28478 - Linguistic Theory and Language Structure (1) (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students should be familiar with the basic principles of syntactic analysis, and have some awareness of contrasting theoretical approaches (formalist, functionalist). They will have examined some interesting areas of syntactic analysis (ones where much important recent work has been done) and will have seen how syntactic theory advances: existing or new hypotheses are tested against new sets of data (whose importance has become clear in the light of the theoretical advances); this testing then contributes to further evolution of the theory, which in turn directs attention to further sets of data (and so on).

Course contents

A. Introductory

- Syntactic theory and its objectives

- descriptive adequacy vs explanatory adequacy

- the ‘logical problem' of language acquisition

Class handout:

Readings:

Graffi, cap.1; Radford 1988, cap. 1; Crain & Lillo-Martin, parte 1

- basic syntax (lexical categotries, phrasal categories, the clause, endocentricity & ‘X bar' theory)

Class handout:

Dispensa (‘course notes'):

‘Basic Concepts in Syntactic Analysis'

Readings:

Graffi & Scalise, cap.7; Graffi, cap. 2, 3, 4; Radford 1981, cap. 3; Mereu, cap. 4; Graffi, cap. 6 (Teoria ‘X barra')

- two important questions:

1. Trensformations:

The relationship between syntax and lexicon: 1960s transformational rules (the passive transformation, nominalisation transformation etc); transformations reinterpreted as epiphenomenal and replaced by a modular approach (Case Filter; è Criterion; Locality etc), passive and ergative verbs, raising verbs (Burzio 1986).

Class handout:

Dispensa:

‘Transformations and the Lexicon'

Readings:

Radford 1988, cap. 8 (§ 4-7); Haegeman 1991, cap. 6; Graffi, cap. 5

2. Functional categories:

- the syntactic projections of ‘minor/closed lexical categories' (auxiliary verbs, determiners, complementisers - exponents of the functional heads I, D, C).

- functional categories relating to the verb, the syntactic status of auxiliary verbs, ‘verb raising' (Pollock 1989), head-to-head movement.

- the determiner projection (‘DP analysis' - Abney 1987): functional projections relating to NP, head movement within NP.

Class handout:

Dispensa:

‘The Syntax of Verbal Inflection'

Readings:

on the functional categories relating to verbs:

Radford 1988,cap.8 (§ 1-3); Haegeman, & Guéron, cap. 2 § 4

on the functional categories relating to nouns:

Giusti (= Haegeman1997, cap.4)

B. Specific areas of study.

1. The morphosyntax of verbal inflection: the interaction between the functional projections of the verb (agreement, tense, mood, aspect) and verbal morphology, comparison between morphologically rich languages and those with little verb morphology (English), status of modal verbs in English, diachronic development of English, grammaticalization and the creation of new functional material.

Class handout:

Dispensa:

‘Subjunctive Clauses in English'; ‘Modals and Functional Categories'

Letture:

Haegeman & Guéron 1999, cap. 3 § 2

2. The argument structure of verbs: beyond the ‘thematic roles' approach - actionality and the complex structure of events (‘subevents', resultative event phases etc), ergativity, underspecification in the verbal lexicon, Romance and Germanic verbal lexicons compared.

Class handout:

Dispensa:

‘Argument Structure of Verbs'

Letture:

Levin & Rappaport Hovav, cap. 1 & 2; Ramchand

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography

Manuals:

Crain, S. & Lillo-Martin, D. (1999) An Introduction to Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition Oxford: Blackwell

Graffi, G. (1994) Sintassi Bologna: Il Mulino

Graffi, G. & Scalise, S. (2002) Le lingue e il linguaggio Bologna: Il Mulino

Haegeman, L. (1991) Introduction to Government & Binding Theory Oxford: Blackwell

Haegeman, L. (1996) Manuale di grammatica generativa Milano: Hoepli (= traduzione italiana di Haegeman 1991)

Haegeman, L. & Guéron, J. (1999) English Grammar: A Generative Perspective Oxford: Blackwell

Horrocks, G. (1987) Generative Grammar London: Longman

Matthews, P. (1981) Syntax Cambridge: CUP

Mereu, L. (2004) La sintassi delle lingue del mondo Bari: Laterza

Radford, A. (1981) Transformational Syntax Cambridge: CUP

Radford, A. (1988) Transformational Grammar. A First Course Cambridge: CUP

Radford, A. (1997) Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English Cambridge: CUP

Roberts, I. (1996) Comparative Syntax London: Edward Arnold

Roberts, I. (2007) Diachronic Syntax Oxford: OUP

Sells, P. (1985) Lectures on Contemporary Syntactic Theories Stanford: CSLI

Van Valin, R. & LaPolla, R (1997) Syntax. Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: CUP

Theoretical studies

Abney, S. (1987) ‘The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect', PhD diss., MIT

Burzio, L. (1986) Italian Syntax Dordrecht: Reidel

Haegeman, L. (ed.)(1997) The New Comparative Syntax London: Longman

Levin, B. & Rappaport Hovav, M. (2005) Argument Realization Cambridge: CUP

Matthews, P. (2007) Syntactic Relations: A critical Survey Cambridge: CUP

Pollock, J.-Y. (1989) ‘Verb movement, Universal Grammar, and the structure of IP', Linguistic Inquiry 20

Roberts, I. & Roussou, A. (2003) Syntactic Change: A Minimalist Approach to Grammaticalisation Cambridge: CUP

Ramchand, G. (2008) Verb Meaning and the Lexicon. A First Phase Syntax Cambridge: CUP

Reference Grammars

Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language Cambridge: CUP

Renzi, L., Salvi, G. & Cardinaletti, A. (1988-1995) Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione (volumi I - III) Bologna: Il Mulino

Teaching methods

taught classes, seminar discussion, readings and course notes specifically written for this course.

Assessment methods

written exam at the conclusion of course (scripts accepted in Italian, English, French, German).

Teaching tools

taught classes - seminar discussion (with data from various languages)

Office hours

See the website of Peter Grenville Taylor