17.15, Diss: Morphology: Almansour: 'Adjective Incorporatio...'

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-17-15. Tue Jan 10 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.15, Diss: Morphology: Almansour: 'Adjective Incorporatio...'

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
 
Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org) 
        Sheila Dooley, U of Arizona  
        Terry Langendoen, U of Arizona  

Homepage: 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: Meredith Valant <meredith at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.


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

1)
Date: 09-Jan-2006
From: Abdulrahman Almansour < hmansour at ksu.edu.sa >
Subject: Adjective Incorporation and the Morphosyntactic Interface 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:54:37
From: Abdulrahman Almansour < hmansour at ksu.edu.sa >
Subject: Adjective Incorporation and the Morphosyntactic Interface 
 


Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2004 

Author: Abdulrahman Almansour

Dissertation Title: Adjective Incorporation and the Morphosyntactic Interface 

Linguistic Field(s): Morphology

Subject Language(s): Oromo, West Central (gaz)


Dissertation Director(s):
Yafei Li
Vivian Lin
Mark l. Louden
Cynthia Miller

Dissertation Abstract:

The main goal of this thesis is to uncover the component of Universal
Grammar where a morphologically-complex de-adjectival verb is formed. We
show that although the internal structure of morphologically-complex
de-adjectival causatives is empirically and theoretically predicted to be
opaque to phrase-level operations (Borer 1991; Li, in press), syntactic
processes and descriptions are not oblivious to the internal structure of
that derived structure in Oromo and Amharic. In Chapter One, we present the
syntactic constraints that preclude the realization of the adjectival
properties of the adjective in derived de-adjectival causatives. In Chapter
Two, we elucidate the structural properties of the causative constriction
in Oromo and Amharic. In Chapter Three, we present several diagnostics that
conclusively suggest the presence of a syntactic adjective phrase in the
underlying structure of de-adjectival causatives in the two languages in
question. Building on a well-motivated assumption that there is no
well-formed syntactic structure into which a synthetic de-adjectival verb
might project (Li, in press), we advance in Chapter Four an argument to the
effect that both members of those derived de-adjectival causatives are
lexically independent. The syntactic transparency of the de-adjectival
causatives in Oromo and Amharic follows because all members are independent
in the syntactic component. Having ruled out the responsibility of the
syntactic component for forming de-adjectival causatives in Oromo and
Amharic, we contend that the burden of explanation should be shifted from
it to the mapping between the syntax and the phonology. Inspired by work
done in distributed morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993), we maintain that the
merger of the members of de-adjectival causatives takes place
post-syntactically in intermediate level of representation called
morphological structure. We show that this merger is constrained by strict
adjacency requirements imposed by the mapping to the phonological structure. 




-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-17-15