My work focuses on the interface between syntax and morphology and syntax and semantics. Icelandic is the language that I have investigated most closely and I am currently working on a large-scale project which investigates the distribution and interpretation of ditransitive verbs in Icelandic and Faroese. I am the co-PI, along with Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson at the University of Iceland. The rest of the project team is comprised of Hjalmar P. Petersen at the University of the Faroe Islands, Einar Freyr Sigurðsson at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, Jim Wood at Yale, and Nicole Dehé at the University of Konstanz.

Through generous funding from the Humanities Center and the Dean of the College Office at Carleton College, several Carleton students have also contributed to the project – Alex Zhai (’20), Anna Grove (’21), Marcella Jurotich (’21), Zach Kulstad (’21), Helen Murphy (’21), Jack Uchitel (’22), Isabella Cha (’23).

  • Ussery.Petersen.prepub.In press. (347.4KB PDF Document)
    With Hjalmar P. Petersen. Ditransitives in Faroese: The distribution of IO/DO and PP. Manuscript to appear in T. Colleman, M. Röthlisberger, and E. Zehentner eds. Ditransitive Constructions in the Germanic Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Acceptability and Interpretation. Ditransitives in Insular Scandinavian.NGL Talk. (2021) (63.6MB PDF Document)
    Presentation at the 12th International Conference of Nordic and General Linguistics. Oslo, Norway.
  • Scope in Faroese Ditransitives (2021) (5.1MB PDF Document)
    With Hjalmar P. Petersen. Handout for talk presented at the Ditransitives Across Languages and Frameworks workshop at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the German Linguistic Society. Freiburg, Germany.
  • Inversion as Rightward-Dative Shift in Icelandic Ditransitives (2018) (220.4KB PDF Document)
    11 September 2018
    Proceedings paper for NELS 48
  • R-Dative Shift in Icelandic, NELS 48 Handout (2017) (283.7KB PDF Document)
    4 December 2017
    This talk outlines the word order facts for ditransitives in Icelandic and provides an analysis of argument inversion based on Bruening’s (2010b) proposal for some ditransitives in English.
  • Double Objects Again…but in Icelandic (2017) (161.5KB PDF Document)
    30 August 2017
    This paper outlines some of the facts and complexities surrounding the DP-DP and DP-PP alternations in Icelandic double object constructions. This paper appears in: LaCara, Nicholas; Moulton, Keir; and Tessier, Anne-Michelle, “A Schrift to Fest Kyle Johnson” (2017). Linguistics Open Access Publications. 1. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7275/R57D2S95
  • Dimensions of Variation: Agreement with Nominative Objects in Icelandic (2017) (393.9KB PDF Document)
    30 August 2017
    This paper is based on fieldwork and details inter-speaker and intra-speaker variation in dative-nominative constructions in Icelandic. This paper appears in: Z. Hansen, C. Heycock, H. Petersen, and H. Thráinsson, eds. “Syntactic Variation in Insular Scandinavian” (2017). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Agreement and the Icelandic Passive (2015) (537.2KB PDF Document)
    3 March 2016
    This paper explores the contrast between optional agreement in dative-nominative active sentences in Icelandic and obligatory agreement in dative-nominative passives. Linguistic Analysis 40(1-2): 19-53.
  • Agreement and the Icelandic Passive-LSA 2013 extended abstract (334.3KB PDF Document)
    19 March 2013
    This is the extended abstract from my 2013 LSA talk. I account for obligatory agreement in passives and optional agreement in constructions with a middle interpretation.
  • Agreement and the Icelandic Passive-LSA 2013 handout (414.4KB PDF Document)
    19 March 2013
    This is the handout for my 2013 LSA talk.
  • Variability in Icelandic Agreement: an Interaction of DP Licensing and Multiple Agree (2013) (279.5KB PDF Document)
    30 November 2012
    This is the proceedings paper from NELS 40. I provide an account of the systematic degradation in agreement in different kinds of dative-nominative constructions. This paper appears in: Proceedings of the 40th Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society. Amherst: University of Massachusetts. [Distributed by GLSA].
  • Case and Phi Features as Probes (2012) (206.6KB PDF Document)
    30 November 2012
    This is the proceedings paper from WCCFL 39. I provide an analysis of obligatory case assignment and optional agreement in dative-nominative constructions in Icelandic. This paper appears in: Proceedings of 29th Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Working Papers in Linguistics. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Coyote Papers.
  • What it Means to Agree: The Behavior of Case and Phi Features in Icelandic Control (2008) (175.4KB PDF Document)
    30 November 2012
    This is the proceedings paper from WCCFL 35. I provide an analysis of agreement in some Icelandic infinitival constructions. This paper appears in: Proceedings of the 26th Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.