Whamit!

Speaker: Christopher Legerme (MIT)
Title: Sulemana (2024) on Passives without Morphology
Time: Thursday, October 10th, 5pm - 6pm
Location: 32-D769

Abstract: For this week’s Morphun, I’m looking forward to presenting a cool recent paper by an alum of our department, Dr. Abdul-Razak Sulemana, who investigated passive constructions without morphology in Buli (Gur, Ghana).  Despite lacking passive morphology, Sulemana argues that Buli exhibits true passive constructions with implicit arguments. We will explore the key evidence used in support of this analysis, including:

1. Semantic interpretation of implicit agents
2. A-movement of internal arguments
3. Compatibility with by-phrases

Speaker: Chelsea Tang (MIT)
Title: Overapplication in Reduplication in Gikuyu: Evidence for Back-Copying?
Time: Monday, October 7th, 5pm - 6:30pm
Location: 32-D831

Abstract: Back-copying is an overapplication phenomenon where the reduplicant creates an environment for a phonological process to apply, after which the base “back-copies” from the reduplicant. Many scholars (McCarthy, Kimper, and Mullin 2012; Kiparsky 2010; Inkelas and Zoll 2005, among others) have argued that this phenomenon does not exist, thus presenting an overgeneration problem for Parallel Optimality Theory (OT) as proposed by McCarthy and Prince (1995). This presentation offers evidence from Gĩkũyũ that back-copying (possibly) exists. If confirmed by native speakers, this data will pose a serious challenge to both serialist and cyclic theories of reduplication. The attested back-copying patterns will also provide strong empirical support for Parallel OT.

Speaker: Alma Frischoff and Ezer Rasin (MIT and Tel Aviv University)
Title: On the absence of crucially-simultaneous phonological interactions in natural language
Time: Thursday, October 10th, 12:30pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461

Abstract: Theories of phonology should be able to generate attested types of interactions between phonological processes – including opaque interactions – and at the same time explain why certain conceivable types of interactions are unattested. We draw attention to three universals regarding unattested opaque interactions, which have been identified and defended in previous literature. These universals are expected in a rule-based theory of phonology where rules must apply serially and can never apply simultaneously. We propose to unify the three universals under a general universal called No Simultaneity, which states that there are no crucially-simultaneous phonological interactions in natural language. We then argue that this universal has important implications for theories of phonology, by showing that certain phonological theories that aim to generate opaque interactions in parallel are too permissive and over-generate unattested interactions, contrary to recent proposals that opacity is not as tied to serialism as previously thought.

The Understanding Obviation workshop was held at McGill University from October 4-6 (co-organized by MIT alum Jessica Coon - PhD ‘10). MIT Linguistics was well represented in the workshop with the following talks:

• Peter Grishin (PhD ‘23 and current post-doc) and Elise Newman (faculty) presented a talk based on joint work with Giovanni Roversi (current graduate student) entitled: Obviation in Passamaquoddy-Wolastoqey: Dependent case?
• Jessica Coon (PhD ‘10) - with Stefan Keine, and Juan Vázquez Álvarez presented a talk entitled: Animacy and obviation in Ch’ol

The workshop was a great success and was full of interesting crosslinguistic questions and parallels (and perhaps not-so-parallels). Congratulations to all presenters for their work!

MIT Linguistics was well represented at the 29th iteration of the Sinn und Bedeutung conference, held between 17-19 September in Noto, Italy. Current students, faculty, and alumni presented talks and posters (posters mentioned for current students only, more at conference website):

• Danfeng Wu (PhD ‘22): Why “not numeral NP” requires “but” but not “not many NP”
• Sam Alxatib (PhD ‘13) - with Andreea Nicolae: FC with discourse referents: the curious case of ‘any’
• Jad Wehbe, Omri Doron (current graduate students): Diagnosing the presuppositional properties of global and embedded implicatures
• Jad Wehbe (current graduate student): On the scope of together
• Despina Oikonomou (PhD ‘16) - with Vina Tsakali, Alexandra Samarentsi, Benedict Vassileiou: Temporal interpretation in Directive Speech Acts: A competition between imperative and 2nd-person subjunctive in Greek
• Wataru Uegaki (PhD ‘15) - with Anne Mucha, Mary Amaechi, Tim Jantarungsee: Disjunction with additives
• Omri Doron (current graduate student) - with Omri Amiraz: Definite plurals in comparatives
• Patrick G. Grosz (PhD ‘11) - with Mailin Antomo, Lea Fricke, Tatjana Scheffler: Lying and commitment with (not-)at-issue emojis
• Orin Percus (PhD ‘97) - with Mora Maldonado: Another look at contrafactive predicates: The case of Spanish ‘creerse’
• Keny Chatain (PhD ‘21) - with Benjamin Spector: Readings of pronouns across connectives are sensitive to monotony
• Paul Marty (PhD ‘17) - with Omri Amiraz, Patrick Elliott, Guillermo Del Pinal, Jacopo Romoli: Homogeneity in non-monotonic contexts
• Adèle Hénot-Mortier (current graduate student): Redundancy under Discussion (Poster)
• Johanna Alstott (current graduate student): On “very”-intensified superlatives (Poster)
• Haoming Li (current graduate student): The case for the strong and conditional analysis of permission (Poster)
• Anastasia Tsilia (current graduate student): (In)direct evidential futures in Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian (Poster)
• Adèle Hénot-Mortier (current graduate student): Unifying the French evidential construction on di(rai)t que (Poster)

The following department members also presented talks in post-event workshops:

In the workshop: Does semantics have a too many tools problem?

• Ido Benbaji-Elhadad (current graduate student): Worlds, times and the fate of ontological symmetry
• Amir Anvari (faculty): Indefinites as Indexed Definites 
• Adèle Hénot-Mortier (current graduate student): “One tool to rule them all”? An integrated model of the QuD for Hurford sentences

In the workshop: Evidentials in non-canonical speech acts

• Michela Ippolito (PhD ‘02) - with Crystal Chen: `Gosh, how X is that?!’ The case of Exclamative-Interrogatives
• Danfeng Wu (PhD ‘22): Corrective markers ‘bing’ and ‘you’ in Mandarin Chinese

Congratulations to all presenters for their work!

In the series organized by Michel DeGraff entitled Language & Linguistics in Decolonization and Liberation Struggles in Haiti, Palestine, and Israel, earlier announced here:

Speaker: Camelia Suleiman (Michigan State University)
Title: Palestinian Women in Higher Education in Jerusalem: Between Nationalism and Neoliberalism
Time: October 9, noon-2pm
Location: Room E51-095

How do Palestinian women students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem resolve the tension between Jewish nationalism and neoliberalism? Based on ongoing ethnographic sociolinguistic research in the daily lives of Palestinian women, I find that students manage these tensions through the performative aspects of language. My analysis demonstrates critical consciousness of their collective identity.

Prof. Suleiman’s visit is co-sponsored by MIT’s MindHandHeart and by MIT Women’s and Gender Studies.

For suggested readings in preparation of Prof. Suleiman’s visit and for additional information about the seminar, please click here for the full description.