Edward L Keenan

Biographic Data

ID401656
NAMEEdward L Keenan
GIVEN NAMESEdward L
FAMILY NAMEKeenan
SIGNATUREKEENAN E L
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of California, Los Angeles
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS50
TOTAL CITATIONS107
AUTHOR COUNT48
EDITOR COUNT2
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1968
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX6

  • Towards a Universal Definition of “Subject”

    Edward L KeenanCHAPTERSubject and Topic2026

    In this paper I will attempt to provide a definition of the notion “subject of” which will enable us to identify the subject phrase(s), if any, of any sentence in any language.

  • Remarkable Subjects in Malagasy

    Edward L KeenanCHAPTERSubject and Topic2026

    The primary purpose of this paper is to exhibit a language, Malagasy (a Malayo-Polynesian language, spoken by c. 7 million people in various dialects throughout Madagascar) which is highly subject prominent in the sense that very many of the syntactic processes of the language distinguish subject from non-subject NPs.

  • The Logical Structure of English Quantifiers

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLEPhilosophies2026

    We characterize semantically quantified subjects, type (et,t), in English and show that the Boolean closure of the generalized existential and universal quantifiers is exactly the conservative ones. We prove that all subjects are expressible as Boolean functions of Montagovian individuals and that all mathematically extend to objects, type (eet,et). But quantified objects also include many functions that are not subject extensions, contrary to us…

  • Linguistic Encounters: A Scholar's Journey

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLEAnnual Review of Linguistics2024References: 2

    I sketch my zigzag path from premed biology major (1955) to PhD in linguistics (1969) to professor of linguistics at UCLA (1974–). This history may seem quaint in days of fieldwork by storyboards and Zoom. I describe encounters with language which pinballed me into linguistics: 1960–1962 as a student in Paris and summers as an interpreter with the US Department of State. Then mathematical logic (linguistics plus precision) at the University of Pe…

  • Studies in Discourse Representation Theory and the Theory of Generalized Quantifiers

    Johan Van Benthem, Edward L Keenan et al.BOOKStudies in Discourse Representation…2021

  • Determiners, Conservativity, Witnesses

    Kai Von Fintel, Edward L KeenanARTICLEJournal of Semantics2018

    A cherished semantic universal is that determiners are conservative (Barwise & Cooper 1981; Keenan & Stavi 1986). Well-known problem cases are only (if it has determiner uses) and certain uses of proportional determiners like many (Westerståhl 1985). Fortuny (2017), in a retracted contribution to this journal, proposed a new constraint (the Witness Set Constraint) to replace Conservativity. He claimed that his constraint is satisfied by only and …

  • Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language: Volume II

    Open AccessDenis Paperno, Edward L KeenanBOOKStudies in Linguistics and…2017

  • The Tsar’s Two Bodies

    Edward L Keenan, Russell E MartinARTICLECanadian-American Slavic Studies2017

    Originally delivered as a lecture at Columbia University in the fall of 1974, this classic text has circulated among Professor Edward L. Keenan’s students and colleagues for decades, but has never been published. The lecture draws upon the author’s textual work, including his then recently published book challenging the provenance of the Correspondence attributed to Tsar Ivan IV and Prince Andrei Kurbskii, to explore how his conclusions about thi…

  • The Austronesian languages by Robert Blust

    Open AccessEdward L Keenan, Sandra ChungARTICLELanguage2017Cited by: 1

    We review The Austronesian languages , by Robert Blust, with particular attention to how some of Blust's generalizations about the phonology and morphology of Austronesian languages play out in Malagasy and Chamorro

  • In Situ Interpretation without Type Mismatches

    Edward L KeenanARTICLEJournal of Semantics2014

    We show how to interpret quantified arguments of predicates in situ , avoiding recourse to LF movement or Geach division. Two merits of this approach are as follows: one, it enables an account of the naturalness of object narrow scope readings over object wide scope ones. And two, it enables us to characterize object DP interpretations which mathematically extend far beyond those available for subject DPs, specifically nominal and predicate anaph…

  • Universal Grammar (RLE Linguistics A): General Linguistics

    Edward L KeenanBOOKUniversal Grammar (RLE…2014

    This chapter, originally published in 1983, examines the interaction of topic and subject within a universal grammar framework. Keenan argues for a characterization of subject independent of topic, proposing a set of subject properties that hold across languages. He explores the relationship between grammatical relations (subject, object) and discourse functions (topic, focus), demonstrating that while subjects are often topics, they are not univ…

  • Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language

    Edward Keenan, Edward L Keenan et al.BOOKHandbook of Quantifiers in…2012

  • Remembering André Mazon

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLERevue des études slaves2011

    Évocation d’André Mazon Le professeur Keenan, qui ne semble pas avoir rencontré personnellement le professeur Mazon, reprend pourtant à son compte l’idée que le Slovo est une fabrication du XVIIIe ou du XIXe siècle (lire son texte Josef Dobrovský and the Origins of the Igor’ Tale, Harvard, 2003). Il évoque également l’opinion exprimée sur ce sujet par Roman Jakobson, N. S. Troubetzkoy, George Vernadsky et Edmund Wilson. Le professeur Keenan propo…

  • Ivan the Terrible and His Women

    Edward L Keenan, Edward KeenanARTICLERussian History2010

    This article presents the text of two lectures delivered by the author in the Kathryn W. Davis Lecture Series at Wellesley College on January 31 and February 21, 1980. In the first lecture, the author describes the “grammar” of the Muscovite political system, which was established after the Muscovite dynasty's victory over its rivals (and relatives) in the civil wars of the mid-fifteenth century and which established succession by primogeniture i…

  • Language variation and linguistic invariants

    Open AccessEdward L Keenan, Edward P StablerARTICLELingua2010Cited by: 3References: 8

  • Existential sentences in Tagalog: Commentary on the paper by Joseph Sabbagh

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLENatural Language and Linguistic…2009Cited by: 1References: 3

  • The definiteness of subjects and objects in Malagasy

    Edward L KeenanCHAPTERCase and grammatical relations2008

    We evaluate, for Malagasy (W. Austronesian; Madagascar), a standard observation regarding the distribution and marking of (in)definites in subject and in object position. Bare nouns naturally constitute direct objects (DOs) with an indefinite interpretation. But definite DOs are also natural, and some are marked with a preposition which also has a locative function (cf Roumanian, Spanish). Bare Ns do not occur as subjects, whereas inherently defi…

  • Voice and relativization without movement in Malagasy

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLENatural Language and Linguistic…2008Cited by: 3References: 24

  • Passive in the world's languages

    Open AccessEdward L Keenan, Matthew S DryerCHAPTERLanguage Typology and Syntactic…2007

  • Russian Title

    Edward L Keenan, Dumbarton OaksARTICLERussian History2007

  • Malagasy clause structure and language acquisition

    Open AccessEdward L Keenan, Cecile ManorohantaARTICLEZAS Papers in Linguistics2004

    We argue that Malagasy (and related W. Austronesian languages!) has a positive setting for a macro-parameter RICH VOICE MORPHOLOGY which builds complex predicates that code the theta role of their argument: S = [[PreN(6) + (X)] + DP]. Manifestations of this parameter are: (1) Case and theta role are assigned in situ in nuclear clauses with no movement or co-indexing to a topic position. (2) Relative Clauses (and other "extraction" structures) sat…

  • The Definiteness Effect: Semantics or Pragmatics

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLENatural Language Semantics2003Cited by: 6References: 10

  • A Quantitative Study of Voice in Malagasy

    Edward L Keenan, Cecile ManorohantaARTICLEOceanic Linguistics2001

    A Quantitative Study of Voice in Malagasy1 Edward L. Keenan and Cécile Manorohanta Abstract This paper is a quantitative study of the voice system in Malagasy (a Western Austronesian language spoken on Madagascar). We show that nonactive verbs in Malagasy have a very different distribution in texts than nonactive verbs in English, German, and Dutch: they occur far more frequently and they typically present Agent phrases. This we claim reflects th…

  • Iakov Solomonovich Lur'e, 1921-1996

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLESlavic Review1996

    An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button

  • Identifying Anaphors

    Open AccessEdward L KeenanARTICLEProceedings of the Annual Meeting…1993

    Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Semantic Typology and Semantic Universals (1993)