INTRODUCTION TO FORMAL SYNTAX

General aim of the course is to consolidate knowledge of formal linguistics, as a foundation of the study of the language sciences

1. Knowledge and understanding
The student knows the terminology used in formal syntax and understands the texts that make use of it.
The student knows the modules of syntax and understands their interaction with other modules of grammar (Lexicon, Phonology, Semantics, Pragmatics).
The student knows the major phenomena at the level of the sentence and understands the dimension of variation in synchrony (dialectal variation) and diachrony (language change).
The student knows and understands the glosses that are used to annotate linguistic examples in languages that are not directly known by the student.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding:
The student is able to correctly use the linguistic terminology with particular regard to syntax, at all stages of application.
The student can provide simple syntactic analyses, using the correct methodologies (tree diagrams, constituency tests, constituent analysis) of examples, which can be not only in Italian, but also in other languages duly glossed and annotated.
The student can provide relevant examples, also autonomously built, to argue for or against a given analysis including logically possible ungrammatical examples.
The student can provide a simple parametric analysis of a pair of examples.

3. Making judgements:
The student is able to report the hypotheses presented in the textbooks, providing adequate empirical evidence in favour or against it.
The student is able to capture points of divergence and convergence between alternative hypotheses.
The student is able to distinguish disseminative from scientific sources.

4. Communication skills:
The student is able to argue in oral form with appropriate terminology the linguistic hypotheses presented in the course.
The student is able to interact with the instructor, the tutor and the peers defending and criticizing appropriate hypotheses face to face or in the virtual classroom.

5. learning skills:
The student is able to take notes and share them with peers in the collaborative wiki.
The student is able to approach a paper published in one of the major linguistics journals or book series.

Competences and capacities achieved in General Linguistics 1 (LT0240) or equivalent course and a very good competence of English (C1)

1. Syntax and the interfaces
2. Syntactic Constituents and Constituency tests
3. Words as bundles of features
4. Merge and X-bar theory
5. Argument structure, selection and saturation
6. The functional structure of the clause (Tense)
7. The functional structure of the clause (Comp)
8. Parallels between Nominal Expressions and clauses
9. The fine structure of the left periphery
10. Variation in the clause
11. Variation in the nominal expression
12. Binding theory

At least ONE of the following handbooks:
Gelderen, Elly van (2017) An introduction to Minimalism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Giusti, Giuliana (2009) Strumenti di analisi per la lingua inglese. Torino: Utet libreria.
Kim, Jon-Bok and Peter Sells (2008) English Syntax and Introduction CSLI http://web.kyunghee.ac.kr/~jongbok/research/eng-syn-draft.pdf
Santorini, Beatrice, and Anthony Kroch. (2007) The syntax of natural language: An online introduction using the Trees program. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook

the list of the papers from which to select the two readings to comment in the oral exam is found on the moodle page of the course. It is possible to negotiate other readings with the instructor.

The oral exam is structured into four parts:
1. provide the syntactic tree of a given example in any language (the example will be glossed in case the language is not known to the student) (15%); 2. provide the syntactic analysis of a given contrast in terms of parametric variation (15%); 3. present a syntactic phenomenon chosen by the student (35%); 4. Present the main argument of one of the two research papers chosen from the references (35%).
If the student has diligently completed the online activities, the final exam will only be composed of parts 3 and 4.

The exam assesses:
knowledge and understanding of the principal concepts of formal and descriptive syntax of Italian in a comparative perspective with other languages present in the curriculum
the capacity of applying the acquired knowledge to provide simple syntactic analyses
the capacity of formulating a sound original hypothesis, make predictions and verify them with data
the capacity of arguing following inductive and deductive approaches
the capacity of describing original data of standard and non-standard varieties with the correct terminology

Lectures, seminars, online resources

English

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development