CRISSP C&A Seminar: Anna Grabovac

Lecturer: Anna Grabovac (University of Pennsylvania)

Title: Disagreement in concord

Date & time: Friday 13 February 2026, 15.30-17.00 CET

Location: Zoom

Abstract

Concord (agreement within the nominal domain) has often been analyzed using the same machinery as argument– predicate agreement. In minimalist work, analyses typically center around the Agree operation. At the same time, it has been recognized that early versions of Agree (Chomsky 2000, 2001) do not straightforwardly derive basic concord patterns. These observations have led recent accounts of concord to develop along two lines: (i) proposals that enrich Agree to accommodate concord, and (ii) proposals that treat concord as distinct from other agreement phenomena. This talk compares these strategies. I highlight the different predictions each approach makes, drawing on both simple concord patterns and more complex examples. Without taking a strong stance for either side, I argue that we can develop more efficient models of concord and agreement by consolidating the scope of the Agree operation and its variations. Single-mechanism accounts should clarify where proposed revisions to Agree converge or conflict with versions of the operation used to analyze other forms of agreement; dual mechanism accounts should examine how the concord mechanism interacts with Agree, and whether these interactions can be leveraged to simplify the grammar.