Howard Lasnik Distinguished University Professor Dept of Linguistics 1106 Marie Mount Hall University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Phone: (301) 405-4929 Fax: (301) 405-7104 <lasnik [AT] UMD [DOT] edu>

Current Courses                                        Back to Dept. of Linguistics

LING 610 Fall 2008 Syntactic Theory

Recent Courses

LING 610 Fall 2007 Syntactic Theory
Nanzan University Summer Course
LING 819 Seminar in Syntactic Theory  Spring 2007
LING689A/889A Professional Methods  Spring 2007

LING 610 Fall 2006 Syntactic Theory

LSA Course 2005: LSA 208

Spring 2005

• LING 312
• LING 689A
  

Reccent Presentations

Oct. 2007, with J. Uriagereka, "Structure dependence, the rational learner, and Putnam's 'sane person'", MIT Workshop: Where Does Syntax Come From?

Academic Background

• B.S., Carnegie Institute of Technology (Mathematics and English), 1967
• M.A., Harvard University (English), 1969
• Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Linguistics), 1972
  Dissertation: Analyses of Negation in English

Work Experience

Present Position

• Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland

Previous Positions

• 1972-76 Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut
• 1976-81 Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
• 1981-2000 Professor, University of Connecticut
• 2000-2002 Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, University of Connecticut
• 2002- Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Connecticut
• 2002-2003 Professor, University of Maryland
• 2003- Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland
  
  Visiting Appointments:
  
• 1978-79 University of California, Irvine
• 1979 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 1985 University of Texas
• 1985-86 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 1986 University of Southern California
• 1986 LSA Linguistic Institute, City University of New York
• 1992 University of Rochester
• 1992 Warsaw University Linguistic Summer School
• 1994 Dutch National Graduate School in Linguistics
• 1995 Forschungsschwerpunkt Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft
• 1998 University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science
• 2001 LSA Linguistic Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara
• 2002 Leiden University
• 2003 LSA Linguistic Institute, Michigan State University
• 2005 LSA Linguistic Institute, MIT
• 2006 Nanzan University
• 2007 Nanzan University

Research Interests

Recent Publications

For a list of all publications, please click here.
For presentations, please click here.

Books

• Lasnik, H. and M. Saito. 1992. Move Alpha: Conditions on Its Application and Output. MIT Press.
• Lasnik, H. 1999. Minimalist Analysis. Blackwell.
• Lasnik, H. (with M. Depiante and A. Stepanov) 2000. Syntactic Structures Revisited: Contemporary Lectures on Classic Transformational Theory. MIT Press.
• Lasnik, H. 2003. Minimalist Investigations in Linguistic Theory. Routledge Ltd.
• Lasnik, H. and J. Uriagereka. 2005. A Course in Minimalist Syntax. Blackwell.

Chapters

• Lasnik, H. and M. Saito. 1991. On the subject of infinitives. In L. Dobrin, L. Nichols, and R. Rodriguez (eds.) Papers from the 27th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, pp. 324-343.
• Chomsky, N. and H. Lasnik. 1993. The theory of principles and parameters. In J. Jacobs et al. (eds.) Syntax: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, Vol. 1. Walter de Gruyter, pp. 506-569. (Reprinted in N. Chomsky, The Minimalist Program. MIT Press, 1995)
• Lasnik, H. 1995. Last resort. In S. Haraguchi and M. Funaki (eds.) Minimalism and Linguistic Theory. Hituzi Syobo Publishing, pp. 1-32.
• Lasnik, H. 1996. Case and expletives: Notes toward a parametric account. In R. Freidin (ed.) Current Issues in Comparative Grammar. Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 162-189.
• Lasnik, H. 1997. Levels of representation and the elements of anaphora. In H. Bennis, P. Pica, and J. Rooryck (eds.) Atomism and Binding. Foris, pp. 251-268.
• Lasnik, H. 1998. Exceptional Case marking: Perspectives old and new. In Z. Boskovic, S. Franks, and W. Snyder (eds.) Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Connecticut Meeting 1997. Michigan Slavic Publications, pp. 187-211.
• Lasnik, H. 1999. Pseudogapping puzzles. In S. Lappin and E. Benmamoun (eds.) Fragments: Studies in Ellipsis and Gapping. Oxford University Press, pp. 141-174.
• Lasnik, H. 1999. On the locality of movement: Formalist syntax position paper. In M. Darnell, E. Moravscik, F. Newmeyer, M. Noonan, and K. Wheatley (eds.) Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics, Volume 1: General papers (SLCS 41). John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 33-54.
• Lasnik, H. 1999. Chains of arguments. In S. Epstein and N. Hornstein (eds.) Working Minimalism. MIT Press, pp. 189-215.
• Lasnik, H. and C. Boeckx. 2000. Transformational grammar. In R. Clark (ed.) Annotated Bibliography for English Studies [1: Language and Linguistics: 108 Theoretical Linguistics. Editors: I. Roberts, R. Borseley and F. Newmeyer]
• Lasnik, H. 2001. Derivation and representation in modern transformational syntax. In M. Baltin and C. Collins (eds.) Handbook of Syntactic Theory. Blackwell, pp. 62-88.
• Lasnik, H. 2001. When can you save a structure by destroying it? In M. Kim and U. Strauss (eds.) Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 31, Vol. Two. GLSA, pp. 301-320.
• Lasnik, H. 2001. Subjects, objects, and the EPP. In W. D. Davies and S. Dubinsky (eds.) Objects and Other Subjects: Grammatical Functions, Functional Categories, and Configurationality. Kluwer, pp. 103-121.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. Feature movement or agreement at a distance? In A. Alexiadou, E. Anagnostopoulou, S. Barbiers and H.-M. Gaertner (eds.) Dimensions of Movement . John Benjamins, pp. 189-208.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. Government-Binding Theory. In L. Nadel (ed.) Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Macmillan Inc., pp. 300-307.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. On exceptional Case marking constructions. In Korean Linguistics Today and Tomorrow: Proceedings of the 2002 Association for Korean Linguistics, International Conference on Korean Linguistics, pp. 39-54.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. Clause-mate conditions. In Korean Linguistics Today and Tomorrow: Proceedings of the 2002 Association for Korean Linguistics, International Conference on Korean Linguistics, pp. 386-393.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. On repair by ellipsis. In Proceedings of the 2002 LSK Summer Conference, Volume I: Forum Lectures and Paper Presentations, pp. 23-36.
• Lasnik, H. 2003. Government-Binding Theory. In L. Nadel (ed.) Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Volume 2. Macmillan Publishers, pp. 300-307.
• Lasnik, H. and R. Hendrick. 2003. Steps toward a minimal theory of anaphora. In R. Hendrick (ed.) Minimal Syntax. Blackwell, pp. 124-151.
• Lasnik, H. 2003. Traces. In W. Frawley (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.
• Lasnik, H. 2003. Subjacency. W. Frawley (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.
• Lasnik, H. 2005. Grammar, levels, and biology. In J. McGilvray (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky. Cambridge University Press.
• Lasnik, H. 2006. Minimalism. In K. Brown (ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition. Elsevier, Vol. Six, pp. 149-156.
• Lasnik, H. and C. Boeckx. 2006. Long NP-Movement. In M. Everaert and H. van Riemsdijk (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Syntax. Blackwell, Vol. 3, pp. 109-130.
• Lasnik, H. 2006. Conceptions of the Cycle. In L. Cheng and N. Corver (eds.) Wh-Movement Moving On. MIT Press.
• Lasnik, H. In press. The position of the accusative subject in the accusative-infinitive construction. In P. Bhaskararao and S. K. Venkata (eds.) Non-nominative Subjects, Vol. 1. John Benjamins, pp. 269-282.
• Lasnik, H. and C. Otero. In press. Chomsky. In J. Joseph and P. Swiggers (eds.) Biographical Dictionary of Western Linguistics Since 1450. Routledge.
• Lasnik, H. In press. Syntax. In P. Strazny (ed.) Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Routledge.
• Lasnik, H. and C. Otero. In press. Chomsky. In P. Strazny (ed.) Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Routledge.

Journal Articles

• Heim, I., H. Lasnik and R. May. 1991. Reciprocity and plurality. Linguistic Inquiry 22:63-101.
• Heim, I., H. Lasnik and R. May. 1991. On "Reciprocal Scope". Linguistic Inquiry 22:173-192.
• Lasnik, H. and T. Stowell. 1991. Weakest crossover. Linguistic Inquiry 22:687-720.
• Lasnik, H. 1991. Language acquisition and two types of constraints. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14:624-625.
• Lasnik, H. 1992. Case and expletives. Linguistic Inquiry 23:381-405.
• Lasnik, H. 1995. Case and expletives revisited. Linguistic Inquiry 26:615-633.
• Lasnik, H. 1997. A gap in an ellipsis paradigm: Some theoretical implications. Linguistic Analysis 27:166-185.
• Lasnik, H. 1999. On feature strength: Three minimalist approaches to overt movement. Linguistic Inquiry 30:197-217.
• Lasnik, H. and Z. Boskovic. 1999. How strict is the cycle? Linguistic Inquiry 30:691-703.
• Lasnik, H. and N. Sobin. 2000. The who/whom puzzle: On the preservation of an archaic feature. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 18:343-371.
• Lasnik, H. 2001. A note on the EPP. Linguistic Inquiry 32:356-362.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. Clause-mate conditions revisited. Glot International 6: 94-96.
• Lasnik, H. and J. Uriagereka. 2002. On the poverty of the challenge. The Linguistic Review 19:147-150.
• Lasnik, H. 2002. The Minimalist Program in syntax. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 6:432-437.
• Phillips, C. and H. Lasnik. 2003. Linguistics and empirical evidence: Reply to Edelman and Christiansen. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7:61-62.
• Fox, D. and H. Lasnik. 2003. Successive cyclic movement and island repair: The difference between Sluicing and VP Ellipsis. Linguistic Inquiry 34:143-154.
• Lasnik, H. 2003. On the Extended Projection Principle. Studies in Modern Grammar 31:1-23.
• Boskovic, Z. and H. Lasnik. 2003. On the distribution of null complementizers. Linguistic Inquiry 34:527-546.
• Lasnik, H. and M.-K. Park. 2003. The EPP and the Subject Condition under Sluicing. Linguistic Inquiry 34:649-660.
• Lasnik, H. 2005. Review of Jason Merchant The Syntax of Silence. Language 81: 259-265.
• Boeckx, C. and H. Lasnik. 2006. Intervention and repair. Linguistic Inquiry 37: 150-155.
  

Invited Papers and Conference Presentations (recent)

Colloquia and Workshops:
• February 2000, Stanford University, "Subjects, objects, and the EPP"
• February 2000, UC Santa Cruz, "Where do you put the * ?"
• April 2000, University of California, Berkeley, "Minimalizing movement"
• May 2000, UC San Diego, "Feature movement or agreement at a distance?"
• October 2000, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Salvation by deletion"
• November 2000, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Analyzing the English Aux: An historical perspective"
• March 2001, SUNY Stony Brook, "When can you repair an island by destroying it?"
• November 2001, Cornell, "How can you repair an island by destroying it?"
• November 2001, Cornell, "Verb-particle constructions, clause-mate conditions, and the EPP"
• March 2002, MIT, "The development of Case theory"
• March 2002, University of Maryland, "Ellipsis and long movement 'repair'"
• March 2002, NYU, "More cases of repair by ellipsis"
• May, 2002, University of Connecticut, "On Clause-mate conditions"
• November 2002, University of Arizona (Cognitive Science Program Master Seminar), "On ellipsis: Generative approaches to the interpretation of missing constituents"
• November 2002, University of Arizona, "On the Extended Projection Principle"
• November 2003, University of Delaware, "The EPP and repair by ellipsis"
• October 2003, Harvard University, "The EPP and repair by ellipsis"
• June 2004, University of Stuttgart, "Guess what (Sluicing can do)"
• June 2004, University of Stuttgart, "A-Movement, the EPP, and the Organization of the Grammar" [2-day seminar]
• May 2005, ESLDance, "Some properties of language in General, and English in particular"
• October 2005, Bogazici University, "On ellipsis: Generative approaches to the interpretation of missing constituents"
• October 2005, Bogazici University, "On repair by ellipsis"
• May 2006, University of Southern California, "A family of questions"
• May 2006, UC Los Angeles, "Multiple Sluicing in English?"
• May 2006, UC Los Angeles, "On the EPP"
  
  
  Invited/Keynote Conference Presentations:
• 1996, "On Pseudogapping: Some curious properties of a curious ellipsis phenomenon," Workshop on Fragments: Studies in Ellipsis, Conjunction and Gapping, SOAS, London.
• 1996, "On certain structural aspects of anaphora," Conference on Geometric and Thematic Structure in Binding, The Linguist List On-Line Conference.
• 1997, "On feature strength: Three minimalist approaches to overt movement," Open Linguistics Forum, University of Ottawa.
• 1997, "Exceptional Case marking: Perspectives old and new," Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics.
• 1998, "Some reconstruction riddles," Penn Linguistics Colloquium.
• 1998, Numazu Junior Chamber of Commerce, Symposium on "The prospects of universities in Japan and the US" (keynote address).
• 1998, The Fifth Numazu Linguistics Seminar, "Minimalist explorations," (a series of eight lectures).
• 1999, "Subjects, objects, and the EPP," 1999 LSA Linguistic Institute Workshop on The Role of Grammatical Functions in Transformational Syntax.
• 1999, "Feature movement or agreement at a distance?" Potsdam Workshop on Remnant Movement, F-movement and their implications for the T-model.
• 1999, "The English verbal system: A case study in Chomskian explanation," UCSD Seminar on The Nature of Explanation in Linguistic Theory.
• 2000, "Interactions Between movement and ellipsis," Linguistics in the Next Decade, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
• 2000, "When can you save a structure by destroying it?" NELS.
• 2001, "Comments on Newmeyer's presentation," Linguistic Institute, UC Santa Barbara.
• 2001, "The position of the accusative subject in the accusative-infinitive construction," International Symposium on Non-Nominative Subjects, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
• 2002, "On Exceptional Case Marking constructions," Association for Korean Linguistics, International Conference on Korean Linguistics, Seoul National University.
• 2002, "Clause-mate conditions," Association for Korean Linguistics, International Conference on Korean Linguistics, Seoul National University.
• 2002, "On repair by ellipsis," Linguistic Society of Korea, International Summer Conference, Kyung Hee University.
• 2002, "Existential constructions and the Proper Binding Condition," Linguistic Society of Korea, International Summer Conference, Workshop on Inversion, Kyung Hee University.
• 2002, "On the Extended Projection Principle," 2002 International Conference on The Interface between Linguistics and Literature, Daegu University.
• 2002, "On the EPP", Workshop on Greek Syntax, Reading University.
• 2002, "Conceptions of the cycle", Workshop on "On WH-Movement", Leiden/Utrecht.
• 2003, “Configurations and theta role assignment: Residues of Deep Structure”, International Seminar on Argument Structure, Delhi.
• 2003, “Linguistics as a Cognitive Science: Noam Chomsky's Naturalistic Approach to Language”, International Seminar on Argument Structure, Delhi.
• 2003, "On certain Proper Binding Condition effects", Workshop on Antisymmetry and Remnant Movement, NYU.
• 2004, "Some surprising cases of repair and non-repair by ellipsis," Workshop on ellipsis, gaps and empty categories, Leiden University.
• 2005, "What is the EPP?" GLOW.
• 2005, "Locality Constraints on Movement: How General?" Nuts and Core Workshop Forum, LSA Institute.
• 2005, "The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory: Then and Now," Happy Golden Anniversary, Generative Syntax: 50 years since Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory," LSA Institute.
• 2006, "On ellipsis: The PF approach to missing constituents", Symposium on Ellipsis, LSA annual meeting, Albuquerque.
• 2006, "Island repair, non-repair and the organization of the grammar", InterPhases: A Conference on Interfaces in Current Syntactic Theory, University of Cyprus.
• 2006, “On ellipsis: Is material that is phonetically absent but semantically present present or absent syntactically?” 22nd Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics, University of Aalborg.
• 2006, "A family of questions", Nanzan University Syntax Workshop.
  
  

Graduate Supervision

at the University of Connecticut...

1977 Phoebe Huang "WH Fronting and Related Processes"
1978 Margaret Allen "Morphological Investigations"
1979 Mona Anderson "Noun Phrase Structure"
1980 Craig Hoffman "Phrase Structure, Subcategorization, and Transformations in the English Verb Phrase"
1984 Lori Davis "Arguments and Expletives: Thematic and Nonthematic NPs"
1985 Sungshim Hong "A and A' Binding in Korean and English: Government-Binding Parameters"
1987 Samuel David Epstein "Empty Categories and their Antecedents"
1988 Elaine McNulty "The Syntax of Adjunct Predicates"
1988 Juan Uriagereka "On Government"
1988 Ana Varela "Binding in Spanish: A Theoretical and Experimental Study"
1989 Robyne Tiedeman "Government and Locality Conditions on Syntactic Relations"
1989 Aliaa Abd El-Moneim "Role of INFL"
1990 Sung-Ho Ahn "Korean Quantification and Universal Grammar"
1990 Rosalind Thornton "Adventures in Long-distance Moving -- The Acquisition of Complex Wh-questions"
1991 Yasuo Ishii "Operators and Empty Categories in Japanese"
1991 Shu-Ying Yang "Dative Alternation in Chinese and English"
1992 Eun-Ji Lee "On the Extended Projection Principle"
1992 Jeong-Shik Lee "Case Alternation in Korean: Case Minimality"
1992 Michiya Kawai "Missing Object Constructions and Null Operator Predication"
1993 Naoko Nemoto "Chains and Case Positions: A Study From Scrambling in Japanese"
1993 Jun Abe "Binding Conditions and Scrambling Without A/A' Distinction"
1993 Maria Uribe-Echevarria "On the Typology of Negative Polarity Licensing"
1994 Daiko Takahashi "Minimality of Movement"
1994 Rhang-hye-yun Lee "Economy of Representation"
1994 Myung-Kwan Park "A Morpho-Syntactic Study of Korean Verbal Inflection"
1994 Jai-Hyoung Cho "Scrambling: Crossover, Reconstruction and Binding Theory"
1995 Zeljko Boskovic "Principles of Economy in Nonfinite Complementation"
1995 Keun-Won Sohn "Negative Polarity Items, Scope, and Economy"
1995 Javier Ormazabal "The Syntax of Complementation: On the Connection Between Syntactic Structure and Selection"
1996 Roger Martin "A Minimalist Theory of PRO and Control"
1997 Jeong-Seok Kim "Syntactic Focus Movement and Ellipsis: A Minimalist Approach"
1998 Satoshi Oku "A Theory of Selection and Reconstruction in the Minimalist Perspective"
1998 Ayumi Matsuo "A Comparative Study of Tense and Ellipsis"
1999 Kazuko Yatsushiro "Case Licensing and VP Structure"
1999 Sandra Stjepanovic "What do Second Position Cliticization, Scrambling and Multiple Wh-Fronting Have in Common?"
1999 Masao Ochi "Constraints on Feature Checking"
2000 Marcela Depiante "The Syntax of Deep and Surface Anaphora"
2000 Asako Uchibori "The Syntax of Subjunctive Complements: Evidence from Japanese"
2001 Arthur Stepanov "Cyclic Domains in Syntactic Theory"
2001 Adolfo Ausín "On A-Movement"
2003 Sasa Vukic "On features and the MLC"
2004  Mariana Lambova "On Information Structure and Clausal Architecture: Evidence from Bulgarian" (co-supervisor with Zeljko Boskovic)
2005 Masashi Nomura "Nominative Case and AGREE(ment)" [co-advisor Jonathan Bobaljik]
2005 Bum-Sik Park "Locality and Identity in Ellipsis"
 

at the University of  Maryland...

2006 Lydia Grebenyova "Multiple Interrogatives: Syntax, Semantics and Learnability"
2006 Hajime Ono "An Investigation of Exclamatives in English and Japanese: Syntax and Sentence Processing"
2006 Tomohiro Fujii "Some Theoretical Issues in Japanese Control"
2007 Jon Sprouse "A Program for Experimental Syntax: Finding the Relationship Between Acceptability and Grammatical Knowledge"

Other Professional Activities (selected)

Member of Editorial Board of Linguistic Analysis 1976-83
Member of Editorial Board of Languages and Linguistics 1998-
Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Generative Grammar 1999-
Member of Linguistic Advisory Board of Language Acquisition 1990-
Associate Editor of Linguistic Inquiry 1979-
Editor, Squibs and Discussion, Linguistic Inquiry 1986-89
Member of Advisory Board of Rivista di Linguistica 1998-
Member of Advisory Committee of English Linguistics 2002-
Associate Editor of Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 1984-88
Member of Editorial Board of Reidel Book Series "Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics" 1983- ; "Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory" 1986-
Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Lincom Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 1994-
Member of Editorial Board of "Celebration: An Electronic Festschrift in honor of Noam Chomsky's 70th birthday" 1998

Awards/Honors

Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 2000
University of Connecticut Award for Especially Meritorious Service, 1979, 1981
University of Connecticut Special Achievement Award, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
1988 University of Connecticut Alumni Association Faculty Award for Excellence in Research.
AAUP, University of Connecticut Chapter, 1998 Excellence Award for Teaching Mentorship.
1999 University of Connecticut Chancellor's Research Excellence Award.
Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America, 2007-