Aims

Students are familiarised with a scientific approach to syntax. Major syntactic phenomena (categories, features, rules, principles) are dealt with in the context of a formal theory. Students develop their skills in sentence analysis, learn how to test hypotheses and argue for theoretical explanations.

Outline Of Syllabus

- Aims and context: the scientific study of language;
- Phrase structure, X' theory;
-Argument structure, theta-theory;
- Case, Binding;
- Movement: A'-movement, A-movement, head movement;
- Logical Form, Phonetic Form;
- Minimalist syntax: Merge. Bare Phrase Structure;
- Features and valuation

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures: To introduce and discuss theoretical concepts and methodology.
Seminars: To practice analysis of linguistic expressions.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The take-home exam will ask the student to write a set of short pieces involving sentence analysis within a given theoretical framework. This will demonstrate their ability to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the module to new problems.