Phrase Structure: From GB to Minimalism (Generative Syntax) - Softcover

Chametzky, Robert A. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631201599 ISBN 13: 9780631201595

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2000

Synopsis

This is the first and only book to provide an introduction to the fundamental theoretical issues of phrase structure in the Principles & Parameters approach to syntax. It provides both in depth analyses of basic phrase structure concepts and detailed examinations of different theoretical positions from within the Principles & Parameters tradition.

About this title

About the Author

Robert A. Chametzky is Assistant Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. He is author of A Theory of Phrase Markers and the Extended Base (1996).

From the Back Cover

This is the first and only book to provide an introduction to the fundamental theoretical issues of phrase structure in the Principles & Parameters approach to syntax. It provides in-depth analyses of basic phrase structure concepts and detailed examinations of different theoretical positions from within the Principles & Parameters tradition.

The book approaches phrase structure through close discussion of Chomsky's The Minimalist Program (1995), Kayne's Antisymmetry of Syntax (1994) and the author's own A Theory of Phrase Markers and the Extended Base (1996), with a chapter devoted to each of these books. Throughout, the focus is almost exclusively on theoretical considerations such as primitive and derived concepts, theoretical architecture, simplicity and naturalness of extensions of basic ideas, internal coherence and consistency, and explanatory adequacy, with natural language data and analysis playing virtually no role.

The structuring concepts and questions include the relation of argument structure to syntactic structure; headedness and endocentricity; the status of functional versus lexical categories; X-Bar Theory; and the respective statuses of precedence and dominance.

The book approaches phrase structure through close discussion of Chomsky's The Minimalist Program (1995), Kayne's Antisymmetry of Syntax (1994) and the author's own A Theory of Phrase Markers and the Extended Base (1996), with a chapter devoted to each of these books. Throughout, the focus is almost exclusively on theoretical considerations such as primitive and derived concepts, theoretical architecture, simplicity and naturalness of extensions of basic ideas, internal coherence and consistency, and explanatory adequacy, with natural language data and analysis playing virtually no role.

The structuring concepts and questions include the relation of argument structure to syntactic structure; headedness and endocentricity; the status of functional versus lexical categories; X-Bar Theory; and the respective statuses of precedence and dominance.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0631201599
• ISBN 13: 9780631201595
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 188