Jason Merchant

curriculum vitae: September 2003

 

Department of Linguistics                                                  merchant@uchicago.edu

University of Chicago                                                        office tel: +1 (773) 702-8523

1010 E. 59th St.                                                                dept fax: +1 (773) 834-0924

Chicago, IL 60637 USA                                                     http://home.uchicago.edu/~merchant

 

Professional areas

 

Specialization:  Syntax

Subspecialties:  Ellipsis (sluicing, VP-ellipsis, antecedent-contained deletion, the varieties of comparative deletion/ellipsis, fragments), A’-movement, islands, resumptives, donkey anaphora, the syntax-semantics interface, typology, Germanic languages, Greek

 

Current position

 

Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago (1/2001--)

Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies (9/2001--)

 

Previous positions held

 

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University (1999-2000; 2000-2001 declined)

NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek; Dutch Organization for Scientific Research) Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Dutch, Frisian, and Low Saxon, University of Groningen (2000-2001; 2001-2003 declined)

 

Education

 

1999          Ph.D. in Linguistics, University of California, Santa Cruz. June 1999.

                        Thesis: The syntax of silence: Sluicing, islands, and identity in ellipsis.

                        Committee: James McCloskey (co-chair), William Ladusaw (co-chair), Sandra Chung

1997-98     Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Fulbright scholar.

1997          Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute, Cornell University.

1996          M.A. in Linguistics, University of California, Santa Cruz.

1991-92     Karl-Eberhards-Universität, Tübingen, Germany. Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) scholar.

1991          B.A. summa cum laude, Yale University. Linguistics with Honors. Phi Beta Kappa.

                        Senior thesis: The impersonal passive in Dutch and German.

                        Advisor: Laurence Horn

 

Publications

 

Books

 

  1. The syntax of silence: Sluicing, islands, and the theory of ellipsis. 2001. Oxford University Press: Oxford. [pp. xiv, 262]

2.     Phonology at Santa Cruz, Vol. 3. 1994. (Edited volume) With Jaye Padgett, Rachel Walker. Linguistics Research Center: University of California, Santa Cruz. [pp. iv, 128]

 

Journal articles

 

1.     Islands and LF-movement in Greek sluicing. 2001. Journal of Greek Linguistics 1.1:41-64.

2.     Antecedent-contained deletion in negative polarity items. 2000. Syntax 3.2:144-150.

3.     Economy, the copy theory, and antecedent-contained deletion. 2000. Linguistic Inquiry 31.3:566-575.

4.     Attributive comparative deletion. 2000. With Christopher Kennedy. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 18.1:89-146.

5.     Reverse sluicing in English and Greek. 1998. With Anastasia Giannakidou. The Linguistic Review 15.2-3:233-256.

6.     Alignment and fricative assimilation in German. 1996. Linguistic Inquiry 27.4:709-719.

 

Other articles

 

1.     Preliminary fragmentary thoughts. 2003. In Ayumi Ueyama (ed.), Theoretical and empirical studies of ellipsis, 110-148. Report of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kyushu University: Fukuoka.

2.     Subject-Auxiliary Inversion in comparatives and PF output constraints. 2003. In Kerstin Schwabe and Susanne Winkler (eds.), The syntax-semantics interface: Interpreting (omitted) structures, 55-77. John Benjamins: Amsterdam.

3.     Swiping in Germanic. 2002. In C. Jan-Wouter Zwart and Werner Abraham (eds.), Studies in Comparative Germanic Syntax, 289-315. John Benjamins: Amsterdam.

4.     PF output constraints and elliptical repair in SAI comparatives. 2002. In Line Mikkelsen and Chris Potts (eds.), Proceedings of the 21st West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 292-305. Cascadilla Press: Somerville, Mass.

5.     The case of the ‘missing CP’ and the secret Case. 2000. With Chris Kennedy. In Chung, Sandra, James McCloskey, and Nathan Sanders (editors), The Jorge Hankamer WebFest, University of California, Santa Cruz; http://ling.ucsc.edu/Jorge/kennedy_merchant.html.

6.     On the extent of trace deletion in antecedent-contained deletion. 1999. In Elly van Gelderen and Vida Samiian (eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-seventh Western Conference on Linguistics (WECOL 98), 327-335. California State University: Fresno, Ca.

7.     E-type A'-traces under sluicing. 1999. In Kimary Shahin, Susan Blake, and Eun-Sook Kim (eds.), Proceedings of the Seventeenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 478-492. CSLI Publications: Stanford, Ca.

8.     Why Giannis can’t scrub his plate clean: On the absence of resultative secondary predication in Greek. 1999. With Anastasia Giannakidou. In Amalia Mozer (ed.) Greek Linguistics '97: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Greek Linguistics, 93-103. Ekdosis Ellinika Grammata: Athens.

9.     Attributive comparatives and the syntax of ellipsis. 1999. With Chris Kennedy. In Francis Corblin, Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin, and Jean-Marie Marandin (eds.) Empirical issues in formal syntax and semantics 2 (Selected papers from the Colloque de syntaxe et sémantique à Paris), 233-253. Thesus: The Hague.

10.  ‘Pseudosluicing’: Elliptical clefts in Japanese and English. 1998. In Artemis Alexiadou, Nanna Fuhrhop, Paul Law, and Ursula Kleinhenz (eds.), ZAS Papers in Linguistics 10, 88-112. Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin.

11.  An asymmetry in asymmetric donkey anaphora. 1998. With Anastasia Giannakidou. Studies in Greek Linguistics 18, 141-154. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

12.  Attributive comparatives and bound ellipsis. 1997. With Chris Kennedy. Linguistics Research Center Report LRC-97-3. University of California, Santa Cruz.

13.  Sympathetic devoicing and continuancy in Catalan. 1997. In Rachel Walker, Motoko Katayama, and Dan Karvonen (eds.), Phonology at Santa Cruz, Vol. 5, 57-62. University of California, Santa Cruz.

14.  On the interpretation of null indefinite objects in Greek. 1997. With Anastasia Giannakidou. Studies in Greek Linguistics 17, 290-303. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

15.  Object scrambling and quantifier float in German. 1996. In Kiyomi Kusumoto (ed.), Proceedings of North East Linguistic Society 26, 179-193, Graduate Linguistic Student Association, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

16.  An Alignment solution to bracketing paradoxes. 1995. In Haruo Kubozono, Ove Lorentz, and Rachel Walker (eds.), Phonology at Santa Cruz, Vol. 4, 57-68. University of California, Santa Cruz.

17.  German fricative assimilation, ambisyllabicity, and noncrisp alignment. 1994. In Jason Merchant, Jaye Padgett, and Rachel Walker (eds.), Phonology at Santa Cruz, Vol. 3, 65-77. University of California, Santa Cruz.

 

Reviews

 

1.     Book notice of David Holton, Peter Mackridge, and Irene Philippaki-Warburton (1997), Greek: A comprehensive grammar of the modern language, Routledge and Bruce Donaldson (1997), Dutch: A comprehensive grammar, Routledge. 2001. Language 77: 194-195.

2.     Book notice of Peter Ludlow (ed.) (1997), Readings in the philosophy of language, MIT Press. 1999. Language 75: 862-863.

 

Work in progress

 

1.     Fragments and ellipsis. Submitted to Linguistics and Philosophy. (Ms., 2003)

2.     Variable island repair under ellipsis. Submitted to Topics in ellipsis, Kyle Johnson (ed.). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. (Ms., 2001)

3.     Resumptivity and non-movement. Submitted to Studies in Greek Linguistics 24. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. (Ms., 2003)

4.     Ellipsis and ‘nonsentential speech’. Submitted to Angeliki Psaltou-Joycey (ed.), Selected Papers from the 16th international symposium of theoretical and applied linguistics. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. (Ms., 2003)

5.     Sluicing. Submitted to Martin Everaert and Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), The Syntax Companion. Blackwell: London. (Ms., 2003; invited overview article)

6.     Why no(t)? Ms., 2001. To be submitted to William Salmon and Charalabos Kalpakidis (eds.), Festschrift for Haj Ross.

7.     Quantification (provisional title). In preparation. Invited chapter in Gillian Ramchand and Charles Reiss (eds.), Handbook of the Linguistic Interfaces. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

8.     A deletion solution to the sloppy-ellipsis puzzle. In preparation. To be submitted to Natural Language Semantics.

9.     A WCO and ACD puzzle. Ms., 2002.

 

Presentations

 

Conference, workshop, and meeting presentations (by refereed abstract)

 

  1. Resumptivity and non-movement. 24th Annual Meeting on Greek Linguistics, University of Thessaloniki, Greece. May 2003.
  2. Ellipsis and ‘nonsentential speech’. 16th international symposium of theoretical and applied linguistics. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. April 2003.
  3. Eliminating modules in Minimalism. With Anastasia Giannakidou. Theoretical and experimental approaches to normal and impaired language. European Science Foundation, Corinth, Greece. June 2002.
  4. PF output constraints and elliptical repair in SAI comparatives. 21st West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL). University of California, Santa Cruz. April 2002.
  5. Sluicing and swiping in Germanic. 15th Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop (CGSW). University of Groningen. May 2000.

6.     The EPP as a PF-condition: Evidence from extraction out of subjects in sluicing. Taalkunde in Nederland (TIN)-Dag, Annual meeting of the Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap. University of Utrecht. February 2000.

  1. Resumptive operators, case, and sluicing. 75th annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America; Los Angeles, California. January 1999.
  2. Case and identity in comparatives. With Chris Kennedy. 75th annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America; Los Angeles, California. January 1999.
  3. On the extent of trace deletion in ACD. Presented at TABU-Dag, University of Groningen. June 1998.
  4. E-type A'-traces under sluicing. 17th annual West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. February 1998.
  5. Antecedent-contained deletion in negative polarity items. Taalkunde in Nederland (TIN)-Dag, Annual meeting of the Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap. University of Utrecht. January 1998.

12.  Aspectual effects on donkey anaphora. With Anastasia Giannakidou. Sinn und Bedeutung (2nd annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Semantik). Humboldt University and Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. December 1997.

  1. Attributive comparatives and bound ellipsis. With Chris Kennedy. Colloque de syntaxe et sémantique à Paris (CSSP 2), University of Paris-7. October 1997.
  2. Why Giannis can’t scrub his plate clean: On the absence of resultative secondary predication in Greek. With Anastasia Giannakidou. 3rd International Conference on Greek Linguistics, Athens, Greece. September 1997.
  3. An asymmetry in asymmetric donkey anaphora. With Anastasia Giannakidou. [Presented by A. Giannakidou] TABU-Dag, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. June 1997.
  4. Anaphoric destressing and scrambling in Dutch and English. Poster, Hopkins Optimality Theory workshop/Maryland Mayfest. Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland. May 1997.
  5. An asymmetry in asymmetric donkey anaphora. With Anastasia Giannakidou. 18th Annual Meeting on Greek Linguistics, University of Thessaloniki, Greece. April 1997.
  6. Pronominal wh-traces under sluicing. 73rd annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Chicago, Illinois. January 1997.

19.  Reverse sluicing in English and Greek. With Anastasia Giannakidou. 19th annual meeting of the Generative Linguists of the Old World (GLOW), University of Athens, Greece. April 1996.

20.  On the interpretation of null indefinite objects in Greek. With Anastasia Giannakidou. 17th Annual Meeting on Greek Linguistics, University of Thessaloniki, Greece. April 1996.

  1. Scrambling and quantifier float in German. 26th annual meeting of the Northeastern Linguistic Society (NELS), Harvard University and MIT. October 1995.
  2. Cyclic stress domains and MCat-PCat alignment. Phonology Workshop, University of California, Santa Cruz. April 1995.
  3. Noncrisp alignment: German [ç] and [x]. Trilateral Phonology Weekend (TREND), Stanford University. November 1994.
  4. The position of obviative morphology in Ojibwa. Mellon Senior Fellows Forum, Richter Grant presentation. Yale University. October 1990.

 

Invited PRESENTATIONS

 

  1. (Title to be determined). Invited colloquium talk, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Buenos Aires, Argentina. June 2004 (date tentative).
  2. Fragments and ellipsis. Workshop on nonsententials, Wayne State University. September 2003. (Invited presentation.)
  3. Fragmentarische Ausdrücke: Ellipse oder Anlass zu einer neuen Theorie der Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle? Workshop on ellipsis and focus, Tübingen University, Germany. July 2003. (Invited presentation.)
  4. Fragments and ellipsis. Invited colloquium talk, University of Patras, Greece. May 2003.
  5. Linguistic and philosophical implications of fragments. Ellipsis workshop. University of California, Santa Cruz. January 2003. (Invited presentation.)
  6. Fragmentary thoughts. Kaken workshop on ellipsis. Kyushu University, Japan. December 2002. (Invited presentation.)
  7. Fragments and the syntax-semantics interface. Invited colloquium talk, University of Maryland, College Park. September 2002.
  8. Modularity in the Minimalist Program. With Anastasia Giannakidou. Maryland Mayfest, University of Maryland at College Park. May 2002. (Invited presentation.)
  9. Grammar sous rature. Invited colloquium talk, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. April 2002.

10.  Illuminating the black hole of PF. Invited colloquium talk, University of Southern California. April 2002.

  1. Repair by deletion: Some puzzles from ellipsis. Invited colloquium talk, University of Connecticut. March 2002.
  2. On selected repair effects. Kaken workshop on ellipsis, University of Kyoto. December 2001. (Invited presentation.)
  3. Chomsky’s theory of language. Humanities Open House, University of Chicago. October 2001.
  4. The syntax of silence, or Why silence is even more golden than we thought. Franke Institute New Faculty Series, University of Chicago. May 2001.
  5. The saving graces of ellipsis. Invited colloquium talk, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. May 2001.
  6. Delete and ye shall be saved! Kaken workshop on ellipsis, University of Kyoto. December 2000. (Invited presentation.)
  7. Much ado about nothing, or, the story of E. Kaken workshop on ellipsis, University of Kyoto. December 2000. (Invited presentation.)

18.  Guess what about? The syntax of ellipsis and islandhood (or, How to delete your way out of an island). Invited talk, Northwestern University. May 2000.

  1. Showdown on the semantics-phonology frontier: On saying nothing. Invited talk, University of Chicago. February 2000.
  2. PF islands? Evidence from left-branch extractions and ellipsis. Invited colloquium talk, University of Leiden. February 2000.
  3. e-givenness and the semantic constraints on identity in ellipsis. Invited talk, University of Groningen. June 2000.
  4. On the saving graces of ellipsis. Invited colloquium talk, University of Groningen. January 2000.
  5. e-givenness vs. LF-identity in ellipsis. Workshop on ellipsis, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. November 1999. (Invited presentation.)
  6. Ellipsis and the nature of islands. Invited colloquium talk, University of Chicago. October 1999.
  7. Deletion, sluicing, and the nature of islands. Invited colloquium talk, University of California, San Diego. May 1999.
  8. Sluicing out of islands? Syntactic and semantic explorations. Invited talk, University of California, Los Angeles. March 1999.
  9. Sluicing and the nature of islands or, the syntax of silence. Invited talk, University of Texas at Austin. March 1999.
  10. Attributive comparatives, left branch extraction, and PF-deletion. With Chris Kennedy. Workshop on comparatives. Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. November 1998. (Invited presentation.)
  11. Islands, sluicing, and form-identity. Workshop on Coordination in Ellipsis. Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. October 1998. (Invited presentation.)
  12. Deviant ‘identity’ in ellipsis: Vehicle change and the copy theory. Invited colloquium talk, Universität Tübingen. June 1998.
  13. Unbound variables under ellipsis and the syntax of sluicing. Invited colloquium talk, UiL/OTS, University of Utrecht. March 1998.
  14. Unbound variables under ellipsis and the syntax of sluicing. Invited colloquium talk, University of Leiden. February 1998.
  15. ‘Pseudosluicing’: Elliptical clefts. Workshop on Syntax and Semantics of (Pseudo)Clefts. Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. December 1997. (Invited presentation.)
  16. Pronominal variables under ellipsis. Invited colloquium talk, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. November 1997.
  17. The structure of sluices and the interpretation of wh-traces. Interfaces workshop, University of Thessaloniki. September 1997. (Invited presentation.)

36.  Deviance from identity under ellipsis: The case of (multiple) sluicing. Invited colloquium talk, University of Groningen. October 1996.

 

Teaching experience

 

Courses

 

Linguistics Department, University of Chicago

2002-2003:

         Syntax 1 (Ling 20400/30400); 16 ug 6 g

         Introduction to Linguistics (Ling 20100/301000); 25 ug 1 g

         Languages of the world (Ling 23900/33900); 12 ug

         Syntax seminar: The syntax of comparison (Ling 47100); 2 ug 1 g +2g auditors

2001-2002:

         Syntax seminar: A'-dependencies (Ling 43700); 4 g

         Languages of the world (Ling 23900/33900); 3 ug 1 g;+1 g +1 ug auditors

         Syntax 1 (Ling 20400/30400); 10 ug 10 g

         Syntax 2 (Ling 20500/30500); 3 ug 4 g

2000-2001:

         Semantics and pragmatics (Ling 207/307); 10 ug 7 g; +3 g auditors + 1 ug auditor

         Reading course on Aleut syntax (Ling 600); 1 g

         Syntax 2 (Ling 205/305); 5 ug, 5 g; 3 g auditors

         Syntax seminar: Ellipsis and repair phenomena (Ling 471); 10 g

 

Linguistics Department, Northwestern University

1999-2000:

         Fundamentals of syntax (7 g, 4 ug)

         Advanced syntax (7 g, 1 ug)

 

Linguistics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz

1997: Languages of the World (ca. 45 ug)

 

Other teaching

 

Concordia Language Villages, Concordia College; Bemidji, Minn.

German language credit program [Summer intensive language immersion program]

                  1994, 1995                     Director (approx. 180 students; 18 teachers)

                  1988, 1991, 1993            Language Instructor

 

Other work experience

 

1999             Linguistic consultant, Glaxo-Wellcome (pharmaceuticals); Research Triangle Park, NC.

1996-1997    Project manager and language consultant, International Accessability Corporation (software localization); Santa Cruz, Ca.

1992-1993    Associate consultant, The Wilkerson Group [now a division of IBM Consulting] (health care management consulting); New York, NY.

1988-1990    Anwendungsspezialist (application specialist), Data Sciences Inc. (computer systems for monitoring laboratory animals); Frankfurt, Germany and St. Paul, Minn.

 

Languages (in decreasing order of proficiency)

 

English (native), German (fluent), Dutch, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian.

 

      Also completed coursework in Turkish, Latin, classical Greek, Old English, Gothic, Middle High German.

 

Service and administrative experience

 

Departmental service

 

2001--             Associate chair for undergraduate studies

2001-03           Member, graduate admissions committee

2003                Member, search committee

 

University service

 

2002    Member, Committee on the Whiting Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities

2002-- Member, College council

 

Professional service

 

Editorial board

Syntax (2003--)

 

Reviewing for journals

 

Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics (2001)

Language (2001, 2003)

Lingua (2000)

Linguistic Inquiry (1994, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002 [2x], 2003 [2x])

Linguistics (2003)

Linguistics and Philosophy (2002)

Natural Language and Linguistic Theory (1998, 2000, 2002 [2x])

The Linguistic Review (1998, 1999)

Pragmatics and Cognition (2002)

Syntax (2002)

 

Reviewing for publishers

 

John Benjamins (2000)

Kluwer (2002)

Mouton de Gruyter (2000, 2002, 2003)

 

Reviewing for organizations

 

National Science Foundation (2003)

 

Reviewing for conferences

 

West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003)

North East Linguistic Society (NELS) (2001, 2002, 2003)

European Summer School on Logic, Language, and Information (ESSLLI) (1999)

Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop (CGSW 16) (2000)

 

Other service

1999-2000       Organizer, colloquium series, Linguistics Department, Northwestern University.

1998-99           Program committee, Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 9, UC Santa Cruz.

1996                Program committee, Western Conference on Linguistics (WECOL) 1996, UC Santa Cruz.

1994-95           Co-organizer, colloquium series, Linguistics Department, UC Santa Cruz.

 

Academic honors

 

1998          Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of California, Santa Cruz.

1997-98     Fulbright Full Grant, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands.

1991-92     Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Full Grant, Universität Tübingen.

 

Other fellowships, grants, and honors

 

[2007-08]  Scheduled Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (dates still only tentative)

2003-04     Franke Fellowship, Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago.

1998-99     President’s Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Santa Cruz.

1997          Linguistic Society of America, Fellowship for the Linguistic Institute, Cornell University.

1997          Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association graduate scholarship.

1993-94     University of California Regents Fellowship.

1990-91     Vice-president, Phi Beta Kappa, Yale University (Alpha of Connecticut).

1990          Richter Undergraduate Research Grant; German Consulate Book Prize for Excellence in German, Yale University.

1987          Gold Medal, National Written Russian Olympiad, American Association of Teachers of Russian; National Merit Scholar; National Honor Society; Presidential Scholar Semi-Finalist.

 

Research visits

 

2003          Department of English Linguistics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. March-June.

2000          Department of Dutch Linguistics, University of Groningen. January-March.

1999          Department of Dutch Linguistics, University of Groningen. June-August.

1998          Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Cyprus, Nicosia. September.

1997          Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin. November-December.