602.02 Syntactic Theory II U G 5
Prereq: 680 or the equivalent, and a previous syntax course


This intermediate-level course is aimed at students who have already taken an introductory syntax course. It seeks to develop an understanding of the two main styles of contemporary syntactic theory (derivation-based and constraint-based), and their application to the analysis of some of the centrally important syntactic phenomena. Understanding and analytic skill are developed through readings and a series of problem sets that deal with data from a wide range of typologically diverse languages. The phenomena analyzed include many of those already covered in 602.01, but in greater depth and with greater attention to formulating empirical hypotheses with sufficient precision to make clearly determinate predictions. Among the phenomena considered are inflection, case, voice, agreement, subcategorization and government, complementation, modification, specification, coordination, scrambling, "movement", anaphora, quantification, discontinuity, and crossover. Additionally,attention is given to the relationship between syntax and other dimensions of linguistic structure (especially the interfaces to the lexicon, semantics, and pragmatics).

Note that the prerequisite "680 or the equivalent" includes familiarity with basic discrete math concepts such as predicate logic, sets and functions, orders and equivalence relations, induction proof and recursive definition, strings and trees, etc.

Offered 2007-2008:
Offered 2008-2009 (projected):

Instructor's Course Pages:
Carl Pollard

Last modified 2006-11-24

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