Sentential form and prosodic structure of Catalan / by Ingo Feldhausen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feldhausen, Ingo.

Series:

Linguistik aktuell ; Bd. 168.

Linguistik aktuell/linguistics today, 0166-0829 ; 168

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Catalan language--Sentences.

Catalan language.

Catalan language--Syntax.

Catalan language--Grammar.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This monograph presents an experimental and theoretical inquiry into the role of sentential form and variation in the prosodic structure of Catalan. The empirical section examines intonational phrasing across sentence forms, including SVO structures with either nominal or sentential objects and structures involving clitic left- and right-dislocations. The results show variation in phrasing that depends on syntactic factors and non-syntactic factors such as topic-hood and prosodic binarity. The theoretical section uses Stochastic Optimality Theory to model the variation and frequency distributions associated with the observed prosodic patterns. Various syntactic and non-syntactic factors are represented by alignment constraints, which play a major role in Catalan, and by constraints that limit size and those that limit the overall amount of prosodic structure. This study represents a combined approach to prosody and syntax and is of particular relevance for theoretical and empirical linguists interested in the relationship between these domains both in Catalan and other languages.

Contents:

Sentential Form and Prosodic Structure of Catalan

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Conventions for Glosses and Translations

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. Foundations and basic assumptions

1.1.1 Central Catalan

1.1.2 Clitic left- and clitic right-dislocations in Catalan

1.1.3 Information structure

1.1.4.1 Preverbal subjects are in an A-position

1.1.4.2 All-new contexts

1.1.4.3 Islandhood

1.1.4.4 Subjects Present for Disambiguation

1.1.4.5 Non-referential QPs as preverbal subjects

1.1.4.6 Unambiguous wide scope

1.1.4. Preverbal subjects are not dislocated

1.2. Outline of the empirical results and their theoretical analysis

Chapter 2. Fundamental aspects of Catalan intonation

2.1. Foundations of the theoretical model

2.1.1 The autosegmental-metrical (AM) model

2.1.2 The tone and break indices transcription system (ToBI)

2.2. The tone and break indices transcription system for Catalan

2.2.1 Pitch accents in Catalan

2.2.2 Suprasegmental prosodic levels in Catalan

2.3. Boundary cues in Catalan

2.3.1 Boundary cues in romance languages

2.3.2 The continuation rise

2.3.3 The sustained pitch

2.3.4 Preboundary lengthening

2.3.5 Pauses

2.3.6 Complex boundary tones

2.3.7 Organization of boundary cues

2.4. Assumptions on phonological inventory of Catalan

Chapter 3. Phrasing patterns in Catalan SVO structures

3.1. Background and experiment hypothesis

3.1.1 Detailed background of Catalan phrasing patterns

3.1.2 The hypotheses

3.2. General outline of the experiments

3.3. Experiments on simple and complex SVO phrasing

3.3.1 Specific experiment design

3.3.2 Results - boundary cues

3.3.3 Results - phrasing patterns

3.3.3.1 The simple SVO experiment

3.3.3.2 Discussion.

3.3.3.3 The complex SVO experiment

3.3.3.4 Discussion

3.3.4 Conclusion

3.4. An analysis for SVO and embedded SVO phrasing

3.4.1 Optimality-theoretic constraints of the Syntax-Prosody interface

3.4.2 Accounting for simple SVO structures in Catalan

3.4.2.1 The relevant constraints

3.4.2.2 Motivation for the constraint hierarchy

3.4.2.3 Prieto's (2005) OT tables for SVO phrasing

3.4.2.4 Modifications of Prieto's approach to SVO phrasing

3.4.3 Accounting for complex SVO structures in Catalan

3.4.3.1 The relevant constraints and their rankings

3.4.3.1.1 Reconciling long objects and Max-Bin-End - a tentative approach

3.4.3.2 Optionality in Optimality Theory

3.4.3.3 Stochastic Optimality Theory

3.4.3.4 Applying Stochastic Optimality Theory to the phrasing of complex sentences

3.4.3.5 Conclusion

Chapter 4. Syntactic aspects of Catalan clitic left- and clitic right-dislocation

4.1. Syntactic aspects of clitic left-dislocations (CLLD) and clitic right-dislocations (CLRD)

4.1.1 Three syntactic approaches to CLLD and CLRD

4.1.2 CLLD and CLRD asymmetries

4.1.2.1 Licensing of negative words

4.1.2.2 Binding

4.1.2.3 Obviation effects

4.1.2.3.1 A theoretical approach to the influence of CLLD on obviation

4.1.3 Conclusion

Chapter 5. Prosodic phrasing of Catalan clitic left- and clitic right-dislocation

5.1. Background

5.2. The hypotheses

5.3. The experiment

5.4. Results

5.4.1 Results

5.4.2 Summary

5.4.3 Discussion

5.5. A theoretical approach to Catalan dislocation structures

5.5.1 Two further constraints: align-top,R and align-vp,r

5.5.2 The constraint hierarchy

5.6. Conclusion

Chapter 6. Left-dislocations and preverbal subjects

6.1. The hypotheses

6.2. The experiment

6.3. Results

6.4. Discussion and conclusion.

Chapter 7. Conclusion and outlook

References

Appendices

Appendix A - Simple SVO Experiment (i.e. Part 1. a)

A-1 Data (12 Sentences)

A-2 Results

Appendix B - Complex SVO Experiment (i.e. Part 1. b)

B-1 Data (12 Sentences)

B-2 Results

Appendix C - CLLD &amp

CLRD Experiment

C-1 Data

C-2 Results

CLRD

Appendix D - CLLD vs. S Experiment (i.e. Part 1. c)

D-1 Data

D-2 Results

S NEW

Index

The series Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612904554

9781282904552

1282904558

9789027287595

9027287597

OCLC:

697613525