Elements in Generative Syntax

Syntax – the study of sentence structure – has been at the centre of generative linguistics from its inception and has developed rapidly and in various directions. The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax provides a historical context for what is happening in the field of generative syntax today, a survey of the various generative approaches to syntactic structure available in the literature and an overview of the state of the art in the principal modules of the theory and the interfaces with semantics, phonology, information structure and sentence processing, as well as linguistic variation and language acquisition. This indispensable resource for advanced students, professional linguists (generative and non-generative alike) and scholars in related fields of inquiry presents a comprehensive survey of the field of generative syntactic research in all its variety, written by leading experts and providing a proper sense of the range of syntactic theories calling themselves generative

Syntax-Semantics Interface is a collection of papers written by leading Czech linguist Eva Hajicová between 1973 and 2014 that draw on the theoretical framework of the functional generative des

Noam Chomsky's Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, published in 1965, was a landmark work in generative grammar that introduced certain technical innovations still drawn upon in contemporary work. The fi

This volume consists of nine original chapters on central issues in theoretical syntax, all written by distinguished authors who have made major contributions to generative syntax, plus an introductor

Primarily adhering to the basic outline of Hungarian sentence structure that she proposed in the late 1970s, based on a generative syntactic theory, Kiss (linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) a

Economy considerations have always played an important role in the generative theoryof grammar. Indeed, the very development of the theory has been characterized by naturalconsiderations of simplicity

The aim of this Handbook is to provide a forum in which some of the generative syntacticians whose work has had an impact on theoretical syntax over the past 20 years are invited to present their view

Syntax of Scope takes up the issue of relative operator scope in generative grammarand offers a comparative study of quantifiers and interrogative wh-operators. The authors argue thatthe interaction o

Chomsky proposes a reformulation of the theory of transformational generative grammar that takes recent developments in the descriptive analysis of particular languages into account.

This book offers a detailed description and analysis of West Flemish, a dialect of Dutch, within the framework of Government and Binding Theory. The study focusses on two constructions: the doubling of subject pronouns, and the order of verb phrase constituents. For each construction the book gives a rigourous account of the data, and a theoretical analysis. It demonstrates how recent developments in generative syntax can help to explain the properties of individual dialects. Liliane Haegeman combines expertise in theoretical linguistics and traditional philology. Her study blends rigourous description of a little-studied dialect with considerable theoretical sophistication and insight. It will be welcomed by all linguists with an interest in generative syntax, as well as those interested in the Germanic languages.

This volume presents theoretical and empirical research on the syntax of events within the broader framework of generative grammar, focusing on the central question of how conceptual meaning interacts

In this book, Cinque takes a generative perspective on typological questions relating to word order and to the syntax of relative clauses. In particular, Cinque looks at: the position of the Head vis

Carried out within the framework of the theory of generative grammar originated withNoam Chomsky in the 1950s, this book should be of particular interest to those either active in orconversant with th

Austronesian languages have long raised interesting questions for generative theories of syntax and morphology. The papers in this volume encompass some of these traditional questions and place them

Guglielmo Cinque is one of the world's leading theoretical syntacticians, and is particularly known for his application of recent theory to the analysis of Italian. This volume brings together ten of Professor Cinque's essays, some of which are published here for the first time, and some of which have not hitherto been easily available. They explore a wide range of aspects of Italian syntax, including the grammar of relative and 'pseudo-relative' clauses in the complement of perception verbs, impersonal si constructions, and the position and argument structure of adjectives in the noun phrase. The volume considers the implications of Cinque's work on Italian syntax for generative grammar more broadly, and compares Italian with the syntax of other Romance and also Germanic languages. It will be welcomed by all those working on Italian syntax, and on theoretical syntax generally.

Over the last two decades, functional heads have been one of the privileged objects of research in generative linguistics. However, within this line of inquiry, two alternative approaches have develop

A pioneering new approach to a long-debated topic at the heart of syntax: what are the primitive concepts and operations of syntax? This book argues, appealing in part to the logic of Chomsky's Minimalist Program, that the primitive operations of syntax form relations between words rather than combining words to form constituents. Just three basic relations, definable in terms of inherent selection properties of words, are required in natural language syntax: projection, argument selection, and modification. In the radically simplified account of generative grammar Bowers proposes there are just two interface levels, which interact with our conceptual and sensory systems, and a lexicon from which an infinite number of sentences can be constructed. The theory also provides a natural interpretation of phase theory, enabling a better formulation of many island constraints, as well as providing the basis for a unified approach to ellipsis phenomena.

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 broa