Research group The Syntax Network is a research group with researchers from Lund University, Gothenburg University, Linköping University and Umeå University. Within the frame of Generative Grammar, we carry out typologically oriented syntactic research on Greenlandic, Japanese, Chinese, Formosan languages, Mon-Khmer language, Balkan languages and Saami languages.
Our research involves strategies of reference tracking in a number of diverse languages, many of which have not been subject to closer investigation. Phenomena of interest include pro-drop, logophoricity and LD reflexives, switch-reference and agreement patterns, NP ellipsis, clitics, and control configurations.
It is for instance known that the distribution of long distance reflexives and logophoric pronouns intersect in interesting ways. However, there are significant differences between the two. To this extent, the Syntax Network investigates LD reflexives in Mon-Khmer and logophoricity in South Saami in particular, in order to incorporate them in a general theory of long distance relations.
Research on Formosan languages and Greenlandic will also provide insights into strategies for reference-tracking in these languages, which will contribute to deeper insights of the interplay between syntax and information structure. Our research also addresses questions concerning null arguments and distinctions between pro/PRO and elided DPs in e.g. Balkan and East Asian languages.
