CV (2025)

 Here is an updated version of my CV.

Please let me know if you need any of the papers listed there.

CV (2025)

Creating a Syntax Syllabus at the Graduate Level

How do you write a syllabus for the introduction to syntax at the graduate level (Syntax I, II)? This blog post poses some basic questions, and provides some preliminary suggestions, based on my experience in writing such syllabi over the last thirty years. I got my PhD 1993, and have been teaching Syntax I and II regularly ever since. 

Although the framework I teach is Minimalism, most of the suggestions I make below could be used for a course based on a different syntactic framework. Most of them could also be used for an introductory course in a different subfield (e.g., phonology, semantics, acquisition, etc.).

Syllabus for Graduate Level Syntax I (Fall 2025) (Rough Draft)

 Here is a rough draft for my graduate level course Syntax I (Fall 2025) at NYU. 

Comments welcome!

Syllabus Syntax I (Fall 2025) (Rough Draft)

Retirement Plan

Goals: 

i.  To retire after the age 65 in order to receive Medicare benefits.

ii. To retire by the age of 67 (or earlier) in order to receive NYU retirement package.

Age Year Activity

62 2025-2026 Teaching

63 2026-2027 Teaching

64 2027-2028 Sabbatical Togo (Full Year)

65 2028-2029 Reduced Teaching, NYU Option C 

(or Full Teaching, NYU Option A)

66 2029-2030 Reduced Teaching, NYU Option C 

(or Full Teaching, NYU Option A)

67 2030-2031 Retirement (location???)

Source:

NYU Tenured Faculty Retirement Program

https://www.nyu.edu/about/leadership-university-administration/office-of-the-president/office-of-the-provost/academic-policies-procedures/tenured-faculty-retirement-program.html

 

Summer 2025 Fieldwork (Kpelegbe) by the Numbers

From June 1 to August 1, I was in Togo to teach at the University of Lome and to do fieldwork. I spent roughly the first month in Lome, and the second month in Agbanon, a small village north of Kpalime. The focus of the fieldwork was on Kpelegbe, a dialect of Ewe spoken in Togo. 

The trip was exploratory, working on language contacts and other logistical issues for future fieldwork. Most of the fieldwork done involved recording lexical items, and some oral texts. The following numbers give a bird’s eye view of what was accomplished.

1. Six native speaker consultants for Kpelegbe (3 male, 3 female)

2. One native speaker consultant for Kumagbe (1 female)

3. 19 days of fieldwork (spread over 5 weeks)

4. 722 lexical items recorded, transcribed and translated into English and French

(not entered into Flex)

5. 4,242 sound files (.wav) of words and phrases Kpelegbe

6. 55 sound files (.wav) of words and phrases for Kuma dialect

7. 19 video recordings of oral texts (102 minutes 21 seconds).

(neither transcribed nor translated)

8. 21 audio recordings of oral texts (28 minutes 37 seconds)

(neither transcribed nor translated)

9. 1,115 photos

10. 44 Whatsapp contacts

11. 1 submitted paper: ‘Ghanaian versus Togolese Ewe’