Syntax and Semantics

A comprehensive overview of the semantics and syntax of indexical shift that develops a constrained typology of the phenomenon across languages.

According to Selkirk’s (2011) “match theory”, the mapping of syntactic structure onto prosodic domains is universal. What this means is that if a language chooses to implement the relation between syntactic- or phrase-structure in the phonology, certain syntax-phonology relations should be predictable (and others not possible). This potentially produces asymmetries, as in Luganda, where a verb forms a tone phrase with what follows (e.g. an object, adjunct, right-dislocation), but not with what precedes (e.g. the subject, adverbial, left-dislocation). The purpose of my talk is to...

Despite their apparent simplicity, the structure of DPs containing
“complement” CPs (what we will call DCs) has long been obscure.
One major strand of investigation has attempted to assimilate DCs to
(close) nominal apposition, implying that N and CP form a structural
unit that then combines with D. Danish has two kinds of DCs, a bare
DC with the superficial structure [D N CP] and a prepositional DC in
which the CP is encased in a PP. Exploiting clues provided by the
allomorphy of the definite morpheme, we argue that the bare and
prepositional DCs have very...

This article examines obligatory backward resumption in Karuk (kyh; isolate), a verb-final language
of Northern California, and argues that it is the result of conflicting word-order requirements.
This conceptual analysis is further developed within the chain-resolution framework of
Landau 2006, in which resumption is the result of partial deletion. The Karuk facts indicate that
partial deletion targets spellout domains and not phases, contra van Urk 2018. Examination of two
case studies from the literature and a reinterpretation of the Dinka resumption data discussed in
...