Syntactic Models
MIT OpenCourseWare presents a graduate-level survey of competing architectures proposed for the syntax module of grammar. The course traces recurring theoretical themes across a wide range of approaches, emphasizing testable differences among models rather than allegiance to any one framework. Models covered include ancient and medieval grammatical proposals, structuralism, early generative grammar, generative semantics, government-binding theory and minimalism, lexical-functional grammar, head-driven phrase structure grammar, tree-adjoining grammar, and functionalist perspectives. Materials include MIT's syllabus, lecture notes, and readings drawn from primary sources in each tradition, letting students compare how different frameworks handle the same syntactic phenomena. No certificate is offered, but all course materials are free to access under MIT's open license. The course suits students who already have a background in syntax and want a comparative, historically grounded view of the field.