Experimental Syntax

This class will show how large annotated corpora and experimental methods challenge the empirical basis of most syntactic theories. It will discuss the pros and cons of various corpus studies (spoken and written data) and experiments (rating, forced choice, reading times etc.), for various phenomena and languages. The syntax topics covered may change from one year to the other (constraints on word order, ellipsis, agreement, locality constraints, etc.) 

On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:                   

• Read and understand a syntax paper using large language data and/or experiments           
• Design a corpus study to test a syntactic hypothesis

Design an experiment to test a syntactic hypothesis                

It is best to have taken a syntax class, a statistics class and/or an experimental design/corpus course.