Wayne Harbert
Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies
(PhD, University of Illinois, 1978)
Department of Linguistics, 210 Morrill Hall, weh2@cornell.edu, 255-8441
|
|
Research
My main interests center around the syntactic structures of the Germanic languages
(especially the older ones) and the Celtic languages (primarily Welsh and Scottish Gaelic), and what they can
tell us about the principles of syntactic organization operating in natural language. I also have a developing
interest in aspects of the phonology of these languages. My research is carried out within the general framework
of Government-Binding Theory. Problems on which I have worked recently include apparent cross-linguistic and
historical
variation in the syntactic domain of anaphor binding, relative constructions, the syntax of negation and the
syntax of
agreement and case assignment. My publications include a systematic construction-by-construction comparison
of the
grammatical structures of both the modern and premodern
members of the Germanic language family. In addition, I have developed an interest in language endangerment and minority language issues.
Graduate Fields Represented: Linguistics, Germanic Studies, Cognitive
Studies,
Medieval Studies
Teaching
The courses I teach include:
Ling 1100 Language, Thought and Reality--Words (Writing Seminar)
Ling 1109 English Words: Histories and Mysteries
Ling 2217 History of the English Language to 1300
Ling 2218 History of the English Language since 1300
Ling 2219 Language and History in the British Isles
Ling 2236 Introduction to Scottish Gaelic
Ling 2238 Introduction to Welsh
Ling 2246 Minority Languages and Linguistics
Ling 3300 Field Methods
Ling 3308 Readings in Celtic Languages
Ling 3347 Topics in the History of English
Ling 4441 Introduction to Germanic Linguistics
Ling 6604 Research Workshop
Ling 6625 Middle Welsh
Ling 6645 Gothic
Ling 6646 Old High German/ Old Saxon
Ling 6649 Structure of Old English
Selected Publications
Harbert, W., to appear. Language and Development. In Peter Austin and Julia Sallabank,eds.,
Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages.
Harbert, W., ed. 2008. Language and Poverty.
Multilingual Matters. (with Sally McConnell.-Ginet, Amanda Miller and John Whitman).
Harbert, W. 2007.
The Germanic Languages. Cambridge University Press.
Harbert, W. 2002. The Syntax of Indefinite Phrases in Negative Sentences in Germanic.
The Interdisciplinary Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis. 7: 101-126.
Harbert, W. 2002. A Preliminary Look at the State of Welsh Language Teaching in America."
Journal of Celtic Language Learning, vol 7. 2002.
Harbert, W. and Maher Bahloul. 2002. Postverbal Subjects in Arabic and the Theory of Agreement. in U. Shlonsky and J. Ouhalla, eds.,
Themes in Arabic and Hebrew Syntax. Kluwer.
Harbert, W. 1999. Erino Portun ih Firchnussu. in Gerald Carr, Wayne Harbert and Lihua Zhang, eds.,
Interdigitations: Essays for Irmengard Rauch. Peter Lang.
Harbert, W. (1997). Underspecification and the Old High German monophthongization. In I. Rauch and G. Carr (Eds.),
Insights in German Linguistics II . Mouton de Gruyter.
Harbert, W. (1995). Binding theory, control and pro. In G. Webelhuth (Ed.),
Government binding theory and the minimalist program . Blackwell.
Harbert, W. & Bahloul, M. (1993). Agreement asymmetries in Arabic.
Proceedings of the Eleventh West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Stanford: CSLI.
Harbert, W. (1992). Gothic relative clauses and syntactic theory. In I. Rauch (Ed.),
On Germanic linguistics: Issues and methods . Mouton de Gruyter.
Harbert, W. (1990). Binding, SUBJECT and accessibility. In R. Freidin (Ed.),
Principles and parameters of comparative grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Harbert, W. & Pet, W. (1988). Movement and adjunct morphology in Arawak and other languages.
International Journal of American Linguistics .
