LING 611   Spring 2013
Issues in Syntax

-Readings for 1/29-2/5: Lasnik TiCS "The Minimalist Program in Syntax"; B&L pp.1-17, 42-59; Freidin, R. and H. Lasnik. 2011, Some roots of Minimalism; 3 handouts: Condition A Reconstruction, Condition C Reconstruction, Government
-2/12: Chomsky "Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework" pp.89-112; Merge Over Move handout; summary of Barriers from Move Alpha; Idiom list (possibly relevant to Condition A handout)
-2/19: Uriagereka (1999) "Multiple Spell-Out"; Fox and Pesetsky (2003) "Cyclic Linearization", pp.1-5, 15-22; Hornstein, Lasnik and Uriagereka 2003 (2007) The dynamics of islands
→ HW 1 Due Monday 2/25
-2/26: Continue 2/19 stuff plus Lasnik (2009) Island repair, non-repair and the organization of the grammar. Special guest - Juan Uriagereka
-3/5: The Fox&Pesetsky, Lasnik, and Hornstein, Lasnik and Uriagereka stuff on islands. Also read the rest of "Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework" particularly with respect to feature checking.
-3/12: Continue 3/5 stuff.  Add Boeckx and Lasnik (2006) Intervention and repair. [Some optional readings: Lasnik (2001) "Derivation and representation in modern transformational syntax"; Lasnik (1999) "On the locality of movement: Formalist syntax position paper"]  
Supplementary readings: Ross's famous paper on sluicing; Fox and Lasnik 'Successive cyclic movement and island repair'
→ HW 2 Due Monday 3/26
→ Review paper assignment  Due April 9
-3/26: Some early minimalist analyses and concepts. Chomsky 1995, Ch. 2; Chomsky 1995 Ch. 3, pp. 195-199; Lasnik 1995 "Verbal Morphology: Syntactic Structures Meets the Minimalist Program" (or the excepts in B&L pp. 263-277); L&U pp. 61-79.
Here's a handout summarizing much of the material.
-4/2: In class, we will go over Chomsky's three distinct theories of strong features. I summarize and compare them in "On Feature Strength"; (Here's a HO abbreviating the paper.) We will also start talking about how Chomsky used AgrO to deal with nominal morphology (Case). Chomsky 1995 Ch. 2, 146-150; Lasnik "Lectures on Minalimalist Syntax" pp. 26-29.)
-4/9-16: Continue 4/2 stuff; Boskovic and Lasnik on feature strength and cyclicity
-4/23: Lasnik and Saito "On the Subject of Infinitives"; continue reading Ch. 3; HO on Equidistance
→Squib+ proposal due Thursday April 25
→ HW 3 Due Monday 4/29
→Squib+ due Monday May 13 [by e-mail]
-4/30: Continue 4/23 stuff.

Tuesday 2:00-5:00
1108B MMH

Howard Lasnik and Masahiko Takahashi, instructors

Readings: Minimalist Syntax - The Essential Readings Boskovic and Lasnik (B&L)
Useful textbooks and background:
A Course in Minimalist Syntax Lasnik and Uriagereka (L&U); Minimalist Analysis Lasnik (MA); Understanding Minimalism Hornstein, Nunes, Grohmann (UM)
Additional readings, including many in this bibliography, will be made available.

This course will examine the Minimalist program in syntactic theory, from its inception up to current research. Among the topics to be discussed (not necessarily in this order) will be:

1. Various views of Minimalism
Includes: What the point of the program is; leading ideas and their origins; how it compares with earlier approaches; the role of levels of representation.
2. Islands and phases
3. Features
Feature movement vs. Agree, feature checking vs. valuation, feature inheritance
3. X0-movement, a first view of economy
Includes: Economy of operations, full interpretation, well formed LF objects.
4. MP and Phrase structure.
Includes: Bare Phrase Structure, LCA, Kayne/Chomsky on linearization, multiple Spell-out
5. Government; what happens when one gets rid of it?
Includes: discussion of government in Case, ECP, Binding, Theta, Bounding.
6. Existentials and related matters.
Includes: Agree and FF-movement theories, scope and binding effects.
7. Movement and so on.
Includes: Traces, copies and reconstruction; What is movement? Re-merge vs. Copy theory, Pied-piping = Agree+Match+EPP). Types of movement: Raising, control, Wh-movement, Phrasal vs. head movement, sidewards movement.
8. Conditions on Transformations.
Includes: Economy of derivation: local and not-so-local economy; Greed, Enlightened Self-Interest and Suicidal Greed, etc.; Minimality, shortest move vs. minimal link condition; Superiority; consequences of linearization for analyses of  'island' phenomena.
9. LF
Includes: Arguments for LF representations. What is the status of LF movement? Can standard LF treatments be made compatible with MP?
10. Phases, Labels and related matters.

Course requirements:

3 sets of HW problems
1 review paper
1 "Squib+"

useful links
Lasnik publications
pdf locker