This course is an advanced course on grammatical theory and analysis. Thebasic theoretical position presented is that of the current theory set forth within the generative tradition, referred to as Government and Binding Theory (more recently, Principles and Parameters Theory). There are two major emphases of this course:
1) analytical techniquesa) throughout the semester there will be an emphasis on techniques of analysis with respect to syntactic units and patternsb) data from varied languages will be analyzed and discussed, although there will be a primary focus on English (which is attractive because a high degree of competence regarding the syntactic facts may be assumed)
2) theoretical orientation
a) there will be a strong emphasis upon mastery of the generative approach to syntax, with special attention to the sorts of evidence which can support a given analysisb) a secondary interest will be on the nature of the lexicon and lexical entries, and discourse structure, with discussion of their relation to the overall theory
Because of the claims of universality made by this theory of syntax, the proposals form a set of hypotheses which may be applied in the fieldwork context. To the extent that the hypotheses are validated, fieldwork may be expected to be expedited; to the extent that the hypotheses fail, the field data become highly interesting to the larger linguistic community (with our tentative approach in this course being to treat such data as being linguistically marked, part of the periphery of the language in question).
Textbook
Haegeman, Liliane. 1994. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory, 2nd edition. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
In addition, a number of other materials will be consulted in the course of study from time to time. One work which may be useful is the following (on reserve at both ILC and UTA):
Burquest, Donald A. Forthcoming. A Field Guide for Principles and Parameters Theory, Second Revised Edition. Pre-publication manuscript.