Linguistics 2248A
Syntactic Analysis

Antirequisite(s): The former Anthropology 2248A/B.

Prerequisite(s): Anthropology 1027A/B or Linguistics 2288A/B

It is the student’s responsibility to check the course prerequisites and antirequisites.
Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from the Department of French Studies to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.

Course Description:

An introduction to contemporary generative syntax: lexical categories, morphology in relation to syntax, constituency, dependency, grammatical relations, argument structure. The primary language discussed will be English, but examples will be drawn from other languages where appropriate.

Pedagogical Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Know the basic syntactic terminology (e.g., specifier, adjunct, constituent, binding, X-bar rules, functional categories)
  • Understand the basics of linguistic argumentation
  • Understand a scientific approach to the study of sentence structure (i.e., observation of data → formulation of a hypothesis → testing the hypothesis with a new data → modifying initial hypothesis → testing it with data, etc.)
  • Analyze data from a variety of languages proposing a sound syntactic analysis related to structure of phrases and sentences
  • Evaluate different proposals of syntactic analysis
  • Analyze word order in different languages
  • Observe and describe linguistic variation

Course Materials

  • Carnie, Andrew. 2021. Syntax: Generative Introduction. Fourth edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Carnie, Andrew. 2021. The Syntax Workbook: A Companion to Carnie's Syntax, 2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell.

Methods

The following methods will be used during this course:

  • class lectures (complementing the textbook)
  • solving problems sets with discussion in lectures and tutorials
  • reading at home and raising questions
  • doing practice exercises in tutorials

Important: Reading the textbook will not replace class lectures and discussions in class. In order to obtain a good mark, you should regularly attend classes. If you have a reason to be absent, let me know in advance.

Methods of Evaluation:

  • Midterm Test: 25%
  • Problem Sets (best 4): 32%
  • Participation: 8%
  • Final exam: 35%

NB: Students do not have the option of doing additional work to bring up their grade.