Fall 2007
Graduate Institute of Linguistics
Fu Jen Catholic University
Course Syllabus
Syntax
Instructor & Class Info
Instructor: Zixuan Li (李子瑄)
E-mail:
Course Time: Wednesday 9:00 – 12:00 a.m.
Office Hours: By appointment
Website: http://140.136.213.100/claroline173
Readings:
1. Textbook: Haegeman, Liliane. (1994) Introduction to Government & Binding Theory. Blackwell, Oxford.
2. Papers: We will also read several shorter papers. Photocopies of these will be made available in class.
Grading: Participation 10%
Assignments 30%
Mid-term Exam 30%
Final Exam 30%
Course Goals and Requirements
The course aims to give students the ability to address questions regarding the syntactic properties that are shared by natural languages (as well as those that distinguish them) in a precise and informed way.
The topics cover principles that govern phrase structure (the composition of phrases and sentences), movement (dependencies between syntactic constituents), and binding (the interpretation of different types of noun phrases). Although most of the evidence discussed in the class will come from both English and Mandarin, evidence from other languages will also play an important role in keeping with the comparative and universalistic perspective of modern syntactic theory.
The expected contribution of students to class includes: regular class attendance and participation, completion of readings and assignments, 2 tests, and one final paper (5–10 pages). The final paper may be a critical discussion of some particular syntactic arguments or constructions, or an application of an analysis to a non-English language.
Syllabus
Week 1 Introduction and Foundations
Week 2 Constituent Structure
Week 3 Phrase Structure (X-bar Theory)
Week 4 Case theory
Week 5 Anaphoric Relations and Overt NPs
Week 6 Non-overt Categories: PRO and Control
Week 7 NP-movement
Week 8 -ditto-
Week 9 Midterm Exam
Week 10 Wh-movement
Week 11 -ditto-
Week 12 An Inventory of Empty Category
Week 13 Logical Form
Week 14 Barriers
Week 15 Functional heads and head movement
Week 16 Relativized Minimality
Week 17 -ditto-
Week 18 Final Exam
References
Abney, Steven Paul. 1987. The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Doctoral Dissertation, MIT.
Belletti, Adriana. 1988. The case of unaccusatives. Linguistic Inquiry 19:1–34.
Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Knowledge of language: Its nature, origin and use. New York: Praeger.
Koopman, Hilda, and Dominique Sportiche. 1991. The position of subjects. Lingua 85:211–258.
Larson, Richard K. 1988. On the double object construction. Linguistic Inquiry 335–391.
Pollock, Jean-Yves. 1989. Verb movement, universal grammar, and the structure of IP. Linguistic Inquiry 20:365–424.
Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of grammar: A handbook of generative syntax , ed. Liliane Haegeman, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Stowell, Timothy. 1981. Origins of phrase structure. Doctoral Dissertation, MIT.
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