• Meetings:W: 3:15--5:30 in Bldg. 460, Room 126
• URL: http://lingo.stanford.edu/sag/L204
• Readings: various, many available on-line
• Instructors:
  
  • Thomas A. Wasow
    
    • Office: Bldg. 460, Room 030B
    • Office Hours: Tu, Th: 2-3; or by appointment
    • Phone: 650-725-5414
    • Email: wasow at csli dot stanford dot edu
  • Ivan A. Sag
    
    • Office: Bldg. 460, Room 103
    • Office Hours: by appointment
    • Phone: 650-723-1578
    • Email: sag at stanford dot edu
• Syllabus

Course Description

General: Very roughly, this course is about whether grammars have numbers in them. Put another way, it asks the question of why most theories of grammar involve categorical mechanisms, despite the fact that most linguistic data are manifestly gradient. This is an old question, going back (at least) to the earliest days of generative grammar. But it has received renewed attention in the past decade, thanks to the increasing use of experimental and corpus data, the concomitant use of statistical modeling, and the expanding interest in alternatives to mainstream generative grammar.

Requirements: We will read and discuss a selection of papers relevant to this question, including both older and newer ones. One unit of CR/NC will be available simply for regular participation in the discussion. Students enrolled for a grade and/or more than one unit must read and present an in-class summary of at least one supplementary paper. Students enrolled for more than two units must write a paper on a topic relevant to the seminar.