Ljiljana Progovac

Ljiljana Progovac

EDUCATION:
Baccalaureate: BA, University of Novi Sad (Yugoslavia), 1981
Graduate: MA, University of Belgrade (Yugoslavia), 1984
PhD, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1988

POSITIONS HELD

University of Novi Sad, Serbia, Assistant Professor of English, 1982-85

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, English Composition, 1986-88

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Visiting Assistant Professor of Linguistics, 1990-91

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, Linguistics, 1991-present

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, Linguistics Program Director, 2007-present

University of Venice, Italy, Visiting Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Spring 1995

University of Chicago, Linguistics Society of America (LSA) Summer Institute Instructor, 2015

Research Interest/Area of Expertise

•  Evolution of language; Evolution of syntax; Syntax; Slavic syntax

Research

 Working jointly with colleagues on an fMRI project testing the predictions of an evolutionary approach to syntax

Education – Degrees, Licenses, Certifications

• Ph.D. in Linguistics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1988
• B.A. in English, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, 1981

Awards and Grants

• Marylin Williamson Humanities Center Grant to study the processing of evolutionarily simpler syntax ("proto-syntax") through fMRI experiments 

Selected Publications

Scholarly Books

(2015) Evolutionary Syntax. Oxford Studies in the Evolution of Language. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. Also: Oxford Scholarship Online: Oxford University Press. August 2015.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736547.001.0001

(2006) The Syntax of Nonsententials: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, co-edited by Ljiljana
Progovac, Kate Paesani, Eugenia Casielles and Ellen Barton. Pages: ix + 372. Linguistik Aktuell
(LA) 93. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

(2005) A Syntax of Serbian: Clausal Architecture, pp. 245. Slavica Publishers, Bloomington, Indiana.

(1994) Negative and Positive Polarity: A Binding Approach, pp. 168. Cambridge Studies in
Linguistics 68. Cambridge University Press.

Refereed Journal Articles

(2016) “A Gradualist scenario for language evolution: Precise linguistic reconstruction of early human (and Neandertal) grammars.” Frontiers in Psychology 7:1714. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01714.

(2016) L. Progovac, and M. Ratliff. “Commentary: Beyond tone and climate: Broadening the framework.” Journal of Language Evolution 1.1, 77-79. Doi:10.1093 /jole/izv006

(2013) “Nonsentential vs. Ellipsis Approaches: Review and Extensions.” Language and
Linguistics Compass 7/11: 597-617. Review article.

(2012) “Compounds and commands in the evolution of human language.” Theoria et Historia
Scientiarum: An International Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies IX: 49-70.

(2010) “Syntax: Its Evolution and Its Representation in the Brain.” Biolinguistics 4.2-3, 233-254.

(2009) “Sex and Syntax: Subjacency Revisited.” Biolinguistics 3.2-3, 305-336.

(2009) “The Urge to Merge: Ritual Insult and the Evolution of Syntax.” Joint paper with
John L. Locke as second author. Biolinguistics, 3.2-3, 337-354.

(1999) “Events and Economy of Coordination.” Syntax: A Journal of Theoretical, Experimental
and Interdisciplinary Research, 2.2., 141-159.

(1999) “Event Pronominal To.” Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 6.1, 3-39 

(1998) "Determiner Phrase in a Language without Determiners." Journal of Linguistics, 34.1,
165-179.

(1998) “Structure for Coordination, Part 1,” State-of-the-Articles. Glot International 3.7, 3-6
(newspaper format).

(1998) “Structure for Coordination, Part 2,” State-of-the-Articles. Glot International 3.8, 3-9
(newspaper format).

(1994) "Negation and Comp," Rivista di Linguistica, 5.2, 329-347.

(1993) "Long-Distance Reflexives: Movement-to-Infl vs. Relativized SUBJECT." Linguistic
Inquiry, 24.4, 755-772.

(1993) "Negative Polarity: Downward Entailment and Binding." Linguistics and Philosophy,
16.2, 149-180.

(1993) "Subjunctive: The (Mis)Behavior of Anaphora and Negative Polarity." The Linguistic
Review 10, 37-59.

(1993) "Locality and Subjunctive-like Complements in Serbo-Croatian." Journal of Slavic
Linguistics 1.1, 116-144.

(1992) "Negative Polarity: A Semantico-Syntactic Approach." Lingua 86.4, 271-299.

(1992) "Relativized SUBJECT: Long Distance Reflexives Without Movement." Linguistic
Inquiry 23.4, 671-680.

(1992) "Non-Negative Polarity Licensing Must Involve Comp." Linguistic Inquiry, 23.2, 341-
347.

(1991) "Polarity in Serbo-Croatian: Anaphoric NPIs and Pronominal PPIs." Linguistic Inquiry
22.3, 567-572.

(1990) "Free-Choice Bilo in Serbo-Croatian: Existential or Universal?" Linguistic Inquiry 21.1,
130-135.

Book Chapters (recent)

(In Press) “Where is continuity likely to be found? Commentary on ‘The social origins of
language’ by Robert M. Seyfarth and Dorothy L. Cheney. Invited commentary. Co-edited by
Alison Kalett and Michael Platt. Princeton University Press.

(2014) “Degrees of Complexity in Syntax: A View from Evolution.” In Measuring
Grammatical Complexity, 83-102, ed. by Frederick J. Newmeyer and Laurel B. Preston. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

(2010) “Imperative in Compounds: Implications for Historical and Evolutionary Studies.” In Development of Language through the Lens of Formal Linguistics, 137-145, ed. by Petr Karlík. Munich: Lincom Europa.

(2010) “When Clauses Refuse to be Recursive: An Evolutionary Perspective.” In Recursion and Human Language, ed. by Harry van der Hulst, 193-211. The Hague: Mouton.

(2009) “Layering of Grammar: Vestiges of Proto-Syntax in Present-Day Languages.” In Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable, ed. by Geoffrey Sampson, David Gil and Peter Trudgill, 203-212. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 

Currently Teaching

• Syntax (LIN 5300/ENG 5740)

  Introduction to Linguistic Theory (LIN/ENG 5700)

Courses taught

Semantics (LIN/ENG 5745)
Basic Concepts in Linguistics (LIN/ENG 2720)