Selection for the School is based on previous records, written essay and an interview. This year, LISSIM will explore Parameters, Predication, Copular Constructions and variation in Adjectival/ Participial agreement, and the following essay problems are designed to address these topics:

Please attempt only ONE of the following two problems. Problem I is open to all, Problem II is open to only applicants who have never attended a LISSIM before. Thus, anyone who has attended at least one LISSIM before, doesn’t have any option and must attempt Problem I.

Problem I

When wh-words, especially in in-situ languages, are preceded by focus elements, the wh sentence becomes ungrammatical. This can be seen in Korean.

Since Beck (2006), it has been suggested that whenever a focus operator intervenes between a question operator and the wh-word, it causes this ungrammaticality. But not all languages and all constructions exhibit focus intervention effects. Much recent work has based itself on this explanation - Beck & Kim (2006), Kim (2006), Eckardt (2006), Tomioka (2012). However, Li & Law (2016) have shown that focus intervention effects do not obtain in Chinese in certain construction:

Study the literature to understand how and where intervention effects manifest, and then evaluate your language to check whether focus intervention effects obtain in it. Explore with different focus elements and different wh-words. Are the effects uniformly present or absent or is there a pattern of variation?

In the Principles and Parameters models of the early ‘80s and ‘90s, parametric variation was conceived of as yielding variation in the presence/absence of syntactic phenomena in a systematic way. Discuss any one such parameter in your language.

Since entries will be evaluated for originality and novelty, avoid standard analyses of textbook examples. Entries must not be more than 2 A4 pages long, and typeset in a font no less than 11 pt in size with 1 inch margin on all 4 sides; essays exceeding the size limit will be rejected without any further considerations. Submit the entries in both DOCX AND PDF with all fonts embedded in the former, both formats should be anonymous.

Entries must be submitted by 14th April 2018 mid-night IST, (now extended to 19th April 2018 mid-night IST), along with a brief bio-data, including a brief resume that lists the courses in syntax and semantics you have taken plus a brief write-up of your research and/or reading activities in the last year. A recommendation from your supervisor or your MA syntax teacher must be attached with your email or mailed to us separately.

For details reagarding fees and registration, see announcemen in Linguist List