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ENG421Arts3 Unitsadvanced

New Trends In Syntax

This course introduces new trends in syntactic explorations within the generative framework. It is designed for 400-level English major students and spans one semester with three credit units. The course consists of 17 units that cover minimalist modifications to Transformational Generative Grammar. Students will learn to identify, apply, and evaluate these modifications through local examples relevant to the Nigerian context.

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204h

Study Time

13

Weeks

16h

Per Week

none

Math Level

Course Keywords

Minimalist ProgramSyntaxGenerative GrammarEconomy PrinciplesSyntactic Processes

Course Overview

Everything you need to know about this course

Course Difficulty

Advanced Level

For experienced practitioners

90%

advanced

📚

Math Level

No Math

📖

Learning Type

Theoretical Focus

Course Topics

Key areas covered in this course

1

Minimalist Program

2

Economy Principles

3

Bare Phrase Structure

4

Feature Checking Theory

5

Copy Theory of Movement

6

DP Movements

7

Pronominalisation

8

Reflexivisation

9

CP Derivations

10

Topicalisation

11

Clefts and Pseudo-clefts

Total Topics11 topics

Requirements

Knowledge and skills recommended for success

ENG 222

💡 Don't have all requirements? Don't worry! Many students successfully complete this course with basic preparation and dedication.

Assessment Methods

How your progress will be evaluated (2 methods)

tutor-marked assignments

Comprehensive evaluation of course material understanding

Written Assessment

final examination

Comprehensive evaluation of course material understanding

Written Assessment

Career Opportunities

Explore the career paths this course opens up for you

Linguist

Apply your skills in this growing field

Syntax Researcher

Apply your skills in this growing field

Language Teacher

Apply your skills in this growing field

Computational Linguist

Apply your skills in this growing field

Editor

Apply your skills in this growing field

Industry Applications

Real-world sectors where you can apply your knowledge

EducationPublishingSoftware DevelopmentNatural Language ProcessingArtificial Intelligence

Study Schedule Beta

A structured 13-week journey through the course content

Week

1

Module 1: Innovations in Minimalist Program

3h

Unit 1: Derivations and Representations in the Minimalist Program

3 study hours

•Read the introduction to the Minimalist Program.
•Define economy of derivation and representation.
•Discuss the impact of these operations on transformational processes.

Week

2

Module 1: Innovations in Minimalist Program

3h

Unit 2: Overview of the Common Operations

3 study hours

•Define basic operations of transformational processes.
•Discuss transformational processes in terms of these operations.
•Understand operation select, agree, copy, move, merge and delete.

Week

3

Module 1: Innovations in Minimalist Program

3h

Unit 3: The Spell-out Stage

3 study hours

•Define the Spell-out concept.
•Discuss how Spell-out affects PF and LF processes.
•Explain the sound and meaning pair of derivation.

Week

4

Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

3h

Unit 1: Shortest Move

3 study hours

•Identify the Shortest Move economy principle.
•State how to apply it in syntactic analysis.
•Understand how shortest move simplifies movement rules.

Week

5

Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

3h

Unit 2: Greed and Procrastinate

3 study hours

•Identify the application of Greed and Procrastinate principles.
•State how to apply these principles in syntactic analysis.
•Understand how these two economy principles can affect syntactic movement.

Week

6

Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

3h

Unit 3: Last Resort

3 study hours

•Identify the Last Resort economy principle.
•State how to apply the principle in syntactic analysis.
•Understand how derivations that would have crashed could still be rescued.

Week

7

Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

3h

Unit 4: Least Effort

3 study hours

•Identify the economy principle of least effort.
•State how to apply it in a relevant syntactic analysis.
•Understand how linguistic goals require less strenuous efforts.

Week

8

Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

3h

Unit 1: Bare Phrase Structure (BPS)

3 study hours

•Explain what is meant by bare phrase structure.
•State how to use it in analysing simple language data.
•Understand why BPS trees are considered bottom up in derivations.

Week

9

Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

3h

Unit 2: Phrasal Categories in the Minimalist Program

3 study hours

•Describe how syntactic trees are formed in the MP.
•Distinguish between lexical and functional categories.
•Draw and label phrase markers in the MP.

Week

10

Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

3h

Unit 3: Feature Checking Theory

3 study hours

•List the various features that are involved in syntactic computation.
•Describe the effects of morphosyntactic features.
•Understand the relevance of features to syntactic movements.

Week

11

Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

3h

Unit 4: The Copy Theory of Movement

3 study hours

•Distinguish between movement in GB and the copy theory in the MP.
•Explain the copy theory of movement with examples from English.
•Understand that a trace is actually an authentic copy of the moved item.

Week

12

Module 4: Syntactic Processes

6h

Unit 1: DP Movements: Passivisation and Ergativity

3 study hours

•Identify the syntactic operations that bring about passivisation and ergativity.
•Relate each of the processes to your colleague using the appropriate terms used in the unit.
•Understand that passivisation is similar in structure to ergative construction.

Unit 2: Determiner Phrase

3 study hours

•State reasons for not classifying pronominalisation and reflexivisation as syntactic processes of transformation.
•Analyse nominals in DP phrase structure.
•Understand the DP structure is crucial to the Minimalist analysis of nominals in English.

Week

13

Module 4: Syntactic Processes

6h

Unit 3: Pronominalisation and Reflexivisation

3 study hours

•State reasons for not classifying pronominalisation and reflexivisation as syntactic processes of transformation.
•Account for the use of pronouns to replace nominals.
•Understand that pronominalisation and reflexivisation are not part of the generalised transformation.

Unit 4: Major CP Derivations

3 study hours

•Provide systematic steps on how to account for relativisation, complementation, and inversion in minimalist program.
•Draw and label tree diagrams of constructions representing these processes.
•Understand that wh-movement, relativisation, complementation and inversion are processes that involve CP derivations.

This study schedule is in beta and may not be accurate. Please use it as a guide and consult the course outline for the most accurate information.

Course PDF Material

Read the complete course material as provided by NOUN.

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Study Tips & Exam Preparation

Expert tips to help you succeed in this course

1

Review all key terms and definitions from each unit.

2

Practice drawing phrase structure trees for various sentence types.

3

Focus on understanding the differences between Government-Binding theory and the Minimalist Program.

4

Create flashcards for each economy principle and its application.

5

Work through all tutor-marked assignments and self-assessment exercises.

6

Develop a strong understanding of feature checking and its role in syntactic movement.

7

Practice identifying and analyzing different types of CP derivations.

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