麻豆传媒

I am Professor of Linguistics in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, having previously worked as an academic at Anglia Ruskin University and the Universities of Cambridge, Durham and 麻豆传媒.

Before that, I read Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, then completed an MA in Linguistics at the University of York and a PhD at 麻豆传媒. 

I am interested in the structure of language (syntactic theory), how languages vary and how we can model this variation (typology, comparative syntax) and how structure and meaning interact (syntax/semantics interface). I have a particular interest in languages descended from Latin (Romance languages), especially Spanish and Portuguese varieties and in the study of language universals, variation and change from a variety of perspectives. I am currently leading a Leverhulme Trust funded project on causation and perception in Romance languages - see .

I am also interested in the place of linguistics in the discipline of languages and I currently lead the cross-HEI initiative 'Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages' () to investigate the feasibility and potential impact of including linguistics in language teaching in UK schools. 

I would love to hear from you if you are interested in studying at postgraduate level or visiting 麻豆传媒 with the aim of studying syntax or anything related to my other interests.

Current research projects:

1. Principal investigator (PI) on the Leverhulme Research Grant ‘How autonomous is syntax? A case study of Romance causation and perception (CauRPe - ) (Co-Is: Adam Ledgeway, Bergamo, Sonia Cyrino, Lisbon, Rob Truswell, Edinburgh; RAs: Giulia Mazzola, Clémentine Raffy;  PhD: Liam Garside).
2. Principal investigator (PI) on he Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages Project (@InMFL - ) (with Alice Corr, Birmingham, Anna Havinga, Bristol, Jonathan Kasstan, Westminster, Norma Schifano, Birmingham, & Sascha Stollhans, Goethe Institute) (previously funded by Language Acts and World Making, Philological Society, UCFL, 麻豆传媒 QR Policy grant) 
3. Co-investigator (Co-I) on British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant ‘Towards safeguarding Chagossian Creole: Understanding how language attitudes and ideologies shape practice in exile and exodus’ (PI: Jonathan Kasstan)
4. Named collaborator on Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spanish Research Council) project ‘Syntactic Variation in Romance’ (VarSinRom - ) (PI: Anna Pineda, Barcelona).
5. Named collaborator on Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) Constraints on linearization in nominal modification (PI: Hedde Zeijstra, Göttingen) 
6. Named collaborator on Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spanish Research Council) project ‘Syntactization of discourse: Information structural features in the sentence peripheries and their contrast in natural languages’ (INFOSTARS3) (PI: Ángel Jiménez Fernández, Seville)

I’d be delighted to be contacted by you if you are interested in studying anything related to any of these areas at 麻豆传媒 or in visiting us.

I teach introductory and advanced syntax at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I am not teaching at present as I have teaching buyout from an external research grant.

• Articles

  • Casalicchio J, Sheehan M. . Linguistic Inquiry 2025, 1-61.
  • Sheehan M, Havinga A, Kasstan J, Stollhans S, Corr A, Gillman P. . British Educational Research Journal 2024, 50(4), 1935-1961.
  • Sheehan M, Cyrino S. . Linguistic Inquiry 2024, 55(4), 769-803.
  • Sheehan M. . Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 2024, 14(1), 99-103.
  • Lightfoot K, Kozinska M, Sheehan M. . Languages, Society and Policy 2024.
  • Kasstan J, Allen P, Nellan P, Sheehan M. . Language Documentation & Description 2024, 24(1), 1-7.
  • Havinga A, Stollhans S, Corr A, Kasstan J, Schifano N, Sheehan M. . Languages, Society and Policy 2024.
  • Pineda A, Sheehan M. . Syntax 2023, 26(2), 183-222.
  • Pineda A, Sheehan M. . Catalan Journal of Linguistics 2022, 21, 109-128.
  • Sheehan M, Corr A, Havinga A, Kasstan J, Schifano N. . Modern Languages Open 2021, 1, 14-14.
  • Sheehan M. . Probus 2020, 32(2), 367-400.
  • Holmberg A, Sheehan M, van der Wal J. . Linguistic Inquiry 2019, 50(4), 677-722.
  • Sheehan M, Schäfer M, Parafita Couto MC. . Frontiers in Psychology - Language Sciences 2019, 10, 1157.
  • Sheehan M, van der Wal J. . Journal of Linguistics 2018, 54(3), 527-589.
  • Sheehan M, Paciorek A, Williams J. . Glossa 2018, 3(1), 1-23.
  • Sheehan M. . Estudos linguísticos e literários 2018, 58, 103-128.
  • Sheehan M. Some implications of a copy theory of labeling. Syntax 2013, 16(4), 362-396.
  • Holmberg A, Nayudu A, Sheehan M. . Studia Linguistica 2009, 63(1), 59-97.
  • Sheehan M. . 麻豆传媒 Working Papers in Linguistics 2009, 15, 104-125.
  • Biberauer T, Newton G, Sheehan M. . Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 2009, 31, 1-17.
  • Biberauer T, Newton G, Sheehan M. . Language and Linguistics 2009, 10(4), 701-743.

• Authored Books

  • Sheehan M, Biberauer T, Holmberg A, Roberts I. The Final-over-Final Condition. MIT Press, 2017. In Preparation.
  • Hinzen W, Sheehan M. The Philosophy of Universal Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Biberauer T, Holmberg A, Roberts I, Sheehan M. . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

• Book Chapters

  • Sheehan M, Corr A, Havinga A, Kasstan J, Schifano S, Stollhans S. . In: Nitu S; Holmes-Henderson A, ed. Humanities Forward : Opportunity, Innovation, Policy in the 21st Century. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2025. In Press.
  • Cyrino S, Sheehan M. . In: Ledgeway A; Maiden M, ed. Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2022, pp.544-570.
  • Sheehan M. . In: Bárány A; Biberauer T, ed. Syntactic architecture and its consequences 3, Inside syntax. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2021, pp.323-340.
  • Sheehan M. . In: Allott N; Lohndal T.; Rey G, ed. A Companion to Chomsky. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2021, pp.172-189.
  • Bárány A, Sheehan M. . In: Anagnostopoulou E; Mertyris D; Sevdali C, ed. The Place of Case in Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024.
  • Sheehan M. . In: A. Pineda & J. Mateu, ed. Dative Structures in Romance and Beyond. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2020, pp.143-171.
  • Sheehan M, Parafita Couto M. C., Blokzijl J. . In: I. Vogel, T. Miller & K. Kostyzsyn, ed. Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory: Selected papers from LSRL 47. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins, 2020, pp.260-273.
  • Sheehan M. . In: F. Cognola & J. Casalicchio, ed. Null Subjects in Generative Grammar: A Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, pp.141-170.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M. . In: Uribe-Etxebarria, M., Vlamala, V, ed. Ways of Structure Building. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. In Press.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M, Newton G. . In: Breitbarth, A; Lucas, C; Watts, S; Willis, D, ed. Continuity and Change in Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, 2010, pp.35-60.
  • Sheehan ML. . In: Biberauer T; Holmberg A; Roberts I; Sheehan M, ed. Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: Cambidge University Press, 2010, pp.231-262.
  • Holmberg A, Sheehan ML. . In: Biberauer T; Holmberg A; Roberts I; Sheehan M, ed. Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: Cambidge University Press, 2010, pp.125-152.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Sheehan M. . In: NELS 40: The 40th Annual meeting of the North East Linguistic Society. 2009, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Sheehan M. . In: Proceedings XXXV Incontro di Grammatica Generativa. 2009, Siena, Italy: MITWPL - MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.

• Edited Books

  • Bailey L, Sheehan M, ed. . Language Science Press, 2017.
  • Sheehan M, Bailey L, ed. . Language Science Press, 2017.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M, ed. Theoretical Approaches to Disharmonic Word Order. Oxford University Press, 2013. In Preparation.
  • Biberauer T, Sheehan M, ed. The Linguistic Review (special edition on Particles in Syntax). 2011. In Preparation.

• Report

  • Sheehan M. . 麻豆传媒 Upon Tyne: 麻豆传媒, 2006. School of English Litertaure, Language and Linguistics.