Talk by Nelli Kerezova (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium

We are happy to announce a talk by Nelli Kerezova (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: November 20, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "Indefinite null objects in European Portuguese” Abstract: Indefinite null objects in European Portuguese The work of Keller and Lapata (1998) is fundamental for the discussion of indefinite null objects. They argue that languages like Greek permit object omission when the omitted objects take a referent with a kind interpretation and are not anaphorically linked to it. Their framework introduces a rule for such languages: an object pronoun must be overt when introducing an object-anaphor but can be omitted when introducing a kind-anaphor. Furthermore, it predicts that certain languages may exhibit the reverse pattern to Greek, where the object pronoun is overt when introducing a kind-anaphor and can be omitted when introducing an object-anaphor. Brazilian Portuguese aligns with this pattern, providing empirical support for Keller and Lapata's theory. However, European Portuguese...
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Talk by Andrew Murphy (Universität Potsdam) in the Syntax Colloquium

We are happy to announce a talk by Andrew Murphy (Universität Potsdam) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: November 13, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "Case-Conditioned Allomorphy in Bidhaawyeet” Abstract: Case-Conditioned Allomorphy in Bidhaawyeet Much previous work on contextual allomorphy has focused on the question of locality: How structurally distant may the target and trigger of a 'special form' (or allomorph) be? A claim that emerges from Bobaljik's (2012) seminal study of suppletion in comparative constructions is that the complex word (maximal X0) is the delimiting domain for allomorphy. This is motivated by the absence of root suppletion in periphrastic comparatives. This claim has proven controversial, however, as it has been argued that this domain is insufficient for allomorphy that is apparently conditioned by an argument (Toosarvandani 2016; Bobaljik & Harley 2017; Weisser 2019). In this talk, we present novel data from the Cushitic language Bidhaawyeet (also known as Beja), spoken in Sudan, Egypt and...
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Talk by Anke Himmelreich (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium

We are happy to announce a talk by Anke Himmelreich (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: October 23, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: A cross-linguistic study on the structure of disjunction   Abstract: In this talk, I will present ideas and an outline of my planned project on the structure of disjunction. The project should have two general areas that together aim for developing a more comprehensive understanding of the morphosyntax of disjunctive structures. The first area targets agreement with disjunctive noun phrases. In this area, the goal is to see how agreement with disjunctions works and whether or not we see differences to agreement with conjunctions. For this, a large cross-linguistic study is planned to achieve a broader database for the theoretical investigation in the second part: Here, the goal is to tie in the findings of the first part with state-of-the-art theories of agreement and coordination to investigate the general structure...
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