MOLLY DIESING
Curriculum Vitae
Address:
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-8635
md20@cornell.edu OR diesing@cornell.edu
Education:
1985-1990 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
Doctor of Philosophy (Linguistics), September 1990.
1978-1982 Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02254.
BA May 1982, magna cum laude with high honors in music.
Research Specializations:
Syntax
Member, Jewish Studies Program
Academic Positions:
1997 Instructor, LSA Linguistic Institute, Cornell University
Research Funding:
1997 "Parameters in Semantics: Proposal for a Workshop, Working Seminar and Conference" Co-PI [with Sally McConnell-Ginet and Gennaro Chierchia]
Awards and Fellowships:
1998 Oustanding Educator/Merrill Presidential Scholar Award, Cornell University
Publications:
Book:
(1992) Indefinites. The MIT Press (Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 20).
Refereed Journal Articles and Book Chapters:
(1998) "Light Verbs and the Syntax of Aspect in Yiddish", The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics, 1.2, 119-156.
(1997) "Yiddish VP Structure and the Typology of Object Movement." Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 15.2, 369-427.
(1996) "NP Types and Conditions on Interpretation." In Jan Don (ed.) OTS Yearbook 1995, 1-12. Utrecht: OTS.
(1996) "Semantic Variables and Object Shift." In S. D. Epstein and H. Thráinsson (eds.) Studies in Comparative Germanic Syntax, Volume II (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 66-84.
(1995) "Distributing Arguments." [with Eloise Jelinek] Natural Language Semantics 3.2, 123-176.
(1992) "Bare Plural Subjects and the Derivation of Logical Representations," Linguistic Inquiry 23.3, 353-380.
(1990) "Verb Movement and the Subject Position in Yiddish," in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 8.1, 41-79.
Other Publications:
(in press) Review of Indefinite Pronouns, by Martin Haspelmath. American Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Literatures.
(in press) "Comments on Cardinaletti and Starke." Accepted for publication in Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.) The Typology of European Languages, Volume 8: Clitics. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin.
(1997) Review of Quantification in Natural Languages edited by Emmon Bach, Eloise Jelinek, Angelika Kratzer and Barbara Partee. Journal of Linguistics, 33, 563-568.
(1994) Review of Theory and description in generative syntax: a case study in West Flemish by Liliane Haegeman. Language 70.3, 556-559.
(1993) "The Syntax and Semantics of Object Shift." [with Eloise Jelinek] In Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax Volume 51, Lund, Sweden, 1-54.
(1990) The Syntactic Roots of Semantic Partition. Ph.D. dissertation. Distributed by the Graduate Linguistic Student Association, Amherst, MA.
(1989) "Bare Plural Subjects, Inflection, and the Mapping to LF" in E. Bach, A. Kratzer and B.H. Partee (eds.) Papers on Quantification, NSF Report, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
(1988) "Bare Plural Subjects and the Stage/Individual Contrast," in M. Krifka, ed. Genericity in Natural Language: Proceedings of the 1988 Tübingen Conference SNS-Bericht 88-42, Tübingen.
(1988) "Word Order and the Subject Position in Yiddish," in Proceedings of NELS 18, GLSA, Amherst, MA.
Refereed Conference Talks and Invited Presentations:
(1998) "Complex Predication and Aspect", a week-long series of talks given at Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, April 2-7, 1998.
(1997) "Complex Predicates and Aspect", Conference on Cross-Linguistic Variation in Semantics, July 26-27, 1997, Cornell University.
(1997) "The Syntax and Semantics of an Aspectual Head", invited colloquium, MIT, April 11, 1997.
(1996) "The Syntax and Semantics of an Aspectual Head", invited colloquium, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, November 22, 1996.
(1996) "Light Verbs in Yiddish", invited colloquium, SUNY at Buffalo, March 29, 1996.
(1995) "Aspects of the `Stem Construction' in Yiddish", presented at the 11th Workshop on Comparative Germanic Syntax, Rutgers University, November 4, 1995.
(1995) "Yiddish VP Structures", invited colloquium, University of Maryland, College Park, April 28, 1995.
(1995) "Yiddish VP Order and the Typology of Object Shift in Germanic", invited colloquium, SUNY Stonybrook, April 14, 1995.
(1995) "Yiddish VP Order and the Typology of Object Shift in Germanic", invited talk, Jersey Syntax Circle, Rutgers University, March 24, 1995.
(1994) "Conditions on Leftward Movement of Objects in Germanic", invited colloquium, University of Connecticut, May 6, 1994.
(1994) "Conditions on Leftward Movement of Objects in Germanic", invited talk, University of Pennsylvania, March 4, 1994.
(1994) "Semantic Variables and Object Shift," presented at the Ninth Workshop on Comparative Germanic Syntax, Harvard University, January 5-6, 1994.
(1993) "NP Types and Conditions on Interpretation", invited speaker. Conference on "The Robustness of the Language Faculty: Coping with Incomplete Information." Onderzoeksinstituut voor Taal en Spraak, Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, October 30, 1993.
(1993) "On the Syntax and Semantics of Object Shift", invited colloquium, University of California at Santa Cruz, February 25, 1993.
(1992) "Distributing Arguments", invited colloquium, MIT, December 4, 1992.
(1992) "Distributing Arguments" invited colloquium, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, November 20, 1992.
(1992) "Pronouns and Partition," brown bag presentation, Cornell University, February 7, 1992.
(1992) "Quantification, Lexical Variation, and Derivation," invited presentation, Cornell University, February 6, 1992.
(1992) "Moving Indefinites" invited presentation, the University of Pennsylvania, January 29, 1992.
(1991) "Quantification, Lexical Variation, and Derivation," invited colloquium, presented at The University of Toronto, November 29, 1991.
(1991) "Indefinite Object Interpretations and Extraction from NP," presented at the LSA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, January 1991.
(1990) "The Syntactic Roots of Semantic Partition," invited presentation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, March 2, 1990.
(1990) "The Syntactic Roots of Semantic Partition," invited presentation, The University of California at Irvine, February 26, 1990.
(1990) "The Syntactic Roots of Semantic Partition," invited presentation, The University of Arizona, February 19, 1990.
(1989) "Bare Plural Subjects, Inflection, and the Mapping to LF," presented at the LSA Annual Meeting, Washington D.C. December 1989.
(1989) "A Syntactic Account of Quantifier Typology" invited colloquium, Swarthmore College, December 4, 1989.
(1987) "V2 and the Nature of the Subject Position in Yiddish," presented at the Northeastern Linguistics Society, University of Toronto, November 1987.
Other Presentations:
(1997) "Enriching Introductory Linguistics Courses", presentation (with David Silva and Robert Ladd) to the NEH Workshop on Teaching Linguistics to Non-Linguists, 1997 LSA Institute, Cornell University.
Courses Taught at Cornell University:
Linguistics 101: Theory and Practice of Linguistics
Special Committees and Other Advising:
At Cornell University:
Served/serving as chair or co-chair:
Served/serving as a minor member:
Senior Honors Thesis Committees:
At other universities:
Served/serving as chair or co-chair:
Served/serving as a minor member or external examiner:
Other Research Supervision:
Research assistants:
Postdoctoral fellow:
Professional Activities:
Memberships in professional societies:
Linguistic Society of America
Editorial Service:
Member, Editorial Board, The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 1995 --
Departmental Service:
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Linguistics, 1997-
The interface between syntax and semantics
Field memberships: Linguistics, Cognitive Studies
1996 -- Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, Cornell University
1995 -- 1996 Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Cornell University
1992 -- 1995 Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Cornell University
1990 -- 1993 Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, The University of Arizona
1990 -- 1993 Assistant Research Social Scientist in Cognitive Science, The University of Arizona
1992 -- NSF Young Investigator Award
1991-1992 Small Grant, Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, The University of Arizona. For work on "Semantic Constraints on the Syntax of Pronouns" (with Eloise Jelinek).
1996 Robert and Helen Appel Fellowship for Humanists and Social Scientists, Cornell University
1989-1990 University Fellowship, University of Massachusetts
1986-1988 NGFP Graduate Fellowship (Javits Grant)
1986 Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Fellowship Committee
1985-1986 First Year Fellowship, University of Massachusetts
1982 Dorothy H. Rautbord award, Brandeis University
1981 David M. Greene award, Brandeis University
Linguistics 203: Introduction to Syntax and Semantics
Linguistics 216: Introduction to Mathematical Linguistics
Linguistics 241/Jewish Studies 271: Yiddish Linguistics
Linguistics/Philosophy/CogSt 270: Truth and Interpretation (co-taught with Jason Stanley, Philosophy)
Linguistics 303: Syntax I
Linguistics 304: Syntax 2
Linguistics 421: Semantics I
Course supervisor: Freshman Writing Seminar: Signs of a Silent Culture: The Deaf and American Sign Language
Seminars on Comparative Germanic Syntax, the Syntax/Semantics Interface, and Theoretical Syntax
Teresa Galloway (ASL syntax)
Natalia Diaz-Insense (Spanish, Catalan syntax and semantics)
Edith Aldridge
Sang Doh Park
Eun Cho
Laurent Dekydtspotter
Tobey Doeleman
Ruriko Kawashima
Martha Larson (German Studies)
Scott Mardis (Computer Science)
Asuncion Martinez-Arbalaiz
Denise Meyer
Kunio Nishiyama
Mandy Simons
Chioko Takahashi
Takashi Toyoshima
Susanna Tsivkin (Psychology)
Eun-Young Yi
Dan Klein (Chair, AY 1997-1998)
Catherine Meeks (Chair, AY 1997-1998)
Peter Vinogradov (1995)
Pilar Piñar, The University of Arizona, 1995. Negative Polarity and Negative Concord in the Romance Languages.
Regine Moorcroft, The University of Toronto, 1995. Clause-Level Functional Categories in Germanic V2 Languages. [Committee chair: Elizabeth Cowper]
Kyoko Yoshimura, The University of Arizona, 1992. Empty Categories and Focus in Japanese. [Committee chair: Andrew Barss]
Mandy Simons (Fall 1997)
Asuncion Martinez-Arbalaiz (Spring 1996)
Chioko Takahashi (Spring 1995)
Laurent Dekydtspotter (Fall 1993)
1995-1996 Regine Moorcroft (Ph.D. University of Toronto), funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Member, Editorial Board, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1995 --
Member, Associate Editorial Board, Linguistic Inquiry, 1992 --
Co-Organizer, Workshop and Conference on Cross-Linguistic Variation in Semantics, Cornell University, July 1997.
Coordinator of the 13th Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop, July 1997.
Faculty Advisor to A Show of Hands, undergraduate student club devoted to sign language and Deaf culture 1996 --
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