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Mayfest 2023 / Howard's Beginning

Mayfest is a workshop that brings together researchers from a variety of disciplines and perspectives to discuss fundamental issues in linguistics.

In 2023, Mayfest is a celebration of the career of our colleague Howard Lasnik, with talks from several of Howard's former teachers, students, and collaborators.  The meeting will be held on the College Park campus on May 5-6, 2023. Information about our speakers and our schedule of events is available below. The main website for the conference is here.

Our speakers and discussants

Željko Bošković - Professor of Linguistics, University of Connecticut
Noam Chomsky - Laureate Professor of Linguistics, University of Arizona
Hamida Demirdache - Professor of Linguistics, Nantes Université
Robert Freidin - Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Princeton University
Lydia Grebenyova - Associate College Lecturer, Cleveland State University
Bill Idsardi - Professor of Linguistics, University of Maryland
Howard Lasnik  - Professor of Linguistics, University of Maryland
Robert May - Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of California at Davis
Maria Polinsky - Professor of Linguistics, University of Maryland
Luigi Rizzi - Professor of Linguistics, Universities of Geneva and Siena
Mamoru Saito - Professor of Linguistics, Nanzan University
Ewa Willim - Professor of Linguistics, Jagiellonian University in Krakow

Program

All presentations will be at the Language Science Center, 2130 H.J. Patterson Hall.

Friday May 5

  • 9:00-9:30 - Registration and breakfast
  • 9:30-10:30 - Ewa Willim / A dedicated null human impersonal pronoun in Polish and the Null Subject Parameter
  • 10:30-11:30 - Željko Bošković / Subject positions, the EPP, and the contextuality of syntax
  • 11:30-12:00 - Break
  • 12:00-1:00 - Robert Freidin / The Cycle in syntax: Rereading the past to understand the future"
  • 1:00-2:45 - Lunch (free time)
  • 2:45-4:15 - Posters and rants 
  • 4:15-5:00 - Discussion

Saturday May 6

  • 9:00-9:30 - Breakfast
  • 9:30-10:30 - Mamoru Saito / A defense of covert wh-movement (after 40 years)
  • 10:30-11:30 - Lydia Grebenyova / Puzzles in Ukrainian syntax: Implications for language structure
  • 11:30-1:00 - Lunch (free time)
  • 1:00-2:30 - Noam Chomsky / Displacement
  • 2:30-3:00 - Break
  • 3:00-5:00 - Round table on the role of structure, with Hamida Demirdache, Bill Idsardi, Robert May, Maria Polinsky and Luigi Rizzi
  • 5:00-5:30 - Howard Lasnik / Concluding remarks
  • From 6:00 - Party