LINGUIST List 19.2241
Tue Jul 15 2008
Diss: Lang Documentation/Syntax/Semantics: Cook: 'The Syntax and ...'
Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter
<evelynlinguistlist.org>
1. Clare
Cook,
The Syntax and Semantics of Clause-Typing in Plains Cree
Message 1: The Syntax and Semantics of Clause-Typing in Plains Cree
Date: 13-Jul-2008
From: Clare Cook <clarecinterchange.ubc.ca>
Subject: The Syntax and Semantics of Clause-Typing in Plains Cree
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Institution: University of British Columbia
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2008
Author: Clare Cook
Dissertation Title: The Syntax and Semantics of Clause-Typing in Plains Cree
Dissertation URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/951
Linguistic Field(s):
Language Documentation
Morphology
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax
Subject Language(s): Cree, Plains (crk)
Dissertation Director:
Rose-Marie Déchaine
Lisa Matthewson
Martina Wiltschko
Dissertation Abstract:
This thesis proposes that there are two kinds of clauses: indexicalclauses, which are evaluated with respect to the speech situation; andanaphoric clauses, which are evaluated with respect to a contextually-given(anaphoric) situation. Empirical motivation for this claim comes from theclause-typing system of Plains Cree, an Algonquian language spoken on theCanadian plains, which morpho-syntactically distinguishes between two typesof clauses traditionally called INDEPENDENT and CONJUNCT orders. In thecurrent analysis, the INDEPENDENT order instantiates indexical clauses, andthe CONJUNCT order instantiates anaphoric clauses.
After laying out the proposal (chapter 1) and establishing the morphosyntaxof Plains Cree CPs (chapter 2), the remaining chapters discuss the proposalin detail.
Chapter 3 focusses on the syntax and semantics of indexical clauses (PlainsCree's INDEPENDENT order). Syntactically, I show that there is ananti-c-command and an anti-precedence condition on indexical clauses.Semantically, I show that indexical clauses are always and only evaluatedwith respect to the speech situation, including the speech time (temporalanchoring), speech place (spatial anchoring), and speaker (referentialanchoring).
Chapter 4 focusses on the syntax and semantics of anaphoric clauses (PlainsCree's CONJUNCT order). Syntactically, I show that anaphoric clauses mustalways be either preceded or dominated by some other antecedent clause.Semantically, I show that the value of temporal/spatial/referentialdependent elements within an anaphoric clause is determined by an antecedent.
Chapter 5 turns to the syntactic sub-classification of Plains Cree'sCONJUNCT (i.e., anaphoric) clauses. I propose that there are three classes:chained clauses, adjunct clauses, and mediated argument clauses. I providetwo kinds of diagnostics that distinguish these classes, and explore theconsequences of this classification for argument clauses and complementation.
Finally, Chapter 6 proposes a semantic sub-classification of Plains Cree'sCONJUNCT (i.e., anaphoric) clauses. I propose that there is a directmapping between the morphology and the semantics: one complementizerencodes presupposition of the proposition, the lack of a complementizerencodes a-veridicality of the proposition, and one complementizer issemantically unspecified (the elsewhere case). This means that PlainsCree's clause-typing is fundamentally concerned with how the truth of theproposition is represented.
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