Ksenia Ershova
Biographic Data
| ID | 778831 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ksenia Ershova |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ksenia |
| FAMILY NAME | Ershova |
| SIGNATURE | ERSHOVA K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2202-1705 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 6 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 6 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
West Circassian lessons on phase theory
This paper explores the connection between the opacity of phases and their status as spellout domains. Based on evidence from West Circassian, I argue that while a subset of phases are salient prosodic domains, syntactic opacity is not a consequence of transfer to PF, but of standard conditions on locality. Furthermore, the relation between phasehood and prosodic constituency holds only partially: some phases are not salient prosodic domains. Wes…
Phasehood as defective intervention
Ā-extraction of possessors in West Circassian is constrained in a puzzling way: the possessor of an ergative or applied argument DP may not undergo clausebound wh-movement, but long-distance possessor extraction across a clausal boundary is grammatical. Based on the variable islandhood of these DPs, this paper argues for an agree-based approach to phasehood. Phase opacity is treated as intervention defective intervention, with the phase interveni…
Syntactic ergativity and the theory of subjecthood
This article examines the role of subjecthood in the domain of anaphoric binding through the lens of West Circassian, a Northwest Caucasian language with ergative alignment. West Circassian reflexives and reciprocals display a puzzling mismatch in binding directionality with transitive ergative-absolutive predicates. Reflexives treat the ergative agent as the structurally higher argument, with the bound pronoun appearing in the position of the ab…
Diagnosing Clause Structure in a Polysynthetic Language
This article identifies and tests a novel diagnostic for clause structure in West Circassian, a polysynthetic language with ergative alignment. The diagnostic concerns an unusual construction involving multiple wh-agreement in relative clauses. I argue that wh-agreement morphology uniformly tracks agreement with a wh-trace, and sentences with more than one instance of wh-agreement are surface manifestations of a parasitic gap dependency. Once mul…
Two paths to polysynthesis
Unaccusativity and the syntax of imperatives in East Circassian
This paper presents novel evidence for the syntactic distinction between unergative and unaccusative verbs in East Circassian (or Kabardian. The evidence concerns a particular strategy of forming imperatives -- simultaneous causativization and reflexivization -- which is only applicable to unaccusative predicates. I argue that this type of imperative involves the promotion of the internal argument to the a higher position through the use of the c…
Syntactic ergativity and the theory of subjecthood
This article examines the role of subjecthood in the domain of anaphoric binding through the lens of West Circassian, a Northwest Caucasian language with ergative alignment. West Circassian reflexives and reciprocals display a puzzling mismatch in binding directionality with transitive ergative-absolutive predicates. Reflexives treat the ergative agent as the structurally higher argument, with the bound pronoun appearing in the position of the ab…
Phasehood as defective intervention
Ā-extraction of possessors in West Circassian is constrained in a puzzling way: the possessor of an ergative or applied argument DP may not undergo clausebound wh-movement, but long-distance possessor extraction across a clausal boundary is grammatical. Based on the variable islandhood of these DPs, this paper argues for an agree-based approach to phasehood. Phase opacity is treated as intervention defective intervention, with the phase interveni…
Unaccusativity and the syntax of imperatives in East Circassian
This paper presents novel evidence for the syntactic distinction between unergative and unaccusative verbs in East Circassian (or Kabardian. The evidence concerns a particular strategy of forming imperatives -- simultaneous causativization and reflexivization -- which is only applicable to unaccusative predicates. I argue that this type of imperative involves the promotion of the internal argument to the a higher position through the use of the c…
Two paths to polysynthesis
Diagnosing Clause Structure in a Polysynthetic Language
This article identifies and tests a novel diagnostic for clause structure in West Circassian, a polysynthetic language with ergative alignment. The diagnostic concerns an unusual construction involving multiple wh-agreement in relative clauses. I argue that wh-agreement morphology uniformly tracks agreement with a wh-trace, and sentences with more than one instance of wh-agreement are surface manifestations of a parasitic gap dependency. Once mul…
Syntactic ergativity and the theory of subjecthood
This article examines the role of subjecthood in the domain of anaphoric binding through the lens of West Circassian, a Northwest Caucasian language with ergative alignment. West Circassian reflexives and reciprocals display a puzzling mismatch in binding directionality with transitive ergative-absolutive predicates. Reflexives treat the ergative agent as the structurally higher argument, with the bound pronoun appearing in the position of the ab…
Phasehood as defective intervention
Ā-extraction of possessors in West Circassian is constrained in a puzzling way: the possessor of an ergative or applied argument DP may not undergo clausebound wh-movement, but long-distance possessor extraction across a clausal boundary is grammatical. Based on the variable islandhood of these DPs, this paper argues for an agree-based approach to phasehood. Phase opacity is treated as intervention defective intervention, with the phase interveni…
West Circassian lessons on phase theory
This paper explores the connection between the opacity of phases and their status as spellout domains. Based on evidence from West Circassian, I argue that while a subset of phases are salient prosodic domains, syntactic opacity is not a consequence of transfer to PF, but of standard conditions on locality. Furthermore, the relation between phasehood and prosodic constituency holds only partially: some phases are not salient prosodic domains. Wes…
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (6 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Linguistics (4 works) · Linguistics and language evolution (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (3 works) · Argument (complex analysis) (2 works) · Ergative case (2 works) · History (2 works) · Mathematics (2 works)