15 и 16 октября 2013 на факультете филологии НИУ ВШЭ состоялись лекции Марии Полинской (университет Гарварда).

Lecture 1. Introduction to theoretical + experimental syntax: main principles and methodologies

In this lecture, we will discuss some main principles of modern theoretical syntax, with a special emphasis on assumptions, stipulations, and argumentation. We will examine such phenomena as displacement (movement), adjunction, and silent (null) categories in grammar. Once these building blocks have been established, we will address ways of exploring their psychological reality. The second part of the lecture will therefore include three main components: (a) an illustration of how experimental investigations can change theoretical outlook; (b) an overview of behavioral and instrumental methodologies in experimental approaches to syntax; (c) discussion of several relevant topics in experimental syntax (movement; headedness; compositionality; silent categories; case categories).
Polinsky 1 Cognitive Syntax.pdf

Lecture 2. The psychological reality of silent categories

This lecture will address the following questions: (i) is there experimental evidence in favor of the empty categories posited in theoretical syntax in general?, and (ii) is there evidence supporting fine-grained distinctions among empty categories, such as the difference between pronominals and traces? We will discuss neuro-imaging work on Korean and Japanese and recent behavioral studies on Russian. We will then compare the syntactic and semantic accounts which have been offered in response to the data elicited in these studies.
Polinsky 2 Silence.pdf

Lecture 3. The value of special populations: child language and heritage language

Sometimes in order to understand how things work it helps to take them apart, so that the components become more visible. In this lecture, we will discuss some differences between adult and child representations of scope and then examine similar phenomena in natively acquired versus heritage language (where ‘heritage language’ signifies the home language of second generation immigrants). Such comparisons are needed to determine when and how scope interpretations are set in grammar. If time permits, we will also explore the representation of the (theoretical) difference between structural and inherent case in heritage language, and the representation of gender categories in child and heritage language.
Polinsky 3 Heritage.pdf