At Stanford, I work under the direction of Vera Gribanova and Cleo Condoravdi. My research investigates the syntax-semantics interface, with a special focus on the clause structure of polarity, and the semantic nature of polarity-sensitivity. Before coming to Stanford, I was a Baggett Fellow at UMD, advised by Jeff Lidz and Valentine Hacquard. Before that, I completed a BA/MA at UC Santa Cruz, where I was an active member of the Santa Cruz Ellipsis Group. My MA thesis, advised by Jim McCloskey, emerged from my work with the group.

• I am currently affiliated with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity as a Graduate Teaching Fellow.

This project investigates the syntactic and semantic dimensions of polarity sensitivity by studying Negative Concord phenomena in African American English. Through fieldwork with speakers of AAE, I bring novel empirical facts to light that help disentangle the semantic and syntactic factors that govern NC dependencies, specifically warranting a connection between the polarity-sensitive elements involved and alternative semantics.

• In prep. Zaitsu, A. Intervention effects and the role of alternatives in Negative Concord.
• To appear. Zaitsu, A. Long distance negative concord as successive cyclic movement of negation in African American English. Proceedings of WCCFL 42.

In work on polarity response particles in English, I identify a high scopal position for negation across different kinds of polarity ellipsis. In ongoing work, I aim to address questions about the nature of this high position and its connection to ellipsis environments. Is it driven primarily by the ellipsis licensing mechanism itself or from important interactions between the mechanisms of focus interpretation, clause structure, and ellipsis licensing?

• 2022. Zaitsu, A. High negation and ellipsis in English No-answers. Proceedings of NELS 52.

Why-VP structures (Why study Linguistics?) display a modal interpretation. Developing connections between embedded Wh-infinitivals and Why-VP, I argue that Why-VP has a structural subject, PRO, and its modal character and rhetorical flare comes from a covert modal. In ongoing work, I investigate the semantic nature of the covert modal in Wh-infinitivals, and try to develop a deeper understanding of the connection between ‘Why’ and infinitival VPs in matrix environments.

• 2023. Zaitsu, A. Maximality and modality in infinitival Wh-complements. Proceedings of the 97th Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of America.
• 2020. Zaitsu, A. Modality force and syntax in an understudied class of reduced why-questions in English. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5(1): 5.