An Introduction to Syntax

✍ Scribed by Robert D. van Valin Jr

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 257
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Clearly organized and accessible, this comprehensive new textbook provides students with a thorough grounding in the analysis of syntactic structure using data from a typologically wide variety of languages. The book guides students through the basic concepts involved in syntactic analysis and goes on to prepare them for further work in any syntactic theory, using examples from a range of phenomena in human languages. It also includes a chapter on theories of syntax. Each chapter includes generous exercises and recommendations for further study.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
List of figures......Page 11
Preface......Page 15
Acknowledgements......Page 16
Abbreviations......Page 17
1.0 Introduction......Page 19
1.1 Aspects of syntactic structure......Page 22
1.2 Lexical categories......Page 24
1.3 Morphology......Page 31
Exercises......Page 35
2.0 Introduction......Page 39
2.1 Grammatical relations versus semantic roles......Page 40
2.2 Properties of grammatical relations......Page 51
2.2.1 Coding properties......Page 52
2.2.2 Behavioral properties......Page 58
2.2.2.1 Subject......Page 59
2.2.2.2 Direct object......Page 77
2.2.2.3 Indirect object......Page 85
2.2.2.4 Primary versus secondary objects......Page 86
2.2.3 Summary......Page 87
2.3.1 The Philippine system......Page 88
2.3.2 Syntactic ergativity......Page 91
2.3.3 Summary......Page 96
Notes and suggested readings......Page 97
Exercises......Page 98
3.0 Introduction......Page 104
3.1 Syntactic dependencies......Page 105
3.1.1 Types of dependencies......Page 107
3.1.2 Valence......Page 110
3.1.3 Coding......Page 114
3.2 Dependency representations......Page 119
3.3 Conclusion......Page 124
Exercises......Page 125
4.0 Introduction......Page 128
4.1.1 Tests for constituency......Page 129
4.1.2 Representing constituent structure......Page 133
4.2 The universality of form classes......Page 137
4.3 An alternative schema for phrase structure......Page 140
4.4 The structure of complex sentences......Page 151
4.5 Constituent structure and grammatical relations......Page 155
Exercises......Page 160
5.1 Phrase-structure rules......Page 162
5.2 The lexicon and subcategorization......Page 174
5.3 Relational-dependency rules and lexicon......Page 180
5.4 Concluding remarks......Page 186
Exercises......Page 187
6.0 Introduction......Page 190
6.1 Relational Grammar......Page 191
6.2 Lexical-Functional Grammar......Page 200
6.3 Government-Binding Theory......Page 211
6.4 Role and Reference Grammar......Page 223
6.5 Summary......Page 236
6.6 Other syntactic theories......Page 239
6.7 Conclusion......Page 242
Exercises......Page 243
References......Page 245
Language index......Page 252
Subject index......Page 254