B005547 - GENERAL LINGUISTICS

Italian

This course consists of two halves. The first half of the term provides an advanced introduction to the formal syntactic analysis of natural languages. In the second half of the term, we will approach a specific issue in syntax or morphosyntax, from a cross-linguistic and/or cross-disciplinary (e.g. psycholinguistic) point of view. The choice of the topic will depend on the current debate on linguistics and on its didactic usefulness.

For the first half of the course:
Liliane Haegeman. Thinking syntactically. Blackwell
Mark Baker. The atoms of language. Basic Books
For general background (individual study)
B. Baldi & L. Savoia. Lingua e Comunicazione. Pacini
For the second hal of the course, the instructor will designate selected scientific articles or chapters of books

The course ha a twofold aim, in keeping with its contents: 1. basic knowledge of the formal syntax of natural languages, ability to apply this knowledge to the analysis of linguistic data. 2. ability to read, compare and evaluate texts and proposals on a research topic in syntax or morphology, ability to elaborate the relevant data in an autonomous fashion.

Basic knowledge about general linguistics.

Lectures -- or equivalent instruction depending on the CoviD 19 emergency

/none

final exam

The first part of the course consists of an advanced introduction to syntax. Topics covered include: categories and constituents; the rule Merge; the Verb Phrase; the sentence (IP); the CP; the rule Move: head- A- and A'-movement; passives and unaccusatives; interrogatives, relatives and other wh-sentences.
The second part of the course will cover a single topic in syntax or morphosyntax, tipically in a crosslinguistic perspective and/or in a cross-disciplinary perspective (notably a psycholinguistic one). Topics discussed in recent years include: the inflection of the Noun, case, number, Person, Person splits.