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Danfeng
Wu
32-D866

I am a sixth-year graduate student in the Linguistics Department at MIT. My primary interests are in syntax and prosody, in particular the mapping between the two, with ellipsis (silent syntactic structure) as a critical case study. I ask questions such as: what sort of syntactic information is visible to prosody? What are the similarities and differences between syntactic structure and prosodic structure? Can we find prosodic evidence of phonologically empty material, such as elided material? In this study of the syntax-prosody interface, I use knowledge about syntax and semantics that I gained from previous work on the syntax of coordination and ellipsis in English, as well as skills in experimental prosody and phonetics that I got from previous experimental work on the prosody of focus in English and Zulu.

Work in progress

  • in prep. Phrasing and prominence: A case study of the post-focal context in English. [paper]
  • submitted. Island violations in stripping constructions. [paper]

Journal articles

  • 2021. Syntax of either in eitheror… sentences. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. [paper]
  • 2021. Why *if or not but ✓whether or not. Linguistic Inquiry. [doi]
  • 2019. Inducing and blocking labeling. Glossa 4 (1):141. with Shigeru Miyagawa and Masatoshi Koizumi. ​[doi]

Conference proceedings

  • 2021. Prosodic evidence for an ellipsis-based approach to eitheror… sentences. Proceedings of WCCFL 39. [paper]
  • 2021. There is no post-focal de-phrasing in English. Proceedings of AMP 2020. [paper]
  • 2020. Whether can pied-pipe. Proceedings of NELS 50. [paper]
  • 2020. Durational cues to stress and phrasing are preserved post-focally in English. Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2020. [superceded by this paper]
  • 2020. Focus and penultimate vowel lengthening in Zulu. Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2020. with Yadav Gowda. [paper]
  • 2020. Syntax of either in eitheror… sentences. Proceedings of NELS 49. [paper]
  • 2019. ​Evidence from ellipsis suggests the low origination site of expletives there and it. Proceedings of CLS 54. [paper]
  • 2018. A revised labeling approach to long-distance agreement. Proceedings of MAPLL × TCP × TL × TaLK (MT3).  with Shigeru Miyagawa and Masatoshi Koizumi. ​[paper]
  • 2022. Bipartite syntax of negation in corrective but sentences. Talk at LSA 96.
  • 2022. Prosodic evidence for syntax in biased questions in Mandarin. Poster at LSA 96. with Boer Fu.
  • 2022. Numeral allomorphy of ‘one’ and ‘two’ in Mandarin Chinese. Poster at LSA 96. with Boer Fu.
  • 2022. Competence meets performance: New perspectives on information structure. Organized session at LSA 96. with Sasha Calhoun, Jesse Harris, Andrew Hedding, Morwenna Hoeks, Beste Kamali, Amanda Rysling, Maziar Toosarvandani and Mengzhu Yan.
  • 2021. Syntax of negation in corrective but sentences. Talk at NELS 52.
  • 2021. Prosodic evidence for an ellipsis-based approach to either…or… sentences. Poster at WCCFL 39. [poster]
  • 2021. Evasion strategies save apparent island violations in stripping. Poster at LSA 95.
  • 2020. There is no post-focal de-phrasing in English. Poster at AMP 2020. [poster]
  • 2020. Durational cues to stress and phrasing are preserved post-focally in English. Presentation at Speech Prosody 2020. [video]
  • 2020. Focus and penultimate vowel lengthening in Zulu." with Yadav Gowda. Presentation at Speech Prosody 2020. [video]
  • 2020. Focus and prominence in Zulu. with Yadav Gowda. Talk at ACAL 51. [cancelled]
  • 2020. Phrasal stress and phrasing are preserved in the absence of pitch accent: Evidence from post-nuclear de-accentuation in English. Talk at CLS 56. [cancelled]
  • 2020. Focus and penultimate vowel lengthening in Zulu. with Yadav Gowda. Talk at GLOW 43. [slides and video]
  • 2020. Whether can pied-pipe. Talk at LSA 94. [slides]
  • 2020. Clitic climbing and linear adjacency in Wolof. with Yadav Gowda. Talk at LSA 94. [handout]
  • 2019. Why *if or not but ✓whether or not. Poster at NELS 50. [poster]
  • 2018. A copy-based approach to either in either... or... sentences. Poster at NELS 49. [poster]
  • 2018. Deriving Case Theory: Issues of [-N]/[+N], ECM. Invited talk at Workshop on Case Theory and Labeling of Structures at The University of Tokyo.
  • 2018. English expletives there and it originate low: Evidence from ellipsis. Poster at WCCFL 36.
  • 2018. A new analysis and prediction about Lubukusu agreeing complementizers. with Elise Newman. Talk at LSA 92.

Linguistics for Researchers in Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and Related Fields, Fall 2019
Advanced Phonology, Spring 2019
Introduction to Linguistics, Spring 2018
LSA Summer Institute in Kentucky, Summer 2017