Admission requirements
Phonology and syntax at level 400.
Description
This course discusses the mutual relevance of the study of microvariation and grammatical theory (in particular, phonology and morpho-syntax). We will devote some attention to sociolinguistic models of social variation, the study of geographic microvariation in dialectology, theories of language change and the relation between variation and change, and the effects of language contact on the structure of human language. It will be shown how neighbouring disciplines bring to light many interesting data and puzzles which any serious theory of phonology or syntax cannot abstract away from. We will then discuss the extent to which the main theoretical approaches to micro-variation, like Optimality Theory, the parametric theory or typological-functional theory, can account for these data. Examples will be chosen from a wide variety of languages. Some attention will also be paid to alternative ways of describing language variation, in particular to so-called ‘usage-based’ models.
Course objectives
Learning to understand the relationship between dialectological, sociolinguistic and historical data and modern theories;
Learning to apply such theories (in particular, principles and parameters and Optimality Theory).
Learning to see connections between phonological and syntactic theory.
Timetable
The timetable will be available by June 1st on the website.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Course Load
Time spent on attending lectures and seminars: 26 hours
Time for studying the compulsory literature: 100 hours
Time for data collection and preparing the oral presentation: 34 hours
Time to write the final paper: 120 hour
Assessment Method
Oral presentation 20%
Written paper 80%
Blackboard
This course is supported by Blackboard.
Reading list
To be provided on Blackboard.
Registration
Students should register through uSis. If you have any questions, please contact the departmental office, tel. 071 5272144 or mail: ma-linguistics@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte via: www.hum.leidenuniv.nl/onderwijs/alacarte
Registration Contractonderwijs via: http://www.hum.leidenuniv.nl/onderwijs/contractonderwijs/
Contact
MA Linguistics departmental office, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; mail:ma-linguistics@hum.leidenuniv.nl