New Trends In Syntax

1. Identify Minimalist modifications to Transformational Generative Grammar.
2. Apply Minimalist principles in syntactic analysis.
3. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Minimalist approaches.
4. Analyze syntactic processes using Minimalist concepts.
5. Construct phrase markers based on Bare Phrase Structure.
6. Explain feature-driven movement and its implications.

13 weeks, about 45 hours in total. Yours will differ.

1. Week 1Module 1: Innovations in Minimalist Program

   • Unit 1: Derivations and Representations in the Minimalist Program · 3 hours

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

2. Week 2Module 1: Innovations in Minimalist Program

   • Unit 2: Overview of the Common Operations · 3 hours

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

3. Week 3Module 1: Innovations in Minimalist Program

   • Unit 3: The Spell-out Stage · 3 hours

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

4. Week 4Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

   • Unit 1: Shortest Move · 3 hours

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

5. Week 5Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

   • Unit 2: Greed and Procrastinate · 3 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..

6. Week 6Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

   • Unit 3: Last Resort · 3 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..

7. Week 7Module 2: Economy Principles in the Minimalist Framework

   • Unit 4: Least Effort · 3 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..

8. Week 8Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

   • Unit 1: Bare Phrase Structure (BPS) · 3 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..

9. Week 9Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

   • Unit 2: Phrasal Categories in the Minimalist Program · 3 hours

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

10. Week 10Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

    • Unit 3: Feature Checking Theory · 3 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..

11. Week 11Module 3: Operations and Stages in the Transformation Process

    • Unit 4: The Copy Theory of Movement · 3 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..

12. Week 12Module 4: Syntactic Processes

    • Unit 1: DP Movements: Passivisation and Ergativity · 3 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 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..

13. Week 13Module 4: Syntactic Processes

    • Unit 3: Pronominalisation and Reflexivisation · 3 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 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..