Graduate Courses

Syntax 2 (Spring 2004)
This is the second semester course of the graduate requirement in syntax. The course continues the examination of topics introduced in Syntax 1, with greater attention to comparison of competing hypotheses. Topics such as A-Movement, A'-Movement, Binding, Case and the Syntax of LF will be covered in the course. Argument structure and lexical rules of derivation, lexical and functional projections and cross-linguistic variation related to morphological properties of languages will also be addressed. The course will focus on two types of arguments in syntactic analysis: 1) empirical arguments and 2) theoretical arguments. Empirical arguments will be based on data, while theoretical arguments will be related to the restrictiveness of the system used to account for the data. 

Syntax and Second Language Acquisition (Fall 2005)
This course is an introduction to the generative approach to second language (L2) syntax.
It explores the ways in which the syntax in the grammars of L2 learners changes over time. In addition, the course reviews arguments in support of the claim that second language learners use mechanisms of Universal Grammar in building subconscious mental grammars. In discussing the initial, transitional, and final states of L2 grammars, we will investigate topics and data in areas such as second language acquisition and the following: development of verb morphology, negation and verb movement, word order, participant roles in events, nominal phrases, constraints on syntactic representations. Because some students may have little or no syntactic background, basic notions of syntax and syntactic theory will be presented at relevant points in the discussion.





Undergraduate Courses

Linguistics and Education (Spring 2004)
The goal of this course is to consider research in linguistics and its relation to the field of education. This course explores the ways in which linguistics can be applied in curriculum-central areas of reading, writing and language arts. For example, this course will consider the development of reading skills in relationship to phonemic/phonological and syntactic awareness. In addressing issues in linguistics and education, we will investigate areas such as linguistics and its application in the classroom, linguistics and theories of language acquisition and linguistics and teaching mainstream English to speakers of dialects.

Introduction to Study of African American English (Fall 2005)
African American English (AAE), which is spoken by some African Americans, is a linguistic variety that has set rules for putting sounds together to form words, for putting words and phrases together to form sentences, and for interpreting sentences. According to different sources, AAE has African, Creole and English origins. Although slang such as AL-ready, which is used by adolescents and young adults, plays a role in AAE, the linguistic variety is not slang. Furthermore, other words (e.g, kitchen) that have special meaning in AAE are used by speakers of all age groups in the AAE-speaking community. After clarifying the difference between AAE and the intended meaning of Ebonics, we will investigate five areas: Speech events, components of the grammar, history, educational issues, representation of AAE in the media and literature.