A Theory of Syntax
Minimal Operations and Universal Grammar
1st Edition
Published on 30. January 2009
978-0-511-46014-2 (ISBN)
Description
Human language seems to have arisen roughly within the last 50-100,000 years. In evolutionary terms, this is the mere blink of an eye. If this is correct, then much of what we consider distinctive to language must in fact involve operations available in pre-linguistic cognitive domains. In this book Norbert Hornstein, one of the most influential linguists working on syntax, discusses a topical set of issues in syntactic theory, including a number of original proposals at the cutting edge of research in this area. He provides a theory of the basic grammatical operations and suggests that there is only one that is distinctive to language. If this theory is correct then this narrows the evolutionary gap between verbal and non-verbal primates, thus facilitating the rapid evolutionary emergence of our linguistic capacity.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cambridge University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
File size
1,86 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-511-46014-2 (9780511460142)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
12/2008
Cambridge University Press
€72.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
NORBERT HORNSTEIN is Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has written several books on minimalist syntax including Understanding Minimalism (with J. Nunes and K. Grohmann, Cambridge, 2005) and Move!: A Minimalist Theory of Construal (2000).
Content
1. Minimalism and Darwin's problem; 2. Deriving c-command; 3. Labels, recursion and movement; 4. Some thoughts on adjunction; 5. The emerging picture: basic operations, FL and the minimalist program; 6. Stop AGREEing! Keep moving!; 7. Conclusions, consequences and more questions.
