MIT Syntax Square

Laura Grestenberger (Harvard University)
Two voice mismatch puzzles in Sanskrit and Greek
Tuesday, March 4 | 1pm | 32-D461

Sanskrit and Greek both have binary voice systems in which active morphology alternatives with non-active (middle) morphology. In this talk I will present two problems in the morphosyntax of these languages, both of which concern exponence of voice morphology in unexpected syntactic environments ("voice mismatches").

The first one comes from deponent verbs, which take non-active morphology, but syntactically and semantically behave exactly like active agentive verbs. The second problem arises in contexts in which a distinct passive morpheme is available. Contrary to what is expected in standard approaches to Voice, this passive morpheme obligatorily co-occurs with middle morphology (Sanskrit) or active morphology (Greek). I propose that both puzzles can be solved by adopting an approach in which only active and middle are values of vP, while passive is a distinct functional head. In this approach, only passive is valency-changing, while active/middle are sensitive to their syntactic environment but do not operate on it.  I will show that this predicts the distribution of active and middle morphology in languages like Sanskrit and Greek, as well as where potential mismatches can occur.

GSAS Indo-European and Historical Linguistics Workshop:

Tyler Lau (Harvard University)
Microvariation in Ryukyuan Verbal Morphology
Wednesday, March 5 | 5:15pm | Boylston 303

The Ryukyuan languages show remarkable diversity in verbal morphology. One area in which differences are of note are in what are traditionally called by Classical Japanese grammarians the "irrealis" forms (comprising of the negative, passive, and causative verb forms). I explore differences, especially in the vowel-final verb classes in the Ryukyuan languages vis-à-vis Japanese and discuss implications for past discussions of Proto-Japono-Ryukyuan morphology.

Language Universals/Polinsky Lab Meeting 

Reading: Jarosz 2010
Discussion led by Kevin Ryan
Wednesday, March 5 | 5:15pm | 2 Arrow Street (4th floor conference room)

Language Universals and Linguistic Diversity Colloquium 

Gaja Jarosz (Yale University)
Modeling the Acquisition of Phonological Structure
Friday, March 7 | 4:30pm | Boylston 103

Please go to the event page for the abstract.