Universität Wien
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160244 PS Introductory Seminar on the Theory of Grammar (2012S)

Reconstruction

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 16 - Musik-, Sprach- und Vergleichende Literaturwisse
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Details

Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 07.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 14.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 21.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 28.03. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 18.04. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 25.04. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 02.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 09.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 16.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 23.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 30.05. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 06.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 13.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 20.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
  • Wednesday 27.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course is about reconstruction, a well-known phenomenon by which 'moved' syntactic material is (at least partially) interpreted in its original merging site. Thus, generally speaking, reconstruction concerns the interaction between displacement (dislocation, topicalization, interrogation, relativization) and interpretation procedures such as binding and scope. For instance, a sentence such as 'Eva saw the picture of him that each boy likes' can have a functional reading (a different picture for each boy), which can be derived by interpreting the pronoun as a variable bound by the quantifier, i.e. through reconstructing it in a position lower than the quantifier. Similarly, a sentence like 'Which patient did every doctor examine?' has an interpretation whereby for every doctor there is a different patient, which can be derived by reconstructing the patient in its putative base position, namely the object position of 'examine', where it would take narrow scope with respect to the quantifier ('each doctor').
Topics that we will pay special attention to involve a thorough discussion of facts that cast doubt on traditional accounts of (A-bar) reconstruction in terms of movement (such as: reconstruction within strong islands), as well as more recent accounts of this phenomenon (e.g. Guilliot and Malkawi 2006). Concomitantly, we will discuss empirical and theoretical issues involving islandhood, (types of) resumption, ellipsis, and interpretation of copies.

Assessment and permitted materials

Students will have to make a presentation with a handout on material from the literature, or to write a (review) paper of their own.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

To deepen, consolidate and advance students' knowledge on foundational matters in syntactic theory, as well as to encourage students to engage in and carry out independent research.

Examination topics

Handouts

Reading list

Aoun, Joseph, Lina Choueiri and Norbert Hornstein. 2001. Resumption, movement and derivational economy. Linguistic Inquiry 32:371–403.
Chomsky, Noam. 1977. On Wh-movement. In P.W. Culicover, T. Wasow and A. Akmajian (eds.) Formal Syntax. San Francisco, CA: Academic Press.
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Doron, Edit. 1982. The syntax and semantics of resumptive pronouns. Texas Linguistic Society Forum 19: 1 – 48. University of Texas at Austin.
Guilliot, Nicholas and Nouman Malkawi. 2006. When resumption determines reconstruction. In D. Baumer, D. Montero and M. Scanlon (eds.) Proceedings of 25th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 168 – 176. Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Association in the course directory

Codes Diplomstudium: 214, 216

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36