LgDEA10 Experimental syntax and semantics II.

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
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), Mgr. Jakub Dotlačil, Ph.D. (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, 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: 0/40, 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
Course objectives
Aim of the course is to teach students how to understand current syntactic and semantic theories, 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;
- design own advanced experiments on natural language material (comparatives: theoretical approaches and experimental methods, modified numerals: theoretical approaches and experimental methods);
- work with advanced statistical methods (linear models, regression, cumulative models, intro to Bayesian statistics)
- to be able to find dialectal variation in data (via searching for correlations between linear regression, 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, ...)
  • advanced topics from syntax-semantics interface: comparatives, modified numerals, theoretical approaches and experimental methods;
  • advanced statistical methods (frequentist statistics, Bayesian statistics)
  • correlation between regressions
  • incremental processing of sentence meaning
Literature
    required literature
  • KRUSCHKE, John K. Doing Bayesian data analysis : a tutorial with R and BUGS. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2011, xvii, 653. ISBN 9780123814852. info
  • 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
  • HEIM, Irene and Angelika KRATZER. Semantics in generative grammar. 1st pub. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1998, viii, 324. ISBN 9780631197126. info
    recommended literature
  • Brasoveanu, Adrian, and Jakub Dotlačil. "Sentence-internal" same" and its quantificational licensors: A new window into the processing of inverse scope." Semantics and Pragmatics 8 (2015): 1-1.
  • 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.
  • Bochnak, M. Ryan, and Lisa Matthewson, eds. Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork. Oxford University Press, 2015.
  • 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 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
    not specified
  • 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: in blocks.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Autumn 2020, Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
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