The title/topic of this course is meant as a starting point for discussion and can be developed by the participants in the directions they wish. The final work program will therefore be established only in the first sessions.
The focus will be on certain morphosyntactic or semantic phenomena, their systematic description, their acquisition (L1, L2 and in language impairment) or the difficulties involved in their processing. Theories of language, of syntax and semantics as well as of language acquisition will be investigated and matched against the data from acquisition, language impairment and language processing. Because of our current research projects, we will particularly concentrate on bilingualism and language impairment.
The course is a workshop and forum for discussion for advanced students, for students who are preparing their oral exam or their thesis (BA-Arbeit, MEd- and MA-Arbeit) and for PhD students. Participants of all levels will be integrated and will profit from the know-how of more advanced or the questions of less advanced participants. Part of the course will be a “reading” seminar, reading new research articles. Part of the course will deal with questions of how to conduct and organise research, how to organise a thesis, how to design an experiment and analyse the results..
Regular participation and study of the material for the individual sessions is required.

Preparation:
Guasti, M.-T. (2002): The Growth of Grammar. MIT Press. (Chapter 1 and 2, and chapter on language impairment)