LINGUIST List 18.147
Tue Jan 16 2007
Diss: Semantics/Syntax: Ihsane: 'The Construction of the DP Domain:...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Tabea
Ihsane,
The Construction of the DP Domain: From un-NPs and du/des-NPs in French to bare nouns in Romance and Germanic
Message 1: The Construction of the DP Domain: From un-NPs and du/des-NPs in French to bare nouns in Romance and Germanic
Date: 16-Jan-2007
From: Tabea Ihsane <tabea.ihsanelettres.unige.ch>
Subject: The Construction of the DP Domain: From un-NPs and du/des-NPs in French to bare nouns in Romance and Germanic
Institution: University of Geneva
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2006
Author: Tabea Ihsane
Dissertation Title: The Construction of the DP Domain: From un-NPs and du/des-NPs in French to bare nouns in Romance and Germanic
Linguistic Field(s):
Semantics
Syntax
Subject Language(s): French (fra)
Language Family(ies): Germanic
Romance
Dissertation Director:
Genoveva Puskas
Ur Shlonsky
Dissertation Abstract:
This thesis examines un-NPs and du/des-NPs in French, i.e. nominals withthe indefinite article and with the so-called 'partitive article'respectively. It focuses on arguments in opposition to predicates. The mainaim is to account for the different interpretations of these indefinites,and more precisely to determine how interpretation and structure arerelated. This study thus concerns the syntax-semantics interface, whichimplies an analysis of the internal structure of the indefinites mentioned,in particular of their Vorfeld and their Mittelfeld, i.e. theirinformational structure and the structure related to agreementrespectively. It is realised in the framework of Generative Grammar(Chomsky 1957, 1965, 1981) and more precisely in a cartographic approach(Rizzi 1997, 2001, 2004, Cinque 1999, 2002, Belletti 2004 to mention a fewreferences of the last decade). It also assumes a strict correspondencebetween syntax and semantics in that a structure can give rise to a singleinterpretation.
The framework and the other assumptions adopted in this dissertation arereported in Chapter 1. This chapter also summarises some of the mostwell-known papers which attribute two readings to indefinites (Milsark1974, Fodor and Sag 1982, Enç 1991, Diesing 1992). Finally, it makesexplicit the various puzzles the thesis deals with.
Chapter 2 argues for a three-way classification of un-NPs, thuscorroborating Dobrovie-Sorin and Beyssade's (2004) work. The idea is thatthese indefinites may not only be referential and quantificationa,l butthat they may also be interpreted as properties. The analysis proposed toaccount for these readings is based on the intervention effects arisingwhen these indefinites are involved. The main proposal is that the Vorfeldof each type of indefinites is composed differently: the Vorfeld ofproperty-denoting un-NPs comprises a single projection, the one ofquantificational un-NPs two projections and the one of referential un-NPsthree projections. The latter have been labelled S-referential for'speaker's reference' as their reference is dependent, mainly on thespeaker (i.e. 'in the speaker's mind'). The analysis developed in thischapter takes into account several features of the indefinites examined,namely their (lack of) existentiality, their (lack of) scope properties andtheir (lack of) reference.
Chapter 3 shows that the analysis developed in Chapter 2 extends todu/des-NPs. In addition, it provides a thorough analysis of the Mittelfeldof these indefinites, and of noun phrases in general. The result is aMittelfeld which may comprise three layers, one encoding a [count] feature,another one encoding [quantity] and a third one encoding [number]. Such astructure allows us to account for the difference count/mass (followingBorer 2005), for the difference between quantitative and non-quantitatiavedu/des-NPs, which correspond respectively to some-NP and bare nouns, andfor the distinction between the article un and the numeral un. Crucially,it also allows us to establish the base position of de and le/les, the twocomponents of du/des, and to account for their incorporation. The analysisextends to de-NPs, which don't have a determiner, and leads to interestingsuggestions concerning EN-pronominalisation. This chapter further dealswith the partitive reading of du/des-NPs. The discussion extends topartitivity in general and to the relation with the quantificational reading.
Chapter 4 concerns bare nouns in Romance and Germanic. The main goal is toapply to bare nouns the results obtained in the previous chapters. It alsobriefly discusses various processes of incorporation.
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