LgDEA09 Experimental syntax and semantics I.

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 15 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Mojmír Dočekal, Ph.D. (lecturer), prof. Franc Marušič (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Mojmír Dočekal, Ph.D.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
Passive knowledge of English and intro to first-order predicate logic.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 1/40, only registered: 0/40, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 45 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Aim of the course is to teach students how to understand current syntactic and semantic theories; and to understand how predictions of these theories can be tested via experiments.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
- be oriented in different frameworks which are on the market in current formal linguistics (syntactic and semantic);
- make deductions based on acquired knowledge which allow them to ponder theoretical problems connected with application of formal methods to material of natural language;
- understand experimental testing of different theories (key studies: Mathewson, Baayen, ...);
- use standard statistic tools like t-test, analysis of variance, etc.
- design own experiments on natural language material (questionnaires, correlation of data and formal models)
- work with key tools for designing online questionnaires (IBEX farm), their statistic interpretation and modeling (R programming language, R-studio), etc.
Syllabus
  • phrase structure, theta roles, anaphors, transformations, empty categories, minimalist program
  • syntax-semantics interface
  • logical types, lambda abstraction, modeling of different natural language categories (sets, sets of sets, ...)
  • questionnaires, experiment design, replication of experiments
  • t-test, analysis of variance
  • grammatical number, agree, theories, experiments
  • software tools for design and statistical modeling of experiments.
Literature
    required literature
  • HEIM, Irene and Angelika KRATZER. Semantics in generative grammar. 1st pub. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1998, viii, 324. ISBN 9780631197126. info
    recommended literature
  • Dočekal, Mojmír, and Jakub Dotlačil. "Experimental evidence for neg-raising in Slavic." Linguistica 56, no. 1 (2016): 93.
  • Sportiche, Koopman & Stabler (2003). An introduction to syntactic analysis and theory. http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/stabler/isat.pdf.
  • Bochnak, M. Ryan, and Lisa Matthewson, eds. Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork. Oxford University Press, 2015.
  • Willer-Gold, J., B. Arsenijević, M. Batinić, N. Čordalija, M. Kresić, N. Leko, F. L. Marušič et al. "Conjunct agreement and gender in South Slavic: From theory to experiments to theory." Journal of Slavic linguistics 24, no. 1 (2016): 187-224.
  • Haegeman, Liliane (1997): The New Comparative Syntax. London: Longman.
  • Culicover, Peter W. - Jackendoff, R. Simpler syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927108-9.
  • Dotlačil, Jakub, and Rick Nouwen. "The comparative and degree pluralities." Natural Language Semantics 24, no. 1 (2016): 45-78.
  • Johnson, Kyle. Introduction to Transformational Grammar. Lecture notes. Ms. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
  • BAAYEN, Rolf Harald. Analyzing linguistic data : a practical introduction to statistics using R. 1st print. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, xiii, 353. ISBN 9780521882590. info
  • 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
Teaching methods
Lectures.
Assessment methods
Lectures, class discussion. The course is completed by successful writing of a test.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught each semester.
The course is taught: in blocks.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2021, recent)
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