Last Update: February 27, 2009

CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEWS [01/19]

ENG 570: TRENDS AND TOPICS IN LINGUISTICS
-- History of Generative Syntax: Control & Raising --

Linguistics Section, Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus
Spring Semester 2009: Tuesday & Friday, 15.00Ð16.30 * Room E 102
http://www.punksinscience.org/kleanthes/courses/UCY09S/TTL/index.html
Kleanthes Grohmann * Email: kleanthi AT ucy DOT ac DOT cy * Phone: x2106
Office Hours: Tuesdays 16.30Ð18.30 & Wednesdays 13.00Ð15.00 + by appointment

 

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD:

DESCRIPTION

As the subtitle of this course suggests, we will roll up theoretical developments throughout the 50-year history of generative syntax. Starting with Syntactic Structures (Chomsky 1957) and some relevant background, we will work our way through so-called Standard Theory (Chomsky 1965), Extended Standard Theory (Chomsky 1973), Revised Extended Standard Theory (Chomsky & Lasnik 1957), Government-and-Binding Theory (from Chomsky 1981 to Chomsky & Lasnik 1993), and various alternative approaches, up to the Minimalist Program and its various guises (from Chomsky 1993 to Chomsky 2008) -- time permitting. The leitmotif throughout the course will be the phenomenon of control and raising (in English and beyond), and how different theoretical frameworks approach the facts as well as a description in a more or less adequate manner. For this, the accompanying "textbook" will be perfect (Davies & Dubinsky 2004).

ASSESSMENT

Regular attendance is strongly suggested! Besides the class lectures, there will be:

  1. one draft paper *** 20% of the final grade *** April 30 (can be incomplete)
  2. one class presentation *** 40% of the final grade *** May 15-16 (two-day workshop)
  3. one term paper *** 40% of the final grade *** May 22 (final version)
  4. presence & active participation in class throughout (± x grade points)

Of course, your class presentation may (but need not) connect to your term paper, which in turn will be the final, complete version of the draft paper that's due after the Easter break. The presentation should be no longer than 20 minutes (followed by discussion) and your term paper should be around 2,000-3,000 words in length. We will discuss further details over the next few classes.

READING

I'll be using Davies & Dubinsky (2004) as the guiding text as regards both organization of the course (incl. the historical developments) and the discussion of control and raising constructions (more on the book in class). There is a large number of texts available for short-term loan that discuss in more detail the different periods of generative syntactic theorizing, and you should make an effort to find your own readings as well, especially for your research project.

Davies, William D. & Stanley Dubinsky. 2004. The Grammar of Raising and Control:
A Course in Syntactic Argumentation. Oxford & Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.