Determinacy and participant formation: De Marmore Angeli

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorDavis, Philip W.en_US
dc.creatorBaker, John Wadeen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T08:24:53Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-04T08:24:53Zen_US
dc.date.issued1994en_US
dc.description.abstractThe semantics of determiners in field data from two Philippine languages, Ilokano and Yogad, is characterized and compared. In Ilokano, this content appears as gradations along a cline of "individuation." In Yogad, the semantics represents successive degrees of "actualization." In both languages, the function of this semantics is to form and delineate participants by segregating these from the ground of quality and event and also to orient within an existing matrix of knowledge the participants thus formed. The name "determinacy" is given to this participant-forming semantics as a means of comparing it across languages. Determinacy, as exemplified in Ilokano (individuation) and Yogad (actualization), is motivated by the cognitive principle FOCUSSED--DIFFUSE. This principle is inherent in the process by which variance in focal attention organizes the continuum of the cognitive experience of an organism. Variable focal attention is the cognitive-psychological basis for determinacy and, therefore, for participant formation in language. The operation of the FOCUSSED--DIFFUSE principle in connection with focal attention outside of language is illustrated in human vision and visual perception and in sonar echolocation in bats. Because the FOCUSSED--DIFFUSE principle is a cognitive universal and is a parameter of meaning characteristic of intelligence itself, we conclude that determinacy is also a linguistic universal, i.e., that it is a constant presence in language, even in languages which lack determining forms. In proposing a cognitive motivation for determinacy, this study challenges the privileging of discourse pragmatics in recent attempts to understand the function of determiners. The analysis of the Ilokano and Yogad data shows that in these languages determiners are not involved in the management of information flow in connected discourse. The study rejects the notion of the modularity of language or of linguistic intelligence; it argues that determinacy in language cannot be adequately described apart from understanding the way in which the FOCUSSED--DIFFUSE principle operates in other cognitive domains.en_US
dc.format.extent319 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS LING. 1994 BAKERen_US
dc.identifier.citationBaker, John Wade. "Determinacy and participant formation: De Marmore Angeli." (1994) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/19087">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/19087</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/19087en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectLinguisticsen_US
dc.titleDeterminacy and participant formation: De Marmore Angelien_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentLinguisticsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
9514151.PDF
Size:
8.38 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
Collections
Rice University Theses and Dissertations