Syllabus

Linguistics 52 -- Syntax I				Winter Quarter 2010

MWF 12:30 - 1:40
Engineering 2 192

Course website: http://ling.ucsc.edu/~hank/52.html

Jorge Hankamer	
	Office: 264 Stevenson College			Office hours
	email:  hank@ucsc.edu				T 11-12  W 2-3

Judith Fiedler	jfiedler@ucsc.edu
Justin Nuger	jnuger@ucsc.edu

Sections:
		M 3:30 - 4:40	Cowell 222	Hankamer
		M 5:30 - 6:40	Cowell 216	Fiedler
		T 8:30 - 9:40	Cowell 216	Nuger

This course is an introduction to the study of syntax (i.e. sentence
construction) in natural languages.  For practical reasons, the language
on which the study will be based will be English, but the principles of
theory and analysis should extend to the study of the syntax of other
languages.

There is no textbook.  The course is based on a sequence of homework
problems, which will be assigned at the end of each class and due at
the end of the next class.  These problems constitute the main work
of the course, and performance on the problems is the main basis for
the grade.  There will also be two take-home exams: a midterm and a final.
Each will take about a week.

There are no in-class exams, though there may be some (unannounced)
quizzes.  You will have to pass all of these quizzes to pass the course.

You are encouraged to work together on homework problems and the take-home
exams.  Some of the assignments will be quite strenuous, and designed
to be too hard for a person to do alone.  For this reason it is a good idea
to form study groups and get into the habit of collaboration.  We only
require that you write up your work independently, so that what you
hand in really is your own work.  Write the names of the people you worked with
at the top of your paper.

Homeworks will generally be somewhat open-ended.  There will not always be
a particular right answer, and the important thing will be how well you
present and support the proposal you come up with.  So two equally good papers
might have different and indeed incompatible solutions.

Form: use 8 1/2 x 11 paper (lined or unlined) and write on only one side.
Leave at least one inch margins so that we will have some space to write
comments.  Almost all assignments will require more than one page to answer;
when there is more than one page, staple the pages together.  It is not required
that you type or word-process your papers, but they should be neat and
legible.




To do well in this course, here are the things you need to do:

	ATTEND CLASS
	ATTEND SECTION
	TURN IN ALL ASSIGNMENTS
	DO THE ASSIGNMENTS CAREFULLY AND WELL

Here are the things we look for in written work:  a written assignment
should be

	NEAT
	CLEAR
	CAREFUL
	THOROUGH

Neatness should be self-explanatory; clarity is mainly about the quality of
your writing, but in this course will also concern the relation between
what you write and certain formal representations which we will adopt,
as well as argument and reasoning; in the next few weeks we will point out
things that you need to be careful and thorough about.

Homeworks will be scored on a scale of 1-5 on the basis of these criteria.
The final grade will be based on an average of the homework and exam scores,
with the midterm and final exams counting about three homeworks each.
We will usually not write your score on homework papers, but from the
written comments you should get some idea of how you are doing grade-wise.
If you are concerned about your probable grade, you can come in for an
estimate.

Some course policies:

	Attendance is expected.  We will not formally take attendance,
	but we will surely notice any absences.  Absences will have a
	negative effect on the grade.  Particularly if you miss a quiz.

	Sections are mandatory.  You must sign up for and regularly attend
	a section.  New material will be introduced in sections, and you
	will be responsible for it.

	All homework assignments must be turned in.  Failure to turn in a
	homework results in a zero in the record, and (since the homework
	is the most important component of the course) just a few zeroes
	will result in failing the course.  There will be no way to
	make this up.

	Homework turned in late will be accepted; but it will not receive
	the scrutiny and feedback that on-time homework receives.  And it
	will get a score of 1 in the record.  An average score of 2 will be
	required to pass.

We realize that in most courses the syllabus gives you an outline of the
course, with topics and reading assignments and all that.  But in this
course there are no reading assignments, and the topics are mostly a surprise,
so you won't get that here.  What you get is a promise that at the end of the
course you will know a lot about the syntax of English, a bit about the
nature of language in general, and something about how to investigate and
argue in an area that is very human, very formal, and at the same time very
empirical.  This can be a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun.