Prof. Hilda Koopman

UCLA Linguistics Dept.
3125 Campbell Hall
Los Angeles CA 90095-1543
koopman@ucla.edu

nov 2006: this webpage is out of date, and will be updated soon

Research Interests:

Syntax, comparative syntax, morphosyntax, syntax phonology interface, fieldwork.

Some current material:

Downloadable Manuscripts. Most of these have now appeared in some minimally different form (see publications for full references).

· 1995 A precursor to verbal complexes: There is a 1995 Dutch version (Tabu), and here is an English version that appeared in Syntax at Sunset: squib.pdf

· 1997. I spend quite a lot of time working on mapping out the structure of PPs. Here is one version pp.pdf.

· 1999. Here is a preversion of the introduction I wrote for my Routledge book.

· 1996. My current research still builds on this paper. It contains, among other ideas, an idea how to account for VSO versus SVO or languages with rich left peripheries.: The spec head configuration: spec_head.pdf

· 1997 This paper was supposed to appear in a volume that never materialized. It is an attempt to apply the doubly filled filter and the principle of projection activation to historical data from English. I would love to have feedback on this paper. digs.pdf

· 1997 This paper deals with predicate cleft in Vata and Nweh. (click here) An idea about how to approach language variation in an antisymmetric framework where everything moves overtly, pied-piping is the norm, and underlying hierarchies are universal.

· 2001. Topics in imperatives (to appear in Imperative clauses in generative grammar, Wim van der Wurff, ed)). A paper about the left and right edge of different clausal types, and rightdislocation: it all started with topics in imperatives. click here

· 2001 . The locality of agreement and the structure of the DP in Maasai. version of 12/30/2001. Click here

2003. Inside the Noun in Maasai (in Anoop Mahajan (ed) Syntax at Sunset 3, http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/faciliti/wpl/issues/wpl10.htm To download the pdf file, click here

2003/2004. Korean and Japanese morphology from a syntactic perspective: a reply to Sells. appeared in LI (2005). For a 2004 version, click here

2005. On the parallelism of DPs and clauses in Kisongo Maasai. In A. Carnie (et al). click here
2005 Agreement: in defense of the “Spec head configuration”. To appear in C. Boeckx click here

o 2002. Derivations and complexity filters. To download an earlier version, click here

This paper builds on Verbal Complexes (with
Anna Szabolcsi), and further explores the merits
of "complexity" filters which are sensitive to the
structure dominating overt material in designated
Spec positions. The effects of these filters are
visible just about everywhere. These filters play
a very important role in processing, and acquisition,
and are the locus for explaining differences
between individual speakers.
Topics in imperatives explores these filters further.

cover Dimensions of Movement

Handouts of talks. (some selected handouts of papers that I am planning to write up)

Digs IV (keynote speaker), digs.pdf Montréal 1995. Antisymmetry and historical change.
Jena. May 1997. jena.pdf (key-note speaker) Heavy pied-piping.
Cortona May 2000. On subject wh-extraction and partial wh-movement as remnant CP Movement cortana.pdf
Irvine: pied-piping and subject extraction. Irvine.pdf
VSO conference (Tucson, feb 2003). For a copy of the slides of the talk click here. For a copy of background information on Maasai click here.
Castl conference, Tromsoe, october 2003. on How to construe the parallellism between DPs and clauses. For a copy of the slides click here

Remnant movement conference, october 2003. On The form of Mirror Principle Violations.

Selected Publications

Books:

1984 The Syntax of Verbs: from Verb Movement rules in the Kru Languages to Universal Grammar, Foris Publications. (out of print)
2000 The Syntax of Specifiers and Heads. Leading Linguist Series. Routledge. For ordering information click here

2000, with Anna Szabolcsi Verbal complexes . Current series in Linguistic Theory. MIT Press.

For more information about my co-author: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/lingu/people/faculty/szabolcs.htm

cover verbal complexes

Edited books:

1983. Current Approaches to African Linguistics, with J. Kaye, D. Sportiche and A.Dugas (eds), Foris Publications, Dordrecht.

Textbooks:

Coauthor in V. Fromkin (2000) Linguistics.
Blackwell

cover of Linguistics

List of Publications

For a list of selected publications, click here

Fieldwork related material and publications.

Under constructon

Nawdem (Gur):
The classdata and data from indiviudual sessions have been entered into a database. Dan Albro turned this into a searchable database that can be accessed at http://kallpa.ling.ucla.edu/nawdem/
See Dan Albro's webpage for a squib on the DP in Nawdem http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/grads/albro/squib1.pdf

Material related to Maasai
(under construction)

For datafiles from the 1999-2000 fieldmethods class, click here for data from the first quarter, and here for data from the second quarter.
For information about the tones of approximately 500 nouns (singular/plural/nominative/accusative), and some raw statistics click here
For a squib about what we can learn about Maasai tonology from Swahili borrowings, click here
Maasai “past tensed” forms and imperatives are homophonous. For a short squib on what Maasai imperatives and “past tensed” forms could possibly have in common click here

Malagasy (squibs will be coming)

Useful Links

Teaching

Undergraduate

Graduate

Syntax 1 (2 and 3)
Field methods 1 and 2
Seminars on research

Lot 2002 (Leiden)
Cluj 2004 (Egg summerschool): Agreement paper will be posted soon.

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