!!! Please Ignore -- Work in Progress!!!
In this course we will look at how more complex syntactic phenomena could be described without transformations or movements, i.e. by declarative or `constraint-based' formal means.
The phenomena will be exemplified by expressions mainly from Czech, but also from other languages.
We will investigate some interesting solutions, especially those proposed within linguistic theories employing the `constraint-based' formal paradigm
(e.g., Head-Driven Phrase Structure
Grammar - HPSG, or Lexical Functional Grammar - LFG).
Also, we will explore to what extent solutions proposed within other theories could be embedded in this formal environment, and the possibility to seamlessly interface the level of syntax with other levels of description.
As in Unification grammars and the description of language II, interested students will be encouraged to experiment with an existing grammar or to implement and test a grammar of their own in one of the available grammar-writing environments.
PREREQUISITES:
the course
Unification grammars and the description of language II or a comparable degree of competence in the field
SYLLABUS:
- 1.
- A brief overview of theoretical studies of syntactic phenomena, with a specific concern about the state of research in HPSG, issues of formalism and implementation
- 2.
- Examples of solutions to some phenomena (relative clauses, information structure and word order, binding, inflection and derivation, coordination and apposition, semantic interpretation), comparison of different theoretical approaches.
- 3.
- Options of using constraint-based solutions from different theoretical frameworks for the description of Czech, their modification and open questions.