The Parametrization of Universal Grammar

The Parametrization of Universal Grammar PDF Author: Gisbert Fanselow
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027227284
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
In this volume the subject of parametrization is addressed from various, though interrelated perspectives, ranging from learnability, the form and nature of parametrization, the role of the interface between morphology and syntax and the parameters of X-bar syntax, to the lexical parametrization hypothesis.

The Parametrization of Universal Grammar

The Parametrization of Universal Grammar PDF Author: Gisbert Fanselow
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027227284
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
In this volume the subject of parametrization is addressed from various, though interrelated perspectives, ranging from learnability, the form and nature of parametrization, the role of the interface between morphology and syntax and the parameters of X-bar syntax, to the lexical parametrization hypothesis.

Parameter Hierarchies and Universal Grammar

Parameter Hierarchies and Universal Grammar PDF Author: Ian Roberts
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198804636
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 730

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Book Description
This book develops a minimalist approach to cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation. Ian Roberts argues that the essential insight of the principles-and-parameters approach to variation can be maintained - albeit in a somewhat different guise - in the context of the minimalist program for linguistic theory. The central idea is to organize the parameters of Universal Grammar (UG) into hierarchies that define the ways in which properties of individually variant categories and features may act in concert. A further leading idea, which is consistent with the overall goal of the minimalist programme to reduce the content of UG, is that the parameter hierarchies are not directly determined by UG, and are instead emergent properties stemming from the interaction of the three factors in language design. Cross-linguistic variation in word order, null subjects, incorporation, verb-movement, case/alignment, wh-movement, and negation are all analyzed in the light of this approach. This book represents a significant new contribution to the formal study of cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation on both the empirical and theoretical levels, and will appeal to researchers and students in all areas of theoretical linguistics and comparative syntax.

Studies on Universal Grammar and Typological Variation

Studies on Universal Grammar and Typological Variation PDF Author: Artemis Alexiadou
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027227349
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
The articles of the present volume consist of generative analyses dealing with several current topics of discussion and debate in syntactic theory, such as clitics, word order, scrambling, directionality, movement. The data in the volume are drawn from a number of typologically diverse languages (e.g. Arabic, Berber, Dutch, Gaelic, Greek, Malagasy).

Parameter Setting in Language Acquisition

Parameter Setting in Language Acquisition PDF Author: Dalila Ayoun
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847143369
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
This book provides a broad overview of parameter-setting theory in first and second language acquisition and refines the theory by revisiting and challenging the traditional assumptions that underlie it, based on cross-linguistic language data that cover a range of syntactic and phonological phenomena. From an historical perspective on parameter-setting theory to an introduction to its role in computational linguistics, neurolinguistics, and language change, the reader will find a critique of the most commonly made arguments, as well as an index of all the syntactic, phonological, lexical, and morphological parameters presented in the literature to date. A closer look at the theory itself addresses the following questions: What does a parameter-setting approach to language acquisition entail? What are the underpinnings of the theory? What issues and problems remain to be solved? The empirical studies carried out to test the null subject parameter and verb movement parameter are reviewed to re-examine long-standing theoretical assumptions as well as the learnability implications for first and second language acquisition.

Universal Grammar and American Sign Language

Universal Grammar and American Sign Language PDF Author: D.C. Lillo-Martin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401134685
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE American Sign Language (ASL) is the visual-gestural language used by most of the deaf community in the United States and parts of Canada. On the surface, this language (as all signed languages) seems radically different from the spoken languages which have been used to formulate theories of linguistic princi ples and parameters. However, the position taken in this book is that when the surface effects of modality are stripped away, ASL will be seen to follow many of the patterns proposed as universals for human language. If these theoretical constructs are meant to hold for language in general, then they should hold for natural human language in any modality; and ifASL is such a natural human language, then it too must be accounted for by any adequate theory of Universal Grammar. For this rea son, the study of ASL can be vital for proposed theories of Universal Grammar. Recent work in several theoretical frameworks of syntax as well as phonology have argued that indeed, ASL is such a lan guage. I will assume then, that principles of Universal Gram mar, and principles that derive from it, are applicable to ASL, and in fact that ASL can serve as one of the languages which test Universal Grammar. There is an important distinction to be drawn, however, be tween what is called here 'American Sign Language', and other forms of manual communication.

Issues in the Theory of Universal Grammar

Issues in the Theory of Universal Grammar PDF Author: René Dirven
Publisher: Gunter Narr Verlag
ISBN: 9783878085652
Category : Grammar, Comparative and general
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description


Italian Syntax and Universal Grammar

Italian Syntax and Universal Grammar PDF Author: Guglielmo Cinque
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521475139
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This volume of essays offers a wide-ranging comparative analysis of Italian syntax.

The Second Time Around

The Second Time Around PDF Author: Julia Rogers Herschensohn
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027224897
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Linking recent advances in theoretical syntax and empirical research in language development, the book claims that second language acquisition is not totally distinct from first language acquisition, but rather is a replay, a relearning of language. It argues that Universal Grammar is a template guiding acquisition of L1 while constraining acquisition of L2. Assuming that a syntactic distinction crucial for language and its acquisition is the division between lexical and functional categories, it argues that the key to L2 as well as L1 acquisition of syntax is the mastery of morphological features and their linking to functional categories. It thus supports the availability of UG to the second language learner and the minimalist claim that cross-linguistic variation is morpholexical. Constructionism, the hypothesis of L2A proposed in this account, argues for a period of feature underspecification after loss of the L1 value, followed by a progressive building of the L2 value through specific constructions.

The Paradox of Grammatical Change

The Paradox of Grammatical Change PDF Author: Ulrich Detges
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027291632
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Recent years have seen intense debates between formal (generative) and functional linguists, particularly with respect to the relation between grammar and usage. This debate is directly relevant to diachronic linguistics, where one and the same phenomenon of language change can be explained from various theoretical perspectives. In this, a close look at the divergent and/or convergent evolution of a richly documented language family such as Romance promises to be useful. The basic problem for any approach to language change is what Eugenio Coseriu has termed the paradox of change: if synchronically, languages can be viewed as perfectly running systems, then there is no reason why they should change in the first place. And yet, as everyone knows, languages are changing constantly. In nine case studies, a number of renowned scholars of Romance linguistics address the explanation of grammatical change either within a broadly generative or a functional framework.

Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory

Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory PDF Author: Þórhallur Eyþórsson
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027233776
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
This book contains 15 revised papers originally presented at a symposium at Rosendal, Norway, under the aegis of The Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The overall theme of the volume is 'internal factors in grammatical change.' The papers focus on fundamental questions in theoretically-based historical linguistics from a broad perspective. Several of the papers relate to grammaticalization in different ways, but are generally critical of 'Grammaticalization Theory'. Further papers focus on the causes of syntactic change, pinpointing both extra-syntactic (exogenous) causes and – more controversially – internally driven (endogenous) causes. The volume is rounded up by contributions on morphological change 'by itself.' A wide range of languages is covered, including Tsova-Tush (Nakh-Dagestan), Zoque, and Athapaskan languages, in addition to Indo-European languages, both the more familiar ones and some less well-studied varieties.