Marc Richards

Marc Richards is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen's University Belfast. His research focuses on generative syntactic theory within Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Program, emphasizing biolinguistic principles such as economy, simplicity, and optimal design. He also investigates comparative and diachronic syntax, particularly in Germanic and Slavonic languages.

Research Interests: Dr. Richards explores syntax-interpretation and syntax-externalization interfaces, formal syntactic modeling, and the application of Minimalist Program principles to cross-linguistic variation and language change. His work addresses theoretical challenges like economy principles, syntactic phases, and the Free Merge hypothesis.

Recent Research Activity: His recent publications include contributions to the Cambridge Handbook of the Minimalist Program (2024) and analyses of FORMCOPY mechanisms in syntactic derivation (2024). He has also re-evaluated foundational principles (A and B) under a Free Merge framework (2020) and explored projection problems in syntactic theory (2019).

Advising & Grants: He welcomes PhD applications in syntax, morphology, and formal approaches to language acquisition. He does not supervise applied linguistics or TESOL-related projects. His research has been presented at international conferences, including invited talks at the University of Leipzig (2024) and the Catalan Linguistics Society (2019).

Labs/Teams: While no specific lab affiliation is noted, his collaborative work includes contributions to the Routledge Critical Concepts in Linguistics series (2017) and interdisciplinary projects linking syntax to biolinguistic theory.