Ellen Woolford

Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003 USA

Email: woolford at linguist.umass.edu
Phone: (413) 545-6841  Fax: (413) 545-2792

Current Research Interests

Case and Agreement Typology and Theory, Ergativity, Locality Restrictions on Case and Agreement, Aspect Splits,

the Anaphor Agreement Effect, Marked Objects, the Role of Hierarchies in Grammar, Optimality Theory

Selected Papers – download highlighted titles as PDF files

2008 Active Stative Agreement in Lakota. Ms. University of Massachusetts.

2008 Aspect Splits as Parasitic Marking, paper given at DEAL II Workshop on Interface Theories, Leiden University, Feb. 2008.

2008 Is Agreement Really Independent of Case in Choctaw? Ms. University of Massachusetts.

2008 Differential Subject Marking at Argument Structure, Syntax, and PF.  In Helen de Hoop and Peter de Swart eds., Differential Subject Marking, pgs. 17-40. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Springer.

2007 Introduction to OT Syntax. Phonological Studies 10: 119-134.

2007 Case Locality: Pure Domains and Object Shift. Lingua 117 (9): 1591-1616.   Special issue guest edited by Vieri Samek-Lodovici, Studies in OT Syntax and Semantics.    [Abstract]

2007 Aspect Splits as Contextual Markedness. Ms. University of Massachusetts. Rutgers Optimality Archive.   [Abstract]

2006 Lexical Case, Inherent Case, and Argument Structure. Linguistic Inquiry 37.1.  (20 pgs)    [Abstract]

2006 Case-Agreement Mismatches. In Cedric Boeckx ed. Agreement Systems, 317-339. John Benjamins.   [Abstract]

2003 Burzio's Generalization, Markedness, and Locality Constraints on Nominative Objects. In E. Brandner and H. Zinsmeister eds. New Perspectives on Case Theory, 301-329. Stanford CA: CSLI.

2003 Clitics and Agreement in Competition: Ergative Cross-Referencing Patterns. In A. Carpenter et al, eds, Papers in Optimality Theory II, 421-449. Amherst, MA: GLSA.

2003 Nominative Objects and Case Locality. In W. Browne et al. eds, Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics 11: 539-568. Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications.

2001 Case Patterns. In G. Legendre, S. Vikner and J. Grimshaw, eds. Optimality Theoretic Syntax,509-543. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.  Earlier version available on Rutgers Optimality Archive (ROA-324):     Case Patterns Abstract Case Patterns paper from ROA

2001 Conditions on Object Agreement in Ruwund (Bantu). In E. Benedicto ed. The Umass Volume on Indigenous Languages. University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 20, 177-201. Amherst, MA: GLSA.

2000 Ergative Agreement Systems. University of Maryland Working Papers in Linguistics 10: 157-191.

2000 Agreement in Disguise. In Vicki Carstens and Frederick Parkinson, eds. Advances in African Linguistics, Trends in African Linguistics, No. 4, 103-117. Trenton, NJ : Africa World Press. 

2000 Object Agreement in Palauan. In I. Paul, V. Phillips and L. Travis, eds. Formal Problems in Austronesian Morphology and Syntax, 215-245. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.   (go to 1995 version from UMOP 18)

1999 More on the Anaphor-Agreement Effect. Linguistic Inquiry 30: 257-287.

1999 Animacy Hierarchy Effects on Object Agreement. In Paul Kotey, ed. New Dimensions in African Linguistics. Trends in African Linguistics, No. 3, 203-216. Trenton, NJ : Africa World Press.

1997 Four-Way Case Systems: Ergative, Nominative, Objective and Accusative. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 15: 181-227.  (Correction: In example (8) on page 187: the dative/allative suffix in Nez Perce should be –px  (not na).]

1995 Object Agreement in Palauan: Specificity, Humanness, Economy, and Optimality. In J. Beckman et al. eds. Optimality Theory. University of Massachusetts Working Papers in Linguistics 18, 655-700. Amherst, MA: GLSA.    (Earlier version on Rutgers Optimality Archive, ROA-55.)

1995 Why Passive Can Block Object Marking. In A. Akinlabi, ed. Theoretical Approaches to African Languages. Trends in African Linguistics, No. 1, 199-215. Trenton, NJ : Africa World Press. 

1993 Symmetric and Asymmetric Passives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 11: 679-728.

1991 VP Internal Subjects in VSO and Non-Configurational Languages. Linguistic Inquiry 22: 503-540.

Co-editor    OT book series Advances in Optimality Theory

Equinox Publications equinoxpub.com

Contact me with ideas for OT book projects in syntax and semantics           woolford at linguist.umass.edu

For OT book projects in phonology and phonetics, contact                             Armin Mester mester at ucsc.edu

Ling 404 Shughni language page

Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea

Revised July 2008