MIT Linguistics

Congratulations to the amazing William Pacheco! We celebrated his thesis in the department today. We're all looking forward to seeing what he does next, as he enters the linguistics program at the University of New Mexico. He's promised to stay in touch, which is good news for all of us. What new complexities of his language will he illuminate? And how many new software apps will he create while he's doing it? We can't wait to find out.

Congratulations to Devon (S.M. 2022), a graduate of our MIT Indigenous Languages Initiative Master’s Program (MITILI) program!

Devon Denny, a 3rd year graduate student in our Ph.D. program, was just awarded a "Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research" grant from the American Philosophical Society to develop his "Diné Bizaad Language Project", which will involve working with speakers of the Navajo Nation to better understand aspects of questions in Diné Bizaad (Navajo). Congratulations, Devon!

Prof. S***a Momma to join MIT Linguistics faculty!

We are as delighted as can be to announce that S***a Momma will be joining our faculty as Associate Professor of Linguistics this Fall. Prof. Momma is a specialist in psycholinguistics and its interaction with linguistic theory — with a particular focus on the mechanisms of sentence production, an area in which he is a true pioneer.

S***a comes to us from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he has been an Assistant Professor since 2019. He received his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Maryland in 2016, with a dissertation directed by our alum Colin Phillips (PhD 1996), and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC San Diego with Vic Ferreira. Asked about his thoughts and plans as our newest faculty member, S***a wrote:

”I’m deeply honored and excited to be joining the MIT linguistics department, which has been home to so many people I deeply respect, past and present. I’m looking forward to learning from my future colleagues and to building a vibrant intellectual community together. My research aims to understand how people construct sentences in their minds during both comprehension and production, drawing on insights from linguistics and cognitive science more broadly. I’m confident that exciting new research directions will emerge at MIT - something I already began to experience during my visit in 2023.”

Welcome! We can’t wait for you to join us!

https://websites.umass.edu/snegishi/research/

Phonology Circle - Hani Al Naeem (MIT)

Speaker: Hani Al Naeem (MIT)
Title: On the nature of emphasis spread in Jordanian Arabic
Time: , 5pm - 6:30pm
Location: 32-D831

Abstract: The phenomenon of emphasis spread (ES), a type of tongue root harmony in Arabic, is triggered by emphatics, coronal obstruents with a secondary posterior articulation near the upper pharyngeal wall. The most salient effect of ES is the backing of adjacent low vowels, with notable directionality differences in the extent and magnitude of this effect. While previous works agree that leftward ES is more robust (i.e. has a uniform effect and broader span) than rightward ES, there have been differences in the descriptions of the two patterns of spreading and in the analyses thereof. This work reconsiders the empirical description of ES in Jordanian Arabic (JA) based on data from a production experiment and provides a novel analysis of the phenomenon. The JA data reaffirm that ES uniformly lowers F2 in all leftward low vowels within a stem, while the effect gradually fades out to the right. I argue that this asymmetry reflects two distinct underlying mechanisms, feature harmony and coarticulation. Following Hayes & Londe (2006), feature changing effects are modeled through a distal constraint targeting leftward segments non-locally and a local constraint iterating to a right-adjacent vowel. Once those effects are accounted for, a model of coarticulation that is informed by the locus equation and vowel undershoot (Flemming 2001) is proposed as a basis for the residual coarticulatory rightward effects. I claim that the present analysis provides an explanation of the directional asymmetry in ES and clarifies the nature of the long-distance rightward effects by attributing them to a phonetic mechanism, explicitly modeled.

Phonology Circle - Hani Al Naeem (MIT) Speaker: Hani Al Naeem (MIT) Title: On the nature of emphasis spread in Jordanian Arabic Time: , 5pm - 6:30pm Location: 32-D831 Abstract: The phenomenon of emphasis spread (ES), a type of tongue root harmony in Arabic, is triggered by emphatics, coronal obstruents with a secondary posterior articula...

LingLunch 5/14 - Janet Pierrehumbert (University of Oxford)

Speaker: Janet Pierrehumbert (University of Oxford)
Title: LLMs can pass the Turing Test — are they intelligent?
Time: Thursday, May 14, 12:30pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461

Abstract: In 1950, Turing proposed that if a person can not tell whether they are in conversation with another person or a computer algorithm, we can consider the algorithm to be intelligent. The Turing Test effectively launched the field of AI, and advanced a strong connection between natural language and intelligence. The newest Large Language Models (LLMs) engage in conversations and produce amazingly human-like output. Often, people cannot reliably tell whether they are talking to a chatbot or another person. LLMs seem to pass the Turing Test. Does this mean they are intelligent?

In this talk, I will discuss the nature of the Turing Test and the current level of evidence that LLMs can pass it. I will argue that the Turing Test in its original formulation had a limited conception of intelligence, failing to capture aspects of intelligence that come to the fore in theories of embodied cognition. These aspects of intelligence play a crucial role for humans in acquiring a mental lexicon of meaningful units, and mastering semantic operators (such as markers of temporal, numerical and logical relationships). When probed, LLMs exhibit persistent shortcomings in these areas of language, shortcomings which are systematic consequences of their architecture and training.

Janet B. Pierrehumbert I am the Professor of Language Modelling in the Oxford e-Research Centre, part of the Department of Engineering Science. I have been doing interdisciplinary research in experimental and computational linguistics throughout my career. As an undergraduate at Harvard, I studied linguistics and mathemat...

Syntax Square 5/12 - Daniar Kasenov (NYU)

Speaker: Daniar Kasenov (NYU)
Title: Salvation by deletion in Russian LBE
Time: Tuesday, May 12, 1:00pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461

Russian does not allow left branch extraction from NPs that are complements of P. Sluicing alleviates this restriction. I argue that the pattern is best explained by the Cyclic Linearization view of “island repair”: ungrammaticality results from conflicting linearization statements but ellipsis can resolve the conflict.

The talk will cover:
— Why the pattern must involve salvation by deletion (against the general attitude expressed by Barros et al. 2014)

— Extension to other restrictions on extraction from Russian NPs which are alleviated by sluicing based on the scattered deletion view of left branch extraction (Fanselow, Ćavar 2003; Bondarenko, Davis 2023).

— An account of what we call the Sole Remnant Generalization: the remnant must be the only pronounced item in its clause (observed for preposition drop in other languages too). The model is a mix of Fox & Pesetsky (2003) and Johnson (2020) which allows for scattered deletion and predicts the Sole Remnant Generalization straightforwardly.

The talk is an extension of the material written up in Kalyakin, Kasenov (2025): https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/009308

https://whamit.mit.edu/2026/05/11/syntax-square-5-12-daniar-kasenov-nyu/

Syntax Square 5/12 - Daniar Kasenov (NYU) Speaker: Daniar Kasenov (NYU) Title: Salvation by deletion in Russian LBE Time: Tuesday, May 12, 1:00pm - 2pm Location: 32-D461 Russian does not allow left branch extraction from NPs that are complements of P. Sluicing alleviates this restriction. I argue that the pattern is best explained by the Cy...

MIT Linguistics @ WCCFL 44

This year, the 44th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL44) was held at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City on May 6-8. Some of our current students, faculty and alums presented their work:

• Tamari Berulava (2nd year): Shifting Identity: the Interaction of phi-features, Honorification and Indexical shift

• Michela Ippolito (PhD 2002)[University of Toronto] & Anastasia Tsilia (5th year): What if and its kin

• Norvin Richards (Faculty; PhD 1997): Long-distance agreement by proxy in Passamaquoddy

• Jessica C**n (PhD 2010)[McGill University], Stefan Keine,

• Juan Jesús Vázquez Álvarez & Michael Wagner (PhD 2005)[McGill University]: Reconsidering Animacy Hierarchy Effects in Mayan: Experimental Evidence from Ch’ol

• Adam Singerman, Andrew Nevins (PhD 2005)[UCL], Susana Bejar, Maka Tetradze: Suppletion as inflection: insights from two endangered languages

• Ken Hiraiwa (PhD 2005)[Meiji Gakuin University], Kimiko Nakanishi: Japanese Free Choice Items at the Syntax–Semantics–Phonology Interface

• Anna Carolina Almeida, Raimundo Cox-Casals, Michael Wagner (PhD 2005)[McGill University]: Adjectival agreement is interpretable: Evidence from summative agreement in Mexican Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

• Sam Alxatib (PhD 2013)[CUNY], Alexander Podobryaev (PhD 2014)[HSE]: On the (non-) vacuity of the Russian participial present

MIT Linguistics @ FASL 35

The 35th meeting of Formal Approaches to Slavic Languages was hosted by the Linguistics Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz from May 1-3, 2026. The following students and alums presented their work:

Vlad Orlov (2nd year): Existential wh-words are still a question in Russian
Marijana Marelj & Ora Matushansky (PhD 1998)[CNRS]: Against length-determined tone assignment in Serbo-Croatian
Marijana Marelj & Ora Matushansky (PhD 1998)[CNRS]: Two types of unaccusatives: evidence from Slavic Degree Achievements
Ivona Kučerová (PhD 1997)[McMaster University] & Edgar Onea: Topic pronouns in Czech: Argument drop in disguise

LingLunch 5/7 - Haoming Li (MIT)

Speaker: Haoming Li (MIT)
Title: Conditional semantics for permission and weak necessity
Time: Thursday, May 7, 12:30pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461

Abstract: The classic analyses of permission and weak necessity view them as existential and universal quantification over a modal base with one or two ordering sources. In this talk, I will advance the alternative view that both permission and weak necessity involve an underlying conditional semantics. I will draw analogies between permission and weak necessity on the one hand and conditionals on the other hand across several phenomena, many of which are puzzling for the classic accounts, including free choice/simplification of disjunctive antecedents, Sobel and Reverse Sobel sequences, homogeneity, and performative uses. I will then deliver a concrete implementation based on von Fintel’s (2001) dynamic account of conditionals and Chung’s (2018) work on Korean deontic modals. I will show that the approach naturally captures the parallels mentioned above and derives a stipulation about the nature of the modal base for such modals. If times allows, I will also compare and contrast the present approach with other approaches in the literature to similar empirical puzzles and other work which motivates a conditional semantics for modals, like McHugh (2026), which was previously presented at LingLunch.

Phonology Circle - Christopher Bader (MIT)

Speaker: Christopher Bader (MIT)
Title: Front Vowels are Palatal: Phonetic and Phonological Evidence
Time: , 5pm - 6:30pm
Location: 32-D831

Abstract: Clements (1991) and Hume (1992) proposed that front vowels are coronal, rather than dorsal (Sagey 1986). But this is the wrong generalization, since it fails to explain the following contrast in Mandarin Chinese: *si, *ʂi, ɕi ‘west’ (西) (Lee-Kim 2014). As this example shows, the Mandarin high front vowel /i/ may only be preceded by a palatal ([-anterior][+distributed]) sibilant. Anterior and retroflex sibilants, which of course are also coronal, may not precede this vowel. Instead of si and ʂi, Mandarin has these consonants followed by the syllabic, non-vocalic coronal sonorants [ɹ ̩ ] and [ɻ ̍ ], sometimes incorrectly referred to as ‘apical vowels’. As I will show, neither anterior nor retroflex consonants pattern with front vowels. But fortition of front vowels can result in palatal consonants and front vowels do pattern with palatal consonants. I will argue that this is because front vowels are palatal. The Mandarin data cited is then the result of AGREE(PAL), AGREE(ANT), and AGREE(RET) being higher ranked than IDENT(Amax), a constraint which preserves vocalic apertures… (continued in attached file)

LF Reading Group 5/6 - Thomas Truong and Karolin Kaiser (MIT)

Speaker: Thomas Truong and Karolin Kaiser (MIT)
Title: Age is not just a number
Time: Wednesday, May 6th, 1pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461

Abstract: We start from constructions where a proper name modifies a gradable adjective, as in (1).

Eyal is Joe Biden old.

While these examples initially may suggest a simple degree interpretation, i.e. mapping the individual to their degree on the relevant scale. We show that this cannot be the full story. We examine the conditions of use for these sentences and show that these constructions systematically differ from measure phrases and equatives. They crucially permit felicitous uses in contexts where the target individual does not match the named individual’s absolute degree.

We propose that this construction supports an analysis where comparison classes are structured objects with a contextually provided ordering on a partition of individuals in the comparison class. Following mechanisms from Bale (2006, 2008) we propose that a “scale” is built from the modifying proper name. Informally, A is B-adj means that A occupies a position in A’s comparison class that corresponds to B’s position on the constructed “scale”.