L614, Alternative Syntactic Theories

This course covers non-derivational theories of syntax that have
focused on developing precisely formulated grammars whose empirical
predictions can be directly tested.  We will examine a number of
different grammatical frameworks, including varieties of dependency
grammar (DG), tree-adjoining grammar (TAG), combinatory categorial
grammar (CCG), and lexical-funcational grammar (LFG).  After a survey
of each of these, we will delve more deeply into the framework of
Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG), examining both
theoretical and practical issues and gaining exposure to both the key
foundational works as well as recent lines of investigation.

Given its focus on precise, testable theories, the course will be of
particular interest to linguists who are concerned with developing
detailed accounts of the syntactic structure of individual languages.
It is also of special interest to computational linguists, as the
frameworks have been developed with careful attention to ways in
which analyses can be represented within computational models of
language processing.

At the end of the course, students should be able to analyze
linguistic data in a number of ways, read syntactic literature from a
variety of viewpoints, and understand how these formalisms lend
themselves well to computational needs.  Participants will develop an
HPSG grammar for a language of their choice by the end of the
semester.

No programming experience is assumed, but some syntax is required.