Admission requirements
A course in (generative English) syntax and/or a course in (English) historical linguistics.
Description
One of the most prominent and widely discussed topics in diachronic (i.e. historical) syntax is word order variation and change. Language change is a failure in the transmission across time of linguistic features among a group of adults, such as the introduction of a new word substituting an old one. However, such innovation is largely unattested in the case of syntactic features (Kroch 2001). The well-known change from Object-Verb to Verb-Object word order in English, for example, took centuries to complete. We will examine factors that are responsible for causing syntactic variation and change. We will pay attention to both internal factors (interacting rules and constraints of grammar) and external factors (e.g. language contact). The main focus will be on English, but we will consider some syntactic changes in other languages as well.
Course objectives
Students have gained insight into the causes and courses of syntactic variation and change.
Students are familiar with the descriptive and theoretical methods used in the field of historical syntax and
are able to use these methods in their own written work.
Timetable
The timetable will be available by June 1st on the website.
Mode of instruction
2-hour weekly seminar
Assessment method
Presentation (25%) and one final written essay (75%).
Blackboard
Yes
Reading list
Roberts, Ian. 2007. Diachronic Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
In addition, a selection of articles will be made available.
Registration
Students should register through uSis.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Study in Leiden website for information on how to apply
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs