Understanding Syntax

Understanding Syntax PDF Author: Maggie Tallerman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317635108
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
Assuming no prior knowledge, Understanding Syntax illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology associated with the study of cross-linguistic syntax. A theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint is taken throughout. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes (such as noun, verb, adjective) and then to a discussion of sentence structure in the world’s languages. Grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause are explained and thoroughly illustrated, including grammatical relations such as subject and object; function-changing processes such as the passive and antipassive; case and agreement processes, including both ergative and accusative alignments; verb serialization; head-marking and dependent-marking grammars; configurational and non-configurational languages; questions and relative clauses. The final chapter explains and illustrates the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of a language, enabling the reader to construct a grammatical sketch of a language known to them. Data from approximately 100 languages appears in the text, with languages representing widely differing geographical areas and distinct language families. The book will be essential for courses in cross-linguistic syntax, language typology, and linguistic fieldwork, as well as for basic syntactic description.

Understanding Syntax

Understanding Syntax PDF Author: Maggie Tallerman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317635108
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 469

Get Book

Book Description
Assuming no prior knowledge, Understanding Syntax illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology associated with the study of cross-linguistic syntax. A theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint is taken throughout. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes (such as noun, verb, adjective) and then to a discussion of sentence structure in the world’s languages. Grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause are explained and thoroughly illustrated, including grammatical relations such as subject and object; function-changing processes such as the passive and antipassive; case and agreement processes, including both ergative and accusative alignments; verb serialization; head-marking and dependent-marking grammars; configurational and non-configurational languages; questions and relative clauses. The final chapter explains and illustrates the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of a language, enabling the reader to construct a grammatical sketch of a language known to them. Data from approximately 100 languages appears in the text, with languages representing widely differing geographical areas and distinct language families. The book will be essential for courses in cross-linguistic syntax, language typology, and linguistic fieldwork, as well as for basic syntactic description.

Explaining Syntax

Explaining Syntax PDF Author: Peter W. Culicover
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191635685
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
This book brings together many of Peter Culicover's most significant observations on the nature of syntax and its place within the architecture of human language. Over four decades he has sought to understand the cognitive foundations of linguistic theory and the place of syntactic theory in explaining how language works. This has led him to specific proposals regarding the proper scope of syntactic theory and to a re-examination of the empirical basis of syntactic analyses, which reflect judgements reflecting not only linguistic competence but the complexity of the computations involved in acquiring and using language. After a brief a retrospective the author opens the book with the Simpler Syntax Hypothesis, an article written with Ray Jackendoff, that proposes significant restrictions on the scope of the syntactic component of the grammar. The work is then divided into parts concerned broadly with representations, structures, and computation. The chapters are provided with contextual headnotes and footnote references to subsequent work, but are otherwise printed essentially as they first appeared. Peter Culicover's lively and original perspectives on syntax and grammar will appeal to all theoretical linguists and their advanced students.

Explaining English Grammar

Explaining English Grammar PDF Author: George Yule
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780194371728
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This book is intended for teachers of English.

Syntactic Structures

Syntactic Structures PDF Author: Noam Chomsky
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3112316002
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
No detailed description available for "Syntactic Structures".

Understanding Syntax

Understanding Syntax PDF Author: Maggie Tallerman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429516746
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
Assuming no prior grammatical knowledge, Understanding Syntax explains and illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology involved in the study of cross-linguistic syntax. Taking a theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint throughout, this book: introduces syntactic typology, syntactic description and the major typological categories found in the languages of the world; clarifies with examples grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause, including word classes and their syntactic properties; grammatical relations such as subject and object; case and agreement processes; passives; questions and relative clauses; features in-text and chapter-end exercises to extend the reader’s knowledge of syntactic concepts and argumentation, drawing on data from over 100 languages; highlights the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of language. This fifth edition has been revised and updated to include extended exercises in all chapters, updated further readings, and more extensive checklists for students. Accompanying e-resources have also been updated to include hints for instructors and additional links to further reading. Understanding Syntax is an essential textbook for students studying the description of language, cross-linguistic syntax, language typology and linguistic fieldwork.

Understanding Syntax, Third Edition

Understanding Syntax, Third Edition PDF Author: Maggie Tallerman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1444149814
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
This is an introduction to the main categories, constructions, terminology and problems associated with syntax, providing a basis from which students can proceed to more advanced work.

Understanding Syntax

Understanding Syntax PDF Author: Maggie Tallerman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317635116
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Assuming no prior knowledge, Understanding Syntax illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology associated with the study of cross-linguistic syntax. A theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint is taken throughout. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes (such as noun, verb, adjective) and then to a discussion of sentence structure in the world’s languages. Grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause are explained and thoroughly illustrated, including grammatical relations such as subject and object; function-changing processes such as the passive and antipassive; case and agreement processes, including both ergative and accusative alignments; verb serialization; head-marking and dependent-marking grammars; configurational and non-configurational languages; questions and relative clauses. The final chapter explains and illustrates the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of a language, enabling the reader to construct a grammatical sketch of a language known to them. Data from approximately 100 languages appears in the text, with languages representing widely differing geographical areas and distinct language families. The book will be essential for courses in cross-linguistic syntax, language typology, and linguistic fieldwork, as well as for basic syntactic description.

Explaining Syntax

Explaining Syntax PDF Author: Peter W. Culicover
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199660239
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
This book collects Peter Culicover's key observations on the nature of syntax and its place within the architecture of language. Over four decades his pioneering examinations of expression and interpretation have led him to rebalance the elements of grammar and to reformulate linguistic theory. The book will appeal to all theoretical linguists.

Understanding Sentence Structure

Understanding Sentence Structure PDF Author: Christina Tortora
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118659740
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
A straightforward guide to understanding English grammar This book is for people who have never thought about syntax, and who don't know anything about grammar, but who want to learn. Assuming a blank slate on the part of the reader, the book treats English grammar as a product of the speaker's mind, and builds up student skills by exploring phrases and sentences with more and more complexity, as the chapters proceed. This practical guide excites and empowers readers by guiding them step by step through each chapter with intermittent exercises. In order to capitalize on the reader's confidence as a personal authority on English, Understanding Sentence Structure assumes an inclusive definition of English, taking dialect variation and structures common amongst millions of English speakers to be a fact of natural language. Situates grammar as part of what the student already unconsciously knows Presupposes no prior instruction, not even in prescriptive grammar Begins analyzing sentences immediately, with the “big picture” (sentences have structure, structure can be ambiguous) and moves through levels of complexity, tapping into students’ tacit knowledge of sentence structure Includes exercise boxes for in-chapter practicing of skills, side notes that offer further tips/encouragement on topics being discussed, and new terms defined immediately and helpfully in term boxes Applies decades of findings in syntactic theory and cognitive science, with an eye towards making English grammar accessible to school teachers and beginning students alike Understanding Sentence Structure: An Introduction to English Syntax is an ideal book for undergraduates studying modern English grammar and for instructors teaching introductory courses in English grammar, syntax, and sentence structure.

The Etymology and Syntax of the English Language Explained and Illustrated

The Etymology and Syntax of the English Language Explained and Illustrated PDF Author: Alexander Crombie
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Etymology and Syntax is a textbook about the etymology of the English language as of 1893. Rev. Alex Crombie uses grammar mistakes in conversation to "teach what is right by showing what is wrong." Contents: "Of the Noun, Of the Article, Of the Pronoun, Of Syntax, Canons of Criticism."