Project MUSE®: Linguistic Inquiry - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Linguistic Inquiry.daily12026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 31, no. 4 (2000) through current issueLatest Articles: Linguistic InquiryTWOProject MUSE®Linguistic Inquiry1530-91500024-3892Latest articles in Linguistic Inquiry. Feed provided by Project MUSE®A Learning-Based Account of Phonological Tiers
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989413
<p></p>
Phonological theory, and linguistic theory more broadly, often attempts to interpret apparently long-distance dependencies as being adjacent on some representation. For many morphophonological alternations, dependencies are already adjacent in a straightforward, flat representation. Such is the case for the English plural morpheme, which alternates between [-z] and [-s], matching the stem-final segment's voicing, and separated by [ә] if the stem-final segment is a sibilant, as in (1).(1)[dɑg-z][kæt-s][hɔs-әz]However, vowel and consonant harmony (Rose and Walker 2004, Hansson 2010, van der Hulst 2016) and dissimilation (Bennett 2013) often involve dependencies between segments that are arbitrarily distant in a flat
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallA Learning-Based Account of Phonological Tiers2026-05-11text/htmlen-USA Learning-Based Account of Phonological Tiers2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®2259262026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11Dependent Case by Agree: Ergative in Shawi
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989414
<p></p>
A central issue in contemporary case theory concerns the role of functional structure in the calculus of case. In classic versions of case theory, case is determined (assigned/checked) via structural relations with functional heads; in current theoretical terms, this is to say that case is determined via Agree between a nominal and a head. "Configurational" case theories diverge from this perspective in attributing case assignment to special rules independent of functional heads, such as the dependent ergative assignment rule in (1). On a strict version of such a theory (e.g., Levin and Preminger 2015), the only role for functional structure in case theory is to delimit domains in which such rules apply (see esp.
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallDependent Case by Agree: Ergative in Shawi2026-05-11text/htmlen-USDependent Case by Agree: Ergative in Shawi2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®2172232026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11Large Language Models and the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989415
<p></p>
One way in which linguists have argued that humans are born with nontrivial biases is through cases where speakers' linguistic knowledge goes beyond what seems warranted by the data they were exposed to. If humans systematically arrive at this knowledge given the data while linguistically neutral learners exposed to similar data do not, then humans are not linguistically neutral: they come to the task of language acquisition prepared. Reasoning of this kind is known as an argument from the poverty of the stimulus (APS), and since its introduction by Noam Chomsky over 50 years ago it has been central to the study of the human linguistic capacity.1,2 Here we will focus on one APS, concerning wh-movement, but various
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallLarge Language Models and the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus2026-05-11text/htmlen-USLarge Language Models and the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®1594312026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11The Relevance of Unaccusativity to Possessive Datives
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989416
<p></p>
According to the unaccusative hypothesis, intransitive verbs split into two types: unergatives and unaccusatives. The latter merge their subject VP-internally, in the complement position, while the former merge it higher and are thus said to have an external argument subject (Perlmutter 1978, Burzio 1986). This is schematized in (1a) and (1b) respectively, abstracting away from details.(1)a. The vasek fell tk.b. The boyk tk yawned.Across languages, the two sets display impressive regularities in verb classification (e.g., Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995), suggesting that the phenomenon is essentially universal.1 Further, in language after language, unaccusatives often show different properties than unergatives.
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallThe Relevance of Unaccusativity to Possessive Datives2026-05-11text/htmlen-USThe Relevance of Unaccusativity to Possessive Datives2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®1263642026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11Concord in the Verbal Domain: External Agreement in Nakh-Daghestanian
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989417
<p></p>
External agreement in Nakh-Daghestanian comprises various instances of morphological agreement of a nonverbal constituent with another, seemingly unrelated constituent, most typically the clausemate absolutive DP.1 It is a relatively typical trait of the family that occurs across different branches and languages, as illustrated in the following example from the Balqar dialect of Lak:2(1) In this example, in addition to the verb, three nonverbal constituents show morphological agreement that reflects the gender-number features of the absolutive subject: the adverb b-axtːa 'on foot', the locative form barqara-b of the village name, and the focus particle =b-a obligatorily attached to the reflexive pronoun.3 External
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallConcord in the Verbal Domain: External Agreement in Nakh-Daghestanian2026-05-11text/htmlen-USConcord in the Verbal Domain: External Agreement in Nakh-Daghestanian2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®731792026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11Asymmetric Coordination in Romanian: A Diagnostic for DOM Position?
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989418
<p></p>
Kalin and Weisser (2019) propose that, in a variety of languages, the hypothesis that marked objects can share the same (in-situ) position as unmarked objects receives strong support from configurations containing what they have called asymmetric coordination. An illustration is their example in (1a) from Romanian. Here, the first conjunct is inanimate and thus unmarked, while the second conjunct is animate and exhibits differential object marking (DOM).1(1) Kalin and Weisser's (2019) argument is based on the islandhood status of coordination. The latter has been formalized by Ross (1967) under the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC) and prohibits the extraction of any of the conjuncts in a coordination, on pain
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallAsymmetric Coordination in Romanian: A Diagnostic for DOM Position?2026-05-11text/htmlen-USAsymmetric Coordination in Romanian: A Diagnostic for DOM Position?2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®1057622026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11Scope Freezing Restricts Binding in Italian Right-Dislocation
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989419
<p></p>
Consider the examples of right-dislocation (RD) in (1)−(3), where suo 'his' is a pronoun that must be interpreted in the scope of its binder, while proprio 'his own' is an anaphor that must be bound by a c-commanding antecedent. The example in (1a) shows that an object can bind into a PP complement when the latter is in situ, but not when it is right-dislocated, as in (1b). By contrast, subjects can always bind into right-dislocated complements. This is true whether the subject is preverbal, as in (2a) and (3a), or postverbal, as in (2b) and (3b). (Main stress is represented by small capitals. The data reflect the judgments of at least four speakers from different parts of Italy.)1(1) (2) (3) These data are hard to
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallScope Freezing Restricts Binding in Italian Right-Dislocation2026-05-11text/htmlen-USScope Freezing Restricts Binding in Italian Right-Dislocation2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®619782026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11Intrusion as Template Satisfaction and the Qatat − Qata Problem in Semitic
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420
<p></p>
Greenberg (1950) reported on a major asymmetry in Semitic verbs: stems with identical final and penultimate consonants—henceforth Qa-TaT—are ubiquitous, whereas stems with identical initial and peninitial consonants—henceforth QaQaT—are almost nonexistent. In order to explain this asymmetry, McCarthy (1981) famously proposed that the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP), which bans adjacent identical units, holds at the level of the Semitic root. Both √QTT and √QQT roots are illicit. QaTaT verbs are based on biradical roots √QT matched with a tri-positional template. As illustrated in (1) for the Modern Hebrew verb [∫alal] 'he denied', the root is mapped to the template from left to right. When the final C-slot of
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989420">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-14T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/117/image/coversmallIntrusion as Template Satisfaction and the Qatat − Qata Problem in Semitic2026-05-11text/htmlen-USIntrusion as Template Satisfaction and the Qatat − Qata Problem in Semitic2026-05-112026TWOProject MUSE®594922026-05-14T00:00:00-05:002026-05-11