The properties of the Encyclopedia in Distributed Morphology: the place of semantics in a syntactic theory

• Grant number: 23/13132-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): August 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Scher
• Grantee: Marcela Nunes Costa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Distributed Morphology (Halle; Marantz, 1993; DM) is a syntactic theory to the derivation of words and larger constituents that sets aside the Lexicon as a generative component and adopts a reformulation of the Principles and Parameters (Chomsky, 1981) Grammar Architecture. The theoretical model proposes the distribution of the morphological, phonological and semantic properties contained in the Lexicon in the Principles and Parameters model in three non-generative lists, which store, respectively, the theoretical primitives - roots and morphosyntactic features -, the correspondence rules between the syntactic output and phonological representations, and non-linguistic contents. Among these lists, the third, also known as the Encyclopedia, still receives less theoretical attention and systematization in the literature to date, so that its properties and access by other components in the Architecture of Grammar are a source of theoretical discution. The objectives of this doctoral project are: (i) to determine the properties of the Encyclopedia in Distributed Morphology and (ii) to discuss the connection between the syntactic structure of linguistic objects and their interpretation, considering the structural configuration itself, as well as relations of locality present in these structures (Marantz, 2001, 2013; Arad, 2003, 2005). The empirical phenomena addressed are the suffixes that form diminutives and augmentatives in Brazilian Portuguese. Based on the semantic compositionality properties of these suffixes and the syntactic relations of structural locality that affect interpretation, we expect to provide evidences for the organization and the derivation of the meaning of complex forms in the Distributed Morphology model.