Staff Profile

I am currently 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 (Spanish and French) 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' 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 as with the aim of studying syntax or pedagogical linguistics.

My current research includes:

 

1. A British Academy-funded project on UK Heritage Portuguese (with Ioanna Sitaridou, Cambridge)
2. Various projects on the syntax and semantics of Romance causatives, focusing on Catalan/Spanish (with Anna Pineda, Sorbonne), Brazilian Portuguese (with Sonia Cyrino, Campinas), Italian (with Jan Casalicchio, Palermo) and French.
3. An artificial language experiment based on Basque (with Maia Duguine, CNRS-IKER  & John Williams, Cambridge)
4. A study of the typology of control (with Jutta Hartmann, Bielefeld)
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 ANR-DFG project 'Uncovering verb-second effects. An interface-based typology' (led by Maia Duguine, CNRS-IKER) and 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 will not be teaching in semester 1 2021/2. In semester 2, I will be teaching on SEL1028, SEL3410 and SEL8684. More details to follow...

• Pineda A, Sheehan M. A Cyclic Agree account of the faire-infinitive: new evidence from Catalan. Syntax 2021. In Press.
• 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.
• 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. 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.
• 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, 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.
• 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. The development of Exceptional Case Marking in Romance with a particular focus on French. Probus 2020, 32(2), 367-400.
• 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, Schäfer M, Parafita Couto MC. Crowdsourcing and minority languages: the case of Galician inflected infinitives. Frontiers in Psychology - Language Sciences 2019, 10, 1157.
• 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. Basic word order in Brazilian Portuguese. Estudos linguísticos e literários 2018, 58, 103-128.
• Sheehan M, Paciorek A, Williams J. Case/agreement matching: evidence for a cognitive bias. Glossa 2018, 3(1), 1-23.
• Sheehan M, van der Wal J. Evidence for nominal licensing in caseless languages. Journal of Linguistics 2018, 54(3), 527-589.
• 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.
• Sheehan M, Bailey L, ed. Order and Structure in Syntax II. Language Science Press, 2017.
• Sheehan M, Biberauer T, Holmberg A, Roberts I. The Final-over-Final Condition. MIT Press, 2017. In Preparation.
• Bailey L, Sheehan M, ed. Order and Structure in Syntax I. Language Science Press, 2017.
• Hinzen W, Sheehan M. The Philosophy of Universal Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Biberauer T, Sheehan M, ed. Theoretical Approaches to Disharmonic Word Order. Oxford University Press, 2013. In Preparation.
• Sheehan M. Some implications of a copy theory of labeling. Syntax 2013, 16(4), 362-396.
• 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, ed. The Linguistic Review (special edition on Particles in Syntax). 2011. In Preparation.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Biberauer T, Holmberg A, Roberts I, Sheehan M. Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• 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.
• 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.
• Biberauer T, Newton G, Sheehan M. On Impossible Changes and Impossible Borrowings. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 2009, 31, 1-17.
• Sheehan M. The Final-over-Final Constraint as an effect of complement stranding. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics 2009, 15, 104-125.
• 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.
• 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. [PhD Thesis] The EPP and Null Subjects in Romance. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2006. School of English Litertaure, Language and Linguistics.