A Syntactic Approach of Tenselessness and INFL in Languages

• Main Author: Ochoa, Dominique
• Other Authors: Medeiros, David, Hirrel, Laura, Saltzman, Moira
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: California State University, Northridge 2024
• Subjects: Dissertations; Academic > CSUN > Linguistics; case; Kalallisut Greenlandic; Tenselessness; Yucatec Maya; INFL; tense; Ritter and Wiltschko; greenlandic; kalaallisut
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12680/1z40m206j

[ABSTRACT ONLY; NO FULL TEXT] This paper investigates the syntax of tenselessness, the functional category INFL, apply Ritter and Wiltschko's Parametric Substantiation Hypothesis to Yucatec Maya and Kalaallisut Greenlandic, and the connection between tense and case. A language syntactic structure has a system for encoding temporal information by referring to an event and its relative time. In the field of syntax, tenseless languages refer to an event and its relative time without the use of tense markings and inflectional tense. For instance, English is a tensed language that utilizes tense markings and inflectional tense, like the -ed ending in walked, talked, and called. On the other hand, the syntactic structure of a tenseless language may encode temporal information with grammatical aspect, mood, and affixes. It's important to differentiate the encoding of temporal information of tensed and tenseless languages because of the role in universal grammar. A universal hypothesis is proposed by Ritter and Wiltschko: The Parametric Substantiation Hypothesis. The hypothesis claims that the syntactical functional category, INFL (inflection), is a universal function that can mark tense, location, and person. They claim that INFL can universally mark for three different purposes, which can ultimately be applied to other tenseless languages. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Ritter and Wiltschko's hypothesis, their work on tenseless languages Halkomelem Salish and Blackfoot Algonquian, and apply it to two additional tenseless languages, Yucatec Maya and Kalallisut Greenlandic. Furthermore, I briefly look into the connection between tense and case, how tense is involved in nominative case marking, and how arguments are licensed in Yucatec Maya and Kalallisut Greenlandic. Methodology consists of Ritter and Wiltschko's diagnostic criteria for tense, location, and person marking, and apply the criteria to additional research data on Yucatec Maya and Kalallisut Greenlandic. Because INFL marks for tense, location, and ...