George Mason University
Graduate Course Approval/Inventory Form
Please complete this form and attach a copy of the syllabus for new courses.
Forward it as an email attachment to the Secretary of the Graduate Council. A
printed copy of the form with signatures should be brought to the Graduate
Council Meeting. Complete the Coordinator Form on page 2, if changes in this
course will affect other units.
Please indicate:
_X_ NEW
____ MODIFY
____ DELETE
Local Unit: ENGLISH (LINGUISTICS) Graduate Council Approval Date:
Course Abbreviation: LING
Course Number: 886
Full Course Title: Advanced Syntax Seminar
Abbreviated Course Title (24 characters max.): Advanced Syntax Seminar
Credit hours:
3
Program of Record: LINGUISTICS
Repeatable for Credit?
__ _ D=Yes, not within same term
Up to hours
__X_ T=Yes, within the same term Up to 9 hours
___ N=Cannot be repeated for credit
Activity Code (please indicate): ___ Lecture (LEC) ___ Lab (LAB)___
Recitation (RCT)___ Studio (STU)
___ Internship (INT) ___ Independent
Study (IND)
__X__ Seminar (SEM)
Catalog Credit Format 3 : 3 : 0
Course Level: GF(500-600) ____
GA(700+) _X__
Maximum Enrollment: 18
For NEW courses, first term to be offered: Fall 2006
Prerequisites or corequisistes: LING 786/787
Catalog Description (35 words or less) Please use catalog format and attach
a copy of the syllabus for new courses.:
Prerequisites: LING 786 or LING 787 or permission of the instructor. An
advanced course in current syntactic theory. Various topics addressed on a
continuing basis.
For MODIFIED or DELETED courses as appropriate:
Last term offered: Previous Course Abbreviation:
Previous number:
APPROVAL SIGNATURES:
Submitted by:
charles jones
email: cjones@gmu.edu
Department/Program: _______________________________ Date:__________
College Committee: ________________________________ Date: _________
Graduate Council
Representative: _________________________ Date: __________________
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
Course Coordination Form
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Graduate Council approval:
______________________________________________ Date: ____________
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LING 886 Advanced Syntax Seminar
Catalog copy
Prerequisites: LING 786 or LING 787 or permission of the instructor. An
advanced topics seminar in current syntactic theory. Topics vary. May be
repeated for credit.
Justification
 Background
This course is designed to serve our proposed Ph.D. in Linguistics
program. It is the third in a series of three courses that deals with the
theoretical study of syntax. The first course, LING 786 (Syntax I)
introduces the fundamental elements of syntactic theory. The second,
LING 787, extends these elements into the domains of morphology and
lexical structure. This third course is meant to introduce students to
current syntactic theoretical developments, all of which reflect back on the
elements introduced previously, and project forward toward some further,
deeper, understanding of them.
The Ph. D. in Linguistics is intended to be an advanced program of study
in theoretical linguistics and language acquisition. Students in the
program must complete a set of courses in phonology, syntax,
semantics/pragmatics, and a series in Second Language Acquisition
(SLA). This proposed course is thus an integral component to the Ph.D.
program. We aim to have our doctoral candidates write interesting
dissertations in linguistics, be they in linguistic theory or in SLA.

Course objectives
 Students will read and discuss recent writings on major issues of
syntactic theory.
 Students will extend these discussions with 2 short papers on
selected issues. These short, focused papers will utilize external
readings relevant to the topic.
 Students will expand one of the short papers into a longer, more
detailed, focused research paper.
 Students therefore develop the skills to read, interpret, question,
and focus upon a specific research topic.
 Students develop the writing and oral skills necessary to engage in
modern linguistic theory in general.

Relationship to other courses
LING 886 is built upon LING 786 and LING 787 (Syntax I & II) and
elaborates and extends many of the concepts introduced in these courses.
There is no overlap with any other existing course.

Anticipated audience/enrollment
The course is designed for our proposed Ph.D. program, but we anticipate
that a significant number of our linguistics master’s students will take this
course as well. We currently host around 3 advanced syntax DRRs. Once
our Ph.D. program is well underway, we expect approximately 12-18
students to take this course per year.

Resources
No need of new resources is anticipated.
Syllabus
(See attached.)
LING 886
Advanced Seminar in Syntax: Minimalism
office hours: M 3-4
Jones
Minimalism
This is continuation and expansion of LING 786 & 787 (Synax I & II). Like the
previous courses, it is a course about ways to think about syntactic phenomena.
To that end, we explore in this course the most current developments in this
subject. What was once a dominant theory of syntax, Chomsky’s Principles and
Parameters theory, has in the past few years come not so much under attack,
but has rather has been subject to a radical kind of revision in the so-called
Minimalist theory. In the context of this revision, different ideas inevitably arise
about how to handle syntactic phenomena. At the least, this re-vision allows us to
see familiar things in different ways. The proposed course here is intended to
develop the vocabulary and the style of argumentation that characterizes current
syntactic theory.
Students are required to be prepared for class by doing all assigned readings.
Each student will write two short papers on any aspect of any two reading
assignments. A bibliography must be attached. A final longer paper is required.
Final papers may elaborate on either of the short papers. Students will informally
present their short papers to the class.
Prerequisite:
LING 786, 787
Requirements:
Final paper 50%
Short papers 25% (x2)
Learning Objectives:
 Students will read and discuss recent writings on five major issues
of syntactic theory.
 Students will extend these discussions with 2 short papers on
selected issues. These short, focused papers will utilize external
readings relevant to the topic.
 Students will expand one of the short papers into a longer, more
detailed, focused research paper.
 Students therefore develop the skills to read, interpret, question,
and focus upon a specific research topic.
 Students develop the writing and oral skills necessary to engage in
syntactic theory.
Text:
Chomsky’s Universal Grammar 2000. Cook & Newson Blackwell.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week 1
Review: Cook & Newson
Week 2
Review. Cook & Newson
Week 3.
Chomsky 1993. A minimalist program for linguistic theory. The View
from Building 20, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Week 4.
Chomsky 1993. A minimalist program for linguistic theory. The View
from Building 20, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Week 5.
Chomsky 1993 A minimalist program for linguistic theory. The View
from Building 20, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Week 6. Hornstein 1999. Movement and Control, Linguistic Inquiry 30.
Week 7. Culicover & Jackendoff 2001. Control is not movement. Linguistic
Inquiry 32.
Week 8. Boeckx & Hornstein 2003. Reply7 to ‘Control is not movement’.
Linguistic Inquiry 34
Week 9. Landau 2003. Movement out of Control. Linguistic Inquiry 34.
Week
Week 10.McGinnis 2004. Late Merger of degree clauses. Linguistic Inquiry 35.
Week 11. Boeckx & Hornstein 2004. Movement under Control. Linguistic Inquiry
35
Week 12. Fitzpatrick 2002. On Minimalist Approaches to the locality of
movement. Linguistic Inquiry 33.
Week 13.Tanaka 2002. Raising to object out of CP. Linguistic Inquiry 33.
Week 14. Ruys 2000. Weak Crossover as a Scope phenomenon. Linguistic
Inquiry 31