Modern Syntax

This practical coursebook introduces all the basics of modern syntactic analysis in a simple step-by-step fashion. Each unit is constructed so that the reader discovers new ideas, formulates hypotheses and practises fundamentals. The reader is presented with short sections of explanation with examples, followed by practice exercises. Feedback and comment sections follow to enable students to monitor their progress. No previous background in syntax is assumed. Students move through all the key topics in the field including features, rules of combination and displacement, empty categories, and subcategorization. The theoretical perspective in this work is unique, drawing together the best ideas from three major syntactic frameworks (minimalism, HPSG and LFG). Students using this book will learn fundamentals in such a way that they can easily go on to pursue further study in any of these frameworks.

This practical coursebook introduces all the basics of modern syntactic analysis in a simple step-by-step fashion. Each unit is constructed so that the reader discovers new ideas, formulates hypotheses and practises fundamentals. The reader is presented with short sections of explanation with examples, followed by practice exercises. Feedback and comment sections follow to enable students to monitor their progress. No previous background in syntax is assumed. Students move through all the key topics in the field including features, rules of combination and displacement, empty categories, and subcategorization. The theoretical perspective in this work is unique, drawing together the best ideas from three major syntactic frameworks (minimalism, HPSG and LFG). Students using this book will learn fundamentals in such a way that they can easily go on to pursue further study in any of these frameworks.

This standard introductory textbook presents in systematic form an account of current English practice. The introduction provides a full scheme of sentence analysis. Part I contains a treatment of syntactical phenomena based on the analysis of sentences; Part II classifies the uses of forms. Cross-references indicate how the two parts supplement one another.

Using increasingly sophisticated databases, this volume explores grammatical usage from the Late Modern period in a broad context.

This popular course book gives students of English and linguistics a systematic account of the rules of English syntax, and acquaints them with the general methodology of syntactic description. It teaches them how to formulate syntactic arguments, and how to apply the tests in the analysis of sentences.

Mandarin Chinese has become indispensable for crosslinguistic comparison and syntactic theorizing. It is nevertheless still difficult to obtain comprehensive answers to research questions, because Chinese is often presented as an "exotic" language defying the analytical tools standardly used for other languages. This book sets out to demystify Chinese. It places controversial issues in the context of current syntactic theories and offers precise analyses based on a large array of representative data. Although the focus is on Modern Mandarin, earlier stages of Chinese are occasionally referred to in order to highlight striking continuities in its history. VO order is one such constant factor, thus invalidating the idea that Chinese went through a major word order change from OV to VO and back to OV. Another claim often made for Chinese as an isolating language, viz. the existence of an impoverished inventory of parts of speech, is likewise refuted. Other long debated issues addressed here include the relevance of the dichotomy topic vs subject prominence and the role of Chinese as a recurring exception to crosscategorial harmonies posited in typological studies.

Many excellent texts on New Testament Greek grammar and syntax exist to lead students into deeper understanding of the language. Yet these approach the instruction of Greek in either a deductive or an inductive manner. The aim of this 'Syntax-Reader' is to instruct students in the learning of Greek syntax by combining what the best texts on syntax teach with a comprehensive reading of theologically significant passages of the New Testament. In this manner, students come to appreciate Greek syntax as the foundation for exegesis and their understanding of theology and the truth of Scripture. The 'Syntax-Reader' enables students to know not only Greek syntax but to know how syntax contributes to translating and interpreting most of the passages which are basic to the doctrines of Christianity. By means of translation, questions for the Òheart and mind,Ó discussion questions, assignments, and syntactical charts, students advance from the doctrine of Scripture through the doctrines of God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, salvation, Satan, holiness, the Church, sin, the nature of people, spiritual gifts, justification by faith, the return of Christ, the exaltation of Christ, and union with Christ. In short, students learn theology as they learn Greek, and they learn Greek as they learn theology.

This volume brings together 19 cutting edge studies written by some of the most prominent linguists working on Chinese formal syntax, as a Festschrift volume dedicated to Yen-Hui Audrey Li. The contributions to the volume address a wide range of issues currently developing in the field of Chinese syntax, grouped into five thematic sections on the structure of lexical and functional projections, modal verb syntax, syntax-semantics interactions, the syntax and interpretation of particles, and the acquisition of syntactic structures. With its rich descriptive content sourced from different varieties of Chinese, and its theoretical orientation and analyses, the book provides an important new resource both for researchers with a primary interest in Chinese and other linguists interested in discovering how properties of Chinese can inform the analysis of other languages.