[{"key":"dc.contributor.author","value":"Gambarage, Joash Johannes","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.accessioned","value":"2019-10-22T15:31:30Z","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.available","value":"2019-10-22T15:31:32Z","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.issued","value":"2019","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.identifier.uri","value":"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2429\/72023","language":null},{"key":"dc.description.abstract","value":"This thesis makes two inter-related claims about the augment (a.k.a pre-prefix or initial vowel) based on evidence from Nata (Eastern Bantu, E45). Syntactically, the Nata augment is the realization of the functional category D(eterminer). The view that the augment is D is consistent with the claim\r\nthat argument expressions are DPs, while predicate nominals obligatorily lack the D shell (cf. Longobardi 1994; Matthewson 1998; D\u00e9chaine and Tremblay 2011 and others). Semantically, I argue that the D distinction in Nata is solely based on speaker\u2019s belief of existence. Beyond Nata, I claim that the core notion of existence is pertinent to other Bantu languages as well. The thesis challenges the widely held view that the D position is necessarily related to specificity or definiteness. I demonstrate that, once definiteness and specificity are controlled for in a precise fashion, the true contribution of Nata Ds as belief-of-existence Ds can be discerned. Cross-linguistically, the Bantu belief-of-existence D intersects with Salish assertion-of-existence Ds. In Salish, existence is asserted based on the speaker\u2019s personal knowledge (Matthewson 1998). In Nata, this requirement\r\nis lacking. The Nata belief of existence D thus behaves as \u201cthe weakest D\u201d, as it does not require a speaker to have personal knowledge of the individual. The theoretical implications of this analysis are twofold. First, existence Ds come in (at least) two guises, belief-of-existence versus assertion-of-existence. Second, existence Ds\u2014in both Bantu and Salish\u2014differ from \u201ccommon ground\u201d Ds of the type found in English, with the latter (but not the former) coding definiteness\/specificity.","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.language.iso","value":"eng","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.publisher","value":"University of British Columbia","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.rights","value":"Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International","language":"*"},{"key":"dc.rights.uri","value":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/","language":"*"},{"key":"dc.title","value":"Belief-of-existence determiners : evidence from the syntax and semantics of Nata augments","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.type","value":"Text","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.name","value":"Doctor of Philosophy - PhD","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.discipline","value":"Linguistics","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.grantor","value":"University of British Columbia","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.date.graduation","value":"2019-11","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.type.text","value":"Thesis\/Dissertation","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.description.affiliation","value":"Arts, Faculty of","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.description.affiliation","value":"Linguistics, Department of","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.campus","value":"UBCV","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.description.scholarlevel","value":"Graduate","language":"en"}]