Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of theoretical syntax and its interfaces with phonology, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. I investigate how syntactic dependencies interact with other grammatical modules, with a special forcus on cross-linguistic and cross-modal data (i.e. from spoken and sign languages).

General theoretical focus

Syntactic dependencies and locality

I examine the structural conditions that regulate transformations, agreement, and other kinds of redundant dependencies, with a focus on how locality effects emerge from the inherent organization of the memory in syntax, rather than through ancillary mechanisms (CED, phases, etc.).

Cross-linguistic variation and typology

I investigate how syntactic structures differ across languages and what these differences reveal about combinatory principles of grammar.

Interfaces between syntax and other modules

I seek to understand how the interactions between syntax and phonology, semantics, and pragmatics determines well-formedness, interpretation, and prosodic realization.

Empirical domains and ongoing projects

Serial verb constructions (SVCs)

Research questions:

  • How do SVCs challenge existing models of syntactic hierarchy and argument structure?
  • What patterns distinguish SVCs in Malayalam and other head-final languages?
  • What (if anything) distinguishes deverbal adpositions from serial verbs that introduce arguments?
  • How are SVCs prosodically and morphologically integrated?

Recent work:

  • Malayalam doesn’t need adpositions: the case of vP-adjunction. WCCFL 42 Poster
  • Linear asymmetries and the syntax of serialization: against an antisymmetric approach. ConSOLE 32 Proceedings

Locality and constraints on transformations/redundancies

Research questions:

  • To what extent are non-complements (specifiers and adjuncts) opaque or transparent?
  • How can we derive cross-linguistic variation in, e.g., left-branch extraction and successive cyclic movement patterns?

Recent work:

Conventionalization of directive markers in sign languages (joint work with Marianthi Koraka and the Göttingen SignLab)

Research questions:

  • What strategies do sign languages use to mark directives, and how do such strategies evolve?
  • What is the distribution of labour between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics in these constructions?

Recent work:

  • The grammaticalization of a motion verb into an imperative marker in two sign languages. FEAST 6 Proceedings

Quantification and clausal structure in Mandarin (joint work with Zeqi Zhao)

Research questions:

  • What are the strategies used in Mandarin to express universal(-ish) quantification, and what is the role of dou in the morphology/syntax/semantics?
  • What are the effects of dou-related movement on scope and/or information structure in Mandarin?