Interdisciplinary Colloquium
Dr. Omri Doron, Masaryk University
As part of the department’s weekly research colloquium,
held every Thursday from 16:15 to 17:45 in the Webb Building (Room 103),
the following lecture by Dr. Omri Doron from Masaryk University will take place:
The complexity paradox in number marking
Abstract:
The notion of structural complexity has been argued to play a role in various linguistic phenomena. In morphology, it is used to account for certain cross-linguistic generalizations about the spell out of complex words (e.g. Bobaljik, 2012). In pragmatics, it is used to explain some puzzling restrictions on competition between expressions (e.g. Katzir, 2007). In this talk, I argue that number marking on nouns exposes a tension between these two domains: by inspecting the spell out of nouns across languages, we reach the conclusion that the plural form is more complex than the singular form; by inspecting their pragmatics, we conclude that they are equally complex. I propose a general path for resolving this mismatch, based on a refinement of the notion of Katzir Alternatives.
All are welcome!
