Courses
Basic Graduate Student Curriculum:
- Ling 220a, Syntax & Semantics I
This course has two main objectives. First, the course serves as an introduction to the study of syntax and semantics within the non derivational constraint-based formal framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). Second, we will explore a number of phenomena of natural language (morpho) syntax and semantics in a range of typologically diverse languages and from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Possible topics include argument structure, anaphora, auxiliaries and negation, phrase structure and non configurationality, long-distance dependencies, problems of quantification, tense and aspect systems, relative and interrogative clauses, clitics and the morphology-syntax interface. - Ling 220b*, Syntax & Semantics II
This course continues the survey of syntactic and semantic phenomena in natural languages and the methods of their description begun in 220A. - Ling 205*, Cognitive Linguistics
This will be an advanced course in cognitive linguistics. Among the topics covered will be cognitive bases for aspects of grammatical structure, cognitive constraints on language change and grammaticalization, and motivations for linguistic universals (i.e., constraints on variability). - Ling 290A, Syntax Seminar
- Ling 290B, Semantics Seminar
Related Elective Areas:
- Ling 121, Logical Semantics
- Ling 122, Linguistic Typology
Issues in language typology and linguistic universals. An examination of various linguistic subsystems in different languages. Topics will include interrogatives, pronominal systems, relative clause formation, case systems, etc. - Ling 125, Formal Theories of Syntax
The course will provide a survey of contemporary syntactic theories. These will include such formal theories of syntax as lexical functional grammar (LFG), generalized phrase structure grammar (GPSG), government and binding (GB), relational grammar (RG), etc. Emphasis will be on the development of these theories and on their basic claims and internal organization. The theories will be contrasted in terms of their architectural designs and in their treatment of selected linguistic phenomena. - Ling 181, Lexical Semantics
Lectures and exercises in the description of word meanings, the organization of lexical systems, the lexicalization of particular semantic domains (kinship, color, etc.), and contrastive lexicology: lexicalization pattern differences across languages. - Ling 215, Morphology
Examination of complex morphological systems. Issues in the theory of word morphology.