Boylston Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138
| Welcome
I am finishing my dissertation in the PhD program in linguistics at UMass - Amherst. As of July 2009, I have joined the Harvard department of linguistics.
My research interests are in syntax, semantics and morphology, especially in areas where the three come together. My work draws primarily from Nez Perce and English. I am currently writing on the semantics and syntax of future markers, using evidence drawn from fieldwork on Nez Perce. Other current research interests include modal subordination and the syntax of conditionals; semantics of antipassive and the cross-linguistic encoding of property-type objects; markers of space and time on the Nez Perce verb; argument structure and ergative case.
| Contact info
Department of Linguistics
Boylston Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138
| Downloadable papers & handouts
| Work in progress
| Other activities
I analyze inflection for space in the tense-aspect system of Nez Perce. Space inflection appears between aspect and tense and locates events with respect to the utterance situation. In embedded clauses, space inflection behaves like tense in taking the same form as might be used in direct discourse.
Property-type objects and modal embedding [2007] (PDF)
I argue for a unified semantics for non-specific objects. The two central features of the analysis are property-type object positions and modal embedding; I argue that non-specific (property-type) objects combine with verbs with the help of a head ANTIP, which provides existential closure over property-type objects in the scope of a modal operator. The modal character of this head allows us to unify non-specificity effects across intensional and extensional verbs, in keeping with empirical evidence from Nez Perce, Hindi and Inuit that suggests a unified analysis.
The asymmetry of argument structure: evidence from coercion [2007] (PDF) (LingBuzz)
This paper brings psycholinguistic evidence to bear on the question of how far-reaching verbal underspecification must be. Are verb roots capable of introducing theme arguments, or must this task fall to functional heads? New experimental evidence comes from causativization and the interpretation of known intransitives used transitively. In assigning grammatical structure to transitive sentences containing intransitive verbs (e.g. laugh, arrive), subjects are more likely to build causative structures if the verb is unaccusative than if it is unergative. I argue that this finding follows naturally from an account where unaccusatives and unergatives differ in root type: unaccusative roots introduce arguments, whereas unergative roots do not. The finding is not predicted on a theory where all argument introduction is factored out in functional structure. Such results provide a bound on how underspecified verbal roots can be: theme arguments must remain root arguments, whatever else is factored out.
Antipassive and indefinite objects in Nez Perce [2007] (PDF)
I provide an analysis of non-specific objects and canonical indefinite objects in Nez Perce, arguing that the former should be treated as property-type indefinites and the latter as quantificational indefinites. I argue on the basis of cross-linguistic comparison and the semantics of the antipassive operator for a covert antipassive morpheme in Nez Perce.
The origin and content of expletives: evidence from "selection" [2006] (PDF) (LingBuzz)
While expletive there has primarily been studied in the context of the existential construction, it has long been known that some but not all lexical verbs are compatible with there-insertion. This paper argues that there-insertion can be used to diagnose vPs with no external argument, ruling out transitives, unergatives, and also inchoatives, which are argued to project an event argument on the edge of vP. Based on the tight link between there-insertion and low functional structure, I build a case for low there-insertion, where the expletive is first merged in the specifier of a verbalizing head v. The low Merge position is motivated by a stringently local relation that holds between there and its associate DP; this relation plays a crucial role in the interaction of there with raising verbs, where local agreement rules out cases of "too many theres" such as *There seemed there to be a man in the room. An account of these cases in terms of phase theory is explored, ultimately suggesting that there must be merged in a non-thematic phasal specifier position.
Ergative case and the transitive subject: a view from Nez Perce [2007] (PDF)
Ergative case, the special case of transitive subjects, raises questions not only for the
theory of case but also for theories of subjecthood and transitivity. This paper analyzes the case
system of Nez Perce, a "three-way ergative" language, with an eye towards a formalization of the
category of transitive subject. I show that it is object agreement that is determinative of transitivity,
and hence of ergative case, in Nez Perce. I further show that the transitivity condition on ergative
case must be coupled with a criterion of subjecthood that makes reference to agreement with a
high functional head, not just to origin in a high argument-structural position. These two results
suggest a formalization of the transitive subject as that argument uniquely accessing both high and
low agreement information, the former through its (agreement-derived) connection with T and the
latter through its origin in the specifier of a head associated with object agreement (v). In view of
these findings, I argue that ergative case morphology should be analyzed not as the expression of a
syntactic primitive but as the morphological spell-out of subject agreement and object agreement
on a nominal.
(Former title: Case and caselessness in Nez Perce)