http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7829 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47830 Segmental alternations and metrical theory Vaysman, Olga This dissertation focuses on phonological alternations that are influenced or constrained by word-internal prosody, i.e. prominence and foot structure, and what these alternations can tell us about metrical theory. Detailed case studies of several cases of prosody sensitive segmental alternations, as well as a survey of such phenomena mentioned in the literature were the empirical basis for this study. I have offered an empirically motivated proposal that constituency and prominence have to be separate entities in the grammar, since some segmental alternations cannot be accounted for without reference to foot boundaries, while others require reference to prominence. The data also shows that there are languages with mismatches between stress assignment pattern and foot structure. Based on the empirical data that prosody-sensitive alternations provide, I develop the formal proposal of representation of prominence and foot structure and their interaction. Prominence is represented by gridmarks on an autosegmental tier, while foot structure is not built on the gridmarks, but is a function of syllables grouped into higher-level constituents. I propose that the relationship between foot structure and prominence should be mediated by violable constraints relating the two entities. I call them Prominence Alignment constraints. Mismatches between foot structure and prominence assignment in a given language are caused, under the present theory, when one of the constraints that refer to prominence but not to foot structure outranks a Prominence Alignment constraint. The factorial typology generated by such ranking is substantiated by the case studies throughout this dissertation. I argue that the model developed in this dissertation generates all types of interaction between foot structure and prominence attested and does not generate unattested patterns. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-268). Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47829 Partial belief and expert testimony Briggs, Rachael (Rachael Amy) My dissertation investigates two questions from within a partial belief framework: First, when and how should deference to experts or other information sources be qualified? Second, how closely is epistemology related to other philosophical fields, such as metaphysics, ethics, and decision theory? Chapter 1 discusses David Lewis's "Big Bad Bug", an argument for the conclusion that the Principal Principle-the thesis that one's credence in a proposition A should equal one's expectation of A's chance, provided one has no inadmissible information-is incompatible with Humean Supervenience-the thesis that that laws of nature, dispositions, and objective chances supervene on the distribution of categorical properties in the world (past, present, and future). I map out the logical structure of the Big Bad Bug, survey a range of possible responses to it, and argue that none of the responses are very appealing. Chapter 2 discusses Bas van Fraassen's Reflection principle-the thesis that one's current credence in a proposition A should equal one's expected future credence in A. Van Fraassen has formulated a diachronic Dutch book argument for Reflection, but other authors cite counterexamples to Reflection that appear to undermine the credibility of diachronic Dutch books. I argue that a suitably qualified version of Reflection gets around the counterexamples. I distinguish between Dutch books that reveal incoherence-like the diachronic Dutch book for conditionalization-and Dutch books that reveal a type of problem I call selfdoubt. I argue that violating Reflection is a type of self-doubt rather than a type of incoherence. (cont.) Chapter 3 argues that the halfer and thirder solutions to Adam Elga's Sleeping Beauty problem correspond to two more general approaches to de se information. Which approach is right depends on which approach to decision theory is right. I use Dutch books and scoring rules to argue that causal decision theorists should favor the approach that corresponds to thirding, while evidential decision theorists should favor the approach that corresponds to halfing. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. [83]-86). Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37417 Syntax and discourse in the acquisition of adjunct control Adler, Allison Nicole (cont.) I suggest that the control principles are intact, and that a separate aspect of grammar is responsible for these non-adult interpretations. I argue that adjunct attachment height, which is crucial to determining what type of control will obtain in the adult grammar, must be learned from the input and exhibits gradual development. If the child has failed to embed an adjunct clause at a sufficiently low level (e.g., within the VP), the null subject will fall into the domain of discourse control rather than syntactic control. If these claims are correct, we expect children to show adult-like control in adjuncts, albeit contingent upon the adjunct type. Three experiments were conducted to test these predictions. We find correlations between non-adult control and non-adult pronoun interpretation, both argued to be due to the misattachment of the adjunct clause. Children's interpretations of PRO in misattached adjuncts are also similar to those in true discourse control contexts, as expected. This dissertation is a study of null subjects in adjunct clauses in English. The goal is twofold: to establish a comprehensive theory of control in adjuncts, and to utilize this theory to understand the adjunct control interpretations of children aged 3-6. The theoretical basis of this work is Landau (2000, 2001), who characterizes the complement control mechanism as a syntactic Agree relation (Chomsky 1995, et seq.). I argue that the same mechanism governs control into low-attaching adjuncts (like before, after, while and without) as well. High-attaching adjuncts and gerund subjects, on the other hand, are subject to discourse-governed control rather than the syntactic Agree relation. I argue that the topic of the sentence is the controller in these cases. This theory makes certain predictions for acquisition. We expect control in verb complements and low-attaching adjuncts to develop at the same age, given that they are governed by the same mechanism. Discourse-governed control, on the other hand, is predicted to develop much later in childhood. However, many researchers have observed that control in some low-attaching adjuncts may be delayed until age 5, beyond the age at which children master complement control. Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-219). Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2006. Sat, 29 Oct 2005 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45956 Non-specific objects in the pseudopassive : the syntax and semantics of English pseudo-incorporated pseudopassives Mills, Jillian Louise This thesis introduces a special form of pseudopassive that differs from previously discussed forms in that it includes a direct object adjacent to the verb. It is shown that the direct object position in this construction is restricted to NPs that lack D(eterminer)-level projections. As a result, the direct object can only receive a non-specific interpretation, resists certain types of modification, extraction, and scope interactions. Due to its lack of D-level, I argue, the direct object also cannot check the EPP feature on T and therefore cannot raise to subject of the passive sentence. T, then, must probe instead into the PP, agreeing with the PP-object and raising it to its specifier. I posit that the syntactic machinery which allows pseudopassivization is the availability in English of selecting prepositions from the lexicon that are unvalued for tense - as such, these prepositions must depend on the c-commanding verb to value their tense features and in turn assign case to their objects. When the verb itself is unvalued for tense, the PP's nominal object must raise to a higher project to value its tense features (i.e., to be case-licensed); this is the situation in passives, namely in pseudopassives. The solution I argue for draws heavily from the recent research and framework of Pesetsky & Torrego (2004, 2006, 2007). On the semantic side, the direct objects in these pseudopassives are compared to similarly behaving non-specific nominals in Hindi, Chol, Tongan, Inuktitut, Nez Perce, among others (Dayal 2003, Coon to appear, Ball 2005, Wharram 2003, Deal 2007). The researchers who identified such nominals in these languages have referred to them as pseudo-incorporated, and claim that pseudo-incorporated NPs are interpreted not as individuals (type e) but as properties (type <et>). Following their lead, I have coined the term pseudo-incorporated pseudopassive (PIPP) for the special form of pseudopassive that includes these reduced, non-specific direct objects. In order to semantically combine the passive predicate with these non-specific propertytype arguments, I adopt Wharram (2003) and Deal's (2007) proposal for a morpheme, ANTIP, that adjoins to the verb root and yields a property-taking function in place of an individual-taking one. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2008. "September 2008." Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-57). Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:58:59 GMT