I teach several courses in syntax – beginning and intermediate level courses, as well as seminars on a particular topic; these are open to both undergraduate and graduate students.  I also teach courses that are for undergraduates only: Grammatical Diversity in US English, Linguistics and Literature, and a two-semester sequence for seniors in Linguistics (Research Methods and Senior Essay).  

Here are brief descriptions of the courses I have taught over the last few years: 

Syntax I (Ling 253/623)

An introduction to the syntax of natural language. Generative syntactic theory and key theoretical concepts. Syntactic description and argumentation. Topics include the structure of clauses and noun phrases, movement operations, and the notion of parameter. Course Syllabus: pdf

Grammatical Diversity in US English (Ling 211)

Study of differences among varieties of English spoken in North America, focusing in particular on morphosyntatic variation: double modals ("I might could go to the store"), a-prefixing ("She was a-building a house"), negative inversion ("Don't nobody want to ride the bus"), aspect marking ("Bruce be running," "I done pushed it"). Emphasis on the grammatical richness and complexity of each variety. Course Syllabus: pdf

Linguistics and Literature (Ling 151/Engl 284)

Co-taught with Erica Miao. An investigation of literature from a linguistic point of view. Introduction to linguistic topics such as syntactic constituency, linguistic change, and sociolinguistic variation; application of these concepts to the analysis of poems, novels, and plays. Authors may include William Wordsworth, John Milton, Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, and Ursula LeGuin. Course Syllabus: pdf

Classic Readings in Syntax (Ling 257/657)

Seminal ideas in generative syntax on which the field has been building. How these ideas have evolved, how they are currently expressed, and how they fare in accounting for new patterns of data. Course Syllabus: pdf

Current Trends in Syntax (Ling 261/661)

Introduction to Chomsky's minimalist program, with comparison to earlier frameworks; close study of selected minimalist analyses that use the notion of phase and the agree operation. Discussion of Cinque and Rizzi's "cartographic approach"; the distribution of adjectives. Course Syllabus: pdf

Doubling in Syntax (Ling 355/755)

Syntactic structures that exhibit doubling effects, and syntactic mechanisms that can give rise to them. Topics include double modal constructions (“I might could go with you tomorrow”); clitic doubling (“Lo vimos a Juan”); doubling in questions (“John takes everything seriously, doesn’t he?”) and declaratives (“He takes everything seriously, John does”). Course Syllabus: pdf

Imperatives and Politeness (Ling 355/755)

The notion of clause type, with a specula focus on imperatives. The characteristic properties of imperatives across languages; the differences between embedding, quotation, and mixed quotation; what determines restrictions on embedding; the encoding of speech style and politeness in morphology and syntax. Course Syllabus: pdf

Research Methods (Ling 490)

Development of skills in linguistics research, writing, and presentation. Choosing a research area, identifying good research questions, developing hypotheses, and presenting ideas clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing; methodological issues; the balance between building on existing literature and making a novel contribution. Prepares for the writing of the senior essay. Course Syllabus: pdf

Senior Essay (Ling 491)

Research and writing of the senior essay under the guidance of a faculty adviser. Students present research related to their essays in a weekly colloquium. Prerequisite: LING 490.