The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax

Bringing together a global team of scholars, this book provides a full overview of the state-of-the-art in comparative formal syntax.

Sjef Barbiers (Edited by), Norbert Corver (Edited by), Maria Polinsky (Edited by)

9781009179386, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 September 2025

1128 pages
24.9 x 17.9 x 5.8 cm, 1.78 kg

Bringing together a globally representative team of scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of comparative syntax, the study of universal and variable properties of the structure of building blocks in natural language. Divided into four thematic parts, it covers the various theoretical and methodological approaches to syntactic variation; explores dependency relations and dependency marking; shows how the building blocks of syntax both vary and display universal properties across languages, and explores the interfaces between syntax and other aspects of language structure. It also includes examples from a typologically broad range of languages, as well as data from child language, sign language, language processing, and diachronic syntax, giving a clear picture of the ubiquity of cross-linguistic variation. It serves as a source of inspiration for future research, and forges a deeper understanding of the variant and invariant parts of language, making it essential reading for researchers and students in linguistics.

1. The comparative syntactic enterprise: an introduction Sjef Barbiers, Norbert Corver and Maria Polinsky
Part I. Comparative Syntax: Theory, Methodology and Data Collection: 2. Theoretical approaches to comparative syntax Sjef Barbiers, Guido Vanden Wyngaerd and Jenneke van der Wal
3. Databases for comparative syntactic research Jessica K. Ivani and Balthasar Bickel
4. Quantitative approaches to syntactic variation Jeroen van Craenenbroeck and Marjo van Koppen
5. Computational approaches to syntactic variation Tim Hunter and Robert Frank
6. Comparative syntax from formal and functional perspectives Polina Pleshak and Maria Polinsky
7. Micro-comparative syntax, dialectology, and sociolinguistics Sjef Barbiers
8. Change: Comparative syntax and diachrony Adam Ledgeway
9. Universal and language-specific properties of language: a view from language acquisition Maria Teresa Guasti and Elena Pagliarini
Part II. Comparative Syntax: Building Blocks and Combinatorial Properties: 10. Words and features Paula Fenger and Maria Kouneli
11. Pronouns: Structure, binding, and classification Elizabeth Ritter and Martina Wiltschko
12. Functional architecture of nominal phrases Artemis Alexiadou
13. Functional architecture of adjectival phrases Norbert Corver
14. Functional architecture of prepositional phrases Marcel den Dikken and Éva Dékány
15. Analyzing tenselessness Hamida Demirdache and Hongyuan Sun
16. Voice Jim Wood and Matthew Tyler
17. Coordination Jan-Wouter Zwart
18. Clause types Raffaella Zanuttini, Paul Portner and Miok Pak
Part III. Comparative Syntax: Dependency Relations and Dependency Marking: 19. Agreement and concord Emily Clem and Mark Norris
20. Head dependencies Ian Roberts
21. A-dependencies Suzanna Fong and Claire Halpert
22. Anaphoric dependencies Martin Everaert and Eric Reuland
23. The comparative syntax of nominal quantifier Peter Jenks
24. Ā-dependencies and successive cyclic movement Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng
25. From interrogatives to relatives: a comprehensive account of wh-constructions Radek Simik
Part IV. Comparative Syntax: Interfaces: 26. Syntax semantics Klaus Abels and Veneeta Dayal
27. Comparative syntax, morphology, and 'externalization' (What happens at PF?) David Embick
28. Syntax and externalization: Linearization Ad Neeleman
29. Cross-modal comparative syntax Roland Pfau and Josep Quer
30. Syntax and information structure Fatima Hamlaoui and Kriszta Szendroi
31. Syntactic dependency formation in sentence processing: a comparative perspective Brian Dillon and Maayan Keshev.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]