Sharmin Ahmadi | New Student

My name is Sharmin Ahmadi; I’m from a beautiful city named Sanandaj, a city in Iran. I did my BA in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Kurdistan. Before starting the next level of my education, I happened to hear and read about Linguistics. Starting to read linguistics books in its various areas, I began to look at languages, specifically my own language (Kurdish), from a different angle. My mind started to be immersed with a lot of questions and puzzles, ending in my passion for this major. That’s why I have an MA in General Linguistics from the University of Tehran, where I figured out that the area which I’m most curious about and interested in is Syntax. Among the questions I had in mind, I chose to solve the question and puzzle I encountered regarding what has been examined under the topics of three-place predicates, ditransitives, and double-object constructions.

Following my passion and interests, I am doing my Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Connecticut now.

Besides my academic life, I do enjoy shopping, walking, mountain climbing, spending time with my family and friends, watching films … 🙂

UConn Linguistics at GALA

The 15th Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition conference (GALA 15), held on 22–24 September 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany. UConn linguistics will be represented at the conference by the following presentations:

  • Evan Zysman and William Snyder. A Parametric Connection between VP Ellipsis and Yes/No Questions
  • Kangzheng Gao. Applying Constraint Demotion algorithm to parameter-setting
  • Shuyan Wang (PhD 2022, now at Rutgers University). Processing limits can delay children’s computation of scalar implicatures (poster)
  • Karina Bertolino (PhD 2020, now at University of SĂŁo Paulo). Spontaneous production of generic null subjects in a partial null subject language (poster)

Gu, Pichler & Lillo-Martin | Frontiers in Psychology

The article “Phonological development in American Sign Language-signing children: Insights from pseudosign repetition tasks” by Shengyun Gu, Deborah Chen Pichler (PhD 2001, now at Gallaudet University), L. Viola Kozak and Diane Lillo-Martin has just been published online in Frontiers in Psychology. Congratulations!

The full article can be accessed here.

Abstract: In this study, we conducted a pseudosign (nonce sign) repetition task with 22 children (mean age: 6;04) acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language (L1) from deaf parents. Thirty-nine pseudosigns with varying complexity were developed and organized into eight categories depending on number of hands, number of simultaneous movement types, and number of movement sequences. Pseudosigns also varied in handshape complexity. The children’s performance on the ASL pseudosign task improved with age, displaying relatively accurate (re)production of location and orientation, but much less accurate handshape and movement, a finding in line with real sign productions for both L1 and L2 signers. Handshapes with higher complexity were correlated with lower accuracy in the handshape parameter. We found main effects of sequential and simultaneous movement combinations on overall performance. Items with no movement sequence were produced with higher overall accuracy than those with a movement sequence. Items with two simultaneous movement types or a single movement type were produced with higher overall accuracy than those with three simultaneous movement types. Finally, number of hands did not affect the overall accuracy. Remarkably, movement sequences impose processing constraints on signing children whereas complex hands (two hands) and two simultaneous movement types do not significantly lower accuracy, indicating a capacity for processing multiple simultaneous components in signs. Spoken languages, in contrast, manifest greater complexity in temporal length. Hearing children’s pseudoword repetition still displays high levels of accuracy on disyllabic words, with complexity effects affecting only longer multisyllabic words. We conclude that the pseudosign repetition task is an informative tool for studies of signing children’s phonological development and that sheds light on potential modality effects for phonological development.

Magdalena Kaufmann | Linguistics Vanguard

Magdalena Kaufmann‘s paper with John Whitman, “Conditional conjunctions informed by Japanese and Korean” has just appeared online ahead of print in Linguistics Vanguard. Congratulations Magda and John!

Abstract: Many languages assign additional conditional interpretations to apparently regular sentential conjunctions (conditional conjunctions, CCs). Following previous ideas (Kaufmann, Magdalena. 2018. Topics in conditional conjunctions. Invited talk at NELS, vol. 49. Cornell University; Starr, Will. 2018. Conjoining imperatives and declaratives. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 21. 1159–1176), we provide additional support for the hypothesis that CCs involve topicalized first conjuncts. We argue that Japanese and Korean, which appear to lack CCs, in fact mark them quite transparently. Both languages combine sentential conjunctions with topic markers: Japanese -te=wa (standardly considered one of the language’s conditional connectives) and Korean -ko=nun (occurring naturally, not discussed in the literature). We show that Japanese conditional =to fits into the pattern of CCs as well: it is derived by topicalization of conjunctive =to. Conjunctive =to is normally restricted to NPs, but it can coordinate finite clauses so long as the finite verb does not precede =to (Koizumi, Masatoshi. 2000. String vacuous overt verb raising. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 9(3). 227–285). We argue that this requirement can be met in a topicalized clause carrying default tense; the resultant configuration is the conditional connective =to. Semantically, CCs are known to be more restricted than if-conditionals in not readily realizing epistemic conditionals. The elements -te=wa,=to, and -ko=nun are all subject to exactly this restriction, which we refine to exclude only non-predictive epistemics. Following the transparent structure in Japanese and Korean, we interpret CCs by predicating the regular conjunction distributively of the set of (contextually salient and epistemically accessible) situations described by the topicalized first conjunct. We argue that apparent cases of focus on or within the first conjunct of CCs constitute contrastive topics or corrections.

UConn Linguistics at GLOW in Asia

The 13th Generative Linguistics in the Old World in Asia (GLOW in Asia XIII) Online Special will be held online August 4-7, 2022, hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. UConn linguistics will be well represented at the conference with a plenary talk by:

  • Ĺ˝eljko Bošković. On wh and subject positions and the EPP

… main session talks by:

  • Norio Nasu, Takayuki Akimoto, Koji Shimamura (PhD 2018, now at Kanazawa Gakuin University and Kobe City University of Foreign Studies), and Yusuke Yoda. The Categorial Status of Embedded Questions in Japanese
  • Shuki Otani and Yuta Tatsumi (PhD 2021, now at Meikai University). Light nouns and extraction from null clausal arguments
  • Shengyun Gu. H2 spread in Shanghai Sign Language: mapping syntax to phonology
  • Penelope Daniel. Deriving person-based differential argument marking in Ik
  • Myung-Kwan Park (PhD 1994, now at Dongguk University). The Placement of WHY and Intervention & Superiority

… and flash talks by:

  • Marcin Dadan (PhD 2019, now at University of Iowa). Labelers and anti-labelers: Clitics and Second Position
  • Hiromune Oda (PhD 2021, now at University of Tokyo). Large-scale Pied-piping in the Labeling Theory and Conditions on Weak Heads
  • Yusuke Yagi. Definite Description for Tenses: More Analogy Between Pronouns and Tenses
  • Akihiko Arano. On the locality of A-scrambling in Japanese
  • Tarcisio Dias. Hyper-raising and the subject position in Brazilian Portuguese

The conference will also include a one day Workshop on Workspace, MERGE, and Labelling (August 7), with a keynote address by:

  • Mamoru Saito (UConn and Notre Dame Seishin University). Two Notes on the Unification of NP-movement and Control by Form Copy

… and a talk by:

  • Adrian Stegovec. The third way: Optional object reordering as ambiguous labeling resolution

Welcome to Omar Agha

We are pleased to announce that Omar Agha will be joining our department for the coming academic year. Omar is finishing up his dissertation in semantics at NYU with Lucas Champollion, having previously received a BA in linguistics and mathematics at the University of Chicago. He will teach courses in semantics/pragmatics and computational linguistics.

You can find more information about his research here.

Welcome Omar!