Speaker: Amanda Michel (MIT)
Title: A Variable Account of Norwegian Stress
Time: Tuesday, December 8th, 5pm - 6:30pm
Location: 32-D831
Abstract: The stress system of Norwegian has traditionally been argued to be fixed/predictable with a robust set of exceptions. Much of the analysis of Norwegian stress is based on loanwords, as the inventory of native word shapes is limited. In this talk, I will present my ongoing work with my former advisor (Anya Hogoboom, College of William & Mary). We put forth an alternative account in multiple steps. We first seek to explain stress variability diachronically, looking to the placement of stress on the donor word for a given loanword. We then propose a variable model of the stress phonology utilizing MaxEnt and find that speakers are sensitive to the distribution of stress assignment via a nonce word production experiment.
Issue of Monday, December 8th, 2025
Phonology Circle 12/8 - Amanda Michel (MIT)
MIT Linguistics @ ASA meeting
The 6th joint meeting between the Acoustic Society of America and the Acoustic Society of Japan took place at Honolulu from 1-5 December, 2025. Several students and alums presented their work:
- Amy Li (2nd year): A phonetic correlate of velar palatalization: Shorter front cavity
- Na-Young Ryu and Suyeon Yun (PhD 2016) [Chungnam National Univ.]: Perceptual comparison of emotional Korean speech: Human versus AI-generated voices
- Feng-fan Hsieh (PhD 2007)[National Tsing Hua Univ.]: Spatiotemporal modeling of tongue kinematics using ultrasound tongue imaging: A case study of apical vowels in Mandarin Chinese
- Feng-fan Hsieh (PhD 2007)[National Tsing Hua Univ.], Kye Shibata, and Yueh-chin Chang: Visualizing parasagittal articulation: An electromagnetic articulography analysis of lateralization in East Asian languages
- Yueh-chin Chang, Jing Huang, and Feng-fan Hsieh (PhD 2007)[National Tsing Hua Univ.]: Acoustic evidence for asymmetric /l//n/ merger in Southwestern Mandarin
The 6th joint meeting between the Acoustic Society of America and the Acoustic Society of Japan took place at Honolulu from 1-5 December, 2025. Several students and alums presented their work:
- Amy Li (2nd year): A phonetic correlate of velar palatalization: Shorter front cavity
- Na-Young Ryu and Suyeon Yun (PhD 2016) [Chungnam National Univ.]: Perceptual comparison of emotional Korean speech: Human versus AI-generated voices
- Feng-fan Hsieh (PhD 2007)[National Tsing Hua Univ.]: Spatiotemporal modeling of tongue kinematics using ultrasound tongue imaging: A case study of apical vowels in Mandarin Chinese
- Feng-fan Hsieh (PhD 2007)[National Tsing Hua Univ.], Kye Shibata, and Yueh-chin Chang: Visualizing parasagittal articulation: An electromagnetic articulography analysis of lateralization in East Asian languages
- Yueh-chin Chang, Jing Huang, and Feng-fan Hsieh (PhD 2007)[National Tsing Hua Univ.]: Acoustic evidence for asymmetric /l//n/ merger in Southwestern Mandarin
Cancel at Edinburgh Symposium on Historical Phonology
On 1-2 December 2025, the 7th Edinburgh Symposium on Historical Phonology was hosted by The University of Edinburgh. Our 4th-year PhD student Juan Cancel presented his poster, entitled The diachronic asymmetry of nasal apocope between nominal and verbal paradigms in Nganasan! You can read the abstract here.
On 1-2 December 2025, the 7th Edinburgh Symposium on Historical Phonology was hosted by The University of Edinburgh. Our 4th-year PhD student Juan Cancel presented his poster, entitled The diachronic asymmetry of nasal apocope between nominal and verbal paradigms in Nganasan! You can read the abstract here.
LingLunch 12/11 - Sabine Iatridou (MIT)
Speaker: Sabine Iatridou (MIT)
Title: Superlatives meet Definiteness in Bulgarian and Greek
Time: Thursday, December 11, 12:30pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: The aim of this paper (joint work with Artemis Alexiadou and Roumyana Pancheva) is to enrich the debate on the nature of absolute and relative readings of superlatives with data from Bulgarian and Greek and explore possible conclusions from them. We investigate three phenomena exhibited by definite DPs: polydefiniteness, clitic doubling, and clitic left dislocation, and show that the first two preclude relative readings, while the latter allows relative readings in contexts of contrastive topicalization. This leads us to conclude that the absolute-relative distinction in superlatives is a case of a genuine semantic ambiguity, with definiteness playing a central role, but also that there is an important role for context. Our findings also reveal similarities and differences among clitic doubling, clitic left dislocation, and polydefiniteness, in both Bulgarian and Greek.
Speaker: Sabine Iatridou (MIT)
Title: Superlatives meet Definiteness in Bulgarian and Greek
Time: Thursday, December 11, 12:30pm - 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: The aim of this paper (joint work with Artemis Alexiadou and Roumyana Pancheva) is to enrich the debate on the nature of absolute and relative readings of superlatives with data from Bulgarian and Greek and explore possible conclusions from them. We investigate three phenomena exhibited by definite DPs: polydefiniteness, clitic doubling, and clitic left dislocation, and show that the first two preclude relative readings, while the latter allows relative readings in contexts of contrastive topicalization. This leads us to conclude that the absolute-relative distinction in superlatives is a case of a genuine semantic ambiguity, with definiteness playing a central role, but also that there is an important role for context. Our findings also reveal similarities and differences among clitic doubling, clitic left dislocation, and polydefiniteness, in both Bulgarian and Greek.
MIT Linguistics @ OASIS 5
The conference “Ontology as Structured by the Interface with Semantics” (OASIS) 5 was held at University of Edinburgh on 3-5 December, 2025. Our current 3rd-year PhD student Cooper Roberts gave a presentation, entitled “Part is part (plus pragmatics)”. Our recent alum Filipe Hisao Kobayashi (PhD, 2023) also presented his work on “Building individual concepts structurally”.
The conference “Ontology as Structured by the Interface with Semantics” (OASIS) 5 was held at University of Edinburgh on 3-5 December, 2025. Our current 3rd-year PhD student Cooper Roberts gave a presentation, entitled “Part is part (plus pragmatics)”. Our recent alum Filipe Hisao Kobayashi (PhD, 2023) also presented his work on “Building individual concepts structurally”.
MIT Linguistics at Splash!
On November 22rd and 23rd, Hani Al Naeem, Christopher Legerme, Cora Lesure, Vincent Zu (MIT Chemical Engineering postdoctoral associate), and Jacob Kodner (Harvard Linguistics graduate student) taught over 50 ninth through twelfth grade students at Splash, a weekend extravaganza of courses organized by MIT ESP (Educational Studies Program).
Hani and Christopher offered Sounds in Motion: Exploring the Science of Speech; Cora offered Rhyme and Reason: Exploring the Linguistics of Poetry; Vincent offered Linguists vs. Machine: Who Had the Telescope?; and Jacob offered The Beauty and Complexity of Language: Introduction to Linguistics. The courses were designed by each instructor and developed and vetted through a collaborative process. Maya Honda observed all of the classes and attests to the great job everyone did sharing their knowledge and passion for linguistics with the Splash students.
On November 22rd and 23rd, Hani Al Naeem, Christopher Legerme, Cora Lesure, Vincent Zu (MIT Chemical Engineering postdoctoral associate), and Jacob Kodner (Harvard Linguistics graduate student) taught over 50 ninth through twelfth grade students at Splash, a weekend extravaganza of courses organized by MIT ESP (Educational Studies Program).
Hani and Christopher offered Sounds in Motion: Exploring the Science of Speech; Cora offered Rhyme and Reason: Exploring the Linguistics of Poetry; Vincent offered Linguists vs. Machine: Who Had the Telescope?; and Jacob offered The Beauty and Complexity of Language: Introduction to Linguistics. The courses were designed by each instructor and developed and vetted through a collaborative process. Maya Honda observed all of the classes and attests to the great job everyone did sharing their knowledge and passion for linguistics with the Splash students.