Author: Adrian Stegovec

Magdalena Kaufmann | Croatian Journal of Philosophy

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Magdalena Kaufmann‘s paper “From Coherence Relations to the Grammar of Pronouns and Tense” has just appeared in Vol. 23, No. 69 of the Croatian Journal of Philosophy.

Abstract: Stojnić (2021) argues that the content of linguistic utterances is determined by the rules of natural language grammar more stringently than what is generally assumed. She proposes specifically that coherence relations are encoded by the linguistic structures and determine what individuals count as most prominent, thereby serving as the referents of free (“demonstrative”) pronouns. In this paper, I take a close look at the empirical evidence from English and Serbian that she offers in support of this position. Considering these data points in connection with additional linguistic data (also from German and Japanese), I argue that there is no compelling evidence for the assumption that coherence relations directly determine the resolution of pronouns. Instead, grammatical restrictions imposed by different types of pronouns and tenses have a larger impact on the meaning conventionally expressed by complex utterances than what is generally assumed in the literature on coherence relations.

UConn linguistics at FDSL

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The 16th conference on the Formal description of Slavic languages (FDSL16) took place November 29th-December 1st at the University of Graz. UConn linguistics was represented at the conference with talks by:

  • Arthur Stepanov (PhD 2001, now at University of Nova Gorica). Exploring feature assignment in real time: The case of Russian numeral phrases
  • Magdalena Kaufmann and Neda Todorović (2016, now at University of Connecticut & Reed College). The remote and the impossible in Serbian
  • Sara Andreeta, Matic Pavlič, Penka Stateva (PhD 2002, now at University of Nova Gorica), and Artur Stepanov. Sentence comprehension in minority languages: The Slovenian Community in Italy
  • Jakob Lenardič (visiting scholar Fall 2017, now at Institute of Contemporary History, Slovenia). Slavic Reflexive Impersonals: Passivisation and Unaccusativity
  • Krzysztof Migdalski (post-doc 2006-2008, now at University of Wrocław). On the non-directionality of language change – a case of functional elements in Slavic
  • Svitlana Antonyuk (post-doc 2018-19, now at University of Graz). A quantification-based approach to the deduction of phases in (East) Slavic

… and an invited talk by:

  • Željko Bošković. Spelling-out phases (Workshop on Information Structure, Prosody and Phase Theory in Slavic)

Gu Defense

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Shengyun Gu successfully defended her doctoral dissertation titled Bimanual coordination: The non-dominant hand in Shanghai Sign Language on Friday October 27th.

Congratulations, Shengyun!

Shengyun during the defense:

Dr. Gu with her committee after the successful defense:

 

Dr. Gu cutting her well earned cake:

UConn Linguistics at BUCLD

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The 48th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD48) took place on 2nd-5th November 2023. UConn linguistics was represented at the conference with talks by:

  • Roeland Hancock, Sahil Luthra and William Snyder. Neuroanatomical Support for the Maturational Hypothesis of Subject-Experiencer Passives
  • Helen Koulidobrova (PhD 2012, now at Central Connecticut University) and Gabriel Martinez Vera (PhD 2020, now at Newcastle University). Not a matter of a degree: ASL signing children and acquisition of gradability

… and posters by:

  • Deborah Chen Pichler (PhD 2001, now at Gallaudet University), Mary Cecilia Conte, Patrice Creamer, Martin Dale-Hench, Elaine Gale, Linghui Gan, Corina Goodwin, Shengyun Gu, Kaj Kraus, Chui-Yi Margaret Lee, Diane Lillo-Martin, Jeffrey Palmer, Bettie Petersen and Meghan Shaw. Profile of a Family’s Bimodal Bilingual Development
  • Adina Camelia Bleotu, Andreea Nicolae, Anton Benz, Gabriela Bilbiie, Mara Panaitescu, Monica Casa and Lyn Tieu (PhD 2013, now at University of Toronto). On the role of alternatives and QUD in implicatures with disjunction in child Romanian
  • Shuyan Wang (PhD 2022, now at Rutgers University). Children’s delay in scalar implicatures: Evidence for processing account
  • Ting Xu (PhD 2016, now at Tsinghua University), Lyn Tieu and Stella Christie. Mandarin-acquiring children’s interpretation of presuppositional you ‘again’

Chuang at AMP, ALC, and WECOL

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Jarry Chia-Wei Chuang will give three presentations at the following conferences in October and November:

  • “Contractions are not the same: Syllable merger at the interfaces of phonology” is going to be presented as a poster at the 2023 Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP 2023, online), October 20th-22nd.
  • “Dislocation as Copying in Cyclic Linearization” is going to be given as a talk at the 17th Arizona Linguistics Circle (ALC 17), held by the University of Arizona on October 27th.
  • “Distinction of Unstressed Tones in Mandarin Chinese” is going to be given as a talk at the 2023 Western Conference on Linguistics (WECOL 2023, online), held by California State University, Fresno on November 11th-12th.

Bogomolets & Van der Hulst | OUP Monograph

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Word Prominence in Languages with Complex Morphologies co-edited by Ksenia Bogomolets (PhD 2020, now at Māori Language Commission & University of Auckland) and Harry van der Hulst has been published by Oxford University Press.

This volume focuses on the theoretical and analytical challenges that languages with complex morphologies pose for the theory and typology of word-level prosodic phenomena. The morphological complexity and phonological length that are characteristic of words in these languages make them a particularly fruitful ground for investigating the effects of both phonological and morphological factors in the assignment of prominence. The first three chapters in the volume explore general theoretical issues pertaining to word prominence in synthetic languages, including the issue of ‘wordhood’ and the empirical, theoretical, and methodological issues with delineating word-level prominence and the higher-level prosodic phenomena in these languages. These are followed by a series of case studies on stress, accent, and tone in a geographically and genetically diverse set of languages with highly synthetic morphologies including languages of the Americas, Europe and Asia, and Australia. The volume adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, combining phonetic, phonological, and morphosyntactic insights. It will be of interest not only to phonologists and morphologists, but to all those interested in the typological and theoretical issues relating to polysynthetic languages.

The volume also contains chapters written by Ksenia and Harry:

  • Ksenia Bogomolets. Accent and tone in Arapaho
  • Harry van der Hulst. A unified account of phonological and morphological accent

Van der Hulst | A Mind for Language

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A Mind for Language: An Introduction to the Innateness Debate written Harry van der Hulst has just been published by Cambridge University Press.

How does human language arise in the mind? To what extent is it innate, or something that is learned? How do these factors interact? The questions surrounding how we acquire language are some of the most fundamental about what it means to be human and have long been at the heart of linguistic theory. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to this fascinating debate, unravelling the arguments for the roles of nature and nurture in the knowledge that allows humans to learn and use language. An interdisciplinary approach is used throughout, allowing the debate to be examined from philosophical and cognitive perspectives. It is illustrated with real-life examples and the theory is explained in a clear, easy-to-read way, making it accessible for students without a background in linguistics. An accompanying website contains a glossary, questions for reflection, discussion themes and project suggestions, to further deepen students understanding of the material.