"What is the nature of syntactic structure? Why do some languages have radically free word order ('nonconfigurationality')? Do parameters vary independently (the micro-view) or can they co-vary en masse (the macro-view)? Mirrors and Microparameters examines these questions by looking...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Adger, David (Author), Harbour, Daniel (Author), Watkins, Laurel J. (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge [u.a.] Cambridge Univ. Press 2011
Edition:	1. paperback ed.
Series:	Cambridge studies in linguistics 122
Subjects:	Grammatik Kiowa language > Syntax Grammar, Comparative and general > Syntax Kiowa-Sprache Syntax Kontrastive Syntax
Summary:	"What is the nature of syntactic structure? Why do some languages have radically free word order ('nonconfigurationality')? Do parameters vary independently (the micro-view) or can they co-vary en masse (the macro-view)? Mirrors and Microparameters examines these questions by looking beyond the definitional criterion of nonconfigurationality - that arguments may be freely ordered, omitted, and split. Drawing on newly discovered data from Kiowa, a member of the largely undescribed Kiowa-Tanoan language family, the book reveals that classically nonconfigurational languages can nonetheless exhibit robustly configurational effects. Reconciling the cooccurrence of such freedom with such rigidity has major implications for the Principles and Parameters program. This novel approach to nonconfigurational languages challenges widespread assumptions of linguistic theory and throws light on the syntactic structures, ordering principles, and nature of parametrization that comprise Universal Grammar"--Provided by publisher.
Item Description:	Includes bibliographical references and index
Physical Description:	XIV, 190 S. graph. Darst.
ISBN:	9781107403598