Course Curriculum
Module 1: Foundations of Syntactic Theory
5 lessons • 45 minutes
▾
- ✓ Introduction to X-bar Theory
- ✓ Phrase Structure Rules & Binary Branching
- ▶ C-Command & Sisterhood Relationships
- ▶ Trace Theory & Movement Operations
- 📝 Module 1 Quiz: Structural Ambiguity
Module 2: Morphological Typology & Word Formation
6 lessons • 1h 10m
▾
- ▶ Isolating, Agglutinative, Fusional, & Polysynthetic
- ▶ Morpheme Segmentation Techniques
- ▶ Suppletion & Allomorphy Patterns
- ▶ Derivational vs. Inflectional Morphology
- ▶ Case Studies: Turkish, Japanese, Latin
- 📝 Module 2 Assignment: Typological Analysis
Module 3: Cross-Linguistic Syntax & Interface Phenomena
5 lessons • 50 minutes
▾
- ▶ Word Order Typology (SVO, SOV, VSO)
- ▶ Head-Directionality Parameter
- ▶ Prosody-Syntax Interface
- ▶ Semantics & Pragmatics in Clause Structure
- 📝 Final Capstone: Syntactic Tree Construction
Instructor
DR
Dr. Elena Rostova
Senior Linguist & Cognitive Science Researcher
Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics from MIT. Published author on morphosyntactic alignment and cross-linguistic dependency parsing. 12+ years teaching advanced linguistics at the university level.
Learning Outcomes
Construct and analyze complex syntactic trees using X-bar and Minimalist frameworks.
Classify languages by morphological typology and identify bound/free morpheme patterns.
Compare syntactic parameters across language families and explain universal grammar constraints.
Apply dependency grammar principles to natural language processing pipelines.