Professor. Paul Hagstrom, 718 Commonwealth Ave. (Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages & Literatures), Office 401D. Email: hagstrom@bu.edu (likely to get a quick response). Phone: 617-353-6220 (x3-6220). Office hours: Mondays and Tuesdays 2-3pm, Thursdays 11am-noon.

Prerequisites. CAS LX 522 ("Syntax I"), or equivalent.

Meeting time. Mondays 4-7pm, CAS 427.

Course goals. This is the second half of a two-part syntax course, and assumes basic familiarity with the Principles & Parameters approach to syntax and the Government and Binding framework. In the second semester, we will be exploring the actual linguistic literature, reading articles which have extended the theory in various directions. We will focus primarily on functional heads and developing the structure of the clause, and primarily be working within the Minimalist Program. At the conclusion of this class, you will be able to read actual articles from current research journals, you will have experience doing, writing up, and presenting original research in syntax.

Course Requirements. Homework. Your homework will be to do the readings, which will often be accompanied by short summaries or exercises. These will be graded, but the lowest grade will be dropped. Presentations. Everyone will be required to "present" (and direct discussion on) the readings twice during the course of the semester. The presentations are required but are not graded. Presentations will be done in groups of 2-3 people depending on the paper, and we will usually cover one or two papers per class, so each persons' contribution will last around 20-30 minutes. Not so bad. As presenter, you will basically present the contents of your part of the paper(s), going over what was claimed, bringing up questions you had and problems you see, making connections with other readings. Note: Even if you're not presenting, you are expected to do the readings! The only other twist: you can't present with the same group twice--there must be at least one person you present with the second time that you didn't present with the first time. Final project. The final project is essentially a literature review and will consist of four parts. The proposal for the topic you would like to explore will be due March 17. The idea is basically to pick something you wished we were talking about in class, read up on it, and report on it. Incidentally, you are welcome to turn in your project proposal early. The paper will be a summary of what you've discovered--it should be at most 15 pages long, and should summarize and synthesize different approaches to the topic you've found, with your own critical commentary. A draft of the paper will be due April 14. The paper draft is required, but will not be graded. The final paper will be due May 1, three days after the last day of class (the day before finals period begins). The presentation is a summary of your paper for the class--it will be pretty much like your presentations of other people's papers from before, except that now you'll be covering a whole topic with which the class wasn't previously familiar. These presentations will be about 20 minutes long with 10 minutes afterwards for discussion & questions. We have to cover four per day, so the time limits will need to be observed. For those presenting on April 14, you're heartily encouraged to get me the draft early (so I can make suggestions before the presentation of it).

Email. Whenever feasible, homework can be emailed to me at hagstrom@bu.edu. Text-only is preferred, but you may also send PDF, RTF, or Microsoft Word files. Postscript files are less welcome, and don’t even bother sending Word Perfect, TeX or LaTeX files. Wherever email won’t work for any reason (e.g., for tree diagrams), homework can be turned in at the beginning of class. Be aware that if you use any special fonts, I may not be able to read your homework–be sure you know how to "include" nonstandard fonts (or send it to me early, so I can let you know if I was unable to read it).

Late assignments. Late assignments will not be accepted without prior arrangement.

Textbook. No textbook required.

Readings. Readings will be assigned each week. These readings will be available in the hallway outside my office suite, in a folder labeled LX523. You may take the readings out for no more than an hour to make a personal photocopy, and then they should be returned to the folder so that others may photocopy them. Some readings may also be available electronically... We will discuss this in class, or you can email me to inquire.

CAS Student Academic Conduct Code. As a member of a GRS course, it is essential that you read and adhere to the CAS Student Academic Conduct Code. In particular, several types of plagiarism (any attempt to represent the work of another as your own) are defined by this academic conduct code. A copy is available in CAS 105.