Linguistic universals / edited by Ricardo Mairal and Juana Gil.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mairal Usón, Ricardo, 1965- editor.

Gil Fernández, Juana, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Linguistic universals.

Language acquisition.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 216 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The discovery of 'linguistic universals' - the properties that all languages have in common - is a fundamental goal of linguistic research. Linguists face the task of accounting for why languages, which apparently differ so greatly from one another on the surface, display striking similarities in their underlying structure. This volume brings together a team of leading experts to show how different linguistic theories have approached this challenge. Drawing on work from both formal and functional perspectives, it provides a comprehensive overview of the most notable work on linguistic universals - with chapters on syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology and typology - and explores a range of central issues, such as the relationship between linguistic universals and the language faculty, and what linguistic universals can tell us about our biological make-up and cognitive abilities. Clear and succinct, it will be invaluable to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the phenomenon that is human language.

Contents:

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Contributors; Preface; Abbreviations; 1 A first look at universals; 2 Linguistic typology; 3 Universals in a generative setting; 4 In search of universals; 5 Morphological universals; 6 Syntactic typology: just how exotic ARE European-type relative clauses?; 7 Some universals of Verb semantics; 8 Language change and universals; References; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-16160-6

1-280-70222-2

0-511-24978-0

0-511-24870-9

0-511-25029-0

0-511-31929-0

0-511-61821-2

0-511-24925-X

OCLC:

252527805