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Deconstructing and Reconstructing Semantic Agreement: A Case Study of Multiple Antecedent Agreement in Indo-European

Johnson, Cynthia Amy
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417714779

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Linguistics.
Agreement is broadly defined as the systematic covariance between the properties of one element and those of another (adapted from Steele 1978: 610, via Corbett 2006: 4). Essentially, the feature values of a target (e.g. verb, adjective, pronoun) vary according to the feature values of its syntactic controller (usually, a noun/nominalization). Central to this dissertation is the observation that the controller’s features need not be purely morphosyntactic in nature (as syntactic agreement); agreement can also proceed according to the semantic properties of the controller (as semantic agreement). The context of multiple antecedent agreement, or agreement with coordinated controllers, provides a case study for understanding the limits and conditions on semantic agreement. First, one of the agreement patterns that surfaces is considered a type of semantic agreement: Resolution draws on meaning-based information of the coordinated controllers. The other agreement pattern is considered a type of syntactic agreement: Partial Agreement draws on the morphosyntactic feature values of only one controller. The primary evidence for this characterization is the fact that the distribution of these patterns conforms to the typological generalizations of the Predicate Hierarchy (Comrie 1975) and the Agreement Hierarchy (Corbett 1979, 2006). However, semantic and syntactic features affect the outcome and distribution of both strategies in direct and indirect ways. In this dissertation, I explore the role of non-formal information in the agreement process via studies of multiple antecedent agreement in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Albanian. Latin and Ancient Greek were investigated via corpus studies, while an elicitation study was undertaken in Albanian (where native speakers are available). Data from these studies suggest that while the characterization of Resolution as semantic agreement and Partial Agreement as syntactic agreement is not wrong from the point of view of the typological hierarchies, the reasoning behind this characterization is unclear, since similar semantic and syntactic factors affect the outcome and distribution of both strategies. Furthermore, the qualitative data of the corpus studies suggest that, in practice, the choice of one agreement pattern over the other is subject to contextual information, in much the same way that so-called “semantic agreement” really draws on information in the local context. On the basis of these data, I argue for a performance-based view of agreement. Under my analysis (drawing on work by Wechsler and Zlatic 2003, Corbett 2006, and Hock 2007, 2009), Resolution is actually feature assignment, while Partial Agreement falls under the category of Avoidance strategies (first discussed by Hock 2007). The exact constraints on their occurrence are cumulative of the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic information in context. This dissertation offers three primary contributions to agreement research: (1) I add to the growing body of data on multiple antecedent agreement through corpus studies in Latin and Ancient Greek and an elicitation study in Albanian; (2) I provide a performance-based view of agreement to account for the typological patterns that emerge across these lan- guages; and (3) I offer a potential source of these commonalities by exploring the historical, theoretical syntactic, and psycholinguistic accounts of agreement phenomena.
Brian Joseph (Advisor)
Andrea Sims (Committee Member)
Robert Levine (Committee Member)
Hope Dawson (Committee Member)
220 p.
Linguistics
agreement, indo-european, linguistics, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, pragmatic agreement, multiple antecedent agreement, latin, ancient greek, albanian

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Citations

  • Johnson, C. A. (2014). Deconstructing and Reconstructing Semantic Agreement: A Case Study of Multiple Antecedent Agreement in Indo-European [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417714779

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Johnson, Cynthia. Deconstructing and Reconstructing Semantic Agreement: A Case Study of Multiple Antecedent Agreement in Indo-European. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417714779.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Johnson, Cynthia. "Deconstructing and Reconstructing Semantic Agreement: A Case Study of Multiple Antecedent Agreement in Indo-European." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417714779

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1417714779
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