Null arguments (and related phenomena) in ASL: This Friday at NYU

[Mark A. Mandel]

Forwarded through several steps. The location is Room 103, 10 Washington Place, New York City (Google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/Gp5qT).

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Linguistics <linguistics at gc.cuny.edu>
> Date: Sep 23, 2013 2:14 PM EDT
> Subject: [penguists] FW: NYU Syntax Brown Bag: Helen Koulidobrova (Central Connecticut State University), Friday, September 27, noon, Rm 103 of 10 WP
> 
> 
> See below.
> From: Vera Zu [mailto:verazu at nyu.edu] 
> 
> Dear all,
>  
> The second talk of this year's syntax brown bag series will be given by Helen Koulidobrova (Central Connecticut State University) this coming Friday, at noon, in room 103, 10 Washington Place. The title and abstract are as follows:
>  
> ---
>  
> Elide me bare: null arguments (and related phenomena) in American Sign Language
>  
> I examine the nature of the null arguments (subjects and objects) in American Sign Language (ASL) and argue that the traditional analyses must be abandoned.  It is typically assumed that in the presence of agreement, the null argument is a silent pronoun (pro, e.g. Rizzi 1986), while with lack thereof, the null argument is a topic-bound variable (e.g. Huang 1984). I introduce novel data that pose a problem for the traditional view.  As the null argument is subjected to a variety of diagnostics, I demonstrate that it is best analyzed as an instantiation of ‘surface anaphora’ – namely, ellipsis of the bare NP argument.  Along the way, a few other phenomena are addressed, such as VP-ellipsis,  syntax of bare NPs, and the contribution of space to agreement in Sign Languages.
>  
> ---
>  
> I'd also like to draw your attention to two more additions to the brown bag schedule: Phoevos Panagiotidis (U Cyprus) will be giving a talk on Oct 24 (Thursday) and Sjef Barbiers (Meertens Instituut) will visit us on Nov 12 (Tuesday). Both talks will start at the special time of 5:00 pm. The venue will be the usual room 103 of 10 Washington Place.
>  
> The full schedule is as follows, which can also be found on the Brown Bag Website.
>  
> Sept 6, Itamar Kastner (NYU)
> Sept 27, Helen Koulidobrova (Central Connecticut State University)
> Oct 4, Edwin Williams (Princeton)
> Oct 11, Richard S. Kayne (NYU)
> Oct 24, Phoevos Panagiotidis (U Cyprus)
> Nov 8, Thomas Graf (Stony Brook)
> Nov 12, Sjef Barbiers (Meertens Instituut)
> Nov 15, Francisco Ordonez (Stony Brook)
> Dec 6, Neil Myler (NYU)
>  
> All are welcome! Snacks and drinks will be provided as always. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
>  
> Best,
> -- 
> Vera Zu
> Department of Linguistics
> New York University
> 10 Washington Place
> New York, NY 10003
> verazu at nyu.edu
> https://files.nyu.edu/xz500/public/	

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