LING610
Syntactic Theory
Fall 2018

<<CHECK this site frequently. I will be regularly posting reading and HW assignments, and occasional class notes.>>
-Readings for Aug. 28:  Syntactic Structures Revisited to page 35; Syntactic Structures to page 33 [Please bring these 2 books to class for the first few meetings] [[Note: Today ONLY class will end at 4:00 (because of orientation meeting for new LING grad students).]]
Here are some multiple center embedding examples of the type argued by Chomsky and Miller to be grammatical but unacceptable (for processing reasons)
-Readings for Sept. 4: Syntactic Structures Revisited to page 49; Syntactic Structures to page 48. HO on equivalent derivations. Here are a few notes about things we have been and will be discussing. And here is the passage I mentioned from LSLT: LSLT on no recursion in the base
-> HW 1, due Tuesday Sept. 11. [Homework revision policy.] [[[pdf submission by e-mail is required. Name your file "Familyname_HWn"; thus, if I were submitting this one, it would be "Lasnik_HW1".]]]
-Readings for Sept. 11
Syntactic Structures Revisited to page 105
Syntactic Structures Chapter 7
[Suggested readings: Syntactic Structures Ch. 6; Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Ch. 1]
Here's the Lasnik-Kupin article, which, among other things, introduces Reduced Phrase Markers. [Not required reading, just in case you're interested.]
-Readings for Sept. 18: Continue Sept. 11 readings and add Syntactic Structures Revisited to page 124. Suggested reading: "Aspects of the Theory of Phrase Structure"
-> HW 2, due Tuesday Sept. 25. [Homework revision policy.]  [[[pdf submission by e-mail is required. Name your file "Familyname_HWn"; thus, if I were submitting this one, it would be "Lasnik_HW2".]]]
-Readings for Sept. 25
Finish the Syntactic Structures and Syntactic Structures Revisited readings previously assigned.
Syntactic Structures Revisited  to page 165
A Course in GB Syntax  pp.1-5
Here's a 'wish list' theory of trnsformations, i.e., the classic theory modified towards greater explanatory adequacy. 1 more optional reading Lasnik 1981
-Readings for Oct. 2: Finish Sept. 25 readings
   Case Theory and A-Movement
    Start "Case, Passives, and Government " Handout
-Readings for Oct. 9:  Finish "Case, Passives, and Government " Handout. [[Optional readings: Vergnaud's letter to Chomsky and me (giving comments on the ms. of "Filters and Control") inventing Case theory, as published in Freidin and Lasnik, Syntax: Critical Concepts; Baker, Johnson, Roberts 'Passive Arguments Raised'.]]
-> HW 3, due Tuesday Oct. 16  [In working on this, really finish "Case, Passives, and Government " handout; look again at wish list; discussion of government and distribution of trace and PRO (more on this in Lasnik and Uriagereka 1988 A Course in GB Syntax 48-52, 92-93)
   Binding Theory
-Readings for Oct. 16: Begin looking at Overview of BT handout; Lasnik and Uriagereka  Chap. 2 
-Readings for Oct. 23-30: Finish Overview of BT handout and Lasnik and Uriagereka  Chap. 2.
[Optional, if you want to see Chomsky's original 1973 presentation of TSC, SSC, RI, etc. "Conditions on Transformations".]
Lasnik 1981 "On Two Recent Treatments of Disjoint Reference"  (About need to provide interpretation for inexing relations, and difficulties in doing so.)
[Optional: Lasnik 1976 "Remarks on Coreference" (Origin of Condition C.)]
->Squib assignment 'Proposal' due Nov. 15; squib due Dec. 13
-> HW 4, due Tuesday Nov. 13 
-Readings for Nov. 6: Finish all Binding Theory stuff; add Chomsky 1995 The Minimalist Program pp. 92-101 (for problems about indexing, and a possible solution).
    WH-Movement (A-bar Movement) and Bounding Theory - Islands, Subjacency, and refinements of the ECP :
-Readings for Nov. 13:
Subjacency Intro handout
'Brief Overview of Subjacency/Islands 1955- '
Lasnik and Uriagereka  Chap. 4
ECP handout 
-Readings for Nov. 20-27:
Lasnik and Saito 1992 Move Alpha  pp.70-75 (This summarizes and explicates the Barriers technology)
ECP handout Part 2: More on argument -adjunct island asymmetries
-> HW 5, due Thursday Nov. 29
-Dec. 4.   HW5 Discussion; evidence for PF status of (some) island violations. Fox and Pesetsky on linearization. Uriagereka Multiple Spell-Out
Ross evidence against WH-island constraint.

Typos in Syntactic Structures Revisited

-p. viii 8 lines from bottom. "Cédric" should read "Cedric".
-p.7 line 5. "the in (6)" should be "man in (6)
-p.43 (121)a. This ex. should read "John says he is tired"
-p.57 (14)b. should be deleted. [And then, of course, (14)c. becomes (14)b].
-p.58 (22). The last symbol on the 1st line of this ex. Should be 'Verb', not 'V'.
-p.76 mid. Lasnik's reply to Vukic should begin "Yes, clearly SAI is ..."
-p.82 3rd line below (87). The end of this line should read "...a do will be ..."  [instead of "a # will be"]
-p.82 1st line below (88). "...a PM that consists of ..." should read "... a PM that contains of a string that consaists of ..."
-p.113 (158). The leftmost daughter of S should be C (instead of NP).
-p.116 (163). The SC of Transformation 2 should read  "X1 - X2 - X3 -> r + X1 - X2 - X3"
-p.121 line 7. TK>TM should be TM>TK.
-p.130 4th and 5th lines of 1st full para. Replace "transformational" by "PS".
-p.206. The Warner entry in the References should be  12, 153-172
-p.213 (i.e. the beginning of the list of rules from Syntactic Structures). The last symbol in the SC of T12 Passive should be X1 (instead of X2).
-p.213 Phrase structure rule 3. In the second expansion of NP, the final 'l' should be on the same level as the subscript 'p'.

If you find any more typos, please let me know.

useful links

Lasnik publications 
Chomsky publications
pdf locker