Latest Past Events
On projection and the shadow of [wh]
1-S-5 Green Hall 1-S-5 Green Hall, PrincetonMuch work on syntactic locality has shown that processes like wh-movement are subject to several kinds of locality restrictions. In addition to being sensitive to intervening wh-phrases, wh-movement must proceed successive cyclically through various points in the clause, and in some cases/languages, may not cross intervening arguments (see e.g. Branan and Erlewine (2022) for a […]
The role of tone in Rere topic and focus constructions
1-S-5 Green Hall 1-S-5 Green Hall, PrincetonTonal correlates of topic and focus constructions in African tone languages are often indirect, manifested as restrictions on tone spreading or tone marking on non-focused or non-topic elements. Rere (Koalib) is a Kordofanian language of Sudan that exhibits both of these characteristics. In this talk, I will show how high tone indexes topic and focus […]
Why a language may lack productive argument demotion strategies: Zenzontepec Chatino valency patterns in lexicon and discourse
Green Hall 0-S-9Languages display a range of strategies for adding or promoting arguments (e.g. causatives, applicatives) and removing or syntactically demoting them (e.g. passives, antipassives), but not all languages do these things in the same ways or to the same extent. Zenzontepec Chatino, a Zapotecan (Otomanguean) language of Mexico, displays minimal valence reducing strategies that would demote […]
