LINGUIST List 5.1275

Fri 11 Nov 1994

Books: Romance Ling, Syntax, Phonology

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ROMANCE LING
Davis, Stuart  Napoli, Donna Jo A PROSODIC TEMPLATE IN HISTORICAL CHANGE:
 THE PASSAGE OF THE LATIN SECOND CONJUGATION INTO ROMANCE
 1994 170pp. paperbound approx. USD 30 Rosenberg & Sellier
 via Andrea Doria 14, I-10123 Torino (credit card accepted)
The book offers a novel approach to a longstanding problem, the demise of
the Latin 2nd conjugation. The authors show that a prosodic analysis may
account for the historical change that occurred in Italianm Romanian,
French, Provencal, Catalan, and several Raeto-Romance dialects. It is a
successful application of prosodic morphology to a diachronic problem.
fax: ++39/(0)50/563513 I-56126 PISA /////
SYNTAX
The Syntax and Pragmatics of Anaphora
A Study with Special Reference to Chinese
(Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 70) Cambridge University Press
 Yan Huang
 Department of Linguistics, University of Reading
This book develops a pragmatic theory of anaphora within the neo-Gricean
framework of conversational implicature. Chomsky claims that anaphora
reflects underlying principles of innate Universal Grammar, and the view
is widely held that only syntactic and semantic factors are crucial to
intrasentential anaphora. Yan Huang questions the basis of the Government
and Binding approach and argues that syntax and pragmatics are
interconnected in determining many anaphoric processes. Furthermore, he
proposes that the extent to which syntax and pragmatics interact varies
typologically. There exists a class of language (such as Chinese, Japanese
and Korean) in which pragmatics plays a central role that in familiar
European languages is alleged to be played by grammar. Yan Huang's pragmatic
theory has far-reaching implications for this important issue in theoretical
linguistics. 1994, 349 pp. Hardback 0 521 41887 9
Dwivedi, Veena. (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); Syntactic
 Dependencies and Relative Phrases in Hindi, Pb. xvii + 249
 pp. Ph.D. dissertation, 1994. $16 + S/H ($3 domestic, $4
 foreign surface). Graduate Linguistic Student Association
 (GLSA), University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 This dissertation explores various syntactic dependencies from
 relative phrases in Hindi. In addition to Scrambling,
 Topicalisation and Left Dislocation, Topic Dislocation is
 recognized. This non-movement relation is limited to referential NPs
 which are related to null pronominals; because no movement is involved,
 Topic Dislocation is not subject to Subjancency. Several cases of
 asymmetric coordination, including correlatives and 'that' clauses,
 are also explored in detail. For further information, contact
 glsalinguist.umass.edu.
PHONOLOGY
Sherer, Tim D. (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); Prosodic
 Phonotactics, Pb. xiii + 225 pp. Ph.D. dissertation, 1994.
 $16 + S/H ($3 domestic, $4 foreign surface). Graduate
 Linguistic Student Association (GLSA), University of
 Massachusetts, Amherst.
 This dissertation deals with the possibility of having syllable
 final consonants, including geminate consonants, and the interaction
 of such consonants with syllable weight and vowel length, by means
 of the moraic tier. The goal of this work is to have the range of
 patterns of consonant occurrence and vowel length follow from simple
 patterns in simple interactions. Predictions about possible
 phonological patterns are made via the interaction of simple
 constraints in Optimality Theory. Extensive treatments of
 over-filled (hypercharacterized) syllables, appendix consonants
 and gemination are provided.
Rosenthall, Sam. (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); Vowel/Glide
 Alternation in a Theory of Constraint Interaction, Pb. viii
 + 243 pp. Ph.D. dissertation, 1994. $16 + S/H ($3 domestic,
 $4 foreign surface). Graduate Linguistic Student Association
 (GLSA), University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 This work examines the distribution of high vowels and glides using
 Optimality Theory. The distribution of high vowels and glides is
 shown to be a consequence of simultaneously comparing moraic and
 nonmoraic syllabifications of high vowels for satisfaction of
 phonological constraints. Three main phenomena are investigated: the
 syllabification of vowel sequences in languages with only surface
 monophthongal vowels, the interaction of stress and high vowel
 distribution, and the phenomenon of glide vocalization. For further
 information, contact glsalinguist.umass.edu.