I. ASCRC General Education Form
Group
Group III Symbolic Systems
Dept/Program
Linguistics Program
Course #
UG LING 472
Course Title
Prerequisite
3
Generative Syntax
LING 470
Credits
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Instructor
Phone / Email
Program Chair
Tully Thibeau
Date
10
Sept.
2008
243-2156
tully.thibeau@umontana.ed
u
Tully Thibeau
10
Sept.
2008
Dean
Gerald Fetz
10
Sept.
2008
III. Description and purpose of the course: General Education courses must be introductory
and foundational. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/gened/GEPreamble_final.htm
Offered every Autumn: The course examines the contemporary view of generative linguistics
as it regards sentence-formation systems following their introduction to syntax in LING 470.
Course content emphasizes methods of syntactic analysis as having evolved from early forms
of transformational grammar (TG) that directly identify with data from individual languages
toward a model of Principles and Parameters (P&P) that abstract away from language variation
to account for universal generalizations responsible for the enterprise of language development.
The initial view of syntax as being constituted by language-specific sets of phrase structure and
transformational rules gradually gives way to the current view that such rules are the artifacts of
several modules (each managing one grammatical operation observed for forming sentences),
that interact. Modular interaction involves mental representations shared and communicated
among the modules. Mental representation of language is inherently mathematical; however,
as each generative theory from TG to P&P tries to encompass both variation and development,
it subsequently requires a revision of its symbology. Hence, notational devices for modelling
human language progress to greater degrees of abstraction.
IV. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
Criteria Courses:
1. rigorously present a mapping between a
real-world system and a human abstraction
of the system.
2. applies analysis, reasoning and creative
thinking in the understanding and
manipulation of symbolic codes.
3. utilizes alternative methods of
communication, perception, and expression in
order to encourage rigorous thinking.
Students study sentence-formation systems
of human language as the way to express
semantic information exclusively in the form
of the propositional content concerning
formulations typified by a predicate calculus.
The content of the course encourages
students to consider human languages as
primarily abstractions of utterances that take
the form of mathematical objects.
V. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals. See: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
Learning Goals Upon completion of this group, Students will be exposed to several theories
of generative syntax, each one unfolding
students will be able to:
1. demonstrate an understanding of the
from its predecessor, based on a progression
symbols and the transformations of the
of initially intuiting knowledge of a system
system
of sentence-formation by examining data
2. relay and interpret information in terms of
from English, the native language of most of
the given symbolic system.
the students. This intuitive method is used
3. apply creative thinking using the symbolic as the foundation for a prima facie account
system in order to solve problems and
of what form this knowledge may take.
communicate ideas;
Then, this hypothesis is tested against data
using the intuitive method in order to find
where it fails so that a subsequent revision
may be proposed. This hypothesis-testing is
repeated to show where a theory is missing
a generalization and how the revised rule
explains a preponderance of the data.
Revisions lead to greater abstractions, and
students' observations of data are broadened
to include not only the facts demonstrated
by languages other than English but also
those from studies of children developing
native language(s).
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. ⇓ The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus
preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
*Please note: As an instructor of a general education course, you will be expected to provide
sample assessment items and corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.