Understanding Syntax
Understanding Syntax

Author: Maggie Tallerman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-11-13

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1317635116

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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

Author: Maggie Tallerman

Publisher:

Published: 2014-08-22

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780415746991

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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 Sentence Structure
Understanding Sentence Structure

Author: Christina Tortora

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2018-07-27

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1118659740

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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.

Understanding Syntax, Third Edition
Understanding Syntax, Third Edition

Author: Maggie Tallerman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-05

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1444149814

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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 2nd Edition
Understanding Syntax 2nd Edition

Author: Maggie Tallerman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-03-18

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1134647573

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Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, it discusses and illustrates all the major terms and concepts essential to the study of sentence structure in the world's languages. 'Noun' and 'verb' are explained, and the properties of these categories are discussed. The reader discovers what a finite verb is, what 'first person singular' means and what relative clauses look like. Concepts such as 'subject', 'object', 'gender', 'case', and 'subordination' are introduced and exemplified. Initial illustration is from English, with extensive additional material from several other languages. 'Exotic' constructions not found in related European languages are fully covered, so that verb serialization, ergative languages and head-marking languages are all included. This new edition has been updated and revised to meet the needs of today's students. Difficult points are given fuller explanation, a glossary of technical terms is included, and additional exercises have been introduced to enable students to consolidate what they have learnt.

Understanding Minimalist Syntax
Understanding Minimalist Syntax

Author: Cedric Boeckx

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2009-02-04

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0470765801

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Understanding Minimalist Syntax introduces the logic of the Minimalist Program by analyzing well-known descriptive generalizations about long-distance dependencies. An introduction to the logic of the minimalist program - arguably the most important branch of syntax Proposes a new theory of how long-distance dependencies are formed, with implications for theories of locality, and the minimalist program as a whole Introduces the logic of the minimalist program by analyzing well-known descriptive generalizations about long-distance dependencies, and asks why they should be true of natural languages Rich in empirical coverage, which will be welcomed by experts in the field, yet accessible enough for students looking for an introduction to the minimalist program.

Dynamic Syntax
Dynamic Syntax

Author: Ruth Kempson

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 2000-12-22

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9780631176121

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This ground-breaking volume sets out an original model of the dynamics of language processing, which can be used to explain the structural properties of language in a simple and elegant way. The model is introduced both informally and formally, and is applied to a range of languages.

Sin and Syntax
Sin and Syntax

Author: Constance Hale

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2013-08-13

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0385346891

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A fully revised and updated edition with writing prompts and challenges in every chapter Today’s writers need more spunk than Strunk: whether it's the Great American e-mail, Madison Avenue advertising, or Grammy Award-winning rap lyrics, memorable writing must jump off the page. Copy veteran Constance Hale is on a mission to make creative communication, both the lyrical and the unlawful, an option for everyone. With its crisp, witty tone, Sin and Syntax covers grammar’s ground rules while revealing countless unconventional syntax secrets (such as how to use—Gasp!—interjections or when to pepper your prose with slang) that make for sinfully good writing. Discover how to: *Distinguish between words that are “pearls” and words that are “potatoes” * Avoid “couch potato thinking” and “commitment phobia” when choosing verbs * Use literary devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, and metaphor (and understand what you're doing) Everyone needs to know how to write stylish prose—students, professionals, and seasoned writers alike. Whether you’re writing to sell, shock, or just sing, Sin and Syntax—now celebrating 20 years in print—is the guide you need to improve your command of the English language.

Explaining Syntax
Explaining Syntax

Author: Peter W. Culicover

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2013-10-03

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 0191635685

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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.

Analysing Sentences
Analysing Sentences

Author: Noel Burton-Roberts

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-12

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1317293827

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This highly successful text has long been considered the standard introduction to the practical analysis of English sentence structure. It covers key concepts such as constituency, category and functions, and also utilises tree diagrams throughout to help the reader visualise the structure of sentences. In this fourth edition, Analysing Sentences has been thoroughly revised and now features a brand new companion website with additional activities and exercises for students and an answer book for the in-text exercises for professors. The extra activities on the website give students practice in identifying syntactic phenomena in running text and will help to deepen understanding of this topic. Accessible and clear, this book is the perfect textbook for readers coming to this topic for the first time. Featuring many in-text, end-of-chapter and Further Exercises, it is suitable for self-directed study as well as for use as core reading on courses.