Past Event: Identifying (In)definiteness: from Silent Morpho-syntax to Semantics

Overview

While every language can express definiteness, indefiniteness and genericity, the morpho-syntactic encoding of these notions varies considerably. This workshop is part of a larger project that provides concrete diagnostics for determining the interpretation of noun phrases which lack overt markers of (in)definiteness. The connection between morpho-syntax and semantics is explored in six languages, Cape Verdean Creole, Hiaki, Korean, Quechua, Russian, and Xhosa. These investigations provide the empirical base for a restrictive theory of cross-linguistic variation.

Register

(Registration closed March 20th)

Date and location

Friday, March 29, 2019, 1.00 pm – 7.00 pm

Yale University, Dow Hall 100

Schedule

• 12.45pm - 1.00pm; Welcome
• 1.00 pm – 2.15 pm; Session 1
  • Session title: The Noun Phrase: Morpho-syntax & Semantics
  • Chair: Jose Camacho (Rutgers University)
  • 1.00 pm – 1.35 pm
    • Title: Notes on having (in)definiteness without quantifiers
    • Author: Gennaro Chierchia (Harvard University)
  • 1.40 pm – 2.15 pm
    • Title: Bare nouns in two Bantu languages and the DP/NP hypothesis
    • Authors: Vicki Carstens (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale), Loyiso Mletshe (University of the Western Cape, South Africa)
• 2.15 pm – 2.30 pm; Coffee Break
• 2.30 pm – 3.45 pm; Session 2
  • Session title: The Noun Phrase: Morpho-syntax & Semantics
  • Chair: Gita Martohardjono (CUNY)
  • 2.30 pm – 3.05 pm
    • Title: Bare Nouns, Definites and Demonstratives in Cape Verdean Creole
    • Author: Marlyse Baptista (University of Michigan)
  • 3.10 pm – 3.45 pm
    • Title: Lexical Nominalizations in Korean
    • Author: James Yoon (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
• 3.45 pm – 4.00 pm; Coffee break
• 4.00 pm – 5.30 pm; Panel Discussion
  • Panel Title: Working on Less Familiar Languages: Challenges & Rewards
  • Moderator: Claire Bowern (Yale University)
  • Speakers:
    • Enoch Aboh (University of Amsterdam & Yale University)
    • Heidi Harley (University of Arizona)
    • Maria Polinsky (University of Maryland)
    • Liliana Sanchez (Rutgers University)
• 6.00 pm – 7.00 pm; ​Poster Session
  • Session title: The Noun Phrase: Morpho-syntax & Semantics
    1. ​The evolutionary syntax of Universal 20
       Samuel Andersson (Yale University)
    2. Alienation in Tlingit Possession
       James Crippen (University of British Columbia & Yale University)
    3. Experimental evidence for the reduced discourse potential of bare noun phrases in Mandarin
       Jess H.-K. Law and Kristen Syrett (Rutgers University)
    4. Determiners in Akan modified noun phrases: Clausal or nominal?
       Augustina Owusu (Rutgers University)
    5. How Brazilians determine their possessions
       Emanuel Quadros (Yale University)
    6. On the (non)-optionality of the Turkish classifier
       Yagmur Sag (Rutgers University)
    7. Towards an indefinite article: On the uses of einn in Modern Icelandic
       Sigridur S. Sigurdardottir (Yale University)
    8. The acquisition of (in)definiteness: From Ll Mandarin to L2 English
       Mike Stern, Gita Martohardjono (CUNY Graduate Center) and Veneeta Dayal (Yale University)
• 7.30 pm; Dinner (Lobby, DOW HALL)