Course: Radical Minimalist Theory

» List of faculties » FIF » KOL
Course title Radical Minimalist Theory
Course code KOL/VMIN
Organizational form of instruction Seminar
Level of course Master
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Kosta Peter, prof. DR HAB
Course content
In these lectures, we will introduce the basic terms and notions of generative syntax, starting from a state-of-the-art introduction to the Minimalist Program - the current model of syntactic theory within generative linguistics. Thus we present the basic principles and techniques of the Minimalist Program, looking first at analyses within Government-and-Binding Theory (the predecessor to minimalism), and gradually introducing minimalist alternatives such as Radical Minimalist and the Strong Minimalist Hypothesis based on Biolinguistics. BOECKX, CEDRIC, AND NORBERT HORNSTEIN. The Varying Aims of Linguistic Theory. HORNSTEIN, NORBERT, AND CEDRIC BOECKX. "Approaching Universals from Below: I-Universals in Light of a Minimalisr Program for Linguistic Theory." In: CHRISTIANSEN, MORTEN H., CHRIS COLLINS, SHIMON EDELMAN (eds): Language Universals. Oxford: OUP, 2009, 79-98. NOAM CHOMSKY, The Science of Language: Interviews with James McGilvray. Cambridge University Press, 2012. CHOMSKY, N. Syntactic Structures, 1957; CHOMSKY, N. Lectures on Government and Binding, 1981; CHOMSKY, N. Knowledge of Language. Its Nature, Origin, and Use, 1986; CHOMSKY, N. Modular Approaches to the Study of the Mind, 1990; CHOMSKY, N. The Minimalist Program, 1995; Corbara, Erika (2012) Ökonomie in der Sprache und die Pro-drop-Theorie aus der Perspektive des L1-Erwerbs. Masterarbeit Universität Potsdam;FODOR, J. A. Modularity of Mind: An Essay on Faculty Psychology, 1983; GREWENDORF, G. Minimalistische Syntax, 2002; HAUSER, M. D. & N. CHOMSKY ad. The Faculty of Language: What is it, Who Has it, and How did it Evolve? Science 2002, 1569-1579; HORNSTEIN, N., NUNES, J., GROHMANN, K. , 2005, Understanding Minimalism. Cambridge: CUP. HYAMS, N. Language Acquisition and the Theory of Parameters, 1986; JACKENDOFF, J. What is the Human Language Faculty?: Two views. Lg 87, 2011, 586-624; KOSTA, P. 1992, Leere Kategorien in den nordslavischen Sprachen. Zur Analyse leerer Subjekte und Objekte in der Rektions-Bindungs-Theorie, Frankfurt am Main 1992 (Habil-Schrift, 679 S.). KOSTA, P. , FRANKS, S., RADEVA-BORK, T., SCHÜRCKS, L. (eds.) (2014), Minimalism and Beyond. Radicalizing the Interfaces. Amsterdam, Philadelphia (Language Faculty and Beyond, 11), Kosta, P. (2014), Třetí faktor "relevance" mezi sémantikou, pragmatikou a syntaxí. In: Bednaříková, B. (ed.), Čítanka textů z kognitivní lingvistiky a psychlingvistiky II. Olomouc: VUP. v tisku. KRIVOCHEN, DIEGO GABRIEL / KOSTA, PETER, 2013, Eliminating Empty Categories: A Radically Minimalist View on Their Ontology and Justification (Reihe: Potsdam Linguistic Investigations / Potsdamer Linguistische Untersuchungen / Recherches Linguistiques ? Potsdam - Band 11), Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2013. 203 pp. PESETSKY, D. ??? ??????? What is to be done?, 2013 (http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/pesetsky/Pesetsky_LSA_plenary_talk_slides_2013.pdf); POSTAL, P. M. The Incoherence of Chomsky's 'Biolinguistic' Ontology. Biolinguistic 3.1, 2009; PINKER, S. Talk of Genetics and Vice Versa. Nature 413, 2001, 464-466; PINKER, STEVEN, AND RAY JACKENDOFF. "The Components of Language: What`s specific to Language and What`s Specific to Humans". In: Christiansen, Morten H., Chris Collins, Shimon Edelman (eds): Language Universals. Oxford: OUP, 2009, 126-152. ROBERTS, I. & A. HOLMBERG. Introduction: Parameters in Minimalist Theory. In Biberauer, T. & A. Holmberg ad. (eds.), Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory, 2010, 1-57; SČ, 1998; SMITH, N. Language, Frogs and Savants: More Problems, Puzzles and Polemics in Linguistics, 2005; ZČS, 1962

Learning activities and teaching methods
Lecture
Learning outcomes
Undestranding Minimalism and Radical Minimalism.
Students will obtain knowledge of minimalism and will be able to aply it to various texts.
Prerequisites
unspecified

Assessment methods and criteria
Student performance

participation at the lectures, contribution to the linguistic encyklopediae
Recommended literature
  • Chomsky, Noam. (1986). Knowledge of Language. Its nature, origin and Use.
  • Chomsky, Noam. (1981). Lectures on Government and Binding.
  • Chomsky, Noam. (1995). The Minimalist Program.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): General Lingvistics and Theory of Communication (2014) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -