Petra B. Schumacher

Ph.D. - Linguistics

 

 

 

Please visit my JoGu Mainz site for more frequently updated information.

 

Contact Information:

 

 

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft

Jakob-Welder-Weg 18 (Philosophicum)

Raum 03-536

55099 Mainz

Germany


Phone: (+49) (0)6131 - 39 23859                                          

Fax:     (+49) (0)6131 - 39 23836

 

Email:  petra (dot) burkhardt [at] aya (dot) yale (dot) edu                                               

 

Research Interests:

 

·           Psycho- and Neurolinguistics

·           Sentence processing at the interface (syntax, discourse, semantics)

·           Issues relating to information structure

·           Resolution of direct and indirect anaphora

·           Unaccusativity and (in)transitivity

 

 

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

Education:

 

1992                Abitur, Kepler-Gymnasium, Freudenstadt, Germany

1992-1998      English Language and Literature and Business Studies, Mannheim University, Mannheim, Germany

1994-1995      Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, USA 

1996               University of Oslo / International Summer School, Oslo, Norway (1996) 

 

1998-2004      Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

 

1998                Diploma in English Philology and Business Studies (Dipom-Anglistik mit wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Qualifikation),

Mannheim University, Mannheim, Germany

 

1999                M.A. in Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

 

2002                M.Phil. in Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

 

2004                Ph.D. in Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

 

 

Academic Positions:

 

1999-2004                                     Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA (Research and Teaching Assistant)

 

2004-2005                   Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany (Postdoctoral Researcher)

 

2005-2006                   Research Group ‘Conflicting Rules’, Department of Linguistics, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany (Researcher)

 

2006                            Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany (Visiting Researcher)

 

2006-2008                   Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

(DFG Project “Referentialization of determiner phrases in discourse”)

 

2008                            Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (Visiting Researcher)

 

10/2008-                      Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany

                                    (Emmy Noether Research Group (DFG) "Neurolinguistic foundations of information structure")

 

 

 

Additional Research Experience:

 

6/2001-9/2001             Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive NeuroScience, Leipzig, Germany (Visiting Researcher)

 

9/2002-12/2002           Utrecht institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht, the Netherlands (Marie Curie Fellow)

 

 

 

 

Publications:

 

2011    Bai, Chen, Shushan Cai, & Petra B. Schumacher. (2011). Reversibility in Chinese Word Formation Influences Target Identification. Neuroscience Letters, 499, 1, 14-18.

 

Hirotani, Masako & Petra B. Schumacher. (2011). Context and Topic Marking Affect Distinct Processes During Discourse Comprehension in Japanese. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 3, 276-292.

 

Schumacher, Petra B. (2011). The hepatitis called …: Electrophysiological Evidence for Enriched Composition. In: J. Meibauer & M. Steinbach. (Eds.) Experimental Pragmatics/Semantics.Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 199-219.

 

Schumacher, Petra B. & Sergey Avrutin. (2011). Register Affects Language Comprehension: ERP Evidence from Article Omission in Newspaper Headlines. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 3, 304-319.

 

2010    Schumacher, Petra B. (2010). Real-Time Comprehension in Agrammatic Aphasia. In: G. Ibanescu & S. Pescariu. (Eds.)  Aphasia: Symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 101-118.

 

Schumacher, Petra B. & Stefan Baumann. (2010). Pitch Accent Type Affects the N400 during Referential Processing. Neuroreport, 21, 9, 618-622.

 

Schumacher, Petra B., Manfred Consten, & Mareile Knees. (2010). Constraints on Ontology Changing Complexation Processes: Evidence from Event-Related Brain Potentials. Language and Cognitive Processes, 25, 6, 840-865.

 

Schumacher, Petra B., Maria M. Piñango, Esther Ruigendijk, & Sergey Avrutin. (2010). Reference Assignment in Dutch: Evidence for the Syntax-Discourse Divide. Lingua, 120, 7, 1738-1763.

 

2009    P. Burkhardt & U. Domahs. (2009).  Experimental Evidence for Minimal Structure. Lingua, 119, 10, 1373-1379.

           

            Schumacher, Petra B. (2009). Definiteness Marking Shows Late Effects During Discourse Processing: Evidence from ERPs. In: S. Lalitha Devi, A. Branco, & R. Mitkov. (Eds.) Anaphora Processing and Applications, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 5847. Heidelberg: Springer, 91-106.

 

P. B. Schumacher. (2009). The Given-New Distinction: Insights from Inferrables. In: Linguistic Society of Korea. (Eds.) Curent issues in unity and diversity of languages. Korea, Dongnam Publishing Company, 359-379.

 

 

R. Wiese, P. B. Schumacher, & M. Schlesewsky. (2009). Neurokognition der Sprache in Wort, Satz und Text. In: Huber, M. & S. Winko (Eds.) Literatur und Kognition. Bestandsaufnahmen und Perspektiven eines Arbeitsfeldes. Paderborn, Mentis Verlag, 85-98.

 

2008    C. Bai, I. Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, L. Wang, Y.C. Hung, M. Schlesewsky, & P. Burkhardt. (2008). Semantic Composition Engenders an N400: Evidence from Chinese Compounds. NeuroReport, 19, 6, 695-699.

 

            P. Burkhardt. (2008a). Dependency Precedes Independence: Online Evidence from Discourse Processing. In: Benz, A. & P. Kühnlein.(Eds.) Constraints in discourse. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 141-158.

 

            P. Burkhardt. (2008b). Two Types of Definites: Evidence for Presupposition Cost. In: Grønn, A. (Ed.) Proceedings of SuB12. Oslo: ILOS 2008, 66-80.

 

P. Burkhardt, S. Avrutin, M.M. Piñango, & E. Ruigendijk. (2008). Slower-Than-Normal Syntactic Processing in Agrammatic Broca’s Aphasia: Evidence From Dutch. Journal of Neurolinguistics,21, 2, 120-137.

 

2007    P. Burkhardt. (2007a). The P600 Reflects Cost of New Information in Discourse Memory. NeuroReport, 18, 17, 1851-1854.

 

            P. Burkhardt. (2007b). Reference Assignment in the Absence of Sufficient Semantic Content. In: Schwarz-Friesel, M., M. Consten, & M. Knees. (Eds.) Anaphors in text: cognitive, formal and applied approaches to anaphoric reference.  Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 241-258.

 

            P. Burkhardt, G. Fanselow, & M. Schlesewsky. (2007). The Effects of (In)Transitivity on Structure Building and Agreement. Brain Research, 1163, 100-110.

                       

P. Burkhardt & D. Roehm. (2007). Differential Effects of Saliency: An Event-related Brain Potential Study. Neuroscience Letters,  413, 2, 115-120.

 

2006    P. Burkhardt. (2006). Inferential Bridging Relations Reveal Distinct Neural Mechanisms: Evidence from Event-related Brain Potentials. Brain and Language, 98, 2, 159-168.

 

2005    P. Burkhardt. (2005). The Syntax-Discourse Interface: Representing and Interpreting Dependency. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 80.

      Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

 

M.M. Piñango & P. Burkhardt. (2005). Pronominal Interpretation and the Syntax-Discourse Interface: Real-time Comprehension and Neurological Properties. In: Branco, A., T. McEnery & R. Mitkov. (Eds.) Anaphora Processing: linguistic, cognitive and computational modelling. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 221-238.

 

2004    P. Burkhardt. (2004). Representation and Interpretation at the Syntax-Discourse Interface: Establishing Dependency. Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, USA.

 

2003    P. Burkhardt, M.M. Piñango, & K.Wong. (2003). The Role of the Anterior Left Hemisphere in Real-Time Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Split Intransitivity. Brain and Language, 86, 1, 9-22.

 

2002    P. Burkhardt. (2002a). Multiple Faithfulness in Fox (Central Algonquian) Reduplication. In: M. van Koppen, J. Sio, & M. de Vos. (Eds.). ConSole X Proceedings: proceedings of the tenth conference of the Student Organisation of Linguistics in Europe. Leiden: SOLE. 33-48. http://athena.leidenuniv.nl/letteren/sole/

 

P. Burkhardt. (2002b). Logophors: Looking Outside of Syntax. Evidence from real-time sentence comprehension. In M. van Koppen, E. Thrift, E. J. van der Torre, & M. Zimmermann (Eds.). Proceedings of Console IX.  http://athena.leidenuniv.nl/letteren/sole/

 

 

Selected Published Abstracts & Squibs:

 

2009    F. Kretzschmar, M. Schlesewsky, Y.-C. Hung, & P. B. Schumacher. (2009). The Spatial Dissociation in the Resolution of NP Anaphors in Mandarin Chinese. 22nd CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Davis, CA, 90.                            

 

            D. Roehm & P. B. Schumacher. (2009). Unraveling the Hierarchical Organization of Different Prominence Scales: When Syntactic Function is Outranked by Syntactic Position. 22nd CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Davis, CA, 216.                            

 

            P. B. Schumacher, M. Consten & M. Knees. (2009). Ontological Features Constrain Anaphoric Processing: This finding is intriguing vs. *This event is intriguing. 22nd CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Davis, CA, 91.                            

 

            P. B. Schumacher & D. Roehm. (2009). Syntactic Position Outranks Syntactic Function: Referential Prominence Revisited. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, 78.                            

 

2008    P. Burkhardt. (2008). What inferences can tell us about the given-new distinction. In The 18th International Congress of Lnguists / Le 18e Congrès International des Linguistes, Volume 2, Seoul: The Linguistic Society of Korea, 219-220.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2008). Ereigniskorrelierte Potentiale semantischer Anreicherungsprozesse: “Der Champagner von Tisch 7 möchte bezahlen.” In P. Khader, K. Jost, H. Lachnit, & F. Rösler. (Eds.). Beiträge zur 50. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen, Marburg: Papst, 122.

 

P. Burkhardt & D. Roehm. (2008). Sytactic function and definiteness determine the prominence of an antecedent: Revisiting the Repeated Name Penalty. 21st CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Chapel Hill, NH, 29.

 

            P. Burkhardt & D. Roehm. (2008). The Effects of the Antecedent’s Definiteness and Syntactic Function on Referential Processing. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, 222.                          

 

2007    R. Wiese, M. Schlesewsky, & P. Burkhardt. (2007). Neurokognition der Sprache in Wort, Satz und Text. Deutscher Germanistentag, Marburg, Germany.

 

            P. Burkhardt & D. Roehm. (2007). Definite Descriptions and Proper Names Reveal Distinct Demands during Referential Processing: Evidence from ERPs. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York City, 86.                          

 

P. Burkhardt. (2007). Referential Processing of Context-(in)dependent Entities: Evidence from ERPs. 20th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, San Diego, CA, 179.

 

M. Hirotani & P. Burkhardt. (2007). The Role of Topichood and Context Effects in Japanese: An ERP Study. 20th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, San Diego, CA, 72.

 

2006    P. Burkhardt & D. Roehm. (2006). Effects of Discourse Prominence on Two Types of Anaphoric Dependencies. 12th Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP 2006), Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 17.

 

            P. Burkhardt, G. Fanselow, & M. Schlesewsky. (2006). Conflict Resolution Involving Coordination Constructions. 19th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York City, NY, 29.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2006). The Given-New Distinction: How Context and Definiteness Impact Referential Interpretation. 19th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York City, NY, 96.

 

2005    E. Ruigendijk, P. Burkhardt, & S. Avrutin. (2005). Slow Sentence Processing in Agrammatic Broca’s Aphasia. Evidence from Dutch Reflexive-Antecedent Dependencies.  Brain and Language, 95, 1, 84-85.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2005). Resolving Bridging Dependencies Online: Evidence for Given and New Properties of Bridged Definite DPs.

In: Sassen, C., A. Benz, & P. Kühnlein. (Eds.) Proceedings of Constraints in Discourse. Dortmund University, 72-79.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2005). Online Comprehension of Definite DPs: Inferential Knowledge Facilitates Integration of Bridging Relations at an Early Point. 18th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Tucson, AZ, C-33.

 

2004    P. Burkhardt & M. M. Piñango. (2004). Dissociation of ERP Correlates during Discourse Integration:  Pronominals vs. Proper Names. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, 68.                  

 

2003    P. Burkhardt & M. M. Piñango. (2003). Implications of Antecedent Availability During Pronominal Interpretation: An ERP Study. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York City, 103.                          

 

P. Burkhardt, M.M. Piñango, & S. Avrutin. (2003). Real-time Pronominal Interpretation: The Case of English and Dutch. 16th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Boston: MIT, 77.   

 

M.M. Piñango & P. Burkhardt. (2003). Logophoricity in Broca’s Aphasia Comprehension: Implications for Language-Brain Relations. Brain and Language, 86, 3, 426-427.

                                                                             

2002    M.M. Piñango & P. Burkhardt. (2002). “Coargumenthood” as an Organizing Principle of Anaphora Resolution. In A. Branco, T. McEnery, & R. Mitkov. (Eds.). Proceedings to DAARC 2002 – Fourth Discourse Anaphora and Anaphor Resolution Colloquium. 153-156.

 

2001    M.M. Piñango & P. Burkhardt. (2001). Pronominals in Broca’s Aphasia Comprehension: The Consequences of Syntactic Delay.  Brain and Language, 79, 1, 167-168.

 

M.M. Piñango, P. Burkhardt, D. Brun, & Sergey Avrutin. (2001). Pronominal Interpretation: Implications for the Architecture of the Sentence Processing System. SEMPRO-2001: Cognitively Plausible Models of Semantic Processing, Edinburgh, 5-9.

 

 

Reviews:

 

2007    P. Burkhardt. (2006). Review of  “Mediating Between Concepts and Grammar.” Ed. by Holden Härtl & Heike Tappe. (Trends in Linguistics). Language, 82, 4, 949.

 

2004    P. Burkhardt. (2004). Review of “The Syntax of Anaphora” by Ken Safir.  Linguist List, 15.3073.

 

 

 

Selected Presentations (not mentioned above):

 

Anaphora

 

2008    P. Burkhardt. (2008). The hepatitis called …: Electrophysiological evidence for enriched composition. Talk at Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, Bamberg, February 2008.  

 

2007    P. Burkhardt. (2007). Contextual cues and anaphoric complexity during inferential processing. Poster presentation at 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Glasgow, July 2007.

 

M. Hirotani & P. Burkhardt (2007). Encoding given and new information during discourse processing in Japanese. Invited talk at Workshop on Human Language Mental Architecture for Processing and Learning of Language, Center for Brain Science of Language Acquisition and Language Learning, Graduate Education, Hiroshima University, July 2007.

 

2005    P. Burkhardt. (2005). Slowed-down Syntactic Structure Formation in Broca’s Aphasia: Evidence from Reflexive-Antecedent Dependencies. Presented at Left Periphery in Aphasia, Vienna, August 2005.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2005). Dependency and the Syntax-Discourse Interface: Psycho- and Neurolinguistic Evidence from English and Dutch. Invited speaker at the Second International Workshop on Evolutionary Cognitive Science: In Pursuit of Language-Brain Interactions: Language Acquisition, Sentence Processing, and Neurolinguistics, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Japan, July 2005.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2005). Definiteness and Contextual Cues during DP Interpretation: ERP Evidence from German. Poster presentation at the Second International Workshop on Evolutionary Cognitive Science: In Pursuit of Language-Brain Interactions: Language Acquisition, Sentence Processing, and Neurolinguistics, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Japan, July 2005.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2005). Etablierung Anaphorischer Dependenzen: Theoretische und Psycholinguistische Betrachtungen. [Establishment of Anaphoric Dependencies: Theoretical and Psycholinguistic Considerations.] Presented at 27. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Köln, Germany, February 2005.

 

2004    P. Burkhardt, E. Ruigendijk, S. Avrutin, & M.M. Piñango. (2004). Pronoun-Antecedent Dependencies in Broca’s Aphasia: Evidence for Delayed Syntactic Structure Building. Presented at the Science of Aphasia V, Potsdam, Germany, September 2004.

 

2002    P. Burkhardt, (2002). Pronominal Interpretation: File Change Semantics at Work. Presented at Semantics in the Netherlands-DAG 2; Nijmegen Center of Semantics, the Netherlands, November 2002.

 

P. Burkhardt & M.M. Piñango. (2002). Pronominal Interpretation as a Window Into the Architecture of the Language System. Presented at EURESCO: Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics: EuroConference on the Syntax of Normal and Impaired Language; Corinth, Greece, June 2002.

 

2001    M.M. Piñango, P. Burkhardt, D. Brun, & S. Avrutin. (2001). The Psychological Reality of the Syntax-Discourse Interface: The Case of Pronominals. Presented at the Workshop From Sentence Processing to Discourse Interpretation: Crossing the Borders; Utrecht University, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 2001.

 

M.M. Piñango, P. Burkhardt,, & S. Avrutin. (2001). Reflexivity from a Processing Perspective. Presented at CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing; University of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA, March 2001.

 

 

 

Aphasia

 

2006    P. Burkhardt. (2006). Referential Dependencies in Broca’s Aphasia Comprehension. Invited speaker at Science of Aphasia VII, Sardinia, Italy, September 2006.

 

2005        E. Ruigendijk, P. Burkhardt, & S. Avrutin. (2005). Slow sentence processing in agrammatic Broca’s aphasia. Evidence from Dutch reflexive-antecedent dependencies. Presented at 43rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia, Amsterdam, October, 2005.

 

P. Burkhardt. (2005). Slowed-down Syntactic Structure Formation in Broca’s Aphasia: Evidence from Reflexive-Antecedent Dependencies. Presented at Left Periphery in Aphasia, Vienna, August 2005.

 

2004    P. Burkhardt, E. Ruigendijk, S. Avrutin, & M.M. Piñango. (2004). Pronoun-Antecedent Dependencies in Broca’s Aphasia: Evidence for Delayed Syntactic Structure Building. Presented at the Science of Aphasia 5, Potsdam, Germany, September 2004.

 

2002    P. Burkhardt & M.M. Piñango. (2002). Pronominal Interpretation as a Window Into the Architecture of the Language System. Presented at EURESCO: Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics: EuroConference on the Syntax of Normal and Impaired Language; Corinth, Greece, June 2002.

 

 

 

Humor & Pragmatics

 

1999     P. Burkhardt. (1999). Verbal Humor in TV Comedy: Private Talk Designed for the Public. Presented at the Eleventh Conference of the International Society for Humor Studies (ISHS); Holy Names College, Oakland, CA, USA, July 1999.

 

P. Burkhardt. (1998). Sprachwitz im Diskurs: Linguistische Ansätze zu einer Analyse verbalen Humors. [PB. (1998). Unpublished diploma thesis, Universität Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.] 

 

 

 

Phonology

 

2000    P. Burkhardt. (2000). Base vs. Reduplicant Correspondence in Fox. Presented at the First North American Phonology Conference (NAPhC1) Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, April 2000.

 

 

 

Teaching

 

2002    P. Burkhardt & R. Bohrman. (2002). The Magic of Small Groups: Pulling Your Students’ Hidden Potential Out Of A Hat. Presented at Fourth Annual Spring Teaching Forum and Innovation Fair; Yale University, CT, USA, April 2002.