@phdthesis{Wittenberg2016,
  author    = {Wittenberg, Eva},
  title     = {With Light Verb Constructions from Syntax to Concepts},
  publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam},
  address   = {Potsdam},
  isbn      = {978-3-86956-329-9},
  issn      = {2190-4545},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-82361},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {ii, 139},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {This dissertation uses a common grammatical phenomenon, light verb constructions (LVCs) in English and German, to investigate how syntax-semantics mapping defaults influence the relationships between language processing, representation and conceptualization. LVCs are analyzed as a phenomenon of mismatch in the argument structure. The processing implication of this mismatch are experimentally investigated, using ERPs and a dual task. Data from these experiments point to an increase in working memory. Representational questions are investigated using structural priming. Data from this study suggest that while the syntax of LVCs is not different from other structures', the semantics and mapping are represented differently. This hypothesis is tested with a new categorization paradigm, which reveals that the conceptual structure that LVC evoke differ in interesting, and predictable, ways from non-mismatching structures'.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Wierzba2017,
  author    = {Wierzba, Marta},
  title     = {Revisiting prosodic reconstruction},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-403152},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {vi, 224},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {In this thesis, I develop a theoretical implementation of prosodic reconstruction and apply it to the empirical domain of German sentences in which part of a focus or contrastive topic is fronted. Prosodic reconstruction refers to the idea that sentences involving syntactic movement show prosodic parallels with corresponding simpler structures without movement. I propose to model this recurrent observation by ordering syntax-prosody mapping before copy deletion. In order to account for the partial fronting data, the idea is extended to the mapping between prosody and information structure. This assumption helps to explain why object-initial sentences containing a broad focus or broad contrastive topic show similar prosodic and interpretative restrictions as sentences with canonical word order. The empirical adequacy of the model is tested against a set of gradient acceptability judgments.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Ramelli2015,
  author    = {Ramelli, Christian},
  title     = {Die Rheinische Verlaufsform im rheinfr{\"a}nkischen Dialekt},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-102797},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {x, 260},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Rheinischen Verlaufsform (RV) im rheinfr{\"a}nkischen Dialekt. Nach dem DUDEN handelt es sich bei der RV um eine Konstruktion, die aus dem Kopulaverb sein und einer PP mit am und nominalisiertem Infinitiv besteht und dem Ausdruck von progressivem Aspekt dient. Die vorliegenden Arbeiten zur RV besch{\"a}ftigen sich im Wesentlichen entweder mit der Auspr{\"a}gung der Konstruktion im Standarddeutschen (z.B. Reimann (1999), Krause (2002), R{\"o}del (2003), R{\"o}del (2004a), R{\"o}del (2004b), van Pottelberge (2004)) oder im Ripuarischen (z.B. Andersson (1989), Bhatt \& Schmidt (1993)) und kommen zu unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen bez{\"u}glich der Verwendungsm{\"o}glichkeiten und des Aufbaus der Konstruktion, insbesondere des Status des Infinitivs in der Verlaufsform. Hauptziel dieser Arbeit ist es, zu zeigen, dass sich die Grammatikalisierung der Verlaufsform von der im DUDEN beschriebenen Konstruktion zu einer analytischen Verbform entlang eines festen Grammatikalisierungspfades vollzieht und die entsprechenden Teilschritte bei der Entwicklung zu einer analytischen Verbform herauszuarbeiten. Auf dieser Grundlage wird in der Arbeit dargestellt, wie sich mittels eines geeigneten Sets an Indikatoren der Grammatikalisierungsgrad der Verlaufsform in einem Dialektraum oder einem diatopischen Register konkret feststellen l{\"a}sst.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Pauly2013,
  author    = {Pauly, Dennis},
  title     = {Grenzf{\"a}lle der Subordination : Merkmale, Empirie und Theorie abh{\"a}ngiger Nebens{\"a}tze},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-70275},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Gegenstand dieser Arbeit sind sog. nicht-kanonische bzw. unintegrierte Nebens{\"a}tze. Diese Nebens{\"a}tze zeichnen sich dadurch aus, dass sie sich mittels g{\"a}ngiger Kriterien (Satzgliedstatus, Verbletztstellung) nicht klar als koordiniert oder subordiniert beschreiben lassen. Das Ph{\"a}nomen nicht-kanonischer Nebens{\"a}tze ist ein Thema, welches in der Sprachwissenschaft generell seit den sp{\"a}ten Siebzigern (Davison 1979) diskutiert wird und sp{\"a}testens mit Fabricius-Hansen (1992) auch innerhalb der germanistischen Linguistik angekommen ist. Ein viel beachteter Komplex ist hierbei - neben der reinen Identifizierung nicht-kanonischer Satzgef{\"u}ge - meist auch die Erstellung einer Klassifikation zur Erfassung zumindest einiger nicht-kanonischer Gef{\"u}ge, wie dies etwa bei Fabricius-Hansen (1992) und Reis (1997) zu sehen ist. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, eine exhaustive Klassifikation der angesprochenen Nebensatztypen vorzunehmen. Dazu werden zun{\"a}chst - unter Zuhilfenahme von Korpusdaten - alle potentiellen Subordinationsmerkmale genauer untersucht, da die meisten bisherigen Studien zu diesem Thema die stets gleichen Merkmale als gegeben voraussetzen. Dabei wird sich herausstellen, dass nur eine kleine Anzahl von Merkmalen sich wirklich zweifelsfrei dazu eignet, Aufschluss {\"u}ber die Satzverkn{\"u}pfungsqualit{\"a}t zu geben. Die anschließend aufgestellte Taxonomie deutscher Nebens{\"a}tze wird schließlich einzig mit der Postulierung einer nicht-kanonischen Nebensatzklasse auskommen. Sie ist dar{\"u}ber hinaus auch in der Lage, die zahlreich vorkommenden Ausnahmef{\"a}lle zu erfassen. Dies heißt konkret, dass auch etwaige Nebens{\"a}tze, die sich aufgrund bestimmter Eigenschaften teilweise idiosynkratisch verhalten, einfach in die vorgeschlagene Klassifikation {\"u}bernommen werden k{\"o}nnen. In diesem Zuge werde ich weiterhin zeigen, wie eine Nebensatzklassifikation auch sog. sekund{\"a}ren Subordinationsmerkmalen gerecht werden kann, obwohl diese sich hinsichtlich der einzelnen Nebensatzklassen nicht einheitlich verhalten. Schließlich werde ich eine theoretische Modellierung der zuvor postulierten Taxonomie vornehmen, die auf Basis der HPSG mittels Merkmalsvererbung alle m{\"o}glichen Nebensatztypen zu erfassen imstande ist.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Jovanovic2018,
  author    = {Jovanovic, Nenad},
  title     = {The comprehension of the passive voice by different populations and the effects of structural priming on this process},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-47590},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-475900},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {viii, 164},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {This thesis investigates the comprehension of the passive voice in three distinct populations. First, the comprehension of passives by adult German speakers was studied, followed by an examination of how German-speaking children comprehend the structure. Finally, bilingual Mandarin-English speakers were tested on their comprehension of the passive voice in English, which is their L2. An integral part of testing the comprehension in all three populations is the use of structural priming. In each of the three distinct parts of the research, structural priming was used for a specific reason. In the study involving adult German speakers, productive and receptive structural priming was directly compared. The goal was to see the effect the two priming modalities have on language comprehension. In the study on German-acquiring children, structural priming was an important tool in answering the question regarding the delayed acquisition of the passive voice. Finally, in the study on the bilingual population, cross-linguistic priming was used to investigate the importance of word order in the priming effect, since Mandarin and English have different word orders in passive voice sentences.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Herrmann2013,
  author    = {Herrmann, Heike},
  title     = {Zum Erwerb syntaktischer Aspekte von positiven und negativen W-Fragen im unauff{\"a}lligen und auff{\"a}lligen Spracherwerb des Deutschen},
  publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam},
  address   = {Potsdam},
  isbn      = {978-3-86956-293-3},
  issn      = {1869-3830},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-70606},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {362},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Der W-Fragen-Erwerb stellt einen Teilbereich der kindlichen Syntaxentwicklung dar, die sich maßgeblich innerhalb der ersten drei Lebensjahre eines Kindes vollzieht. Eine wesentliche Rolle spielen dabei zwei Bewegungsoperationen, die sich auf die Position des Interrogativpronomens an die erste Stelle der W-Frage sowie die Position des Verbs an die zweite Stelle beziehen. In drei Studien wurde einerseits untersucht, ob deutschsprachige Kinder, die noch keine W-Fragen produzieren k{\"o}nnen, in der Lage sind, grammatische von ungrammatischen W-Fragen zu unterscheiden und andererseits, welche Leistungen sprachunauff{\"a}llige und sprachauff{\"a}llige deutschsprachige Kinder beim Verstehen und Korrigieren unterschiedlich komplexer W-Fragen (positive und negative W-Fragen) zeigen. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf ein fr{\"u}hes syntaktisches Wissen {\"u}ber W-Fragen im Spracherwerb hin und st{\"u}tzen damit die Annahme einer Kontinuit{\"a}t der kindlichen Grammatik zur Standardsprache. Auch scheinen sprachauff{\"a}llige Kinder sich beim Erwerb von W-Fragen nicht qualitativ von sprachgesunden Kindern zu unterscheiden, sondern W-Fragen lediglich sp{\"a}ter korrekt umzusetzen. In beiden Populationen konnte ein syntaktischer {\"O}konomieeffekt beobachtet werden, der f{\"u}r eine sp{\"a}tere Umsetzung der Verbbewegung im Vergleich zur Bewegung des W-Elementes spricht.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Harding2016,
  author    = {Harding, Eleanor Elizabeth},
  title     = {Neurocognitive entrainment to meter influences syntactic comprehension in music and language},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-102258},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {vi, 318},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Meter and syntax have overlapping elements in music and speech domains, and individual differences have been documented in both meter perception and syntactic comprehension paradigms. Previous evidence insinuated but never fully explored the relationship that metrical structure has to syntactic comprehension, the comparability of these processes across music and language domains, and the respective role of individual differences. This dissertation aimed to investigate neurocognitive entrainment to meter in music and language, the impact that neurocognitive entrainment had on syntactic comprehension, and whether individual differences in musical expertise, temporal perception and working memory played a role during these processes. A theoretical framework was developed, which linked neural entrainment, cognitive entrainment, and syntactic comprehension while detailing previously documented effects of individual differences on meter perception and syntactic comprehension. The framework was developed in both music and language domains and was tested using behavioral and EEG methods across three studies (seven experiments). In order to satisfy empirical evaluation of neurocognitive entrainment and syntactic aspects of the framework, original melodies and sentences were composed. Each item had four permutations: regular and irregular metricality, based on the hierarchical organization of strong and weak notes and syllables, and preferred and non-preferred syntax, based on structurally alternate endings. The framework predicted — for both music and language domains — greater neurocognitive entrainment in regular compared to irregular metricality conditions, and accordingly, better syntactic integration in regular compared to irregular metricality conditions. Individual differences among participants were expected for both entrainment and syntactic processes. Altogether, the dissertation was able to support a holistic account of neurocognitive entrainment to musical meter and its subsequent influence on syntactic integration of melodies, with musician participants. The theoretical predictions were not upheld in the language domain with musician participants, but initial behavioral evidence in combination with previous EEG evidence suggest that perhaps non-musician language EEG data would support the framework's predictions. Musicians' deviation from hypothesized results in the language domain were suspected to reflect heightened perception of acoustic features stemming from musical training, which caused current 'overly' regular stimuli to distract the cognitive system. The individual-differences approach was vindicated by the surfacing of two factors scores, Verbal Working Memory and Time and Pitch Discrimination, which in turn correlated with multiple experimental data across the three studies.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Glikman2009,
  author    = {Glikman, Julie},
  title     = {Parataxe et subordination en ancien fran{\c{c}}ais},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-56784},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Parataxe et subordination, ces deux termes, parfois antith{\´e}tiques, sont probl{\´e}matiques du fait m{\^e}me de leur extr{\^e}me polys{\´e}mie. C'est de cette ambigu{\"i}t{\´e} que na{\^i}t l'objet d'{\´e}tude, les constructions asynd{\´e}tiques, au statut incertain entre int{\´e}gration et ind{\´e}pendance. Dans cette th{\`e}se, nous proposons de r{\´e}interroger ce ph{\´e}nom{\`e}ne ancien et d{\´e}j{\`a} bien connu en ancien fran{\c{c}}ais, en le mettant en regard des remises en question et avanc{\´e}es des recherches actuelles sur le sujet. Pour cela, il nous faut tout d'abord poser une d{\´e}finition de ce qu'est la subordination. Nous montrons ensuite que les constructions asynd{\´e}tiques sont bien des cas de subordination. Cette th{\`e}se {\´e}tablit enfin que ce ph{\´e}nom{\`e}ne constitue, en ancien fran{\c{c}}ais du moins, une variante libre en syntaxe. Sa r{\´e}partition et sa pr{\´e}sence dans les textes a cependant tr{\`e}s t{\^o}t diminu{\´e}, mais l'existence de ph{\´e}nom{\`e}nes parall{\`e}les en fran{\c{c}}ais moderne, tout comme d'autres indices, nous permettent de faire l'hypoth{\`e}se que cette {\´e}volution tient d'une alternance oral / {\´e}crit. Cette th{\`e}se montre ainsi que les probl{\`e}mes, comme les enjeux, ne diff{\`e}rent finalement pas, quel que soit l'{\´e}tat de langue et que la parataxe constitue bien une construction dans le syst{\`e}me de la langue.},
  language  = {fr}
}
@phdthesis{Gerth2015,
  author    = {Gerth, Sabrina},
  title     = {Memory limitations in sentence comprehension},
  isbn      = {978-3-86956-321-3},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-71554},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xviii, 157},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {This dissertation addresses the question of how linguistic structures can be represented in working memory. We propose a memory-based computational model that derives offline and online complexity profiles in terms of a top-down parser for minimalist grammars (Stabler, 2011). The complexity metric reflects the amount of time an item is stored in memory. The presented architecture links grammatical representations stored in memory directly to the cognitive behavior by deriving predictions about sentence processing difficulty. Results from five different sentence comprehension experiments were used to evaluate the model's assumptions about memory limitations. The predictions of the complexity metric were compared to the locality (integration and storage) cost metric of Dependency Locality Theory (Gibson, 2000). Both metrics make comparable offline and online predictions for four of the five phenomena. The key difference between the two metrics is that the proposed complexity metric accounts for the structural complexity of intervening material. In contrast, DLT's integration cost metric considers the number of discourse referents, not the syntactic structural complexity. We conclude that the syntactic analysis plays a significant role in memory requirements of parsing. An incremental top-down parser based on a grammar formalism easily computes offline and online complexity profiles, which can be used to derive predictions about sentence processing difficulty.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Engels2004,
  author    = {Engels, Eva},
  title     = {Adverb placement : an optimality theoretic approach},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-2453},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2004},
  abstract  = {Adverb positioning is guided by syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic considerations and is subject to cross-linguistic as well as language-specific variation. The goal of the thesis is to identify the factors that determine adverb placement in general (Part I) as well as in constructions in which the adverb's sister constituent is deprived of its phonetic material by movement or ellipsis (gap constructions, Part II) and to provide an Optimality Theoretic approach to the contrasts in the effects of these factors on the distribution of adverbs in English, French, and German. In Optimality Theory (Prince \& Smolensky 1993), grammaticality is defined as optimal satisfaction of a hierarchy of violable constraints: for a given input, a set of output candidates are produced out of which that candidate is selected as grammatical output which optimally satisfies the constraint hierarchy. Since grammaticality crucially relies on the hierarchic relations of the constraints, cross-linguistic variation can be traced back to differences in the language-specific constraint rankings. Part I shows how diverse phenomena of adverb placement can be captured by corresponding constraints and their relative rankings: - contrasts in the linearization of adverbs and verbs/auxiliaries in English and French - verb placement in German and the filling of the prefield position - placement of focus-sensitive adverbs - fronting of topical arguments and adverbs Part II extends the analysis to a particular phenomenon of adverb positioning: the avoidance of adverb attachment to a phonetically empty constituent (gap). English and French are similar in that the acceptability of pre-gap adverb placement depends on the type of adverb, its scope, and the syntactic construction (English: wh-movement vs. topicalization / VP Fronting / VP Ellipsis, inverted vs. non-inverted clauses; French: CLLD vs. Cleft, simple vs. periphrastic tense). Yet, the two languages differ in which strategies a specific type of adverb may pursue to escape placement in front of a certain type of gap. In contrast to English and French, placement of an adverb in front of a gap never gives rise to ungrammaticality in German. Rather, word ordering has to obey the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic principles discussed in Part I; whether or not it results in adverb attachment to a phonetically empty constituent seems to be irrelevant: though constraints are active in every language, the emergence of a visible effect of their requirements in a given language depends on their relative ranking. The complex interaction of the diverse factors as well as their divergent effects on adverb placement in the various languages are accounted for by the universal constraints and their language-specific hierarchic relations in the OT framework.},
  subject      = {Adverb},
  language  = {en}
}