David Embick's Abstracts/Manuscripts/PapersDavid Embick's Abstracts/Manuscripts/Papers
Books
Case and the syntax of argument indexation: An analysis of Sorani
Kurdish
(2023) sorani-july23.pdf, lingbuzz
Faruk Akkuş, David Embick, and Mohammed Salih
Abstract: This is the first draft of our book on case and the syntax
of argument indexation. We argue for an approach in which
case labels ('Nominative', 'Ergative', etc.) are shorthand for bundles of
decomposed features; crucially, these features are part of the syntax, and
also referred to in the morphology. A key idea in the
approach is what we call Case Targeting: the idea that probes may target
arguments with specific case features. Importantly, syntax and morphology
can refer to these features differentially, leading to various interesting
mismatches. This includes allowing Clitic Movement in syntax to produce
both morphophonological clitic and agreement affix on the PF
side. Conversely, Agreement operation in syntax can produce
morphophonological clitic and agreement affix on the PF side. We focus
primarily on Sorani Kurdish varieties (Iranian languages), but also
investigate and apply our approach to other Iranian languages (Kurmanji,
Zazaki, Laki, Persian, Rushani, Shughni), Indo-Aryan (Hindi, Nepali,
Gujarati, Maithili), Semitic (Arabic, Neo-Aramaic), and Polynesian
(Nukuoro). Although we do not argue for a specific case assignment
mechanism, we elaborate on various implications of the approach for implicational
hierarchies, case containment etc. We maintain that discussions of inherent
vs dependent case approaches should be approached at a fine grain, one
that is informed by the representation of case features that we argue for.
The Morpheme: A Theoretical Introduction (2015)
Mouton de Gruyter, Boston and Berlin. (de Gruyter
link)
Abstract: This book develops a theory of the morpheme in the
framework of Distributed Morphology. Particular emphasis is devoted to the
way in which functional morphemes receive their phonological form
post-syntactically, through the operation of Vocabulary Insertion. In
addition to looking closely at syncretism, the primary motivation for
Vocabulary Insertion, the book examines allomorphy, blocking, and other key
topics in the theory of the morpheme.
Localism versus Globalism in Morphology and Phonology (2010)
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.(MIT Press link)
Abstract: This book develops two
major themes. First, I present a cyclic (phase-based) theory of
syntax/morphology, and show how this theory provides an account of
attested patterns of allomorphy in language. Second, I compare the
predictions of this "Localist" type of theory with those of
"Globalist" theories like Optimality Theory. Based on a number of case
studies that center on Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy, I argue
that the Localist view is correct, and that this finding has important
implications for grammatical theory.
Embick, D. (2023) 'Comparative syntax, morphology, and “externalization”
(What happens at PF?)', for S. Barbiers, N. Corver, and M. Polinsky
eds.
The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax, CUP comp-syn-over.pdf
Embick, D. (2023) 'Abstract morphemes and local contexts', for
A. Alexiadou, R. Kramer, A. Marantz, and I. Oltra-Massuet eds.
The Cambridge Handbook of Distributed Morphology, CUP 2amlc.pdf
Embick, D., J. Benz, and L. Paparounas (2023) 'Blocking effects', in
P. Ackema, S. Bendjaballah, E. Bonet, and A. Fábregas eds. The Wiley
Blackwell Companion to Morphologyblock-over-21.pdf
Embick, D. (2021) 'The motivation for Roots in Distributed Morphology',
Annual Review of Linguistics Vol. &, 69-88.
embick-roots-20.pdf
Biggs, A. and D. Embick (2022) 'On the event structural properties of the
English get-passive', Linguistic
Inquiry 53:2, 211-254 biggs-embick-get20.pdf
Embick, D., Y. White and M. Tamminga, (2019) 'Heritage
Languages and variation: Identifying shared factors', commentary
article on M. Polinksy and G. Scontras 'Understanding heritage
languages', Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000476
heritage-comm-final.pdf
Embick, D. and K. Shwayder (2018) 'Deriving morphophonological
(mis)applications', to appear in R. Petrosino, P. Cerrone, and H. Van Der
Hulst (eds.) From Sounds to Structures: Beyond the Veil of Maya,
Mouton de Gruyter, 195-250. deriving-morphophono.pdf
Embick (2016) 'Approaching Polymorphy', Handout from a talk
series, SADAF, Buenos Aires, December 2016. sadaf.pdf
Tamminga, M., L. MacKenzie, and D. Embick (2016) 'The dynamics of
variation in individuals', Language Variation
. 16:2, 300-336. tamminga-etal-16.pdf
Embick, D. (2016)) 'On the targets of phonological
realization'. In V. Gribanova and S. Shih eds. The
Morphosyntax/Phonology
Connection, Oxford University
Press, p.255-283. (Uncorrected proof) embick-mspi-proof.pdf
Embick, D. (2016) 'On the distribution of stem alternants:
Separation and its limits' In The morphome debate:
Diagnosing and analyzing morphomic patterns edited by R. Bermúdez-Otero and
A. Luís, p.276-305. embick-stem-alt16.pdf
(uncorrected proof)
Embick, D. (2014) 'Phase cycles, φ-cycles, and phonological
(in)activity' In S. Bendjaballah, M. Lahrouchi, N. Faust, and N. Lampitelli
eds. The form of structure, the structure of forms: Essays in honor
of Jean Lowenstamm, John Benjamins, pp. 270-286.
ph-cycle-sept.pdf
Embick, D. (2013) 'Locality across domains: From morphemes to
structures to sounds' Handout of a talk given at NELS 44, October
2013. [Presents an overview and synthesis of some of my work on allomorphy
and morphophonology.]
nels-embick.pdf
Embick, D. (2013) 'Morphemes and morphophonological loci' In Distributed Morphology Today:
Morphemes for Morris Halle, edited by A. Marantz and O. Matushansky, MIT Press. loci.pdf
Embick, D. (2012) 'Roots and features (an acategorial postscript)' In Theoretical Linguistics 38:1-2. chamorro-commentary.pdf
Embick, D. (2012) 'Contextual conditions on stem alternations:
Illustrations from the Spanish conjugation' In I. Franco, S. Lusini
and A. Saab eds. Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory
2010. Selected papers from 'Going Romance' Leiden 2010. John
Benjamins. (uncorrected proof) span-stem-proof.pdf
Embick, D. (2010) 'Stem alternations and stem distributions' [This draft from 2010 is a first attempt to work through some
questions in morphophonology from the perspective a general theory of
allomorphy. The contents are reworked and remixed in some later
publications (see above). I'm making this draft available in its original
form (i.e., with many shortcomings) in the hopes that the overall perspective it offers will be of some interest.] stem-ms-10.pdf
Embick, D. (2009) 'Roots, States, and Stative Passives' Handout from a talk presented at the Roots Workshop, Stuttgart, June 2009. stut.pdf
Embick, D. and A. Marantz (2008) 'Architecture and blocking'
Linguistic Inquiry 39:1. arch-block.pdf
Embick, D. (2008) 'Variation and morphosyntactic theory: Competition
fractionated' In Language and Linguistics Compass 2/1. variation.pdf
Embick, D. (2007) 'Linearization and Local Dislocation: Derivational
mechanics and
interactions' Linguistic Analysis. lin.pdf
Embick, D. (2007) 'Blocking Effects and Analytic/Synthetic
Alternations' Natural Language and Linguistic Theory
25:1. comparative-2007.pdf
Embick, D. and R. Noyer (2007) 'Distributed Morphology and the
Syntax/Morphology Interface' In Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces
[Scan]: interface.pdf
Embick, D. and M. Halle (2005) On the Status of Stems in Morphological
Theory. In T. Geerts and H. Jacobs eds. Proceedings of Going Romance 2003,
John Benjamins. stem.pdf
Embick D. (2004) 'On the Structure of Resultative Participles in
English' Linguistic Inquiry, 35:3. result.pdf
Embick, D. (2004) "Unaccusative syntax and verbal alternations"
(uncorrected proof) unacc.pdf
R. Bhatt and D. Embick (2004/2017) "Causative derivaitons in
Hindi-Urdu", Journal of Indian Linguistics 78(1-2), 93-151. cause-pub17.pdf
[This paper was written in 2003-4 and published in 2017; see the Preface for
some comments from the authors.]
Embick, D. and M. Halle (2003), "Latin Inflections", Handout from a
talk presented at Going Romance 2003,
Nijmegen. infl.pdf
Embick, D. (2003) "Locality, Listedness, and Morphological Information" locality-list.pdf
Embick, D. and R. Noyer (2001) "Movement Operations after Syntax" move.pdf
Embick, D. (2000) "Participial structures and participial asymmetries"
(handout) part-2000.pdf
Embick, D. (2000) "Features, Syntax, and Categories in the Latin Perfect"
latin.pdf
Embick, D. and R. Noyer (1999) "Locality in Post-Syntactic Operations" localityin.pdf
Embick, D. (1998) "Voice systems and the syntax/morphology interface" voicesys.pdf
Embick, D. and R. Izvorski (Pancheva) (1997) "Participle-Auxiliary Word-Orders in
Slavic" partaux.pdf
Embick, D. (1997) "Voice and the interfaces of syntax". PhD Thesis,
University of Pennsylvania. [(i) big file; (ii) caveat
lector (finished in a hurry, among other things...)] embick1997.pdf
Embick, D. (1996) "Causativization in Hupa" hupcaus.pdf
Embick, D. (1995) "Mobile inflections in Polish" mobinf.pdf
Embick, D. and R. Izvorski (Pancheva) (1995) 'On Long Head Movement in
Bulgarian', in ESCOL '94bulgarian-lhm.pdf
Creemers, A. and D. Embick (2022) 'The role of semantic transparency in the
processing of spoken compound words', Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 48(5) 734-751.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001132
creemers-embick22.pdf
Creemers, A. and D. Embick (2021) 'Retrieving stem meanings in opaque words
during auditory lexical processing', Language, Cognition, and
Neuroscience 36:9, 1107-1122. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2021.1909085
creemers-embick21.pdf
Embick, D., A. Creemers, and A. Goodwin Davies (2021) 'Morphology and
the mental lexicon: Three questions about decomposition',
in L. Gleitman, A. Papafragou, and J. Trueswell eds. The Oxford
Handbook of the Mental Lexicon, Oxford University Press, 77-97. mentlex-proof.pdf
Creemers, A., N. Chanchaochai, and D. Embick. 'Auditory priming of
pseudo-suffixed words'. Proceedings of ExLing 2019: 10th International
Conference of Experimental Linguistics, ed. by Antonis Botinis. Athens,
Greece, pp. 65-68. aud-pseud.pdf
Creemers, A., A. Goodwin Davies, R. J. Wilder, M. Tamminga, and D. Embick
(2020) 'Opacity, transparency, and morphological priming: A study of
prefixed verbs in Dutch', Journal of Memory and Language Vol. 110, 104055.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104055
creemers-etal-19.pdf
Goodwin Davies, A. and D. Embick
(2019) 'The representation of plural inflectional affixes in English:
evidence from priming in an auditory lexical decision task' Language,
Cognition and Neuroscience 35:3, 393-401. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2019.1684528
infl-prime.pdf
Bacovcin, Hezekiah Akiva, Amy Goodwin Davies, Robert J. Wilder, and David
Embick (2019) 'Intervention in two rhyme priming tasks', Proceedings of
the Mental Lexicon
Conferencerpi.pdf
Wilder, R., A. Goodwin Davies, and D. Embick (2018) 'Differences between
morphological and repetition priming in auditory lexical decision:
Implications for decompositional models' Cortex 116, 122-142.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.10.007 wilder-etal-18.pdf
Bacovcin, H. A., A. Goodwin Davies, R. Wilder, and D. Embick (2017)
'Auditory Morphological Processing: Evidence from Phonological
Priming', Cognition Volume 164,
p.102-106. bgdwe17.pdf
Zellou G., D. Dahan and D. Embick (2017) 'Imitation of coarticulatory
vowel nasality across words and time', Language, Cognition, and
Neuroscience 32:6, p. 776-791. zde17.pdf
Embick, D. and D. Poeppel (2015) 'Towards a computational(ist) neurobiology
of language; Correlational, integrated, and
explanatory neurolinguistics' Language, Cognition,
and Neuroscience 30:4, 357-366.
embick-poeppel15.pdf
Brennan, J., Lignos, C., Embick, D., and
T.P.L. Roberts (2014) 'Spectro-temporal correlates of lexical access during
auditory lexical decision' Brain and Language 133, 39-46.
sem-prime.pdf
Tavabi, K., D. Embick, and T.P.L. Roberts (2011) 'Word repetition priming-induced oscillations in auditory cortex: a
magnetoencephalography study' NeuroReport 22(17):887-891. ter2.pdf
Tavabi, K., D. Embick, and T.P.L. Roberts (2011) 'Spectral-temporal analysis of cortical oscillations during lexical
processing' NeuroReport 22(10):474-478. ter1.pdf
Embick, D. and A. Marantz (2005) 'Cognitive Neuroscience and the English Past Tense: Comments on the
Paper by
Ullman et al.' Brain and Language 93. past.pdf
Poeppel, D. and D. Embick (2005) 'Defining the relation between
linguistics and neuroscience' (2005) In A. Cutler ed. Twenty-first century psycholinguistics:
Four cornerstones, Lawrence Erlbaum. lingneuro.pdf
Embick, D. and D. Poeppel (2003) Mapping Syntax Using Imaging: Prospects and Problems for the Study of
Neurolinguistic Computation. In Encyclopedia of Language and
Linguistics. mappingsyntax.pdf
Embick M. Hackl, J. Schaeffer, M. Kelepir, and A. Marantz, (2001) 'A
magnetoencephalographic component whose latency reflects lexical
frequency', Brain Research: Cognitive Brain Research 10,
p. 345-348. cbr-2001.pdf
Embick, D. A. Marantz, Y. Miyashita, W. O’Neil, and K.L. Sakai (2000) 'A
syntactic specialization for
Broca’s area’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
97:11, p. 6150-6154. fmripnas.pdf
Matsuzaki, J., L. Bloy, L. Blaskey, J. Miller, E.S. Kuschner, M. Ku,
M. Dipiero, M. Airely, J. C. Edgar, D. Embick, J.L. Ross, and
T.P.L. Roberts (2019) ‘Abnormal auditory mismatch fields in children and
adolescents with 47, XYY syndrome’, Developmental Neuroscience DOI: 10.1159/000500799
matsuzaki-etal-xyy.pdf
Matsuzaki, J., L. Blaskey, L., Bloy, J. C. Edgar, M. Kim, M. Ku,
E. S. Kuschner, D. Embick and T.P.L. Roberts (2019) 'Abnormal auditory mismatch
fields are associated with communication impairment in both verbal and
minimally verbal/ non-verbal children who have autism spectrum disorder',
Autism Research DOI: 10.1002/aur.2136 matsuzaki-etal-mmf.pdf
Bloy, Luke, Kobey Shwayder, Lisa Blaskey, Timothy P. L. Roberts, and David
Embick (2019) 'A Spectrotemporal Correlate of Language Impairment in Autism
Spectrum Disorder', Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04040-x bloy-etal-19.pdf