This study investigates the nature of semantic compatibility between constructions and lexical items that occur in them in relation with language use, and the related concept, coercion, based on a usage-based approach to language, in which linguistic knowledge (grammar) is grounded in language use. This study shows that semantic compatibility between linguistic elements is a gradient phenomenon, and that speakers’ knowledge about the degree of semantic compatibility is intimately correlated with language use. To show this, I investigate two constructions of English: the sentential complement construction and the ditransitive construction. I observe speakers’ knowledge of the semantic compatibility between the constructions and lexical items and compared it with empirical data obtained from linguistic corpora and experiments on sentence processing and acceptability judgments. My findings specifically show that the relative semantic compatibility of the lexical items and the construction is significantly correlated with the frequency of use of their co-occurrences and the processing effort and speakers’ acceptability judgments for the co-occurrences. The empirical data show that a lexical item and a construction which are less than fully compatible can be actually used together when the incompatibility is resolved. The resolution of the semantic incompatibility between the lexical item and its host construction has been called coercion. Coercion has been invoked as a theoretical concept without being examined in depth, particularly without regard to language use. By correlating degree of semantic compatibility with empirical data of language use, this study highlights that coercion is an actual psychological process which occurs during the composition of linguistic elements. Moreover, by examining in detail how the semantics of a lexical item and a construction interact in order to reconcile the incompatibility, this study reveals that coercion is semantic integration that involves not only dynamic interaction of linguistic components but also non-linguistic contexts. Investigating semantic compatibility and coercion in detail with empirical data tells about the processes by which speakers compose linguistic elements into larger units. It also supports the assumption of the usage-based model that grammar and usage are not independent, and ultimately sheds light on the dynamic aspect of our linguistic system.

This study investigates the nature of semantic compatibility between constructions and lexical items that occur in them in relation with language use, and the related concept, coercion, based on a usage-based approach to language, in which linguistic knowledge (grammar) is grounded in language use. This study shows that semantic compatibility between linguistic elements is a gradient phenomenon, and that speakers’ knowledge about the degree of semantic compatibility is intimately correlated with language use. To show this, I investigate two constructions of English: the sentential complement construction and the ditransitive construction. I observe speakers’ knowledge of the semantic compatibility between the constructions and lexical items and compared it with empirical data obtained from linguistic corpora and experiments on sentence processing and acceptability judgments. My findings specifically show that the relative semantic compatibility of the lexical items and the construction is significantly correlated with the frequency of use of their co-occurrences and the processing effort and speakers’ acceptability judgments for the co-occurrences. The empirical data show that a lexical item and a construction which are less than fully compatible can be actually used together when the incompatibility is resolved. The resolution of the semantic incompatibility between the lexical item and its host construction has been called coercion. Coercion has been invoked as a theoretical concept without being examined in depth, particularly without regard to language use. By correlating degree of semantic compatibility with empirical data of language use, this study highlights that coercion is an actual psychological process which occurs during the composition of linguistic elements. Moreover, by examining in detail how the semantics of a lexical item and a construction interact in order to reconcile the incompatibility, this study reveals that coercion is semantic integration that involves not only dynamic interaction of linguistic components but also non-linguistic contexts. Investigating semantic compatibility and coercion in detail with empirical data tells about the processes by which speakers compose linguistic elements into larger units. It also supports the assumption of the usage-based model that grammar and usage are not independent, and ultimately sheds light on the dynamic aspect of our linguistic system.

Egypt in the early Byzantine period was a bilingual country where Greek and Egyptian (Coptic) were used alongside each other. Historical studies as well as linguistic studies of the phonology and lexicon of early Byzantine Greek in Egypt testify to this situation. In order to describe the linguistic traces the language-contact situation left behind in individuals' linguistic output, this thesis analyses the syntax of early Byzantine Greek texts from Egypt. The primary object of interest is bilingual interference in the syntax of verbs, adverbial phrases, discourse organising devices and formulaic sections. The thesis is based on a corpus of Greek and Coptic private letters on papyrus, all of which date from the fourth to mid-seventh centuries, originate from Egypt and belong to bilingual, Greek-Coptic, papyrus archives. The data is analysed with a particular focus on three interrelated questions: (1) What kinds of deviations from the standard pattern appear and to what extent can language-internal confusion account for them? (2) How are instances of language-internal confusion and bilingual interference distributed over the selected syntactic domains? (3) Do deviations from the standard accumulate in certain letters or archives belonging to the corpus and do they correlate with additional indicators of bilingualism such as code-switching or circumstantial information about writers? In addition to answering these questions, the thesis seeks to explain the observed distributions. The results obtained from this study suggest that bilingual interference is linked to the way writers assimilated structures. In fact, there is a marked difference between deviating syntactic structures in non-formulaic and formulaic contexts. The study further suggests that bilingual interference does not affect every domain of syntax to the same degree. The degree of complexity of the syntactic structure in question as well as the degree of divergence from the corresponding Coptic structure seem to play a role.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第21866号 / 人博第895号 / 新制||人||214(附属図書館) / 2018||人博||895(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)准教授 中森 誉之, 教授 服部 文昭, 准教授 PETERSON Mark / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

Usage-based approaches assume that children’s early utterances are item-based. This has been demonstrated in a number of studies using the tracebackmethod. In this approach, a small amount of “target utterances” from a child language corpus is “traced back” to earlier utterances. Drawing on a case study of German, this paper provides a critical evaluation of the method from a usage-based perspective. In particular, we check how factors inherent to corpus data as well as methodological choices influence the results of traceback studies. To this end, we present four case studies in which we change thresholds and the composition of the main corpus, use a cross-corpus approach tracing one child’s utterances back to another child’s corpus, and reverse and randomize the target utterances. Overall, the results show that the method can provide interesting insights—particularly regarding different pathways of language acquisition—but they also show the limitations of the method.

Faroese is known to lie grammatically between Icelandic and the Mainland Scandinavian languages and dialects. One example of this is that, on the one hand, Faroese is like Icelandic in having a basically intact morphological four case system. On the other hand case-marking in Faroese is linked to clause function to a greater degree than in Icelandic – but to a lesser degree than in the Mainland Scandinavian standard languages. In Scandinavian Linguistics, it has long been an axiom that in the longer term the aforementioned four case system will be reduced in all varieties of the Scandinavian languages. The present thesis investigates if, and if so how, this expected development manifests itself in Senior High School graduation essays in Faroese from the period 1940–1999. A quantitative study forms the core of the thesis. The choice between the dative and other cases is related to eight syntactic variables whose effect on the choice of case is compared using methods from the variationist framework, among others. The results are partly surprising: the dative did not reduce in frequency from the 1940s to 1990s. There certainly is a tendency, however not a statistically significant one, that the dative is more often replaced by another case in contexts where the norm is to use the dative. On the other hand it also seems to become more common for the dative to be used hypercorrectly. Furthermore, the development is not linear, in that around the middle of the investigation period, the dative is used far more according to norms than otherwise. As expected, clause function is an important variable, but by the end of the period under investigation the placement of the nominal phrase within the clause becomes a surprisingly strong factor. It also becomes more important if the phrase takes the form of a first/second-person pronominal or not. The results are theoretically interpreted in the light of, firstly, Generative Grammar, and secondly Construction Grammar. The modification of certain terms is discussed, such as lexical case in Generative Grammar or usage-based model in Construction Grammar. The conclusion is that the linguistic descriptive models of these theories can only partly cover the tendencies to change that are observed. Other parts of the results are best explained using aspects of sociolinguistics. The conclusion is that case studies on a micro-level are valuable in order to evaluate and develop theories of linguistic variation and change at a macro-level.

Les résultats obtenus en psycholinguistique via des études perceptives sur le traitement de la consonne de liaison montrent que le traitement de ce phénomène complexe n’est qu’imparfaitement prédit par les différentes théories phonologiques dans lesquelles il a été intégré de manière explicite. C’est pourquoi nous proposons dans cette thèse, qui s’inscrit dans une perspective résolument nouvelle, d’envisager la liaison du point de vue de la production et de la formaliser dans le cadre de la Phonologie articulatoire de Browman et Goldstein (1986). Ce modèle présente l’avantage d’une organisation directe entre phonologie et phonétique en utilisant une seule unité qui sert à la fois de primitive phonologique et d’unité d’action motrice dans la production de la parole : le geste articulatoire. Nous supposons que le statut phonologique de « segment flottant » proposé pour la consonne de liaison dans le cadre de la phonologie autosegmentale (Clements & Keyser, 1985 ; Encrevé 1988) puisse trouver un corrélat au niveau articulatoire et puisse être observé et mesuré expérimentalement. L’analyse qui vient à l’appui de cette hypothèse compare la consonne de liaison avec la consonne initiale de mot dans des contextes vocaliques identiques au moyen de mesures électro-palatographiques. Nos résultats suggèrent que la consonne de liaison est soumise à une modification quantitative des caractéristiques dynamiques qui lui sont associés. Les mouvements des articulateurs ainsi que les relations entre les gestes consonantique et vocalique sont ré-échelonnés en fonction de la position qu’occupe la consonne de manière graduelle. / Perceptual studies in the field of psycholinguistics on the processing of the liaison consonant have shown that this complex phenomenon is not perfectly predicted by the different phonological theories in which it has been explicitly integrated. In this thesis, we propose to investigate liaison from a totally new perspective, that is from a production point of view, and to formalise this phenomenon in the framework of Browman and Goldstein (1986)’s Articulatory Phonology. This model is advantageous as it provides a direct connection between phonology and phonetics where only one unit is used both as a phonological primitive and as a unit of motor action in speech production, that is articulatory gesture. In the Framework of autosegmental phonology (Clements & Keyser, 1985 ; Encrevé 1988), the phonological status of the liaison consonant is considered to be a floating segment. In this thesis, we hypothesise that there is a correlate at the articulatory level that can be observed and experimentally measured. This hypothesis is tested by comparing the liaison consonant with the word-initial consonant in identical vowel contexts by using electro-palatographical measurements.Results suggest that the liaison consonant is subjected to a quantitative modification of the dynamic caracteristics which are associated with it. The articulator movements, as well as the relations between consonant and vowel gestures, are gradually re-scaled according to the consonant position.

就筆者所觀察，至今有關日語動轉名詞之研究大都僅止於語義分類或是分析其句法現象，複合詞語義擴張之結構與因詞彙複合所產生的選擇制約(selectional restriction)之原因尚未闡明。然而，透過認知語意學之基模、理想化認知模組等，我們可以正確掌握在論元結構或是詞彙概念結構所無法得知之信息，如以下三點。 1. 複合詞的多義現象 2. 複合詞的選擇限制 3. 複合詞的句法特徵 　　首先，複合詞的多義現象所指的是同一個形態帶有兩種或兩種以上語義之詞彙，如「歯磨き」。在以往的研究皆被視為是動詞語基轉為名詞時所發生之現象，筆者則主張本現象是起因於轉喻。 　　其次，選擇限制所指的是如「?洗剤を水割りで使う」、「?部屋で立ち読みする」、「??こんにゃくを輪切りにする」之類，未必不合語法但會令人感到不自然之用法。本論文將由「命名功能」來探討此現象。 　　最後，複合詞的句法特徵所指的是，詞彙結構雖同樣能夠分解為「內部論元＋動詞」或「附加語＋動詞」，卻未必能夠與「-する」結合來做為一個動詞使用之現象。 　　以上三點中特別是1和2在先前研究中幾乎未被提及。筆者認為此二點在動轉名詞中尚有待研究。因此，本論文將藉由認知語意學之方法來嘗試提出新的構詞模式。 / In this paper, I attempt to interpret some phenomena of deverbal nouns in Japanese as shown following, by the method of cognitive semantics. 1. The polysemy of deverbal nouns 2. The selectional restriction of deverbal nouns 3. The syntactic characteristics of deverbal nouns At first, I will explain the polysemy of deverbal nouns as the lexicon “Hamigaki”, which is considered as a phenomenon of conversion of the base verb, is due to metonymy. Second, I will make an explanation about the selectional restriction of deverbal nouns such as “? Senzaiwo mizuwaride tsukau”, “? Heyade tachiyomi suru”, “??Konnyakuwo wagirini suru”, which are easy to be regarded unnatural but not ungrammatical usage via “naming function”. Last, I will discuss the relation of the affix “-suru” and deverbal nouns which can be analyzed to “theme + verb” or “adjunct + verb”.