Abstract Monotonicity is a staple of semantics, but has occasionally also made an appearance in other domains (cf. Fox & Pesetsky 2005). In this talk, I argue that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that monotonicity plays a central role in morphology and syntax as a third factor that arises from learnability considerations. The approach posits underlying hierarchies, for instance positive < comparative < superlative for adjectival gradation, which are mapped into some other algebra, e.g. surface forms or degrees of acceptability. Requiring these maps to be monotonic rules out a large number of possible configurations. This provides a unified perspective on a surprising number of phenomena: *ABA effects in morphology, the Person Case Constraint, the Ban Against Improper Movement, the Ban Against Improper Case, the Ban Against Excorporation, the Adjunct Island Constraint and the Coordinate Structure Constraint, their exceptions in the form of parasitic gaps and across-the-board movement, freezing effects, 3/4 splits in typology (e.g. with expletive negation), the absence of anti-omnivorous number, and much more. Crucially, monotonicity does not supplant existing analyses of these phenomena, it supplements them. Monotonicity is the high-level principle that ties the phenomena together, whereas existing analyses hash out how this abstract principle is operationalized in terms of the grammatical machinery.

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Monotonicity as a Third Factor in Syntax and Morphology

Sun 15 March 2026 | in Presentations |
| monotonicity | syntax | morphology | *ABA | person case constraint | negation | ban on improper movement | complexity |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Monotonicity is a staple of semantics, but has occasionally also made an appearance in other domains (cf. Fox & Pesetsky 2005). In this talk, I argue that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that monotonicity plays a central role in …
read more
Formal and Substantive Universals Across Language Modules

Sun 15 March 2026 | in Presentations |
| monotonicity | syntax | morphology | *ABA | person case constraint | negation | ban on improper movement | complexity |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Monotonicity is a staple of semantics, but has occasionally also made an appearance in other domains (cf. Fox & Pesetsky 2005). In this talk, I argue that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that monotonicity plays a central role in …
read more
Monotonicity as an Effective Theory of Morphosyntactic Variation

Wed 24 October 2018 | in Papers |
| monotonicity | algebra | morphology | morphosyntax | syncretism | typology | *ABA | PCC | Gender Case Constraint |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract One of the major goals of linguistics is to delineate the possible range of variation across languages. Recent work has identified a surprising number of typological gaps in a variety of domains. In morphology, this includes stem suppletion, person pronoun syncretism, case …
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Graph Transductions and Typological Gaps in Morphological Paradigms

Fri 14 July 2017 | in Presentations |
| morphology | morphosyntax | typology | person hierarchy | person case constraint | subregular | transductions | *ABA |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Several typological gaps have attracted a lot of interest in the linguistic literature recently. These concern the Person Case Constraint and the absence of ABA patterns in adjectival gradation, pronoun suppletion, case syncretism, and singular noun allomorphy, among others. This paper is …
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Graph Transductions and Typological Gaps in Morphological Paradigms

Sat 01 July 2017 | in Papers |
| morphology | morphosyntax | typology | person hierarchy | person case constraint | subregular | transductions | *ABA |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Several typological gaps have attracted a lot of interest in the linguistic literature recently. These concern the Person Case Constraint and the absence of ABA patterns in adjectival gradation, pronoun suppletion, case syncretism, and singular noun allomorphy, among others. This paper is …
read more
Do We Need Features for Morphosyntax?

Mon 26 June 2017 | in Presentations |
| morphology | morphosyntax | typology | person hierarchy | person case constraint | subregular | features | transductions | *ABA |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Bobaljik & Sauerland’s *ABA and the Combinatorics of Morphological Features attempts to explain the absence of ABA patterns across languages in terms of feature combinatorics. Their approach marks a step in the right direction by focusing on the algebra underlying the feature …
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