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. 

My Thoughts on Case Theory (December 2025)

Below are my current thoughts about Case Theory as of November 2025. These thoughts result from my reviewing the relevant literature during Fall 2025 in order to teach the subject in Syntax I. My thoughts on Case Theory are evolving and they are not set in stone.

I thank Lydia Grebenyova for discussions of these issues.

Case Theory (Class Exercise -- Graduate Syntax I)

Syntax I Fall 2025

Class Exercise: Case Theory

Objective: To evaluate and compare different theories of case.

Format: Students will break up into small groups of two or three, and take 15-20 minutes to brainstorm. They are allowed to look up references on their devices or on the internet. After this initial period, there will be a discussion in class about the different theories. Be prepared to discuss concrete data points from particular languages. 

You do not have to limit yourselves to the papers assigned for class. You can also use knowledge that you have of particular languages, and/or information that you have gotten from other papers, textbooks, colleagues, talks or other courses. If you have not done the assigned reading, make sure to do so before Wednesday (December 3, 2025). You should also look at Marantz 1991, if you have time (it is short).

One student will be the designated transcriber. They are responsible for transcribing the points made in class, typing them up, and sending them to the class afterwards (within a period of 48 hours). 

Assigned Reading (to read before exercise):

Marantz, Alec. 1991. Case and Licensing. Proceedings of ESCOL, 234–253.

Cornell Linguistics Club. Republished in Reuland 2000, 11–30.

Pesetsky, David and Esther Torrego. 2011. Case. In Cedric Boeckx (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Minimalism, 52-72. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Schafer, Florian and Elena Anagnostopoulou. To Appear. Case and Agreement in Distributed Morphology. A. Alexiadou, R. Kramer, A. Marantz and I. Oltra-Massuet (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Distributed Morphology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Guiding Questions:

1. What assumptions define the various theories?

2. What assumptions distinguish the theories?

3. What assumptions do the theories have in common?

4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each theory?

5. What are the standard core examples of each theory (and how are they accounted for)? 

6. What particular data points are of interest in deciding between the theories? 

7. What does each theory say about Burzio's generalization? 

8. What questions do you still have about the theories? 

9. Are there useful generalizations, concepts and principles that fall outside the theories we have looked at in class?