This course guide organizes the week-by-week learning path for ELS 603 Syntactic Theories. Open your week page to see the focus, readings, tasks, and deliverables.
- Week 1 — Thinking syntactically: description vs analysis vs explanation; syntax vs semantics/pragmatics
- Week 2 — Constituency and diagnostics; alternations, distribution, and limits of tests (Syntax Lab 1)
- Week 3 — Clause and phrase structure; complements vs adjuncts; mapping structure to evidence
- Week 4 — Basic generative syntax; argument positions; structural reasoning (Syntax Lab 2; Proposal)
- Week 5 — Valency, argument realization, and alternations; operational definitions and codebook drafting
- Week 6 — Constraints, edge cases, and non-canonical patterns (Syntax Lab 3)
- Week 7 — Research Break 1: dataset consolidation and codebook finalization
- Week 8 — Functional syntax: clause functions, transitivity, and system networks (SFL lens)
- Week 9 — Information structure: theme–rheme, topic–focus, and discourse-driven variation
- Week 10 — Construction Grammar: constructions, argument structure constructions, and usage-based explanation
- Week 11 — Research Break 2: full analysis drafting and claims development
- Week 12 — Evidence chains: claims, warrants, counterexamples, and boundary discipline
- Week 13 — Theory comparison and limits: controlled comparison across lenses; interpreting mismatches
- Week 14 — Review and revision: tightening methods, strengthening results, and improving argumentation
- Week 15 — Research Break 3: manuscript finalization and presentation preparation
- Week 16 — Final submissions: manuscript + process portfolio; course synthesis and closing
- Week 17 — Research symposium: conference-style oral presentations and structured Q&A
- Week 18 — Research symposium: conference-style oral presentations and structured Q&A