This course aims to familiarise students with some basic concepts of syntax and the foundations of syntactic analysis. Assuming no previous knowledge of the subject, we will be using linguistic data to justify concepts such as word category, constituent analysis, head, complement and specifier. Along the way we will also introduce more traditional concepts such as subject and object, though giving these a more modern treatment than the ones students are perhaps familiar with. Although we will not be following the Syntax lecture, the course should provide a sound basis for understanding the material presented in this and subsequent lectures.
Assessment
The course will be assessed by a series of home assignments and a class test, the final mark being calculated as an average of these.