This is the first of a series of blog posts showing how I think about a syntax problem when I first notice it. I will occasionally choose phenomena that I notice, and talk about them in an informal fashion, breaking down the process of preliminary syntactic exploration. That is, I am just thinking off the top of my head (brainstorming), with few or no revisions. The focus of the discussion will be on process. I am not trying to come up with a polished analysis. Of course, if people suggest references for me to look at, I will look at them later, but that would be a second stage of thought, not the preliminary exploration.
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Monday, July 31, 2023
Summer 2023 Fieldwork by the Numbers
During June and July of 2023, we (Olivia and I) did fieldwork on Cua, an endangered central Khoisan language spoken in southeastern Botswana. We did the fieldwork in Gaborone (one week) and Diphuduhudu (one month). The goals were to finish a rough draft of the grammatical sketch, bring the number of lexical entries up to at least 1,000, and to continue working on oral texts. We were successful in these goals.
Friday, June 23, 2023
MaS3 (Morphology as Syntax 3)
Morphology as Syntax 3
Short Title: MaS3
Date: 15-Sep-2023 - 16-Sep-2023
Location: Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Contact: Tom Leu
Contact Email: leu.thomas@uqam.ca
Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories
Meeting Description:
The purpose of this workshop is to investigate the relationship between morphology and syntax, and in particular to investigate the extent to which morphological generalizations can be accounted for in terms of purely syntactic operations and conditions. Can morphology and syntax be unified under purely Merge based theories with the same principles? If so, what does this tell us about the type of syntactic theory we should pursue?
Invited speakers (in alphabetical order):
Léna Baunaz (University of Geneva)
Vicki Carstens (University of Connecticut)
James Crippen (McGill University)
Peter Kondwandi Msaka (University of Malawi)
Neil Myler (Boston University)
Sandhya Sundaresan (SUNY Stony Brook)
Peter Svenonius (University of Tromsø)
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Papers on Negation and Quantifiers
Here is a series of five papers I have written recently concerning negation, quantifiers and negating quantifiers. They are all syntax/semantics interface papers, with a substantial semantic component. The constant theme throughout is the application of the basic framework of Collins and Postal 2014 to various phenomena.
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Guest Blog Post by Pauline Jacobson on Constituent Structure
Losing sight of the forest through the trees:
Remarks on constituent structure and constituent structure tests
Pauline Jacobson
Program in Linguistics
Brown University
This is a guest blog which I was invited to write by Chris Collins. I am very grateful to Chris for the opportunity to write up and post these thoughts. Needless to say, he doesn't necessarily agree with or endorse anything in these remarks.
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Tse Ke Di Ratang Le Tse Ke Sa Di Rateng Kwa Metseng Ya Botswana
This is a translation into Setswana of an earlier blog post. I would like to thank Seabelo John for helping me with this translation.
Likes and Dislikes of Living in Rural Botswana
Tse Ke Di Ratang Le Tse Ke Sa Di Rateng Kwa Metseng Ya Botswana
(with the help of Seabelo John)
(ka thuso ya ga Seabelo John)
These likes and dislikes are based on my experiences living in Diphuduhudu (local language: Cua) and Mokgenene (local language: Sasi) (being in) in rural Botswana during my linguistic fieldwork.
Dilo tse ke di ratang le tse ke sa di rateng di remeletse mo maitemogelong a me fa ke nna kwa Diphuduhudu (teme: Secua) le kwa Mokgenene (teme: Sesasi) e le metse ya Botswana jaaka ke tlhotlhomisa diteme.
The locations I stayed at are called ‘settlements’, meaning that they were created as places where the ‘Basarwa’ (Khoisan population) could move to for access to amenities (e.g., school, clinic).
Mafelo a ke neng ke nna mo go one a bidiwa bodulo/magae, go raya mafelo a Basarwa ba ka yang teng go bona ditlamelo jaaka dikolo le dikokelwana.
I have no experience living in other kinds of rural villages in Botswana.
Ga ke na maitemogelo a go nna kwa metseng e mengwe ko Botswana.
I am grateful to the people of these villages for their friendship and for supporting my research.
Ke leboga banni ba metse e ka gore ba na le botsanalo gape ba rotloetsa ditlhotlhomiso tsa me.
Just to be clear, I love staying in the village and doing fieldwork.
Ke batla gore batho ba tlhaloganye gore ke rata go nna mo metseng ke dira ditlhotlhomiso.
The likes and dislikes are presented in no particular order.
Dilo tse ke di ratang le tse ke sa di rateng ga di a tlhomaganngwa ka tsela epe.
Likes
Dilo tse ke di ratang
1. Seeing the stars and the Milky Way at night.
Go bona dinaledi le mokgatšha wa dinaledi bosigo.
2. Doing fieldwork all day long.
Go dira ditlhotlhomiso tsa puo letsatsi lotlhe.
3. Discovering something cool about Cua/Sasi.
Go tlhaloganya se sentle (se se kgatlhang) ka dipuo tsa Secua kgotsa Sesasi.
4. Interacting with my elderly consultants.
Go buisana le bagolo ba ba nthusang.
5. Hot fresh baked bread from the bakery.
Borotho jo bo molelo jo bo tswang kwa lebentleleng la borotho/maapeelong a borotho.
6. No e-mail, no TV, no Internet.
Ga go na melaetsa ya maranyane, setshwantso sa motshikhinyego, le enthanete mo motseng.
7. Giving clothes to children, and seeing them smile and laugh.
Go neela bana diaparo, le go ba bona ba nyenya ba bo ba tshega.
8. Listening to Stadium play his guitar.
Go reetsa Stadium a tshameka katara ya gagwe.
9. Stadium’s song: ‘On the other side of the river, there is no honey.’
Pina ya ga Stadium: ‘Kwa boseja ga noka, ga gona dinotshi’.
10. Hearing and practicing Cua/Sasi.
Go utlwa le go ikatisa Secua le SeSasi.
11. Hearing and practicing Setswana.
Go utlwa le go ikatisa Setswana.
12. Using my solar panel for electricity.
Go dirisa maranyane a me a a dirisang letsatsi go fetlha motlakase.
13. Seeing six red bars (charged) on the inverter.
Go bona invetara (sekaedi sa motlakase) e/se na le masedi a mahibidu a le marataro.
14. Sitting around a fire at night talking.
Go ora molelo, le go bua le ditsala bosigo.
15. Eating motogo (sorghum porridge) in the morning.
Go ja motogo phakela.
16. Taking walks in the village after work, talking to people.
Go tsamaya ka dinao mo motseng morago ga tiro (fa re tšhaisa),
le go bua le batho ba motse.
17. Taking a hot bucket shower, in my office.
Go tlhapa ka metsi a molelo mo emereng mo ofising ya me.
18. Playing Morabaraba (advanced tic-tac-toe) in the sand/on the ground.
Go tshameka Morabaraba (kgotsa Mhele/Mohele) mo mmung.
19. Waking up to the rooster crowing.
Go tsoga mokoko o lela.
20. Locating and buying local products (e.g., tomatoes, vegetables, eggs)
Go batla le go reka dijo tsa mo gae jaaka ditamati, merogo, le mae.
21. Driving to the nearest town for provisions.
Go kgweeletsa kwa motseng wa mabapi go batla dithoto.
22. Absolute quiet in the middle of the night.
Ga go na modumo gotlhelele bosigogare.
23. Breathing the fresh country air.
Go hema pefo e phepha ya motse.
24. Watching the sunrise and sunset over the desert.
Go bona tlhabo ya letsatsi le phirimo ya letsatsi mo sekakeng.
25. Living outside my comfort zone.
Go nna go sena manobonobo.
Dislikes
Tse ke sa di rateng
1. Flies everywhere, all the time.
Go na le dintsi tse dintsi gongwe le gongwe, letsatsi le letsatsi.
2. Sand on my office floor.
Go na le motlhaba fa fatshe mo ofising yame.
3. Walking on sand.
Go tsamaya ka dinao mo motlhabeng.
4. Getting sand in shoes.
Go tsenwa ke motlhaba mo ditlhakong
5. Thorns in sand.
Mitlwa mo motlhabeng.
6. Seeing people living in abject poverty.
Go bona batho ba ba senang madi gotlhelele.
7. Seeing widespread alcoholism.
Go bona batho ba ba nwang bojalwa thatha.
8. Using one small room for office, bedroom, and shower.
Go dirisa kamore e le nngwe e nnye e le ofisi, kamore ya borobalo,
le kamore ya botlhapelo.
9. Using the outdoor latrine.
Go dirisa ntlwana ya boithomelo ya kwa ntle.
10. The smell of the outdoor latrine.
Monko wa ntlwana ya boithomelo ya kwa ntle.
11. Walking to the latrine in the dark in the morning.
Go ya kwa ntlwaneng ya boithomelo mo lefifing phakela.
12. Chickens defecating on my porch.
Dikoko di ithomela mo setupung same.
13. Goats drinking from my buckets.
Dipodi di nwela metsi mo diemereng tsame.
14. Cloudy days when the solar panel does not work well.
Malatsi a maru a thibileng fa maranyane a letsatsi a sa bereke sentle.
15. Seeing three bars (not charged) on the inverter.
Go bona invetara (sekaedi sa motlakase), e na le masedi a le mararo.
16. No electricity (no fans or heaters).
Ga go na motlakase (ga go na fene, ga go na hitara).
17. No washing machine.
Ga go na motšhine o o tlhatswang diaparo.
18. No indoor running water.
Ga go na metsi mo ntlong.
19. Getting skin cancer from being in the sun.
Go tsenwa ke kankere ya letlalo fa ke nna mo letsatsing.
20. Getting out of my blankets in the frigid morning air.
Go tswa mo dikobong fa go le tsididi phakela.
21. Chickens crowing during recording.
Dikoko di lela fa ke gatisa batho.
22. Children crying during recording.
Bana ba lela fa ke gatisa dipolelo tsa Batho.
23. Worrying about my house in Gaborone getting robbed.
Go belaela gore ntlo yame ko Gaborone e tla thubiwa.
24. Living outside my comfort zone.
Go nna go sena manobonobo.
Implicit Arguments at WCCFL 41 (2023): Handout and Posters
Here are three posters and one talk handout to be presented at WCCFL 41 at Santa Cruz.
All of these presentations concern the syntax of implicit arguments.
Passive without Morphology: A Case for Implicit Arguments
Abdul-Razak Sulemana, University of Ghana, Legon
The Syntax of Ewe (Tongugbe) Nya-Constructions
Selikem Gotah, New York University
On the Syntactic Status of Implicit Arguments in UG: Greek as a Case Study
Nikos Angelopoulos, Chris Collins, Dimitris Michelioudakis and Arhonto Terzi
Two is Better than One: A Number Mismatch with Deficient Implicit Arguments
John David Storment, Stony Brook
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