The present thesis addresses the issue as to why the double object construction (e.g., John gave Mary a book) seems to appear in certain languages but not in others. This construction has received much attention in past research in formal linguistics and has played a central role in developing our understanding of the internal structure of the VP. Previous studies generally define the construction with respect to relative linear order of the object complements of the verb and the lack of morphological markings on these objects. We show that these properties are not inherent to the construction and that consequently, the construction exists in a wider variety of languages than previously assumed, particularly French. Along the lines of Goldberg (1995, 2006), we develop a universal semantic definition of the construction, which may be used as a diagnostic to test, systematically and categorically, its presence across languages. In particular, we identify the double object construction in French as, for example, Jean a donné le livre à Marie. We then explain the cross-linguistic structural differences with a Case-driven approach. Specifically, we argue that the inherent dative Case, present in French but not in English, is responsible for the structural differences recognized between the languages. By adopting a minimalist derivation of argument structure (Chomsky 1995, 2000, 2004) and the applicative analysis (Pylkkänen 2002), we are able to determine the syntax of the construction, while eliminating the redundancies and limitations of previous accounts. We present certain resulting predictions related to the grammar, including a generalisation of Case-checking by the low applicative phrase, a syntactic position related to the direct object properties, and universal properties of the construction itself. In all, this thesis offers empirical evidence for the universality of the double object construction and Case-driven syntactic derivation.

This thesis provides a syntactic and semantic analysis of bare arguments and classifiers in Thai as well as accounting for its nominal word order. Adopting the Nominal Mapping Parameter (Chierchia 1998), it is argued that Thai nouns are names of kinds. Kinds are of type <s,e>, which are allowed to appear without overt determiners in argument position. For this reason, Thai nouns cannot directly combine with a quantifier without the help of a classifier. The study shows that Thai arguments behave like English bare arguments (bare plurals and mass nouns) in that they exhibit scopelessness and can be interpreted with different meanings such as weak indefinite, generic and kind interpretations. Unlike English bare arguments, the Thai counterparts may also have a definite interpretation. This is because Thai lacks an overt definite determiner. In addition, the thesis provides a unified analysis for the occurrence of Thai classifiers in different contexts. It is assumed that a classifier occurs in a quantified context to provide a portion of a kind (Krifka 1995, Chierchia 1998). The thesis further proposes that a classifier occurs in a non-quantified context where there is no overt numeral when the noun phrase is specific. A specific noun phrase includes those appearing with a demonstrative, the numeral ‘one’ or a modifier. As for the word order within the nominal domain, it is proposed that the noun, although merged at the bottom of the Specific Phrase underlyingly, always appears in the initial position to check an uninterpretable nominal feature in the Specific head.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

The present thesis addresses the issue as to why the double object construction (e.g., John gave Mary a book) seems to appear in certain languages but not in others. This construction has received much attention in past research in formal linguistics and has played a central role in developing our understanding of the internal structure of the VP. Previous studies generally define the construction with respect to relative linear order of the object complements of the verb and the lack of morphological markings on these objects. We show that these properties are not inherent to the construction and that consequently, the construction exists in a wider variety of languages than previously assumed, particularly French. Along the lines of Goldberg (1995, 2006), we develop a universal semantic definition of the construction, which may be used as a diagnostic to test, systematically and categorically, its presence across languages. In particular, we identify the double object construction in French as, for example, Jean a donné le livre à Marie. We then explain the cross-linguistic structural differences with a Case-driven approach. Specifically, we argue that the inherent dative Case, present in French but not in English, is responsible for the structural differences recognized between the languages. By adopting a minimalist derivation of argument structure (Chomsky 1995, 2000, 2004) and the applicative analysis (Pylkkänen 2002), we are able to determine the syntax of the construction, while eliminating the redundancies and limitations of previous accounts. We present certain resulting predictions related to the grammar, including a generalisation of Case-checking by the low applicative phrase, a syntactic position related to the direct object properties, and universal properties of the construction itself. In all, this thesis offers empirical evidence for the universality of the double object construction and Case-driven syntactic derivation.

This thesis provides a syntactic and semantic analysis of bare arguments and classifiers in Thai as well as accounting for its nominal word order. Adopting the Nominal Mapping Parameter (Chierchia 1998), it is argued that Thai nouns are names of kinds. Kinds are of type <s,e>, which are allowed to appear without overt determiners in argument position. For this reason, Thai nouns cannot directly combine with a quantifier without the help of a classifier. The study shows that Thai arguments behave like English bare arguments (bare plurals and mass nouns) in that they exhibit scopelessness and can be interpreted with different meanings such as weak indefinite, generic and kind interpretations. Unlike English bare arguments, the Thai counterparts may also have a definite interpretation. This is because Thai lacks an overt definite determiner. In addition, the thesis provides a unified analysis for the occurrence of Thai classifiers in different contexts. It is assumed that a classifier occurs in a quantified context to provide a portion of a kind (Krifka 1995, Chierchia 1998). The thesis further proposes that a classifier occurs in a non-quantified context where there is no overt numeral when the noun phrase is specific. A specific noun phrase includes those appearing with a demonstrative, the numeral ‘one’ or a modifier. As for the word order within the nominal domain, it is proposed that the noun, although merged at the bottom of the Specific Phrase underlyingly, always appears in the initial position to check an uninterpretable nominal feature in the Specific head.

Studies have shown that linguistic and perceptual constraints are important for speech processing. First, rule-like structures are more easily learned over vowels than over consonants. Second, sequences varying in pitch and duration are grouped following the Iambic – Trochaic Law (ITL). In this research, I investigated the origins of these linguistic and perceptual constraints. My aim was to test if vowels’ acoustic saliency was the reason why they are the preferred target for abstract computations, and to explore the extent to which the principles of the ITL come from evolutionary heritage or language experience. Results show that rats learn rules over consonants and vowels with the same ease, so saliency is insufficient to explain the asymmetries observed in humans. This also shows that animals share with humans the trochaic principle of the ITL, but they lack the iambic-grouping bias, which might rely on language experience. / Diversos estudios han encontrado que limitaciones perceptuales y de aprendizaje intervienen en el procesamiento del lenguaje. Primero, que el aprendizaje de reglas se realiza mejor sobre las vocales. Segundo, que secuencias alternando en frecuencia y duración son agrupadas siguiendo la Ley Yámbico-Trocaico (LYT). En esta investigación busqué esclarecer el origen de estas limitaciones lingüísticas y perceptuales. Mi objetivo fue estudiar si la preferencia por las vocales se debe a su prominencia acústica e investigar hasta qué punto la LYT es producto de la herencia evolutiva o de la experiencia lingüística. Los resultados muestran que las ratas computan reglas sobre vocales y consonantes, por lo que las asimetrías funcionales observadas en humanos no se explican por la saliencia acústica de las vocales. También sugieren que animales y humanos comparten el principio trocaico de la LYT, pero no el yámbico, el cual podría emerger tras años de experiencia con el lenguaje nativo.

In this essay I have studied Aftonbladets portrayal of the Swedish businessman Jan Stenbeck and if the reporting changes before and after his death, and if so, in which ways. With help from a qualitative syntax analysis and a content analysis I studied my material about Stenbeck during the time period 2000-09-19 to 2004-09-19. In my quantitative analysis I studied 140 articles and in my syntax analysis I studied ten articles, five before and five after Stenbecks death. The theoretical perspectives that I applied in my study is Sigurd Allerns theory about tabloid papers novelty criteria and Adam Shehatas theory about Framing. Allerns theory describes what criteria the tabloid papers have on news and Shehatas theory about framing describes the political forces behind the news who wants to set their own agenda. The results from my quantitative study show that there is more sensational news about Stenbeck after his death rather than before. The news before his death was mostly about Stenbecks work. In the results from my qualitative analysis I found that the content among the articles after Stenbecks death were more negative than the ones before he’s death. This is partly due to the ideological standpoints that the authors of the articles take. In the end discussion I interpret the results from my analysis, by example how Aftonbladets yellow journalism affect their portrayal of Stenbeck in my opinion.

The aim of this essay was to analyze bilingual children in conversation. The essay examinesunder what syntactic circumstances bilingual Spanish / Swedish speaking children codeswitch.The data for this essay is based on recordings of two of the author’s familymembers. The focus is on how bilingual children code-switch, if it is more likely forbilingual children to code-switch when the syntax of two languages are in alignment and ifthere is a dominant language. The collections of recordings are based on real conversationsbetween two bilingual children. The two participants in the study are Spanish and Swedishspeakers; they were born and raised in Sweden with Hispanic parents. The children havebeen exposed to both Spanish and Swedish at home. To be able to obtain the data the authoronly took the most important parts from the transcripts; both audio and video recordingswere made to capture spontaneous conversations between the two brothers. The results showthat the two participants code-switch most frequently at points when the syntax of the twolanguages is in alignment.

<p>Denna uppsats handlar om hur de semantiska värdena kan överföras från ett koncept till en 3Dmodell. Detta innebär att vi tar de fysikaliska attribut av en karaktär i ett koncept bygger dessa i en 3-dimensionnell miljö. Med hjälp av genreteori kring semantik och syntax, gör vi oss medvetna om vad dessa begrepp kan innebära i den process som ingår i modellering av karaktärer. Vi bryter upp karaktärskonceptet i mindre beståndsdelar så som mjuka/hårda ytor och gör en granskning av karaktärernas semantiska drag. Därefter beskrivs den arbetsmetod som användes för att skapa 3D karaktären, där vi berör några av de viktiga punkterna i arbetsprocessen. Min frågeställning som var, <em>Hur kan vi överföra de semantiska värdena av en karaktär till en tredimensionell modell som är anpassad för dator/TV-spel? </em>Besvaras med de metoder som användes i skapandet av karaktären. Slutligen presenteras 3Dmodellen med en videosekvens</p>

<p>In the first paper the effect of accessibility upon rent is investigated for office properties located in Downtown Stockholm. Starting from the firm’s cost minimization problem, a translog hedonic model is derived. The results suggest the model has good predictive power in explaining the variation in the log of the rent. A negative rent gradient is obtained with a base approximately 90 meters from the postulated focal point. It appears as if Space Syntax adds important information to the understanding of the intraurban office rent pattern.</p><p>The second paper investigates assumed capitalisation rates in 3026 discounted cash flow valuations of office properties in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö during the time period 1998-2004. The study investigates determinants of property-level variation in cap rates and how going in and exit cap rates relate to each other.</p><p>Exit cap rates exhibit substantial variation across properties. Part of this cross-sectional variation can be attributed to the location of the property, part of it is due to other characteristics of the property. Exit cap rates are differentiated between properties of the same type on the same market segment, which shows that valuers apply property level fine-tuning when setting exit cap rates. Properties with low market rent and high long-run vacancy assumption typically have high exit cap rates. Properties in peripheral parts of a city typically have higher exit cap rates than properties in central parts.</p><p>The implicitly assumed going-in cap rate (defined as assumed net operating income year one divided by estimated market value) follows a similar pattern as the exit cap rate but exhibits more temporary, property-specific variation. Going-in cap rates are strongly influenced by temporary deviations of vacancy rates and rents from assumed “normal” levels of vacancy and rent. The difference between going-in and exit cap rates is influenced by assumed short-run growth in net operating income in the way stipulated by theory: high assumed short-run growth is associated with going-in cap rates being lower than exit cap rates.</p>