NYU Linguistics

Please save these upcoming dates for colloquium lectures this fall and spring. We have an exciting lineup this year!

-----------------
FALL 2009
-----------------

John Hale (Cornell) 9/18

Katherine Demuth (Brown) 9/25

Christine Mallinson (U. Maryland, Baltimore County) 10/9

Chris Kennedy (Chicago) 10/30

Norbert Hornstein (Maryland) 10/6

Halldór Sigurðsson (Lund University) 11/20

Katrin Scultz, from the Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation
at the University of Amsterdam, will give a talk in the linguistics
department this tuesday:

Tuesday May 5th
at 11:00am
in the seminar room of the Linguistics department

"If you wiggle A, then B will change. On causal conditionals - again"
Katrin Schultz, ILLC, UvA

Abstract:

Gaja Jarosz (Yale) will be presenting a talk on Friday, May 1st at 2:30 in the Linguistics Department Library.

Title: Learning of Phonology: Integrating Developmental and Computational Perspectives

Abstract:

Jeroen Groenendijk will be giving a talk on Inquisitive Semantics and Pragmatics this Wednesday, 29 April, 2009, Linguistics department, 7th floor, 726
Broadway, New York, at 12:00 Noon.

**Please note that the starting time is noon.**

Oussama Haddad will be giving a syntax brown bag on Friday May 1 at 1:30 in the Linguistics department conference room.

Title: The Silence of the NOUNS: Alternate Agreement in Lebanese Abstract Nominal Constructions

Abstract:

Elisabeth Selkirk and Angelika Kratzer of UMass Amherst will be giving a colloquium talk on Friday April 24th at 4pm in Silver room 509.

Title: Distinguishing contrastive, new and given information

Abstract:
The question of how linguistic theory should break down the dimension of “information structure” that includes contrastiveness, newness and givenness continues to be a subject of debate. This paper defends the three-way distinction between given, new, and focus of contrast originally proposed in Chafe 1976. Phonological and phonetic data are presented from English which support this three-way contrast. The paper argues that the status of a constituent as new is unmarked in the grammar, while constituents which are given or are a focus of contrast are marked as such in the syntactic representation which mediates between sound and meaning. This proposal echoes a recent proposal by Féry and Samek-Lodovici 2006.

We will show that a system which gives morphosyntactic representation to focus of contrast (FoC-marking) and to givenness (G-marking) but which leaves newness morphosyntactically unmarked has the right consequences for theories of the interfaces of syntax with sentence prosody on the one hand and semantics on the other. On the semantics side, renditions of the Rooth 1992 theory of alternatives focus and the Schwarzschild 1999 theory of givenness
are combined with a set of syntax/semantics interface constraints to provide the interpretation and distribution of sentences whose constituents are FoC-marked, G-marked, and/or unmarked for either. On the phonology side, it is shown that all-new sentences receive a phonological interpretation that is based on general phonological principles, without any appeal to the morphosyntactic feature make-up of the sentence.

We will also explore some of the typological predictions of our proposal: whether FoC-marking or G-marking are expressed in sentence prosody varies (independently) from one language to the next. Some languages show no prosodic reflexes of these morphosyntactic contrasts at all, instead defaulting to the types of unmarked sentence prosody found in all-new sentences.

The Sociolinguistics Working Group is hosting a talk by Ronald Beline Mendes of the Universidade de São Paulo this Friday, April 17, on "Language change from within: from auxiliary verb to prefix in Brazilian Portuguese".

Time: 11 AM - 12:30 PM.
Place: NYU Linguistics Dept. Classroom, 726 Broadway, 7th floor

Friday April 10th will be the first NYU linguistics QP mini-conference. All 3rd year students have been invited to present a qualifying paper of their choice in the format of a 15 minute talk, followed by a 5 minute for questions or comments.

The conference will be held in Waverly 431 from 10am to 2pm. Light refreshments and beverages will be provided.

Scheduled to present:

Jessica Coon will be giving a brown bag on Friday April 17th at 1:30 in the Linguistics department conference room.

Title: Predicate Fronting and its Consequences: Ergativity in Chol

Abstract:

Daniel Kaufman will be giving a Syntax Brown Bag on Friday April 3 at 1:30 in the Linguistics Conference room.

Title: v-free predication in Austronesian and its consequences, from root to clause

Abstract:

Friederike Moltmann will be giving a syntax brown bag on Friday, March 27th at 1:30 in The Linguistics Conference Room (726 Broadway, 7th Floor)

Title: Reifying Terms

Abstract:

The syntax brown bag by Oussama Haddad has been rescheduled for May 1st.

Hedde H. Zeijlstra will be talking to us about his work on French ne pas, arguing that ne is an NPI. The talk is at 1:30 PM, at 726 Broadway 7th Floor conference room. Light snacks and beverages free for all who come.

Pas de problème

Abstract

Friday, March 6 in Silver 509. Reception to follow in the linguistics department.

Title: The projection problem for pragmatic inferences

Abstract

Chris Tancredi of Keio University has kindly agreed to visit us this Friday and give a version of the talk that he is giving tomorrow at Princeton, entitled "Domains of quantification, rigid designation and modality: The case for multiple models". The abstract is copied below. The talk will be at 1:30PM in the Syntax/Semantics Lab.

Roberto Zamparelli (Trento) will be giving a syntax brown bag on Feb 20 at 1:30 in room 703 of the linguistics department (726 Broadway, 7th floor)

TITLE:

Coordination, Non-nominal Subjects and Semantic Agreement

A few of talks have been added to the syntax brown bag schedule for Spring 2009:

Hedde H. Zeijlstra, March 6
Friederike Moltmann, March 27
Jessica Coon, April 17

Emmanuel Chemla will be giving a colloquium on Friday, March 6, in Silver 509.

Stephanie Harves (Pomona) will be giving a talk "To have and to need in Russian and beyond" on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 9am in the linguistics department conference room

updated Mar 7, 2009

Roberto Zamparelli
Title TBA
February 20

Hedde H. Zeijlstra
Title TBA
March 6

Friederike Moltmann
Title TBA
March 27

Daniel Kaufman
Title TBA
April 3

Jessica Coon
Title TBA
April 17

Oussama Haddad
Title TBA
May 1

Due to a scheduling conflict, Professor Corinne McCarthy will not be giving a colloquium talk on March 13.

Vera Gribanova (UCSC) will be giving a talk titled "Ellipsis and the syntax of verbs in Russian" on Tuesday morning at 9am in the linguistics department conference room.

Abstract:

Jason Shaw will give a practice job talk for an upcoming interview on Friday Jan 29 2009. The talk will be in either the seminar room or the library.

Asya Pereltsvaig

"The syntax of noun phrases in Russian: Elucidating functional architecture"

Friday January 30, 9am - 10:30am
Linguistics Department Conference Room
726 Broadway, room 701

Robert Podesva (Georgetown) will be giving a colloquium talk on Friday Jan. 30 titled "Linking phonological variation to discourses of race and place in Washington, D.C." The talk will be in room 414 810 of the Silver Center at 4pm, with a reception in the linguistics department following.

An abstract for the talk can be found here (pdf)

[Please note RSVP instructions for each event]

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony and reception for the new MEG Lab in Psychology
will take place Friday, January 23rd, from 5pm-7pm in Hemmerdinger
Hall, 100 Washington Square East (part of Silver, but with its own
entrance on Wash Sq E). There will be a few short presentations about
MEG and about the history of MEG at NYU, followed by food and drink.
This will be an opportunity to talk informally with experts on MEG and
on the MEG system at NYU, including the team from the Kanazawa
Institute of Technology that designed and built our MEG system.

I believe this will be a fun and informative event, and provide a good
background for those of you contemplating MEG experiments in the
coming years.

Please RSVP to me, Alec Marantz, marantz@nyu.edu , if you think you
will be attending the ceremonies.

updated Feb 13, 2009

Unless otherwise noted, colloquia are held on Fridays at 4:00pm in the Silver center. All colloquia are followed by a reception and dinner with the speaker.

Robert Podesva
"Linking phonological variation to discourses of race and place in Washington, D.C."
January 30, Siler 810

Emmanuel Chemla
TBA
March 6, Silver 509

Corinne McCarthy, CANCELLED
TBA
March 13, Silver 509

Yoad Winter
TBA
March 27, Silver 705

Jairo Nunes
TBA
April 17, Silver 509

Elisabeth Selkirk
TBA
April 24, Silver 509

Click here for more information