Doctoral Dissertation Research: Property Concepts in Wolof

属性概念（Property concepts，PC）是一类与速度、年龄、尺寸、颜色、值等有关的静态概念。 然而，PC也可以词汇化为名词或词根，特别是在缺乏强大的形容词类别的语言中。在一系列类型多样和遗传无关的语言中，非形容词性PC词汇被发现系统地与所有格形态句法一起出现。最近有人建议，词汇类别分配，从而反映了PC词素的语义变化。刚果-刚果语的沃洛夫语将其PC术语分为名词和形容词性动词，并将所有格谓词和直接谓词策略进行了简化。在Christopher Kennedy博士的指导下，Rebekah Baglini女士将在塞内加尔进行主要的实地考察，以调查语言中的两种PC结构以及它们如何在语义上结合或分离。沃洛夫语中PC表达的几个方面将得到特别关注。特别感兴趣的是与两种类型的PC表达式相关的标量属性的解释，以及它们是否表现出类似的程度修饰语，测量短语，比较结构，和程度成就的形成。Baglini还将调查是否特定的语义子类的PC可预见地分配到一个词汇类别或另一个，并评估是否沃洛夫事实是一致的，在PC的类型学文献的概括。 该项目将采用混合的实地方法，包括启发，生产和理解任务，并收集自发的讲话。沃洛夫的发现将与理论文献中关于性质及其在模型论中的表现的长期问题联系起来。此外，该项目有助于评估语义理论对数据的代表性不足的语言日益增长的需求。该奖项也有助于培养有前途的研究生。

Property concepts (PCs) are a class of stative notions relating to speed, age, dimension, color, value, etc. PCs are consistently lexicalized as adjectives in languages which have this category. However, PCs may also be lexicalized as nouns or roots, particularly in languages which lack a robust class of adjectives. In an array of typologically diverse and genetically unrelated languages, non-adjectival PC lexemes are found to systematically surface with possessive morphosyntax. It has recently been suggested that lexical category assignment thus reflects variation in the semantics of PC lexemes. The Niger-Congo language Wolof splits its PC terms between nouns and adjectival verbs and exemplifies both possessive predication and direct predication strategies. Under the direction of Dr. Christopher Kennedy, Ms. Rebekah Baglini will conduct primary fieldwork in Senegal to investigate the two PC constructions in the language and how they pattern together or diverge semantically. Several aspects of PC expression in Wolof will be given special focus. Of particular interest is the interpretation of scalar properties associated with the two types of PC expressions, and whether they behave similarly with respect to degree modifiers, measure phrases, comparative constructions, and the formation of degree achievements. Baglini will also investigate whether particular semantic subclasses of PCs are predictably assigned to one lexical category or another and evaluate whether the Wolof facts are consistent with generalizations made in the typological literature on PCs. The project will employ a mix of field methodologies, including elicitation, production and comprehension tasks, and the collection of spontaneous speech. The findings on Wolof will be linked to longstanding questions in the theoretical literature about the nature of properties and their representation in the model theory. Moreover, this project contributes to the growing need for evaluating semantic theories against data from under-represented languages. This award also contributes to the training of a promising graduate student.