An Introduction to Syntax Fundamentals of Syntactic Analysis

by Moravcsik, Edith A.

• ISBN13: 9780826489463
• ISBN10: 082648946X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-19
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

This comprehensive introduction to syntax explains the basic concepts of syntax, and how the structures which are in place for describing the world can also be applied to a description of language structure. Edith Moravcsik presents a detailed introductio

Author Biography

Edith A. Moravcsik is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
Symbols and Abbreviations	xiii
Chapter 1 What is Syntax?	1	(27)
1 Preliminaries	1	(5)
2 Studying the world	6	(10)
2.1 Explanation	6	(6)
2.2 Observation	12	(1)
2.3 Description	13	(3)
3 Studying language	16	(5)
3.1 Overview	16	(1)
3.2 Structure	16	(3)
3.3 Function	19	(1)
3.4 Location	19	(2)
4 Why do languages have syntax?	21	(3)
5 Conclusions	24	(1)
Notes	25	(1)
Exercises	26	(2)
Chapter 2 Linear Order	28	(35)
1 Preliminaries	28	(2)
2 Temporal relations: some possibilities	30	(7)
2.1 The general schema	30	(1)
2.2 Relations	31	(2)
2.3 Terms	33	(1)
2.4 Context	34	(1)
2.5 Modalities	34	(1)
2.6 Summary	35	(2)
3 Temporal relations in syntax: some facts	37	(19)
3.1 Relations	37	(6)
3.2 Terms	43	(12)
3.3 Context	55	(1)
3.4 Modalities	56	(1)
4 Conclusions	56	(4)
Notes	60	(1)
Exercises	61	(2)
Chapter 3 Selection	63	(38)
Preliminaries	63	(3)
2 Selection: some possibilities	66	(3)
3 Selection in syntax: some facts	69	(25)
3.1 Order and selection	69	(2)
3.2 The selection of words	71	(6)
3.3 The selection of word forms	77	(14)
3.4 A comparison of word selection and word form selection	91	(3)
4 Conclusions	94	(5)
Notes	99	(1)
Exercises	99	(2)
Chapter 4 Categories	101	(39)
1 Preliminaries	101	(4)
2 Partonomy and taxonomy: some possibilities	105	(10)
2.1 Unequal parts and unequal subtypes	109	(3)
2.2 Parts that belong to more than one whole and tokens that belong to more than one type	112	(3)
3 Partonomy and taxonomy in syntax: some facts	115	(21)
3.1 Selection and inventory	115	(3)
3.2 The birth of a syntactic category	118	(3)
3.3 The partonomic and taxonomic status of nouns	121	(6)
3.4 Complex patterns of syntactic partonomy and taxonomy	127	(9)
4 Conclusions	136	(1)
Notes	137	(1)
Exercises	137	(3)
Chapter 5 Syntax, Meaning and Sound Form	140	(39)
1 Preliminaries	140	(4)
2 Symbolic correspondence: some possibilities	144	(7)
3 Symbolic correspondence ill syntax: some facts	151	(21)
3.1 Syntactic structure and meaning	151	(18)
3.2 Syntactic structure and sound form	169	(3)
4 Conclusions	172
Notes	171	(4)
Exercises	175	(4)
Chapter 6 Variation and Change	179	(35)
1 Preliminaries	179	(3)
2 Variation and change: some possibilities	182	(9)
3 Syntactic variation	191	(12)
3.1 Verb agreement	191	(3)
3.2 Constituent order	194	(3)
3.3 Accusative and ergative systems	197	(6)
4 Syntactic change	203	(7)
4.1 The historical evolution of definite articles	204	(3)
4.2 The first-language acquisition of wh-questions	207	(3)
5 Conclusions	210	(1)
Notes	211	(1)
Exercises	212	(2)
Chapter 7 Explaining Syntax	214	(37)
1 Preliminaries	214	(3)
2 Structural explanations	217	(8)
2.1 Wh-questions in English	217	(4)
2.2 Relative clauses in Basque	221	(4)
3 Evolutionary explanations	225	(11)
3.1 Direct objects in French	225	(4)
3.2 Direct and indirect objects in English	229	(7)
4 Functional explanations	236	(10)
4.1 Co-oordinate ellipsis in English and Japanese	238	(5)
4.2 Constituent order in Mandarin Chinese	243	(3)
5 Conclusions	246	(1)
Notes	247	(2)
Exercises	249	(2)
Glossary	251	(8)
References	259