Susi Wurmbrand colloquium Friday Nov 18

Susi Wurmbrand (Harvard University) will present “Implicational complementation hierarchies: Containment and the freedom of syntax” on Friday November 18, 2022 at 3:30pm as part of the Linguistics colloquium series. The presentation will be both in-person in S331 in the ILC and available through Zoom. Abstract can be found below. All are welcome!

Typological and cross-linguistic observations show that complementation configurations can be ranked according to their semantic properties, forming an implicational complementation hierarchy along which syntactic or morphological distinctions operate. I suggest a model where the cross-linguistically stable (possibly universal) properties follow from a rigid syntax?semantic mapping of categories defined via containment, whereas variable properties indicate the points where syntax may act autonomously.  I will discuss several phenomena where implicational relations have been observed (among them finiteness, transparency, restructuring, the left periphery) and show that they can be related to truncation options (whether implemented via exfoliation, structure removal or non-projection) regulated by containment.