LINGUIST 503: Intermediate Syntax

Spring 2006
Herter 107, TTh 9.30-10.45

Rajesh Bhatt
bhatt@linguist.umass.edu
224 South College, 577-0797
Office Hours: M 3.00-5.00 or by appointment


Syllabus

Themes
This course is a continuation of LINGUIST 401: Introduction to Syntax and it addresses in greater detail the questions introduced in that course. What syntactic properties are shared by all natural languages? What syntactic properties distinguish them? What do we know when we know a language? This course aims to equip students with the ability to address these questions in a precise and informed way.
The course will have two parts. The first part of the course will provide an introduction to certain basic concepts of contemporary syntactic theory: A-movement ( simplex clauses, passivization, raising constructions and clausal complementation more generally) and A-bar-movement (wh-movement and relativization) and as part of this introduction motivate commonly-used syntactic diagnostic tools. The second part of this class will focus on a particular syntactico-semantic process: comparison. We will use our tools and basic understanding of syntax to explore the syntax of comparison. Comparison has both syntactic and semantic components and a proper investigation of it will lead us to add to our syntactic and especially our semantic toolkit.
The first part of the course will be mostly me lecturing but the second part will be very hands on. It will be arranged like a workshop. Each of you will adopt a language and will report on the comparative constructions found in your language. This means that you will make occasional presentations in class. This class satisfies a writing component and your report on comparative constructions in your language of choice will satisfy this requirement.

Topics
Part 1: Basics

• Hierarchical Structure and Binding Theory
• Argument Structure and Case
• Theta-Roles, Expletives, and Passivization
• Finite and Non-finite Complementation
• Raising and Control
• Wh-Movement and Relativization

• Movement within Comparatives
• Phrasal vs. Clausal Comparatives
• Syntactic Structures for Comparatives
• Attributive Comparatives
• Analytic vs. Synthetic Comparatives
• Ellipsis in Comparatives

Prerequisites

Requirements

• participation in class, in e-mail, or during my office hours (10%)
• a weekly question (10%)
• regular homework assignments (30%)
• one take-home exam (on Part 1) (assigned March 9, due March 16) (25%)
• a report on comparative constructions in the language you have worked on (first draft due on April 13, final version due on May 16) (25%)

Supplementary Text

I will occasionally distribute short, compulsory reading assignments and post lectures online. In addition to these, there is a supplementary text:
Syntax: A Generative Introduction, Andrew Carnie, Blackwell Publishing, 2002. (ISBN 0-631-22544-7)

Lectures

• [1-2]: Review of Basic X-Bar Theory: Arguments and Adjuncts, Selection, Jan. 31, Feb. 2
• [3-4]: Merge and Move: the basic structure building operations, Arguments for VP-internal subjects: Floating Quantifiers, Feb. 7 and 9
• [5-7]: Existential Constructions, Intransitives, and Passives, Feb 14, 16, and 23
• [8-10]: Infinitival Complementation: Raising, Feb 28 and Mar 2
• [11-12]: Infinitival Complementation: Control, Mar 7 and 9
• [13-14]: Head Movement, Mar 14 and 16
• [15-17]: Wh-Movement, Mar 28, 30, and Apr 4
• [18]: No Class, Apr. 6

Assignments

• [1]: Floating Quantifiers and Expletives, assigned Feb 14, due in class on Feb 16
• [2]: Report on Language Adopted, assigned Feb 16, due in class on Feb 23
• [3]: Floating Quantifiers and Passives, assigned Feb 23, due in class on Feb 28
• [4]: Raising and Expletives, assigned Mar 2, due in class on Mar 7
• [5]: Raising:Subject Control::ECM:Object Control, assigned Mar 9, due in class on Mar 14
• [MT]: Midterm Exam, due first class after Spring Break (Mar. 28)
• [6-7]: Head Movement and Wh-Movement, assigned Mar 30, due in class on Apr. 11