Talk by Silvia Schaefer, Monday 27th, 4-6 pm

We are very happy to announce the next talk in the Syntax Colloquium, which will take place on Monday, May 27, 4 – 6 pm in IG 254. Silvia Schaefer will present „Subject clitic doubling in North-Eastern Italian dialects displaying an agreement alternation in inversion“. Abstract: Subject clitic doubling in North-Eastern Italian dialects displaying an agreement alternation in inversion I will present a short introduction to the topic of subject clitic doubling along with data from two North-Eastern Italian dialects in particular (te dialects of Gazzolo and Ballò, both in the Veneto region) that display a systematic agreement alternation with postverbal subjects. The data shows that the two dialects differ in the decisive factors triggering (or rather not triggering) agreement and the doubling of a postverbal DP. The analysis will single out the decisive factors for clitic doubling and show the underlying mechanism for the full and defective agreement pattern in the dialects in question.   You are cordially invited!...
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Wissenschaftliche/r Mitarbeiter/in in der Phonologie

Am Institut für Linguistik, Fachbereich Neuere Philologien, der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main ist zum 01.10.2019 die Stelle einer/eines Wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiterin/Mitarbeiters (E13 TV-G-U, halbtags) befristet für die Dauer von bis zu 3 Jahren mit der Option auf Verlängerung zu besetzen. Die Eingruppierung richtet sich nach den Tätigkeitsmerkmalen des für die Goethe-Universität geltenden Tarifvertrags (TV-G-U). Einstellungsvoraussetzungen sind ein abgeschlossenes wissenschaftliches Hochschulstudium in einem linguistischen Fach mit Schwerpunkt in der Phonologie oder in einem auf Phonologie bezogenen Forschungsgebiet, sehr gute Deutsch- und Englischkenntnisse in Wort und Schrift sowie ein ausgeprägtes Organisationstalent und Teamfähigkeit. Die/der erfolgreiche Kandidat/in wird auf dem Gebiet der prosodischen Phonologie forschen und mit folgenden Aufgaben betraut: • Mitarbeit bei Vorbereitung und Durchführung der Lehre zur Phonologie (2 LVS) im Rahmen der am Institut für Linguistik verankerten BA/MA-Studiengänge • Beratung von Studierenden z.B. bei der Anfertigung von Bachelor-, Master- und Seminararbeiten • Mitarbeit bei der Vorbereitung und Durchführung von Forschungsprojekten der Professur Linguistik/Phonologie, insbes. beim Aufbau und der Betreuung des Sprachlabors • Mitarbeit und Unterstützung bei der Vorbereitung und Durchführung von...
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Talk by Klaus von Heusinger (University of Cologne), Thursday 23rd, 4-6 pm

We are very happy to announce the next talk in the Semantic Colloquium, which will take place on Thursday, May 23, 4 – 6 pm in IG 4.301. Klaus von Heusinger (University of Cologne) will present „The dual-process activation model – the comprehension of definite and indefinite noun phrases“. Abstract: We argue that the comprehension of definite and indefinite noun phrases is best described within a dual-process model of referent activation. In a first process, a comprehender accesses the concept associated with the noun phrase’s descriptive material while, in a second process, the function of the noun phrase’s article guides the comprehender to select the denoted referent(s). Importantly, definite articles signal that there is a unique element that falls under the previously activated concept. In contrast, indefinite articles signal that there are (potentially) multiple referents for the previously activated concept. The dual-process model proposed here was tested in a visual-world eye-tracking experiment and an neurolinguistics experiment that tested the event related brain potentials....
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Talk by Hannah Sande (Georgetown University), Wednesday 22nd, 4-6 pm

We are very happy to announce the next talk in the Phonology Colloquium, which will take place on Wednesday, May 22, 4 – 6 pm in IG 4.301. Dr. Hannah Sande (Georgetown University) will present „An interface model of phonologically determined nominal concord“. Abstract: In Guébie (Kru, Niger-Congo) [Côte d'Ivoire] adjectives, as well as third person pronouns, phonologically resemble their antecedents. Phonologically determined nominal concord systems such as this one pose questions for 1) whether syntax can access phonological information (argued against since at least Zwicky and Pullum 1986) , and 2) the point at which nominal concord applies in the grammar. I show that with post-syntactic nominal concord operations (Kramer 2010, Norris 2014), underspecification of vocabulary items, and phonological constraints ensuring shared features between morphosyntactically agreeing elements, we can account for phonologically determined concord without requiring syntax to be sensitive to phonological information. You are cordially invited!...
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Talk by Hannah Sande (Georgetown University), Tuesday 21st, 4-6 pm

We are very happy to announce the next talk in the GK Colloquium, which will take place on Tuesday, May 21, 4 – 6 pm in SH 5.105. Dr. Hannah Sande (Georgetown University) will present „Doubly morphologically conditioned phonology“. Abstract: Phonological alternations can be unconditioned, applying uniformly across a language, no matter the context. They can also be specific to particular morphological environments, like English velar softening (k-->s) before some /ɪ/-initial suffixes (-ism, -ity) but not others (-ish, -ing). Numerous frameworks have been proposed to model morphologically conditioned phonology: Exception features (Chomsky and Halle 1968), Lexical Morphology and Phonology (Kiparsky 1982), Stratal OT (Kiparsky 2000, 2008), Indexed Constraint Theory (Ito and Mester 1995, 1999; Pater 2010), Cophonology Theory (Orgun 1996; Inkelas 1998; Inkelas and Zoll 2005, 2007). In this talk I present data from two understudied languages, Sacapultec (Mayan) and Guébie (Kru), showing that phonological alternations can not only by triggered by the presence of a single morpheme, but they can also be...
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