Introduction to syntax

Aims

Aims

This module familiarises students with two basic skills: 

• Core syntactic concepts
• Methodologies employed in developing such concepts

Modern syntactic theories, as a branch of science, aim to account for as many facts as possible using the smallest number of hypotheses.  Students will learn how this is done. 

Knowledge outcomes

You will understand:

• The goals of syntactic theory: observational, descriptive and explanatory adequacy
• Scientific (and syntactic) argumentation
• Cross-linguistic variations and their explanation
• The notions of productivity and recursion
• The basic nature of Universal Grammar
• The competence/performance distinction in linguistics
• The difference between lexical and functional categories
• Basic grammatical and thematic relations
• The distinction between arguments and modifiers

Behavioural outcomes

You will be able to:

• Identify the lexical category of English words
• Apply syntactic tests for constituency
• Gloss and label examples
• Identify clause boundaries in complex sentences
• Identify different types of verbal category
• Identify grammatical functions, such as subjects and objects
• Draw trees and labeled brackets for basic English sentences
• Identify major clause types: passive, relatives, interrogatives etc.