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*ABA syncretism patterns in pronominal morphology

Middleton, Hannah Jane; (2020) *ABA syncretism patterns in pronominal morphology. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

Syncretism patterns in strong free-standing pronominal forms (specifically anaphors, diaphors, and pronouns) show that they share an underlying functional structure. Based on a new typology of 80 languages, I argue for a hierarchical structure such that diaphors contain pronouns, and anaphors contain diaphors. Each layer of the structure introduces a functional head which places an additional restriction on the antecedent of the pronominal form. The proposed structure derives the fact that of five logically possible patterns of syncretism, only four are attested. I argue further that morphological variation in the realisation of Strict and Sloppy interpretations of anaphors and diaphors can be captured if the features A and D are optionally allowed to drop in the interpretation of alternatives (Sauerland 2013), and that morphological variation in the exponence of anaphors, diaphors and pronouns in languages such as Peranakan Javanese of Semarang can be captured if the notion of Optional Impoverishment is adopted from Nevins & Parrott 2010. Finally, I consider two analyses of pseudo-ABA patterns of syncretism, and argue that only the simple analysis is compatible with the broader analysis of the morphology and morphological behaviour of pronominal forms that I propose in this thesis. In the simple analysis, A and D are not cyclic nodes, and the pronominal tree spells out when it merges with K(ase) (or some higher node). Pseudo-ABA patterns arise when a spanned exponent for [A [D]] and an exponent for P together spell out more of the pronominal structure than any other combination of exponents. The alternative analysis, in which A and D are cyclic nodes, is incompatible with the analysis of variable exponence found in pronominal forms.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Qualification: Ph.D
Title: *ABA syncretism patterns in pronominal morphology
Event: UCL (University College London)
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
Keywords: Morphology, ABA syncretism patterns, pronominal morphology
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10105591
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