Dissertation

My 2025 dissertation is linked below. Any updated versions will also be posted here. I plan to make only minor corrections. Please let me know if you find any errors or inconsistencies in the current version! (email address on homepage)

• official dissertation: pdf | Proquest link

Title: The Subregular Complexity of Case and Agreement

Abstract

This dissertation aims to establish a tight bound on the computational complexity of case and agreement dependencies in syntax, that is, the class of possible formal patterns which they exemplify. Such dependencies are shown to be modeled well by a tree-based generalization of of tier-based strictly 2-local (TSL-2) formal languages, mirroring past results on long-distance phonotactics and syntactic movement.

This characterization has several important consequences. First, TSL-2 is a highly restrictive formal class, ruling out many unnatural and presumably impossible patterns whose absence is left unexplained by earlier, string-based classifications of syntactic patterns. Second, the range of patterns it can express aligns closely with well-known cross-linguistic generalizations and points of variation, unifying many phenomena previously handled by distinct theoretical mechanisms. Third, TSL-2 patterns can be computed by simple, cognitively plausible pattern-detection mechanisms, explaining why it is that language makes use of these and not others. Finally, the class of TSL-2 patterns is in principle efficiently learnable, providing a crucial hint into how human children learn languages so effortlessly, and by extension, how we might design artificial systems that do the same.

All necessary background on subregular formal languages and their application to syntax is included, though some familiarity with Minimalist syntax is assumed. As such, this dissertation may also serve as an introduction to subregular complexity for both theoretical and computational linguists alike.

Brief contents

1. Introduction
2. Subregular Syntax
3. Modeling Case
4. The Typology of Case
5. Case in Japanese
6. Modeling Agreement
7. The Typology of Agreement
8. Agreement in Hindi
9. Conclusion

Notes for Readers

Chaper 1 covers the history and motivation of the project.

Chapter 2 provides a crash course in subregular syntax. It surveys past work from around 2011–2023 as it relates to the present project. Also see my 2026 review article, which borrows a few examples from this chapter.

The main content chapers (3–8) are based on existing papers/presentations. There is almost no difference in the core analysis or conclusions presented in each version. The correspondence between dissertation chapters and the standalone papers is shown below.

Chapters 3/6 contain extended theoretical background for the analysis which is not present in the standalone papers. Chapter 5 proposes a small update to the analysis of complex verbal constructions. Chapter 7 adds some examples of impossible agreement patterns. Chapter 8 reverts from bare phrase structure trees (as in my 2025 CLS paper) to MG dependency trees (as in the rest of the dissertation).