Course information

Meeting time. Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-5:00, Room: CAS B18A.

Instructor. Paul Hagstrom, 621 Commonwealth Ave., room 105. Email: hagstrom@bu.edu (likely to get a quick response). Phone: 617-353-6220. Office hours: T10:30-11:30, W12-1, R5-6

Prerequisites. CAS LX 250 (Introduction to Linguistics), or consent of instructor.

Course description:

Introduction to the logical structure and organization of language and to generative grammar. Application of principles of syntactic analysis to students’ own and other languages through data-oriented problems from different language types.

Course Requirements.
Homework. Weekly homework assignments. Midterm exam. There will be an in-class midterm in late October. Final exam. There will be a final exam, at a time to be announced.

Electronic communication We live in an electronic age. You are expected to be reachable by email. The central communication center for the course is the course blog. Announcements, notes on readings, homework errata, and other information will be posted there on a regular basis, and things that are posted there will be assumed to have been communicated. You are able (and encouraged!) to post questions and comments in response to this information on the course blog as well. Homework assignments can be sent (whenever feasible) by email. The only caveat there is that if you use special fonts or an obscure word processor, you should send it to me early enough that I can verify that I can read the file. Word, PDF, plain text, RTF, even LaTeX—all fine. Do not send me a WordPerfect file. And of course where email is impractical, handing in a paper copy is fine.

Readings. There is a textbook for this course (David Adger, 2003, Core Syntax).

 

Grading scheme. Homework (lowest dropped) 40%
Midterm exam 25%
Final exam 25%
Regular attendance, participation 10%

 

CAS Student Academic Conduct Code. As a member of a CAS course, it is essential that you read and adhere to the CAS Student Academic Conduct Code. In particular, several types of plagiarism (any attempt to represent the work of another as your own) are defined by this academic conduct code. You can read the CAS Academic Conduct Code online, or get a copy from CAS Advising.