In this comparative study I have decided to look at the switch-reference paradigm in three Panoan languages: indigenous languages spoken in Peru and Brazil. Reason for this is the increasing amount...Show moreIn this comparative study I have decided to look at the switch-reference paradigm in three Panoan languages: indigenous languages spoken in Peru and Brazil. Reason for this is the increasing amount of moribund languages, especially in this fascinating and linguistically diverse region. I will compare the systems and research the distinction between converbs and switch-reference constructions.Show less
This thesis tries to resolve the problematic development of PIE *s after r,u,k,i in Lithuanian. First it summarizes how the ruki-rule works in other branches of PIE and why one would expect it to...Show moreThis thesis tries to resolve the problematic development of PIE *s after r,u,k,i in Lithuanian. First it summarizes how the ruki-rule works in other branches of PIE and why one would expect it to work in Lithuanian as well. Then it gives an overview of the development of PIE *s after r,u,k,i in Lithuanian and goes deeper into the opinions of several scholars on how to solve the irregularities. The two main positions are that either the ruki-rule did or it did not work in Lithuanian and examples that prove the opposite are usually explained by both sides as being new formations, borrowings or possibly of different origin. However, the evidence that ruki did take place is much bigger. The last chapter researches a selection of words that show *s after r,u,k,i to possibly find out how these can be explained. Unfortunately, a proper explanation for all the words could not be found, only for some examples new, significant points were obtained. Therefore it could very well be that the variation in s after r,u,k,i is due to older dialects, where the ruki-rule perhaps did not take place, but this cannot be proven. Therefore the author prefers the explanation that the ruki-rule originally did take place in Lithuanian, but that there are cases where it appears it didn't because of flection, borrowings, or association with suffixes in -s.Show less
Languages are not often very flexible in reordering their heads and complements. Many languages have a fixed preference, for example, for either prepositions or postpositions (Dryer, 2013). If...Show moreLanguages are not often very flexible in reordering their heads and complements. Many languages have a fixed preference, for example, for either prepositions or postpositions (Dryer, 2013). If there are any occurrences of inversion, they are either obligatory, or at least, when optional, bound by restrictions; as can be seen in Broadwell (2006). Bidayuh - an Austronesian language of Borneo, a language not very well documented - shows some peculiar inversions of preposition and noun phrase. These inversions only occur with movement. The current study examines P-DP reordering for DP’s that have moved to the front of their simple matrix clause; to the front of their embedded clause; or out of their embedded clause, to the front of the matrix clause. It looks into several different prepositions and different matrix verbs, as well as different DP complements. All three movement conditions elicit different sets of restrictions on reordering P and DP. The data are discussed in the light of Merchant’s (2002) theory of swiping and Hartman and Ai’s (2009) account of it. Unfortunately, the current study cannot draw any hard conclusions. More research is needed.Show less
The thesis discusses the velar graphemes in Hittite, commonly transliterated as KA, GA and QA. It is normally assumed that these graphemes can be used interchangeably. However, it is argued that...Show moreThe thesis discusses the velar graphemes in Hittite, commonly transliterated as KA, GA and QA. It is normally assumed that these graphemes can be used interchangeably. However, it is argued that this is clearly not the case. The thesis then tries to show in which environments the different graphemes are used and how the use can be motivated phonologically.Show less
This thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be...Show moreThis thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be established and some new insights will be exposed. Through the analysis of the question words of several languages an implicational hierarchy of the semantic categories of question words will be postulated. Furthermore, it will become clear that general question words need to be treated differently from question words which have a specified meaning regardless of the context. When looking at the internal constructions of question words, I conclude that all question words consist of a Q-element (QE), which indicates the interrogative mood and a Semantic Indicator Element (SIE), which specifies the exact content of the interrogative mood. The order of these two elements appears to be similar to the order of the head and dependent of nominal constructions. Finally I discuss the fact that this division between QE and SIE is also to be found in sign languages, and therefore universally applicable. Also, from a historical point of view the order of QE and SIE within submorphemes can be an indication of the head and dependent order in Proto-languages.Show less
Relative pronouns in a variety of languages are analyzed. Earlier analyses focusing mainly on the Promotion Theory are evaluated and the Promotion Theory is rejected as it cannot elegantly explain...Show moreRelative pronouns in a variety of languages are analyzed. Earlier analyses focusing mainly on the Promotion Theory are evaluated and the Promotion Theory is rejected as it cannot elegantly explain resumptive pronouns and it cannot handle coordinated antecedents. It is concluded that an adequate theory cannot raise the antecedent out of the relative clause. A new theory is introduced that analyses relative clauses as being selected by an Adjectival Phrase with a phonologically null head while the relative pronoun is simply coreferential with the antecedent.Show less
This thesis concentrates on correlative sentences in Russian. A number of derivational accounts have been proposed in the literature for correlatives in Hindi, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian...Show moreThis thesis concentrates on correlative sentences in Russian. A number of derivational accounts have been proposed in the literature for correlatives in Hindi, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian respectively (Srivastav 1991, Dayal 1996, Bhatt 2003; Izvorski 1996; Lipták 2005, 2009, 2012), but little has been said about the possible derivation of Russian correlatives. The main goal of my thesis is to apply the derivational account proposed by Lipták (2012) for Hungarian in a modified form to Russian. I first provide a thorough background on correlatives in general, and secondly how they behave in Russian specifically. The criteria for preferring the structural account proposed Lipták (2012) will be discussed as well. The 2 derivational steps of primary importance in my analysis are: 1.) Focus fronting of the Dem XP in the main clause; 2.) base-generation of the correlative clause in the left periphery of the main clause and its optional Topicalization. I furthermore show that the crucial diagnostics used by Lipták for Hungarian do not apply to Russian. Using a different set of diagnostic tests I eventually conclude that 1.) the Dem XP in the main clause is contrastively Focused; 2.) the correlative clause is likely to be base-generated in the left periphery of the main clause, and is similar to a contrastive Topic in Russian.Show less
This research attempts to give a description of the verbal morphology of the moribund Mawayana language from the Arawakan language family. Little has been written about Mawayana, but there is a...Show moreThis research attempts to give a description of the verbal morphology of the moribund Mawayana language from the Arawakan language family. Little has been written about Mawayana, but there is a corpus of stories and elicited texts. That corpus has been used for this research. Several suffixes have been found, including valency marking suffixes and TAME-markers. Also quite a few clitics may occur on verbs, including the typical Arawakan pronominal elements. Other clitics do not have clear cognates in related languages and may or may not be innovations of Mawayana. In general, quite some restructuring of the verbal morphology has taken place in Mawayana and/or the closest related language Wapishana since the two split apart. The result in Mawayana seems quite chaotic, but this may be due to the limited size of the corpus. Still, there is some clear structure that becomes more clear once the many clitics have been divided on morphosyntactic or semantic grounds.Show less
In this thesis I examine the question that was left unanswered in Tulling (2014). Why can some SFP1s, like the Dutch hè, attach to [-Q]-questions, while most SFP1s are unable to attach to questions...Show moreIn this thesis I examine the question that was left unanswered in Tulling (2014). Why can some SFP1s, like the Dutch hè, attach to [-Q]-questions, while most SFP1s are unable to attach to questions? This paper focuses on rhetorical wh-questions. First the different theories on the structure and meaning of rhetorical questions are discussed. Then I define what I consider a rhetorical question, and provide tests to distinguish rhetorical questions from ordinary questions in Dutch. I argue against the proposal that ordinary questions and rhetorical questions are semantically and structurally the same (Copanigro & Sprouse 2007), and argue in favor of the idea that RQs and OQs are actually semantically and syntactically different from each other. Combining earlier theories on the semantics and structure of rhetorical questions (Han 2002, Obenauer & Poletto 2000) and generalizations on the structure of SFPs using the split-CP hypothesis (Law 2004, Sybesma & Li 2007), I propose the following to account for the main question of this paper: In contrary to wh¬-words in ordinary questions, which are positioned in [Spec, ForceP], the wh-words in rhetorical questions are positioned in [Spec, EpistP]. Following Sybesma & Li (2007) SFPs are base generated across the different layers of CP. The SFP1 hè is base generated in Epist0. SFP1s have an inherent feature [+SFP] which requires to be checked by all the relevant sentence information. In ordinary statements, the entire sentence moves to [Spec, EpistP] to check this SFP feature in sentences with hè. In RQs the wh-word carries all the relevant epistemic information of the sentence (Han 2002), and the SFP-feature can be checked. In ordinary questions there is no wh-word in EpistP, and the [+SFP]-feature cannot be checked; the sentence is ungrammatical. Show less
Om te onderzoeken welke rol iconiciteit speelt bij de verwerking van gebaren bij horende L2 sprekers van NGT, is een lexicale decisietaak opgesteld. De proefpersonen, beginnende of vaardige L2...Show moreOm te onderzoeken welke rol iconiciteit speelt bij de verwerking van gebaren bij horende L2 sprekers van NGT, is een lexicale decisietaak opgesteld. De proefpersonen, beginnende of vaardige L2 sprekers van NGT, moesten lexicale beslissingen maken op gebaren die getoond werden. De helft bestond uit lexicale gebaren (hoog-iconisch en laag-iconisch) en de andere helft uit pseudogebaren. Tijdens de verwerking van gebaren bleken de reactietijden op de pseudogebaren significant langzamer te zijn dan de reactietijden op de lexicale gebaren. Op de pseudogebaren werden meer fouten gemaakt, maar dat verschil was niet significant. Daarnaast lieten de resultaten, bij zowel de beginnende als vaardige L2 sprekers, geen faciliterend effect bij de hoog-iconische gebaren zien. Tevens werden bij beide groepen meer goede responses gegeven op de laag-iconische gebaren dan op de hoog-iconische gebaren.Show less
In deze scriptie wordt er gekeken naar de referentiële patronen bij RTL Boulevard. Er wordt een onderscheid gemaakt tussen spontane, gesproken taal aan de balie, en de voice-overs, wat vooraf...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt er gekeken naar de referentiële patronen bij RTL Boulevard. Er wordt een onderscheid gemaakt tussen spontane, gesproken taal aan de balie, en de voice-overs, wat vooraf bedachte geschreven taal is. Vooral in de voice-overs van het programma wordt er vaak verwezen met lange naamwoordgroepen, de surplus NP's. Hier worden mogelijke verklaringen voor geboden en er wordt een vergelijking gemaakt met de spontane spraak.Show less
According to Miestamo (2005:18), a lot of cross-linguistic research has been undertaken on what is called standard negation (Dahl 1979; Payne 1985; Forest 1993; Honda 1996). However, in these works...Show moreAccording to Miestamo (2005:18), a lot of cross-linguistic research has been undertaken on what is called standard negation (Dahl 1979; Payne 1985; Forest 1993; Honda 1996). However, in these works, little attention is paid to the negation of existential clauses. Recently, a typological study of negative existential clauses was carried out by Vesselinova (2013), who focuses on how this special type of negation relates to standard negation. Since affirmative existential clauses are often related to possessive and locative clauses (Lyons 1967; Clark 1978; Payne 1997), this thesis examines negative existential clauses according to their relation with negative possessive and locative clauses in a geographically and genetically balanced sample of 12 languages. This relation is compared to the way their affirmative counterparts relate to each other. The data used in this study comes from descriptive grammars, linguistic articles on the languages, and personal communication with speakers. It appears that in the majority (66,67%) of the sample languages negative existential, possessive and locative clauses are related to each other in the same configuration as their affirmative counterparts, while a minority of the sample languages is asymmetric in this respect. The pattern that is found in most of the sample languages is that in which all three clause types are related to each other. None of the sample languages follows a pattern in which negative existential clauses are not related to either negative possessive or negative locative clauses.Show less
Prosody and structure are important cues for infants when they are learning a language. In this thesis, I investigated which of these two cues infants of seven months old find more salient. A Head...Show moreProsody and structure are important cues for infants when they are learning a language. In this thesis, I investigated which of these two cues infants of seven months old find more salient. A Head-Turn Preference procedure was used in both Experiment 1a and Experiment 1b to see whether infants found an inconsistent prosody pattern or inconsistent structure pattern compared to a familiarized pattern more interesting. Results revealed that infants had a longer looking time for the inconsistent prosody pattern than for the inconsistent structure, which indicates a stronger interest for the inconsistent prosody. If infants have a novelty preference, which is commonly assumed, this would mean that infants rely more on prosodic cues than structural cues. Whether or not this is the case will be examined further in Experiment 2. Also the points of improvement for Experiment 1 and the design of how Experiment 2 is conducted are discussed.Show less
Deze scriptie gaat over de diminutief en de augmentatief in het Swahili. De derivatie van deze twee vormen is verankerd in het naamwoordklassesysteem. Ik bespreek de vormelijke en semantische...Show moreDeze scriptie gaat over de diminutief en de augmentatief in het Swahili. De derivatie van deze twee vormen is verankerd in het naamwoordklassesysteem. Ik bespreek de vormelijke en semantische eigenschappen van deze derivatie inclusief associaties die ermee verbonden zijn. Hiervoor heb ik informanten uit Nairobi, Kenia ondervraagd, via een enquëte en persoonlijke mails.Show less
