LING 509: Syntactic Theory III

Meeting Time:               Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30pm-3:20pm

Location:                         GLD 117

            

Instructor:                     Barbara Citko

Instructor’s Office:       Padelford A210D

Office Hours:                 Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-4:30

Office Phone:                 3-6502  

Email:                             bcitko@u.washington.edu

            

Course Description:

 

This course focuses on recent developments in syntactic theory, from the perspective of Chomsky’s Minimalist Program.  We will focus on the following issues, comparing pre-minimalist, Government and Binding approaches to more recent minimalist ones: (i) phrase structure and linearization, (ii) case and agreement phenomena, (iii) movement and locality in a phase-based system.

 

Prerequisites:    LING 508 (or the equivalent, subject to my approval)

 

Requirements:

 

Active participation (including short reports on readings)                    10%

Midterm Exam                                                                                 20%

3 Hw Assignments                                                                           30%

Class Presentation                                                                           10%

Final Paper                                                                                       30% 

 

E-Post

 

Midterm Survey

 

Textbooks:

 

Hornstein, N., J. Nunes, and K. Grohmann. 2005. Understanding Minimalism. Cambridge University Press. (HNG)

 

Boskovic, Z, and H. Lasnik. 2007. Minimalist Syntax. The Essential Readings. Blackwell Publishing (BL)

 

Course Outline (subject to change):

Week

Date

Topic

Readings ( to be completed before class)

 

Hw

(due in class)

I

Tue 03/27

Overview

Belleti’s and Rizzi’s interview with Noam Chomsky. 

HNG Chapter 1

 

Handout

 

 

 

Thu 03/29

Basic Design of Language

HNG  2

BL 1.1

Handout

 

 

 II

Tue 04/03

Theta Domains

HNG 3

BL 1.2

Handout

 

 

 

Thu 04/05

Case Domains

HNG 4

BL 2.2.2

Handout

 

 

 III

Tue 04/10

Movement and Minimality Effects

HNG 5

Handout

 

Hw 1 Due (Ex 2.6, 2.11, 3.6, and 3.7 from HNG)

 

Thu 04/12

Copy Theory of Movement

BL 6

 

IV 

Tue 04/17

Phrase Structure

HNG 6

 

 

 

Thu 04/19

Review for Midterm

 

 

Tue 04/24

Midterm

 

 

 

Thu 04/26

Structure Building and Lexical Insertion

 

BL 3

 

Handout

 

 

VI 

Tue 05/01

Linearization

Copy Theory of Movement

HNG 7

BL 6

 

Handout

 

 

 

Thu 05/03

LCA/C-command Related Issues

BL 5

Final Paper Outlines Due

VII 

Tue 05/08

Feature Interpretability and Feature Checking

HNG 9

Handout

 

 

 

Thu 05/10

Existential Constructions

BL 7

 Hw 2 Due

VIII 

Tue 05/15

Derivational Economy

HNG 10

Handout

 

 

 

Thu 05/17

Economy, Scope and Reconstruction

BL 8

 

IX 

Tue 05/22

Phases

Chomsky, N. 2001. Beyond Explanatory Adequacy.

 

Reading Guide

 

 

 

Thu 05/24

Phases Continued

Legate, J. 2003. ‘Some Interface Properties of the Phase,’ Linguistic Inquiry 34: 506-516.

Matushansky, O.  ‘Going through a phase, Ms.

 

Handout

 

 Hw 3 Due (Ex 9.14, 10.6, 10.15)

 

* Note the change from the handout (10.15 instead of 10.13)

Tue 05/29

Presentations

 

 

 

Thu 06/30

Presentations

 

 

 

Thu 06/07

 

Final Papers Due