160099 SE BA-Seminar on the Theory of Grammar and Cognitive Linguistics (2014S)

Syntax

15.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 16 - Musikwissenschaft und Sprachwissenschaft

Continuous assessment of course work

Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Registration is open from Sa 01.02.2014 16:38 to Mo 31.03.2014 16:38
Deregistration possible until Mo 31.03.2014 16:38

Details

Language: German

Lecturers

Dalina Kallulli

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

    
    Thursday
    06.03.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    13.03.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    20.03.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    27.03.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    03.04.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    10.04.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    08.05.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    15.05.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    22.05.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    05.06.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    12.06.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG
    
    Thursday
    26.06.
    10:45 - 12:15
    Seminarraum 8  Sensengasse 3a  5.OG

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This seminar is aimed at students who want to write their BA thesis on a(ny) topic in linguistic theory. Though its thematic focus is intended to be on the verbal domain - that is, the verb and the VP, the functional projections associated with it, and of course the projection of its arguments (subject, object and so on) - it will be tailored to the needs and wishes of seminar participants. Specifically, an important part of the seminar is intended to deal with the motivation for VP shells (Larson 1988), the special status of the external argument and the case for little v/vP and VoiceP (Chomsky 1995, Kratzer 1996, Harley 2013 a.o.), unaccusativity (Perlmutter 1978, Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995 et seq.), the lexicalist versus non-lexicalist debate (Chomsky 1970, DiSciullo and Williams 1987, Marantz 1997), and what has since Ramchand (2008) been commonly referred to as 'first phase syntax'. Another major focus of this seminar will be on the licensing of dative arguments and applicative syntax (Pylkkanen 2008, Schaefer 2008, Boneh and Nash 2012) in various languages and construction types (e.g. French: 'Je me fume une cigarette'; German: 'Dem Hans zerbrach die Vase', which is ambiguous between a benefactive/malefactive, possessor, and responsibility reading; and of course (varieties of) English: 'I love me some datives').

Assessment and permitted materials

Students are expected to participate actively, make a presentation with a handout, and write a paper of their own (ca. 30 pages). The thematic focus of the seminar is only meant to give a direction and background to students looking for such, but of course other topics will also be dealt with, depending on the needs and wishes of seminar participants. Details will be discussed in class.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

To deepen, consolidate and advance students' knowledge on foundational matters in syntactic theory, as well as to encourage students to engage in and carry out independent research.
Note that though the seminar is intended to focus on the (rather broad) topic of VP-syntax, students wishing to write their BA theses on any other topic in linguistic theory are welcome to join and air their needs and wishes, to which we will adapt.

Examination topics

Interactive teaching, handouts, etc.

Reading list

(Selected)
Boneh, Nora and Lea Nash. 2012. Core and non-core datives in French. In B. Fernandez and R. Etxepare (eds.) Variation in Datives 22-49. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chomsky, Noam. 1970. Remarks on nominalization. In Studies on Semantics in Generative Grammar 11-61. The Hague: Mouton.
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Di Sciullo, Anna Maria and Edwin Williams. 1987. On the Definition of Word. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Harley, Heidi. 2013. External arguments and the Mirror Principle: On the distinctness of Voice and v. Lingua 125:34-57.
Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. Severing the external argument from its verb. In J. Rooryck and L. Zaring (eds.) Phrase Structure and the Lexicon 109-137. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Larson, Richard. 1988. On the double object construction. Linguistic Inquiry. 19(3):335391.
Levin, Beth and Malka Rappaport Hovav. 1995. Unaccusativity: At the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 26. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Marantz, Alec. 1997. No escape from syntax: Don't try morphological analysis in the privacy of your own Lexicon. Proceedings of the 21st Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium: Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 4(2):201-225.
Perlmutter, David M. 1978. Impersonal passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 157189.
Pylkkanen, Liina. 2008. Introducing Arguments. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ramchand, Gillian. 2008. Verb Meaning and the Lexicon: A First-Phase Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schaefer, Florian. 2008. The Syntax of (Anti-)Causatives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Association in the course directory

BA [Version 2008]: BA-M8
Ba [Version 2011]: Ba-M8

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:35