Information structure in Georgian

Thesis

In this thesis I investigate the realisation of information-structural categories in Georgian and propose novel accounts of how they are expressed syntactically and prosodically. On the basis of my findings I present a first detailed model of the relationships between syntax, prosody and information structure in Georgian in the Optimality-Theoretic and Lexical-Functional Grammar frameworks. The proposed accounts are situated within an original approach to the relationship between information structure and sentence form, according to which information-structural features cross-linguistically are reflected most closely in the association of individual words with the heads of prosodic phrases, permissible configurations of which are in addition articulated in terms of novel prominence-structural constraints. In addition to Georgian, I show that this approach is compatible with data, both from other ‘stress’ languages like English, and from ‘alignment’ languages such as French.

The accounts presented engage with a number of studies, and varying analyses, of the syntactic and prosodic reflexes of information structure in Georgian presented in recent years. Whilst the new syntactic account presented captures a range of available evidence not fully reflected in previous models, the prosodic account is based on new data from a production experiment which employs an alternative methodology to those of previous studies. In addition to supporting the compatibility of Georgian with the prominence-based approach, these indicate that ip phrase heads in Georgian associated with discourse-prominence are aligned with their right boundary, rather than with the left, as recently proposed by Féry (2013).

The proposed prominence-based account is reflected in the formal models presented, within which I accommodate both the Georgian and data from other languages. In the case of the LFG model, modifications are proposed to the architecture, including to p(rosodic)-structure to permit the representation of and reference to the heads of prosodic phrases.

Authors: Gosby, GJP

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-rjjp8rokb
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Optimality Theory; Georgian; Prominence structure; Lexical-Functional Grammar; Intonational phonology; LFG; Information structure
• Subjects: Lexical-Functional Grammar; Information structure; Intonational Phonology; Georgian language; Linguistics