everything.study
24.902

Language and Its Structure II: Syntax

3-0-9 units. HASS-S · Undergraduate

Introduction to fundamental concepts in syntactic theory and its relation to issues in philosophy and cognitive psychology. Examples and exercises from a variety of languages. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments.

Fall 2015

Topics

  • The Hierarchical Organization of Language
  • More on Building Syntactic Trees; Plus Locality Considerations; Theta-Roles
  • More on Theta-Roles; Case; Basics of Binding Theory
  • Binding Theory; Syntactic Movement; Embedded vs. Matrix Questions and Wh-movement
  • Islands and Movement
  • Verb Movement
  • Verbs, Tense and Agreement
  • A-Movement
  • More on Movement
  • The Uniformity of Theta Assignment Hypothesis (UTAH)
  • Empirical Arguments for PRO
  • Obligatory and Non-obligatory Control
  • Pro versus PRO
  • Covert Movement
  • Tense and Aspect
  • Polysynthesis
  • Conditionals
  • Gerunds
  • Free Relatives
Fall 2003

Topics

  • From Words to Phrases The Big Picture: Three Examples
  • Constituent Structure and Tests for Constituent Structure
  • The ‘Sisterhood Condition on Selection’, and Some Consequences
  • The Architecture of the Grammar
  • Head Movement
  • The English Verb System
  • Case Theory
  • A-Movement
  • How Well Can We Predict Unaccusativity from Lexical Semantics?
  • Coreference and Constituent Structure
  • Binding vs. Coreference
  • Is it Real?
  • A-Bar Movement
  • Wh -phrases
  • Island Phenomena; the “Subjacency Condition”

Readings

  • There is no single textbook for this class. No existing textbook covers the material exactly the way we wish to do it at MIT, and we have given up trying to find one.
    Listed reading
  • From Words to Phrases The Big Picture: Three Examples
    Listed reading
  • Constituent Structure and Tests for Constituent Structure
    Listed reading
  • Radford, Andrew. Chapter 2 in Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. 61-81.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Transformational Grammar: A First Course. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 167-196 only.
    Listed reading
  • The Sisterhood Condition on Selection, and Some Consequences
    Listed reading
  • The Architecture of the Grammar
    Listed reading
  • Head Movement
    Listed reading
  • Unaccusativity
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 11 · TOPICS: How Well Can We Predict Unaccusativity from Lexical Semantics? · READINGS: Levin, Beth, and Malka Rappaport. “Introduction.” Chapter 1 in Unaccusativity at the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995. Pp. 2-33. Optional reading: Chapter 2, 34-81.
    Reading assignment
  • Coreference and Constituent Structure
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 14 · TOPICS: Is it Real? · READINGS: Hendrick, R., and P. C. Gordon. “Intuitive Knowledge of Linguistic Coreference.” In Cognition 62_._ Pp. 325-370.
    Reading assignment
  • Incorporation
    Listed reading
  • Covert Movement and “Logical Form”
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Subject meets with 24.932 Prereq: 24.900 or 24.9000 U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Sources