Programme

The course aims to analyze, within the theoretical framework of Generative Grammar, the relationship between syntax, prosody, semantics and discourse grammar, and to provide skills related to research in the scientific field, through the creation of experiments to be submitted to informants (native speakers of the language chosen for analysis), for the collection of data to be subsequently subjected to analysis (including through statistical analysis tools).
Specifically, the research work may focus on the following areas of investigation (to be defined during the course):
(1) The interpretation and implementation of different types of Focus (informative, corrective, contrastive, exclusive, purposive), taking into account their semantic, syntactic (in situ vs. fronted) and prosodic properties.
(2) The interpretation and implementation of different types of Topic, the creation of topic chains and the interpretation of the null subject in a comparison of pro-drop languages (total, partial to radical) and non-pro-drop languages (such as Germanic languages).
(3) The interpretation and implementation of implicit information (presuppositions, implicits, vagueness, opinion mining in social nets).

Core Documentation

Textbook:
Puglielli, Annarita e Mara Frascarelli. 20011. Linguistic Analysis. From Data to theory. Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter.

Further readings (articles):
- Frascarelli, Mara (2007). Subjects, Topics and the Interpretation of Referential pro. An interface approach to the linking of (null) pronouns. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25, 4: 691-734
- Frascarelli, Mara & Benigni, Valentina. 2018. Negate to mitigate. A corpus-based discourse-structural approach to evaluative speech acts DGfs. University of Stuttgart
- Frascarelli, Mara (2017). Dislocations and Framings. In Elisabeth Stark and Andreas Dufter (eds.) Manual of Romance Morphosyntax and Syntax, 472-501. (Manuals of Romance Linguistics). Berlin: Mouton.
- Speas, Margaret and Carol Tenny. 2003. Configurational Properties of Point of View Roles. In Asymmetry in Grammar ed. Anna-Maria Di Sciullo. 315-343.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
- Stalnaker, Robert C. 1999. Context and content: Essays on intentionality in speech and thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0198237073.001.0001.
Additional material can be defined during the course. Any additions will be reported on the Moodle platform.

Reference Bibliography

Chomsky, Noam (1957), Syntactic Structures, The Hague/Paris, Mouton]. Chomsky, Noam (1965), Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cambridge, The MIT Press. Chomsky, Noam (1981), Lectures on Government and Binding, Dordrecht, Foris. Chomsky, Noam (1986), Knowledge of language: its nature, origin and use, New York, Praeger. Cinque, Guglielmo (1999), Adverbs and Functional Heads. A Cross-Linguistic Perspec- tive, Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press. Cinque, Guglielmo (ed.) (2002), The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol. I, Functional Structure in DP and IP, Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press. Graffi, Giorgio (2008), Che cos’è la Grammatica Generativa, Roma, Carocci. Rizzi, Luigi (ed.) (2004), The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol. II, The Structure of CP and IP, Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press. Rizzi, Luigi (1997), The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery, in Haegeman, Liliane (ed.), Elements of Grammar. Handbook in Generative Syntax, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 281-337.

Attendance

Frequency is highly recommended. No specific program is planned for non-attending students, who are invited to contact the professor in charge.

Type of evaluation

The assessment is based on exercises and questions during the course, a written questionnaire on the theoretical part of the program and an experimental paper (max. 15 pages) on one of the phenomena dealt with during the course (chosen by the student), in one or two languages. The paper will be discussed on the day of the examination.