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Guest Lecture: Irina Burukina
February 29 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Dr. Irina Burukina will be giving a guest lecture on February 29, 3:00 pm, in CSE A101 and on Zoom. More information about the talk and Zoom link are below.
Topic: The syntax of the thematic domain
This talk takes as its point of departure the general question of how syntax puts predicates and arguments together, focusing on the structure of the thematic domain with a special emphasis on valency-changing operations: passivization, antipassivization, and causativization. I will first present a general overview of argument structure in connection to syntax and the syntactic operations that can remove or add arguments. I will then present a case-study from Kaqchikel (Mayan) to gain fresh insights into the structure of the thematic domain. I advocate a split vP-VoiceP approach and describe v and Voice as conceptually different functional categories; only v introduces a new thematic relation, while the role of Voice is to manipulate the existing external argument role. I will present a complete inventory of v and Voice heads for Kaqchikel, and discuss some implications of this approach being extended to other languages. The analysis of the Kaqchikel verbal domain has implications for our understanding of the following issues: (i) a comprehensive inventory and inherent characteristics of v and Voice; (ii) the selectional properties of v and Voice; (iii) the positions within a clause structure where the external argument can be projected.
Zoom link: https://ufl.zoom.us/j/96406727344