Category Archives: News

CRISSP Seminar with Beata Moskal

CRISSP is happy to announce another installment in the CRISSP Seminar series:

Lecturer: Beata Moskal (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
Title: Functional vs. lexical: locality restrictions in morphology and phonology
Date & time: Thursday October 13, 2016 – 15.00-16.30
Location: CRISSP/KULeuven Brussels Campus, room 5120
Participation: free

Abstract:
In this talk, I show that a difference in structure between functional and lexical items has a restricting effect on both the morphology and the phonology, crucially drawing on a difference in structure between the two classes, coupled with locality effects as proposed in Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993). Specifically, a category-defining node is responsible in lexical items for (i) morphologically, the absence of case-driven root-suppletion, and (ii) phonologically, the absence of dominant prefixes in vowel harmony and stress. In contrast, in functional items, when category-defining nodes are absent, we find both (i) case-driven base-suppletion, and (ii) dominant prefixes.

In order to account for the morphological restrictions in lexical material, I propose that the presence of a category-defining node has a delimiting effect that causes case to be insufficiently local to the root to condition its suppletion. When a category-defining node is absent, as in functional material, case is free to condition suppletion of the base.

In order to account for the phonological restrictions in lexical material, I propose that the presence or lack of a category-defining node determines where left edge prosodic boundaries are placed in words (cf. Selkirk 1986, 1995), which then has the effect that prefixes lie outside the prosodic domain of the root in lexical items, but not in functional material.

Thus, we see that a morpho-syntactically defined locality domain has a restricting effect on both the morphology (suppletion) and the phonology (vowel harmony and stress).

In the final part of the talk, I briefly discuss the use of suppletion as a diagnostic for morphological structure. Based on joint work, I will show that suppletion patterns in free pronouns show that (morphological) case, and to a certain extent (morphological) number, are internally complex categories, and should be represented in terms of containment with more marked values containing less marked values.

BCGL 9: Second Call for Papers

CRISSP is proud to present the ninth instalment of the Brussels Conference on Generative Linguistics (BCGL), devoted to Phase Theory.

BCGL 9: Phase Theory
Brussels, December 13-14, 2016.

Invited speakers

Workshop description

Throughout the history of generative grammar, there have been various ways of implementing locality effects, for example through Transformational Cycles (Chomsky 1965; Kayne 1969) or Barriers (Chomsky 1986). Phase Theory (Uriagereka 1999; Chomsky 2000, 2001) constitutes the most recent development in this line of thinking. It is often argued that there exist discrete structural domains in natural language that exhibit a degree of syntactic, semantic, and phonological independence from their surrounding linguistic environment. Phase Theory offers a tool for understanding such domains. However, since the inception of phases, there have been many different proposals about the specific formalization of this concept, along with much debate about the extent to which phases can be evidenced empirically (and indeed whether phases exist at all). The aim of this workshop is to discuss the empirical validity and theoretical specifics of Phase Theory.
The submission deadline for abstracts is September 1, 2016.

> Read the complete Call for Papers

CRISSP 10

BCGL 9 will be followed by CRISSP 10, a one-day workshop celebrating the 10th anniversary of the research institute CRISSP featuring invited presentations by Luigi Rizzi, Alec Marantz, and Angelika Kratzer, among others.

Sabine Iatridou and Jan-Wouter Zwart at CRISSP

Sabine Iatridou will give a lecture series on tense and aspect on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Also on Friday, Jan-Wouter Zwart will give a seminar entitled ‘Periphrastic morphology, verb clusters, and verb movement’.

> The Iatridou Lectures: Fancy Games with Tense and Aspect
> CRISSP Seminar with Jan-Wouter Zwart: Periphrastic morphology, verb clusters, and verb movement

 

BCGL 9: First Call for Papers

CRISSP is proud to present the ninth instalment of the Brussels Conference on Generative Linguistics (BCGL), devoted to Phase Theory.

BCGL 9: Phase Theory
Brussels, December 13-14, 2016.

Invited speakers

Workshop description

Throughout the history of generative grammar, there have been various ways of implementing locality effects, for example through Transformational Cycles (Chomsky 1965; Kayne 1969) or Barriers (Chomsky 1986). Phase Theory (Uriagereka 1999; Chomsky 2000, 2001) constitutes the most recent development in this line of thinking. It is often argued that there exist discrete structural domains in natural language that exhibit a degree of syntactic, semantic, and phonological independence from their surrounding linguistic environment. Phase Theory offers a tool for understanding such domains. However, since the inception of phases, there have been many different proposals about the specific formalization of this concept, along with much debate about the extent to which phases can be evidenced empirically (and indeed whether phases exist at all). The aim of this workshop is to discuss the empirical validity and theoretical specifics of Phase Theory.
The submission deadline for abstracts is September 1, 2016.

> Read the complete Call for Papers

CRISSP 10

BCGL 9 will be followed by CRISSP 10, a one-day workshop celebrating the 10th anniversary of the research institute CRISSP featuring invited presentations by Luigi Rizzi, Alec Marantz, and Angelika Kratzer, among others.