24.960 | Spring 2006 | Graduate

Syntactic Models

Readings

Wherever possible, the book citations below reflect the specific editions used in the course.

Required Readings

Sag, Ivan, Thomas Wasow, and Emily Bender. Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction. 2nd ed. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 2003. ISBN: 9781575864006.

Chomsky, Noam. Syntactic Structures. 2nd ed. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter, 2002. ISBN: 9783110172799.

Buy at MIT Press Lasnik, Howard. Syntactic Structures Revisited: Contemporary Lectures on Classic Transformational Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780262122221.

We will read excerpts from the following two books, so you can decide if you want to purchase the books. The excerpts may be available in other ways.

Bresnan, Joan. Lexical-Functional Syntax. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2000. ISBN: 9780631209744.

Culicover, Peter W., and Ray Jackendoff. Simpler Syntax. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780199271092.

Readings by Session

LEC # TOPICS READINGS
1 HPSG 1: How it works Sag, Wasow, and Bender. pp. 1-202.
2 HPSG 2: Infinitival complementation/a-bar dependencies

Sag, Wasow, and Bender. pp. 203-end.

Wechsler, Stephen. “HPSG, GB, and the Balinese Bind.” In Lexical And Constructional Aspects of Linguistic Explanation. Edited by A. Kathol, J.-P. Koenig, and G. Webelhuth. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1999, pp. 179-195. ISBN: 9781575861524.

3 LFG: Basics

Bresnan, Joan. Lexical-Functional Syntax. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2000. ISBN: 9780631209744. (Read all chapters except last half of chapter 4, skim chapter 5, skip second chapter on “Binding Theory.”)

Carnie, Andrew. “Flat Structure, Phrasal Variability and Non-Verbal Predication in Irish.” Journal of Celtic Linguistics 10. (Forthcoming).

4 LFG 2: The overall system, modern developments  
5 Student presentation festival: HPSG and LFG papers Pick one NELS-length paper from the recent HPSG literature and one from the LFG literature (not necessarily related). Present and discuss. CSLI Online HPSG and LFG Proceedings.
6 Non-derivational principles and parameters/minimalist grammars

Buy at MIT Press Brody, Michael. Lexico-Logical Form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995, chapters 1 and 4. ISBN: 9780262522038.

DeKuthy, Kordula, and Walt Detmar Meurers. “On Partial Constituent Fronting in German.” Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 3 (2001): 143-205.

Müller, Gereon. Incomplete Category Fronting. Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780792348375.

7 History of analyses of the English auxiliary verb system: Derivations to representations

Chomsky, Noam. Syntactic Structures. 2nd ed. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter, 2002. ISBN: 9783110172799.

Buy at MIT Press Lasnik, Howard. Syntactic Structures Revisited: Contemporary Lectures on Classic Transformational Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780262122221.

8 Standard theory to generative semantics

Lakoff, George. “On Generative Semantics.” In Semantics: An Interdisciplinary Reader in Philosophy, Linguistics, and Psychology. Edited by D. D. Steinberg and L. A. Jakobovits. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1974. ISBN: 9780521204996.

———. “Global Rules.” Language 46 (1970): 627-639.

Baker, C. L., and Michael Brame. “‘Global Rules’: A Rejoinder.” Language 48 (1972): 51-75.

Lakoff, George. “The Arbitrary Basis of Transformational Grammar.” Language 48 (1972): 76-87.

Andrews, Avery D. “Case Agreement of Predicate Modifiers in Ancient Greek.” Linguistic Inquiry 2 (1971): 127-152.

Postal, Paul. “A Global Constraint on Pronominalization.” Linguistic Inquiry 3 (1972): 35-59.

9 Conditions

Chomsky, Noam. “Conditions on Transformations.” In A Festschrift for Morris Halle. Edited by Stephen Anderson and Paul Kiparsky. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973, pp. 232-286. ISBN: 9780030865954.

———. “Conditions on Rules of Grammar.” Linguistic Analysis 2 (1976): 303-351.

10 Student presentation festival: Generative semantics/interpretive semantics/conditions papers Pick a paper from the period in which Generative Semantics was debating with Interpretive Semantics (or from a very slightly later period, in which the Conditions framework was starting to be discussed). Present it, and discuss it in light of more recent research.
11 The legacy of conditions: LFG, GPSG, and GB

Buy at MIT Press Bresnan, Joan. “A Realistic Transformational Grammar.” In Linguistic Theory and Psychological Reality. Edited by Morris Halle, Joan Bresnan, and George A. Miller. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981, pp. 1-59. ISBN: 9780262580434.

Chomsky, Noam. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht, Holland: Foris Publications, 1981, chapters 1-2, pp. 1-135. ISBN: 9789070176280.

Gazdar, G. “Unbounded Dependencies and Coordinate Structure.” Linguistic Inquiry 12 (1981): 155-184.

12 Simpler syntax?

Excerpts to be discussed collectively from:

Culicover, Peter W., and Ray Jackendoff. Simpler Syntax. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780199271092.

Course Info

As Taught In
Spring 2006
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Lecture Notes
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