Convergent Grammar (CVG) Course

This course is an in-depth introduction to Convergent Grammar (CVG), a simple grammar framework that combines the advantages of HPSG (intuitive appeal to linguists, parallel design) and Categorial Grammar (simplicity of syntax-semantics interface, well-understood proof-theoretic foundations). Based on a detailed examination of a wide range of syntactic/semantic phenomena, we will argue that a parallel derivational (PD) architecture of the kind that CVG embodies provides a simpler and more straightforward analysis of the phenomena than do existing frameworks such as Categorial Grammar (CG), the Minimalist Program (MP), or Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG).

The course is tentatively organized as follows:

Day One: Introduction

• Background and Formal Prerequisites
• Basics of CVG Syntax

• Day One Slides

Day Two: Overt Movement

• Topicalization and the Empty Category Principle (ECP)
• Tough-movement, Nested Dependency Condition (NDC), Parasitic Gaps, and Across-the-Board (ATB) Condition

• Day Two Slides

Day Three: So-called Covert Movement

• Semantics and the Syntax-Semantics Interface
• Quantifier Scope, Collapsing Overt and Covert, the Curry-Howard Scandal

• Day Three Slides

Day Four: Interrogatives

• Ty2 Review and Interrogative Semantics
• Interrogatives in Chinese and English

• Day Four Slides

Day Five: Advanced Topics

• Inverse Scope, Parasitic Scope, and Scope Reconstruction
• Scope of Comparatives and Coordinate Semantics

• Day Five Slides