LINGUIST List 13.838

Tue Mar 26 2002

Diss: Phonology: Vigario "Prosodic Word..."

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. marina.vigario, Phonology: Vigario "The Prosodic Word in European Portuguese"

New Dissertation Abstract

Institution: University of Lisbon 
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2001

Author: Marina Vigario 

Dissertation Title: 
The Prosodic Word in European Portuguese

Linguistic Field: Phonology
Subject Language: Portuguese

Dissertation Director 1: Marina Nespor
Dissertation Director 2: Maria Helena Mateus


Dissertation Abstract: 

The subject matter of the dissertation is the prosodic word. It
crucially bears on the organization of Grammar, the
Morphology-Phonology and Syntax-Phonology interfaces, and the nature
of phonological representations. Despite the reference to phonological
phenomena in various languages (in particular, Italian, Dutch, German,
English, among others), our primary observations concern European
Portuguese (EP), a still largely unstudied language.

Our first task was to identify phonological properties that constitute
clear diagnostics for the prosodic word domain in EP and those that
identify phonologically deficient units (clitics). The second main
question investigated in this thesis regards the identification of
morphosyntactic objects that are prosodized within a prosodic word
domain. Phonological evidence has led us to propose, additionally,
that a number of morphosyntactic units are grouped together under a
prosodic node that includes two or more prosodic words, which,
however, does not display the properties of a phonological phrase. The
third core question we attempt to answer is why such prosodic
groupings obtain.

The thesis gives a contribution to the understanding of yet not fully
comprehended issues, such as (i) which morphosyntactic structures are
mapped onto which prosodic domains, (ii) what is the exact information
required for the construction of the prosodic word domain, (iii) what
are the structural restrictions imposed on the architecture of
prosodic trees, (iv) what are the sources and limits of
crosslinguistic variation in the prosodization of morphosyntactic
material, and (v) how are lexical and postlexical levels related.