Welcome to the homepage of
Marina Nespor

Professor of Linguistics

Until Nov. 1st 2007: Department of Humanities Univeristy of Ferrara

From Nov. 1st 2007: Department of Psychology Univeristy of Milano Bicocca

Marina Nespor's HomePage at Bicocca

Scientific Interests
Most of my research has focussed on the phonological interpretation of syntax, that is, on how the phonological shape of an utterance conveys information about its syntactic structure, the so-called theory of prosodic phonology. The prosodic phonology of language includes segmental rules that apply across words, thus reflecting different degrees of cohesion of the elements of a string, rhythm and intonation. I have been investigating also how prosody can be used in comprehension and during language acquisition. It is plausible, in fact, that those signals that are present in speech to make it comprehensible to listeners, for example by resolving ambiguities, are exploited by infants to acquire the grammar of the language they are exposed to. Since by the time a child starts combining word s/he appears to have learned the appropriate order of words of the language s/he is acquiring, s/he must have understood the main properties of the language of exposure long before then. In order for information about grammar to be available to infants, it must be present in the signal, since infants are not born with knowledge of segmentation or of the words and structures of the language they will eventually speak. It is thus especially perception that must be investigated. I have thus been collaborating with laboratories where experimental work on neonates can be carried out: LSCP in Paris first and SISSA in Trieste presently.

Scientific Activities

• Professor at the University of Amsterdam from 1975 to 1998.
• Professor at HIL (Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics) from 1992 to 1998.
• From 1998 till present ‘Chiara Fama’ Professor at he University of Ferrara
• From 1984 to 1989 member of the GLOW (Generative Linguistics in the Old Worlds) Board and GLOW Chair from 1989-1993.

Presently Member of the Editorial Board of :
Cognition
Lingua
The Linguistic Review
Lingue e Linguaggio
Annali di Lettere dell’Università di Ferrara.

In various years, member of PhD exams in the following institutions:
Cambridge University, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, University of Amsterdam, University of Barcelona, University of Lisbona, University of Nijmegen, University of Utrecht, University of Tilburg.

I am presently involved in the national research project on Linguistic Categories and the Architecture of Mental Representations, in collaboration with linguists of the University of Milan Bicocca (coordinated by G. Chierchia), the University of Siena (coordinated by L. Rizzi), The University of Venice ((coordinated by G. Cinque) and the university of Florence (coordinated by L. Savoia). The specific topic of research with which I am involved concerns the prosodic structure of sentences and their role in the initialisation of language.

My present research is concerned also with the OMML project (ESF grant 2002-2004) The Emergence of Grammar in the Brain: Comparative study of acquisition, processing, and cortical organization of the structural aspects of language in bilingual and monilingual populations. Main collaborator in Italy is Jacques Mehler (SISSA, Trieste). International collaborators are Itziar Laka (University of Victoria), Nuria Sebastian Gallés (University of Barcelona) and Manuel Carreiras (University of Tenerife, La Laguna).

I am also member of  a Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP grant RGP 68/2002) entitled
Human Infant Speech Perception and Language Acquisition, direction J. Werker, University of Vancouver.

Selected List of Publications

Books:

• Nespor, M. and I. Vogel (1986) Prosodic Phonology. Foris: Dordrecht.
• Nespor, M. (1993) Fonologia. Bologna. il Mulino.
• Nespor, M. (ed.) (1996) Phonology between words and phrases. 2 numeri speciali di The Linguistic Review.
• Nespor, M. (1999) Φωνολογiα. Athens. Patakis.
• Nespor, M. and D.J. Napoli (2004) L'animale parlante. Introduzione allo studio del linguaggio. Roma. Carocci.

Articles:

• Nespor, M. and I.Vogel (1979) Clash Avoidance in Italian. Linguistic Inquiry. 10.3. 467-482.
• Napoli, D.J. and M. Nespor (1979) The syntax of word initial consonant gemination in Italian. Language. 55.3. 812-841.
• Nespor, M. and I. Vogel (1982) Prosodic domains of external sandhi rules. in H.v.d.Hulst and Norval Smith (eds.) The Structure of Phonological Representations. Foris. Dordrecht. 225-265.
• Nespor, M. and I. Vogel (1983) Prosodic hierarchies and speech perception. La Percezione del Linguaggio. Studi di Grammatica Italiana. Accademia della Crusca. 341-362.
• Nespor, M. and I. Vogel (1983) Prosodic structure above the word. in A. Cutler and D.R.Ladd (eds.) Prosody: Models and Measurements. Springer Verlag. Berlin. 123-140.
• Nespor, M. (1983) Formal properties in phonology and syntax. Lingua e Stile. XVIII. 3. 343-359.
• Nespor, M. and M. Scorretti (1985) Empty elements and phonological form. in J.Gueron, H.-G.Obenauer and J.-Y.Pollock (eds.). Levels of Grammatical Representation. Foris. Dordrecht. 203.235
• Nespor, M. (1985) The phonological word in Italian. in H.v.d.Hulst and N.Smith (eds.) Advances in Nonlinear Phonology. Foris. Dordrecht. 193-204.
• Nespor, M. (1986) The phonological word in Greek and Italian. in H. Andersen (eds.) Sandhi Phenomena in the Languages of Europe. Mouton. De Gruyter. Berlin. 65-74.
• Nespor, M. (1987) Vowel Degemination and fast speech rules. Phonology Yearbook. 4. 61-85.
• Nespor, M. (1988) Aspects of the interaction between prosodic phonology and the phonology of rhythm. in P.M. Bertinetto and M. Loporcaro (eds.) Certamen Phonologicum. Rosenberg and Sellier. 189-230.
• Nespor, M. and I. Vogel (1989) On clashes and lapses. Phonology. 6. 69-116.
• Nespor, M. (1989) On the separation of prosodic and rhythmic phonology. in S. Inkelas and D. Zec (eds.) The Phonology Syntax Connection. CSLI Stanford. 243-258.
• Nespor, M. 1990) On the rhythm parameter in phonology. in I.Roca (eds.) The Logical Problem of Language Acquisition. Foris. Dordrecht. 157-176.
• Nespor, M. (1990) Vowel deletion in Italian and the organization of the phonological component. The Linguistic Review. 375-398.
• Nespor, M. and A. Ralli (1994) Stress domains in Greek compounds: a case of morphology phonology interaction. in I. Philippaki-Warburton, K. Nicolaidis and M. Sifianou (eds.) Themes in Greek Linguistics. Amsterdam. Benjamins. 201-208.
• Nespor, M. (1995) The role of the phonological phrase for syntactic access. Proceedings of ABRALIN 1994. 97- 100.
• Christophe, A., M. Nespor and M.-T. Guasti (1995) The role of prosody in language acquisition. Proceedings of the Meeting of European Neuroscience. Amsterdam. 54.
• Nespor, M. and A. Ralli (1996) Morphology - Phonology interface: phonological domains in Greek compounds. The Linguistic Review. 357-382.
• Nespor, M., M.T. Guasti and A. Christophe (1996) Selecting word order: the Rhythmic Activation Principle. in U. Kleinhenz (eds.) Interfaces in Phonology. Berlin. Akademie Verlag. 1-26
• Cappa, S., M. Nespor, W. Ielasi, C. Toninelli and A. Miozzo (1997) The representation of stress: evidence from an aphasic patient. Cognition. 65. 1-13.
• Nespor, M. (1999) Stress domains. in H. van der Hulst (ed.) Word Prosodies. EUROTYP. Theme Group 9. Berlin. Mouton. 117-160.
• Nespor, M. (1999) The phonology of Clitic Groups. in H. van Riemsdijk (ed.) Clitics. EUROTYP. Theme Group 8. Berlin. Mouton. 865-890.
• Nespor, M. (1999) The Acquisition of Phonology. The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. 641-643.
• Ramus, F., M. Nespor and J. Mehler (1999) Correlates of linguistic rhythm in the speech signal. Cognition. 73. 265-292.
• Nespor, M. and W. Sandler (1999) Prosody in Israeli Sign Language. Language and Speech. 143-176.
• Guasti, M.T. and M. Nespor (1999) Is syntax Phonology-free? in R. Kager and W. Zonneveld (eds.) Phrasal Phonology. Nijmegen. Nijmegen University Press. 125-159.
• Guasti, M.-T., M. Nespor, A. Christophe and B. van Ooyen (2000) Prelexical setting of the head - complement parameter through prosody. in J. Weissenborn e B. Hoehle (eds.) How to get into Language: Approaches to Bootstrapping in Early Language Development. John Benjamins. Amsterdam. 231-248.
• Nespor, M. (2001) About parameters, prominence and bootstrapping. In E. Dupoux (ed.) Language Brain and Cognitive Development. Essays in Honour of Jacques Mehler. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press. 127-142.
• Nespor, M. e M.-T. Guasti (2002) Focus to stress alignment. Lingue e Linguaggio. 1. 79-106.
• Peña, M., L. Bonatti, M. Nespor and J. Mehler (2002) Signal-driven computations in speech processing. Science. 298(5593), 604-607.
• Christophe, A., M. Nespor, E. Dupoux, M.-T. Guasti and B. v. Ooyen (2002) Reflexions on prosodic bootstrapping: its role for lexical and syntactic acquisition. Developmental Science. to appear.
• Donati, C. e M. Nespor (to appear) From focus to syntax. Lingua.
• Nespor, M., J. Mehler and M. Peña (2003) On the different role of vowels and consonants in language processing and language acquisition. Lingue e Linguaggio. 221-247.
• Mehler, J. and M. Nespor (2004) Linguistic rhythm and the development of language. In A. Belletti (ed.) Structures and Beyond. The Carthography of Syntactic Structures. Vol. 3. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 213-222.
• Sebastian-Gallés, N., M. Nespor and J. Mehler (2003) In M. Gazzaniga (ed.) Biological founfations of language: language acquisition, cues ti parameter setting and the bilingual infant. The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Third edition. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press.
• Mehler, J., and M. Nespor and M. Peña (2004) Why is language unique to humans? In M. Crair and J. Pomerantz (eds.) Topics in Integrative Neuroscience: From Cells to Cognition. Cambridge. CUP.