Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hrs / session
Prerequisites
All four of the following:
- 24.951 Introduction to Syntax
- 24.952 Advanced Syntax
- 24.970 Introduction to Semantics
- 24.973 Advanced Semantics
Course Description
This course focuses on the process by which native speakers of a language acquire the ability to speak and understand that language. We will cover some of the major results in the study of first-language acquisition, concentrating on morpho-syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. The findings primarily come from English, but cross-linguistic differences in the phenomena of interest and corresponding differences in acquisition patterns are considered where appropriate. Of interest throughout is how these developmental data inform linguistic theory and/or learnability theory.
Requirements
The requirements for participation in this course are that:
- You show up;
- You participate in discussion;
- You send me a response (one page maximum) to readings for the coming class by Sunday evening at 6 pm.
If you are taking the course for credit, you must, in addition, develop an acquisition-related research topic of your own interest. See the Assignments page for more details.
Schedule of Topics
Class 1: Foundations
Class 2: Words
Class 3: Syntactic bootstrapping
Class 4: Early syntax
Class 5: Root infinitives
Class 6: Passives
Class 7: Unaccusatives
Class 8: Wh-movement
Class 9: Quantifiers
Class 10: Numerals
Class 11: Class presentations
Class 12: Class presentations
