Syntax Today

Syntax is the topic often claimed to be the very core of linguistics. Keith Brown has thoroughly updated his widely-used textbook Linguistics Today to evaluate new developments in the study of the linguistic units of words and sentences and their relationships. His account of the rise and gradual decline of the 'Standard' version of transformational grammar, which dominated linguistic thinking in the 60s and 70s, has been singled out by reviewers for its lucidity and usefulness. It is followed by critical discussion of the theory's associated problems and the rival theories which have emerged. Entirely new sections deal with recent work on the lexicon, developments within transformational grammar (the Principles and Parameters model) and issues in computational linguistics. Together they make for a book invaluable to beginning linguists and also to other social scientists interested in how linguists approach this particular aspect of grammar. From a review of Linguistics Today '... a concise and impressive survey of the main approaches to syntax. It is impressive for its comprehensive and up to the minute coverage ... Brown's discussion is well-organized and easy to follow.' -- The Times Higher Education Supplement