Mellomemne E-271 Høst 1998 Generative Syntax

Instructor: Peter Svenonius

This course teaches syntactic argumentation through the detailed study of English sentence structure. It is intended as a participation-intensive course. Students who cannot attend the biweekly seminars must contact the instructor before the commencement of the course to make individual arrangements.

At each course meeting, homework assignments are distributed. These assignments consist of sets of sentences (and non-sentences) which have been composed to exhibit some fact about the structure of English. Students develop an analysis for these problem sets, and in class, the different solutions are compared and placed in the broader perspective of English grammar. Piece by piece, a generative grammar for (a fragment of) the English language emerges.

The theoretical background for the course is based on the text Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, by Noam Chomsky (MIT Press, 1965). However, as the focus of the course is on developing syntactic argumentation rather than on familiarity with previous research, advance purchase and reading of the text is neither necessary nor recommended. Class participation and cooperative efforts, on the other hand, are strongly encouraged.

Return to list of courses

Return to Peter Svenonius' Home Page

Last updated September 1, 1998