Prof. Anders Holmberg
Professor in Theoretical Linguistics
- Email: anders.holmberg@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)191 222 3530
- Fax: +44 (0)191 222 8708
Research Interests
Syntactic theory; comparative syntax; Scandinavian languages; Finnish.
Other Expertise
Descriptive linguistics/linguistic fieldwork; language acquisition; language change.
Current Work
The mapping of structure onto linear order;
New perspectives on null subjects/pro-drop; ellipsis; the syntax of polarity focus, partial pro-drop.
NP doubling.
The syntax of Hawrami (North-West Iranian), particularly split ergativity and NP-structure (the Izafe).
Selected Publications
- Holmberg A; Nayudu A; Sheehan M. Three partial null-subject languages: a comparison of Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish, and Marathi. Studia Linguistica 2009, 63(1), 59-97.
- Halldor A. Sigurdsson and Anders Holmberg. Icelandic dative intervention: person and number are separate probes. In: Roberta d'Alessandro, Gunnar H. Hrafnbjargarson, and Susann Fischer, ed. Agreement restrictions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. In press, 2008, pp. 251-280.
- Anders Holmberg and Urpo Nikanne. Subject doubling in Finnish: the role of deficient pronouns. In: Barbiers, S, O. Koeneman, and M. Lekakou, ed. Microvariations in syntactic doubling. Bingley: Emerald, 2008, pp. 325-349.
- Anders Holmberg and David Odden. The noun phrase in Hawrami. In: S. Karimi, S.V. Samiian, and D. Stilo, ed. Aspects of Iranian Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, To appear, 2008, pp. 129-152.
- Anders Holmberg. Null subjects and polarity focus. Studia Linguistica 2007, 61(3), 212-236.
- Theresa Biberauer, Anders Holmberg, and Ian Roberts. Structure and linearization in disharmonic word orders. Proceedings of the 26th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 2007. Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Future Research
The syntax of dialects in the British Isles.
Research Roles
Principal Investigator of the AHRC-funded project 'Structure and linear order in disharmonic word orders' (2007-2010)
Postgraduate Supervision
PhD students:
Nasser Al-Horais: The Arabic negation laysa.
Nadeem Bukhari: Serial verbs in Gojri.
Winnie Yiu: Sentential structure in Nuuchahnult
Mais Sulaiman: Wh-scope marking in Arabic
Mohammed Jlassi: Argument doubling in Arabic
Laura Bailey: Question particles
Mohammad Al-Moaily: Urdu Pidgin Arabic
Khaled Kakhia: The syntax and semantics of replies to yes/no questions
Esteem Indicators
Member of the panel for Linguistics in the RAE 2008.
Funding
1. Project funded by the AHRC (2002-2007): 'Null subjects and the structure of parametric theory.' Joint project with Newcastle and Cambridge, with Ian Roberts and Davis Willis as co-investigators. In addition the project team includes a Research Assistant (Theresa Biberauer) and two PhD students: Michelle Sheehan and Chris Johns.
2. Leverhulme Visiting Professorship for Abdelkader Fassi Fehri to spend 10 months in Newcastle in 2007-2008.
3. Project funded by the AHRC, from Oct 2007 to Sept 2010: 'Structure and linearization in disharmonic word orders'. Joint project with Cambridge, with Ian Roberts as co-investigator. IN addition the project team includes a Research Associate (Theresa Biberauer)and two research assistants (Michelle Sheehan and Glenda Newton).