Staff Profile

Roles in the School, Faculty and University

I hold a number of senior roles connected with regulatory structures within the University. I am the University Academic Appeals Convenor, as well as the Deputy Convenor of the University Student Disciplinary Panel. I also co-facilitate the Learning and Teaching Development Service's training for both new Chairs of Boards of Examiners and new Degree Programme Directors. I am happy to provide advice to students and colleagues on any matters concerning University regulations, academic appeals or student discipline. 

Biography

AB 1990 Linguistics with Russian (Harvard College)

AM 1991 Linguistics (Harvard University)

PhD 1996 Linguistics (Harvard University)

I joined Newcastle University in September 1996, first as a Temporary Lecturer and then as a Research Associate, and was appointed to a permanent lectureship in 2003.

Expertise

My original background from my PhD is in formal syntactic theory. I've also worked on the syntax/phonology interface and on information structure in medieval Spanish. At the moment my primary research and teaching interests are focused on the philosophy of linguistics, especially the nature of linguistic intuitions.

Undergraduate Teaching

SEL2089: Syntactic Theory (taught by Dr Mary Robinson in 2025-26)

SEL2241: Philosophy of Linguistics

SEL3349: The History of Linguistic Ideas (not offered in 2025-26)

Postgraduate Teaching

SEL8026: Generative Syntax (taught by Dr mary Robinson in 2025-26)

Research Interests

Syntactic theory, especially the syntax - information structure interface; medieval Spanish syntax; the philosophy of linguistics.

• Articles

  • Poole G. Interpolation, verb-second, and the low left periphery in Old Spanish. Iberia: An International Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 2013, 5(1), 69-95.
  • Poole G. Free Choice Ningun in Early Navarro-Aragonese. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics 2013, 19(2), 20-36.
  • Poole G, Burton-Roberts N. 'Correspondence' in Optimality Theory: a representational view. Revista Virtuel de Estudos da Linguagem 2010, 8(4), 110-133.
  • Poole G. Defending the "Subject Gap" Requirement: Stylistic Fronting in Germanic and Romance. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 2007, 79(1), 1-19.
  • Burton-Roberts N, Poole G. Syntax vs. phonology: A representational approach to stylistic fronting and verb-second in Icelandic. Lingua 2006, 116(5), 562-600.
  • Burton-Roberts N, Poole G. ‘Virtual conceptual necessity’, feature-dissociation and the Saussurian legacy in generative grammar. Journal of Linguistics 2006, 42(3), 575-628.
  • Poole GP. Constraints on Local Economy. Is the Best Good Enough? Optimality and Competition in Syntax, 'MIT Working Papers in Linguistics' Series (MIT Press). Editors: P. Barbosa, D. Fox, P. Hagstrom, M. McGinnis, and D. Pesetsky, 385-398 1998.
  • Poole GP. Optional Movement in the Minimalist Program. Minimal Ideas: Syntactic studies in the minimalist framework, 'Linguistics today' Series (John Benjamins). Editors: W. Abraham, S.D. Epstein, H. Thrainsson, and C. Jan-Wouter Zwart., 12 199-216 1996.
  • Poole GP. Deducing the X'-Structure of Adjunction. Configurations: Essays on Structure and Interpretation (Cascadilla Press). Editor: A.-M. Di Sciullo, 201-209 1996.

• Authored Books

  • Poole G. Syntactic Theory. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
  • Poole G. Syntactic Theory. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2002.

• Book Chapters

  • Poole G. Feature Inheritance in Old Spanish: (Re)visiting V2. In: Bailey LR; Sheehan M, ed. Order and structure in syntax I: Word order and syntactic structure. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2017, pp.49-68.
  • Poole G. Focus and the Syntacticization of Discourse. In: Ernestina Carrilho, Alexandra Fiéis, Maria Lobo and Sandra Pereira, ed. Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 10: Selected papers from 'Going Romance' 28, Lisbon. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2016, pp.191-210.
  • Poole G. Focus and the development of N-words in Spanish. In: Berns, J., Jacobs, H., Scheer, T, ed. Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2009: Selected Papers from "Going Romance" Nice 2009. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011, pp.291-303.
  • Poole G. The Syntax-Discourse Interface and the Development of N-Words in Spanish. In: Kang, Young-Se; Tang, Sze-Wing; Kim, Chul; Yoon, Jong-Yurl; Kang, Yong-Soon; Kim, Kyoung-Ae; Yoo, Hyunkyung; Jang, Youngjun; Kang, Hye-Kyung, ed. Current Issues in Linguistic Interfaces. Seoul, Korea: Hankook Munhwasa, 2009, pp.27-48.
  • Poole G. Minimalism. In: Siobhan Chapman & Christopher Routledge, ed. Key Ideas in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2009, pp.134-138.
  • Poole G. Creativity. In: Siobhan Chapman & Christopher Routledge, ed. Key Ideas in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2009, pp.43-44.
  • Poole Geoffrey. Interpolation and the Left Periphery in Old Spanish. In: Hussein, M., Kolokonte, M. and Wright, C, ed. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics. 2006, pp.188-216.
  • Poole G. Plato. In: Chapman, S., Routledge, C, ed. Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, pp.207-14.
  • Poole G. Noam Chomsky. In: Chapman S; Routledge C, ed. Key thinkers in linguistics and the philosophy of language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, pp.53-59.
  • Poole G. B. F. Skinner. In: Chapman S; Routledge C, ed. Key thinkers in linguistics and the philosophy of language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, pp.255-6.
  • Poole G, Burton-Roberts N. MLC violations: Implications for the syntax/phonology interface. In: Stepanov, A., Fanselow, G., Vogel, R, ed. Minimality Effects in Syntax. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004, pp.327-365.

• Reviews

  • Poole G. Representing Minimalism (Review article: Rhyme and reason). Journal of Linguistics 2000, 36(1), 131-143.
  • Poole G. Review of Collins 1997. Journal of Linguistics 1999, 35, 659-661.