Author: Adrian Stegovec

UConn Linguists at the LSA Annual Meeting

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The 2026 edition of the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America took place January 8-11 in New Orleans. UConn linguistics was well represented at the conference with talks by:

  • Qiushi Chen. On fission and the cycle: Lessons from Japhug agreement
  • Helen Koulidobrova (PhD 2012, now at Central Connecticut University), Julio v. Aguirre, Jorge Banet, Fernanda v. Bossano. Steps in Collaborative Documentation of Ecuadorian Sign Language (LSEC)
  • Yixuan “Pepper” Yan. Presupposition of alternative questions: The view from child Mandarin
  • Emily Jo Noschese and Diane Lillo-Martin. Noun Phrases with Multiple Adjectives in American Sign Language
  • Seungho Nam, Seo-young Lee and Se Yeon Park. QUD sensitivity as a parameter of presupposition triggers: Evidence from Korean
  • Bonnie Barrett, Linghui “Eva” Gan, Deborah Chen Pichler (PhD 2001, now at Gallaudet University) and Diane Lillo-Martin. L2 Grammatical Development of ASL by Hearing Parents of Deaf Children
  • Margaret Chui Yi Lee. Do children exhibit consistent patterns across different uses of definites? A case study of Hong Kong Cantonese-speaking children

… a poster presentations by:

  • Troy Messick (PhD 2017, now at Rutgers University). Pronoun and Anaphor (non)complementarity in PPs: A view from coordinated reciprocals
  • Troy Messick and Merlin Balkhash. Indexical and agreement shifting in Kazakh
  • Jeremy Johns and Helen Koulidobrova. Where Indigenous language revitalization and dominant L2 instruction meet: converging on the Indigenous pedagogy

In addition, Qiushi Chen was a recipient of the Centennial Student Scholarship Award. Congratulations!

Wang | Language and Cognition

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Shuyan Wang (PhD 2022, now a post-doc at UConn) has published an article co-authored with Shaohua Fang in the journal Language and Cognition, titled “L2 Interpretation of Quantifier Scope: Influence of Individual Difference Factors“. Congratulations Shuyan!

Abstract: This study investigated L2 learners’ interpretation of quantifier scope, focusing on the influence of individual differences, including L2 proficiency, working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC). A picture selection task using the covered-box paradigm (CBP) was conducted with 70 Chinese-speaking learners of English and a control group of 40 native English speakers. The results revealed that inverse scope (IS) posed particular challenges for L2 learners, leading to reduced, non-target-like access. We attribute this difficulty to factors such as negative L1 transfer, limited L2 input and increased processing demands associated with IS compared to surface scope (SS). More importantly, WM and IC significantly influenced L2 learners’ interpretation patterns, with their effects mediated by L2 proficiency. We also observed individual variation in scope interpretations among native speakers, particularly with negatively quantified (NQ) sentences. This variation provides valuable evidence of individual differences in native speakers’ grammatical knowledge and was partly driven by cognitive factors. Altogether, the findings contribute novel evidence for both domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms underlying quantifier scope interpretation in L2 learners as well as in native speakers.

30 years of the Minimalist Program (online event)

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An online event celebrating 30 Years of the Minimalist Program organized by the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (IEL Unicamp) took place on November 19th. Four key figures in minimalist syntax gave presentations at the event, including Norbert Hornstein, and three UConn linguists:

  • Juan Uriagereka (PhD 1988, now at UMD). Brief chronicle of a depth foretold
  • Željko Bošković. Thirty years of the Minimalist Program: Then, during, and especially now
  • Jairo Nunes (Adjunct Professor of Linguistics). Phase defectivity and the grammar of Brazilian Portuguese

A recording of the event can be found here.

Ono | Languages

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Ryuta Ono has published an article in the journal Languages, titled “Revisiting Particle-Stranding Ellipsis: A Critical Comparison of Two Analyses” (link to article). Congratulations Ryuta!

Abstract: This paper presents novel evidence that particle-stranding ellipsis in Japanese is best accounted for by PF-deletion rather than by its theoretical competitor, LF-copying. I begin by examining a central prediction of the LF-copying analysis, which states that overt extraction is categorically ruled out, and show that this prediction is not supported by the empirical data. Additional evidence comes from covert across-the-board movement, as I demonstrate that particle-stranding ellipsis can occur in environments that are argued to involve this type of movement. This finding presents a serious derivational challenge to the LF-copying theory, given the widely accepted view that covert across-the-board movement is not permitted in the grammar. In addition to these syntactic observations, I present previously unreported prosodic evidence showing that particle-stranding ellipsis involving the negative polarity item -sika can exhibit focus intonation. As the LF-copying analysis cannot account for this prosodic pattern, the data provide strong support for the PF-deletion account. Finally, I show that these findings are well explained by the phonology-based deletion model that was originally proposed in the literature.

UConn Linguistics at ICFL

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The 11th International Conference on Formal  (ICFL) was held at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (Baiyushan campus) on November 7-9, 2025. UConn linguistics was represented at the conference with a keynote talk by:

  • Željko Bošković. Licensing under sisterhood

… and talks by:

  • Ting Xu (PhD 2016, now at Tsinghua University), Li-Chen Zhuang, Mingming Liu and Stella Christie. On the felicity conditions of dou: An experimental study
  • Zheng Shen (PhD 2018, now at National University of Singapore) & Beth Chan. Cross-linguistic variation of D-linking amelioration effects.
  • Kangzheng Gao (PhD 2024, now at Suzhou City University). Modeling Syntactic Parameter Setting: A Constraint-based Approach

    Van der Hulst | Genes, Brains, Evolution and Language

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    Genes, Brains, Evolution and Language: The Innateness debate Continued, a sequel to Harry van der Hulst’s 2024 textbook A Mind for Language, has just been published by Cambridge University Press.

    Half a century ago, Noam Chomsky posited that humans have specific innate mental abilities to learn and use language, distinct from other animals. This book, a follow-up to the author’s previous textbook, A Mind for Language, continues to critically examine the development of this central aspect of linguistics: the innateness debate. It expands upon key themes in the debate – discussing arguments that come from other disciplines, such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, criminology, computer science, formal languages theory, neuroscience, genetics, animal communication, and evolutionary biology. The innateness claim also leads us to ask how human language evolved as a characteristic trait of Homo Sapiens. Written in an accessible way, assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, the book guides the reader through technical concepts, and employs concrete examples throughout. It is accompanied by a range of online resources, including further material, a glossary, discussion points, questions for reflection, and project suggestions.

     

    UConn Linguistics at BUCLD

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    The 50th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD50) is taking place on November 6-9th 2025. UConn linguistics is going to be well represented at the conference, including a symposium led by William Snyder, with Jill de Villiers, Tom Roeper, and Virginia Valian:

    • Language acquisition and generative grammar: The past 50 years

    … and with talks by:

    • Shuyan Wang (PhD 2022, now a post-doc at UConn), Chui Yi Lee, Diane Lillo-Martin, and Deborah Chen Pichler (PhD 2001, now at Gallaudet University). Development of syntax in spoken English by bimodal bilingual deaf children with cochlear implants: Comparison with hearing bilinguals and monolinguals
    • Ruthe Foushee, Zena Levan, Jess Breeze, Jenny Lu, Diane Lillo-Martin, and Susan Goldin-Meadow. Communication in the absence of a shared conventional language: Contingent nonverbal behavior scaffolds language development and drives communication with deaf and hearing children
    • Clariana Vieira and Elaine Grolla (PhD 2005, now at University of Sao Paolo). Wh-in-situ acquisition in French and in Brazilian Portuguese: Statistical and Prosodic cues
    • Linghui Gan, Angelica Llerena and Diane Lillo-Martin.What does bimodal bilingual acquisition look like in deaf children with hearing parents?
    • Bonnie Barrett, Kaj Kraus, Shane Blau, Martin Dale-Hench, Deborah Chen Pichler and Diane Lillo-Martin. Implementing a language-specific subscore for more informative ASL syntax assessment for hearing parents and their DHH children
    • Ting Xu (PhD 2016, now at Tsinghua University), Li-Chen Chuang, Mingming Liu and Stella Christie. Children’s acquisition of the felicity condition of Mandarin ‘dou’ 

    … and posters by:

    • Kosta Boskovic (class of 2024, now a PhD candidate in psychology at UC San Diego) and David Barner. Children’s quantification of time: a case study of the comparative “more”
    • Irene Canudas Grabolosa, Hanna-Sophia Georgievska Shine, Jesse C. Snedeker, Marie Coppola, and Annemarie Kocab. Agent and Patient Categories in English-Speaking Children and Homesigners
    • Ece Eroğlu and Kadir Gökgöz (post-doc 2013-16, now at Bogazici University). A Referential System in Space: Age of Acquisition Effects in TİD Pointing Signs
    • Yangyu Sun, Chiara Dal Farra, Aurore Gonzalez, Johannes Hein, Johnson F. Ilori, Tamar Makharoblidze, Chiara Saponaro, Kazuko Yatsushiro (PhD 1999, now at ZAS Berlin), Uli Sauerland and Maria Teresa Guasti. A comparison of children’s relative clause production in Georgian, Italian and Yoruba 
    • Yixuan Yan. John knows Mary likes what: Learning attitude verbs by speech acts in a wh-in-situ language 
    • Adina Camelia Bleotu, Anton Benz, Deborah Foucault, Lyn Tieu (PhD 2013, now at University of Toronto), and Tom Roeper. Acquiring conditional disjunction: Romanian five-year-olds’ struggle with implicit ‘if not’
    • Giulio Ciferri Muramatsu and Zixi Liu. A Snapshot of (Really) Early CP Occurrence: Sentence Final Particles in Child Japanese
    • Andre Eliatamby and Lyn Tieu. Children compute more ad-hoc implicatures from “a” than “the”: On the interaction of definiteness and ad-hoc implicatures
    • Kaj Kraus, Bonnie Barrett, Shane Blau, Martin Dale-Hench, Mary Cecilia Conte, Diane Lillo-Martin, Elaine Gale, and Deborah Chen Pichler. Relationships between L2 hearing parent and L1 deaf child learning of ASL: Vocabulary and syntax 
    • Pravaal Yadav. Children are conservative in their production: A study of long-distance questions in child-Hindi 
    • Antonio Codina and Elaine Grolla. The Bare Truth: Bare Nominals Acquisition Challenges for Brazilian Learners of English, French, and Spanish
    • Alyssa Vorobey and Lyn Tieu. Information packaging in child language: Comparing asserted to presupposed and implicated information
    • Maria Astapova and Lyn Tieu. On children’s acquisition of disjunction in French: A corpus study
    • Lyn Tieu and Petra Schulz. Understanding sentences with focus particles using visual alternatives: Children do not ignore “only”

    In addition, Yixuan (Pepper) Yan was also awarded the Paula Menyuk Award for top-rated abstracts by student first authors for the second year in a row! Congratulations!

     

    UConn Linguistics at LAWNE

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    The annual Language Acquisition Workshop of New England (LAWNE) took place on October 25th, hosted by Yale University. Several UConn PhD students presented at the workshop:

      • Yitong Luo and Yixuan Yan. Acquiring two disjunctive morphemes in Mandarin-speaking Children: A preliminary study
      • Zixi Liu. Are those in-tree-guingly early Mandarin SFPs adult-like?
      • Giulio Ciferri Muramatsu. Yet another study on the acquisition of Japanese Disjunction
      • Pravaal Yadav. Overuse of Wh-Scope Marking in Child Hindi: An Investigation of Long-Distance Questions 

       

        UConn Linguists at NELS

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        The 56th Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistics Society took place at New York University, October 17-19th. UConn Linguistics was represented at the conference with several poster presentations:
          • Tarcisio Dias. Compounding composite size morphemes
          • Christos Christopoulos (PhD 2022, now at Masaryk University). Gaps in Modern Greek verbalization
          • Giulio Ciferri Muramatsu and Pravaal Yadav. Kind Denoting Disjunction 
          • Ting Xu (PhD 2016, now at Tsinghua University), Li-Chen Chuang, Mingming Liu, and Stella Christie. From truth to felicity: children’s acquisition of the pragmatics of Mandarin dou 

          Here’s also a photo of some of the UConn linguists, past and present, at the conference: