During the early summer term, we are offering a special topics linguistics course taught by Dr. Ash Asudeh. As you know, all summer term courses will be taught online or by video conferencing. LING 4009/5009 Constraint-based Syntax will be offered via Zoom. The class schedule is also changed to Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Students who register for the course will receive more information later.
If you have any questions, please contact the instructor at: ash.asudeh@carleton.ca
About the Course
Constraint-Based Syntax (LING 4009/5009)
Instructor: Ash Asudeh
May 4 to June 15, 2020
M/W 10:00 – 13:00
CU Online
Zoom Meeting ID:
877-227-375
Constraint-based syntax models syntax in terms of general constraints on syntactic structures : A well-formed structure obeys all relevant constraints. This contrasts with an alternative, more pervasive conception of syntax with its origins in transformational grammar, which understands syntactic well-formedness at least partly in terms of a set of procedural operations that add, delete, or move material in a syntactic tree. This course assumes some knowledge of general syntactic theory, but no prior knowledge of constraint-based syntax. The first part of the course looks at the historical context, from the late 60s to the late 70s, that gave rise to constraint-based theories of syntax. The second, main part of the course introduces the constraint-based framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar in detail. The last part of the course briefly introduces two other constraint-based frameworks, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar and Optimality – Theoretic Syntax.
Prerequisite: An undergraduate course in syntax or permission of the instructor.
