Staff Profile

I am Professor of Linguistics in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, having previously worked as an academic at Anglia Ruskin University and the Universities of Cambridge, Durham and Newcastle.

Before that, I studied for a degree in Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, an MA in Linguistics at the University of York and a PhD at Newcastle University. 

I am interested in the structure of language (syntactic theory), how languages vary and how we can model this variation (typology, comparative syntax) and how structure and meaning interact (syntax/semantics interface). I have a particular interest in languages descended from Latin (Romance languages), especially Spanish and Portuguese varieties and in the study of language universals, variation and change from a variety of perspectives. 

In recent years, I have also become interested in the place of linguistics in the discipline of languages and I currently lead the cross-HEI initiative 'Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages' (http://linguisticsinmfl.co.uk) to investigate the feasibility of including linguistics in language teaching in UK schools. 

I would love to hear from you if you are interested in studying at postgraduate level or visiting Newcastle with the aim of studying syntax or pedagogical linguistics (the place of linguistics in language teaching).

My current research includes:

1. A British Academy/Leverhulme-funded project on the use of pronouns by heritage Portuguese speakers in the UK (with Ioanna Sitaridou, Cambridge)
2. Projects on the syntax and semantics of Romance causatives, focusing on Catalan/Spanish (with Anna Pineda, Barcelona), Italian (with Jan Casalicchio, Palermo) and Spanish.
3. An artificial language experiment based on Basque (with Maia Duguine, CNRS-IKER & John Williams, Cambridge)
4. A project on clitic placement in Western Iberian languages.
5. The Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages project (@InMFL) (with Alice Corr, Birmingham, Anna Havinga, Bristol, Jonathan Kasstan, Westminster, Norma Schifano, Birmingham, & Sascha Stollhans, Goethe Institute) (funded Language Acts and World Making, Philological Society, UCML) 

I'm also an external collaborator on the SSHRC project 'The nature of parameters: representing language universals and language variation' (led by Lisa Travis, McGill University).

I’d be delighted to be contacted by you if you are interested in studying anything related to syntax or pedagogical linguistics at Newcastle University!

I teach introductory and advanced syntax at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The syntax component of SEL1027 (Introduction to linguistics) covers basic concepts in syntax such as categories, constituency, movement and recursion. The advanced module Comparative Syntax: English in a cross-linguistic context (SEL3426) takes a more topic-based approach and compares the syntax of questions in English with that of a wide range of other languages. I also teach the postgraduate module SEL8689 Minimalist Syntax: Data and Theory Building which introduces students to the minimalist program.

• Articles

  • Sheehan M. Multilingual grammars: the next frontier in comparative syntax. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 2024, epub ahead of print.
  • Pineda A, Sheehan M. When Restructuring and Clause Union Meet in Catalan and Beyond. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 2022, 21, 109-128.
  • Sheehan M, Cyrino S. Restrictions on long passives in English and Brazilian Portuguese: a phase-based account. Linguistic Inquiry 2022, (ePub ahead of Print).
  • Sheehan M, Corr A, Havinga A, Kasstan J, Schifano N. Rethinking the UK languages curriculum: arguments for the inclusion of linguistics. Modern Languages Open 2021, 1, 14-14.
  • Pineda A, Sheehan M. A Cyclic Agree account of the Romance faire–infinitive causative: New evidence from Catalan. Syntax 2023, 26(2), 183-222.
  • Sheehan M. The development of Exceptional Case Marking in Romance with a particular focus on French. Probus 2020, 32(2), 367-400.
  • Holmberg A, Sheehan M, van der Wal J. Movement from the Double Object Construction Is Not Fully Symmetrical. Linguistic Inquiry 2019, 50(4), 677-722.
  • Sheehan M, Schäfer M, Parafita Couto MC. Crowdsourcing and minority languages: the case of Galician inflected infinitives. Frontiers in Psychology - Language Sciences 2019, 10, 1157.
  • Sheehan M, van der Wal J. Evidence for nominal licensing in caseless languages. Journal of Linguistics 2018, 54(3), 527-589.
  • Sheehan M, Paciorek A, Williams J. Case/agreement matching: evidence for a cognitive bias. Glossa 2018, 3(1), 1-23.
  • Sheehan M. Basic word order in Brazilian Portuguese. Estudos linguísticos e literários 2018, 58, 103-128.
  • Sheehan M. Some implications of a copy theory of labeling. Syntax 2013, 16(4), 362-396.
  • 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.
  • Sheehan M. The Final-over-Final Constraint as an effect of complement stranding. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics 2009, 15, 104-125.
  • Biberauer T, Newton G, Sheehan M. On Impossible Changes and Impossible Borrowings. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 2009, 31, 1-17.
  • Biberauer T, Newton G, Sheehan M. Limiting synchronic and diachronic variation and change: the Final-Over-Final Constraint. Language and Linguistics 2009, 10(4), 701-743.

• Authored Books

  • Sheehan M, Biberauer T, Holmberg A, Roberts I. The Final-over-Final Condition. MIT Press, 2017. In Preparation.
  • Hinzen W, Sheehan M. The Philosophy of Universal Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Biberauer T, Holmberg A, Roberts I, Sheehan M. Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

• Book Chapters

  • Cyrino S, Sheehan M. Alignment. In: Ledgeway A; Maiden M, ed. Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2022, pp.544-570.
  • Sheehan M. Rethinking partial control: new evidence from finite control languages. In: Bárány A; Biberauer T, ed. Syntactic architecture and its consequences 3, Inside syntax. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2021, pp.323-340.
  • Sheehan M. Parameters and linguistic variation. In: Allott N; Lohndal T.; Rey G, ed. A Companion to Chomsky. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2021, pp.172-189.
  • Bárány A, Sheehan M. Challenges for dependent case. In: Anagnostopoulou E; Mertyris D; Sevdali C, ed. On the place of case in grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. In Press.
  • Sheehan M. The Romance Person Case Constraint is not about clitic clusters. In: A. Pineda & J. Mateu, ed. Dative Structures in Romance and Beyond. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2020, pp.143-171.
  • Sheehan M, Parafita Couto M. C., Blokzijl J. Inflected infinitives in Galician. In: I. Vogel, T. Miller & K. Kostyzsyn, ed. Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory: Selected papers from LSRL 47. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins, 2020, pp.260-273.
  • Sheehan M. On the difference between exhaustive and non-exhaustive control. In: J. Casalicchio, & F. Cognola, ed. Null subjects in Generative Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2018, pp.141-170.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M. Disharmony, Antisymmetry, and the Final-over-Final Constraint. In: Uribe-Etxebarria, M., Vlamala, V, ed. Ways of Structure Building. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. In Press.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M, Newton G. Impossible changes and impossible borrowings: the final-over-final constraint. In: Breitbarth, A; Lucas, C; Watts, S; Willis, D, ed. Continuity and Change in Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, 2010, pp.35-60.
  • Sheehan ML. 'Free' inversion in Romance and the Null Subject Parameter. In: Biberauer T; Holmberg A; Roberts I; Sheehan M, ed. Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: Cambidge University Press, 2010, pp.231-262.
  • Holmberg A, Sheehan ML. Control Into Finite Clauses in Partial Null-Subject Languages. In: Biberauer T; Holmberg A; Roberts I; Sheehan M, ed. Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: Cambidge University Press, 2010, pp.125-152.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Sheehan M. The resuscitation of CED. In: NELS 40: The 40th Annual meeting of the North East Linguistic Society. 2009, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Sheehan M. Labelling, Multiple Spell-Out and the Final-over-Final Constraint. In: Proceedings XXXV Incontro di Grammatica Generativa. 2009, Siena, Italy: MITWPL - MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.

• Edited Books

  • Bailey L, Sheehan M, ed. Order and Structure in Syntax I. Language Science Press, 2017.
  • Sheehan M, Bailey L, ed. Order and Structure in Syntax II. Language Science Press, 2017.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M, ed. Theoretical Approaches to Disharmonic Word Order. Oxford University Press, 2013. In Preparation.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M, ed. The Linguistic Review (special edition on Particles in Syntax). 2011. In Preparation.

• Report

  • Sheehan M. [PhD Thesis] The EPP and Null Subjects in Romance. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2006. School of English Litertaure, Language and Linguistics.