Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction

Ivan A Sag

ISBN 10: 1575861607 / ISBN 13: 9781575861609

Editore: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1999

Riguardo questo articolo

Leichte Risse. Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction is unlike any other introductory textbook on the market. Targeting students with strong formal/mathematical skills, but assuming no particular previous background, this book focuses on the development of precisely formulated grammars whose empirical predictions can be directly tested. The book begins with the inadequacy of context-free phrase structure grammars, motivating the introduction of feature structures, types and type constraints as ways of expressing linguistic generalizations. Step by step, students are led to discover a grammar that covers the core areas of English syntax that have been central to syntactic theory in the last quarter century, including: complementation, control, 'raising constructions', passives, the auxiliary system, and the analysis of long distance dependency constructions. Special attention is given to the treatment of dialect variation, especially with respect to African American Vernacular English, which has been of considerable interest with regard to the educational practice of American school systems.

Codice articolo a60f0d8d-6795-45d3-841e-9b1e2a228353

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction
• Editore: Center for the Study of Language and Information
• Data di pubblicazione: 1999
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1575861607
• ISBN 13: 9781575861609
• Rilegatura: Softcover
• Condizione: Fine

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction is unlike any other introductory textbook on the market; it marks a return to 'generative grammar' in its original sense. This book focuses on the development of precisely formulated grammars whose empirical predictions can be directly tested. There is considerable emphasis on prediction and evaluation of grammatical hypotheses, as well as on integrating syntactic hypotheses with matters of semantic analysis. Problem solving is also emphasized; the extensive problem sets draw from a variety of languages other than English. Special attention is paid to the nature of lexical entries and the organization of the lexicon in terms of type hierarchies and constraint inheritance. The theoretical perspective of the book is presented in the context of current models of language processing, which provide motivation for a constraint-based, lexicalist grammatical architecture, whose value has already been demonstrated in computer language processing applications.

Descrizione del libro

This book marks a return to 'generative grammar' in its original sense. It focuses on the development of precisely formulated grammars whose empirical predications can be directly tested. There is considerable emphasis on prediction and evaluation of grammatical hypotheses, and on integrating syntactic hypotheses with matters of semantic analysis.