What makes syntax syntactic? The overwhelming majority of human beings appear to be able to acquire some form of syntax as children regardless of the linguistic environment in which they are raised, but the ability to impart this to other species has not been conclusively demonstrated (to put it mildly).

In the meantime, syntax bears some relation to phonology, morphology, semantics, and so on. What exactly is that relationship, and how much "content" does it really need to have?

A part of the answer to these questions involves teasing apart what language "delegates" to syntax, which may not necessarily be much at all! This seminar will deal with this and other related questions in the hopes of exposing students to syntactic theory and giving students the opportunity to "think theoretically". Imparting a theoretical perspective fully would take longer than a single COLI seminar: we will instead focus on how to read and understand theoretical papers at a very abstract level and (if we're lucky) how to debate and critique theoretical ideas.

THIS IS NOT A FORMALISMS COURSE. Formalisms can delineate the scope of theories, but describing a formalism is not necessarily the same as making a theoretical claim. I will mostly be focusing on a "Chomskyan" Minimalist/GB framework, but students are free to use whatever formal framework (e.g. LFG, HPSG, or even one you made up for some principled reason, or just stick with whatever I do) they like in their presentation (and term paper, as applies).

You are expected to do one presentation. Some of you will want to submit term papers for additional credit. Some of you will want an oral exam. The presentation and/or term paper should cover either a linguistic phenomenon relevant across languages or a particular general theoretical point. For the presentation, you can just present a single paper (in detail) if you like. Syntactic theory does not demand PowerPoint -- a handout and whiteboard presentation is perfectly good and in keeping with traditional style for theorists. You can approach me for topics and literature suggestions, just make an appointment by email.

Your participation in the presentations/discussions led by your peers is also important...

I will lecture for a few weeks, and then we will switch to student-led presentations/discussions. I may take up lecturing again if we run out of student presentations, but it will be in discussion group form. There'll usually be not more than one paper or book chapter to be read each week.