Category: Talks

We are happy to announce a talk by Gerd Carling (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room  NG 2.701 Date: November 27, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "Perspectives on phylogenetic methods of syntax reconstruction: do they solve problems or create new ones?” Abstract: Perspectives on phylogenetic methods of syntax reconstruction: do they solve problems or create new ones? Syntactic reconstruction has a long history in linguistic literature. Beginning with models based on the comparative method, developed by Neogrammarians in the late 19 th century, syntactic reconstruction continued to follow the development of different theoretical approaches of the 20th century. An important model of reconstruction emerged from the typological approach in the mid 20 th century, and more recent models have been using, e.g., construction grammar as a basis for reconstruction. The use of phylogenetic modelling is the most recent approach in this area. Here, the uncertainty of the status of syntactic features at earlier language states is computed...

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...

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...