1. Course: Natural Language Syntax (CS 6998) Spring 2005 Martin JanscheMartin Jansche and Owen RambowOwen Rambow

2. TIME, LOCATION Wednesdays 11 :00AM-12:50PM In 620 CEPSR (tbc) The course starts January 19, 2005 Offical info: COMS E6998-1 (28753), Topics In Computer Science, I (Adv Tpcs/naturl Lang Proc) 3.0 0 O. Rambow

3. WHAT IS NATURAL LANGUAGE SYNTAX? Syntax = structure of natural language utterances Syntax = interface between surface strings and meaning Example: Who does what to whom? o Pat convinced Robin to shave o Pat promised Robin to shave o Pat left Robin to shave Not just a matter of words having different meanings!

4. COURSE OUTLINE What is syntax? Descriptive introduction to some of the core linguistic phenomena (English, other languages) Frameworks for the representation of syntax: TAG, HPSG, LFG, Chomskyan Minimalism Computational aspects

5. WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE? Anyone interested in natural language Natural language processing/AI students in computer science Students in other disciplines who need an overview of syntax, including formal approaches to representing syntax

6. COURSE REQUIREMENTS One to three short presentations in class (5-15 minutes); examples: o Raising constructions in Nepali o An LFG analysis of wh-movement in Egyptian Arabic Final project: a paper and/or an implementation; can focus on linguistic, formal, and/or computational issues; examples: o Wh-movement and relative clauses in Egyptian Arabic o Raising in Malagasy and the formal power of LFG o A robust parser using TAG o A processing model for garden-path sentences in English based on Categorial Grammar