ENG 575: COMPARATIVE SYNTAX

Last Update: September 19, 2011

ENG 750: TOPICS IN LINGUISTICS
Linguistics Section, Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus
Fall Semester 2011: Mondays or Thursdays, 9.30 - 13.30 *** Room M 107

http://www.punksinscience.org/kleanthes/courses/UCY11S/CS/index.htm
Kleanthes Grohmann *** Email: kleanthi AT ucy DOT ac DOT cy
Room M 104, Phone: x5194 *** Office Hours: Wednesdays, before or after class, and by appointment

DESCRIPTION

“In this course, a member of the department will cover current issues in the area of his or her expertise. Choice of topics will vary from year to year, but research presented and discussed will be up-to-date with current developments. The course takes further aspects of areas of linguistic analysis taught in ENG 713 or ENG 714 with the aim of familiarizing students with advanced theoretical developments and pursuing their own research studies.” This course focuses on syntactic variation found across languages and ways of analyzing the diversity observed from a theoretical perspective. Initial emphasis will be put on clitic placement and the formation of so-called A'-dependencies, such as wh-questions and relative clauses. The twist of this course lies in the meaning of comparative — beyond the standard understanding of cross-linguistic comparison, we will compare adult language with child language (L1), typical language development with atypical or developmental with acquired disorders (impairment), native language with second languages (L2), etc. (with ENG 749).

ASSESSMENT

Regular attendance is strongly advised! Besides the class lectures, you will be graded as follows:

    1. presentation: 30% of the final grade — all to be arranged individually (in class)
    2. data-gathering: 30% of the final grade — November 21 (native language, in class)
    3. research paper: 40% of the final grade — December 16 (ca. 3,000 words, by email)

Don’t forget: This is a small class and if you miss one, it will be noticed. If you miss more than one, notice will taken more than once too, and if you’re not around, you can’t participate actively! As you may know, I take a tough stance on plagiarism, so familiarize yourselves with the dangers — don’t even try it. [DOWNLOAD MANIFESTO HERE] Lastly: You should meet with me regularly to discuss your work and progress!

Presentation: You will give an in-class presentation of a topic of your choice (which may but need not be related to your research paper) of around 20 minutes or so, plus discussion (‘question period’).

Data-gathering: One aspect of the course will be a consideration of (Cypriot) Greek data in a modern theoretical context; for this reason, you’ll think about, collect, and submit to me relevant structures.

Research paper: You should start thinking about your project early enough, since one requirement of this seminar is to write up a real research paper. All details to be sorted in class soon and in person.