One of the major, large-scale issues in the study of language concerns
the interaction of syntax with semanticstic form serves to express
linguistic meaning. Within Linguistic Theory treatments of the
syntax-semantics interface generally employ descriptive approaches
inspired by syntax, but altered or redesigned to attack semantic
problems. This course surveys a number of theories that have been
developed to describe the "inner", or structural end of semantics,
including Logical Form and LF Movement of standard transformational
grammar; Jackendoff's Semantic Structures notational system; and
Lexical-Conceptual Semantics (Levin, Rappaport-Hovav, Pinker). Some
specific issues to be discussed: How to describe scope ambiguities;
the status of the Unaccusative Hypothesis; whether PRO Control is
located in syntax or in semantics.
