Linguistics 221B: Topics in Universal Grammar


Course Info, Winter 2005

Instructor Information

Ivan A. Sag
Office:Bldg. 460, Room 103
Phone:723-1578 
Email:sag at csli dot stanford dot edu

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Course Overview

This course is a continuation of Linguistics 221A, Foundations of English Grammar, which included a systematic introduction to the framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). All students are expected to have a general background in syntax and semantics, as well as a familiarity with HPSG comparable to that offerred in Ling 221A. Students may enroll for 1-5 units, with individual course requirements to be arranged. For a syllabus and further links relevant to class lecture and discussion, see BELOW.

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Requirements

Students are expected to complete the assigned readings before each class. This may be challenging in some weeks. Each participant is expected to lead the discussion of at least one reading. Throughout the term, students enrolled for 4 units are to be working on a theoretically oriented term paper in close consultation with the instructor. A 2-4 page proposal discussing issues actively being investigated should be sumbitted by April 18 (preferably earlier). A two-page abstract of the paper paper should be submitted by May 16 (at the beginning of class) at the very latest (preferably earlier). This abstract should be suitable for submission to a regional or national conference on syntactic theory. Each 4-unit student will give a presentation on his/her paper sometime between May 16 and June 1 (see schedule below).

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Syllabus (Dates are links)

Week ofTopic
1. Mar 30 Organization
2.Apr 4--6 Argument Structure, Valence, and Binding
3.Apr 11--13 Complex Predicates via Argument Composition
4.Apr 18--20 Complementation and Case
5.Apr 25--27 Linearization Theory: Word Order Generalizations. ID-LP Format. Liberation. Lite constituents.
6.May 2--4 Linearization Theory: Pheno- vs. Tectogrammatical Structure. Order Domains and Domain Union
7.May 9--11 Filler-Gap Dependencies in Cross-Linguistic Perspective
8.May 16--18 Student Presentations: Arnon, Ball, Grano, Ito.
9.May 23--25 Student Presentations: Lev, Levinson, Norcliffe, Tily.
9.June 1 Student Presentations: Whitton, Zhao.


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Last Updated by Ivan Sag: Tue Mar 29 14:55:14 PST 2005