Research Group in Syntax and Semantics

• Description
• Personnel & Affiliates
• Research Projects
• The Syntax Salon
• Graduate Program in Syntax and Semantics

The Research Group in Syntax and Semantics

The department of linguistics at the University of Arizona sponsors an active and vibrant research team with a focus on theoretical approaches to Syntax and formal approaches to Semantics. This research group investigates all areas of sentence structure, morphosyntax, sentence meaning, and lexical meaning, as well as the interfaces of these with other related disciplines, such as sentence processing, language acquisition, computation. The focus of the group is in Generative (Minimalist) approaches to syntax and semantics, although other perspectives such as HPSG, LFG and Optimality theory are pursued. The research group encourages collaboration between participants and between faculty and students. The group holds frequent meetings (the Syntax Salon) both as a reading group and for the workshopping of new ideas. In Spring 2000, members of the group organized the International Conference on Word Order and Scrambling.

Research Group Participants

Faculty with primary interests in Syntax & Semantics
• Andrew Barss, Assoc. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1986) Anaphora & binding; long-distance extraction; architecture of the grammatical system, performance theories. (Department of Linguistics)
• Andrew Carnie, Asst. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1995) Predication, Case, copular constructions, morphosyntax, phrase structure, verb initial syntax, Celtic. (Department of Linguistics)
• Sheila Dooley Collberg, Lecturer, (Ph.D. Lund, 1991) Syntax, Computation, Typology, Celtic. (Department of Linguistics)
• Heidi Harley, Asst. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1995) Case, argument structure, aspect, morphology, lexical semantics, formal semantics, Celtic syntax, Hiaki Syntax. (Department of Linguistics)
• Eloise Jelinek, Adj Assoc. Prof. (Ph.D. U. Arizona 1981) Universals, quantification, topic/focus, Native American syntax. (Department of Linguistics)
• Simin Karimi, Assoc Prof.(Ph.D. UWash 1989) scrambling, argument structure, DP syntax, complex predicates, Persian syntax. (Department of Linguistics)
• D. Terence Langendoen, Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1964) syntax and semantics of reciprocity, coordination and its relation to subordination. (Department of Linguistics)
• Adrienne Lehrer, Prof Emerita (Ph.D., U Rochester 1968) Lexical semantics, Pragmatics.
• Mario Montalbetti, Assoc. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1984) referential dependencies, binding theory, conceptual issues in generativism, Spanish. (Department of Spanish and Portuguese)
• Antxon Olarrea. Asst. Prof. (PhD. UWash 1996) syntactic theory; Spanish; word order & agreement typologies (Department of Spanish and Portuguese)
• Mary Willie, Asst. Prof. (Ph.D. U.Arizona 1991) Navajo morphosyntax, obviation, object pronouns. (Department of Linguistics)
Faculty with secondary interests in Syntax and Semantics
• Tom Bever (Linguistics) Sentence Processing, Sentence Production, Psycholinguistics
• Grace Fielder (Russian & Slavic) Aspect, Argument Structure, Slavic Syntax
• Kenneth Forster (Psychology) Sentence Production
• Mike Harnish (Philosophy) Formal Semantics and Pragmatics, Philosophy of Language
• Janet Nicol (Linguistics & Psychology) Sentence Processing, Neurolinguistics of Sentence Structure
• Massimo Piatelli Palmarini (Cognitive Science) Syntax & mind.
• Cecile McKee (Linguistics) Acquisition of Syntax
• Marga Reimer (Philosophy) Formal Semantics, Philosophy of language
• Feng-hsi Liu (East Asian Studies) Formal Semantics
• Rudy Troike (English) Syntactic Theory, Native American Syntax
• Cyma Van Petten (Psychology)
• Linda Waugh (French) Lexical Semantics, Discourse & Text
Graduate Students Affiliates
• William Alexander (Linguistics)
• Sonya Bird (Linguistics)
• Danny Chen (Linguistics)
• Sharon Deckart (SLAT)
• Scott Farrar (Linguistics)
• Anthony Gillies (Philosophy)
• Jason Haugen (Linguistics)
• Cathy Hicks Kennard (Linguistics)
• Will Lewis (Linguistics)
• Travis Louthain (Linguistics)
• Young-Gie Min (Linguistics)
• Mizuki Miyashita (Linguistics)
• Jan Mohammed (Linguistics)
• Peter Norquest (Linguistics)
• Erin O'Bryan (Linguistics)
• Meghan O'Donnell (Linguistics)
• Kazutoshi Ohno (Linguistics)
• Katie Russell (Linguistics)
• Nicole Theobald (Linguistics)
• Rachel Sonnet Wilson (Psychology)
• Masa Yamazaki (East Asian Studies)
Other Affiliates:
• Monserrat Sanz (Kobe University)

Research Projects

On-going research projects include (but are not limited to):

• Verb Initial Order & its correlates
• Binding & Obviation in Minimalism
• Copular Constructions and Predication
• Topic & Focus, and syntactic structure
• Case & Ergativity
• Scrambling & Word Order
• Argument Structure, Aspect, Aktionsarten & Lexical semantics
• Extraction and Anaphora
• Complex Prediates
• The morphology syntax Interface
• Dative shift and morphophonology
• Syntactic theory and Sentence Processing
• Lexical Access
• The structure of DP.
• The acquisition of relative clauses
• Semantic Timing Effects
• Reconstruction
• Reference Types and Anaphora
• The syntax & semantics of particular languages:
• Modern Irish
• English
• Spanish
• Navajo
• Hiaki (Yaqui)
• Tohono O'odham
• Japanese
• Chinese
• Russian
• Modern Persian
• Maori
• Mayan Languages
• Salishan Languages

Syntax Salon

The Syntax & Semantics research group sponsors a series of meetings of talks on syntax, including a reading group and workshops of new work.

Graduate Programs in Syntax and Semantics

Syntax & Semantics Classes at University of Arizona <coming soon>

The research group, in coordination with the department of linguistics, sponsors a Ph.D. in Linguistics with a specializations in Theoretical Syntax, Formal Semantics, Lexical Semantics, Syntax/Semantics Interfaces, Sentence Processing and related areas.

A masters degree in the syntax of Native American languages is offered by the Linguistics dept.

A master's degree in Spanish Linguistics (including syntax) is also available from the Department of Spanish & Portuguese.