Prefixation in English and Catalan - Departament de Filologia ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

In front of these counterexamples to the RHR, one is faced with different alternatives to explain them. 3 The first one is to say that these words have no head. However, this is not a very attractive option since all complex words seem to have a head. The notion of head, which plays an important role in syntax, can also be applied to the internal structure of words. Work on heads in morphology has been well-established for a long time (cf. Williams (1981a), Selkirk (1982), Scalise (1984, 1988), Di Sciullo & Williams (1987), to mention just some of the earliest works). A second option is to ascribe the prefix en- the attribute of a head and assign it to the category V. For instance, Williams (1981a) provides two arguments to support this view for English, the first of which is that it accounts for the systematic assignment of en-X words to the category V. The second argument is that en- potentiates the affix –ment, as seen in ennoblement, enragement, and endearment. As is usually observed in morphology studies, the potentiation of affixX by affixY indicates that the latter must be in the head position. In this sense, it seems plausible to say that en-X words have leftmost heads. (See section 2.4.2 where this second option is developed further for both English and Catalan). A third alternative to deal with the counterexamples to the RHR is not to treat them as exceptions, which is the view defended by Neeleman & Schipper (1992) when dealing with apparent category-changing verbal prefixation in Dutch. The authors argue that prior to prefixation there is a conversion process of As and Ns to Vs, by means of a zero-affix. Some evidence for this conversion-analysis comes from the argument structure of Vs, assuming that the Θ-grid of a complex word is derived from the thematic information of its morphemes via Θ-role percolation. The Dutch prefix verprovides a Theme when it attaches to a V. That becomes clear if the V dobbelen (5a), which takes an Agent, is contrasted with the prefixed version of the same V (5b), which takes an Agent and a Theme. However, when ver- is attached to a N/A, there is a Theme (which in this case originates in the A due to the Rel(ativized) RHR), and an optional Agent which cannot have originated in the prefix (see (6)), assuming that the prefix verprovides a stable Θ-role. In (5) it was established that the prefix provides a Theme, although its features are sometimes not visible, i.e. when the base on its right has the same features, as seen in (6). Another source for the Agent has to be found. Hence, the postulation of the conversion suffix. 3 I discard the possibility that in Catalan the final suffix is responsible for the category change, since this suffix is part of the inflectional paradigm and inflectional elements do not change category. 3
(5) a. dobbelenV ‘to gamble’ Agent b. verdobbelenV ‘to gamble away’ Agent Theme (6) a. nieuwA ‘new’ Theme b. vernieuwenV ‘to renew’ Agent Theme Reinhart’s (2000, 2001) assumptions go well with the modular approach to grammar adopted here, and by adopting her theta system and a Θ-role percolation approach to the inheritance of thematic information (Gràcia (1992, 1995), Neeleman & Schipper (1992)), I will try to find out which of the two last alternatives (i.e. en-prefixations having leftmost heads and having a zero-suffix) is the most adequate one, thus addressing the question of whether the complex words derived by en-prefixation in both English and Catalan (like those in (3) and (4)) are really exceptions to the RHR or not. To carry out this task, I will focus on the argument structure of derived Vs and investigate the possible source of Θ-roles, which in turn will allow me to address the issue of whether the prefix contributes to the Θ-grid of the derived word. If the prefix does indeed contribute to the Θ-grid of the resulting word, I will corroborate a Θ-role percolation approach to the inheritance of thematic information (cf. Booij (1988), Levin & Rappaport (1988), Gràcia (1992, 1995) and Neeleman & Schipper (1992)) and Mateu’s (2001a, 2002) view of complex denominal Vs. Mateu argues that the preverb of complex denominal Vs in Germanic languages (such as the German word ver+gärtnern ‘to away-garden’) is part of the main thematic structure, thus also contributing to the resulting Θ-grid of the predicate. Reinhart’s theta system (2000, 2001) represents one of the different reinterpretations of the ‘Theta’ theory in Chomsky’s Principles and Parameters approach which have been proposed recently. Another reinterpretation is embodied in HK (1993, 1998, 2002). While Reinhart’s proposal relies on Θ-roles, HK’s is based on direct interpretation of the structure. According to the latter, the position of an argument in their lexical-syntactic structures equals its thematic role. For instance, the object is not assigned the role Theme, because it is already a Theme as a result of its being in a specific structural position which has this particular semantics. Therefore, the source of Θ-roles will be crucial to determine which approach is superior. If thematic roles always originate in the same position, then HK’s approach should be favoured for economy reasons, i.e. the semantics can be read off from the structure and there is no need for a linking system between Θ-roles and syntactic positions. If Θ-roles do not always come 4
Page 1 and 2: Argument Structure and Morphology:
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 5: 2a) are typically category-changing
Page 9 and 10: 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This secti
Page 11 and 12: how the marking procedures work and
Page 13 and 14: As for the treatment of reflexives
Page 15 and 16: The fact that the suffix -ize forms
Page 17 and 18: may be considered negative by some,
Page 19 and 20: First, the classification of suffix
Page 21 and 22: unknown to derivation. 16 This is w
Page 23 and 24: 3 RESEARCH METHODS Dictionaries hav
Page 25 and 26: To confirm the results from the dic
Page 27 and 28: ‘A boat crossed the Atlantic’ (
Page 29 and 30: form (endur-se
Page 31 and 32: (32) V {[+c]1, [-c-m]2} / \ en V {[
Page 33 and 34: . Ell encaputxà la Maria. He EN-ho
Page 35 and 36: (39) coixíN ‘cushion’ R encoix
Page 37 and 38: Although the dictionary lists the u
Page 39 and 40: (45) a. The people outside chanted
Page 41 and 42: a. The reporter enlarged the pictur
Page 43 and 44: syllables), and strengthenV/lengthe
Page 45 and 46: (58) a. caseN R b. encaseV [+c] [-c
Page 47 and 48: meaning (e.g. list, trench), which
Page 49 and 50: 4.3 Discussion This section is main
Page 51 and 52: the speaker intended on that occasi
Page 53 and 54: had no function to perform, i.e. th
Page 55 and 56: HK’s treatment of deadjectival Vs
Page 57 and 58:
5 CONCLUSIONS In this thesis, I con
Page 59 and 60:
As for the remark made by several a
Page 61 and 62:
a) V-to-enV Enact (act) 1 When a go
Page 63 and 64:
Entreat 1 If you entreat someone to
Page 65 and 66:
Enrich (rich) 1 To enrich something
Page 67 and 68:
ORIGIN: not given. Cipher (n.) 1 A
Page 69 and 70:
Enfold (fold) 1 If something enfold
Page 71 and 72:
Lighten 2 (v.) 1 When something lig
Page 73 and 74:
ORIGIN C19: from Spanish, via L. fr
Page 75 and 76:
Derivative: entrapment. ORIGIN C16:
Page 77 and 78:
d) This section presents those Vs w
Page 79 and 80:
ORIGIN ME: from OFr. enduire, partl
Page 81 and 82:
Ensconce (sconce) (often ensconce o
Page 83 and 84:
Velop: non-existing. Environ formal
Page 85 and 86:
Intermediate Vs which have meanings
Page 87 and 88:
A → [en+A]V Transitive [+c] [-c-m
Page 89 and 90:
B) Trans [+c] (usually [+c+m]) [-c-
Page 91 and 92:
Tela → telar → entelar Verí
Page 93 and 94:
Appendix C This appendix includes t
Page 95 and 96:
Results: English questionnaire When
Page 97 and 98:
Results: Catalan questionnaire Of a
Page 99 and 100:
Di Sciullo, A. M. 1997. “Prefixed
Page 101 and 102:
Marantz, A. 1997. “No Escape from
Page 103:
Varela, S. (ed.). 1993. La formaci
show all

Prefixation in English and Catalan - Departament de Filologia ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?