Publications

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  Monograph

2004

Ellipsis in Comparatives. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Reviewed by Rajesh Bhatt and Shoichi Takahashi. 2011. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistic 14.2: 139-171

  Articles & Manuscripts

to appear

Basic Operations. In Grohmann, Kleanthes and Evelina Leivada (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Minimalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2020

Clausal vs. phrasal comparatives. In Gutzmann, Daniel, Lisa Matthewson, Cécile Meier, Hotze Rullmann and Thomas Ede Zimmermann (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Semantics. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

2019

Comparative Deletion. In van Craenenbroeck, Jeroen and Tanja Temmerman (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ellipsis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 624-657.

2019

A Calculus for Reconstruction and Anti-reconstruction. In Schenner, Mathias and Manfred Krifka (eds.), Reconstruction Effects in Relative Clauses. Studia Grammatica. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 113-145.

A system deriving scope rigidity, the ban on reconstruction into thematic subject positions and dissociations between scope and binding reconstruction in German scrambling chains.

2017

Phrasal comparatives and parasitic scope. In Mayr, Clemens and Edwin Williams (eds.), 11-11-2017. Festschrift für Martin Prinzhorn. Wiener Linguistische Gazette 82.

2017

A note on reflexive ECM subjects. In LaCara, Nicholas, Keir Moulton and Anne-Michelle Tessier, A Schrift to Fest Kyle Johnson. Linguistics Open Access Publications 1, 219-232.

2017

Comparative Deletion and Comparative Subdeletion (with Norbert Corver). In Everaert, Martin and Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.),The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, 2nd Edition. Malden: Blackwell.

2015

The syntax-semantics interface. In Kiss, Tibor and Artemis Alexiadou (eds.), Syntax - Theory and Analysis. An International Handbook. Handbooks of Linguistics and Communcation Science 42. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1199-1256.

Survey of the syntax-semantics interface.

2013

Harmonic Derivationalism. In Folli, Raffaella, Christina Sevdali and Robert Truswell (eds.), Syntax and its Limits. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 19-43.

Covert movements are argued to apply in two different components: scope shifting operations take place at a pre-syntactic level that communicates with the Deductive System (Fox 2000), while movements at LF are local and solely driven by the need to transduce syntactic objects into transparently interpretable input representations to semantics. On this view, LF is a genuine interface. [Work in progress, the Uniformity Condition (27) needs to be eliminated.]

2013

Diagnosing covert movement with the Duke of York and reconstruction. In Cheng, Lisa and Norbert Corver (eds.), Diagnosing Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press,158 – 190.

An argument for derivations and a hybrid theory of reconstruction which does not overgenerate.

2013

Group summary: Diagnosing XP-movement. In Cheng, Lisa and Norbert Corver (eds.), Diagnosing Syntax, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 235-251.

A brief survey of diagnostics for covert XP-movements

2012

Towards a theory of transparent reflexivization. Ms, University of Athens.

Following the tradition in Categorial Grammar, reflexives are analyzed as arity reduction functors. Unlike in monostratal models, it is suggested that both the reflexive and its antecedent undergo covert movement to ensure interpretability. Standard syntactic conditions on movement derive the c-command condition and central locality properties of anaphors. The analysis captures recalcitrant occurrences of reflexives in double object constructions, the behavior of reflexives in ECM, as well as aspects of control infinitives and the i-within-i condition.

2012

Structure building from below: more on Survive and covert movement. In Valmala, Vidal and Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria (eds.), Ways of Structure Building. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 297-329.

A new and substantially simplified definition of movement in terms of push chains. This is an elaboration of Evidence for Survive from covert movement.

2011

Linguistische Theorie im Unterricht. In Alexandris, Christina, et. al (eds.) Schnittstellen von Linguistik und Sprachdidaktik in der Auslandsgermanistik, University of Athens, 107-122.

Some remarks on how to integrate linguistic results into teaching German as a foreign language

2009

Evidence for Survive from covert movement. In Mike Putnam (ed.), Towards a Derivational Syntax. Survive-minimalsm. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 231-256. (For handout of updated version click here)

 

A common analysis of scope restrictions in double object constructions and inverse linking yields an argument for a theory in which movement is modeled in terms of feature incompatibility and push chains instead of feature matching and attraction (Stroik 2009).

2009

Metametacomparatives. Comments on Metalinguistic contrast in the grammar of Greek by Giannakidou & Stavrou. Â In Halpern, Claire, Jeremy Hartman and David Hill. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 57, 75-91.

2009

A puzzle for remnant movement analyses of V2. Linguistic Inquiry 40.2: 346-356.

 

 

Remnant movement analyses for head movement cannot account for basal relations between precedence and scope.

2008

On Binding Scope and Ellipsis Scope. In K. Johnson (ed.), Ellipsis. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 154-183 (Download from LingBuzz)

 

 

Arguments for an ellipsis analysis of phrasal comparatives and a new descriptive constraint on double indexing of world variables (originally 2001, revised for content and form).

2007

Interpretive Effects of Head Movement. LingBuzz (version 2.0, March 2007)

 

 

Evidence for semantically visible head movement of modals. Includes (i) compositional semantics for head movement chains; (ii) discussion of licensing and reconstruction properties of negative NPs; and (iii) an algorithm for cyclic derivation of head movement.

2006

An interpretive effect of Head Movement. In M. Frascarelli (ed.), Phases of Interpretation. Berlin und New York, Mouton de Gruyter.

 

 

A shorter version of Interpretive Effects of Head Movement, without explicit semantics for head movement and the discussion of need.

 

2005

Clitics and adjacency in Greek PPs (with Elena Anagnostopoulou) In H. Broekhuis, N. Corver, J. Koster, R. Huybregts andU. Kleinhenz (eds.), Organizing Grammar: Linguistic Studies in Honor of Henk van Riemsdijk, Berlin/New York, Mouton de Gruyter, 2005. 

 

 

Analysis of complex word order alternations in Greek PPs, supporting an argument against a remnant movement account of the phenomena.

 

2004

Extending and Reducing the MLC. In Stepanov, A., G. Fanselow and R. Vogel (eds.), Minimality Effects in Syntax. Berlin and New York, Mouton de Gruyter. (LingBuzz)

 

 

A new definition of the Minimal Link Condition (i) eliminates redundancies between Merge and Move, (ii) subsumes Merge over Move effects under the MLC and (iii) derives Case Freezing. Includes a local algorithm for the computation of syntactic locality that explains locality conditions as a consequence of the LCA (NB: Final section [4.3] differs in details from published version.)

 

2003

Phrase Structure Paradoxes, Movement and Ellipsis. In Schwabe, K. and S. Winkler, Adding and Omitting, Amsterdam, John Benjamins.

 

 

A theory in which economy conditions also regulate Merge accounts for interpretive differences of remnants in VP-ellipsis and VP-fronting. It is demonstrated that contra Phillips (2003), these contrasts do not constitute evidence for a top-down analysis.

 

2003

Comparatives and DP-Structure. Summary and review of dissertation. GLOT International 7.3.

 

2002

Some Comments on Phillips (2002).

 

 

 

2002

Negative Islands in Comparatives. Snippets 5.

 

 

Reports systematic violations of Inner Islands in a selective group of comparatives.

 

2001

Reduced and Phrasal Comparatives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19.4: 683-735.

 

2000

Bivalent Coordination in German. Snippets 1. (see also handout on Bivalent Coordination)

 

 

Two phrase structure paradoxes from coordination with either - or and neither - nor.

 

1999

Ellipsis Resolution in Phrasal Comparatives and the Right Periphery of DP. Proceedings of WCCFL XVII, University of British Columbia.

 

1998

Phrasal Comparatives and DP Structure. Proceedings of NELS 28, University of Toronto. Amherst: GLSA.

 

1998

Two Kinds of Reconstruction. Studia Linguistica 52.3: 276- 310.

 

 

The paper argues that the grammar incorporates processes for reconstruction in syntax as well as in semantics (shorter, edited version of Lechner 1996; for handout containing recent ideas click here).

 

1998

Reconstruction and Determiner Raising. In G. Katz, S.-S. Kim, & H. Winhart (eds.), Reconstruction. Proceedings of the 1997 Tübingen Workshop, Stuttgart/Tübingen: University of Stuttgart/University of Tübingen.

 

 

Compositional analysis of Diesing’s Mapping Hypothesis (revised, simplified version of Lechner 1996).

 

1996

On Semantic and Syntactic Reconstruction. Wiener Linguistische Gazette 57-59: 63-100.

 

 

This paper and Lechner 1998b/c (circulating since 1995) spell out a semantically transparent analyses of (i) sope permutation in terms of Semnatic Reconstruction, (ii) scope rigidity in languages such as German, and (iii) Diesing’s Mapping Hypothesis.

 

 

©     Winfried Wuermli (2013)