Syntax
Code
711131052
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Linguística
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Ana Maria Lavadinho Madeira
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) To gain an understanding of syntax as an autonomous component of the grammar.
b) To identify the object of study of syntax.
c) To distinguish between syntactic forms and functions, through empirical validation.
d) To become familiar with constituent analysis as a tool for achieving generalisations about sentence structure.
e) To identify the relationships between the lexicon and the syntax.
f) To become familiar with the typology of verbal predicates.
g) To develop an understanding of movement as a tool for the analysis of dependency relations in simple and complex sentences.
h) To develop an understanding of non-derivational dependency relations.
i) To understand the distribution and interpretation of empty categories.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
1. Language as an object of knowledge.
2. The object of study of syntax.
3. Lexicon and syntax: subcategorisation, semantic selection and argument structure.
4. Immediate constituents and grammatical relations structure and function.
5. Typology of verbal predicates: auxiliaries, object predicative, unergative, unaccusative and predicative verbs.
6. Lexical and functional structure.
7. A- and A-bar movement: interrogative and relative constructions. Complex sentences.
8. Binding theory and the syntax of empty categories.
Bibliography
Campos, Henriqueta Costa e Maria Francisca Xavier (1991) Sintaxe e Semântica do Português. Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.
Haegeman, Liliane (1995) Introduction to Government and Binding Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 2ª ed.
Mateus, Maria Helena, Ana Maria Brito, Inês Duarte & Isabel Hub Faria (2003) Gramática da Língua Portuguesa. Lisboa: Caminho (5a edição revista e aumentada).
Radford, Andrew (1988) Transformational Grammar. A First Course. Cambridge University Press.
Raposo, Eduardo (1992) Teoria da Gramática. A Faculdade da Linguagem. Lisboa: Caminho.
Teaching method
(a) Lectures
(b) Practical classes: practice exercises, problem resolution
Evaluation method
10 take-home exercises (20%).
3 exercise sets (30%).
Written test covering the whole of the syllabus (50%).