The TEXTBOOK, which is available in the bookstore and from (e.g.

) Amazon, is:

Sag, Ivan A., Thomas Wasow, and Emily M. Bender. 2003. Syntactic Theory - A
Formal Introduction, 2nd Edition. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

Please be sure you are not using the first edition (Sag and Wasow 1999) - the
content has changed considerably between the editions, and the first is not an
acceptable substitute!

Please consult this webpage regularly, as the course schedule and content may
change as the quarter progresses.

Homework is due at the beginning of class on Fridays. Please be sure to write your
name on your homework and to staple multiple pages. Also, make sure you write on
only one side of each sheet, leaving large margins so that we can write comments.
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Syllabus and Assignments

After each lecture, the slides used in class will be posted as lecture notes (in
.pdf format).

Monday Wednesday Friday

Week 1:
9/23-9/27 9/23
Introduction, organization [slides]
Reading: Ch. 1 9/25
Phrase structure grammar [slides]
Reading: Ch.2 9/27
Phrase structure grammar [cont.]
Reading: 3.1-3.3.4
HW1 due
Week 2:
9/30-10/4 9/30
Feature structures [slides]
No new reading: review 3.1-3.3.4 10/2
Head rules and trees [slides]
Reading: 3.3.5-3.7 10/4
Head rules and trees [cont.]
No new reading
HW2 due
Week 3:
10/7-10/11 10/7
Valence [slides]
Reading: 4.1-4.5 10/9
Agreement [slides]
Reading: 4.6-4.10 10/11
Semantics [slides]
Reading: 5.1-5.5
HW3 due
Week 4:
10/14-10/18 10/14
Modification, coordination [slides]
Reading: 5.5-5.9 10/16
How the grammar works [slides]
Reading: ch. 6 10/18
Cont.; binding intro [slides part a, b]
Reading: ch. 6
HW4 due
Week 5:
10/21-10/25 10/21
Binding [slides]
Reading: 7.1-7.5 10/23
Imperatives; the ARP
Reading: 7.6-7.9 10/25
Lexical types [slides]
Reading: 8.1-8.4
Midterm due
Week 6:
10/28-11/1 10/28
Lexical rules [slides]
Reading: 8.5-8.9 10/30
Grammar & processing [slides]
Reading: ch.9 11/1
Grammar & processing (cont.)
HW5 due
Week 7:
11/4-11/8 11/4
The passive construction [slides]
Reading: ch.10 11/6
Existentials [slides]
Reading: 11.1-11.3 11/8
Extraposition; idioms [slides]
Reading: 11.4-11.6
HW6 due
Week 8:
11/11-11/15 11/11
Raising [slides]
Reading: 12.1-12.3 11/13
Control [slides]
Reading: 12.4-12.7 11/15
Auxiliary verbs [slides]
Reading: 13.1-13.2
HW7 due
Week 9:
11/18-11/22 11/18
The NICE properties [slides]
Reading: 13.3-13.6 11/20
Long-distance dependencies [slides]
Reading: 14.1-14.4 11/22
Subject gaps; island constraints [slides]
Reading: 14.5-14.7
HW8 due
Week 10:
11/25-11/29 No Class: Thanksgiving
Week 11:
12/2-12/6 12/2
Flickinger: English Resource Grammar
Reading: Click here 12/4
Review
No reading 12/6
Gribanova: Cross-linguistic syntax
No reading
12/12, 5PM FINAL EXAM DUE - 5PM
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Assessment
Workload, grading, etc.

There will be weekly problem sets, a midterm, and a final. The midterm and final
will be take-home, open-book, and open notes. Students are strongly encouraged to
discuss the weekly problem sets in groups, though each student must write up
his/her homework individually. No group discussion of the midterm or final exams is
permitted. The grading will be as follows: 50% for homeworks, 35% for the final,
and 15% for the midterm. We allow about 2% adjustment for class or section
participation.

Sections will be for the purpose of going over material from lectures and readings,
covered in class, answering questions about the homework, and review. No new
material (or at least none that you will be held responsible for) will be
introduced in sections.

Notes

Note 1: Expect to spend about 10 hours per week on the problem sets.
Note 2: Students with Documented Disabilities: Students who may need an academic
accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with
the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the
request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and
prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which
the request is made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since
timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563
Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, URL: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae).
Homework Policy: Homeworks are due at the beginning of the lecture on the day
indicated on the syllabus. Paper copies can be handed to your TA at the beginning
of class. Electronic submission by email to your TA is also acceptable. Unavoidable
late homework submissions (due to illness, family emergency, etc.) should be
approved in advance by the instructor. Homeworks submitted late without prior
approval will be penalized. Those received later on Friday will lose 15% credit.
Those received on Saturday will lose 30% credit. Homeworks not received by Monday
10AM will receive no credit. Never leave homeworks in the mailbox of a TA or
instructor without explicit prior approval to do so.
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Tribute to Ivan Sag

This course owes an enormous debt to Ivan Sag, intellectual giant, brilliant
musician, and all-around wonderful person. Ivan was one of the originators of Head-
Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, the theoretical framework on which this course is
based, and made many other important contributions to the study of language and
cognition as well. He co-wrote our textbook, taught this course many times, and
even wrote the original version of this website. He is greatly missed.