Syntax Interface Lecture, Utrecht (Introductory Remarks by Lex Cloin-Tavenier)

Introduction Chris Collins's Syntax Interface Lecture at Utrecht University (December 4 2025)

(posted with the permission of Lex)

It is my pleasure to introduce today's speaker, professor Chris Collins from New York University, and tell you a little about him.

Chris received his B.S. in mathematics from MIT in 1985. After that, his time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo ignited a lifelong interest in comparative linguistics, as he tried to learn the Togolese language Ewe. This interest eventually culminated in his PhD thesis titled Topics in Ewe Syntax, completed in 1993, again at MIT, under the supervision of Ken Hale.

Since graduating, Chris has held various different professorships in several departments around the globe, including full professor at Cornell University, invited professor at Université Paris 7, and visiting professorships at the University of Legon, Ghana, and the University of Botswana. He has been a full professor at New York University since 2006.

For the research in one of his areas of expertise, comparative African syntax, he has made many trips to do field work over the years to parts of Africa where Ewe and notably also Khoisan languages are spoken, like Togo and Botswana. Among other things, this has resulted in no less than six grammars and dictionaries of African languages to his name.

Another area of expertise is theoretical syntax. In this work, he focuses on fundamental issues in Minimalist syntax and its interfaces. Examples include his work on the role of smuggling in argument structure, joint work with Daniel Seely on the labelling algorithm, and his collaboration with Richard Kayne on their model of Morphology as Syntax.

Nearly all of this information can be found on his blog https://ordinaryworkinggrammarian.blogspot.com/, where he actively keeps the world at large informed on his current thoughts, endeavors, and musings (both big and bigger).

Today, he will give a talk on a topic that touches closely on the contents of his latest MIT Press book Principles of Argument Structure: A Merge-Based Approach, which was recently nominated by the Linguistic Society of America as a finalist in consideration for the 2026 Bloomfield award.

Chris, on behalf of our SIL organization, I'd like to offer you our congratulations on this nomination, and, more pressingly, the floor.

Lex Cloin-Tavenier.