The Interface of Syntax and Information Structure (Detmar Meurers, LING795K, Spring 05)

The interaction between syntax, information structure, and intonation is turning into one of the hot spots in theoretical and computational linguistic research. There is a growing awareness that empirically adequate linguistic analyses require all three modules of linguistic representation to be expressed in an architecture supporting constraints within and across the modules.

The seminar is intended to introduce and compare approaches to the syntax information structure interface in different linguistic frameworks: Lexical-Functional Grammar, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Combinatory Categorial Grammar, and Government and Binding Theory. A brief introduction into the essentials of each framework will be included.

After an introduction to the idea and history of a notion of information structure, the seminar turns to case studies from the literature highlighting how syntactic, pragmatic, and intonational constraints are expressed in the different frameworks, and how their interaction is captured. On the basis of the list of desiderata arising from this discussion, in the later part of the seminar we will discuss several current proposals questioning the role syntax plays in determining information structure.

Sketch of topics:

• Week 1 (28.&30.3.): Introduction/Overview on Information Structure: where it comes from, what it's good for, what it relates to
  • Reading: Chapter 3 of von Heusinger (1999)
  • Slides (Detmar): 1-2x2.pdf
  • Background on representation of intonation: EToBI Guidelines (including sound samples)

• Week 2 (4.&6.4.): Approaches in Lexical-Functional Grammar (Detmar):
  • Readings: Bresnan and Mchombo (1987), Butt and King (1996), King (1997), Butt and King (2000)
    other readings: Choi (1999)
  • Slides (Detmar): 2-2x2.pdf

• Approaches in Categorial Grammar
  • Week 3 (11.&13.4.): Steedman's CCG approach:
    • Readings: Steedman (2000)
    • Slides (Detmar): 3-2x2.pdf

  • Week 4 (18.&20.4.): Hendriks' TLG approach:
    • Readings: Vallduví (1993); Hendriks and Dekker (1996) Hendriks (1999)
    • Slides (Elizabeth): hendriks-2x2.pdf

  • Week 5 (25.4.): Kruijff's DGL approach:
    • Readings: Kruijff (2001)
      Related later developments: Baldridge and Kruijff (2002), White and Baldridge (2003), and Kruijff and Baldridge (2004)
    • Slides (Adriane): kruijff-2x2.pdf

• Approaches in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar
  • Week 5/6 (27.4, 2.&4.5.): From Engdahl and Vallduví (1996) to De Kuthy and Meurers (2003)
    • Readings: Engdahl (1999), De Kuthy (2002, ch.6), De Kuthy and Meurers (2003)
    • Slides (Detmar): 4-2x2.pdf

  • Week 7-1 (9.5.): The role of argument structure
    • Readings: Chung et al. (to appear)
    • Slides (Luiz): ARG-STR-2x2.pdf

  • Week 7-2 (11.5.): Incrementality, and integrating it all in a system
    • Readings: Günther et al. (1999)
    • Slides (Luiz): synphonics-2x2.pdf,

• Focus Projection and its limits:
  • Week 8 (16.&18.5.):
    • Readings: Selkirk (1995), Gussenhoven (1999)
    • Slides (Anouschka): selkirk-gussenhoven-2x2.pdf

  • Week 9-1 (23.5.):
    • Readings: Schwarzchild (1999), Büring (to appear)
    • Slides (Gilberto): (to appear)
    • Other readings mentioned in class: Ito (2005)

  • Week 9-2 (25.5.):
    • Readings: Ito and Speer (2005)
    • Slides (Kiwa): ito-speer-2x2.pdf

  • Week 10 (1.6.)
    • Readings: Pulman (1997)
    • Slides (Ted): (to appear)

Instructor info:

• Office: 201a Oxley Hall (enter through 201 computer lab; if locked, knock loudly)

• Phone: 292-0461 (usually email works better)

• Email: dm@ling.osu.edu

• Office hours: Tuesday 14:00-17:15 by appointment, best arranged by email

Course info:

• When/Where: Monday and Wednesday 10:30-12:18 in 340 Central Classrooms

• Website: http://purl.org/net/dm/05/spring/795K/

• Email: 795k@ling.osu.edu (contacts everyone enrolled or associated with the seminar)

• Prerequisites: Introduction to Syntax

• Nature of course: This is a seminar, i.e., each participant is expected to take an active role as a researcher. More concretely, each participant is expected to
  1. actively participate in the class discussion and take the reading for each session seriously
  2. explore and present a topic:
     • meet with me to define/narrow down the topic
     • research the topic, starting from (but not ending with) the provided references
     • present topic to class using handouts or overheads, a draft of which are discussed with either of us during the office hours the week before
  3. prepare a term paper (typically 15-20 pages) which addresses a phenomenon related to the topic of this seminar. This involves two steps:
     1. Handing in a 5 page outline of the data and the intended hypothesis in our last class on Wednesday, June 1.
     2. Turning in the finished paper (in pdf format, via email) by Monday, Sept 12. There will be no extensions after this date.

• Anonymous feedback: If you have comments or ideas you'd like to send me anonymously, you can use the web form at http://purl.org/net/dm/feedback/ to do so. Please send me ordinary email for anything that you'd like to receive a reply to--there really is no way for me to find out who sent me something via the anonymous feedback form!

Academic Misconduct: To state the obvious, academic dishonesty is not allowed and will be reported to the University Committee on Academic Misconduct. The most common form of misconduct is plagiarism: Remember that any time you use the ideas or the materials of another person, you must acknowledge that you have done so in a citation. This includes material that you have found on the Web. The University provides guidelines for research at http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/.

Students with Disabilities: Students who need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me to arrange an appointment as soon as possible to discuss the course format, to anticipate needs, and to explore potential accommodations. I rely on the Office of Disability Services for assistance in verifying the need for accommodations and developing accommodation strategies. Students who have not previously contacted the Office for Disability Services are encouraged to do so (292-3307; http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu).