Locality and the Argument-Adjunct Distinction: Structure-building vs. Structure-enrichment (LASER)

The aim of LASER is to build a theory of selective opacity, i.e. systematic variation in locality constraints on different types of syntactic dependency, such as movement, control, and agreement, particularly as they interact with the adjunct-complement distinction.
LASER is jointly funded by the German DFG and the AHRC of the UK and comprises 3 closely collaborating sub-projects in Edinburgh (Dr. Rob Truswell + 1 Postdoctoral Researcher), Göttingen (Prof. Hedde Zeijlstra + Dr. Sandhya Sundaresan) and here at ZAS in Berlin (Dr. Thomas McFadden + 1 Postdoctoral Researcher). The project is composed of five Work Packages:

• WP1: "A’-dependencies and the complement/adjunct distinction”, Edinburgh
• WP2: “A-dependencies and the complement/adjunct distinction”, Berlin
• WP3: “A novel theoretical approach to the complement/adjunct distinction”, Göttingen
• WP4: “Interactions between A and A’-dependencies”, Edinburgh
• WP5: “Towards an integrated theory of locality”, Berlin/Edinburgh/Göttingen