This paper argues that control relations are primarily characterized in terms of thematic relations. The notion Primary Location, defined on the basis of thematic structures, is shown to be crucially necessary for thematically determined cases of control. It is also shown that thematically determined control has a set of properties which are not possessed by cases of control which cannot be determined thematically, and that most of them are derived from the properties of thematic relations. Further, a locality principle of control is proposed here, based on the notion Thematic Domain; and it is shown that thematic control requires the presence of a Primary Location within this local domain.

A hierarchy is here proposed involving three groups of grammatical categories. For most three-part combinations of these categories—occurring in a specific, very common structural configuration—a rule based on this hierarchy generates two linear orders. It is shown that, on the basis of various cross-linguistic studies, one of the orders so generated is the one found in most languages. The principle proposed is shown to compare favorably with other principles which purport to account for cross-linguistic generalizations about word order.

This paper argues for a more structured view of the relation between the phonological feature [voice] and its specific phonetic implementations. Under the theory of universal phonetics proposed here, the implementation of [voice] is sharply constrained: the opposition is defined relatively, as more or less voicing, along a dimension consisting of exactly three discrete, ordered categories, which can be shown to have clear articulatory and acoustic bases. While the phonological feature allows certain rule equivalences across languages to be expressed, the phonetic categories describe possible contrasts within languages, and express markedness relations.

By presenting evidence from three different sound changes within the history of English, this paper demonstrates that sound changes do not always affect the most frequent words first; on the contrary, certain changes affect the least frequent words first. A comparison of sound changes exhibiting each direction of diffusion reveals that changes affecting the most frequent words first are motivated by physiological factors, acting on surface phonetic forms; changes affecting the least frequent words first are motivated by other, non-physiological factors, acting on underlying forms. Thus a direct correlation is drawn between the direction of diffusion and the actuation of sound change.

Quechua-speaking children in Peru speak Spanish with variable word order in the VP and the NP; the alternative patterns stem from Quechua and Spanish. The younger the child, the more predominant are the V-final and N-final phrases, as in Quechua. Here we investigate whether the newly acquired Spanish V-medial clause and N-initial phrase patterns are learned in a sequence predicted by a theory of linguistic change. Several plausible alternatives that are consistent with the Trigger-Chain Theory or Universal Violation Hypothesis, and with the Universal Consistency Hypothesis (UCH) of Hawkins 1979, were checked against recorded speech by Peruvian bilingual children of three different ages. Our quantitative analysis strongly supports the UCH—in particular, Hawkins“ Universals I and III. These predict that the V-medial clause pattern emerges before the postnominal genitive, and this in turn precedes the use of the postnominal adjective. Our data also justify strengthening two of the principles in the UCH.

This paper examines the nature of the sublexical structure of signs in American Sign Language, and its relevance to various descriptive and theoretical problems. Data are presented which show that the currently accepted view of a sign as a simultaneous bundle of primes—handshape, movement, location, and orientation—is insufficient in several ways. Timing data are presented which show that the majority of signs are segmentable into movements and holds. A sequential underlying representation of signs is proposed which predicts the behavior of ‘non-contacting’ contact signs, gives a legitimate status to multiple movement signs, accounts for the three manners of movement (hold, continuous, and restrained), and allows a sequential representation of non-manual signals. It also describes in structural terms the changes which signs undergo in forming compounds, and it allows the incorporation of subject and object agreement markers into verb structure in a straightforward way. This framework allows an interesting parallel with spoken language phonology: both divide the sequential units which make up the words of the language into two major types of units. In spoken language, the units are consonants and vowels; in sign language, they are holds and movements.