24.902 | Fall 2003 | Undergraduate

Language and its Structure II: Syntax

Lecture Notes

LEC # TOPICS LECTURE NOTES HANDOUTS
1

From Words to Phrases The Big Picture: Three Examples

The Cinque Hierarchy

Greenberg Universals

Parameters (wh-movement)

(PDF) (PDF)
2

Constituent Structure and Tests for Constituent Structure

Sentence Fragments, Movement, Ellipsis, Anaphora as Tests for Constituency

X-bar Theory: Heads

θ-roles

Complements and Modifiers

Specifiers

(PDF)  
3

The Sisterhood Condition on Selection, and Some Consequences

Implications for Acquisition.

Modification of the Sisterhood Condition gives the Notion “Head”

CP and IP

Apparent Deviations from the Sisterhood Condition due to Movement. “Scrambling” in Japanese

See lecture notes for Lecture 2 for these notes (PDF)
4

The Architecture of the Grammar

The Rule Move: Scrambling in Japanese

What’s Universal? The UTAH Condition on Thematic Role Assignment

(PDF)  
5

Head Movement

Apparent Deviations from the Sisterhood Condition in Verb-second languages (German, Dutch, Swedish, Vata…)

Verb Movement to I in French

VSO Languages (Irish, Welsh…) and the VP-internal Subject Hypothesis

(PDF) (PDF)
6 The English Verb System See lecture notes for Lecture 5 for these notes  
7

Case Theory

Morphological Case Systems

Case Theory and the Distribution of Complements

(PDF) (PDF)
8

DP vs. Non-DP; V&P vs. N&A

English as a Case Language!

See lecture notes for Lecture 7 for these notes  
9

A-Movement

Passive Sentences and Raising to Subject

Passive in the Clause and in NP

Long-distance Passive vs. Control (PRO)

Subject Control vs. Object Control

(PDF)  
10

Unaccusativity

The 1-Advancement Exclusiveness Law 

Ne-cliticization in Italian and Other Tests for Unaccusativity

(PDF) (PDF)
11 How Well Can We Predict Unaccusativity from Lexical Semantics? See lecture notes for Lecture 10 for these notes  
12

Coreference and Constituent Structure

Principle A, Principle B, Principle C

Coreference, Binding and Disjoint Reference

Governing Category

Long-distance Reflexives in Dutch and Chinese

(PDF)  
13

Binding vs. Coreference

Binding and Coreference in Language Acquisition and Language Disorders

See lecture notes for Lecture 12 for these notes  
14 Is it Real? (PDF) (PDF)
15

A-Bar Movement

Wh-movement as Movement to Spec, CP

I-to-C Movement and Wh-movement in Questions and Relative Clauses

See lecture notes for Lecture 14 for these notes  
16

Wh-phrases

Doubly-Filled Comp filter

Relative Clauses

The Model of Grammar: “Superiority Effects” and “Tucking In”

See lecture notes for Lecture 14 for these notes (PDF)
17 Island Phenomena; the “Subjacency Condition” (PDF)  
18

Incorporation

The Condition on Extraction Domains (CED). Incorporation (Mohawk, Chichewa, Southern Tiwa)

See lecture notes for Lecture 17 for these notes  
19

Covert Movement and “Logical Form”

WH-movement in Japanese/Chinese-type Languages. Adjuncts vs. Arguments. Covert Movement

(PDF) (PDF)
20

Ellipsis and Quantifier Raising

Quantifier Raising, VP-ellipsis, Antecedent-Contained Deletion

  (PDF)
21

The Architecture of the Grammar

The “Minimalist Program”

  (PDF)

Course Info

As Taught In
Fall 2003
Learning Resource Types
Exams with Solutions
Problem Sets with Solutions
Lecture Notes