Ph.D. Linguistics 2011, Harvard University
Postdoctoral researcher, CLCG
dennis.ott@post.harvard.edu
Department of Linguistics
P.O. Box 716
NL-9700 AS Groningen
The Netherlands
Office: H1315.219
Phone: +31-(0)50-363-9619
office hours Spring 2013: Wednesdays, 15-16:00
I work within the research paradigm of Generative Grammar, which conceives of language as an internal computational system that associates structured expressions with sound and meaning properties. (In case you're curious to learn more, there's some good stuff on YouTube.) My research focuses chiefly on what has been dubbed the displacement property of natural-language systems, i.e. the fact that elements are sometimes pronounced in positions different from the positions in which they are interpreted. The goal of my work is to contribute to the development of a formally explicit theory of the principles and parameters of this subsystem, including its acquisition. I'm also interested in ellipsis, morphosyntax, and language acquisition more generally.
under revision. Right-dislocation as deletion. Ms., University of Groningen. (with Mark de Vries)
in press. An ellipsis approach to Contrastive Left-dislocation. Linguistic Inquiry 45(2). pdf
in press. Symmetric Merge and local instability: Evidence from split topics. Syntax. pdf
in press. Review of Angel Gallego (ed.), Phases: Developing the framework (de Gruyter, 2012). Language.
2012. Movement and ellipsis in Contrastive Left-dislocation. Proceedings of WCCFL 30, ed. Nathan Arnett and Ryan Bennett, 281-291. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla. pdf
2012. Thinking in the right direction: An ellipsis analysis of right-dislocation. Linguistics in the Netherlands 2012:123-133. (with Mark de Vries) pdf, doi
2012. Local instability: Split topicalization and quantifier float in German. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter. publisher's website
2012. Review of Peter Ludlow, The philosophy of Generative Grammar (Oxford University Press, 2011). LINGUIST List 23.453. (link)
2011. Local instability: The syntax of split topics. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University. pdf, citation/abstract
2011. A note on free relative clauses in the theory of phases. Linguistic Inquiry 42(1):183-192. pdf, doi
2011. Diminutive-formation in German: Spelling out the classifier analysis. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 14(1):1-46. pdf, doi
2010. The syntax and semantics of genus-species splits in German. To appear in Proceedings of CLS 46. (with Andreea Nicolae) pdf
2009. Stylistic fronting as remnant movement. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 83:141-178. pdf
2012. Connectivity in dislocation and the computation of the left periphery. Going Romance 2012 (KU Leuven, Dec. 6-8). slides
2012. Right-dislocation as deletion. NELS 43 (CUNY, Oct. 19-21). (with Mark de Vries) slides
| Spring 2013 | Linguistic Analysis: Case and ergativity |
| Fall 2012 | Introduction to Syntactic Theory |
| Summer 2012 | EGG School in Wroclaw, Poland |