John T. Beavers

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences.  Semantics is concerned with what the words mean, what the sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of the words in it. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a variety of the world’s languages.  This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages— despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance.  We will also discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.  The ultimate goal is to understand how language works.   

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences.  Semantics is concerned with what the words mean, what the sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of the words in it. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a variety of the world’s languages.  This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages— despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance.  We will also discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.  The ultimate goal is to understand how language works.   

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

This course explores theories of lexical semantics, focusing on (a)

how word meanings can be classified and decomposed, (b) what the basic

ontology is for subcomponents of lexical meaning, (c) how lexical

meaning determines and/or is determined by the word's grammatical

properties, and (d) how languages vary in the relationship of lexical

meaning and grammar.  The semantic and grammatical properties of

verbs, nouns, and adjectives will be especially central, with an

emphasis on the truth conditional basis for the link between lexical

meaning and grammar and the motivation for and nature of lexical

semantic representations. By the end of the course students should be

able to read further literature on their own and begin to do research

in lexical semantics.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences.  Semantics is concerned with what the words mean, what the sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of the words in it. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a variety of the world’s languages.  This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages— despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance.  We will also discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.  The ultimate goal is to understand how language works.   

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

This course covers background and primary literature in the Minimalist

Program, the most recent instantiation of Chomsky's Principles and

Parameters approach to syntax. The Minimalist Program represents a

departure from earlier work in P&P in that it seeks to reduce

grammatical constraints to universal principles of economy and

independently motivated interface conditions imposed on the language

faculty by articulatory and semantic processing systems.

Approximately the first third of the course will involve background

reading on the motivations and theoretical assumptions of the

Minimalist Program. The remainder of the course will involve reading

primary literature on two or three empirical topics of recent interest

within this tradition. The goal is to prepare students for reading

literature and/or working in this framework, and more broadly to

encourage cross-fertilization of ideas between the students' own work

and the Minimalist Program, on both theoretical and empirical grounds.

Prerequisites:

--------------

LIN380L and LIN381L or permission of the instructor.

Requirements:

-------------

Weekly readings, class presentations, and a term paper.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

The goal of this course is to explore the structure and meaning of sentences and the variation across languages in sentence structure. We do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of the human faculty for language that describe and explain these structures and how sentences come to acquire meaning. For syntax in particular we focus on a Generative approach usually referred to as the Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all!) work in syntax in the last 30 years. The expected outcomes are to (a) gain exposure to sentence structure and meaning across languages — and what this says about the human capacity for language more generally—and (b) learn the techniques that practicing syntactians and semanticists use in their daily work.

Textbooks:
• Carnie, Andrew. 2007. Syntax: A Generative Introduction. 2nd Edition. Blackwell-Wiley.
• OPTIONAL: Kroeger, Paul R. 2005. Analyzing Grammar: An Introduction. Cambridge
University Press.

The purpose of this course is to teach about and encourage graduate research in syntax and semantics.   Students and faculty give presentations of work in progress, past research and research proposals.  Matters of professionalism are also discussed, such as ethics, IRB clearance, preparing proposals and finding funding, applying for jobs and giving job talks, writing style, and identifying topics to work on.  In addition, we read and discuss dissertations, papers, and books, and host outside speakers.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students inlinguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore thestructure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We willdo this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulateprecise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain theselinguistic structures. We focus primarily the branch of Generative Grammarknown as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstayof much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topicsto be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature ofsyntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules ofgrammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages willalso be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntaxis concerned with how words are combined to form sentences. Semantics isconcerned with what those sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentenceis constructed from the meanings of the component words. We will survey andanalyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a wide variety of the world slanguages. This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within humanlanguages, despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance. We will alsodiscover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.

The goal of this course is to explore theories of the lexical semantic underpinnings of grammar, focusing on (a) how word meanings can be classified and decomposed, (b) how subcomponents of lexical meaninginteract to form more complex meanings, (c) how lexical meaning determines and is determined by the word's syntactic and morphology properties, and (d) how languages vary in the relationship of lexical meaning and grammar.  The semantic and grammatical properties of verbs, nouns, and adjectives will be especially central, with anemphasis on the truth conditional basis for the link between lexical meaning and grammatical properties and the motivation for and nature of lexical semantic representations. By the end of the course studentsshould be able to read further literature on their own and begin to do research on specific topics in lexical semantics.Prerequisites: Syntax I required; Syntax II and Semantics I recommendedReadings: Readings will be drawn from primary literature

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students inlinguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore thestructure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We willdo this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulateprecise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain theselinguistic structures. We focus primarily the branch of Generative Grammarknown as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstayof much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topicsto be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature ofsyntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules ofgrammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages willalso be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students inlinguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore thestructure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We willdo this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulateprecise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain theselinguistic structures. We focus primarily the branch of Generative Grammarknown as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstayof much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topicsto be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature ofsyntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules ofgrammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages willalso be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language.Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences.Semantics is concerned with what those sentences mean, and how themeaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of thecomponent words. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semanticphenomena from a wide variety of the world's languages. This willreveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages, despitetheir sometimes chaotic surface appearance. We will also discoversurprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.  Theultimate goal is to develop a theory of the part of the human languagefaculty that deals with syntax and semantics that can account forthese specific patterns.

This class will explore the diversity of ways lexical semanticinformation can be encoded grammatically across languages.  Likelytopics will include the encoding of events of directed motion and thenotion of transitivity and transitivity splits, two areas that havebeen central to the development of the field of lexical semantictypology. Readings will come from both the theoretical syntax andsemantics literature on these topics as well as cross-linguisticstudies.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students inlinguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore thestructure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We willdo this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulateprecise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain theselinguistic structures. We focus primarily the branch of Generative Grammarknown as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstayof much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topicsto be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature ofsyntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules ofgrammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages willalso be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences. Semantics is concerned with what those sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of the component words. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a wide variety of the world s languages. This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages, despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance. We will also discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.

 This course covers background and primary literature in the Minimalist Program, the most recent instantiation of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach to syntax. The Minimalist Program represents a departure from earlier work in P&P in that it seeks to reduce grammatical constraints to universal principles of economy and independently motivated interface conditions imposed on the language faculty by articulatory and semantic processing systems. Approximately the first third of the course will involve background reading on the motivations and theoretical assumptions of the Minimalist Program. The remainder of the course will involve reading primary literature on two or three empirical topics of recent interest in the Minimalist Program. The goal of the course is to prepare students for reading literature and/or working in this framework, and more broadly to encourage cross-fertilization of                  ideas between the students' own work and the Minimalist Program, on both theoretical and empirical grounds.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax
is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences. Semantics is
concerned with what those sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence
is constructed from the meanings of the component words. We will survey and
analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a wide variety of the world s
languages. This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human
languages, despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance. We will also
discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.

Text:

Carnie, Andrew. 2006. Syntax: A Generative Introduction.  2nd Edition. Blackwell.

This class will explore the diversity of ways lexical semantic information can be encoded across languages.  Likely topics will include the encoding of causation and change-of-state, with a focus on causative/inchoative alternations and related constructions, and the cross-linguistic encoding of possession. Readings will come from both the theoretical syntax and semantics literature on these topics as well as cross-linguistic studies.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

Goals:

The goal of this course is to explore the structure of sentences and the variation across languages in sentence structure.We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of grammar that describe and explain these structures. We focus primarily on an approach to syntax usually referred to as the Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. The main outcome of this course is two-fold: to understand the goals and methodologies of work in syntax (so that you are able to read primary literature in the field), and also to be in a position to begin doing original research in syntax for those of you who wish to continue on to Syntax II.

 Textbooks:

• Carnie, Andrew. 2006. Syntax: A Generative Introduction. 2nd Edition. Blackwell.

• Haegeman, Liliane. 1994. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory. 2nd Edition. Blackwell.

 OPTIONAL: Kroeger, Paul R. 2005. Analyzing Grammar: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.

We will primarily follow the Carnie book in structure, with supporting readings assigned from Haegeman and Kroeger’s textbooks. For any given reading assignment I recommend reading Carnie first and then Haegeman, who will go into more theoretical depth (but will be less introductory). The Kroeger book is available in e-format from the library. I will also put a hard copy on reserves. We may look at some additional readings in the classic or primary literature on specific issues; these will be distributed in class, through Blackboard, or through e-reserves.

 Requirements and Expectations:

Graduate standing required (except by my permission). There are no prerequisites for this course. Regular attendance and participation are strongly encouraged. Please be advised that you are responsible

for knowing everything that is said in class, whether you are there or not. Thus if you choose not to attend any given lecture, you should get notes from your classmates. There will be weekly assignments, a midterm, and a final exam. Homeworks will be handed out on Thursday and hardcopies are due the following Thursday. I’ll do my best to get them back to you the following Tuesday. Homeworks and exams will consist of problem sets, with three types of problems:

• Technical problems (e.g. diagramming sentences) 

• Short answer application of theory to language data

• Argumentation problems, written in prose like an essay (with intro, body, and conclusion)

We will be developing a rigorous, formal theory of sentence structure and meaning in this class. For technical problems it is important to pay careful attention to detail, so that you do not end up saying something you do not mean. For argumentation problems, you will need to provide a clear, well-written argument for some specific proposal, grounded in the relevant data and also in the theoretical assumptions we make. All homeworks and exams must be typed and spell-checked (exception: sentence diagrams are hard to do on a computer, so you may hand draw these).

For detailed Course Schedule, download attachment.

Goals:

The goal of this course is to learn about teaching in general and teaching in linguistics. The outcome is to to develop a set of resources to help you embark on your teaching careers, as well as some consciousness raising about issues that may arise in the future. Those of you currently teaching will hopefully find immediately useful practical advice. 

Requirements and Evaluation:

Attendance is mandatory, as is class participation. Part of the course involves doing some out of class work (observing faculty teachers, perusing UT web resources for teaching) and reporting on what you saw in class. Everyone will also develop a syllabus (ostensibly for LIN312, even if you’re not submitting it), which we will workshop in class. We will use one class session to have a “micro-teaching” session, where everyone is videotaped teaching for 3-4 minutes and we have a

round table discussion. Likewise, we will use the final weeks to workshop teaching statements as part of our discussion on teaching portfolios (something you will need to produce when going on

the job market). The final grade will be based partly on your class participation and partly on your submitted syllabi and portfolios. The participation and written materials will count about equally.

For detailed Course Schedule, download attachment.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences.  Semantics is concerned with what the words mean, what the sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of the words in it. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a variety of the world’s languages.  This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages— despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance.  We will also discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.  The ultimate goal is to understand how language works.   

A reading course in a selected area of linguistics.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.

Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Taught online during scheduled times.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.

Teaching under supervision of the course instructor; weekly group meetings with instructor, individual consultations, and reports throughout the teaching period.

In this course we study the syntax and semantics of human language. Syntax is concerned with how words are combined to form sentences.  Semantics is concerned with what the words mean, what the sentences mean, and how the meaning of a sentence is constructed from the meanings of the words in it. We will survey and analyze syntactic and semantic phenomena from a variety of the world’s languages.  This will reveal interesting patterns lurking within human languages— despite their sometimes chaotic surface appearance.  We will also discover surprising similarities across seemingly diverse languages.  The ultimate goal is to understand how language works.   

LANGUAGE, POWER & ACTION: A SEMINAR ON HIDDEN MEANING

Hans Kamp/David Beaver

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

This class will cover a central topics in Philosophy of Language and Linguistics: the effects of context on meaning, and the way in which meanings index that context. We will construe indexicality†broadly, to refer to all aspects of meaning that are dependent on context. Thus indexicality covers a huge range of expression types and usages. It includes:

● paradigmatically indexical expressions like I† and now,

● expressions described as demonstrative or deictic,

● anaphoric expressions,

● modals and quantifiers for which the domain is contextually restricted,

● predicates of personal taste,

● discourse and dialogue markers that index aspects of the utterance situation or discourse, and

● various markers of perspective, subjective attitude and social relationship among interlocutors.

What all these phenomena have in common is that they challenge a simplistic view of meaning as a mapping from form to meaning. Meaning isn’t determined by form alone but by a combination of form and context. The general question this gives rise to is: What aspects of meaning are affected by context, and what aspects of meaning are invariant? And even more generally, what do indexical phenomena tell us about the use and interpretation of language, and the nature of the semantic/pragmatic interface?

We will consider these issues from both philosophical and linguistic perspectives, discussing both philosophical frameworks (e.g. two dimensional approaches to meaning, centered worlds), and linguistic generalizations (e.g. about pronominal systems, spatial deixis, and temporality).

Topics

1. Indexicality, Deixis and Anaphora: Demarcation of the notions and introduction to major accounts of them: Kaplan, Stalnaker (& Dynamic Semantics), Nunberg (1993).
2. Context Dependence: Forms it takes + nature of context and contextual information
3. Dimensions of indexicality: temporal, spatial, domain restriction, scalarity (e.g. the adverbs ‘too’, ‘enough’), empathy, honorifics, expressives,’’
4. ‘Reference’ to the self
5. Predicates of personal taste: non-truth conditional? Also: Contextualism vs. relativism.
6. Implicit arguments.

This course is an introduction to generative syntax for graduate students in linguistics and other departments. The goal of the course is to explore the structure of sentences and phrases both within and across languages. We will do this from the perspective of Generative Grammar, which seeks to formulate precise models of linguistic knowledge that describe and explain these linguistic structures. We focus primarily on the branch of Generative Grammar known as the Principles and Parameters approach, which has been the mainstay of much (though by no means all) work in syntax in the last 50 years. Topics to be discussed include: the goals of linguistic theory, the nature of syntactic structure, the role of the lexicon, and different modules of grammar. The emphasis will be on English, but data from other languages will also be considered.