This book introduces formal grammar theories that play a role in current linguistic theorizing (Phrase Structure Grammar, Transformational Grammar/Government & Binding, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Categorial Grammar, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Construction Grammar, Tree Adjoining Grammar). The key assumptions are explained and it is shown how the respective theory treats arguments and adjuncts, the active/passive alternation, local reorderings, verb placement, and fronting of constituents over long distances. The analyses are explained with German as the object language. The second part of the book compares these approaches with respect to their predictions regarding language acquisition and psycholinguistic plausibility. The nativism hypothesis, which assumes that humans posses genetically determined innate language-specific knowledge, is critically examined and alternative models of language acquisition are discussed. The second part then addresses controversial issues of current theory building such as the question of flat or binary branching structures being more appropriate, the question whether constructions should be treated on the phrasal or the lexical level, and the question whether abstract, non-visible entities should play a role in syntactic analyses. It is shown that the analyses suggested in the respective frameworks are often translatable into each other. The book closes with a chapter showing how properties common to all languages or to certain classes of languages can be captured. This book is a new edition of http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/25 and http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/195.
The aim of this book, first published in 1979, is to provide a sound basic introduction to the study of grammar within linguistics.
This book is for anyone who feels frustrated after his or her first exposure to generative grammar.
This collective volume contains studies in the field of ancient grammar, poetics and philosophy of language.
A history of linguistic theory in America, focusing on Chomsky and Bloomfield
Grammatical Theory and Language Acquisition
This book is a compilation of manuscripts and publications from 2001-2010 by Jean-Roger Vergnaud, in collaboration with colleagues and students.
Part III: Codeswitching and the LF Interface -- 9 The Semantic Interpretation and Syntactic Distribution of Determiner Phrases in Spanish-English Codeswitching -- 10 Codeswitching and the Syntax-Semantics Interface -- Part IV: Codeswitching ...
This was just what Snowball had intended. As soon as they were well inside ... Snowball now gave the signal for the charge. He himself dashed straight ... The pellets scored bloody streaks along Snowball's back and a sheep dropped dead.
This volume presents nine of today's grammatical theories with a view to comparing their starting points and their methods.
Heads in Grammatical Theory