TCZJ59 Approaches to Morphosyntax

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2024
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Anne-Li Demonie, MA (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Caha, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
Mgr. Michal Starke, Docteur es Lettres (alternate examiner)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Pavel Caha, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jaroslava Vybíralová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 12:00–13:40 D21, except Mon 15. 4.
Prerequisites
English, basic linguistc terminology, a prior course in syntax and/or morphology is an advantage.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 18 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/18, only registered: 0/18
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of this course is to introduce and familiarise the students with the main tenets and analytical tools used in Nanosyntax, a current theory of morphosyntax, which tries to explain the general rules of interaction between morphemes (ordering, allomorphy) as well as relations between form and meaning (agglutination, fusion, etc.). While some theoretical notions are essential to this course, the primary focus will be on empirical data and learning how to make sense of such data using this theory.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the student is able to:
- analyse the distribution of markers in paradigms;
- generate simple paradigms using rules of exponence and their interaction;
- understand notions such as the Superset Principle and the lexicalisation algorithm, and use them in order to model and derive the interaction of exponents;
- analyse the structure of words using head movement and phrasal movement;
Syllabus
  • intro to nanosyntax;
  • morphosyntactic theory and its application;
  • (cross)-linguistic paradigms;
  • phrasal lexicalisation;
  • independent analysis;
Literature
  • Starke, Michal. 2014. Towards elegant parameters: Language variation reduces to the size of lexically‐stored trees. In M. C. Picallo (ed.), Linguistic Variation in the Minimalist Framework. 140-152. Oxford: Oxford Academic.
  • Starke, M. 2009. Nanosyntax. A Short Primer to a New Approach to Language. In P. Svenonius, G. Ramchand, M. Starke & T. Taraldsen (eds.), Nordlyd 36: Special issue on Nanosyntax, 1–6. Tromsø: University of Tromsø.
  • Baunaz, Lena & Eric Lander. 2018. Nanosyntax: the basics. In: Baunaz, Lena; De Clercq, Karen; Haegeman, Liliane; Lander, Eric. Exploring Nanosyntax. New York: Oxford University Press, 3-56.
Teaching methods
Lecture, discussion.
Assessment methods
In order to receive credits for this course, the students will be required to write a short essay (ca. 2500 - 3000 words) in which they will demonstrate their understanding of the basics of nanosyntax on a set of data of their choice.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2024/TCZJ59