Syntax : Basic Concepts and Applications

Syntax: Basic Concepts and Applications provides a systematic introduction to core topics in syntax, focusing on how the basic concepts apply in the analysis of sentences. Assuming no background in linguistic analysis, the book gives students a working knowledge of syntactic analysis from a minimalist perspective. Step by step it explains the fundamentals of phrase structure, movement and deletion. Well-placed exercises throughout reinforce and extend the concepts and analyses presented in the text, allowing readers to gain understanding of progressively complex issues at a comfortable pace. Much of the data comes from English, but crucial examples are also drawn from a range of other languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Irish, Welsh and Greek. 0 Cover 1 Summary 3 Title page 5 Contents 9 Preface 11 Acknowledgements 17 1 The computational nature of human language 19 2 Knowledge of language as an object of inquiry 34 3 Categories and constituents 55 4 Phrase structure theory 76 5 The structure of clauses 98 6 The syntax of Spec-TP 124 7 Head movement and the structure of root clauses 166 8 Wh-movement 189 9 Ellipsis: unpronounced syntax 229 Notes 272 Glossary 283 References 293 Index 298