Elementary Syntactic Structures: Prospects of a Feature-Free Syntax: 144 (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, Series Number 144)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 8/22/2019
EAN 9781316645376, ISBN10: 1316645371
Paperback, 220 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm
Language: English
Most syntacticians, no matter their theoretical persuasion, agree that features (types or categories) are the most important units of analysis. Within Chomskyan generative grammar, the importance of features has grown steadily and within minimalism, it can be said that everything depends on features. They are obstacles in any interdisciplinary investigation concerning the nature of language and it is hard to imagine a syntactic description that does not explore them. For the first time, this book turns grammar upside down and proposes a new model of syntax that is better suited for interdisciplinary interactions, and shows how syntax can proceed free of lexical influence. The empirical domain examined is vast, and all the fundamental units and properties of syntax (categories, parameters, Last Resort, labelling, and hierarchies) are rethought. Opening up new avenues of investigation, this book will be invaluable to researchers and students in syntactic theory, and linguistics more broadly.
Preface
Abbreviations and symbols
1. Biolinguistic concerns
2. Syntactic order for free
merge α
3. Trusting in the external systems
descent with modification
4. Elaborate grammatical structures
how (and where) to deal with variation
5. Interdisciplinary prospects
Appendix 1. Déjàvu all over again?
Appendix 2. Switching metaphors
from clocks to sandpiles
Appendix 3. More on the loss of syntactic variation
Bibliography
Index.