GNM5105

German syntax

Heinz Kreutz

8 points -2 hours per week -First/second semester -Clayton

Objectives The course is basically a course in syntactic argumentation. Upon successful completion of the course students should know what it means to construct a syntactic argument, including knowing what questions to ask in order to falsify a hypothesis; have an improved knowledge of the types of constraints which exist in German syntax and, where relevant, English syntax, and have an improved knowledge of the relationships among sentence types, eg subordinate clause and infinitive phrase; be able to analyse and diagram German sentences in a revealing manner

Synopsis This subject investigates German syntax in a universal generative framework, ie in a framework which assigns structural descriptions on the basis of what is possible and what is not possible in human language. Transformational generative grammar will be used as a frame of reference, but relational grammar will be the framework used. Various syntactic phenomena will be investigated and comparisons with similar or, as the case may be, dissimilar phenomena in other languages will be made. Emphasis is placed on universals of language as applied specifically to German.

Assessment Written (5000 words): 70% -Examination (1 hour): 30%

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