Structure and movement: tools and argumentation
This course will focus on how to do syntactic research in light of what is currently known about the syntax of natural languages. Introduction to the battery of analytical tools and current theoretical understanding; Application of tools: “Probing” syntactic structures, interpreting results, constructing arguments, practice with constructing lexical items and tree drawing skills. Selected topics from: the syntacticization of the “lexical/thematic” domain (VP shells, morphology (causatives, applied structures, passives, reciprocals, aspectual structure), serialization, complementation; the functional sequence of the clause (the “Cinque” hierarchy); the structure of the noun phrase (U20 and its derivation); pronouns and logophoricity, and predicate cleft/reduplication/verb doubling.