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Phrase structure directionality: having a few choices
Descriptive
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
thesis
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO 639-3:2007);
(type = text)
English
PhysicalDescription
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application/pdf
Extent
419 p.
TypeOfResource
Text
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
TitleInfo
Title
Phrase structure directionality: having a few choices
Identifier
(type = ROA)
611
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore00000002165.ETD.000064917
Identifier
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doi:10.7282/T3FB51S6
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Linguistics
Subject
(authority = optimality_area)
Topic
Syntax
Subject
(authority = local)
Topic
syntax
Subject
(authority = local)
Topic
basic word order
Subject
(authority = local)
Topic
uniform and mixed directionality
Subject
(authority = local)
Topic
cross-categorical implications
Subject
(authority = LCSH)
Topic
Tzotzil language
Subject
(authority = LCSH)
Topic
Mixtecan languages
Subject
(authority = LCSH)
Topic
German language
Subject
(authority = LCSH)
Topic
Persian language
Subject
(authority = LCSH)
Topic
Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax
Subject
(authority = LCSH)
Topic
Grammar, Comparative and general--Word order
Abstract
(type = abstract)
The thesis claims that the linear organization of specifier, head and complement in a phrase and throughout a syntactic tree is determined by a conflict between general violable constraints on X-bar-structure. The adopted framework is Optimality Theory (cf. Prince and Smolensky 1993; in syntax, cf. Grimshaw 1997). The proposed constraint system explains why phrase structure directionality is mostly uniform and why only some non-uniform cases exist, while other logically possible kinds of mixed directionality are unattested. Central to the dissertation is the idea that head-initial oriented languages have a greater structural conflict to resolve inside their lexical projections than head-final languages: The combination of a general preference for [head - complement]-order and for a left-peripheral specifier bars the lexical head from surfacing at an edge of the phrase. The combination of a general preference for [complement - head]-order and for a left-peripheral specifier still allows alignment at one edge. This greater conflict can be resolved in different ways, which leads to slightly more variation among head-initial oriented languages: Not only do we find uniform SVO-languages, but we also find VOS-languages, VSO-languages and head-initial oriented languages with a head-final verb phrase. On the primary examples of the Mayan VOS-language Tzotzil, the 'strict' VSO-language Yosondúa Mixtec, and the 'mixed-headed' languages German and Persian, I show that mixed directionality is not arbitrary in its ways of deviating from uniformity. The proposed system derives various implicational universals capturing the persistently systematic nature of phrase structure directionality. The predictions made about the verbal domain have systematic correlations in the domain of all other categories.
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Zepter
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Alexandra
Role
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Author
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Rutgers University
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Degree grantor
OriginInfo
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2003
DateOther
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2003
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers Optimality Archive
Identifier
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rucore00000002165
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore19991600001
Location
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
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NamePart
Graduate School-New Brunswick
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
school
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
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(AUTHORITY = GS);
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Zepter
GivenName
Alexandra
Role
Copyright holder
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Technical
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ETD
MimeType
(TYPE = file)
application/pdf
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application/x-tar
FileSize
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2355200
Checksum
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