everything.study
24.951

Introduction to Syntax

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Introduction to theories of syntax underlying work currently being done within the lexical-functional and government-binding frameworks. Organized into three interrelated parts, each focused upon a particular area of concern: phrase structure; the lexicon; and principles and parameters. Grammatical rules and processes constitute a focus of attention throughout the course that serve to reveal both modular structure of grammar and interaction of grammatical components.

Fall 2003

Topics

  • Introduction: “The Case for Syntax”
  • Phrase Structure
  • Phrase Structure (cont.)
  • Binding Theory
  • A-Movement
  • A-Movement (cont.)
  • Passives
  • Unaccusativity
  • Unaccusativity (cont.)
  • Relational Grammar and Lexical-Functional Grammar
  • Relational Grammar and Lexical-Functional Grammar (cont.)
  • Case and Licensing
  • Case and Licensing (cont.)
  • Null Subjects (PRO)
  • Control (PRO)
  • Control (PRO) (cont.)
  • Head Movement
  • Student Presentations
  • Student Presentations (cont.)
  • Nonconfigurationality
  • Double Objects
  • Psych Verbs
  • Psych Verbs (cont.)
  • Minimalism
  • Minimalism (cont.)

Readings

  • LEC #: 2 · TOPICS: Phrase Structure · READINGS: Fukui, Naoki. “Phrase Structure.” In The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory . Edited by M. Baltin, and C. Collins. Malden: Blackwell, 2001, pp. 374-406. ISBN: 0631205071.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 3 · TOPICS: Phrase Structure (cont.) · READINGS: Kayne, Richard. The Antisymmetry of Syntax . Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1994. ISBN: 0262611074. (Excerpt: pp. 3-36.)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 4 · TOPICS: Binding Theory · READINGS: Lasnik, Howard. “A Selective History of Modern Binding Theory.” In Essays on Anaphora . Edited by H. Lasnik. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989, pp. 1-37. ISBN: 1556080913.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 5 · TOPICS: A-Movement · READINGS: Baltin, Mark. “A-Movements.” In The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory .
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 6 · TOPICS: A-Movement (cont.) · READINGS: Lebeaux, David. Where Does the Binding Theory Apply? NEC Research Institute Technical Report, 1998. (Excerpt: pp. 1-37.)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 7 · TOPICS: Passives · READINGS: Baker, Mark, Kyle Johnson, and Ian Roberts. “Passive Arguments Raised.” Linguistic Inquiry 20 (1989): 219-25.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 8 · TOPICS: Unaccusativity · READINGS: Levin, Beth, and Malka Rappaport. Unaccusativity at the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface . Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1995. ISBN: 0262620944. (Excerpt: pp. 34-81.)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 9 · TOPICS: Unaccusativity (cont.) · READINGS: Baker, Mark. “Thematic Roles and Syntactic Structure.” In Elements of Grammar . Edited by L. Haegeman. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1997, pp. 73-137. ISBN: 0792342976.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 10 · TOPICS: Unaccusativity (cont.) · READINGS: Friedmann, Naama et al. “The Vase Fell (The Vase). The Online Processing of Unaccusatives.” To appear in Linguistic Inquiry (Journal published by MIT Press).
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 11 · TOPICS: Relational Grammar and Lexical-Functional Grammar · READINGS: Perlmutter, David, and Paul Postal. “The 1-Advancement Exclusiveness Law.” In Studies in Relational Grammar . Vol. 2. Edited by D. Perlmutter, and S. Rosen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984, pp. 81-125. ISBN: 0226660508.
    Reading assignment
  • Bresnan, Joan, and Annie Zaenen. “Deep Unaccusativity in LFG.” In Grammatical Relations . A Cross-Theoretical Perspective. Edited by K. Dziwirek, P. Farrell, and E. Mejias-Bikandi. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications, 1990, pp. 45-57. ISBN: 0937073636.
    Listed reading
  • Bresnan, Joan. “Monotonicity and the Theory of Relation-Changes in LFG.” Language Research 26, no. 4 (1990): 637-652.
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 13 · TOPICS: Case and Licensing · READINGS: Marantz, Alec. “Case and Licensing.” In Arguments and Case: Explaining Burzio’s Generalization . Edited by E. Reuland. Amsterdam: Joan Benjamins Publishing Company, 2000, pp. 11-30. ISBN: 15561998X.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 14 · TOPICS: Case and Licensing (cont.) · READINGS: Yoon, James. “Ambiguity of Government and the Chain Condition.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 14 (1996): 105-162.
    Reading assignment
  • Jaeggli, Osvaldo, and Ken Safir. “The Null Subject Parameter and Parametric Theory.” In The Null Subject Parameter . Edited by O. Jaeggli, and K. Safir. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 1989, pp. 1-45. ISBN: 1556080875.
    Listed reading
  • Iatridou, Sabine, and David Embick. “Apropos PRO.” Language 73, no. 1 (1997): 58-78.
    Listed reading
  • Lebeaux, David. “Anaphoric Binding and the Definition of PRO.” NELS 14 (1984): 253-274.
    Listed reading
  • Landau, Idan. Elements of Control: Structure and Meaning in Infinitival Constructions . Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000. ISBN: 0792366204. (Excerpt: pp. 1-25.)
    Listed reading
  • Hornstein, Norbert. “Movement and Control.” Linguistic Inquiry 30, no. 1 (1999): 69-96.
    Listed reading
  • Landau, Idan. “Movement Out of Control.” Linguistic Inquiry 34, no. 3 (2003): 471-498.
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 18 · TOPICS: Head Movement · READINGS: Roberts, Ian. “Head Movement.” In The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory . pp. 113-147.
    Reading assignment
  • Baker, Mark. Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. ISBN: 0226035425. (Excerpt: Chapter 2, pp. 24-75.)
    Listed reading
  • Rosen, Sara. “Two Types of Noun Incorporation: A Lexical Analysis.” Language 65 (1989): 294-317.
    Listed reading
  • DeGraff, Michel. “Verb Syntax in, and Beyond, Creolization.” In The New Comparative Syntax . pp. 64-94.
    Listed reading
  • Bobaljik, Jonathan. “Realizing Germanic Inflection: Why Morphology Does Not Drive Syntax?” (MS., 32 pages) 2002. To appear in Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics .
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 21 · TOPICS: Nonconfigurationality · READINGS: Baker, Mark. “The Natures of Nonconfigurationality.” In The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory . pp. 407-438.
    Reading assignment
  • Larson, Richard. “On the Double Object Construction.” Linguistic Inquiry 18 (1988): 335-392.
    Listed reading
  • Aoun, Joseph, and Audrey Li. “Scope and Constituency.” Linguistic Inquiry 20 (1989): 141-72.
    Listed reading
  • Jackendoff, Ray. “On Larson’s Treatment of the Double Object Construction.” Linguistic Inquiry 21 (1990): 427-56.
    Listed reading
  • Larson, Richard. “Double Object Revisited: Reply to Jackendoff.” Linguistic Inquiry 21 (1990): 589-632.
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 24 · TOPICS: Psych Verbs · READINGS: Belletti, Adriana, and Luigi Rizzi. “Psych-verbs and Theta-theory.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6 (1988): 291-352.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 25 · TOPICS: Psych Verbs (cont.) · READINGS: Pesetsky, David. Zero Syntax . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. ISBN: 0262161451. (Excerpt: Chapter 2.)
    Reading assignment
  • Marantz, Alec. “Reader’s Guide to the Minimalist Program.” In Government and Binding and the Minimalist Program . Edited by G. Webelhuth. Malden: Blackwell, 1994, 349-382. ISBN: 0631180613.
    Listed reading
  • Chomsky, Noam. “A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory.” In The View from Building 20 . Edited by K. Hale, and S. J. Keyser. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993, pp. 1-52. ISBN: 0262581248. (Reprinted in Chomsky. Chapter 3 in The Minimalist Program. Cambridge: Distributed by MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, 1995.)
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 27 · TOPICS: Minimalism (cont.) · READINGS: Chomsky, Noam. The Minimalist Program . (Excerpt from Chapter 4.)
    Reading assignment
  • Chomsky, Noam. “Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework.” In Step by Step . Edited by R. Martin, D. Michaels, and J. Uriagereka. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000, pp. 89-155. ISBN: 026213361X. (Excerpts)
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Derivation by Phase” (Excerpts). In Ken Hale: A Life in Language . pp.1-52.
    Listed reading
  • Frampton, John et al. “Remarks on ‘Derivation by Phase’: Feature Valuation, Agreement, and Intervention.” (MS., 8 pages) 2000.
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Sources