Ling. 5331 Advanced Formal Syntax

Ling. 5331
Advanced Formal Syntax

Spring 2006

Professor:	Laurel Smith Stvan
Meetings:	215 Trimble Hall, Tuesday - Thursday 2:00-3:20 p.m.
Office:	410 Hammond Hall
Office Hours:	3:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and by appointment
Phone:	(817) 272-5234
Email:	stvan@uta.edu

Course Description

This course is a continuation of Ling. 5330. In this course we will delve further into Principles and Parameters Theory by looking in detail at descriptions of the functional categories of DET and AUX, as well as beginning to investigate how various modules of P&P are described currently under the Minimalist Program. This will be a seminar class, in which each student will be responsible for leading some dayšs discussions, as well as working throughout the semester on solving syntax exercises, and writing essays. Our goal is for course members to become conversant in the language of syntactic theory so that they can go on to read current work applicable to their own areas of interest.

Course Materials
There are two required text books, available at the UTA bookstore (or through any online bookseller of your choice) and a set of readings which will be available for you to photocopy .

Texts:

Radford, Andrew. 1997. Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: A Minimalist Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Haegeman, Liliane. 1994. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory., 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

The majority of the reading will be from the Radford book and the articles in the reading packet; students are assumed to already have, or have access to, the Haegeman book for review of concepts covered in Ling. 5330. Both the Radford and the Haegeman books will also be on 3-hour reserve in the main library.

Here is the most current course schedule of readings and assignments.

Course Requirements
Coursework is intended to be "multimodal" in that you will have a change to increase your knowledge through reading, writing, speaking, and solving problems.

Grades will be determined as follows:

Attendance / Participation

20%

Since this is a seminar class, regular attendance is required. You are responsible for the material presented in class lectures and for any handouts passed out in class as well as for any work done in class; for your own benefit, come to class. But if you must miss a class session, do the reading and homework, get notes and information from another student, and then come in to talk to me as soon as possible. In addition to regular attendance, each student is responsible for leading some class discussions of readings assigned early in the semester. Regular attendance and active class participation is worth 10% of the course grade. Prepared leading of your class discussions is worth another 10% of the class grade.

Homework Assignments

20%

We will incorporate in-class discussion of homework assignments on approximately eight days. Students are expected to have completed the exercises before coming to class. On two of these days, I will collect exercises and mark them with a letter grade. Late assignments will be accepted only if a student has contacted me in advance. There is no make-up or extra credit work.

Midterm

30%

There will be a take-home essay exam due in the week before spring break.

Term Paper

30%

Your 10-12 page final paper will be due during exam week.

There will be no final exam.

Assignment grades will be determined as follows:

A-	90-92 %	B-	80-82 %	C-	70-72	D-	60-62%	F	59 or lower
A	93-96 %	B	83-86 %	C	73-76	D	63-66
A+	97-100 %	B+	87-89	C+	77-79	D+	67-69

University Policies
Americans With Disabilities Act. The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 93112 -- The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of new federal legislation entitled Americans With Disabilities Act - (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens.

As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide "reasonable accommodation" to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty at the beginning of the semester and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels, (that is, you must first register with the office of disability accommodation on the lower level of University Center.)

Academic Dishonesty. It is the policy of The University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University.

"Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts." (Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22)

Withdrawals. It is the student's responsibility to initiate and complete any withdrawal from the class. The instructor CANNOT withdraw a student.

Go to Laurel Stvan's home page.

Last Updated: January 15, 2005