Elementary syntactic structures : prospects of a feature-free syntax / Cedric Boeckx, ICREA/University of Barcelona.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boeckx, Cedric, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in linguistics ; 144.

Cambridge studies in linguistics ; 144

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Minimalist theory (Linguistics).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 202 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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 broadly.

Contents:

Cover; Half-title; Series information; Title page; Copyright information; Dedication; Table of contents; List of figures; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1 Biolinguistic concerns; 1.1 Approaching Universal Grammar in medias res; 1.2 Infrequently asked questions; 1.3 Interdisciplinary measures; 2 Syntactic order for free: Merge α; 2.1 Bare Merge; 2.2 Lexical precursor cells; 2.3 Regulating Merge α: Santa Fe-Style Syntax; 2.3.1 Enter phases; 2.3.2 Categorization; 2.3.3 More (on) categories; 2.3.4 Interim summary; 2.4 More emergent asymmetries; 2.4.1 Adjunction and Pair-Merge

2.4.2 The structure of chains2.4.3 Valuation; 2.5 Additional remarks on the present model; 2.5.1 Free operations in Merge α; 2.5.2 Syntactocentric vs. lexicocentric uses of phases; 2.6 Conclusion: syntax as grammatical pre-pattern; 3 Trusting in the external systems: descent with modification; 3.1 Opening remarks; 3.2 Adding content, or making sense of syntax; 3.3 Making content public, or how to put syntax into words; 3.4 Conclusion; 4 Elaborate grammatical structures: how (and where) to deal with variation; 4.1 Parameters: caught between GB and minimalism; 4.1.1 Uniformity and other issues

4.1.2 Artificial Parameters4.2 If not Parameters, then what?; 4.3 Conclusion; 5 Interdisciplinary prospects; Appendix 1Déjà vu all over again?; A1.1 Otero (1976); A1.2 Radicalizing Otero's proposal; Appendix 2Switching metaphors: from clocks to sand piles; Appendix 3More on the loss of syntactic variation; References; Index

Notes:

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

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-12021-X

1-316-12130-5

1-316-13329-X

1-316-64537-1

1-316-13002-9

1-316-13220-X

1-139-52439-9

1-316-12784-2

1-316-12893-8

1-316-13111-4