
The Final-Over-Final Condition
A Syntactic Universal
MIT Press
Published on 27. October 2017
Book
Hardback
464 pages
978-0-262-03669-6 (ISBN)
Description
An examination of the evidence for and the theoretical implications of a universal word order constraint, with data from a wide range of languages.This book presents evidence for a universal word order constraint, the Final-over-Final Condition (FOFC), and discusses the theoretical implications of this phenomenon. FOFC is a syntactic condition that disallows structures where a head-initial phrase is contained in a head-final phrase in the same extended projection/domain. The authors argue that FOFC is a linguistic universal, not just a strong tendency, and not a constraint on processing. They discuss the effects of the universal in various domains, including the noun phrase, the adjective phrase, the verb phrase, and the clause. The book draws on data from a wide range of languages, including Hindi, Turkish, Basque, Finnish, Afrikaans, German, Hungarian, French, English, Italian, Romanian, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Pontic Greek, Bagirmi, Dholuo, and Thai. FOFC, the authors argue, is important because it is the only known example of a word order asymmetry pertaining to the order of heads. As such, it has significant repercussions for theories connecting the narrow syntax to linear order.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
1 graph
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-262-03669-6 (9780262036696)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Michelle Sheehan | Theresa Biberauer | Ian Roberts
The Final-Over-Final Condition: Volume 76
A Syntactic Universal
Book
10/2017
MIT Press
€45.70
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Persons
Author
ReaderAnglia Ruskin University
Senior Research AssociateUniversity of Cambridge
Professor of LinguisticsUniversity of Cambridge
Professor in Theoretical LinguisticsNewcastle University
Foreword
Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Modern Languages and LinguisticsMassachusetts Institute of Technology