Classes

Office hours

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2012
Monday 11am--12pm

The Syntax of Austronesian Languages

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2009
This class will explore current syntactic work in the structure of Austronesian languages, with a particular emphasis on the challenges they pose for grammatical theory

Looking for Generalizations in Unexpected Populations

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2009
Instructors: Suzanne Flynn and Maria Polinsky Thursdays, 9:30am – 12 noon (or a new time, if necessary) MIT, 32D-808 Overall Goals: By investigating various special populations, late learners, heritage speakers, clinical populations, aging populations, etc, we hope to identify:
  • - critical linguistic generalizations that have emerged or may emerge from various special populations.
  • - crucial tools (methodologies) for investigating these various populations.

    • Grammar at an interface: Syntax and information structure

    Semester: 

    Summer

    Offered: 

    2009
    Utterances in natural language are partitioned into topic and comment (focus). How much, if at all, does this partition of information interface with the syntactic structure of a clause? This course addresses the interface between syntax and information structure looking at information structure from the vantage point of syntax. On this approach, the crucial goal is reductionist, seeking to understand what information structural effects play a role at the interface and are therefore necessary and sufficient.