Publications

To Appear

• Howitt, K., Scontras, G., and M. Polinsky. English restrictive relative clauses are subject to crossover violations. Linguistic Inquiry. 
• Polinsky, M. Minimalism and bilingualism. In K. Grohmann (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Minimalist Theory.
• Comrie, B., and M. Polinsky. Tsez. In Yuri Koryakov, Yury Lander and Timur Maisak (eds.)  The Caucasian Languages. An International Handbook. Mouton. HSK series.
• Chen V., Polinsky, M., and Potsdam, E. Austronesian syntax. In B. Palmer (ed.) Languages of Oceania.
• Chen, V. and M. Polinsky. Gender distinctions and classifiers in Austronesian languages. In Tanja Kupisch and Niels Schiller (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Classifiers.

2026

• Burukina, Irina, Marcel den Dikken, Maria Polinsky. Transitivity in flux: The role of Voice and v in Dutch. Glossa

2025

• Ranero, Rodrigo, Scontras, Gregory and Polinsky, Maria. Weak crossover in Spanish relative clauses. Probus. 
• Pleshak, P., and M. Polinsky.  Functional typology and formal comparative syntax. In S. Barbiers, N. Corver, and M. Polinsky (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.
• S. Barbiers, N. Corver, and M. Polinsky (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax. Cambridge: CUP .
• Polinsky, M. Multiple grammars within linguistic populations: Distributions and theoretical implications. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.24052.pol
• Polinsky, M. Heritage language gaps. In R. D’Alessandro, M. Putnam, and S. Terenghi (eds.) Heritage languages and linguistic theory, 83-107. Oxford: OUP.
• Burukina, I., and M. Polinsky. The antipassive and verbal projections. Journal of Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226725000064
• Fuchs, Z., Parshina, O., Sekerina, I. & Polinsky, M. Processing of verbal versus adjectival agreement: Implications for syntax and psycholinguistics. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 10(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.11173

2024

• Polinsky, M. Russian without borders. In Irina Dubinina et al. (eds.) Russian as a heritage language. London: Routledge.
• Polinsky, M. and M. Putnam (eds.) Formal approaches to complexity in heritage language grammars. Berlin: Language Science Press
• Polinsky, M. Understanding applicatives. In F. Zuniga and D. Creissels (eds.) Applicative Constructions in the World’s Languages, Berlin, Boston: De GruyterMouton. https//doi.org/10.1515/9783110730951
• G. Moroz and M. Polinsky. Applicatives cross-linguistically: Features anddistribution. In F. Zuniga and D. Creissels (eds.) Applicative Constructions in theWorld’s Languages, Berlin, Boston: De GruyterMouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110730951
• Z. Fuchs, M.Polinsky and G. Scontras. Explaining gender: Lessons from heritage Spanish. In K. Grohmann (ed.) Multifaceted multilingualism, 292-326, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

2023

• Polinsky, M. Experimental syntax and linguistic fieldwork. In John Sprouse (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Experimental Syntax, 97-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• I. Burukina and M. Polinsky. Implicit objects in Kaqchikel, with a special emphasis on antipassives. Paper presented at the conference on null objects. NOCroDeP, Frankfurt Edition. December 8, 2023

• M. Polinsky, H. Kurokami, and E. Potsdam. Exceptive constructions in Japanese. In M. Koizumi (ed.) Issues in Japanese Experimental Syntax. Berlin: de Gruyter.
• Fridman, C., Polinsky, M., and N. Meir. Cross-linguistic influence meets diminished input: A comparative study of heritage Russian in contact with Hebrew and English. Second Language Research.
• Polinsky, M. The future of experimental syntax. In John Sprouse (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Experimental Syntax, 643-663. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Polinsky, M. Antipassive: The golden jubilee. Paper presented at the “Total Linguistic Fact”, Harvard, March 2023.
• Polinsky, M., M. T. Putnam, and J. Salmons. Introduction. In Polinsky, M., and M. T. Putnam, eds. Formal Approaches to Complexity in Heritage Language Grammars.
• Polinsky, M., and M. T. Putnam, eds. Formal Approaches to Complexity in Heritage Language Grammars. Berlin: Language Science Press.

2022

• Polinsky M. Some remarks on Spanish in the bilingual world. Journal of World Languages, 9, 1
• Lau, E., R. Asatiani, N. Clarke, M. Socolof, and M. Polinsky. A subject relative clause preference in a split-ergative language: ERP evidence from Georgian. Brain and Language 2022, 236, 1051
• Lau, E, Polinsky, M, Clarke, N and Socolof, M. On the representation of morphosyntactic predictions: ERP evidence from Georgian. Issues in Kartvelian Studies.
• Ivanova-Sullivan, T., Sekerina, I., Tofighi, D., and M. Polinsky. Language-Internal Reanalysis of Clitic Placement in Heritage Grammars. Languages 2022, 7, 24.

2021

• Polinsky, M. Noun classes and noun class agreement in East Caucasian languages: Online lecture, December 29, 2021
• Kupisch, T and Polinsky, M. Language history on fast forward: Innovations in heritage languages and diachronic change. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-12. doi:10.1017/S1366728921000997
• Montrul, S and Polinsky, M. (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108766340
• Polinsky, M. Some remarks on the Nakh-Dagestanian affective construction. In Timur Maysak et al. (eds.) Durqasi xazna. Festschrift for Rasul Mutalov, 299-323. Moscow: Institute for Linguistics.
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. Tongan VOS: Coordination plus ellipsis? Proceedings of AFLA 27
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. Deriving VOS from VSO in Tongan. In. L. Clemens & D. Massam (eds.) Polynesian Syntax and its Interfaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2020

• Rao, R, Fuchs, Z, Polinsky, M, and Luisa Parra, M. The Sound Pattern of Heritage Spanish: An Exploratory Study on the Effects of a Classroom Experience. Languages, 5(4), 72. DOI: 10.3390/languages5040072
• Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus, ed. Maria Polinsky. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Polinsky, M. Introduction. In Maria Polinsky (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Polinsky, M and Magyar, L. Headedness and the Lexicon: The Case of Verb-to-Noun Ratios. Languages, 5(1), 9. DOI: 10.3390/languages5010009
• Polinsky, M and Scontras, G. Understanding heritage languages. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(1), 4-20. DOI: 10.1017/S1366728919000245
• Polinsky, M and Scontras, G. A roadmap for heritage language research. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(1), 50-55. DOI: 10.1017/S1366728919000555

2019

• Levin, T and Polinsky M. Morphology in Austronesian Languages. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.527
• Meir, N and Polinsky, M. Restructuring in heritage grammars: Adjective-noun and numeral-noun expressions in Israeli Russian. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism: Online-First Articles. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18069.mei.
• Polinsky, M and Preminger, O. The Agreement Theta Generalization. Glossa, 4(1): 1-17.
• Polinsky, M. Field stations for linguistic research: A blueprint of a sustainable model. Language, 95 (2): e327-e338. DOI: doi:10.1353/lan.2019.0045
• Montrul, S and Polinsky, M. Introduction to heritage language development. In The Oxford Handbook of Language Attrition, edited by M. Schmid and B. Köpcke. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Omaki, A; Fukuda, S; Nakao, C; and Polinsky, M. Subextraction in Japanese and Subject-Object Symmetry. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory.
• Polinsky, M. When agreement and binding go their separate ways: Generic second person pronoun in Russian. In Perspectives on Morphology, Papers in Honor of Greville G. Corbett, edited by Matthew Baerman, Oliver Bond, and Andrew Hippisley. Edinburgh University Press.
• Potsdam, E and Polinsky, M. “Clausal and Phrasal Exceptives”, Poster at GLOW-42, Oslo, May 2019.

2018

• Fukuda, S; Nakao, C; Omaki, A; and Polinsky, M. Revisiting Subject-Object Asymmetry: Subextraction in Japanese. Formal Approaches to Altaic Linguistics (MITWPL 87).
• Borise, L. and Polinsky, M. Focus without movement: syntax-prosody interface in Georgian. Proceedings of North-East Linguistic Society (NELS) 48.
• Longenbaugh, N. and Polinsky, M. Equidistance returns. The Linguistic Review, First online, DOI: http://doi.org/10.1515/tlr-2018-0002
• Polinsky M. “On the role of [PERSON]”  In Freezing: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Domains. [Studies in Generative Grammar 130], edited by Jutta M. Hartmann, Marion Jäger, Andreas Kehl, Andreas Konietzko, Susanne Winkler. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Parra M L; Bravo M L; Polinsky M. De bueno a muy bueno: How Pedagogical Intervention Boosts Language Proficiency in Advanced Heritage Learners. Heritage Language Journal 15, 2:203-241.
• Polinsky, M. Heritage Languages and Their Speakers. Cambridge University Press.
• Polinsky, M. Sign Languages in the Context of Heritage Language: A New Direction in Language Research. Sign Language Studies 18: 412-428.
• Lau, E; Clarke, N; Socolof, M; Asatiani, R; Polinsky, M. Early (predictive) detection of conflicting constraints? ERP evidence from Georgian. CUNY 2018, UC Davis.
• Scontras, G., Polinsky, M., & Fuchs, Z. In support of representational economy: Agreement in heritage Spanish. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 3(1), 1. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.164

2017

• Polinsky M. Syntactic ergativity. The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, second edition.
• Clemens, LE and Polinsky, M. Verb-initial word orders (primarily in Austronesian and Mayan languages). The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, second edition.
• Orfitelli, R.; Polinsky, M. When Performance Masquerades as Comprehension: Grammaticality Judgments in Experiments with Non-Native Speakers. In Kopotev, Mikhail, Olga Lyashevskaya, Arto Mustajoki (eds). Quantitative Approaches to the Russian Language. London: Routledge.
• Polinsky, M. Antipassive. In: The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity (eds. Jessica Coon, Diane Massam, and Lisa Travis). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Longenbaugh, N and Polinsky, M. Experimental approaches to ergative languages.  In: The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity (eds. Jessica Coon, Diane Massam, and Lisa Travis). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Laleko, O and Polinsky, M. 2017. Silence is difficult: On missing elements in bilingual grammars. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 36: 135–163.
• Scontras, G; Polinsky, M; Tsai, E. C.-Y.; and Mai, K. Cross-Linguistic Scope Ambiguity: When Two Systems Meet. Glossa.
• Polinsky, M; Radkevich, N; and Chumakina, M. Agreement between arguments? Not really. In: Verbal domain (eds. Roberta Alessandro, Irene France, and Ángel J. Gallego). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 49-85
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. A Preliminary Look at Exceptives in Tahitian. Ostrove, Jason; Kramer, Ruth; & Sabbagh, Joseph eds. (2017). Asking the Right Questions: Essays in Honor of Sandra Chung. UC Santa Cruz.

2016

• Polinsky, M. Bilingual children and adult heritage speakers: The range of comparison. International Journal of Bilingualism 22, 5: 547-563. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916656048
• Rakhilina, E; Vyrenkova, A; and Polinsky, M. Linguistic creativity in heritage speakers. Glossa, 1(1): 43. 1-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.90.
• Fukuda, S; Nakao, C; Omaki, A; and Polinsky, M. Japanese Subjects and Objects are Equally Open to Subextraction. Why?. MITWPL.
• Polinsky, M. Agreement in Archi from a minimalist perspective. In: Archi: complexities of agreement in cross-theoretical perspective (eds. Oliver Bond et al). 184-232. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Polinsky, M. Structure vs. Use in Heritage Language. Linguistics Vanguard.
• Polinsky, M. Deconstructing Ergativity: Two Types of Ergative Languages and Their Features. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Polinsky, M. Looking ahead. In: Advances in Spanish as a Heritage Language (ed. Diego Pascual y Cabo), 325-343. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Laleko, O and Polinsky, M. Between syntax and discourse: Topic and case marking in heritage speakers and L2 learners of Japanese and Korean. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. 6: 396 – 439.
• Longenbaugh, N. and M. Polinsky. 2016. The processing of long-distance dependencies in Niuean. In H. Hsieh (ed.) AFLA 22: The Proceedings of the 22nd Meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association, 98-120. Canberra: The Australian National University.

2015

• Polinsky, M. Embedded finite complements, indexical shift and binding in Tsez. Languages of the Caucasus, 1(1): 1-37.
• Potsdam, E and Polinsky, M. Information questions in Malagasy dialects: Official Malagasy and Antakarana. Cahiers linguistiques de Western [Western Papers in Linguistics], 1(1): Article 6. DOI: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wpl_clw/vol1/iss1/6/.
• Scontras, G; Fuchs, Z; and Polinsky, M. Heritage language and linguistic theory. Frontiers in Psychology 6.
• Fuchs, Z; Polinsky, M; and Scontras, G. The Differential Representation of Number and Gender in Spanish. The Linguistic Review 32: 703-737.
• Polinsky, M. Heritage languages and their speakers: State of the field, challenges, perspectives for future work, and methodologies. Zeitschrift fuer Fremdsprachwissenschaft 26:7-27.
• Polinsky, M. Tsez Syntax: A Description. Manuscript. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. 
• Boon, E and Polinsky, M. From silence to voice: Empowering heritage language speakers in the 21 century. Informes del Observatorio / Observatorio’s Report. Instituto Cervantes at Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
• Polinsky, M. When L1 becomes an L3: Assessing grammatical knowledge in heritage speakers/learners. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 18:163-178.
• Clemens, LE; Coon, J; Mateo, Pedro P; Morgan, AM; Polinsky, M; Tandet, G; and Wagers M. Ergativity and the complexity of extraction: A view from Mayan. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33: 417-467.

2014

• Schwartz, M; Minkov, M; Dieser, E; Protassova, E; Moin, V; and Polinsky, M. Acquisition of Russian gender agreement by monolingual and bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19(6), 726-752. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006914544989.
• Polinsky, M and Radkevich, N. Biabsolutives in Archi in LSA 88. Minneapolis, MN.
• Fuchs, Z; Polinsky, M; and Scontras, G. The Differential Representation of Number and Gender in Spanish, in GLOW 37. Brussels.
• Scontras, G; Polinsky, M; Tsai, E. C.-Y.; and Mai, K. Prohibiting Inverse Scope: An Experimental Study in Chinese and English. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 18.
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. Information questions in Malagasy dialects. “Dialectal variation in Madagascar”. Western Papers in Linguistics (Cahiers linguistiques de Western) 1:6.
• Gagliardi, A; Goncalves, M; Polinsky, M; and Radkevich, N. The Biabsolutive Construction in Lak and Tsez. Lingua 150:137-170.
• Tsai, E; Scontras, G; Mai, K; and Polinsky, M. Prohibiting inverse scope. Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics 10. Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris.
• Polinsky, M and Preminger, O. Case and grammatical relations. Routledge Handbook of Syntax. 150-166.
• Fukuda, S and Polinsky, M. Licensing of Floating Nominal Modifiers and Unaccusativity in Japanese. In Proceedings of the 31st West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. Left edge topics in Russian and the processing of anaphoric dependencies. Journal of Linguistics 50: 627-669.

2013

• Benmamoun, E; Montrul, S; and Polinsky, M. Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics 39: 129-181.
• Benmamoun, E; Montrul, S; and Polinsky, M. Defining an “ideal” heritage speaker (Reply to peer commentaries in TL). Theoretical Linguistics 39: 259-294.
• Dubinina, I and Polinsky, M. Русскоговорящие американцы: лингвистические портреты. American Russian: Linguistic Profiles. In: Language in a global context. Язык в глобальном контексте. Moscow: INION.
• Kwon, N; Kluender, R; Kutas, M; and Polinsky, M. Subject/object processing asymmetries in Korean relative clauses: Evidence from ERP data. Language 89: 537.
• Orfitelli, R and Polinsky, M. “Is it all processing all the way down? Commentary on the paper by William O’Grady “The illusion of language acquisition”. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 3: 335-340.
• Laleko, O and Polinsky, M. Marking topic or marking case: A comparative investigation of Heritage Japanese and Heritage Korean. The Regents of the University of California.
• Polinsky, M; Clemens, LE; Morgan, AM; Xiang, M; and Heestand, D. Resumption in English.
• Polinsky, M; Gallo, CG; Graff, P; Kravtchenko, E; Morgan, AM; and Sturgeon, A. Subject islands are different. Experimental Syntax and Island Effects 286.
• Dubinina, I and Polinsky, M. Russian in the USA. In: Slavic Languages in Migration, ed. M.Moser. Wien: University of Vienna.
• Polinsky, M. Raising and control. In: The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax (ed. by Marcel den Dikken), 41-63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. Diagnosing covert A-movement. In: Diagnosing Syntax (ed. by Lisa Cheng and Norbert Corver), 210-234. London, United Kingdom: Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics.
• Plaster, K; Polinsky, M; and Harizanov, B. Noun Classes Grow on Trees: Noun Classification in the North-East Caucasus. Language Typology and Historical Contingency 104: 153.

2012

• Clemens, LE; Coon, J; Graff, P; López, NA; Morgan, AM; Mateo, Pedro P; and Polinsky, M. Experimental design for field linguistics, in Symposium: Psycholinguistic Research on Less‐Studied Languages. Portland, OR: LSA.
• Clemens, LE; Morgan, AM; Polinsky, M; and Xiang, M. Listening to Resumptives: An Auditory Experiment, in CUNY Sentence Processing Conference. New York, NY: CUNY.
• Polinsky, M. Headedness, again. In: Theories of Everything. In Honor of Ed Keenan. Los Angeles: UCLA Department of Linguistics.
• Bahadir, G and Polinsky, M. Is Structural Priming Sensitive to the Phrase-Clause Distinction? Concealed Question NPs versus Embedded Interrogatives and Declaratives. CogSci.
• Viswanath, A and Polinsky, M. A look at Heritage English, in Formal Approaches to Heritage Languages. Amherst, MA: UMass Amherst.
• Sturgeon, A; Harizanov, B; and Polinsky, M. Revisiting the Person Case Constraint in Czech. In Formal Approaches to Slavic Languages 19.
• Polinsky, M; Gomez-Gallo, C; Graff, P; and Kravtchenko, E. Subject preference and ergativity. Lingua. 122: 267-277.
• Potsdam, E and Polinsky, M. Backward raising. Syntax. 15: 75-108.
• Potsdam, E and Polinsky, M. The Syntax of the Tahitian Actor Emphatic Construction. Oceanic Linguistics. 51: 58-85.

2011

• Polinsky, M. Annotated bibliography of research in heritage languages. In: Oxford Bibliographies, Linguistics. Oxford University Press.
• Xiang, M; Harizanov, B; Polinsky, M; and Kravtchenko, E. Processing morphological ambiguity: An experimental investigation of Russian numerical phrases. Lingua 121: 548-560.
• Montrul, S and Polinsky, M. Why not heritage speakers?. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 1: 58-62.
• Polinsky, M and Potsdam, E. Against covert A-movement in Russian unaccusatives. Linguistic Inquiry. 42: 345-355.
• Heestand, D; Xiang, M; and Polinsky, M. Resumption still does not rescue islands. Linguistic Inquiry. 42: 138-152.
• Polinsky, M. Reanalysis in adult heritage language: A case for attrition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 33: 305-328.
• Caponigro, I and Polinsky, M. Relative embeddings: A Circassian puzzle for the syntax/semantics interface. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. 29: 71-122.
• Potsdam, E and Polinsky, M. Questions and word order in Polynesian. Topics in Oceanic Syntax. 121-153.

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Selected Earlier Publications 

2005-2010

 

1995-2004