A pioneering new approach to a long-debated topic at the heart of syntax: what are the primitive concepts and operations of syntax? This book argues, appealing in part to the logic of Chomsky's Minimalist Program, that the primitive operations of syntax form relations between words rather than...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Bowers, John S. 1945- (Author)
Format:	Electronic eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2018
Series:	Cambridge studies in linguistics 151
Subjects:	Grammar, Comparative and general / Syntax Kontrastive Syntax
Online Access:	BSB01 UBG01 Volltext
Summary:	A pioneering new approach to a long-debated topic at the heart of syntax: what are the primitive concepts and operations of syntax? This book argues, appealing in part to the logic of Chomsky's Minimalist Program, that the primitive operations of syntax form relations between words rather than combining words to form constituents. Just three basic relations, definable in terms of inherent selection properties of words, are required in natural language syntax: projection, argument selection, and modification. In the radically simplified account of generative grammar Bowers proposes there are just two interface levels, which interact with our conceptual and sensory systems, and a lexicon from which an infinite number of sentences can be constructed. The theory also provides a natural interpretation of phase theory, enabling a better formulation of many island constraints, as well as providing the basis for a unified approach to ellipsis phenomena
Item Description:	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 24 Apr 2018)
Physical Description:	1 Online-Ressource (x, 296 Seiten)
ISBN:	9781316156414
DOI:	10.1017/9781316156414