Syntax
Syntax
Syntax: Basic Concepts and Applications provides a systematic introduction to core topics in syntax, focusing on how the basic concepts apply in the analysis of sentences. Assuming no background in linguistic analysis, the book gives students a working knowledge of syntactic analysis from a minimalist perspective. Step by step it explains the fundamentals of phrase structure, movement and deletion. Well-placed exercises throughout reinforce and extend the concepts and analyses presented in the text, allowing readers to gain understanding of progressively complex issues at a comfortable pace. Much of the data comes from English, but crucial examples are also drawn from a range of other languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Irish, Welsh and Greek.
- Provides a systematic and detailed account of core topics in syntax: phrase structure, movement and deletion
- Contains 160 structured exercises that spell out the steps required to reach a solution, to reinforce and sometimes to extend the concepts and analyses presented in the text
- Uses data from a variety of languages to motivate and sharpen analyses
Reviews & endorsements
'This is the book I would recommend to anyone who wants to be gently led to know what the new view of human language is all about - and how much one can get out of a tiny English word.' Carlos P. Otero, University of California
'An inspired approach by a leading syntactician to the presentation of fundamental syntactic concepts, focusing on fascinating facts (including the ambiguous sentence (!) 'Fish fish fish fish') and how to analyze them.' Howard Lasnik, University of Maryland
Product details
October 2012Paperback
9780521605786
298 pages
245 × 174 × 15 mm
0.6kg
2 b/w illus. 2 tables 160 exercises
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. The computational nature of human language
- 2. Knowledge of language as an object of inquiry
- 3. Categories and constituents
- 4. Phrase structure theory
- 5. The structure of clauses
- 6. The syntax of Spec-TP
- 7. Head movement and the structure of root clauses
- 8. Wh-movement
- 9. Ellipsis: unpronounced syntax.
