Ora Matushansky
Biographic Data
| ID | 1569413 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ora Matushansky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ora |
| FAMILY NAME | Matushansky |
| SIGNATURE | MATUSHANSKY O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1420-7091 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
On the Constituent Structure of Augmented Plurals in Russian
This article examines augmented plurals in Russian, mostly focusing on those in -ĭj- (e.g., pero/perjja ‘feather.sg/pl’). The accentual behavior of -ĭj-plurals is sensitive to animacy: while inanimates show stem-final stress, animates appear with inflectional stress. This is explained by different constituent structures: while for inanimates, -ĭj- combines with the stem, animate stems require complex suffix formation so as to not create neuter an…
Ablaut and transitive softening in the Russian verb
Transitive softening in Russian is a type of consonant mutation resulting from an underlying [CjV] cluster. There exist two closed classes of verbs where it occurs in the present tense in the absence of a clear source for a glide: five verbs with the thematic suffix ‐o‐, which can be illustrated by the verb kolótj ‘to stab’, and some 100 verbs with the thematic suffix ‐a‐, which can be illustrated by the verb pisátj ‘to write’. To explain how [o]…
Construire sur les décombres de Babel
This volume explores the unity of linguistic diversity in ‘Babel’s rubble’ in the Generative framework, covering a wide range of topics in the various levels of linguistic analysis, with a particular focus on Georgian and Kartvelian languages. The volume groups papers exploring the unity of linguistic diversity (‘Babel’s rubble’) in the Generative framework. While its empirical contribution ranges from morphology to semantics, the theoretical thr…
Intersecting location and possession
The focus of this paper is the possessive relation arising in several configurations between the complement of a locative preposition (u'at/by' andk(o)'towards' in Russian,bij'by' in Dutch andla'to/at' in Romanian, henceforth,u-preposition, heading au-PP) and another NP in the same clause. I will show thatu-PPs can introduce a number of distinct possessive relations in function of the syntactic context and that languages differ subtly in the matt…
Against the PredP Theory of Small Clauses
Since Bowers 1993 , it has been accepted that nonverbal small clauses are headed by a functional head, Pred0, whose function is to obligatorily mediate all nonverbal predication. I argue against this hypothesis by critically reanalyzing the original syntactic arguments for PredP, examining possible semantic support for mediated predication, and reviewing the putative crosslinguistic evidence for overt equivalence of Pred0. I first demonstrate tha…
Mistaking For
This article investigates the validity of the theory of mediated predication by examining one of the proposed overt realizations of Pred0. Taking the law of parsimony as our starting position and using evidence from English, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian, we argue that the element that looks like the preposition 'for' is, in fact, a preposition (not Pred0), and we show how it explains the syntax and the semantics of the relevant 'for' sequences. Ca…
Adjectives
On the linguistic complexity of proper names
While proper names in argument positions have received a lot of attention, this cannot be said about proper names in the naming construction, as in “Call me Al”. I argue that in a number of more or less familiar languages the syntax of naming constructions is such that proper names there have to be analyzed as predicates, whose content mentions the name itself (cf. “quotation theories”). If proper names can enter syntax as predicates, then in arg…
On the Attributive Nature of Superlatives
The standard view of superlatives treats them as a subkind of adjectives. However, in many languages, superlatives require the presence of a determiner, even in the predicate position. This leads to an apparent contradiction, since it is independently known that determiners syntactically combine with extended NP projections and are excluded with APs. This issue is resolved if superlative adjectives always appear in an attributive (modificational)…
Predication and escape hatches in Phase Extension Theory
1. Introduction The main proposal of den Dikken's paper consists of two elegant assumptions, which propose to derive phase theory in a dynamic way and to explain a number of extraction constraints. The first assumption is that a projection immediately containing a predication (i.e., a subject and its predicate) is a phase inherently. The second assumption is that a phase is extended to the maximal projection that its head moves to
The Composition of Complex Cardinals
International audience
Head Movement in Linguistic Theory
In this article, I address the issue of head movement in current linguistic theory. I propose a new view of the nature of heads and head movement that reveals that head movement is totally compliant with the standardly suggested properties of grammar. To do so, I suggest that head movement is not a single syntactic operation, but a combination of two operations: a syntactic one (movement) and a morphological one (m-merger). I then provide indepen…
The Morphophonology of Russian Adjectival Inflection
In this article, we present the morphosyntactic structure underlying the Russian adjectival declension and the phonological rules that apply to it to derive the surface representations. We describe the two declension classes of Russian adjectives and argue that adjectives and nouns employ the same theme suffixes (-oj- and -o-) and, importantly, that choice of theme suffix also determines choice of Case exponents. On this view, there is no special…
Tipping the Scales
This paper argues for a syntactic and semantic distinction between the verb seem that takes propositional complements (i.e., CP and IP) and the verb seem that takes nonpropositional complements. The latter takes a smaller sized complement (in terms of the presence of functional structure), has a perceptual rather than epistemic interpretation, and imposes a scalarity-related restriction on its complement, which will be formalized as a selectional…
Head Movement in Linguistic Theory
In this article, I address the issue of head movement in current linguistic theory. I propose a new view of the nature of heads and head movement that reveals that head movement is totally compliant with the standardly suggested properties of grammar. To do so, I suggest that head movement is not a single syntactic operation, but a combination of two operations: a syntactic one (movement) and a morphological one (m-merger). I then provide indepen…
The Morphophonology of Russian Adjectival Inflection
In this article, we present the morphosyntactic structure underlying the Russian adjectival declension and the phonological rules that apply to it to derive the surface representations. We describe the two declension classes of Russian adjectives and argue that adjectives and nouns employ the same theme suffixes (-oj- and -o-) and, importantly, that choice of theme suffix also determines choice of Case exponents. On this view, there is no special…
Tipping the Scales
This paper argues for a syntactic and semantic distinction between the verb seem that takes propositional complements (i.e., CP and IP) and the verb seem that takes nonpropositional complements. The latter takes a smaller sized complement (in terms of the presence of functional structure), has a perceptual rather than epistemic interpretation, and imposes a scalarity-related restriction on its complement, which will be formalized as a selectional…
Against the PredP Theory of Small Clauses
Since Bowers 1993 , it has been accepted that nonverbal small clauses are headed by a functional head, Pred0, whose function is to obligatorily mediate all nonverbal predication. I argue against this hypothesis by critically reanalyzing the original syntactic arguments for PredP, examining possible semantic support for mediated predication, and reviewing the putative crosslinguistic evidence for overt equivalence of Pred0. I first demonstrate tha…
On the Attributive Nature of Superlatives
The standard view of superlatives treats them as a subkind of adjectives. However, in many languages, superlatives require the presence of a determiner, even in the predicate position. This leads to an apparent contradiction, since it is independently known that determiners syntactically combine with extended NP projections and are excluded with APs. This issue is resolved if superlative adjectives always appear in an attributive (modificational)…
Mistaking For
This article investigates the validity of the theory of mediated predication by examining one of the proposed overt realizations of Pred0. Taking the law of parsimony as our starting position and using evidence from English, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian, we argue that the element that looks like the preposition 'for' is, in fact, a preposition (not Pred0), and we show how it explains the syntax and the semantics of the relevant 'for' sequences. Ca…
Tipping the Scales
This paper argues for a syntactic and semantic distinction between the verb seem that takes propositional complements (i.e., CP and IP) and the verb seem that takes nonpropositional complements. The latter takes a smaller sized complement (in terms of the presence of functional structure), has a perceptual rather than epistemic interpretation, and imposes a scalarity-related restriction on its complement, which will be formalized as a selectional…
The Composition of Complex Cardinals
International audience
Head Movement in Linguistic Theory
In this article, I address the issue of head movement in current linguistic theory. I propose a new view of the nature of heads and head movement that reveals that head movement is totally compliant with the standardly suggested properties of grammar. To do so, I suggest that head movement is not a single syntactic operation, but a combination of two operations: a syntactic one (movement) and a morphological one (m-merger). I then provide indepen…
The Morphophonology of Russian Adjectival Inflection
In this article, we present the morphosyntactic structure underlying the Russian adjectival declension and the phonological rules that apply to it to derive the surface representations. We describe the two declension classes of Russian adjectives and argue that adjectives and nouns employ the same theme suffixes (-oj- and -o-) and, importantly, that choice of theme suffix also determines choice of Case exponents. On this view, there is no special…
Predication and escape hatches in Phase Extension Theory
1. Introduction The main proposal of den Dikken's paper consists of two elegant assumptions, which propose to derive phase theory in a dynamic way and to explain a number of extraction constraints. The first assumption is that a projection immediately containing a predication (i.e., a subject and its predicate) is a phase inherently. The second assumption is that a phase is extended to the maximal projection that its head moves to
On the linguistic complexity of proper names
While proper names in argument positions have received a lot of attention, this cannot be said about proper names in the naming construction, as in “Call me Al”. I argue that in a number of more or less familiar languages the syntax of naming constructions is such that proper names there have to be analyzed as predicates, whose content mentions the name itself (cf. “quotation theories”). If proper names can enter syntax as predicates, then in arg…
On the Attributive Nature of Superlatives
The standard view of superlatives treats them as a subkind of adjectives. However, in many languages, superlatives require the presence of a determiner, even in the predicate position. This leads to an apparent contradiction, since it is independently known that determiners syntactically combine with extended NP projections and are excluded with APs. This issue is resolved if superlative adjectives always appear in an attributive (modificational)…
Adjectives
Mistaking For
This article investigates the validity of the theory of mediated predication by examining one of the proposed overt realizations of Pred0. Taking the law of parsimony as our starting position and using evidence from English, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian, we argue that the element that looks like the preposition 'for' is, in fact, a preposition (not Pred0), and we show how it explains the syntax and the semantics of the relevant 'for' sequences. Ca…
Against the PredP Theory of Small Clauses
Since Bowers 1993 , it has been accepted that nonverbal small clauses are headed by a functional head, Pred0, whose function is to obligatorily mediate all nonverbal predication. I argue against this hypothesis by critically reanalyzing the original syntactic arguments for PredP, examining possible semantic support for mediated predication, and reviewing the putative crosslinguistic evidence for overt equivalence of Pred0. I first demonstrate tha…
Intersecting location and possession
The focus of this paper is the possessive relation arising in several configurations between the complement of a locative preposition (u'at/by' andk(o)'towards' in Russian,bij'by' in Dutch andla'to/at' in Romanian, henceforth,u-preposition, heading au-PP) and another NP in the same clause. I will show thatu-PPs can introduce a number of distinct possessive relations in function of the syntactic context and that languages differ subtly in the matt…
Construire sur les décombres de Babel
This volume explores the unity of linguistic diversity in ‘Babel’s rubble’ in the Generative framework, covering a wide range of topics in the various levels of linguistic analysis, with a particular focus on Georgian and Kartvelian languages. The volume groups papers exploring the unity of linguistic diversity (‘Babel’s rubble’) in the Generative framework. While its empirical contribution ranges from morphology to semantics, the theoretical thr…
Ablaut and transitive softening in the Russian verb
Transitive softening in Russian is a type of consonant mutation resulting from an underlying [CjV] cluster. There exist two closed classes of verbs where it occurs in the present tense in the absence of a clear source for a glide: five verbs with the thematic suffix ‐o‐, which can be illustrated by the verb kolótj ‘to stab’, and some 100 verbs with the thematic suffix ‐a‐, which can be illustrated by the verb pisátj ‘to write’. To explain how [o]…
On the Constituent Structure of Augmented Plurals in Russian
This article examines augmented plurals in Russian, mostly focusing on those in -ĭj- (e.g., pero/perjja ‘feather.sg/pl’). The accentual behavior of -ĭj-plurals is sensitive to animacy: while inanimates show stem-final stress, animates appear with inflectional stress. This is explained by different constituent structures: while for inanimates, -ĭj- combines with the stem, animate stems require complex suffix formation so as to not create neuter an…
Linguistics (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (11 works) · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis (5 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Syntax (5 works) · Natural Language Processing Techniques (4 works) · Noun (4 works) · Locative case (3 works)