Linguistics Research Seminars

11 March

Speaker: Jim Wood (Yale University)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

18th March

Speaker:Bronagh Ćatibušić ( Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

25 March

Speaker: Giuliana Giusti (Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

1st April

Speaker: Raffaella Folli (Ulster University, Belfast) )
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

8th April

Speaker: Tom Stephen (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

24 September

Speaker: Virginia Dawson (Western Washington University)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building *hybrid talk*

1st October

Speaker: Rowland Imperial (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

8th October

Speaker: Eavan O'Keeffe (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

15th October

Speaker: Ebru Boynuegri (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

5th November

Speaker: Joanna Bialek (Trinity College Dublin) 
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

19th November

Speaker: Xun Gong (Universität Wien)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

26th November

Speaker: Jamal Ouhalla (University College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

13th February 2024

Speaker: Bassey Antia (University of the Western Cape, Cape Town)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

20th February 2024

Speaker: Jeffrey Kallen (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

27th February 2024

Speaker: Bruno Spadi (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

12th March 2024

Speaker: Muhammad Ilyas (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

19th March 2024

Speaker: Dieter Gunkel (University of Richmond)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

26th March 2024

Speaker: Jackob Horsch (Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

9th April 2024

Speaker: Martin Worthington (Trinity College Dublin)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

13th May 2024

Speaker: Michelle Sheehan (Newcastle University)
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

26 September 2023

Speaker: Muhammad Zakaria
Title: The Historical Development of Causative/Applicative and Middle Constructions in Southeastern and Southwestern Kuki-Chin
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

Abstract: This talk argues for the shared origin of two valence-affecting constructions in South Central Tibeto-Burman, specifically Southeastern and Southwestern Kuki-Chin. They propose that these constructions, despite seeming unrelated, may indicate a closer relationship between Southeastern and Southwestern languages within this subgroup. Notably, both regions have similar morphological elements indicating causative and applicative functions. Southeastern Kuki-Chin, exemplified in Hyow, shows similar middle marker morphology. The authors suggest a common origin involving initial causative or comitative applicative elements, evolving into middle markers in Southeastern languages while retaining some applicative semantics. This parallels a situation in West Africa where causative, applicative, and middle semantics have evolved from an original 'co-participation' marker in Wolof. The paper aims to comprehensively explore these linguistic phenomena and their semantic evolution.

10th October 2023

Speaker: Masha Esipova (Bar-Ilan University)
Title: To Q or not to Q?
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building/*hybrid talk* Zoom registration link (register in advance for this meeting)

Abstract: Rudin (2018); Rudin & Rudin (2022) discuss a typological generalization that languages in which rising declaratives comprise non-canonical biased yes/no questions (YNQs)—like English and Bulgarian—also allow for rising imperatives, used as polite/friendly/tentative requests or non-committal suggestions, as shown in (1), but languages in which rising declaratives comprise canonical neutral YNQs, like Macedonian, don't allow for such rising imperatives.

(1) a. Did you pour me wine L* H-H%? (syntactically marked canonical question)
b. You poured me wine L* H-H%? (rising declarative as a non-canonical question)
c. Pour me wine L* H-H%? (rising imperative as a request)
d. A: What should I do to help you relax?
B: I don’t know... Pour me wine L* H-H%? Make me a bath L* H-H%? (rising imperative as a suggestion)

In this talk, I will look at another Slavic language, Russian, further expanding and fine-tuning the typology of how languages can realize various discourse-oriented meanings across sentence types. While, like in Macedonian, Russian canonical neutral YNQs are formed via an "intonation-only" strategy, said intonation doesn't involve a rising tune, but rather what I will call the Q-Peak. I will show that, despite marking canonical neutral YNQs, the Q-Peak can also be used in friendly requests like (1c)—but not in non-committal suggestions like (1d). I propose that the Q-Peak doesn't realize an operator that raises an issue, but rather an operator that asks the addressee to respond to an issue—appropriate in (some) questions and requests, but not in non-committal suggestions.

7th November 2023

Speaker: Jingqi Ying (Trinity College Dublin)
Title: The Old Chinese sound change *-ps > *-ts > *-jH: Insights from Zhou Excavated Documents
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

21st November 2023

Speaker: Adam Ledgeway (University of Cambridge)
Title: Parameters of Variation in the Clausal Domain: A Pan-Romance View
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building

28nd November 2023

Speaker: Chiara Marchetiello (Trinity College Dublin)
Title: TBC
Time: 16:00-17:30 
Location: TRiSS seminar room, Arts Building