Autor: Anke Himmelreich

We are happy to announce a talk by Viktor Köhlich (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: December 18, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "te-no clauses in Japanese” Abstract: In this talk, I look at a type of noun-modifying clause in Japanese that has not received much attention in the literature. Although verbs can DP-internally never co-occur with the element -no, which is otherwise obligatory with most other word classes, they do when the suffix -te is attached beforehand, normally used for coordination of clauses among others. An example is (1). (1) [masuku-wo tsuke-te-no] jugyō mask-ACC put.on-TE-NO class `a class in which you wear your mask' Compared to ordinary relative clauses, this type of clauses is subject to more restrictions. The modified noun for instance cannot be an argument of the modifying clause and needs to depict an event. After presenting all relevant facts about this construction, I will attempt at a tentative analysis. Specifically, I will propose that these clauses are instances of TPs...

We are happy to announce a talk by Malte Zimmermann (Uni Potsdam) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: December 11, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "The structure and meaning of (seeming) OBJ-sharing SVCs in Igbo and Akan” Abstract    ...

We are happy to announce a talk by Daniel Aremu (GU) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: December 04, 2023 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "A tale of two ‘onlys’ in Mabia” Abstract: A tale of two ‘onlys’ in Mabia Earlier studies on the syntax-semantic mapping of the exclusive particle ‘only’ have proposed that while adverbial-only (1) corresponds to the semantic property/meaning of ‘only’, as a proposition operator, adnominal-only (2) poses a problem with respect to the proposition meaning of ‘only’. A proposal for salvaging the problem is to assume that adnominal-only is capable of type-shifting to compose with its DP associate, and then undergoes quantifier-raising to a scope-taking position at LF- the QR Approach (cf. Chomsky 1976, Rooth 1985, 1992, Wagner 2006). However, recent studies have shown that the problem can addressed in a more syntactic way. Thus, Adnominal-only maintains its structural position, while a (c)overt exclusive operator occupies a scope position higher in the clause. In other words,...

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...