The aim of this course is to give the students an up-to-date knowledge of present-day theoretical issues in morphological theory and analysis.
The course will be divided into 3 parts;
Part 1. A bird’s eye overview of present-day morphological theory by working through a recent textbook, Geert Booij’s The Grammar of Words (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), in order to create a common base of morphological knowledge.
Part 2. Discussion of a number of theoretical issues in more detail on the basis of recent articles from the international literature. The topics are:
different models of morphological knowledge (realizational morphology; distributed morphology, morphology in an Simple Syntax model, construction morphology);
the relative autonomy of morphology (‘morphology by itself’) – the architecture of the grammar;
lexical integrity;
the relation between morphology and the lexicon;
construction-dependent morphology;
psycholinguistic modeling of morphological knowledge
Part 3. Students will give presentations about one of these topics linked to empirical data from one or more of the languages that they study.
Timetable
Check the website of the Linguistics Department for the Lecture timetable.
Method of instruction
Seminar, including presentations by students
Acquirements
Students will acquire a good overview of present-day issues in morphological theories, and the architecture of the grammar, and learn how the analysis of morphological phenomena in specific languages can be used in discussing these issues.
Literature
Geert Booij (2007) The Grammar of Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edition.
A number of articles (to be announced later, will be made available through the course site), and chapters of recent morphology handbooks in the university library.
Examination
presentation during the seminar
essay on the topic of the presentation
Information
Further information can be obtained from the instructor (g.e.booij@hum.leidenuniv.nl).