In this thesis I argue that verbs in embedded clauses are temporally interpreted by being bound to the temporal arguments of AspP and VP in the matrix clause. I build up this claim by proposing that (i) Reichenbachs relation of association can be expressed in terms of Binding Theory in the syntax, (ii) Tense is subject to different binding principles depending on its syntactic realization so that T in main clauses must be free (i.e., subject to Principle B) but in embedded clauses T must be bound (i.e., subject to Principle A), (iii) the Spanish present subjunctive is a tenseless form which behaves syntactically very similar to an infinitive and (iv) (non)-finiteness can be defined in terms of binding. This thesis aims to contribute to linguistic theory by presenting a solution to the problem of the Spanish subjunctive and the violation of the rule of concordantia temporum, by establishing another parallel across domains, namely between the nominal and the temporal domain, which are argued in this thesis to be subject to the same syntactic principles of Binding Theory, and by providing empirical evidence that natural language makes use of syntactic relations to arrive at semantic interpretations. Finally, the findings and proposals in this thesis predict that cross-linguistically languages should prefer to use syntactic configurations over morphological systems for semantic interpretation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-06232010-105659 |
| Date | 29 June 2010 |
| Creators | Guajardo, Gustavo Ariel |
| Contributors | Dr. Leora Bar-el, Dr. Naomi Shin, Dr. Tully Thibeau |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06232010-105659/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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