Syntax
Basic Concepts and Applications

A systematic introduction to core topics in syntax, focusing on how the basic concepts apply in the analysis of sentences.

Robert Freidin (Author)

9780521844277, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 August 2012

298 pages, 2 b/w illus. 2 tables 160 exercises
25.2 x 17.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.75 kg

'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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]