Papers by Gregory Vondiziano
A reflex of the Proto-Austronesian (PAN) *-an, locative -an is perhaps the most consistent voice-... more A reflex of the Proto-Austronesian (PAN) *-an, locative -an is perhaps the most consistent voice-marking suffix across Austronesian languages (Ross, 2009). Blust (1996) notes that PAN *-an and all its modern reflexes can hardly be called a locative marker by any universal definition of the term. It is a semantically broad and functionally diffuse suffix that goes beyond the classic signaling of a locative relationship between the focused noun phrase (NP) and the verb. The label ‘locative’ is merely a descriptive convenience. This paper reviews in detail the morpho-syntactics of this suffix in the Falangaw dialect of Amis, paying special attention to its behavior in the main predicate, its nominalizing functions, and its participation in prepositional phrases. In so doing, we show that when manifest in the main predicate, ‘locative’ –an’s corresponding nominative argument is never a location. Rather, the vast majority of its nominative arguments are affected patients or transported themes, while a smaller percentage express instrument, target/direction, or temporal source. When the nominative argument is a true location, the main predicate must take an overtly nominalized form to account for it. Consequently, -an is better analyzed as one in a set of patient/undergoer voice markers, rather than as a marker of a separate locative voice.
Topic and comment are two words that make a frequent appearance in discussions of syntax and prag... more Topic and comment are two words that make a frequent appearance in discussions of syntax and pragmatics, since they are used by linguists to refer simultaneously to distinct, yet inter-connected syntactic and pragmatic phenomenon. Chinese is an oft-cited language in discussion of Topicality because it is a so-called ‘topic prominent’ language (Gundel & Fretheim 2004; Li & Thompson 2009) and one cannot conduct a discussion of Chinese grammar without acknowledging the central importance of the so-called ‘topic-comment’ structure. This ubiquitous structure is identifiable by a number of means, one of which is a morpho-syntactic device called a ‘topic marker’. Topic markers in Chinese are a semi-open-class category and include anything from a simple pause in speech, to particles, to nominalizations. In this paper we will be arguing that the nominalizer 'de bufen' 的部份 (DBF) ‘part’ has become a topic marker in Taiwan Mandarin thanks in part to its structural behavior, its semantic value, and the metonymic relationship entailed by the notion of ‘part’. Through observation of natural language data collected from PTT (a popular online message board in Taiwan), and Cognitive Linguistics as the guiding theoretical framework, we will detail the developments that have seen DBF move from a simple quantifier to a contrastive device, to a topic marker.
MA Thesis by Gregory Vondiziano
Modality and negation represent two notional categories that are not typically addressed together... more Modality and negation represent two notional categories that are not typically addressed together in typological linguistic studies, despite both being directly related to the propositional content of a phrase. Modality encodes the speaker’s attitudes and opinions concerning the propositional content of the utterance (Bybee et al. 1994:176), or the status of the proposition that encodes the event (Palmer 2001:1), and is traditionally thought of in terms of possibility and necessity (Lyons 1977:787). Negation, on the other hand, concerns itself primarily with the notion of a proposition’s truth value. This thesis provides a characterization of the modal system in Yami, a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Taiwan, from two angles. First, it examines the expression of modality as a coherent typological/linguistic category in Yami, employing a top-down approach to provide a general description of the semantic and morphosyntactic properties of modally-associated terms. Second, it investigates the relative scope interactions between modality and negation, detailing the morphosyntactic strategies utilized to manage variable scope relations.
The present study demonstrates that Yami employs a mixed modal system – the typological category of modality is formally expressed both via a set of modal verbs and morphosyntactically on the main verb itself. The modalities expressed on the main verb are limited to event modality, whereas those expressed through some variety of modal verb encompass both propositional and event modalities. Additionally, the modal verbs together constitute a discrete modal system, whereas the modal expression on the main verb itself are contributed from three separate morphosyntactic systems. This state of affairs points to the system of modal verbs being the more salient strategy.
Further, we show that Yami has a strict syntactic order of modal and negative elements in the VP and must rely on the modal suppletion strategy (MSS) to differentiate wide-scope negation from narrow-scope negation, classifying it as an MSS language as per de Haan’s (1997) typology. Our analysis finds that the weak modalities (possibility) have a predictable scope relation paradigm in which narrow-scope negation is expressed with an independent modal element formally scoping over a negative operator, while wide-scope negation is expressed with a semantically negative modal operator. The strong ends of the modal spectrum (necessity) are less independently formalized and consequently must resort to directly borrowing other forms. Strong deontic modality borrows primarily from weak deontic modality patterns in accordance with logical semantic equivalencies, while strong epistemic modality borrows forms from the strong assertion end of the epistemic modality continuum. Moreover, Yami may encode both strong epistemic modality and strong deontic modality using negative morphosyntax. Most notably, Yami employs double negative constructions to encode affirmative deontic necessity ‘must’ as well as affirmative deontic commissives.
Drafts by Gregory Vondiziano
In this study, I apply six diagnostic tests to Yami, a Malayo-Polynesian language of Taiwan, with... more In this study, I apply six diagnostic tests to Yami, a Malayo-Polynesian language of Taiwan, with an aim to elucidate the syntactic behavior of case-marked arguments in the clause and determine what that behavior might reveal about grammatical relations and alignment in this language. The results of these tests: agreement, relativization, raising & control, universal quantification, reflexive binding, and scope, largely conform to predictions for Philippine-type languages. Relativization, raising, control, and universal quantification all were exclusively sensitive to the NOM-argument, targeting it in all voices and showing it to be the syntactically privileged argument. Reflexive binding and scope, on the other hand, revealed split-pivot properties – these syntactic operations were shown to be sensitive to thematic role rather than grammatical relations. Scope was available only to the agent argument, which can scope over the patient argument, but never the other way around. Reflexive binding, on the other hand, is available to any argument regardless of which phrase-marking clitic appears on the antecedent NP. Typologically, results from universal quantification and reflexive binding in Yami pattern with Tagalog, in that universal quantification exclusively targets the pivot, and reflexive binding is insensitive to a core/non-core distinction. This diverges from results reported for Indonesian-type voice, in which both quantifier float and reflexive binding are sensitive to (non-)core argument status. Agreement was the only diagnostic that diverged significantly from the others, demonstrating an accusative-style pattern of agreement for co-referential pronominal clitics on the verb that suggests the existence of a grammatical subject distinct from the pivot and itself syntactically privileged with respect to the agreement. Furthermore, agreement provided direct evidence for the core-argument status of genitive agents in NAV, a result that will likely be corroborated with further testing for a core/non-core distinction.
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Papers by Gregory Vondiziano
MA Thesis by Gregory Vondiziano
The present study demonstrates that Yami employs a mixed modal system – the typological category of modality is formally expressed both via a set of modal verbs and morphosyntactically on the main verb itself. The modalities expressed on the main verb are limited to event modality, whereas those expressed through some variety of modal verb encompass both propositional and event modalities. Additionally, the modal verbs together constitute a discrete modal system, whereas the modal expression on the main verb itself are contributed from three separate morphosyntactic systems. This state of affairs points to the system of modal verbs being the more salient strategy.
Further, we show that Yami has a strict syntactic order of modal and negative elements in the VP and must rely on the modal suppletion strategy (MSS) to differentiate wide-scope negation from narrow-scope negation, classifying it as an MSS language as per de Haan’s (1997) typology. Our analysis finds that the weak modalities (possibility) have a predictable scope relation paradigm in which narrow-scope negation is expressed with an independent modal element formally scoping over a negative operator, while wide-scope negation is expressed with a semantically negative modal operator. The strong ends of the modal spectrum (necessity) are less independently formalized and consequently must resort to directly borrowing other forms. Strong deontic modality borrows primarily from weak deontic modality patterns in accordance with logical semantic equivalencies, while strong epistemic modality borrows forms from the strong assertion end of the epistemic modality continuum. Moreover, Yami may encode both strong epistemic modality and strong deontic modality using negative morphosyntax. Most notably, Yami employs double negative constructions to encode affirmative deontic necessity ‘must’ as well as affirmative deontic commissives.
Drafts by Gregory Vondiziano
The present study demonstrates that Yami employs a mixed modal system – the typological category of modality is formally expressed both via a set of modal verbs and morphosyntactically on the main verb itself. The modalities expressed on the main verb are limited to event modality, whereas those expressed through some variety of modal verb encompass both propositional and event modalities. Additionally, the modal verbs together constitute a discrete modal system, whereas the modal expression on the main verb itself are contributed from three separate morphosyntactic systems. This state of affairs points to the system of modal verbs being the more salient strategy.
Further, we show that Yami has a strict syntactic order of modal and negative elements in the VP and must rely on the modal suppletion strategy (MSS) to differentiate wide-scope negation from narrow-scope negation, classifying it as an MSS language as per de Haan’s (1997) typology. Our analysis finds that the weak modalities (possibility) have a predictable scope relation paradigm in which narrow-scope negation is expressed with an independent modal element formally scoping over a negative operator, while wide-scope negation is expressed with a semantically negative modal operator. The strong ends of the modal spectrum (necessity) are less independently formalized and consequently must resort to directly borrowing other forms. Strong deontic modality borrows primarily from weak deontic modality patterns in accordance with logical semantic equivalencies, while strong epistemic modality borrows forms from the strong assertion end of the epistemic modality continuum. Moreover, Yami may encode both strong epistemic modality and strong deontic modality using negative morphosyntax. Most notably, Yami employs double negative constructions to encode affirmative deontic necessity ‘must’ as well as affirmative deontic commissives.