This course will provide students with an advanced understanding of the morphosyntactic structures of human languages, and of the concepts, goals and methodologies used in studying them. Students will gain practical experience in solving structural problems, considering data from different languages. Topics covered include both morphology and syntax, formal and functional approaches, and different theoretical frameworks, such as Minimalist Program, Lexical Functional Grammar, and probabilistic grammar.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. demonstrate an understanding of the morphosyntactic structures of human languages through applying linguistic theories to solve problems encountered in linguistic data from a range of languages;
2. understand how people use morphosyntactic systems in languages to communicate;
3. use basic tools of modern approaches to morphosyntax to analyse certain grammatical structures of English and a range of other languages;
4. carry out research applying relevant theoretical approaches to the analysis of morphosyntactic structures of a language or languages; and
5. undertake guided research on a given topic for a project, and then present and justify the analysis;

Required Resources

Preliminary reading:

Dalrymple, Mary. 2006. Lexical functional grammar. In Keith Brown (editor), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Elsevier. URL http://users.ox.ac.uk/~cpgl0015/lfg.pdf

Prescribed texts:

We will not strictly follow a particular textbook, but most of the reading will be taken from the following sources:

Bresnan, Joan, Ash Asudeh, Ida Toivonen, and Stephen Wechler. 2016. Lexical-Functional Syntax (second edition). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell

Dalrymple, Mary. 2001. Lexical Functional Grammar, volume 34 of Syntax and Semantics. New York: Academic Press.

Falk, Yehuda N. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar. Stanford: CSLI.

 Kroeger, Paul, 2004. Analyzing Syntax. Cambridge: CUP

Reading for each session; see the full syllabus in Wattle.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• Written comments on students’ work (answers to assignments, exams and research report)
• Verbal clarifications and answers to questions in class
• Verbal discussions on students’ individual problems/questions

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Other Information

Referencing requirements:

Referencing should follow the Harvard system, which is standard for Linguistics.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	I. LINGUISTIC THEORY & MODELLING Introduction (25 Feb-1 March) (i) Plan throughout the semester (ii) A brief overview of modern syntactic theories: description & analysis (iii) Phrase structures in LFG	Reading: Kroeger, Paul. 2007. LFG as a Framework for Descriptive Grammar. In Proceedings of LFG07, edited by M. Butt and T. H. King. Stanford: CSLI, http://cslipublications.stanford.edu/LFG/12/lfg07.html Chap. 1 of Falk, Yehuda N. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar: An Introduction to Parallel Constraint-Based Syntax. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
2	II. GRAMMATICAL FEATURES & RELATIONS Grammatical functions and LFG formalism (4-8 March) (i) Grammatical functions (GFs) and their representations (ii) f-str and c-str correspondences	Reading: Chaps. 2-3 of Falk, Yehuda N. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar: An Introduction to Parallel Constraint-Based Syntax. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Wescoat, Michael. 1987. Practical Instructions for Working with the Formalism of Lexical Functional Grammar. Summer Institute, Stanford University, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1. 1.38.1889
3	Argument Structure & Mapping Theory (11-15 March) -Typology of alignment system: accusativity and ergativity -The conception of a-str -Linking/mapping/correspondence	Reading: Bresnan, Joan, and L. Moshi. 1990. "Object asymmetries in comparative Bantu Syntax." Linguistic Inquiry no. 21 (2):147-185. Chap. 5 of Arka, I Wayan. 2003. Balinese morphosyntax: a lexical-functional approach. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (Topics handed out)
4	Theory of Grammatical Function Alternations & Voice (18-22 March) -voice alternations: passive, antipassive, middles in Austronesian languages and beyond -applicativisation and causativisation	Main reading: Chaps. 2, 6 [section 6.4] and 7 [section 7.4] of Arka, I Wayan. 2003. Balinese morphosyntax: a lexical-functional approach. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Austin, P. 2005 [1996]. "Causatives and applicatives in Australian Aboriginal languages." In, edited by Kazuto Matsumura. Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobo. (Problem set 1 given out)
5	Morphology-syntax interface and the theory of Agreement: Markedness, features and Agreement (25-29 March) Types of agreement LFG treatment of agreement	Reading: Bresnan, Joan, and Sam Mchombo. 1987. Topic, Pronoun, and Agreement in Chichewa. Language 63: 741–782.
6	Binding Theory: reflexives (01-05 April)	Reading: Chap. 6 [sections 6.1-6.3] of Arka, I Wayan. 2003. Balinese morphosyntax: a lexical-functional approach. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Chap. 7 of Falk, Yehuda N. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar. Stanford: CSLI. (Problem set 1 due)
7	III. COMPLEX STRUCTURES Complementation and Control Theory (1) (22-26 April)	Reading: Chap.5 of Kroeger, Paul. 2004. Analyzing syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chap. 5 of Falk, Yehuda N. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar. Stanford: CSLI. Sag, Ivan, and Carl Pollard. 1991. "An integrated theory of complement control." Language no. 67:63-113. (Chosen topic due) (Problem set 2 given out)
8	Complementation and Control Theory (continued) (29 April-03 May)	Reading: Dalrymple, Mary, Helge Dyvik, and Tracy Holloway King. 2004. Copular complements: Closed or open? In Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King (editors), The Proceedings of the LFG '04 Conference. University of Canterbury. URL http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/LFG/9/lfg04.html. (Paper plan due)
9	Filler-gap and long-distance dependencies: Topicalisation, interrogatives and relative clauses (06-10 May)	Reading: Chap. 6 of Falk, Yehuda N. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar. Stanford: CSLI. (Problem set 2 due)
10	Complex predicates & Serial Verb Constructions in LFG (13-17 May)	Main reading: Chap 1 of Alsina, A., J. Bresnan, and P. Sells, eds. Chap 1 of Alsina, A., J. Bresnan, and P. Sells, eds. 1997. Complex predicates. Stanford: CSLI. Foley, William A. 2010. Events and serial verb constructions. In Complex predicates: cross-linguistic perspectives on event structure, edited by M. Amberber, B. Baker and M. Harvey, 79-109. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Critical Summary due)
11	Information structure and other contextual information (20-24 May)	Reading: Dalrymple, M and L Mycock, 2011. The prosody-semantics interface. In Butt and King (eds.) Proceedings of the LFG11 Conference. Arka, I Wayan. 2005. Speech levels, social predicates, and pragmatic structure in Balinese: a lexical approach. Pragmatics 15 (2/3):169-203.
12	Wrap-up: LFG, its implementation, and beyond (27-31 May)	Reading: Butt, Miriam, King. Tracy, Maria Eugenia Nino, and Frédérique Segond. 1999. A grammar writer's cookbook. Stanford: CSLI.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Problem set	40 %	05/04/2019	18/04/2019	1, 2, 3
Problem set	20 %	10/05/2019	24/05/2019	1, 2, 3
Critical summary	10 %	17/05/2019	28/05/2019	5
Research Essay	50 %	04/06/2019	18/06/2019	1,2,3,4,5

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website. Students may choose not to submit assessment items through Turnitin. In this instance you will be required to submit, alongside the assessment item itself, hard copies of all references included in the assessment item.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

The students will be expected to do all home assignments and the weekly readings (articles). They spend at least 5 hours for these two regular activities. In addition, they will need to dedicate at least 4 hours per week to prepare for their research report.

Since the course focuses on interactive problem solving, all students are reminded that attendance at tutorials is compulsory. If illness or a comparable disability occurs, they should inform their lecturer. Unavoidable clashes must be discussed with the lecturer.

Assessment Task 1

Problem set

The assignments will test your ability to apply syntactic concepts to data, and analyse syntactic phenomena.

Problems will be assessed primarily (about 70%) on the accuracy and insightfulness of analysis. For example, missing a case-marking morpheme where there clearly is one would count as a failure of accuracy, while failing to notice an opportunity to use a simple syntactic rule would count as a failure of analytic insight. Organisation and coherence of expression will account for the remainder, approximately 15% each. Of course, poor organisation or expression might result in my failing to notice a significant insight! (Although you can certainly point it out if you think this has happened.)

Assessment Task 1: Agreement, Linking and Binding

Details of task: Based on the data set, the students have to

a. state the (basic) principles and constraints for an agreement system in a given language;

b. apply and discuss Linking Theory and Binding theory in relation to more complex data on agreement.

c. write up annotated PS rules and PS trees in LFG to capture the constraints/principles formulated in (a) and (b).

Word limit (where applicable): around pages of solutions

Due date: week 6

Assessment Task 2

Problem set

The assignments will test your ability to apply syntactic concepts to data, and analyse syntactic phenomena.

Problems will be assessed primarily (about 70%) on the accuracy and insightfulness of analysis. For example, missing a case-marking morpheme where there clearly is one would count as a failure of accuracy, while failing to notice an opportunity to use a simple syntactic rule would count as a failure of analytic insight. Organisation and coherence of expression will account for the remainder, approximately 15% each. Of course, poor organisation or expression might result in my failing to notice a significant insight! (Although you can certainly point it out if you think this has happened.)

Assessment Task 2: Voice and argument structure in complex structures

Details of task: Given a set of data, the students have to:

1) discuss the voice system in a given language, addressing issues of marking and observed alternations in simple and complex sentences;

2) write a full grammar in LFG format to capture grammatical and ungrammatical structures on the basis of the answers in (1);

3) provide a typological and theoretical discussion on the nature voice/alignment system;

4) write up c-str and f-str representations with reference to particular sentences in the data.

Word limit (where applicable): around pages of solutions

Due date: week 9

Length: 800 words each

Assessment Task 3

Critical summary

The critical summary (10%) will test your ability to read and explore the literature relevant to your research topic critically. It must be related to the chosen topic of the essay.

Due date: week 10

Length: 1000 words

Assessment Task 4

Research Essay

The research essay is a report on a syntactic description (details on separate handout), which will test your ability to read and understand syntactic descriptions from the literature.

The research papers will be assessed according to these criteria:

Mechanics 10%

Referencing 15%

Structure 15% 

Content 60%

Chosen topic due week 7

1-page plan for essay due week 8

Paper due 4 May 2019

Length: 3000 words

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of our culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically. This means that all members of the community commit to honest and responsible scholarly practice and to upholding these values with respect and fairness. The Australian National University commits to embedding the values of academic integrity in our teaching and learning. We ensure that all members of our community understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with. The University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Visit the following Academic honesty & plagiarism website for more information about academic integrity and what the ANU considers academic misconduct. The ANU offers a number of services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. The Academic Skills and Learning Centre offers a number of workshops and seminars that you may find useful for your studies.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) as submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Returning Assignments

The students will be notified that their assignments/essays have been marked through the course Wattle. The students can collect their marked assignments in class, or individually from the lecturer, or from the assignment box in BPB, or in Coombs. 

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. The Course Convener may grant extensions for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

No resubmission of some or all assignments is allowed.   

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

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The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
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