The Syntax of Givenness Ivona Kucerová

Acknowledgments
Two things were difficult about writing my thesis: (i) choosing the topic (there were too
many things I would like to write a thesis about) and (ii) choosing an adviser. There were
several people I wanted to have as my adviser. In the end I decided to write my thesis on
four different topics and to have four advisers. The first decision turned out to be untenable
and I ended up dropping three of the topics. The second decision, on the other hand, paid
off; except for typographical issues while trying to typeset the cover page of my thesis I
have never regretted it.
Alec, Danny, David and Sabine (in alphabetical order) are more than wonderful scholars.
They have been my mentors and guides without ever telling me what to do. In a sense,
they are coauthors of many ideas in my thesis: most of the ideas took their shape while
sitting together for hours, playing with puzzles and trying different ways to attack them. I
have really enjoyed the eight months I have spent writing my thesis.
My stay at MIT was of course more than my dissertation. It is impossible to thank all the
people I have met here and whom I have learned from. Among my teachers a special place
belongs to Noam Chomsky, Mike Collins, Morris Halle, Irene Heim and Donca Steriade. I
want to thank them here for their time and interest in my work.
Sometimes it is hard to draw a clear line between a friend and a colleague. Many people
were both. Asaf Bachrach, Roni Katzir and Raj Singh became my ‘classmates’ and
provided me with intense underground education and great food. Brooke Cowan, Svea
Heinemann and Sarah Hulsey made sure I would know that life at MIT is more than linguistics.
Special thanks go to Béd’a Jelínek without whom I would have never applied to MIT.
He knows best that there is more I should thank him for.
I want to thank also my former teachers without whom I would have not even thought
about starting a PhD: Vlasta Dvořáková, Jindřich Rosenkranz, Jaroslava Janáčková, Michael
Špirit, Jiří Homoláč and †Alexander Stich (in chronological order).
There is no way I could thank my parents and Roni Katzir without trivializing their
place in my life.
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