Veneeta Dayal
· Dorothy R. Diebold Professor of Linguistics & ChairYale University · Department of Linguistics
Active 1992–2025
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About
Veneeta Dayal is a professor involved in linguistic research, with a focus on morpho-syntax and semantics. Her work includes supervising dissertations on topics such as the morpho-syntax and semantics of number in Akan, reference with bare nouns in Northeast Indian languages, and exclusive doubling. She has also served as a dissertation committee chair at Yale for students working on various linguistic topics, and as an external member for dissertations at Harvard and other institutions. Her research interests encompass the syntax and semantics of natural language, evidentiality, question formation, and language variation. Her academic background includes positions at Yale University, where she has contributed to the supervision of graduate students and the development of linguistic scholarship. She has a broad engagement with linguistic theory, particularly in the areas of question semantics, quantification, and language variation, as evidenced by her involvement in numerous dissertation committees and her collaboration with scholars across different linguistic fields.
Research topics
- Computer Science
- Philosophy
- Linguistics
- Natural Language Processing
- Artificial Intelligence
- Mathematics
- Epistemology
Selected publications
Oxford University Press eBooks · 2016-11-10 · 83 citations
book1st authorCorrespondingAbstract The study of questions is one of the major success stories in modern semantics. This book synthesizes and integrates 40 years of research on the semantics of questions, and its interface with pragmatics and syntax. The topics covered are extensive and varied: direct–indirect questions, weak–strong exhaustiveness, maximality, mention-some answers, functional answers, single-multiple-trapped list answers, higher order questions, embedding predicates, selection, quantificational variabilit…
The Puzzle of Anaphoric Bare Nouns in Mandarin: A Counterpoint to<i>Index!</i>
Linguistic Inquiry · 2021 · 23 citations
1st authorCorrespondingJenks (2018) argues that Mandarin bare NPs cannot be classified as definites simpliciter. Adopting the distinction between weak- and strong-article definites in Schwarz 2009, he proposes that Mandarin makes a lexical distinction between the two types of definites: bare nouns are weak definites, demonstratives are strong definites. He further proposes that their distribution is regulated by a principle called Index!. In this article, we first point out some problems with the empirical generalizat…
Polar question particles: Hindi-Urdu kya:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory · 2020 · 18 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingOn the Syntax of Multiple Sluicing and What It Tells Us about<i>Wh</i>-Scope Taking
Linguistic Inquiry · 2021 · 12 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingAcross many languages, multiple sluicing obeys a clausemate constraint. This can be understood on the empirically well-supported assumption that covert phrasal wh-movement is clause-bounded and subject to Superiority. We provide independent evidence for syntactic structure at the ellipsis site and for locality constraints on movement operations within the ellipsis site. The fact that the distribution of multiple sluicing is substantially narrower than that of multiple wh-questions, on their sing…
Annual Review of Linguistics · 2019-10-28 · 12 citations
article1st authorCorrespondingDeterminers and bare nouns raise questions about the interface between morphosyntax and semantics. On the syntactic side, the primary issue is whether bare nouns have a null determiner making all noun phrases structurally uniform. On the semantic side, the primary issue involves determining and deriving the range of permissible readings. Of primary significance are the availability of definite and indefinite readings for bare nouns and how such readings relate to the presence or absence of lexic…
Frequent coauthors
- 4 shared
Rajesh Bhatt
- 2 shared
Ming Chen
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
- 2 shared
Christen N. Madsen
The Graduate Center, CUNY
- 2 shared
Gita Martohardjono
- 1 shared
Anoop Mahajan
- 1 shared
Paul Dekker
- 1 shared
Greg Carlson
- 1 shared
Josh Dever
The University of Texas at Austin
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