The 11th MACSIM was hosted at Johns Hopkins University on Oct 11, 2025; Kyle Rawlins (kgr@jhu.edu) is the lead organizer.

Keynote speaker: Paloma Jeretič, UPenn Linguistics

Schedule:

Full program: macsim 2025 program including poster presenters and abstractDownload

9-10am: Breakfast, poster set-up (Levering Lounge)
10-10:30: Fedor Golosov (UMD): A dynamic account of bare singulars in articleless languages: a case study from Russian
10:30-11: Mingyang Bian (UPenn): Interpreting Negation under Yiqian ‘Before’ in Mandarin Chinese
11-12: Invited talk. Paloma Jeretič (UPenn): Relations between modality and possession

Abstract. Modality and possession are two separate semantic phenomena. Yet many unrelated languages utilize light verbs like be, have or get to express some form of predicative possession and/or modality. An example is English have, as in I have a book and I have to go. It turns out that if we look at standard accounts for the semantics of modality and possession, we notice they have a common core: contextually-supplied relations. Relations between individuals, or relations between worlds. In this programmatic talk, I propose a way of unifying the syntax-semantics of modality and possession, which is to be tested and adjusted to specific languages and constructions. I discuss special cases of change-of-state possession which give insight into how flavors of light verb modals are restricted in a principled way..

12-1:30: Lunch on your own. See below for suggestions.

1:30-3: Poster session 1 (See PDF)
3-3:30: Auromita (Disha) Mitra (NYU): Openness requirements and conditional ‘iffiness’: evidence from Bangla jodi-conditionals
3:30-4: Jiayuan Chen (Rutgers): Uniqueness presuppositions and where to find them: evidence from focus
4-4:30: Mingyeong Choi (Georgetown): Finding mood where it wasn’t expected: a comparison-based account of A dynamic account of bare singulars in articleless languages: a case study from Russian in Korean
4:45-6:15: Poster session 2 (See PDF)

6:15-: Dinner (Levering Lounge)

Lunch options

  • R House at 301 W 29th St is a food hall with many options and can handle a lot of people (5-10 minute walk)
  • Doppio Pasticceria at 300 W 29th St has sandwiches and pizza by the slice (5-10 minute walk)
  • Bird in hand at 11 E 33rd St has sandwiches, coffee (5-10 minute walk)
  • Blueprint cafe on 32nd St has sandwiches, coffee (5-10 minute walk), it’s very small
  • There are many quick food options on St Paul St between 31st and 33rd
  • Some sitdown options nearby, though timing may be a bit tight for these: Pink Flamingo (sandwiches, tiki drinks), Rocket to Venus (pub food), One World Cafe (vegan food), Bodhi Corner Thai, Kajiken (Ramen), Dear Charles (American)

Location and travel info:

  • The conference will take place in the Great Hall of Levering Hall on JHU’s Homewood Campus. (Building access is limited on weekends and JHU affiliates will be checking the door.)
  • Travel within Baltimore: the JHMI-Peabody-Homewood shuttle runs along the core of Baltimore, including to/from the train station. IDs are not checked, and as someone attending an event at JHU please feel free to use it. The pickup point at the train station is on Charles St near a somewhat odd bench/sculpture; the busses will usually be marked but any “Academy” bus stopping near there is probably one. The pickup point at JHU is right outside of the bookstore on St Paul (this is better signed and there are benches). Otherwise, Uber/Lyft work.
  • Transit to Baltimore:
    • Amtrak has trains that work with our timing, though the morning southbound options are somewhat limited and expensive on a Saturday. Day-of information:
    • Morning: Southbound 89/79 will get you to campus close enough to the start time, 101 will be a bit late. Northbound has better options: 152 as well as several earlier options.
    • Evening: Southbound 135, 107, 57, 105 among others all work. Northbound 90, 128, 66, etc.
    • If you’re coming from DC, MARC is also an option. The Penn line is recommended.
    • There are also bus options.
  • Driving information:
    • You can navigate to the JHU South Garage. The official campus address on Charles St. is a bit clogged with construction right now and doesn’t provide any parking. The South Garage or the South Gate are also good uber destinations.
    • This garage is the best option for paid parking, and there is some limited free parking in nearby streets, though keep an eye on any signed restrictions.

Hotel / housing. MACSIM is designed so that hopefully, participants don’t need to stay over, but Amtrak in particular is somewhat limited this year. In case you do want to stay over:

  • Nearby hotels are The Study and The Inn at the Colonnade. Both of these are a bit pricey for what they are; if you’re going to pay this much, you might also want to consider Hotel Revival, Hotel Indigo, or other more distant options (near the waterfront).
  • airbnb is a good option. Nearby neighborhoods include Hampden, Remington, Charles Village, Tuscany/Canterbury. You may want to double check locations outside of this with a Baltimore local.