This class is an intensive introduction to syntactic theory. Its emphasis is on the ideas and big generalisations underlying current syntactic research in the "Principles and Parameters" framework, rather than their technical renderings in particular proposals. The goal being (i) to equip you with knowledge that allows you to acquire the nitty-gritty yourself, and (ii) to allow you to be ready for the fact that the technology changes fairly often (because our understanding of how to implement the general ideas still evolves relatively quickly) while the underlying big picture is more stable.
Requirements:
Part I. Introduction.
The General Picture: the language organ, the acquisition paradox, interfaces, minimalist methodology, constituency and the basics of phrase-structure, overview of the main buildling blocks of current theories. Required background reading: extracts of an interview with Noam Chomsky.
Part II. Fine-grained phrase-structure.
The discovery that phrase-structure might be much richer and interpretatively more fine-grained than ever thought plays an increasingly important role in syntactic theory. It offloads much of the work that used to be done by "principles" onto a single statement about the order of elements in the structure. The nature of the structure also provides the backbone for all other principles, often strongly influencing their formulation.
[Topic 1] The basic ingredients of "X-bar theory", the dozen of stipulations hidden in theories of phrase-structure, the importance of headedness and labelling.
[Topic 2] Stretching the structure: VP shells. Two approaches to "not enough space". Adding space by recursion of labels. Reinterpretation as lexical decomposition. Required reading: R. Larson (1988) "On the double object construction", Linguistic Inquiry 19:335. Read §1-§3.1 (inclusive) and §7.
[Topic 3] Specialising the stretched structure: I-to-C and failure thereof. Split-IP and labelling. Placement of adverbs. Required reading: J-Y. Pollock (1989) "Verb-movement, UG, and the structure of IP", Linguistic Inquiry 20:365. Read sections 1-3 carefully, and section 4 more lightly.
[Topic 4] Consequences on the relationship between morphology and syntax. The Mirror Principle. Modularity and the pieces of grammar. Required reading: Mark Baker (1985) "The Mirror Principle", Linguistic Inquiry 16:373. Read 1--4 (ie. up to p.400)
Optional readings: more on the rich-infl hypothesis:
[Topic 5] Pursuing the logic to its full consequences: refined functional projections. Required readings: Guglielmo Cinque (1997) "Adverbs and Functional Heads", OUP, sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.7, and 3.1-3.3 and Luigi Rizzi (1997) "The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery", in Haegeman (ed) "Elements of Grammar". pp 281-304 (ie. §1-§7).
[Topic 6] Deriving Phrase Structure: recent attempts at deeper explanations of some basic aspects of phrase structure: Kayne's Antisymmetry, Chomsky's Bare Phrase Structure, Brody's Telescope, Starke's Specifier-less approach. Required readings: Chomsky (1995) "Bare Phrase Structure", in Webelhut (ed) GB Theory and the Minimalist Programme, Sections 4 and 6 (it is highly recommended that you also read sections 1-3) and Starke (2001) On the Inexistance of Specifiers and the Nature of Heads, Section 1.
Part III. Subjects and A movement.
A large amount of our syntactic knowledge builds on the fact that "subjects are special". This is true wrt. their position in the clause-structure, wrt. their movement (EPP, raising, passives, middles), wrt. their (lack of) relation to thematic roles and interpretation (expletives, quirky subjects, psych-verbs), their optionality in some languages (null-subjects), their categorial restrictions, etc.
[Topic 1] Grounding subject movement (and the phrase-structure of subjects). Motivations for subject movement: attraction versus 'need to move', case versus agreement versus epp versus discourse, etc. Required reading: McCloskey (1997) "Subjects", in Haegeman (ed) "Elements of Grammar", p. 197.
[Topic 2] A-movement of derived subjects: passives, ergatives, middles, raising. Required reading: Baker, Johnson, Roberts (1989) "Passive Arguments Raised", Linguistic Inquiry and Afarli (1989) "Passives in Norwegian and English", Linguistic Inquiry
[Topic 3] Exotic subjects: psych-verbs, quirky case (locative inversion). Required reading: Belletti and Rizzi (1988) "Psych-verbs and Theta-Theory". Linguistic Inquiry 19:1-34. Read up to p. 312.
Part IV. A' Movement and Locality.
While something like movement (dislocation) seems to exist in natural languages, this operation is heavily restricted. Search for the principles that restrict it - or for a formulation the movement operation that automatically yields those restrictions - has been the cornerstone of research between roughly 1970 and 1990 (and still plays a central role, though focus has moved towards phrase-structure and features).
[Topic 1] Varieties of wh-movement: weak islands, strong islands, relative clauses, superiority, wh in situ, P-stranding. Huang (1984) "Move WH in a language without WH movement", The Linguistic Review
[Topic 2] Theories of locality. Trying to state a unified principle covering the various subcases of locality. Reading: Rizzi (1999) Relativised Minimality effects.
[Topic 3] Movement of non-arguments: predicate movement, VP-movement, remnant movement. The remnant festival.
Part V. Language Acquisition, Language and Mind
A brief overview of the difficulties faced by children to acquire all of the above, and some surprising results about how they manage. Parameter theory and how it brings together comparative syntax and language acquisition. Lexical parameters versus the problem of the acquisition of Root Infinitives, principle B, etc. Reading: Chomsky, Hauser, Fitch (2002) "The Faculty Of Language: What Is It, Who Has It and How Did It Evolve".