Seth Cable

Professor of Linguistics

Affiliated Faculty
Seth Cable
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Location
ILC N426

Professional Bio

Seth Cable received his PhD from MIT in 2007. Prior to that, he earned an MS in Formal Logic from the University of Amsterdam in 2002. Before joining the faculty at UMass, Cable held a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia. 

He is an associate editor for International Journal of American Linguistics, and a past associate editor of the Journal of Semantics. He also serves on the editorial board for Linguistic Inquiry and Semantics and Pragmatics. 

RESEARCH AREAS

  • Semantics
  • Syntax
  • Fieldwork
  • Na-Dene Languages
  • Tlingit

PUBLICATIONS

Books:

  • (2010) The Grammar of Q: Q-Particles, Wh-Movement and Pied-Piping. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 
  • (2006) Syncope in the Verbal Prefixes of Tlingit: Meter and Surface Phonotactics. Lincom Studies in Native American Linguistics. Lincom Europa. München.

Selected Journal Articles:

  • (2017) "The Expression of Modality in Tlingit:  A Paucity of Grammatical Devices."  International Journal of American Linguistics 83(4):  619-678.
  • (2017) "The Implicature of Optional Past Tense in Tlingit and Its Implications for 'Discontinuous Past'."  Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 35(3):  635-681.
  • (2014) “Distributive Numerals and Distance Distributivity in Tlingit (and Beyond).” Language 90(4): 562-606. 
  • (2014) “Reflexives, Reciprocals and Contrast.” Journal of Semantics 31: 1-41. 
  • (2013) “Beyond the Past, Present and Future: Towards the Semantics of ‘Graded Tense’ in Gikuyu.” Natural Language Semantics 21: 219-276.
  • (2012) “The Optionality of Movement and EPP in Dholuo.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 30(3): 651-697.
  • (2011) “Insubordination in Tlingit: An Areal Effect?” Northwest Journal of Linguistics 5: 1-38. 
  • (2010) “Against the Existence of Pied-Piping: Evidence from Tlingit.” Linguistic Inquiry 41(4): 563-594.

Selected Book Chapters:

  • (2009) “The Syntax of the Tibetan Correlative.” In Liptak, Aniko (ed) Correlatives CrossLinguistically. John Benjamins. Amsterdam. 
  • (2008) “Question Particles and the Nature of Wh-Fronting.” In Matthewson, Lisa (ed) Quantification: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. North Holland Linguistic Series: Linguistic Variations Volume 64. Emerald. Bingley, UK.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

Recipient of the 2012 Linguistic Society of America Early Career Award