French Syntax

Catalog description

A formal theory of word order and related issues in French grammar. FR 418 French Syntax (3) (IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. The aim of this course is to provide the upper level undergraduate student with the background needed to understand modern generative syntactic theory, as well as to eventually enable him or her to do creative and informed research in this area. Roughly three-quarters of the semester will be devoted to an in-depth overview of the historical development of generative syntax, focusing particularly on modern Chomskyan theory - the so-called Minimalist Program. The remainder will build upon and round out this knowledge of syntax by exploring in depth a number of topics that any syntactician must be familiar with in order to do informed research in the field. This section of the course will involve lectures based on close readings of articles and book chapters exploring such topics as the syntax of negation, raising verbs, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, middle constructions, and/or verb movement. (Only a subset of these topics will be discussed, selected on the basis of student interest.)