OJ407 Theory of syntax

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2008
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Mojmír Dočekal, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. RNDr. Tomáš Hoskovec, CSc.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 11:40–13:15 C32
Prerequisites
Passive knowledge of English.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 35 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
We will reflect modern syntactic theories. The basic problem of these theories is the competition between syntax and semantics. Modern syntactic theories (minimalist program, principles and parameters) describe almost any natural langauage, but they have become more abstract, and syntactic derivations become ever more complex. Good question: is it possible to avoid these complexities, but retain the empirical coverage of generative grammar?
Syllabus
  • Topics: phrase structure, theta roles, case assignment, anaphors, transformations, empty categories, minimalist program, syntax-semantics interface, optimality theory, constructional grammar.
Literature
  • Culicover, Peter W. - Jackendoff, R. Simpler syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927108-9.
  • Sportiche, Koopman & Stabler (2003). An introduction to syntactic analysis and theory. http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/stabler/isat.pdf.
  • Johnson, Kyle. Introduction to Transformational Grammar. Lecture notes. Ms. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
  • Haegeman, Liliane (1997): The New Comparative Syntax. London: Longman.
  • HAEGEMAN, Liliane M. V. and Jacqueline GUÉRON. English grammar :a generative perspective. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, xiii, 672. ISBN 0-631-18839-8. info
  • FROMKIN, Victoria and Robert RODMAN. An introduction to language [Fromkin, 1998]. 6th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998, xvii, 566. ISBN 0-03-018682-X. info
  • CHOMSKY, Noam. The minimalist program. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995, 420 s. ISBN 0-262-53128-3. info
  • SGALL, Petr. Úvod do syntaxe a sémantiky : některé nové směry v teoretické lingvistice. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 1986, 197 s. URL info
Assessment methods
Lectures, class discussion. The course is completed by successful writing of a test.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2002, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2008, recent)
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