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dc.contributor.authorJensen, Joshua Martinen_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-09-17T17:28:52Z
dc.date.available2014-09-17T17:28:52Z
dc.date.issued2014-09-17
dc.date.submittedJanuary 2013en_US
dc.identifier.otherDISS-12084en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10106/24707
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation provides a syntactic account for the Jarai noun phrase and for the three regions of the Jarai clause: the operator domain, the inflectional domain, and the theta domain. Within the noun phrase, I argue that demonstrative-final word order involves phrasal movement of the demonstrative's complement into Spec,D, where it identifies null definite D. Jarai classifiers, rather than being heads in the functional spine of the DP, are shown to form a constituent with numerals, and this classifier--numeral phrase merges as the specifier of a number (plurality) head. In the operator domain, three head positions can be identified: a finiteness head, evident in non-finite complement clauses; a focus head, whose specifier position is the landing site of focus-movement (which subsumes <italic>wh</italic>-movement); and a force head, which in questions is spelled out as a question particle. In addition to having standard <italic>wh</italic>-movement (or, as I argue, focus-movement of <italic>wh</italic>-phrases) and <italic>wh</italic>-in-situ, Jarai also has a pseudocleft strategy for forming <italic>wh</italic>-questions; variations in the word order of <italic>wh</italic>-pseudoclefts arise from different combinations of topic-movement to Spec,T and focus-movement to Spec,Foc.In the inflectional domain, I analyze the variable position of negation in terms of optional Aux-to-T raising. I also put forward two arguments that surface subjects in Jarai sit in Spec,T at spellout.In the theta domain, I show that the verb phrase comprises three head positions: <italic>v</italic>, sometimes overtly realized by a causative prefix; iAsp, an inner aspect head position sometimes realized by the telicity-related particle <italic>hĭ</italic>; and V, where the verbal root usually merges. Additionally, Jarai distinguishes between unaccusatives and unergatives, correlating to a difference between state-denoting roots and manner-denoting roots. Finally, Jarai has various types of serial verb constructions (SVCs). I examine four classes of SVCs, focusing on the status of shared arguments. I argue that SVCs in Jarai involve (i) the merging of a verbal root directly into <italic>v</italic><sub>cause</sub>, the first verb of the construction, and (ii) the merging of a VP or <italic>v</italic>P, containing the second verb, with the higher <italic>v</italic>. Apparent agent sharing is mediated by a controlled PRO in the specifier of the lower <italic>v</italic>. Apparent theme sharing is merely an interpretive effect of the causal relation between the two verbs; in fact, the higher verb, because it is a light verb, does not assign a theme theta role.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipSabbagh, Josephen_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherLinguisticsen_US
dc.titleThe Structure Of Jarai Clauses And Noun Phrasesen_US
dc.typePh.D.en_US
dc.contributor.committeeChairSabbagh, Josephen_US
dc.degree.departmentLinguisticsen_US
dc.degree.disciplineLinguisticsen_US
dc.degree.grantorUniversity of Texas at Arlingtonen_US
dc.degree.leveldoctoralen_US
dc.degree.namePh.D.en_US


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