Department of Linguistics and Oriental Languages

Linguistics 522

Introduction to Syntax

This course will serve as an introduction to the field of syntax, focusing on the Principles and Parameters framework and concluding with a brief introduction to Minimalism.

Practice

The course will use the textbook Syntax: A Generative Introduction, by Andrew Carnie, available in the campus bookstore. Please get the 3rd edition. The 2nd edition is no longer being used. There will be exercises for most of the chapters covered.

The course begins with an introduction to constituents and trees, introduces some structural concepts such as dominance and C-Command, and then develops some applications such as the Binding Theory, and some theoretical hypotheses, such as X-Bar Theory.

The meat of the course is then a treatment of movement of various kinds, including head movement and NP movement.

A virtue of the text is that examples and exercises from numerous languages are used, affording the student the opportunity to evaluate some of the claims made about the universality of the theory.

Prerequisites and Grading

Linguistics 101 or Ling 420 or Ling 501.

Grading will be based on exercises and take-home midterms and finals.

Weekly outline

Course outline.

Place and Time

Sec. 1   TuTh 1100-1215 LL 406
Sec. 2   TuTh 1400-315 LL 406