6,085 research outputs found
The interaction of syntax, prosody, and discourse in licensing French wh-in-situ questions
No full textThe current experiment addresses the proposal by Cheng & Rooryk (2000) that wh-in-situ questions in French are marked by an obligatory rising contour, which is the result of an intonation morpheme [Q: ] in C. Twelve native French speakers participated in a production study in which they produced the target interrogatives, along with a range of similar sentences. While most participants were perceived to assign wh-in-situ questions a sentence-final rise, a minority was not. Moreover, the rise associated with wh-in-situ was smaller than the rise exhibited in yes-no questions, which C&R claim to be licensed by the same morpheme. Given that these two results are unexpected under C&R’s account, we conducted a further acoustic analysis of the productions, which revealed that for sentences lacking a sentence-final rise, the the in situ wh-word had an elevated high pitch accent. A statistical analysis shows a negative correlation between the height of the pitch accent assigned to the wh-word and the presence and height of the sentence-final rise, indicating that instead of the sentence-final rise for wh-in-situ questions being optional, it may instead be variable and predictable by focus placed on the wh-word, for discourse reasons. We discuss three possibilities for the status of the intonation morpheme concerning yes-no and wh-questions and the role of information structure in French wh-in-situ questions.Peer reviewed
Wh-Islands: A View from Correspondence Theory
No full textThis paper discusses a family of restrictions on syntactic extraction, so-called wh-islands. The analysis will be based on the OT syntax model developed in Vogel (2004a,b) which focuses on the correspondence between semantic, syntactic and phonological representations, in the spirit of work by Jackendoff (1997), Williams (2003) and Culicover & Jackendoff (2005). I will argue that the wh-island restriction results from the impossibility to establish a perfect semantics-syntax mapping in the relevant structures. The resulting constraint violations add up to yield the wh-island effect. Exceptions to the wh-island restrictions in English are argued to be prosodically licensed.
Section 2 introduces the model I am using, and presents examples of some accounts of ineffability which I developed elsewhere. That section also introduces the basics of my treatment of wh-movement. Section 3 develops the account of wh-islands. Section 4 discusses the exceptions to the wh-island restriction that we see in English, and extends my account to handle these cases. The OT implementation of this account is presented in Section 5.The definitive version of this paper is published in Modeling Ungrammaticality in Optimality Theory. It is available at https://www.equinoxpub.com/equinox/books/showbook.asp?bkid=212Vogel, R. (2009). Wh-Islands: A View from Correspondence Theory. In C. Rice (Ed.), Ungrammaticality in Optimality Theory. Oakville, CT:Equinox Pub. Ltd, 2009ISBN-13 9781845532154 (published book
Okanagan wh-questions
No full textThis thesis is the first work devoted specifically to the syntax of wh-questions in a Southern
Interior Salish language. As such, it provides a descriptive foundation for future work on the
syntax of Okanagan, as well as forming the basis for comparative investigation of wh-questions
both within the Southern Interior branch of the Salish family and between the Southern Interior
and other better known branches.
Chapter 2 examines the basic word order patterns for clauses and describes the distribution of
determiners and complementizers in cleft constructions.
Chapter 3 compares three potential analyses of wh-questions for Okanagan: a wh-in-situ
analysis,, a wh-movement analysis, and a cleft analysis. I show that a wh-in-situ analysis was not
viable for Okanagan on the basis of a comparison of word order possibilities in non-wh sentences
and wh-questions. I then turned to the other two possible analyses, a wh-movement analysis along
the lines of English, and a cleft analysis, as suggested for other Salish languages by Davis et al
(1993) and Kroeber (1991, 1999). Choosing between these analyses proved much more difficult:
evidence exists both for and against each analysis, and I was unable to choose between them.
Chapter 4 examines multiple wh-questions in Okanagan. It appeared possible for at least some
speakers to produce multiple wh-questions with either two argument wh-phrases or an argument
and an adjunct wh-phrase. The latter type of multiple wh-question showed an interesting type of
reverse superiority effect: speakers consistently preferred to place the argument wh-phrase in preverbal
position and the adjunct wh-phrase in post-verbal position. If this really is a superiority
effect, it implies that the relative structural positions of adjuncts and arguments are the opposite of
those found in English.
Chapter 5 investigates long-range wh-dependencies. First of all, I established that such
dependencies are indeed possible. I show that long-range dependencies are sensitive to at least
three standard island constraints: the Complex Noun Phrase Constraint, the Wh-Island Constraint
and the Adjunct Island Constraint.
Though I was unable to choose between a wh-movement and a wh-cleft analysis for wh-questions,
my research unequivocally establishes the existence of A-bar movement dependencies
in Okanagan. This is demonstrated by the existence of long-range movement assymetries as
shown by superiority effects in multiple wh-questions and by the existence of adjunct island
effects which argue strongly that there must be a configurational basis for the argument/adjunct
distinction contra the Pronominal Argument Hypothesis (see Jelinek and Demers 1994 on
Northern Straits Salish).
Another important consequence of this work is the distinction between two types of focus
structure in Okanagan. On the one hand, as in other Salish languages, a nominal predicate
(including a wh-predicate based on the argument wh-words swit and stim') may occur with a
relative clause introduced by the determiner i?; on the other hand both adjunct and argument DP's
(including wh-adjuncts) may occur in cleft structures introduced by one of the complementizers
ki?and ta?. Though this distinction corresponds in some ways to that between 'bare' and
'introduced' clefts in other Salish languages (see Kroeber 1999, pg. 370-373), the details of the
introduced cleft construction in particular differ in significant ways from the rest of Salish. It
remains to be seen how other Southern Interior languages behave in this respect.Arts, Faculty ofLinguistics, Department ofGraduat
Identity and Definiteness in Chinese wh-Conditionals
No full textPrevious studies of Chinese wh-conditionals leaveseveral issues unresolved, including (i) definiteness effects; (ii) apparent violations of the novelty condition and (iii) accounting for the range of readings of Chinese wh-conditionals. We attempt to resolve some of these issues by analysing wh-indefinites as unique indefinites and wh-conditionals as special instances of topic-comment structures (i.e. wh-conditionals are topic-comment structures with an identity relation). Chinese wh-conditionals can refer to either a single situation or multiple situations, leading to either a definite interpretation or a generic interpretation respectively
The Higgs boson in the Standard Model : theoretical constraints and a direct search in the WH channel at the Tevatron
No full textHüske NK. The Higgs boson in the Standard Model : theoretical constraints and a direct search in the WH channel at the Tevatron. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2010.Le mécanisme de Higgs du Modèle Standard (SM) peut expliquer l'origine de la masse. Il prédit également l'existence d'une particule non encore observée, le boson de Higgs, dont la masse n'est pas prédite par la théorie. Le boson de Higgs est fortement lié à la validité du SM à hautes énergies. On explique les trois scénarios pour l'évolution du SM et leurs implications pour les théories de l'inflation cosmologique. Si la masse du boson de Higgs se situe dans une certaine gamme, le SM pourrait rester une théorie valide jusqu'à l'échelle de Planck. Si le couplage du boson de Higgs à la gravité n'est pas minimal, il peut également être la particule responsable de l'inflation cosmologique. Pour rechercher le boson de Higgs au Tevatron, la production associée avec un boson W est l'un des canaux les plus sensibles pour une masse inférieure à 130 GeV. On analyse 5,3 fb-1 de données D0-Tevatron, en recherchant un boson W qui se désintègre en un lepton et un neutrino. Le boson de Higgs se désintègre en deux quarks b qui forment des jets qui peuvent être identifiés par un b tagger de réseau de neurones. Une analyse multivariée est utilisée pour améliorer la sensibilité au signal. En l'absence d'un excès de signal dans la comparaison données et simulation, on calcule une limite sur le produit (section efficace) x (rapport d'embranchement) dans le canal WH de 0,533 pb à une masse de 115 GeV à 95 pour cent niveau de confiance. Cette limite correspond à un facteur de 4,1 de la prédiction SM. D'autres limites sont calculées pour les masses dans une gamme de 100 à 150 GeV par pas de 5 GeV. Ces résultats seront soumis pour publication et contribuent à la combinaison d'analyses Higgs au Tevatron.The Higgs mechanism of the Standard Model of particle physics provides a plausible and theoretically solid explanation for the origin of mass. It predicts at the same time the existence of a yet unobserved particle, the Higgs boson, with unknown mass from theory. The Higgs boson is strongly linked to the validity of the Standard Model at highest energies. This work outlines the three possible scenarios for the fate of the Standard Model at highest energies and their implications for theories of cosmological inflation. If the Higgs boson mass lies within a certain range the Standard Model could remain a valid theory up to the Planck scale. If in this case, the Higgs boson couples non-minimally to gravity, it could function as the particle responsible for cosmological inflation in the very early Universe.
A direct search for the Higgs boson could unveil its mass. The associated production of a Higgs boson with a W boson has the highest yields of production cross section times branching ratio in the region below 130 GeV at the Tevatron accelerator. We analyze a dataset of 5.3 fb^-1 of Tevatron data accumulated by the DØ experiment, searching for a W boson that decays into a lepton and a neutrino, of which the latter is accounted for by missing energy in the detector. The Higgs boson decays into two b quarks which then hadronize and form jets. These jets can be identified by a neural network b tagging method. A Random Forest multivariate technique is then used to improve signal sensitivity. In the absence of a signal excess in our final data to simulation comparison, we set a limit on the production cross section times branching ratio of the Higgs boson in the WH channel of 0.533 pb at a mass of 115 GeV at a 95 percent confidence level. This limit corresponds to a factor of 4.1 of the Standard Model prediction. Further limits are set for Higgs masses in a range of 100 - 150 GeV in steps of 5 GeV, the region where the WH channel is most sensitive. These results will be submitted for publication and contribute to the Tevatron combination of Higgs analyses
Wh-doublets in Cantonese
No full textM.Phil.This thesis examines grammatical features of the wh-reduplication (namely “whdoublets”) in Cantonese, which has not been well documented in existing literature on Cantonese grammar. From previous descriptive works on this phenomenon in Mandarin Chinese (e.g. Yu 1964; Bai 2008; Xu 2010), three major claims are reviewed through Cantonese data: (i) wh-doublets have non-interrogative use; (ii) wh-doublets are used in reported speech; and (iii) wh-doublets have plural interpretation. First, I show that the wh-doublet is different from other wh-interpretations in terms of distribution and interpretation. It cannot simply be treated as a resulting form of stuttering or self-repair, and it is important to study this phenomenon independently. Second, wh-doublets are licensed in quotative context. More precisely, they can appear inside a quotation, with the presence of quotative markers or within the scope of clause-taking predicates, which can be generalized as syntactic or pragmatic means to introduce quotative contexts. The necessary quotativity shows that the use of whdoublets always involves another context. Third, although many typological findings support the argument that reduplicative constructions tend to trigger plural interpretations, the grammaticality judgment survey conducted in this study provides evidence against the necessary plurality of wh-doublets. Native speakers generally accept both singular and plural interpretations for wh-doublets, which is different from the common descriptions in the past literature. From these observations on the Cantonese wh-doublet, the issue of iconicity regarding reduplicative constructions is also discussed.While the quotative use of wh-doublets poses challenge to the traditional view that quantification into quotations is impossible, I adopt the intensional semantic system in Heim and Kratzer (1998), together with Sudo’s (2013) metalinguistic quantification, to spell out the lexical meaning of the Cantonese wh-doublet and derive the semantic computation with other linguistic elements. This analysis captures two main properties: (i) the use of wh-doublets implies that the matrix subject being reported has access to a particular entity; and (ii) the wh-doublet itself is an indefinite that ranges over linguistic expressions.本文旨在探討廣東話重疊疑問詞的語法特徵。鑑於文獻並未有對此現象作出深究，本文評論過往對普通話同一現象的描述性研究（于細良1964、白雁2008、徐默凡2010 等）所持的三大主張：（一） 重疊疑問詞有非疑問用法，（二）重疊疑問詞一般用於複述句，（三）重疊疑問詞有複數意思。透過廣東話例子，本文表明重疊疑問詞在語法分佈及意思理解上都有別於其他疑問詞用法，亦非口吃或自我修正的結果，而是「疑問詞」另一非疑問用法。本文亦提出重疊疑問詞被允准出現於引述語境中，準確來說，它能出現在引述句子中、在引述標記的情況中或在補語子句的轄域中。這些允准條件都能被視為引入引述語境的句法或語用手段，而其引述的必要性顯示重疊疑問句經常涉及另一語境。雖然很多類型學研究支持重疊結構傾向獲得複數意思這個觀點，而過去文獻均表示重疊疑問詞有複數意思，但本研究語感調查則得到相反的證據，母語使用者一般允許重疊疑問詞單數和複數的理解。除以上對廣東話重疊疑問詞的觀察，本文探討重疊結構的象似性議題。此外，重疊疑問詞的引述用法對引述句不能進行量化的傳統論述引起難題。本文結合Heim 及Kratzer (1998) 的內涵語義系統與Sudo (2013) 的元語言量化理論，說明廣東話重疊疑問詞的詞義，並結合其他語言部分作語義運算。此分析嘗試解釋兩個特點：（一）使用重疊疑問詞暗示被引述的主語能擷取某個特定個體的資訊，（二）重疊疑問詞是只限於語言表達式的不定指詞。Wong, Hok Yuen.Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2018.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-123).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 11, August, 2020)
Modal existential wh-constructions
No full textThis dissertation is a thorough investigation of the syntax, semantics, and typology of modal existential wh-constructions – the last major type of wh-construction (next to questions and relative clauses) that is still relatively poorly understood. The author argues that their proper analysis enhances our understanding of a variety of richly discussed issues, including the syntax-semantics of argument structure, event structure, existential predicates, wh-movement, covert modality, and obligatory control.
The author argues for a radically new approach to modal existential wh-constructions. His core idea is that they are not ordinary objects of the verb which they are selected by (a predicate expressing the state of existence or availability, or a complex predicate leading to such a state), as previously assumed, but rather constitute an additional independent argument. This argument is an integral part of the complex event structure of the matrix verb – its “event extension” – and as such characterizes possible developments of the state or event denoted by the matrix predicate. The proposed analysis accounts for many apparently unmotivated properties of these constructions, including their highly restricted scope, modality, and syntactic distribution on the one hand, and a relative freedom of their internal syntactic shape on the other. The analysis also reveals a previously unobserved but remarkably tight relationship between modal existential wh-constructions and English purpose clauses.
This dissertation is of interest to theoretically and typologically oriented linguists working on wh-constructions, purpose clauses, existential sentences, event structure, and modality. On a more general level, it deals with issues at the syntax-semantics and syntax-pragmatics interface.
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Dit proefschrift is een grondige studie van de syntaxis, semantiek en typologie van modale existentiële wh-constructies – het laatste hoofdtype van wh-constructies (naast vraagzinnen en relatiefzinnen) dat tot nu toe onderbelicht is gebleven. De auteur beargumenteert dat een goede analyse van deze constructies ook tot een beter begrip leidt van een veelheid aan vraagstukken die gerelateerd zijn aan de syntaxis en semantiek van argumentstructuur, event-structuur, existentiële predicaten, wh-verplaatsing, coverte modaliteit en verplichte controle.
De auteur bepleit een radicaal nieuwe analyse van modale existentiële wh-constructies. Het kernidee is dat ze niet, zoals eerder werd aangenomen, een gewoon object zijn van het werkwoord waardoor ze geselecteerd worden (een predicaat dat een bestaanstoestand uitdrukt of een toestand van beschikbaarheid, of een complex predicaat dat tot zo’n toestand leidt), maar juist een toegevoegd onafhankelijk argument. Zo’n argument is een integraal onderdeel van de complexe event-structuur van het matrixwerkwoord – de “event-extensie” – en als zodanig karakteriseert het de mogelijke ontwikkelingen van de toestand of gebeurtenis zoals gedenoteerd door dat werkwoord. De voorgestelde analyse verklaart verscheidene ogenschijnlijk ongemotiveerde eigenschappen van modale existentiële wh-constructies, inclusief hun beperkte bereik, modaliteit en syntactische distributie aan de ene kant, en hun relatieve vrijheid wat betreft de interne syntactisch opbouw aan de andere kant. De analyse onthult ook een tot nu toe onbekende maar opmerkelijk nauwe relatie tussen modale existentiële wh-constructies en “purpose clauses” zoals in het Engels.
Dit proefschrift is van belang voor theoretisch en typologisch georiënteerde taalkundigen die geïnteresseerd zijn in wh-constructies, purpose clauses, existentiële zinnen, event-structuur en modaliteit. Op een meer algemeen niveau behandelt het kwesties die betrekking hebben op de interfaces tussen de syntaxis, semantiek en pragmatiek.
Greek wh-Questions and the Phonology of Intonation
No full textThe intonation of Greek wh-questions consists of a rise-fall followed by a low plateau and a final rise. Using acoustic data, we show (i) that the exact contour shape depends on the length of the question, and (ii) that the position of the first peak and the low plateau depends on the position of the stressed syllables, and shows predictable adjustments in alignment, depending on the proximity of adjacent tonal targets. Models that specify the F0 of all syllables, or models that specify F0 by superposing contour shapes for shorter and longer domains, cannot account for such fine-grained lawful variation except by using ad hoc tonal specifications, which, in turn, do not allow for phonological generalisations about contours applying to utterances of greatly different lengths. In contrast, our findings follow easily from an autosegmental-metrical approach to intonational phonology, according to which melodies may contain long F0 stretches derived by interpolation between specified targets associated with metrically strong syllables and prosodic boundaries
Wh-agreement Across Three Domains in Indonesian
No full textCross-linguistically, morphological wh-agreement has been observed either on C/T or on verbs (Zaenen 1983; Reintges et al. 2006), coinciding with classic domains for successive-cyclic A\u27 movement. This suggests that other phasal XPs may be also marked with morphological wh-agreement. The central claim of this paper is that in Indonesian, wh-agreement occurs in three domains: complementizers, verbs and nominals. Evidence for wh-agreement on C and wh-agreement on verbs comes from previously observed patterns in the literature, which I re-cast as wh-agreement. Next, by examining cases in which possessors undergo A\u27 movement out of DP, I show that obligatory changes in morphology are an instantiation of wh-agreement within DP. This analysis contributes new patterns to the range of attested wh-agreement, and brings Indonesian morphosyntactic patterns under the umbrella of a wider cross-linguistic phenomenon
When is less more? Faithfulness and minimal links in wh-chains
No full textIn the domain of wh-questions, we explore the application of OT to syntactic explanation based on the principle of Minimal Links ('Shortest Move'). We develop a family of constraints called MinLink, and argue: (a) OT allows a strong but flexible MinLink to be constructed directly from general principles, and (b) the resulting MinLink explains a broad range of cross-linguistic (overt and covert) extraction facts. In addition, we argue for certain general solutions to fundamental questions for comparison-based syntactic formalisms: What structures compete? What is the 'input'? How is language-particular ineffability possible? How are marked outputs possible?The publisher of the book in which this chapter appears does not permit the archiving of this or any other version of the chapter in the Rutgers Optimality Archive. The authorized version is available here: http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/best-good-enough-optimality-and-competition-syntaxLegendre, G.; Smolensky, P.; & Wilson, C. (1998) When is less more? Faithfulness and minimal links in wh-chains. In B. Pillar (Ed.) Is the best good enough? (249-289). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
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