Humans are designed to detect symmetry. In fact, this notion may be defined in distinct domains: the physical world, art, mathematical structures and codes of communications. Certainly, there can be symmetries in the structure of human language in different modules of grammar, such as semantics and phonology. Can there be symmetry in syntax? By relying…

The 1st meeting of the Reading the classics reading group will take place on the 5th of February on MSTeams. We will be reading and discussing: On So-Called “Pronouns” in English, by  Paul Postal (1966). Reading the classics meets once a month, the 1st Thursday of the month, at 3pm CET, to read one of…

Speaker: Luigi Rizzi Time/place: February 20, 2026 / 12:00 pm (EST) Title: Locality: History and Current Ideas abstract

Speaker: Chris Collins (NYU) Title: A Merge-Based Approach to Argument Structure Time/Location: 4-5 pm CET, Ms Teams Abstract This talk outlines the Merge-based approach to argument structure developed in Collins 2024 (updating, defending and extending Collins 2005). The predictions of the Merge-based theory of implicit arguments will be compared to the predictions made by non-Merge…

Syntax Lab: TODAY Speakers: Kari Kinn (Bergen) & Mike Putnam (Penn State) Title: Free and light-headed relative clauses in North American Norwegian Time: 5-7 pm Place: English Faculty, G-R05 Cambridge, UK and here (hybrid)

Tomorrow ​(25th November)! at 2-3pm, Alberto Frasson (University of Wroclaw) will be giving a talk entitled, The diachrony of progressives in Venetan: a syntactic analysis Abstract: This talk investigates the historical development of the progressive construction in Venetan, focusing on the syntax and grammaticalization of the prepositional construction drio (“behind”) + infinitive. The study traces the evolution of this construction…

Chomsky’s Minimalist Program turns 30 this year! Here, some key figures in the development of this research framework share their reflections. You can watch Željko Bošković, Norbert Hornstein, Jairo Nunes, and Juan Uriagereka, moderated by Cilene Rodrigues and Marcelo Sibaldo, at this link.