Last update:
9 February 2010
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Explaining Language Structure through Systems Interaction
2003. xviii, 309 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound
– In stock
978 90 272 2963 2 / EUR 125.00 978 1 58811 436 5 / USD 188.00
e-Book
– Available from e-book platforms
This book proposes a framework for describing languages through the description of relationships among lexicon, morphology, syntax, and phonology. The framework is based on the notion of formal coding means; the principle of functional transparency; the notion of functional domains; and the notion of systems interaction in the coding of functional domains. The study is based on original analyses of cross-linguistic data.
The fundamental finding of the study is that different languages may code different functional domains, which must be discovered by analyzing the formal means available in each language. The first part of the book proposes a methodology for discovering functional domains and the second part describes the properties of various functional domains. The book presents new cross-linguistic analyses of theoretical issues including agreement; phenomena attributed to government; nominal classification; prerequisites for and implications of linear order coding; and defining characteristics of lexical categories. The study also contributes new analyses of specific problems in individual languages.
Table of contents
“It is a pleasure to read a theoretical book where theory serves our understanding of languages rather than vice versa. The book challenges one to think about the basic architecture of language and recommends itself as stimulating and thought-provoking reading for typologists, descriptive linguists, and for anyone dealing with issues of morphological and syntactic theory.”
Matti Miestamo, University of Helsinki, in Studies in Language 30(3), 2006
“In this extremely interesting book (hereafter ELS), the authors present a resolutely inductive, empiricist framework for understanding language structure and function. [...] ELS is highly recommended for typologists and syntacticians. Formalists, functionalists, and typologists will all find much to disagree with, but in most cases it will be an educational experience. [...] The strength of ELS lie in its fundamental principles, and in the series of impressive analyses which serve to illustrate the application of these principles.”
Subject classification |
Linguistics