Course info

Module Description

This module explores syntax from a cross-linguistic perspective and provides students with a deeper understanding of syntactic variation. We examine key concepts of grammatical organization as it is exhibited in the languages of the world. We look at syntactic variation, as well as the limits which seem to operate on this variation. We will explore a number of categories and concepts which are challenged when data from a broader range of languages is taken into consideration.


Aims

* To introduce students to the key goals and motivation behind cross-linguistic syntactic analysis
* To stimulate student's interest in cross-linguistic variation
* To provide students with an understanding of syntactic variation in the world's languages
* To equip students with the skills of syntactic analysis using data from a range of languages
* To develop students' skills of syntactic argumentation



Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

1. Engage with key issues and concepts in grammatical analysis
2. Understand the goal of enquiry in syntax from a cross-linguistic perspective
3. Explore syntactic variation (and its limits) found in the world's languages
4. Analyse syntactic data from a range of languages
5. Use data to support argumentation



Syllabus

1. Lexical categories
2. Encoding grammatical relations
3. Configurationality
4. Valency changing
5. Head-marking and dependent-marking languages
6. Tense-aspect-mood, modality
7. Sentence types
8. Subordination
9. Information structure
10. Language universals