Mark Baker

About

Mark Baker is a Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University, specializing in linguistics. His research interests include comparative syntax, linguistic universals, semantic roles, and the study of Amerindian and African languages. He is involved in various research groups and has a significant role within the Department of Linguistics, contributing to the academic community through his expertise and leadership.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Philosophy
• Linguistics
• Natural Language Processing
• Artificial Intelligence
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• On Partial Agreement and Oblique Case

  Syntax · 2018-06-16 · 103 citations

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  Abstract In many languages, overt case marking hides ϕ ‐features from agreement probes. In some languages, such as Hindi, this effect is absolute. But in Adıyaman Kurmanji, our focus here, the effect is partial: the number feature of third‐person oblique subjects can be registered on the verb. We account for the difference by saying that overtly case‐marked nominals are in fact agreed with in the syntax, but the actual transfer of ϕ ‐feature values happens at PF, where it is sensitive to postsyn…

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• On Inherent and Dependent Theories of Ergative Case

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2017-08-10 · 93 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This chapter compares the view that ergative case is an inherent case assigned by v to an NP that it theta-marks (the ICT) to the view that ergative case is a dependent case assigned to a higher NP when there is a lower NP in the same local domain (the DCT). First we present instances in which a nonagent receives ergative case when there is another NP nearby, in applicative constructions in Shipibo, Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic), and Chukchi. Conversely, we present instances in which a…

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• Agree without Agreement: Switch-reference and reflexive voice in two Panoan languages

  Natural Language & Linguistic Theory · 2020 · 45 citations

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• Lexical Categories: Legacy, Lacuna, and Opportunity for Functionalists and Formalists

  Annual Review of Linguistics · 2016-08-20 · 41 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The fundamental importance of lexical categories is uncontroversial within both formal and functional approaches to grammatical analysis. But despite the familiarity of this topic and its foundational nature for grammatical description and analysis, it is paradoxically not among the best-studied or -understood topics from either the functionalist or formalist perspective. Both schools of linguistic theory have inherited their basic assumptions and instincts about lexical categories from the stru…

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• Doubled clitics are pronouns

  Natural Language & Linguistic Theory · 2018-02-14 · 34 citations

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Frequent coauthors

• Marcel den Dikken

  Eötvös Loránd University

  6 shared

• Livia Camargo Souza

  5 shared

• Nadezda Vinokurova

  4 shared

• Άρτεμις Αλεξιάδου

  3 shared

• Luigi Rizzi

  University of Bari Aldo Moro

  2 shared

• Shiori Ikawa

  Fuji Women's University

  2 shared

• D. J. Lam

  University of Applied Sciences Biberach

  2 shared

• Osamuyimen Stewart

  McGill University

  2 shared

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