Syntactic Typology and Universals

5 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 20. Study of essential similarities and differences among languages in grammatical devices they use to signal the following kinds of concepts: relations between nouns and verbs (case and word order), negation, comparison, existence/location/possession, causation, interrogation, reflexivization, relativization, attribution (adjectives), time (tense and aspect), and backgrounding (subordination). Data from a range of languages presented and analyzed. P/NP or letter grading.