois principaux facteurs déterminant l'ordre d'acquisition des unités linguistiques : 1/ fréquence dans l'input (ou disponibilité) ; 2/ fiabilité (ou spécialisation dans l'expression d'une fonction communicative) ; 3/ complexité (formelle et conceptuelle). / The present study investigates the causative constructions from a developmental and cross-linguistic perspective. On the one hand, it aims to show the important role of the morphosyntactic complexity of causative mechanisms during language acquisition. On the other hand, it aims to examine different language skills (production, comprehension, imitation) in order to explore various levels of mastery of the causative constructions in two languages, French and Bulgarian. The two languages under investigation, French and Bulgarian, do not use the same mechanisms to express causativity. French uses the faire + Vinf complex predicate and some lexical causatives (nourrir X – feed X). In Bulgarian, the causativity is expressed using three mechanisms: lexical (xranja X – feed X), morphological (prefix ‘raz-': razsmivam X - make X laugh) and periphrastic construction (karam X da V pres – make that X + V pres). A total of 113 L1 French speakers (71 children and 42 adults) and 96 L1 Bulgarian speakers (56 children and 40 adults) took part in this cross-linguistic study. The children were divided into three age groups: 3-4, 4-5 and 5-6 years of age; they all participated in three experimental tasks (production, comprehension and imitation). The adults took part in one experimental task (production). Our cross-linguistic study provided some interesting results. Firstly, the conceptualization of causativity is equally understood in both languages, each child group globally understands the causative mechanisms available in their own language. Secondly, the order of acquisition of the causative mechanisms is tightly linked to its degree of morphosyntactic complexity. In both languages, lexical causatives are already mastered by all the children groups. Surprisingly enough, in Bulgarian, the morphological causative appears to be a late language development, as children as old as 5 to 6 years produce overgeneralizations of this mechanism, that means it is not yet mastered. In the Bulgarian data, we found that the periphrastic construction is acquired between the ages of 4 to 5 years; the children of this age group already show an adult-like ability in producing this analytical causative mechanism. In the French data, we found that the production of the faire + Vinf complex predicate begins to stabilize; however, children have to adjust both the integrity of the faire + Vinf structure and the usage of the causee argument (its syntactic function and its presence in the utterance). Thirdly, in instances when the structure of causative mechanisms is present during the imitation task, the children's production is improved. In conclusion, by including various language skills (production, comprehension and imitation), this study brings a new perspective in investigating the causative constructions. Our research is also consistent with both the Competition model and the usage-based approaches; it validates the relevance of three major factors determining the order of acquisition of the linguistic structures: 1/ input frequency (or ‘cue availability'); 2/ cue reliability; 3/ formal and semantic complexity (or ‘cue cost').

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2099375 bytes, checksum: cd43c67c82a3165f8062d5c071352f58 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The problem being addressed in this thesis can be formulated as follows: what is the relationship between the notion of an internalized linguistic competence, as conceived by the generative program, and a semantic theory? In other words, what is the extend and scope of a semantic theory consistent with the theoretical assumptions and the syntactic model assumed by the generative program? Two approaches are compared: the denotational approach, according to which syntactic derivations are inputs to the truth conditional interpretation and the intensional approach , according to which the syntactic derivations constrain, but do not determine, truth conditions .I argue that the first approach leads us to a dilemma : if the semantic structure is isomorphic to the syntagmatic structure, we multiply the terms of explanation, without explanatory gain. If there is no isomorphism, we have even more serious problems, because we could not explain the explanatory success of certain syntactic principles (such as the asymmetry between external argument and internal argument , for example) . Thus, this proposal does not provide the proper kind of idealization, it s not able to extend the positive heuristic of the generative program. I argue that the second proposal, by contrast, increases the positive heuristic of the program because it is able to explain ( and not simply redescribe) important empirical generalizations discovered by the generative program over the years . I argue that the formulation of an I-semantics requires, necessarily, a revision of traditional and tacitly accepted assumptions regarding the nature of the formal study of natural languages semantics. I-Semantics explains the etiology of the computational principles underlying interface phenomena, not the implementation of these operations, how sentences can be used to make true or false assertions. / O problema a ser abordado nesta tese pode ser formulado nos seguintes termos: qual a relação entre a noção de competência linguística internalizada, tal como concebida pelo programa gerativista, e uma teoria semântica? Dito de outro modo, qual o formato e escopo de uma teoria semântica coerente com as assunções teóricas de base e com o modelo sintático assumido pelo programa gerativista? Serão comparadas duas abordagens: a abordagem denotacional, na qual as derivações sintáticas são inputs para a interpretação semântica vero-condicional e a abordagem intensional, segundo a qual as derivações sintáticas restringem, mas não determinam, condições de verdade. Argumento que a primeira abordagem conduz-nos a um dilema: caso a estrutura semântica seja isomórfica à estrutura sintagmática, multiplicamos os termos da explicação, sem ganho explicativo. Caso não haja isomorfismo, ganhamos problemas ainda mais sérios, pois não conseguiríamos explicar o sucesso explicativo de certos princípios sintáticos (como a assimetria entre argumento externo e argumento interno, por exemplo). Assim, essa proposta não fornece o tipo adequado de idealização, não é capaz de ampliar a heurística positiva do programa gerativista. Sustento que a segunda proposta, por contraste, amplia a heurística positiva do programa, pois é capaz de explicar (e não simplesmente redescrever) importantes generalizações empíricas descobertas pelo programa gerativista ao longo dos anos. Defendo a tese de que a formulação de uma semântica-I requer, necessariamente, a revisão de pressupostos tradicional e tacitamente aceitos a respeito da natureza do estudo formal da semântica das línguas naturais. A semântica-I trata da etiologia dos princípios computacionais subjacentes aos fenômenos de interface, e não da implementação dessas operações, do modo como sentenças podem ser usadas para fazer asserções verdadeiras ou falsas.

No description available.

<p>У овој дисертацији се бавимо семантичком категоријом<br />каузалности у француском и српском језику<br />превасходно са становишта синтаксе и семантике,<br />односно утврђивањем инвентара и описом различитих<br />синтаксичких поступака и лексичких средстава којима<br />се ова категорија формализује у два посматрана језика.<br />Циљ ове контрастивне студије је да се установе начини<br />за изражавање каузалности, те да се систематизују<br />структурне подударности, односно неподударности у<br />француском и у српском језику, да се утврди степен<br />семантичке еквиваленције између њих, као и да се<br />укаже на најбоље могуће начине транспозиције<br />семантичког односа експлицитне или имплицитне<br />каузалности из једног посматраног језика у други. На<br />теоријском плану, резултати истраживања требало би<br />да употпуне постојећа лингвистичка сазнања везана за<br />каузалне односе уопште, а посебно у француском и<br />српском језику, док би се практичне импликације<br />добијених резултата огледале како у области<br />примењене лингвистике и у настави француског као<br />страног језика, тако и у непосредној преводилачкој<br />пракси.</p> / <p>U ovoj disertaciji se bavimo semantičkom kategorijom<br />kauzalnosti u francuskom i srpskom jeziku<br />prevashodno sa stanovišta sintakse i semantike,<br />odnosno utvrđivanjem inventara i opisom različitih<br />sintaksičkih postupaka i leksičkih sredstava kojima<br />se ova kategorija formalizuje u dva posmatrana jezika.<br />Cilj ove kontrastivne studije je da se ustanove načini<br />za izražavanje kauzalnosti, te da se sistematizuju<br />strukturne podudarnosti, odnosno nepodudarnosti u<br />francuskom i u srpskom jeziku, da se utvrdi stepen<br />semantičke ekvivalencije između njih, kao i da se<br />ukaže na najbolje moguće načine transpozicije<br />semantičkog odnosa eksplicitne ili implicitne<br />kauzalnosti iz jednog posmatranog jezika u drugi. Na<br />teorijskom planu, rezultati istraživanja trebalo bi<br />da upotpune postojeća lingvistička saznanja vezana za<br />kauzalne odnose uopšte, a posebno u francuskom i<br />srpskom jeziku, dok bi se praktične implikacije<br />dobijenih rezultata ogledale kako u oblasti<br />primenjene lingvistike i u nastavi francuskog kao<br />stranog jezika, tako i u neposrednoj prevodilačkoj<br />praksi.</p> / <p>This thesis examines the semantic category of causality in<br />French and Serbian, primarily from the point of view of<br />syntax and semantics, i.e. it provides an inventory and a<br />description of different syntactic and lexical means by<br />which this category is formalized in the two observed<br />languages. The purpose of this contrastive study is to<br />establish the ways of expressing causality, to systematize<br />structural congruence, or rather incongruence in French and<br />Serbian, to determine the degree of semantic equivalence<br />between them, as well as to point to the best possible means<br />of transposition of the semantic relation of explicit or<br />implicit causality from one observed language into the<br />other. At a theoretical level, the results of the research<br />should contribute to the existing linguistic knowledge of<br />causal relations in general, and particularly in French and<br />Serbian. The results obtained should have considerable<br />practical implications not only for applied linguistics, but<br />also for teaching French as a foreign language, and for<br />translation.</p>

[pt] Esta dissertação aborda um fenômeno pouco estudado no Português Brasileiro (PB): o sluicing, fenômeno no qual o sintagma de tempo (TP) de uma estrutura encabeçada por um elemento –QU é elidido, deixando explícito apenas o elemento –QU. Merchant (2001) argumenta que o sluicing envolve movimento –QU e apagamento do TP, e que disso segue a generalização, segundo a qual uma língua permitirá encalhamento de preposição no sluicing se o permite em sentenças simples. Almeida & Yoshida (2007) argumentam que o PB falseia essa generalização por permitir encalhamento de preposição em sluicing, mas não em sentenças simples. Rodrigues et al. (2009), todavia, propõe que existem duas raízes para o sluicing no PB: sluicing regular e pseudosluicing, sendo que o encalhamento de preposição ocorreria apenas nessas estruturas. A presente dissertação investiga a proposta de Rodrigues et al. (2009), por meio de experimento de juízo de gramaticalidade e metodologia experimental, para verificar relações entre apagamento de preposição e tipo de estrutura. Os resultados corroboram a proposta de Rodrigues et al. (2009), e apontam para uma restrição de identidade de ordem semântica entre o constituinte elidido e seu antecedente. Nossa conclusão sugere que: os dados PB não falseiam a generalização de Merchant; identidade semântica é suficiente para licenciar processos de elisão. Esse fenômeno é investigado à luz de uma proposta de integração entre a teoria linguística de vertente gerativista e a psicolinguística, proposta que tem caracterizado as pesquisas desenvolvidas no Laboratório de Psicolinguística e Aquisição da Linguagem (LAPAL) da PUC-Rio. / [en] This dissertation discusses an understudied phenomenon in Brazilian Portuguese (BP): sluicing, a phenomenon in which the tense phrase (TP) of a structure headed by an interrogative pronoun (-QU) is elided, leaving only the explicit -QU. Merchant (2001) argues that sluicing involves –wh movement and deletion in the phonological form of TP, and proposes the following generalization: a language L will allow preposition stranding in sentences with sluicing iff L allows this stranding in simple sentences. Almeida and Yoshida (2007) argue that the Brazilian Portuguese distorts this generalization as it allows preposition stranding in sluicing, but not in simple sentences. In contrast, Rodrigues et al. (2009) proposes that there are two processes of sluicing in Brazilian Portuguese: regular sluicing and pseudosluicing, with preposition stranding occurring only in these structures. This dissertation investigates the proposal of Rodrigues et al. (2009), leading a grammaticality judgment experiment and using experimental methodology in order to verify deletion relations between preposition and type of structure. The results support the proposal of Rodrigues et al. (2009), and point to a semantic identity between the elided constituent and its antecedent. Our findings suggest that: the Brazilian Portuguese data does not distort Merchant s generalization; and, semantic identity is sufficient for licensing elision processes. This phenomenon is investigated in light of an integrated proposal between generative linguistic theory and psycholinguistics, a proposal that has characterized the research being developed at the Laboratory of Psycholinguistics and Language Acquisition (LAPAL) at PUC-Rio.

Αντικείμενο της εργασίας αυτής αποτελεί η χρήση της γλώσσας λογικού προγραμματισμού Prolog για τη συντακτική ανάλυση (parsing) παραδειγμάτων ρηματικής φράσης, ακολουθώντας τις τελευταίες εξελίξεις στο χώρο της γενετικής γραμματικής (Μινιμαλιστικό Πρόγραμμα). Στην προσπάθεια πλήρους περιγραφής του προβλήματος, όπως απαιτεί ο λογικός προγραμματισμός, στο επίκεντρο τοποθετείται η διεπαφή σύνταξης – σημασιολογίας. Γίνεται αναφορά σε θεωρητικά προβλήματα όπως η διάκριση μεταξύ ανεργαστικών και μεταβατικών ρημάτων και η φύση των ρημάτων καιρού (weather verbs), και προτείνονται τρόποι ερμηνείας και διαχείρισης των παραπάνω προβλημάτων στο περιβάλλον της Prolog. / The purpose of this study is to examine the use of the logic programming language Prolog as a parser for VPs within the generative grammar/Minimalist Program framework. We focus on the syntax- semantics interface and try to address issues such as the differences between unergative- transitive verbs and the structure of weather verbs within the Prolog environment.