Syllabus for Syntax II (LING 610), Spring 1998

Overview

The focus of this class is on comparative syntax, primarily from the perspective of the Principles and Parameters approach to syntax, which has developed over the last 20 years. Research in this tradition has attempted to characterize the grammars of all natural languages in terms of a set of universal principles which all languages share, and a set of parameters along which languages may vary.

The course will emphasize the empirical motivation behind major theoretical proposals in the Principles and Parameters tradition, and show how views on the nature of universal grammar and cross-linguistic variation have developed as a consequence of a massive increase in cross-linguistic syntax research. While this course differs from LING 609 Syntax I in its greater comparative focus and its increased attention to recent theoretical models, it continues to stress the tools of syntactic argumentation and hypothesis testing. The course is also intended to provide graduate students in linguistics with preparation for the syntax qualifying exam.

In order to maximally benefit from this course, you should ensure that you are an active participant in class: active participation involves reading assigned articles or chapters before class and identifying questions or concerns that you have about them, attending class, and participating in class discussions. In addition to regular written assignments, all students are required to write two short papers which go beyond the material covered in class. The topics for these should be discussed with the instructor: one possibility would be for one of the papers to be a review of two or three related articles, and for the other paper to discuss the analysis of some novel syntactic data.

Schedule

Times & Places

Topics

This is a tentative schedule for the class - it is likely to change as the semester progresses.

February

 9
10
Class 1
Introduction
11
12
Class 2
Principles & Parameters I
Reading: Kenstowicz 1989, Roberts pp. 149-157, 204-210
13
 16
17
Class 3
Principles & Parameters II
Reading: Baker 1996 Ch.1
18
19
Class 4
Word Order I
Reading: Roberts Ch.1
20
23
24
Class 5
Word Order II
25
26
Class 6
Word Order III
Reading: Pollock 1989
27

March

 2
3
Class 7
Word Order IV
Reading: Baker 1988 Ch.2
4
5
Class 8
Binding I
Reading: Roberts Ch.3
6
9
10
Class 9
Binding II
Reading: Haegeman Ch.4
11
12
Class 10
Binding III
Reading: Chien & Wexler 1990
13
16
17
Class 11
Binding IV
Reading: Reinhart & Reuland 1993
18
19
Class 12
Binding V
Reading: Demirdache 1998
20
23
24
Class 13
Case & Grammatical Functions I
Reading: Roberts Ch.2
25
26
Class 14
Case & Grammatical Functions II
Reading: Haegeman Ch.6
27
30
31
Class 15
Case & Grammatical Functions III
     

 April

    1
2
Class 16
Case & Grammatical Functions IV
Reading: Baker et al. 1989
3
 6 7 8 9 10
13
14
Class 17
Case & Grammatical Functions V
Reading: Lasnik & Saito 1991
15
16
Class 18
Unbounded Dependencies I
Reading: Haegeman Ch.7
17
20
21
Class 19
Unbounded Dependencies II
Reading: Haegeman Ch.8
22
23
Class 20
Unbounded Dependencies III
24
27
28
Class 21
Unbounded Dependencies IV
Reading: Roberts Ch.4
29
30
Class 22
Unbounded Dependencies V
Reading: Haegeman Ch.10
 

May

        1
4
5
Class 23
Unbounded Dependencies VI
Reading: Haegeman Ch.12
6
7
Class 24
Unbounded Dependencies VII
8
11
12
Class 25
Unbounded Dependencies VIII
Reading: Cole & Hermon 1997
13
14
Class 26
New Directions I
15
 18
19
Class 27
New Directions II
     

Readings

Books

We will be drawing on material from two textbooks in this course, both of which are available at the campus bookstore. Liliane Haegeman's Introduction to Government and Binding Theory provides a clear and detailed presentation of many of the important theoretical proposals in the GB tradition in the 1980s. It focuses on introducing technical concepts, and focuses primarily on English. Ian Roberts' recent book Comparative Syntax focuses more on the characterization of cross-linguistic differences in the principles and parameters approach.

Haegeman, Liliane. 1994. Introduction to Government & Binding Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
Roberts, Ian. 1997. Comparative Syntax. London: Arnold.

Articles, Chapters, etc.

In addition to reading material from the two textbooks, you will also read a selection of articles or chapters from the primary syntax literature. Some of these have been chosen because they are classic papers in the field, others because they provide a particularly interesting idea or dataset that bears on issues that we will be discussing in clsss. The list given below is provisional. One copy of the articles will be made available in the Syntax II mailbox in the linguistics department mailroom.

  1. Baker, M. 1988. Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing. University of Chicago Press. [selections]
  2. Baker, M. 1996. The Polysynthesis Parameter. Oxford University Press. [selections]
  3. Baker, M., K. Johnson & I. Roberts. 1989. Passive Arguments Raised. Linguistic Inquiry 20, 219-251.
  4. Chien, Y.-C. & K. Wexler. 1990. Children's Knowledge of Locality Conditions in Binding as Evidence for the Modularity of Syntax and Pragmatics. Language Acquisition 1, 225-295.
  5. Chomsky, N. 1988. Language and Problems of Knowledge: the Managua Lectures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  6. Chomsky, N. 1994. Bare Phrase Structure. In G. Webelhuth (ed), Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.385-439.
  7. Cole, P. & G. Hermon. 1998. The typology of wh-movement. Syntax 1.
  8. Demirdache, H. 1998. Condition C. In Atomism and Binding.
  9. Kenstowicz, M. 1989. The Null Subject Parameter in Modern Arabic Dialects. In O. Jaeggli & K. Safir (eds.), The Null Subject Parameter. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp.263-275.
  10. Lasnik, H. & M. Saito. 1991. On the Subject of Infinitives. In L. Dobrin, L. Nichols & R. Rodriguez (eds.), CLS 27. Part 1: The General Session. University of Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.
  11. Manzini, R. 1992. Locality. MIT Press.
  12. Marantz, A. 1994. A Reader's Guide to the Minimalist Program. In G. Webelhuth (ed), Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.351-382.
  13. Pollock, J.-Y. 1989. Verb Movement, Universal Grammar, and the Structure of Inflection. Linguistic Inquiry 20, 365-424.
  14. Reinhart, T. & E. Reuland. 1993. Reflexivity. Linguistic Inquiry 24, 657-720.
  15. Rizzi, L. 1982. Issues in Italian Syntax. Dordrecht: Foris. [selections]
  16. Safir, K. 1997. Semantic Atoms of Anaphora. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 14, 545-589.

Requirements

There will be no exams for this course. The focus of the course is on reading, discussing, writing and doing over the course of the semester, and hence your entire grade will be based upon this.

If you want to get the maximum benefit from this class (i.e. learn lots and have a grade to show for it), you will do the following...

1. Come to class prepared, and participate (15% of grade). Being prepared means having read the assigned article(s), and having jotted down your initial thoughts or questions about the article(s). Particpating in class discussions is valuable because it makes you an active learner and *massively* increases the likelihood that you will understand and retain the material.

In class, don't hesitate to ask if there is something that you do not understand. Also, if you find the logic of an argument unconvincing, point this out to the class.

2. Think and write carefully in written assignments. (60% of grade) There will be regular written assignments, consisting either of problem sets or critical evaluations of some article.

It is fine to work with other students on the written assignments; this is even encouraged, since it will most likely improve your understanding of the material. However, if you do this you should submit an assignment that you have written yourself, you should mention who you worked with, and -- most importantly -- you should make sure that you are satisfied that you have understood what you have written.

3. Take care in writing the two short papers. (25% of grade) You are expected to write two short papers or 'squibs' for this class, which take you beyond the material directly discussed in class. While the scope of these pieces is flexible, I recommend that one of the pieces be a critical review of a couple of related papers in the syntax literature, and that the other piece be a discussion of some novel data that you have collected. The first squib is due on the last day before Spring Break, on April 3rd; the second squib is due on the last day of classes May 20th.

You are not helping yourself if you wait until the last possible moment to work on these squibs, and if you spend forever stressing out over what to write about. There are vast numbers of interesting papers to review and topics to explore, and your success will depend more on the care you give to working on the project than on the brilliance of the choice of topic! You should let me know in advance what you are working on, and you should also let me know if you're not sure what to write about.

 

Grade scale

 A 80-100%  B- 60-65%
 A- 75-80%  C+ 55-60%
 B+ 70-75%  C 50-55%
 B 65-70%  C- 54-50%

Note that even in the A range there is plenty of room for you to show extra initiative and insight.