13.1653, Diss: Syntax: Aygen "Finiteness, Case..."

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-13-1653. Tue Jun 11 2002. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 13.1653, Diss: Syntax: Aygen "Finiteness, Case..."

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry, Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org):
	Simin Karimi, U. of Arizona
	Terence Langendoen, U. of Arizona

Consulting Editor:
        Andrew Carnie, U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Editors (linguist at linguistlist.org):
	Karen Milligan, WSU 		Naomi Ogasawara, EMU
	James Yuells, EMU		Marie Klopfenstein, WSU
	Michael Appleby, EMU		Heather Taylor, EMU
	Ljuba Veselinova, Stockholm U.	Richard John Harvey, EMU
	Dina Kapetangianni, EMU		Renee Galvis, WSU
	Karolina Owczarzak, EMU

Software: John Remmers, E. Michigan U. <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
          Gayathri Sriram, E. Michigan U. <gayatri at linguistlist.org>

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.



Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolina at linguistlist.org>

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Sun, 09 Jun 2002 23:34:06 +0000
From:  aygen at fas.harvard.edu
Subject:  Syntax: Aygen "Finiteness, Case and Clausal Architecture"

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Sun, 09 Jun 2002 23:34:06 +0000
From:  aygen at fas.harvard.edu
Subject:  Syntax: Aygen "Finiteness, Case and Clausal Architecture"


New Dissertation Abstract

Institution: Harvard University
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2002

Author: Nigar Gulsat Aygen

Dissertation Title:
Finiteness, Case and Clausal Architecture

Linguistic Field: Syntax

Subject Language: Turkish

Dissertation Director 1: C.-T. James Huang
Dissertation Director 2: Shigeru Miyagawa
Dissertation Director 3: Engin Sezer
Dissertation Director 4: Jonathan Nissenbaum

Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation explores the phenomenon of finiteness as Nominative
case and its significance for the theory of syntax. It questions the
relevance of Tense and Agreement as a Nominative Case licensing
feature within the Minimalist Framework. It discusses the syntactic
feature(s) that license nominative and non-nominative subject-case
particularly in Turkish clausal structures as well as other Turkic
languages, i.e., Tuvan and Kazakh.

Based on arguments particularly from Turkish data, it is proposed that
(a) the feature licensing nominative subject case in finite clauses
Turkish is a complex feature consisting of mood on Complementizer head
and epistemic modality on Finiteness head, and it marks finiteness in
Turkish, and possibly English, Catalan, European Portuguese, Japanese
and Italian; (b) the feature licensing Genitive or Accusative case on
subjects of non-finite (ECM) clauses is a feature on an external
functional head, which licenses; a nominal functional feature on
Determiner/Kase (D/K) licenses Genitive, a verbal functional feature
on v licenses Accusative. Agreement in Turkish marks the presence or
absence of a Mood feature on C in a clausal structure. It is also
argued that subject case and clausal agreement mark syntactic
(in)dependency of clauses in Turkish. This analysis predicts the lack
of either epistemic modality or mood feature within ECM
constructions. The major theoretical implication of this dissertation
is the disassociation of Case and Agreement features in case
licensing.



















---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-13-1653