A Formal Syntactic Analysis of Motion Predicates in Limonese Creole
Creators: name: Arguello, Esteban R Zuniga
Publisher: name: Purdue University Graduate School
Year: 2023
Subjects: Linguistic structures (incl. phonology, morphology and syntax)

description: Motion events have been argued to be decomposable into a subeventive structure. The aim of this dissertation is to provide a formal syntactic analysis of motion predicates in Limonese Creole, an endangered Creole language spoken in Costa Rica. Motion predicates denote a motion event in which a figure traverses a given space, with or without an endpoint (TELIC/ATELIC). On the structure of these events, Ramchand (2008, p. 39) among others, suggests that even if the event is analyzed as a single one, its syntax can contain three important subeventive components: a causing subevent, a process denoting subevent and a subevent corresponding to result state (yielding the TELIC interpretation). Contrastive analyses (especially Osei-Tutu, 2019; and Taherkhani, 2019), however, have found that a division between a TELIC and a RESULTATIVE subevent is possible as well. For encoding those different subcomponents of complex motion predicates, serial verb constructions (SVCs) have been attested in different languages, including other Pidgins and Creoles e.g., Ghanaian Student Pidgin, Jamaican Creole. However, those findings contrast with the presence of certain linking elements in Limonese Creole, conceptually related to elements like the “linker” (in terms of den Dikken, 2006). It is precisely this difference what motivates this study, since the presence of the linker an in Limonese Creole does not affect the monoeventivity of the macro-eventive structure of the motion predicate as defined by Bohnemeyer et al. (2007, p. 502). This dissertation proposes that subevents are assembled within the motion event in a layered complement structure (Larson 1991; Benedicto et al., 2020), and that the linker an does not involve coordination, rather it marks the structural border between subeventive components. <br> CHAPTER 1 introduces the main objective of this project: to provide a formal syntactic analysis of motion predicates in Limonese Creole. Then it refers to relevant issues on motion predicates, namely, a contrast between the approaches that have been used to study motion predicates. Additionally, the gap that the study fills and its contribution to the field are discussed. The study also serves the purpose of visibilizing Limonese Creole as a language and empowering its speakers. Finally, the main sociohistorical features of Limonese Creole are analyzed. <br> CHAPTER 2 outlines the hypothesized structure for motion predicates in Limonese Creole with all its subcomponents. I provide supporting evidence for the hypothesis by proving the monoeventivity of the complex predicate, the complement relation among subcomponents, and the structural connection between subevents with the LINKER that serves as boundary between subcomponents of motion predicates. <br> CHAPTER 3 describes the methodological procedures that were implemented for this study. Participants, data collection, and data analysis are described for each of the two stages from which the findings of this dissertation stem. The first stage consisted of a controlled data collection with an instrument of 175 clips with figures in motion with the participation of four speakers. This stage elicited contrasts between parameters of motion predicates. Complementarily, a second stage of qualitative data collection was conducted to look for clarification, evaluation, and validation of items previously elicited or designed during the first stage. <br> CHAPTER 4 deals with the vectorization of the trajectory, which corresponds to the PROCESS subevent. I discuss how the vectorization is represented, what elements are present within the vectorization and what elements are prioritized or discarded. Based on this information, I identified the structural conditions behind the combinations in which the subcomponents of MANNER (verbs) and PATH (verbs, particles, and prepositional phrases) are expressed within this PROCESS subcomponent, namely the operations triggered by the [_u +V] feature in v. <br> CHAPTER 5 discusses the structure of the TELIC and RESULTATIVE subcomponents within the motion predicate in Limonese Creole. Even though this dissertation claims that TELIC and RESULTATIVE are two separate subcomponents, this chapter comprises the two of them as they are intricately related. First, I define TELICITY as a compositionally determined subcomponent which brings an event to its endpoint, then I introduce the hypothesis for the TELIC subcomponent, a semi-grammaticalized VP which I name EndP. The chapter discusses the conditions for TELICITY, more specifically, an interpretation that is returned by the functional projection AspQ after being assigned range by EndP. Additionally, I analyze the role of the outer aspect in the TELIC interpretation of motion predicates. Lastly, I examine the structure of the RESULTATIVE subcomponent by defining it and contrasting it with the TELIC subcomponent. There, I present the hypothesized structure for the subcomponent and examine the positions of the RESULTATIVE projection. <br> CHAPTER 6 discusses the conclusions, contributions, and areas for future research of this project. <br>