One of the most widely discussed modern theories of syntax is the approach taken by Pollard & Sag in their ``Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar' (HPSG). An interesting feature of HPSG is that it is not only used by linguists all over the world for the description of a variety of different languages, but is also sufficiently precisely formulated to be used in computational linguistics.
Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar is the result of a long line of developments, originally in generative grammar, then increasingly within the framework of feature based grammars (Unification Grammars). It's immediate predecessor, Generalised Phrase Structure Grammar, was developed by Gazdar, Klein, Pullum and Sag.
In this class we will be concentrating on linguistic aspects of HPSG, and applying HPSG mainly to the description of English, but also, depending on the wishes of participants, to other languages.
The two main reference works in HPSG are:
Pollard, Carl & Ivan A. Sag (1987). Information-Based Syntax and Semanttics. Lecture Notes 13. Stanford: CSLI & Chicago: U Chicago Press.
Pollard, Carl & Ivan A. Sag (1994). Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. Stanford: CSLI & Chicago: U Chicago Press.
The class is designed for students of English, general linguistics (in particular as an option while Christian Lehmann is on sabbatical leave), and computational linguistics.