P03 – Mismatches in Binding and Coreference
Project description
Project P03 investigates two empirical domains: fake indexicals and other bound pronouns, and unbound pronouns exhibiting covariance. It examines their morphological, syntactic, and semantic properties within a model where syntax mediates between LF and PF by transferring features exhaustively or redundantly. Fake indexicals are analyzed as involving an R operation from syntax to LF, whereas unbound pronouns involve an R operation from syntax to PF. The phenomena thus form mirror images within the CRC’s R/D framework.
The project examines pronoun structure, feature distribution across grammar, mismatches between components, and possible feature sources. It tests two hypotheses: fake indexicals are syntactically bound through the genuine indexical via focus binding, while unbound pronouns are definite noun phrases that undergo ellipsis.
P03 aims to formalize redundancy/deficiency mechanisms and includes a detailed study of fake indexicals in Romance and Slavic languages. Its broad empirical and theoretical scope supports collaboration with most other CRC subprojects.
Team
Susanne Wurmbrand
Principal Investigator
University of Salzburg
Susi Wurmbrand previously held academic positions at McGill University, the University of Connecticut, and Harvard University before becoming Professor of Linguistics at the University of Salzburg. Her research focuses on theoretical syntax and its interfaces. Read more
Franziska Keller
PhD Student
University of Salzburg
Franziska Keller holds a BSc in General Theoretical Linguistics from the University of Potsdam and an MA in General Linguistics from the University of Vienna. Her research focuses on binding phenomena and fake indexicals, alongside the morphology–syntax interface, root-and-pattern morphology, Arabic languages, resumptive pronouns, and syntactic movement. Read more
Filipe Hisao de Salles Kobayashi
Postdoc Researcher
University of Salzburg
Cluster membership
Output
Publications
2026
Kovač, I., Shannon, B., & Wurmbrand, S. (2026). Restructuring: lexical, functional, radical. In I. Paul & L. Travis (Eds.), Exploring Voice Restructuring in Austronesian languages. Language Science Press.
author={Kovač, I. and Shannon, B. and Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Restructuring: lexical, functional, radical},
year={2026},
place={Berlin},
series={Open Generative Syntax},
booktitle={Exploring Voice Restructuring in Austronesian languages},
publisher={Language Science Press},
editor={Paul, I. and Travis, L.},
collection={Open Generative Syntax} }
2025
Onea, E., Kobayashi, F. H., & Wurmbrand, S. (2025). No. Italian Journal of Linguistics, 37(1), 119–130.
author={Onea, E. and Kobayashi, F. H. and Wurmbrand, S.},
title={No},
year={2025},
volume={37},
ISSN={1120-2726},
number={1},
journal={Italian Journal of Linguistics},
publisher={Pacini Editore SpA},
pages={119–130} }
2024
Elliott, P., & Kobayashi, F. H. (2024). Ignorance under attitudes. Proceedings of the 24th Amsterdam Colloquium.
author={Elliott, P. and Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={Ignorance under attitudes},
year={2024},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 24th Amsterdam Colloquium} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2024). The size of clausal complements. Annual Review of Linguistics, 10, 59–83.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={The size of clausal complements},
year={2024},
volume={10},
journal={Annual Review of Linguistics},
pages={59–83} }
Talks
2026
Keller, F. (2026). Fake resumptive pronouns in Jordanian Arabic relative clauses [Poster]. ConSOLE 34, Pavia, Italy.
author={Keller, F.},
title={Fake resumptive pronouns in Jordanian Arabic relative clauses},
year={2026},
eventtitle={ConSOLE 34},
venue={Pavia, Italy} }
Keller, F. (2026). How the middle form takes over the passive function - a comparison of Modern Greek and Jordanian Arabic. Workshop “Affixation in Afroasiatic III
author={Keller, F.},
title={How the middle form takes over the passive function - a comparison of Modern Greek and Jordanian Arabic},
year={2026},
eventtitle={Workshop “Affixation in Afroasiatic III”},
venue={Princeton} }“
Keller, F. (2026). Allosemy and verb form II in Jordanian Arabic. In Workshop “The New Arabic (Semitic) Lexicon II”. SLE 59, Osnabrück.
author={Keller, F.},
title={Allosemy and verb form II in Jordanian Arabic},
year={2026},
eventtitle={SLE 59},
venue={Osnabrück},
journal={Workshop “The New Arabic (Semitic) Lexicon II”} }
Kobayashi, F. H. (2026). Generalizing von Stechow’s problem [Invited talk].
author={Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={Generalizing von Stechow’s problem},
year={2026},
venue={Georg-August University Göttingen} }
Riedl, A. (2026). Restrictions on Slovenian clitic-stranding ellipsis. In Workshop “Cliticization in Slavic and beyond”. SinFonIJA 19, Graz.
author={Riedl, A.},
title={Restrictions on Slovenian clitic-stranding ellipsis.},
year={2026},
eventtitle={SinFonIJA 19},
venue={Graz},
journal={Workshop “Cliticization in Slavic and beyond”} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2026). PF and LF—The mapping Syntax to Phonology and Semantics as functions [Plenary talk]. Incontro di Grammatica Generativa (IGG51), Udine, Italy.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={PF and LF—The mapping Syntax to Phonology and Semantics as functions},
year={2026},
eventtitle={Incontro di Grammatica Generativa (IGG51)},
venue={Udine, Italy} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2026). Questions and thoughts about LF from a syntax−first perspective. [Invited talk]. Fox Fest, Cambridge.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Questions and thoughts about LF from a syntax−first perspective.},
year={2026},
month={Sept},
eventtitle={Fox Fest},
venue={Cambridge} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2026). tense TENSE TENSE: morphological, SYNTACTIC, and SEMANTIC aspects of Tense [Invited talk]. 15th Workshop on Formal Linguistics, Minas Gerais, Brasil (online).
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={tense TENSE TENSE: morphological, SYNTACTIC, and SEMANTIC aspects of Tense},
year={2026},
eventtitle={15th Workshop on Formal Linguistics},
venue={Minas Gerais, Brasil (online)} }
2025
Keller, F. (2025). Locality determines pattern selection. In Workshop “Exploring variation: form-meaning interfaces across semitic varieties and beyond”. Langues et langages à la croisée des disciplines 2, Lille.
author={Keller, F.},
title={Locality determines pattern selection},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Langues et langages à la croisée des disciplines 2},
venue={Lille},
journal={Workshop “Exploring variation: form-meaning interfaces across semitic varieties and beyond”} }
Kobayashi, F. H. (2025). Building individual concepts structurally. Ontology As Structured by the Interfaces with Semantics 5.
author={Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={Building individual concepts structurally},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Ontology As Structured by the Interfaces with Semantics 5} }
Kobayashi, F. H. (2025). From NPs to predicates of individual concepts. Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 35.
author={Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={From NPs to predicates of individual concepts},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 35} }
Kobayashi, F. H., Gardner, C., Keller, F., Riedl, A., & Wurmbrand, S. (2025). Fake indexicals in relative clauses: a new syntactic constraint [Poster]. 56th North East Linguistic Society Annual Meeting (NELS 56), New York.
author={Kobayashi, F. H. and Gardner, C. and Keller, F. and Riedl, A. and Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Fake indexicals in relative clauses: a new syntactic constraint},
year={2025},
eventtitle={56th North East Linguistic Society Annual Meeting (NELS 56)},
venue={New York} }
Shannon, B., Kovač, I., & Wurmbrand, S. (2025). Argument sharing as a syntactic dependency. In Workshop “Verbal complex predicates in a theoretical and cross-linguistic perspective”. DGfS, Mainz.
author={Shannon, B. and Kovač, I. and Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Argument sharing as a syntactic dependency},
year={2025},
eventtitle={DGfS},
venue={Mainz},
journal={Workshop “Verbal complex predicates in a theoretical and cross-linguistic perspective”} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2025). A syntactic model of Tense and Aspect—a case study of English [Invited talk]. Colloquium, Hungarian Research Center for Linguistics, Budapest.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={A syntactic model of Tense and Aspect—a case study of English},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Colloquium},
venue={Hungarian Research Center for Linguistics, Budapest} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2025). Finite and non-finite tense dependencies—from syntax to the interfaces [Invited talk]. Colloquium, Potsdam University.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Finite and non-finite tense dependencies—from syntax to the interfaces},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Colloquium},
venue={Potsdam University} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2025). Syntax as a function—a Redundancy and Deficiency approach to Grammar within linguistic behavior [Plenary talk]. Generative Linguistics in Poland 2025, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Syntax as a function—a Redundancy and Deficiency approach to Grammar within linguistic behavior},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Generative Linguistics in Poland 2025},
venue={Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2025). The mapping of syntax to PF and LF—A redundancy and deficiency approach: Syntactic model of Tense and Aspect [Keynote lecture]. SICOGG 27, Seoul.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={The mapping of syntax to PF and LF—A redundancy and deficiency approach: Syntactic model of Tense and Aspect},
year={2025},
eventtitle={SICOGG 27},
venue={Seoul} }
Wurmbrand, S., Kobayashi, F. H., Gardner, C., Keller, F., & Riedl, A. (2025). Fake indexicals in relative clauses [Plenary talk]. 25th Annual International Conference (AICED 25), Bucharest.
author={Wurmbrand, S. and Kobayashi, F. H. and Gardner, C. and Keller, F. and Riedl, A.},
title={Fake indexicals in relative clauses},
year={2025},
eventtitle={25th Annual International Conference (AICED 25)},
venue={Bucharest} }
Wurmbrand, S., Kobayashi, F. H., Gardner, C., Keller, F., & Riedl, A. (2025). The Morphosyntax of Fake Indexicals [Invited talk]. Workshop on Indexicality, Geneva.
author={Wurmbrand, S. and Kobayashi, F. H. and Gardner, C. and Keller, F. and Riedl, A.},
title={The Morphosyntax of Fake Indexicals},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Workshop on Indexicality},
venue={Geneva} }
2024
Elliott, P., & Kobayashi, F. H. (2024). Ignorance under attitudes [Poster]. Amsterdam Colloquium.
author={Elliott, P. and Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={Ignorance under attitudes},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Amsterdam Colloquium} }
Keller, F. (2024). Resolving the Broken Plural Puzzle. In Workshop “Current issues in syntax, semantics and pragmatics”. ÖLT 48, Innsbruck.
author={Keller, F.},
title={Resolving the Broken Plural Puzzle},
year={2024},
eventtitle={ÖLT 48},
venue={Innsbruck},
journal={Workshop “Current issues in syntax, semantics and pragmatics”} }
Kobayashi, F. H. (2024). Interpreting NPs as predicates of individual concepts [Invited talk].
author={Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={Interpreting NPs as predicates of individual concepts},
year={2024},
venue={Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft} }
Kobayashi, F. H. (2024). Quantification uncovered [Invited talk]. Meaning in Language colloquium, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
author={Kobayashi, F. H.},
title={Quantification uncovered},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Meaning in Language colloquium},
venue={Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2024). A syntactic approach to tense in complementation and beyond [Invited talk]. Fourth International Conference on Adverbial Clauses: Adverbial Clauses in Argument Positions, Berlin.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={A syntactic approach to tense in complementation and beyond},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Fourth International Conference on Adverbial Clauses: Adverbial Clauses in Argument Positions},
venue={Berlin} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2024). Commentator on the panel Theoretical approaches to variation [Invited talk]. Workshop on Comparative Syntax, Leiden/Bielefeld.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Commentator on the panel Theoretical approaches to variation},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Workshop on Comparative Syntax},
venue={Leiden/Bielefeld} }
Wurmbrand, S. (2024). Interspersing A- and A′-movement: First A, then A′ [Invited talk]. Locality and the argument/adjunct distinction: Structure-building vs. structure-enrichment, Göttingen.
author={Wurmbrand, S.},
title={Interspersing A- and A′-movement: First A, then A′},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Locality and the argument/adjunct distinction: Structure-building vs. structure-enrichment},
venue={Göttingen} }