21.1059, Diss: Syntax/Typology: Morcom: 'The Universality and Demarcation of...'

Thu Mar 4 20:52:09 UTC 2010

LINGUIST List: Vol-21-1059. Thu Mar 04 2010. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 21.1059, Diss: Syntax/Typology: Morcom: 'The Universality and Demarcation of...'

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1)
Date: 03-Mar-2010
From: Lindsay Morcom < lindsay.weichel at ling-phil.ox.ac.uk >
Subject: The Universality and Demarcation of Lexical Categories Cross-Linguistically

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:50:32
From: Lindsay Morcom [lindsay.weichel at ling-phil.ox.ac.uk]
Subject: The Universality and Demarcation of Lexical Categories Cross-Linguistically

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Institution: University of Oxford 
Program: Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2009 

Author: Lindsay Anne Morcom

Dissertation Title: The Universality and Demarcation of Lexical Categories
Cross-Linguistically 

Linguistic Field(s): Syntax
                     Typology

Subject Language(s): Michif (crg)

Language Family(ies): Salishan
                      Wakashan 

Dissertation Director(s):
Mary Dalrymple
Aditi Lahiri
Paloma Garcia Bellido

Dissertation Abstract:

Drawing data from a variety of sources, this thesis compares functional 
evidence regarding lexical categories from a number of Salish and 
Wakashan languages, as well as from the Michif language.  It then 
applies Prototype Theory to examine the structure of the lexicons of 
these languages. They are described in terms of prototype categories 
that overlap to varying extents, with each category and each area of 
overlap defined by a central set of prototypical features. 

A high degree of gradience appears to exist between categories in 
Salish and Wakashan languages, with no clear boundary between 
categories or areas of overlap, indicating that lexical categories in 
these languages, rather than being clearly demarcated, are instead 
fuzzy categories with very little distinguishing them.  Categories in 
Michif, on the other hand, exhibit far less overlap.  This variation is 
compared to variation in conceptual categories across languages, and 
challenges the notions of the universality of clearly demarcated lexical 
categories and the existence of separately stored language module in 
the human mind. 

In spite of the variation in lexical category demarcation observed 
across the languages studied, it is possible to demarcate the 
categories of Noun and Verb to at least some extent in all languages, 
as well as a category of Adjective in some languages.  This supports 
the proposed universality of the categories of Noun and Verb, as well 
as the implicational universals proposed in the Amsterdam Model of 
Parts of Speech (Hengeveld 1992a, b).  It is also possible to identify a 
number of defining characteristics for each lexical category that appear 
to hold across languages.  Since similar characteristics can be 
identified across languages for all categories, but the categories 
themselves display varying degrees of overlap in individual languages, 
this research supports the proposal that language universals, rather 
than consisting of structures, rules, and categories that are identical in 
all languages, are rather collections of prototypical characteristics for 
grammatical categories that are similar across languages (Croft 2000). 

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