The Logic of Markedness

by Battistella, Edwin L.

• ISBN13: 9780195103946
• ISBN10: 0195103947
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-08-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Theories of language espoused by linguists during much of this century have assumed that there is a hierarchy to the elements of language such that certain constructions, rules, and features are unmarked while others are marked ; "play" for example, is unmarked or neutral, while "played" or "player" is marked. This opposition, referred to as markedness , is one of the concepts which both Chomskyan generative grammar and Jakobsonian structuralism appear to share, yet which each tradition has treated differently. Battistella studies the historical development of the concept of markedness in the Prague School structuralism of Roman Jakobson, its importation into generative linguistics, and its subsequent development within Chomsky's "principles and parameters" framework. He traces how structuralist and generative linguistics have drawn on and expanded the notion of markedness, both as a means of characterizing linguistic constructs and as a theory of the innate language faculty.

Author Biography

Edwin L. Battistella is Professor of Linguistics and Head of the Humanities Division at Wayne State College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. v
Introduction	p. 3
on Markedness	p. 7
the Development of Markedness in Jakobson's Work	p. 19
the Heirs of Jakobson	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 70
Chomsky on Markedness	p. 73
Overview	p. 92
Departures from the Core	p. 93
Conclusion	p. 121
Jakobson and Chomsky: Bridging Invariance and Variation	p. 124
Conclusion	p. 133
Notes	p. 137
References	p. 157
Index	p. 173
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