Table of Contents
I'm a lecturer in theoretical and comparative syntax at the University of York. I'm also associated with the ERC-funded LeibnizDream project. I received my PhD from Universität Leipzig. You can find my CV here.
I work on a variety of topics in a wide range of languages, including complementation, logophoricity, hyperraising, pseudo-incorporation, differential object marking, genericity, the person case constraint, person feature systems, omnivorous agreement, coordination, information structure, speech acts, definiteness, and allocutivity. My work involves solutions that take the morpho-syntactic and the semantic side into account. Lately, I've been investigating the acquisition of negative indefinites, past tense morphology, and conjunction patterns.
Output
Manuscripts, under review
- Subject clause repair with clausal determiners in Kwa. submitted.
[with Abigail Bimpeh & Reginald Duah] - Pronoun preferences unmasked: an experimental study on the interpretation of logophors and pronouns in Ewe, Igbo and Yoruba. submitted. [with Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Silvia Silleresi, Johnson Ilori, Anastasia Nuworsu, Gerald Nweya & Maria Teresa Guasti]
- Direction towards Person: Canonical inverse and reverse PCC in Adyghe. in revisions. lingbuzz/005552
[with Ahmet Bilal Özdemir & Marie-Luise Popp] - How can genericity be expressed? A four-language experimental study using Thurstone Scaling. lingbuzz/008738
[with Johannes Hein, Desiré Carioti, Jakob Wünsch, Vina Tsakali, Artemis Alexiadou, Uli Sauerland & Maria Teresa Guasti]
Recent
- Decomposing logophoric pronouns: a presuppositional account of logophoric dependencies.
Natural Language Semantics. 33(4):663-702, (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-025-09242-x
[with Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Silvia Silleresi, Johnson Ilori, Anastasia Nuworsu & Gerald Nweya] - Logische Form. In: Gutzmann, D., Turgay, K. & Zimmermann, E. (eds.),
Wörterbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Band Semantik und Pragmatik (Dictionary Linguistics and Communication Science). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. Link to database, Accessed 2025-12-17 - Kein subjects are hard: Exploring German-speaking children's behavior with negative indefinites.
Language Acquisition. 32(4): 484–516, (2025). DOI: 10.1080/10489223.2024.2354219
[with Cory Bill, Kazuko Yatsushiro, Johannes Hein & Uli Sauerland] - Is DP conjunction always complex? The view from child Georgian and Hungarian.
Semantics & Pragmatics. 18(5): 1-20, (2025). DOI: 10.3765/sp.18.5
[with Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Tamar Makharoblidze & Lilla Pintér] - Errors of multiple exponence in child English: A study of past tense formation
Morphology 35(2): 143–183, (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s11525-024-09434-x
[with Johannes Hein, Fabienne Martin, Yining Nie & Artemis Alexiadou] - Omnivorous person, number and gender in Mundari: A Cyclic Agree analysis
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 43(2): 1067-1115, (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s11049-024-09628-2
[with Gurujegan Murugesan & Andrew Murphy] - Resolution agreement in German and Dutch: Implications for person feature decomposition
The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 28:2 (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s10828-025-09160-6 - Resumption as a novel DP/NP diagnostic.
Snippets 47: 4-7, (2025). DOI: 10.7358/snip-2024-047-drbd
[with Abigail Bimpeh & Reginald Duah] - C-Agree is local subject-verb agreement in Kipsigis
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 43(1): 223–272, (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s11049-024-09622-8
[with Maria Kouneli]
Past (selected)
- The interpretation of logophoric and ordinary pronouns in Ewe: an experimental study
Proceedings of the Amsterdam Colloquium 24, 344-350, (2024). events.illc.uva.nl/AC/AC2024/Proceedings/
[with Silvia Silleresi, Abigail Bimpeh, Itai Bassi, Anastasia Nuworsu, Maria Teresa Guasti] - Strength in the nominal domain
Strict Cycling: A Festschrift for Gereon Müller, 75-88, (2024). lingbuzz/008601 - Sharing effects of split conjuncts in German
Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 43(2), 199-235, (2024). DOI: 10.1515/zfs-2024-2001 - Errors of multiple exponence in child language
Proceedings of WCCFL 40, 122-131, (2024). www.lingref.com/cpp/wccfl/40/paper3704.pdf
[with Johannes Hein, Fabienne Martin, Yining Nie, Artemis Alexiadou] - Obligatory de se logophors in Ewe, Yoruba and Igbo: variation and competition
Proceedings of WCCFL 40, 1-10, (2024). www.lingref.com/cpp/wccfl/40/paper3692.pdf
[with Abigail Bimpeh, Itai Bassi, Silvia Silleresi] - <v,t>-type complementation in Kipsigis
Proceedings of WCCFL 39, 135-145, (2024). www.lingref.com/cpp/wccfl/39/paper3624.pdf
[with Maria Kouneli] - Strict logophors in Ewe, Yoruba, and Igbo
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 27, 52-63, (2023). ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/1052
[with Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Silvia Silleresi] - Negative Concord without Agree: Insights from German, Dutch, and English child language
Languages, 8(3), 179, (2023). DOI: 10.3390/languages8030179
[with Johannes Hein, Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Ivona Ilic, Paloma Jeretic & Astrid van Alem] - Pseudo-noun Incorporation and Differential Object Marking
Monograph for the series Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, (2023).
Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192866400.001.0001 - Gender and allocutivity
Proceedings of (F)ASAL 12, 85-104, (2023). ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/jsal/index.php/fasal/issue/view/fasal12proceedings
[with Gurujegan Murugesan] - An experimental study on kind and generic readings across languages: bare plural vs. definite plural
Proceedings of the Amsterdam Colloquium 23, 353-359, (2022). events.illc.uva.nl/AC/AC2022/Proceedings/
[with Johannes Hein, Desiré Carioti, Jakob Wünsch, Vina Tsakali, Artemis Alexiadou, Uli Sauerland, Maria Teresa Guasti] - As complex as they appear: Children’s comprehension of conjunctive expressions in Georgian
Proceedings of the Amsterdam Colloquium 23, 38-44, (2022). events.illc.uva.nl/AC/AC2022/Proceedings/
[with Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Tamar Makharoblidze] - Pseudo-incorporation vs. Differential Argument Marking in Korean
Proceedings of GLOW in Asia XIII., 75-90, (2022). lingbuzz/006855
[with Hyunjung Lee] - A dedicated topic position in Kipsigis
Proceeding of TripleA 8, 1-20, (2022). scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/231238
[with Maria Kouneli] - Determiner Removal in Balinese non-pivot agents
Syntax 25(2), 276-298, (2022). DOI: 10.1111/synt.12231
[with Sören Tebay] - Pseudo-incorporation and its movement patterns
Glossa 5(1), 106. (2020). DOI: 10.5334/gjgl.1120 - A repair for PCC and inverse contexts in Adyghe
Proceedings of NELS 50, 183-196, (2020). lingbuzz/005256
[with Ahmet Bilal Özdemir & Marie-Luise Popp] - Pseudo-noun incorporation: A DP/VP approach
Proceedings of NELS 50, 173-182, (2020). lingbuzz/005405 - Focus in Limbum
Proccedings of ACAL 48, 219-237, (2019). langsci-press.org/catalog/book/226
[with Laura Becker & Jude Awasom Nformi] - Person mismatch agreement
Proceedings of NELS 48, (2018). paper - Focus strategies in Limbum
Proceedings of TripleA 4, 17-30. (2018). publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/handle/10900/83115
[with Jude Awasom Nformi] - Variable verb positions in German exclamatives
Linguistische Berichte 25, 71-90. (2018). paper - Factivity in German Exclamatives
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 20, 198-216. (2016). ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/259
Presentations
Upcoming
- Towards signature properties of logophors across languages. Meaning and Grammar Research Group, University of Edinburgh. invited talk. October 6, 2026.
- Double definiteness with referential modifiers in Swedish. CGSW 38 (Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop), Potsdam University. invited talk. September 17-18, 2026. program
- Career talk for female researchers. Sonderforschungsbereich 1629, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. November 4, 2026.
- Rethinking acceptability judgments in linguistic research: the case of logophoric pronouns in three West African languages
Congressi internazionali di studi della Società di Linguistica Italiana (SLI) 59. Università di Bologna. September 10-11, 2026. website
[with Silvia Silleresi, Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Johnson Ilori, Anastasia Nuworsu, Gerald Nweya, Maria Teresa Guasti]
Recent
- Investigating the meaning of logophoric pronouns: Elicitation techniques and challenges
African Linguistics Workshop, University of York. March 13, 2026. program - Lessons from the field: How to tackle challenges of cross-linguistic fieldwork on understudied languages
DGfS Workshop Finding Patterns Through Fieldwork in African Languages, Trier University. invited talk. February 24-27, 2026.
program - Which conjunctive expressions are hiding something? The view from (younger) children
Language Development from Infancy to Adolescence 4. Eötvös Loránd University. February 19, 2026.
[with Aurore Gonzalez, Cory Bill, Agnes Langó-Tóth, & Uli Sauerland] - A cross-linguistic investigation of children's negative indefinite production
GALA 17. Université de Tours. September 11-13, 2025.
[with Cory Bill, Kazuko Yatsushiro, Napoleon Katsos, Uli Sauerland] - Anaphoric definites and where they put the index
Syntax Interface Lectures, Utrecht University. invited talk. June 5, 2025. - Definiteness in the nominal domain – Observations from Swedish and Kwa languages
SemLab, The University of Manchester. invited talk. May 12, 2025. - Pronoun preferences unmasked: an experimental study on Ewe and Yoruba
GLOW 47. Goethe University Frankfurt. March 25-27, 2025.
[with Silvia Silleresi, Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Johnson Ilori, Anastasia Nuworsu] - Not all children find no subjects hard: A cross-linguistic investigation of children's negative indefinite production
GLOW 47. Goethe University Frankfurt. March 28, 2025.
[with Cory Bill, Andreea Nicolae, Kazuko Yatsushiro, Napoleon Katsos, Uli Sauerland] - Omnivorous agreement via post-syntactic overwriting: the object marker in Mundari
Seminar series, University College London. invited talk. March 19, 2025. - Understanding pronouns in Ewe and Yoruba: an experimental study
Incontro di Grammatica Generativa (IGG) 50. University of Padova. February 19-21, 2025. website
[with Silvia Silleresi, Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Johnson Ilori, Anastasia Nuworsu, Maria Teresa Guasti] - What's in a bare noun? On the silence of determiners
OASIS 4, University of York. January 16, 2025. website
[with Abigail Bimpeh and Reggie Duah] - DP/NP distinctions in Kwa languages
ZYKLOP-Kolloquium, Leipzig University. invited talk. January 8, 2025.
Past (selected)
- The interpretation of logophoric and ordinary pronouns in Ewe: an experimental study
Amsterdam Colloquium 24. University of Amsterdam. December 18-20, 2024.
[with Silvia Silleresi, Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Anastasia Nuworsu, Maria Teresa Guasti] - Omnivory and what it can tell us about Agree and phi-features
Puzzles of Agreement: Syntactic, Semantic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives, online conference organized by the University of Bucharest, UMass Amherst, ZAS Berlin and the University of Toronto. invited talk. October 24-25, 2024. - Overt PAST on irregular verbs in child English due to secondary feature negligence
GALA 16. NOVA University of Lisbon. September 12-14, 2024. slides
[with Johannes Hein, Fabienne Martin, Yining Nie] - 'say'-clauses in subject position: observations from Kwa languages
Annual Meeting of the LAGB. Newcastle University. August 27-30, 2024. slides
[with Abigail Bimpeh, Reggie Duah] - Two types of definites – cross-linguistic experimental study
Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Processing and Learning (X-PPL) 6. Universität Zürich. November 6-8, 2023. program
[with Florian Schwarz, Agata Renans, Hasiyatu Abubakari, Dorothy Ahn, Fenna Bergsma, Nattanu Chanchaochai, Reginald Duah, Ljudmila Geist, Mira Grubic, Sampson Korsah, Suet-Ying Lam, Cecile Meier, Yağmur Sağ, Ankana Saha, Radek Šimík, Alexandra Simonenko] - Negative Concord without Agree: Insights from German, Dutch, and English child language
Syntax Kolloquium, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. invited talk. May 12, 2023. slides - The anaphor, the logophor and the phi-features
GGS 47, Workshop in honor of Gisbert Fanselow. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. April 27-29, 2023. poster - Errors of redundancy in child English past tense formation
GLOW 46. Universität Wien & Universität Graz. April 12-14, 2023.
[with Johannes Hein, Fabienne Martin, Yining Nie, Artemis Alexiadou] - Number and definiteness in kinds across languages: Insights from an experimental study
DGfS 45. Universität zu Köln. March 8-10, 2023.
[with Johannes Hein, Desiré Carioti, Jakob Wünsch, Vina Tsakali, Artemis Alexiadou, Uli Sauerland, Maria Teresa Guasti] - Pseudo-noun incorporation and differential object marking: A cross-linguistic study
Syntax Reading Group, Yale University. invited talk. February 10, 2023. slides - As complex as they appear: Children's comprehension of conjunctive expressions in Georgian
NELS 53. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. January 12-14, 2023.
[with Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Tamar Makharoblidze] - An experimental study on kind and generic readings across languages: bare plural vs. definite plural
NELS 53. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. January 12-14, 2023.
[with Johannes Hein, Desiré Carioti, Jakob Wünsch, Vina Tsakali, Artemis Alexiadou, Uli Sauerland, Maria Teresa Guasti] - As complex as they appear: Children's comprehension of conjunctive expressions in Georgian
Amsterdam Colloquium 23. University of Amsterdam. December 19-21, 2022. osf.io/5hgfz
[with Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Tamar Makharoblidze] - An experimental study on kind and generic readings across languages: bare plural vs. definite plural
Amsterdam Colloquium 23. University of Amsterdam. December 19-21, 2022. osf.io/nva3c
[with Johannes Hein, Desiré Carioti, Jakob Wünsch, Vina Tsakali, Artemis Alexiadou, Uli Sauerland, Maria Teresa Guasti] - Negative concord in Dutch, English and German child language
CGSW 36. Chicago University. October 14-15, 2022.
[with Johannes Hein, Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Ivona Ilic, Paloma Jeretic, Astrid van Alem] - Do child languages have negative concord? A corpus study
GALA 15. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. September 22-24, 2022. poster
[with Johannes Hein, Cory Bill, Aurore Gonzalez, Ivona Ilic, Paloma Jeretic] - Strict logophors
Sinn und Bedeutung 27. Charles University, Prague. September 14-16, 2022.
[with Itai Bassi, Abigail Bimpeh, Silvia Silleresi] - Obligatory de se logophors in Ewe, Yoruba and Igbo: variation and competition
WCCFL 40. Stanford University. May 13-14, 2022. osf.io/p8gsv
[with Abigail Bimpeh, Itai Bassi, Silvia Silleresi] - Implicit arguments and their morpho-syntactic effects
Syntax Kolloquium, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. invited talk. May 9, 2022. - Obligatory de se logophors in Ewe, Yoruba and Igbo: variation and competition
GLOW 45. Queen Mary University of London. April 26-29, 2022.
[with Abigail Bimpeh, Itai Bassi, Silvia Silleresi] - C-Agree is local subject-verb agreement in Kipsigis
GLOW 44. organized by the GLOW board. April 15-17, 2021.
[with Maria Kouneli] - <v,t>-type complementation in Kipsigis
WCCFL 39. University of Arizona. April 8-11, 2021.
[with Maria Kouneli] - Verb-y and noun-y complementation in Kipsigis
DGfS 43. Universität Freiburg im Breisgau. February 24-26, 2021. handout
[with Maria Kouneli] - Pseudo-noun incorporation: A DP/VP approach
NELS 50. MIT. October 25-27, 2019. - Adyghe cislocative: Canonical inverse but non-canonical PCC marker
NELS 50. MIT. October 25-27, 2019.
[with Bilal Özdemir and Marie-Luise Popp] - Pseudo-noun incorporation and the DP/NP-distinction
DGfS 41. Universität Bremen. March 6-8, 2019. - On pure focus movement in Syntax - Observations from Limbum
GLOW 41. Hungarian Academy of Sciences. April 11-13, 2018. handout
[with Jude Nformi] - Person Mismatch Agreement
NELS 48. University of Iceland. October 27-29, 2017. - Variable verb positions in German exclamatives
DGfS 39. Universität des Saarlandes. March 8-10, 2017. - Exclamatives and Factivity
Sinn und Bedeutung 20. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. September 9-12, 2015.
Contact information
| Imke Driemel Department of Language and Linguistic Science University of York YO10 5DD York, UK |
|
| Office | V/C/222 |
| Office hours | Wednesday, 11-12, book appointment |
| imke.driemel (at) york (dot) ac (dot) uk | |
| Phone | +44 (0)1904 32 2202 |