This dissertation examines complementizer agreement (CA) phenomena in which phi-features appear on a complementizer, clause-linking marker, or otherwise, syntactically speaking, at the C[superscript 0] position. This dissertation will argue that CA is in fact a straightforward output of the syntax module under standard Minimalist assumptions, and…

This corpus-based diachronic study aims to investigate the change in the use of English relative clauses over a 45-year time span. It does not only focus on change over time but also change between two varieties of English (British and American). The data were taken from the Brown family of corpora. Each corpus in the Brown family corpora consists…

Spatial language constitutes part of the basic fabric of language. Although languages may have the same number of terms to cover a set of spatial relations, they do not always do so in the same way. Spatial languages differ across languages quite radically, thus providing a real semantic challenge for second language learners. The essay first…

There is significant variation in the literature on how demonstratives are characterized semantically, leading to divergent syntactic analyses of demonstratives. A major source of this disagreement regards how distance specifications relate to the demonstrative: whether [+/- speaker] is an integral property of the demonstrative or not. I argue…

This dissertation presents a synchronic and diachronic study of Pingelapese pronouns and auxiliary verbs--"ae", "e", "aen", and "en". Synchronically, Pingelapese employs subject pronominal clitics, not subject agreement markers, unlike Proto-Micronesian and many other contemporary Micronesian languages.…

Depending on the demands of a particular communicative situation, bilingual or multilingual speakers ("bilingualism-multilingualism") will switch between language varieties. Code-switching is the practice of moving between variations of languages in different contexts. In an educational context, code-switching is defined as the practice…

Vantage Theory (VT) and Cognitive Grammar (CG) both rely crucially on the cognitive phenomenon of categorization as well as on the semantic/pragmatic notion of participant point of view in making claims about human linguistic production and perception. In this paper these commonalities of commitment are explored, as are the differences in the ways…

This study analyses a case of parallel grammaticalization in five genetically related languages, with a lexical source meaning "person" developing to a grammatical function of reflexive marking. Although not typologically unusual, this case is special because, in spite of the overall parallelism, the resulting reflexive markers are located in…

The first part of this paper provides a description and discussion of the major aspects of the process of relativization in Israeli Hebrew: (a) the use of a subordinating relative particle which in most cases can neither be deleted nor replaced and which is prefixed to the first constituent of the embedded S; (b) the obligatory pronominalization…

A revival of interest in the Slavic participles "-nt-" and "-us-," particularly in their development into gerunds, prompts the author to question whether the forms are to be regarded as nominal or verbal forms in their linguistic classification. The historical problem of linguistic interference in the evolution of the Slavic "-nt-" and "-us-"…

Presents a cross-linguistic survey showing that personal pronouns with first person "n" and second person "m" have an extensive yet restricted geographical range limited to the western Americas. Findings indicate that the "n:m" pronouns reflect a single, datable, noninitial, and nonterminal phase in the settlement of…

Derivations of the term "gerund" are examined as they pertain to native English speakers learning French, Italian, and/or Spanish. The form's etymology is chronicled from Latin, and its current usage in student textbooks in the three languages is examined. A solution to the terminological confusion surrounding the term is proposed. (41…

This book begins with a consideration of the relation between language as representation and the reality that is represented. The object of this study is the semantic function of syntactical relations in French and Spanish, but other languages are also used for purposes of comparison. Three principal diatheses are revealed: objective, subjective,…

An analysis of the evolution of reflexive verbs focuses on reflexive to middle voice development in two-form middle systems, which include Russian, Old Norse, Turkish, and Hungarian. The diachronic processes associated with these systems are examined. The changes in the languages over time represent a gradual change in the semantics of the…

The reflexes of the proto-Bantu noun class prefixes of the form "mu-,""mi-," and "ma-" are compared in 84 Bantu languages. The hypotheses that syllabic nasals arise preferably from sequences of m + rounded high vowel, rather than m + unrounded high vowel, are tested against the data. The approach is an example of intragenetic comparison discussed…