Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics

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Projecting the Adjective: The Syntax and Semantics of Gradability and Comparison

1st Edition

By Christopher Kennedy
February 05, 2016

First Published in 1999. The main argument presented in this volume is that gradable adjectives like bright, dense and short denote measure functions- functions from objects to abstract representations of measurement, or scales and degrees. This proposal is shown to provide a foundation for ...

Auditory Representations in Phonology

1st Edition

By Edward S. Flemming
January 20, 2016

This book provides evidence for the importance of auditory properties of speech sounds in phonology....

Compensatory Lengthening: Phonetics, Phonology, Diachrony

1st Edition

Edited By Laurence Horn, Darya Kavitskaya
January 20, 2016

First Published in 2002. This volume is part of the 'Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics' series, and focuses on phonetics, phonology and diachrony of compensatory lengthening. The term compensatory lengthening (CL) refers to a set of phonological phenomena wherein the disappearance of one ...

Consonant Strength: Phonological Patterns and Phonetic Manifestations

1st Edition

By Lisa M. Lavoie
January 20, 2016

This book is a detailed examination of the phonetics and phonology of consonant strength, drawing data from parallel acoustic and articulatory studies of English and Spanish, as well as a cross linguistic survey of lenition and fortition....

Clauses Without 'That': The Case for Bare Sentential Complementation in English

1st Edition

By Cathal Doherty
December 18, 2015

This Study investigates the syntax of complement and relative clauses in English which lack overt complementizers (clauses without that ). The central analytical claim is that these clauses differ in phrase structure from their synonymous counterparts with overt complementizers. In particular, ...

Phrase Structures in Competition: Variation and Change in Old English Word Order

1st Edition

By Susan Pintzuk
December 18, 2015

This book investigates variation and change in Old English word order, with special emphasis on the position of the verb....

The Serial Verb Construction Parameter

1st Edition

By Osamuyimen Thompson Stewart
December 18, 2015

An investigation of the serial verb construction, this work engages central issues in syntactic theory-complex predicates, clausal architecture and syntactic variation....

The Interaction of Modality and Negation: A Typological Study

1st Edition

By Ferdinand De Haan
November 27, 2015

First Published in 1997. This book is an updated version of the author's 1994 dissertation, submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Southern California. With updated references footnotes pointing to research published after May 1994, this study of modality showcases its long history. ...

The Discourse Function of Inversion in English

1st Edition

By Betty Birner
November 24, 2015

First published in 1997. This dissertation presents a discourse-functional account of English inversion, based on an empirical study of natural language data. The central finding is that inversion is subject to a pragmatic constraint on the information status of its constituents; specifically, the ...

The Intonation of English Statements and Questions: A Compositional Interpretation

1st Edition

By Christine Bartels
November 24, 2015

English sentence prosody provides cues to both focus structure and speaker attitude. Taking the phonological model of intonation developed by Pierrehumbert (1880 et seq.) as point of departure, this work illuminates the communicative function of English pitch contours by (1) giving a detailed ...

Phonological Augmentation in Prominent Positions

1st Edition

By Jennifer L. Smith
August 07, 2015

Phonologically prominent or "strong" positions are well known for their ability to resist positional neutralization processes such as vowel reduction or place assimilation. However, there are also cases of neutralization that affect only strong positions, as when stressed syllables must be heavy, ...