When: Monday, May 13, 2024, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PMWhere: Laws G.5 and online, Mile End campus
We are excited to be welcoming Prof. Peter Svenonius (Tromsø) to Queen Mary to give an invited speaker talk entitled What Late Insertion is Good for. This is a hybrid event; please click here to join via Zoom.
Abstract:
In Late Insertion, syntactic structures (of formatives) are assembled (by Merge) without phonological form (exponence). The exponence is then associated ("inserted") with the formatives in a step ("spell out") distinct from Merge. Late Insertion is the central contribution of Distributed Morphology. Late Insertion may seem to be a complication, compared to an alternative, Early Insertion, in which each formative is paired with its exponence throughout the syntactic derivation. However, Late Insertion allows certain aspects of morphology to be treated independently of syntax, which allows for a simpler syntax. Hence the apparent complication of Late Insertion is only apparent.