The linearization of affixes : evidence from Nuu-chah-nulth
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Linguistics, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Wojdak, Rachel
issued: 2009-12-23T00:49:41Z
issued: 2005
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This dissertation addresses the linearization of affixes, and argues for a particular model of the way in which syntax maps to phonology. According to the proposal, syntax is spelled-out to phonology in minimal cycles equivalent to a single application of syntactic Merge (cf. Epstein et al. 1999). I term this proposal the local spell-out hypothesis. The empirical grounds on which this hypothesis is assessed is Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), a Southern Wakashan language spoken in British Columbia, Canada. Nuu-chah-nulth has a class of morphologically bound predicates termed affixal predicates which participate in a linearization strategy of suffixation. I claim that affixes in Nuu-chah-nulth are linearized at spell-out with respect to 'hosts' as a consequence of the PF requirement that utterances be sequentially ordered. Spell-out induces in Nuu-chah-nulth a relationship which I label PF Incorporation. The affixal predicate 'incorporates' its host in order to achieve a pronounceable form, that of a linearized affix. An affixal predicate in Nuu-chah-nulth consistently suffixes to a host chosen from its derivational sister, its complement. This suffixation pattern is subject to a string adjacency effect: an affixal predicate incorporates only the leftmost element from its complement, which happens to be contiguous with the affixal predicate. I present the argument that the local spellout hypothesis elegantly captures this dual sensitivity to derivational sisterhood and linear adjacency. Although the spell-out mechanism which induces linearization of affixes is nonsyntactic, syntactic sisterhood conditions linearization opportunities at PF via the composition of local spell-out domains. This dissertation presents a variety of diagnostics for Nuu-chah-nulth clausal structure, with a particular focus on the argument structure of affixal predicates. Amongst affixal predicates which take nominal complements, predicates range from unaccusative to extended unaccusative, transitive …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/17110
note: T H E L I N E A R I Z A T I O N O F A F F I X E S : E V I D E N C E F R O M N U U - C H A H - N U L T H by R A C H E L W O J D A K B . A . (Hon), The University of British Columbia, 2000 A THESIS S U B M I T T E D I N P A R T I A L F U L F I L M E N T O F T H E R E Q U I R E M E N T S F O R T H E D E G R E E O F D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y in T H E F A C U L T Y O F G R A D U A T E S T U D I E S (Linguistics) T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F B R I T I S H C O L U M B I A October 2005 © Rachel Wojdak, 2005 ABSTRACT This dissertation addresses the linearization of affixes, and argues for a particular model of the way in which syntax maps to phonology. According to the proposal, syntax is spelled-out to phonology in minimal cycles equivalent to a single application of syntactic Merge (cf. Epstein et al. 1999). I term this proposal the local spell-out hypothesis. The empirical grounds on which this hypothesis is assessed is Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), a Southern Wakashan language spoken in British Columbia, Canada. Nuu-chah-nulth has a class of morphologically bound predicates termed affixal predicates which participate in a linearization strategy of suffixation. I claim that affixes in Nuu-chah-nulth are linearized at spell-out with respect to 'hosts' as a consequence of the PF requirement that utterances be sequentially ordered. Spell-out induces in Nuu-chah-nulth a relationship which I label PF Incorporation. The affixal predicate 'incorporates' its host in order to achieve a pronounceable form, that of a linearized affix. An affixal predicate in Nuu-chah-nulth consistently suffixes to a host chosen from its derivational sister, its complement. This suffixation pattern is subject to a string adjacency effect: an affixal predicate incorporates only the leftmost element from its complement, which happens to be contiguous with the affixal predicate. I present the argument that the local spell-out hypothesis elegantly captures this dual sensitivity to derivational sist…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2005-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0092361
language: eng
degree discipline: Linguistics
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/17110