The course starts with a discussion of how to motivate the postulation of grammatical constituents. The construction of linguistic hypotheses and generalizations to account for observed data is discussed and illustrated, using concrete examples from relatively recent work, including the X-bar level in English grammar. Electronic corpora are introduced and some of their possibilities explored. The course also includes a discussion of linguistic metatheory and the nature of data in linguistics. Throughout the course the focus is on the grammar of current English.
Course-work includes class participation, homework assignments, a brief paper presented in class, and a final exam.