Research Overview

My research program primarily focuses on syntax and the syntax-morphology interface, aiming to account for surface structural variation and underlying parallels in typologically different languages. This program is empirically grounded in fieldwork, with a concentration on the languages of Central Eurasia.

Much of my work since 2018 has centered on Mongolic languages and varieties, including Dagur, Chakhar Mongolian, and Khalkha Mongolian. In these languages, I investigate phenomena such as scrambling, raising, case, binding, and nominalization.

Fieldwork Gallery

Publications & Ongoing Manuscripts

• To appear. Gong, Z. M. & Ótott-Kovács, E. Variation in the subject position requires both relative clause-external and internal analyses. In Proceedings of the 43rd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. PDF
• To appear. Gong, Z. M. Wh-island Sensitivity Reveals Two Scrambling Mechanisms in Khalkha Mongolian. In Proceedings of the 43rd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. PDF
• 2024. Gong, Z. M. Two Types of Long Distance Scrambling in Mongolian. ms PDF
• 2024. Gong, Z. M. & Despić, M. On the Nature of Reflexive Possessive Agreement In Mongolian: From Nominals to Clauses. In Proceedings of WAFL17. PDF [Link]
• 2023. Gong, Z. M. A/A’-operations at the Mongolian clausal periphery. Journal of East Asian Linguistics. Open Access. DOI
• 2022. Gong, Z. M. Case in wholesale late merger: evidence from Mongolian scrambling. Linguistic Inquiry. 1–66. PDF DOI
• 2022. Gong, Z. M. Scrambling and reconstruction asymmetries. In University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 28.1. PDF [Link]
• 2021. Gong, Z. M. Postsyntactic Lowering and linear relations in Dagur noun phrases. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics. 6(1), 42. Open Access. DOI
• 2020. Gong, Z. M. The POSS-final suffix order in Dagur. In The Proceedings of 50th Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society. PDF

Selected Presentations & Handouts

• 2025. Two Types of Long-Distance Scrambling Across Weak Islands. The 43rd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, UW Seattle. Handout
• 2025. Specification of D Derives Variation in Relative Clauses. The 10th iteration of the Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic (Tu+10), USC. PDF
• 2024. Dissecting Relative Clauses with Genitive Subjects – A Methodology (with Eszter Ótott-Kovács). USC Seminar in Syntax: Topics in Turkic.
• 2024. Reflexive Binding in Mongolian (with Miloje Despić). GLOW in Asia XIV, Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, CUHK.
• 2023. On the Nature of Reflexive Binding in Mongolian: from Nominals to Clauses (w/ Miloje Despić). WAFL17, Institute of Mongolian Studies, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
• 2022. A/A’-operations at the clausal periphery: Agree, movement, and the interpretation of chains. Berkeley Syntax & Semantics Circle.
• 2021. Condition C reconstruction revisited: scrambling, late merger, and the A/A’-distinction in Mongolian. Syracuse-Cornell Word Order/Scrambling Workshop.
• 2021. Late Merger in scrambling — A Mongolian case study. PLC45, University of Pennsylvania (online).
• 2019. The POSS-final suffix order in Dagur. NELS 50, MIT.
• 2019. A lowering analysis of the Dagur CASE-POSS order. WAFL15, Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Dissertation

• Issues in the Syntax of Movement: Cross-Clausal Dependencies, Reconstruction, and Movement Typology. Cornell University. PDF DOI

Curriculum Vitae

You can download a full copy of my CV below.