Paper guidelines for LIN 614 – Syntax
Elly van Gelderen
Below is a list of paper topics and the syllabus gives you some resources to get data. Here
I’ll just give some suggestions and guidelines on the outline and the paper. I will give
feedback on the outline you hand in after week 8 and am happy to look at a draft of the
paper if done at least a week before the deadline.
Let’s take one of the topics on the list ‘Imperatives’. This is a topic we don’t deal with
in Radford and in the course. Be careful, however, to relate it to the class by using the
tree structures we have used (with CP, TP, and VP) and possibly using features and
feature checking and possibly pointing out some problems. Use relevant terminology as
well.
A paper/outline could look like the following. I really like to number the separate
sections and will do so here. Note that the finished paper should have a 200-word abstract
but your outline doesn’t need that yet.
Title, your name, and affiliation (i.e. ASU)
1. Introduction. Say something about imperatives in general and then narrow your focus
and say what you are going to be working on. If possible provide a thesis
statement such as `Imperatives in Khmer and Thai can be analyzed as having a CP
but no TP’ (I don’t know this at all about Khmer and Thai so don’t take this for
truth). Also give an outline/road map for the rest of the paper and if needed your
methodology (e.g. use of a native speaker or a corpus).
2. Short review of the relevant literature. In the list, I gave one reference to a relatively
recent book, namely van der Wurff (2007). That is the starting point for you.
Look at it and its list of references; it has a `state of the art’ article that is very
long and complex, however. If that’s too hard, try to see what other people have
said about the structure of imperatives in general and, if anything, about the
structure of the languages you have selected.
3. The data: these can be new (e.g. that you found from a native speaker or from
corpora) or reinterpreted (from a paper that was already published). If the picture
is complicated, it is ok if you focus on one aspect of the imperative.
4. Your account. This would minimally involve a tree for imperatives. Go through all
the data of section 3 and show how your account/tree accounts for them and
where some problems might be.
5. Conclusion and References used in the text. Rephrase what you have found and say
how this is relevant. If possible, indicate limitations and areas for future research.
If you weren’t doing a traditional paper but a handout for a conference/workshop,
you’d have the same division in sections and you’d list your references but you wouldn’t
have as much text. You would focus on the examples and your analysis. You would
include an abstract and also have your name and e-mail listed at the top.
Things to keep in mind:
Take something that interests you!
The title is important! Do not use a title like `The Syntax of English’.
Audience: for a paper Elly is the audience; for a conference handout, think of the
participants.
IRB: for research using human subjects (in case you wanted to use it outside class)
Keep it narrow (and doable) without losing sight of the broader issues (why are you
doing this).
Give lots of examples; if sentences, gloss them well!
When you cite/paraphrase anything, it is really helpful to give the author, year, and page,
even when the APA/MLA doesn’t explicitly say!
Use the LLBA, Scholar Google, ASU’s One Search, etc wisely:
http://lib.asu.edu/tutorials
The point to the paper is to:
- find out something new and to relate it to what you have learned in the class thereby
consolidating both.
- present ideas in a clear manner to a particular audience.
- using linguistic resources
Possible paper/project topics:
NB: These are ONLY possibilities; you are free to select your own as long as you check
with Elly. For references, search the regular catalogue (http://www.asu.edu/lib), LLBA,
Google scholar (http://scholar.google.com), and Lingbuzz (http://ling.auf.net/lingBuzz).
Notice that the difference in difficulty between textbook and articles may be huge. Come
see me with articles you have trouble with.
More theoretical
1.
Is a NegP universal? Is it always in the same position? Possibly compare negation
in languages of different language families. See Ouhalla, Haegeman, Zanuttini.
2.
Are tense and aspect universal categories?
3.
DPs are not a focus in the textbook. You are welcome to look at them.
4.
Clitics in Romance.
5.
Asymmetries in agreement depending on word order (Arabic). Object agreement.
The status of agreement morphemes in e.g. Navajo.
6.
The verb `to be’: existential, location verb, and possessive. Den Dikken 2006;
Kayne 1993; Freeze 1992.
7.
Pronouns. Difference between emphatic and `regular’. Are they in D or are they
DP? Ritter, Cardinaletti & Starke.
8.
What does the AdjP look like? Cinque 2010; Laenzlinger.
9.
Biolinguistics and third factors.
More applied
1.
Get used to working with the Childes corpus. Look at one stage of development of
one of the children in that corpus, e.g. in what the verbs are that they use in the oneword stage.
2.
Acquiring the unaccusative-unergative distinction.
3.
Acquiring argument structure in a second language; Sorace 1995
4.
The acquisition of Spanish; Montrul 2004.
5.
Morpho-syntax in the Korean heritage language speaker.