States, changes of state, and the Monotonicity
Hypothesis
Andrew
Koontz-Garboden
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Linguistics,
Stanford University,
2007
Advisor: Beth Levin
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Abstract
This dissertation examines the Monotonicity Hypothesis (MH), the widely
assumed, but rarely discussed idea that while word formation operations
can add decompositional operators to a word's lexical semantic
representation, they cannot remove them. Adopting modified versions of
Dowty's (1979) decompositional representations of states (e.g., red)
and changes into states (e.g., redden), I observe that the MH makes
two strong falsifiable predictions in this domain. First, words naming
states should never be derived from words naming changes of state, as this
would involve the deletion of a BECOME operator. Data from a number of
languages are examined and shown to bear out the prediction, with one
apparent exception. Ulwa, an endangered Misumalpan language, appears to
have words naming states derived from change of state denoting roots.
Detailed examination of Ulwa verbal and adjectival semantics and
morphosyntax based on extensive primary fieldwork shows that this is an
illusion. Given the widely held view that the semantic
representation of inchoative verbs lacks the CAUSE operator present in the
representation of causative verbs, a second strong prediction is that
inchoatives should never be derived from causatives. This is apparently
falsified by anticausativization, in which an inchoative verb is derived
from a causative verb, e.g., Spanish romper `cause to become broken'
versus romper se `become broken'. Building on Chierchia (2004), I
argue instead for a reflexivization analysis of anticausativization, showing that
it captures a wide range of facts of the phenomenon not accounted for by
alternative approaches, most notably facts showing that derived
inchoatives retain the CAUSE operator of the causatives from which they
are derived. This analysis is consistent with the MH, since it entails no
deletion of decompositional operators. Finally, I lay out several areas
for future research. Formally, the relationship of the
MH to the Principle of Compositionality remains to be clarified. Empirically, the MH makes many
falsifiable predictions beyond the domain of states and changes of state,
which suggest areas for promising future crosslinguistic investigation.
Research of both kinds will shed further light on the MH and more broadly
on the semantic nature of word formation operations.