Master's theses in theoretical linguistics

 

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  • Oroch vowel harmony 

    Tolskaya, Inna Konstantinovna (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2008-04-01)
    In this paper I examine vowel harmony in Oroch, a recently extinct Manchu-Tungusic language. Oroch vowels are subject to the interplay of retracted tongue root (RTR) harmony and rounding harmony. The two kinds of harmony have contrasting effects on neutral vowels. The front vowels /i/ and / æ/ are transparent to RTR harmony, while the vowels /i/, /æ/, /ʊ/ and /u/ are opaque to rounding harmony. ...

  • Unifying prepositions and prefixes in Russian : conceptual structure versus syntax 

    Tolskaya, Inna Konstantinovna (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2008-04-01)
    At first glance, the variety of possible denotations of a given prefix might appear a chaotic set of idiomatic meanings, e.g. the prefix `za-´ may refer to the beginning of an action, movement to a position behind an object, a brief deviation from a path, or completion of an action. I propose a unified analysis of prefixes, where the differences in meaning are claimed to arise from different ...

  • Infinitival complementation in Russian 

    Arylova, Aysa (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2006-06-19)
    I am considering a number of recent theories of control against the evidence presented by Russian infinitives to see which theory provides us with a better account of the data. The theories considered are: 1) the intricate mechanism of control relations developed in Landau (2000); 2) the neat pattern of infinitival restructuring described in Wurmbrand (2001); 3) the relentless disposal of structure ...

  • Deriving asymmetry in Swedish and Icelandic inflexional paradigms 

    Buchanan, Charles H. (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2007-06-04)
    The present thesis sets out to address explicanda which appeal to a notion of gaps vis-à-vis inflexional paradigms and further pose a challenge of modelling within contemporary generative phonology. Albright (2006) discerns phonotactically-motivated and lexically-arbitrary paradigm gaps. The former case presents as a repair strategy mandating circumvention of a surface-illicit configuration (i.e., ...

  • Argument structure of Czech event nominals. 

    Procházková, Věra (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2006-06-19)
    The aim of this work is to contribute to the deeper insight into the internal structure of nominal phrase and the typology of its derivation. After sketching the general theoretical framework in the first chapter and after giving an overview of various types of nominals and distinct approaches to their analysis in chapter 2, I focus on one particular group of deverbal nominals in Czech, namely ...

  • Measure prefixes in Czech. Cumulative na- and delimitative po- 

    Součková, Kateřina (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2004-06-15)
    The thesis deals with two of the most interesting quantificational verbal prefixes (measure prefixes) in Czech, namely po- and na-. Po- means essentially ‘a little’ or ‘relatively small quantity’, na- contributes the notion of ‘relatively large quantity’, it means something like ‘a lot’. Although their semantics seems to be of the same type (just the polarity is opposite), the claim is that the two ...

  • Afrikaans verb clusters. A functional-head analysis 

    de Vos, Mark (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 2001-09-07)
    This dissertation examines verb cluster transparency phenomena in Afrikaans. Special attention is paid to aspectual and posture verbs, the so-called Direct and Indirect Linking Verbs. Transparency phenomena are analysed using a Cinque-esque (1999) hierarchy of functional verbs. Chapter One introduces Cinque's (1999) analysis of Italian transparency phenomena as being the product of a hierarchy of ...