Michelle Yuan

I research theoretical syntax and am especially interested in the syntax-morphology interface. Much of my work has centred around morphosyntactic phenomena such as case, agreement, and movement, including (and especially) their interactions and their manifestations in ergative languages. I am also interested in the internal structure and formation of morphologically complex words and, relatedly, the morphosyntactic properties of pronominal clitics.

I have investigated these topics primarily through the lens of Inuktitut and other Inuit-Yupik-Unangan languages. More recently, I have also been exploring some of these issues in the San Juan Piñas variety of Mixtec (Tò’ōn Ndá’ví), together with Gabriela Caballero, Claudia Juárez Chávez and other language experts, and our students. This work is particularly focused around the documentation and analysis of the language’s tonal and morphosyntactic properties, as well as the development of linguistic resources for language reclamation purposes.

New/recent stuff

• Morphological conditions on movement chain resolution: Inuktitut noun incorporation revisited. 2025 (online access). Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. [doi | lingbuzz (preprint)]

• Distinct pathways to possessor A’-extraction in Mesoamerican languages. Presentation at NELS 55, Yale University, Oct. 17-18, 2024. (w/ Andrew Hedding) [handout]

• ‘Lexical DP Blocking’ in the Person-Case Constraint as a licensing failure: Comparative evidence from Mixtec. in revs. (w/ Claudia Juárez Chávez) [lingbuzz]

• Lexical and grammatical tone in San Juan Piñas Mixtec (Tò’ōn Ndá’ví). To appear in Phonological Data & Analysis. (w/ Gabriela Caballero, Claudia Duarte Borquez, and Claudia Juárez Chávez) [pdf (preprint)]

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