Verb Initial Syntax Team
The Verb Initial Research Team (VIST)
A number of participants in the department's Syntax and Semantics Research Group have particular interests in languages with verb initial word orders (verb subject object -VSO, and Verb object Subject VOS). These languages include the celtic languages Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Breton; several dialects of Arabic; many polynesian languages including Samoan, Maori, and Tagalog, many Mayan langauges (K'ichee, Tzeltzal, Tzotzil, etc), Zapotecan languages, Salishan languages, and Nilotic languages like Turkana. The VIST group is looking into the universal properties of these languages, with a particular focus on such issues as expletive structure, the structure of nominals and copular constructions, empty categories, resumptive pronouns & synthetic agreement patterns, as well as case & ergativity. VIST approaches these topics with an eye to correlating them with the derivation of the word order. VIST works primarily in the Minimalist approach to syntax, but occasionally touches on other theories as well. The VIST group meets on a semi-regular basis, and is currently applying for NSF support for a large scale typological study.
VIST Participants
Primary VIST Participants
- Andrew Carnie, Asst. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1995) VSO, VSO/VOS alternations, Ergativity, Predication, copular constructions, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, K'ichee, Tzeltzal. (Department of Linguistics)
- Sheila Dooley Collberg, Lecturer, (Ph.D. Lund, 1991) Typology, Structure of NPs & DPS, Irish, Maori. (Department of Linguistics)
- Richard Demers, Prof. (Ph.D. U Washington, 1968) Salish Syntax & Phonology, Non-verbal sentences,
- Heidi Harley, Asst. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1995) Case, morphology, Irish, Welsh, Hiaki Syntax. (Department of Linguistics)
- Eloise Jelinek, Adj Assoc. Prof. (Ph.D. U. Arizona 1981) Universals, quantification, topic/focus, Arabic, Salish, Uto-Aztecan. (Department of Linguistics)
Other Faculty Participants
- Andrew Barss, Assoc. Prof. (Ph.D. MIT 1986) Anaphora & binding; long-distance extraction; architecture of the grammatical system, performance theories. (Department of Linguistics)
- Simin Karimi, Asst. 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)
Graduate & Undergraduate Affiliates
- Jeff Watson (UG in Linguistics)
- William Alexander (Linguistics)
- Jason Haugen (Linguistics)
- Cathy Hicks Kennard (Linguistics)
- Travis Louthain (Linguistics)
- Peter Norquest (Linguistics)
Recent Publications on Verb Initial Languages by VIST members
Graduate Programs in Syntax and Semantics
VIST is part of the research group in Syntax and Semantics, which 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 also offered by the Linguistics dept.
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