Grammar and its interfaces

Code
570523
Credits
5cr

Intructors: Javier Fernández Sánchez (javier.fernandez.sanchez@uab.cat) and Eulàlia Bonet Alsina (eulalia.bonet@uab.cat)

2nd semester, Thursdays, 12:30h-14:30h UAB, Filosofia i Lletres, room TBA

 

GOALS

This course investigates how different components of grammar (syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology) communicate with each other and interact to shape linguistic structure and meaning. It introduces some case studies that are specially relevant in theoretical linguistics.

 

At the end of the course, students should be acquainted with:

  1. Current theoretical perspectives on the syntax-semantics interface (Part 1) and the phonology-morphology and phonology-syntax interfaces (Part 2).

  2. An overview of some hot topics that are currently being investigated in formal approaches to these interfaces.

 

CONTENTS

PART 1: Javier Fernández Sánchez

  1. Ellipses in language: phenomenology

  2. On the underlying structure of ellipses

  3. Semantic vs syntactic identity

  4. The licensing of ellipsis

  5. The syntax and semantics of gapping

PART 2: Eulàlia Bonet Alsina

  1. Phonology and the mapping from lexical phonological structure to surface representation

  2. The interface phonology-morphology in Optimality Theory

  3. Phonological effects in the selection of allomorphs

  4. Effects of morphology on phonology

  5. Identity effects in phonology and morphology

 

EVALUATION

The assessment for this course is based on:

  1. Two exams, taken on the last day of class. One is based on Part 1 (30%) and the other one is based on Part 2 (30%). The exams will require students to demonstrate not only a solid understanding of the course material, but also critical thinking and effective writing skills. Students will be expected to apply their knowledge to tackle novel empirical and analytical problems.

  2. Two classroom presentations, one for each part (20% each). This component aims to assess students’ ability to use their knowledge and apply it in new discussions, enhancing their overall learning experience.

     

Re-evaluation: In the event that a student receives a final grade below 5 (within the range of 3 - 4.9), they may opt for a re-evaluation via a single final exam if they intend to pass the course.

Successful completion of this exam will result in a final grade of 5.

 

Examination-based assessment

Under exceptional and justified circumstances a single examination (100% of the grade) can be scheduled. Re-evaluation of this assessment can only be considered for students having failed with grades ranging from 3 to 4.9. The maximum final grade can only be 5.

 

REFERENCES

Part 1:

Aelbrecht, Lobke (2010). The syntactic licensing of ellipsis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Baltin, Mark (2012). ‘Deletion Versus Pro-Forms: An Overly Simple Dichotomy?’ Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 30(2). 381–423.

Barros, Matt, Patrick Elliott and Gary Thoms (2014). There is no island repair. Ms., Unpublished.

Brucart, José M., Ángel J. Gallego & Javier Fernández Sánchez (2023). ‘Ellipsis in the Romance Languages’. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia on Romance Linguistics. Oxford: OUP.

Fox, Danny, and Howard Lasnik (2003). ‘Successive-cyclic movement and island repair: The difference between sluicing and VP-ellipsis’. Linguistic Inquiry 34:143–154.

Hankamer, Jorge, and Ivan A. Sag (1976). ‘Deep and surface anaphora’. Linguistic Inquiry 7:391–428

Johnson, Kyle (2001). ‘What VP ellipsis can do, and what it can’t, but not why’. In Mark R. Baltin and Chris Collins (eds), The handbook of contemporary syntactic theory, 439–479. Blackwell Publishers.

Johnson, Kyle (2009). ‘Gapping is not (VP) ellipsis’. Linguistic Inquiry 40: 289-328.

Merchang, Jason (2001). The syntax of silence: sluicing, islands and the theory of ellipsis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ross, John Robert. 1969. ‘Guess who?’ In R. Binnick, A. Davidson, G. Green & J. Morgan (eds.), Papers from the 5th regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 252–286. Chicago Linguistic Society.

Weir, Andrew (2014). Fragments and clausal ellipsis. PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Part 2:

Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo. (2018). ‘Stratal phonology’. In S.J. Hannahs & A. R. K. Bosch (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory, 100-134. London: Routledge.

Bonet, Eulàlia. (2023). Phonologically conditioned allomorphy. In P. Ackema, S. Bendjaballah, E. Bonet & A. Fábregas (eds), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Morphology, 1736-1760. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Downing, Laura J. Tracy Alan Hall & Renate Raffelsiefen (eds), Paradigms in Phonological Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Embick, David. (2010). Localism versus Globalism in Morphology and Phonology. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Inkelas, Sharon. 2011. The interaction between phonology and morphology. In J. Goldsmith, J. Riggle & A. C. L. Yu (eds), The Handbook of Phonological Theory. 2nd edition, 68-102. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

McCarthy, John. (2007). What is Optimality Theory? Language and Linguistics Compass 93. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/linguist_faculty_pubs/93.

McCarthy, John. (2007) Derivations and levels of representation. The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology 33. Retrived from: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/linguist_faculty_pubs/33.

McCarthy, John. (2008). Doing Optimality Theory: Applying Theory to Data. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Nevins, Andrew. (2012). ‘Haplological dissimilation at distinct stages of exponence’. In Trommer, J. (ed.). 2012. The Morphology and Phonology of Exponence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Raffelsiefen, Renate (2023). ‘Morphophonological asymmetries in affixation’. In P. Ackema, S. Bendjaballah, E. Bonet & A. Fábregas (eds), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Morphology, 1483-1538. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.