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University of California, Los Angeles |
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Research |
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My research deals with the syntax-semantics interface, in particular the
interaction between aspectual semantics and Case and quantifier hierarchies.
Such interactions are particularly prominent in ergative languages, where Case
frame alternations like split ergativity and antipassive commonly correlate
with both aspectual alternations (for example the restriction of the ergative
frame to perfective aspect in Hindi) and scopal alternations (for example the
demotion of objects into the scope of negation in the antipassive in
Inuktitut). Ergativity and related phenomena constitute a rich and
mutifaceted interaction of semantic and syntactic components, including tense
and aspect, transitivity, the argument-modifier distinction, the structure of
predicates, scope, type-shifting, quantification, Case and
configurationality. For this reason, research on ergativity has potential to
shed light on central questions in interface linguistics surrounding the
relationship between form and meaning. |
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