- Academics
- Schools
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Departments
- English
- Faculty
- Detailed Information
Jonathan Nissenbaum
Lecturer
English
Location: 1209 Ingersoll Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x3494
Fax: 718.951.4612
Email:
Jon Nissenbaum earned his Ph.D. under the supervision of Noam Chomsky and David Pesetsky. Before joining the faculty at Brooklyn College, he held positions at Harvard, McGill, and Syracuse universities. His research has been funded by the NIH/NIDCD as well as the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et culture. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistic theory at both introductory and advanced levels.
Education:
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 2000 (Linguistics)
Areas of Expertise:
Nissenbaum's research focuses chiefly on syntax and semantics: the abstract structures that are formed subconsciously during language comprehension and production, and how these structures help determine sentence meaning. He is also interested in phonetic representation, and has a project that uses MRI to capture the movements of vocal articulators during speech production, with a focus on how speakers configure their vocal folds to achieve linguistically relevant changes in pitch.
Books and Publications
Hackl, M. and J. Nissenbaum. "A Modal Ambiguity in For-infinitival Relative Clauses." Natural Language Semantics 20.1: 59-81. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
Nissenbaum, J. and B. Schwarz. "Parasitic Degree Phrases." Natural Language Semantics 19.1: 1-38. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
Nissenbaum, J. and B. Schwarz. "Infinitivals With Too: Degree Operator Scope and Parasitic Gaps." Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory XVIII. Eds. T. Friedman and S. Ito. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University. 551-68. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
Nissenbaum, J. and B. Schwarz. "Two Puzzles About Infinitivals With Too." Proceedings of the 27th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics.. Eds. N. Abner and J. Bishop. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. 344-52. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2008
Fox, D. and J. Nissenbaum. "Extraposition and Scope: A Case for Overt QR." Syntax: Critical Concepts in Linguistics, Vol. III. Eds. R. Friedin and H. Lasnik. Routledge. 51-64. (Reprint of article in WCCFL 18.) (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2006
Hiraga, M. and J. Nissenbaum. "Sloppy Readings of a 'Referential Pronoun' in Japanese." Proceedings of the 7th Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics. Ed. Y. Otsu. Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo Publishing. 121-44. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2006
"Kissing Pedro Martinez: (Existential) Anankastic Conditionals and Rationale Clauses." Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory XV. Eds. E. Georgala and J. Howell. Ithaca, N.Y.: CLC Publications. 134-51. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2005
Fox, D. and J. Nissenbaum. "Condition A and Scope Reconstruction." Linguistic Inquiry 35.3: 475-85. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2004
Fox, D. and J. Nissenbaum. "VP Ellipsis and the Position of Adverbs." Snippets 7: 7-8. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2003
"Covert Movement and Parasitic Gaps." Proceedings of the 30th Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistics Society. Eds. M. Hirotani. Amherst, Mass.: GLSA Publications. 541-55. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2000
Fox, D. and J. Nissenbaum. "Extraposition and Scope: A Case for Overt QR." Proceedings of the 18th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Eds. S. Bird et al. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Press. 132-44. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 1999
"Derived Predicates and the Interpretation of Parasitic Gaps." Proceedings of the 17th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Eds. K. Shahin et al. Stanford, Calif.: CSLI Publications. 507-21. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 1998
"Movement and Derived Predicates: Evidence From Parasitic Gaps." The Interpretive Tract. Eds. O. Percus and U. Sauerland. MITWPL 25: 247-95. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 1998
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation), New Opportunities Fund, for "High-speed Imaging of the Vocal Tract in Motion: A Research Laboratory for Investigating the Articulatory Control of Speech Intonation and Prosody." $140,797; five years. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
FQRSC, Établissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheur grant, for "Parametric Variation in Syntactic Rule-ordering in the Derivation of Interrogative Sentences." $39,000; three years. (Final year suspended due to nonresident status.) (Grants and Fellowships) 2004
NIH / NIDCD, National Research Service Award, for "Articulatory Mechanisms for Pitch and Voicing Contrasts." $46,420. Declined. (Grants and Fellowships) 2003
NIH / NIDCD, National Research Service Award. for "Studies on the Use of Strap Muscles for Consonant Voicing." $71,580; two years. (Grants and Fellowships) 2001
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Gilbert, G., J. Nissenbaum and G. Beaudoin. "Dynamic Imaging of the Vocal Tract Using a Cine-MRI Sequence: Protocol Optimization and Evaluation" poster. 19th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Montreal, May 9-13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Articulatory vs. Acoustic Representation of Tone" poster. 12th Conference on Laboratory Phonology. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. July 8-10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"Pseudo Pseudo-scope." MIT Linguistics Colloquium Series. Nov. 19. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Tone in Cantonese: Articulatory vs. Acoustic Representation." 18th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics. Harvard University. Cambridge, Mass., May 20-22. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2010
"Tone and Register as Articulatory Parameters: Evidence From Cantonese." Annual Meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. May 31-June 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
"Phases, Islands and Interfaces." McGill's Canadian Conference for Linguistics Undergraduates. McGill University. Montreal, March 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Decomposing Resultatives: Two Kinds of Restitutive Readings With Again." North East Linguistic Society 37. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Oct. 13-15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
"Cyclic Spellout and Wh-movement: A Derivational Approach to Islands and Language Variation." Concordia University linguistics Colloquium Series. Mar. 11. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"Fake Raccoon Soup: The Re-appearance of the Wily Initial Low-tone in Japanese Compounds." Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto Phonology Workshop. McGill University. Montreal, Feb. 13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"States, Events and VP Structure: Evidence From Purposive Adjuncts." North East Linguistic Society 36. University of Massachusetts. Amherst, Mass., Oct. 28-30. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
Nissenbaum, J. and G. Poliquin. "The Use of MRI Motion Pictures in the Study of Articulation." International Workshop in Phonetics Dedicated to the Memory of Farkas Kempelin. Budapest, Hungary, March 11-13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2004
"Covert Movement and Condition A." Linguistic Society of America. Atlanta, Jan. 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2003
"High-speed MRI of the Moving Vocal Tract: An Inventory of Gestures for Tone Production." MIT Speech Communication Group Seminar Series. March 19. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2003
"Interpretation by Phase." MIT Workshop on phases and the EPP. Jan. 18. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2003
Nissenbaum, J., J. Kan, J. Kirsch, J. Kobler, H. Curtin, M. Halle and R. Hillman. "Dynamic Imaging of Laryngeal Gestures Using High-speed MRI to Study Cantonese Speakers' Production of Tones." Linguistic Society of America. Atlanta, Jan. 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2003
Nissenbaum, J., R. Hillman, J. Kobler, H. Curtin, M. Halle and J. Kirsch. "High-speed Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Laryngeal Gestures During Speech Production" poster. Acoustical Society of America 143rd Meeting. Pittsburgh, June 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2002
Hackl, M. and J. Nissenbaum. "The Syntax and Semantics of Infinitival Relatives." Conference on Tense and Mood Selection. Bergamo, Italy. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 1999
Hackl, M. and J. Nissenbaum. "Variable Modal Force in For-infinitival Relative Clauses." Conference on Non-lexical Semantics. University of Paris. May 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 1998
Other Professional Activities
Reviewer, Linguistic Inquiry. 2013
Abstract reviewer, North East Linguistic Society. 2012
Abstract reviewer, Sinn und Bedeutung. 2012
Abstract reviewer, Semantics and Linguistic Theory. 2011
Reviewer, Syntax. 2010
Textbook reviewer, Pearson, Canada. 2010
Abstract reviewer, Western Conference on Linguistics. 2007
Reviewer, The Linguistic Review. 2004
Reviewer, Lingua. 2002
Abstract reviewer, Formal Approaches to Japanese Linguistics. 2001
