Syntax

Syntax: Basic Concepts and Applications provides a systematic introduction to core topics in syntax, focusing on how the basic concepts apply in the analysis of sentences. Assuming no background in linguistic analysis, the book gives students a working knowledge of syntactic analysis from a minimalist perspective. Step by step it explains the fundamentals of phrase structure, movement and deletion. Well-placed exercises throughout reinforce and extend the concepts and analyses presented in the text, allowing readers to gain understanding of progressively complex issues at a comfortable pace. Much of the data comes from English, but crucial examples are also drawn from a range of other languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Irish, Welsh and Greek.

1. The computational nature of human language; 2. Knowledge of language as an object of inquiry; 3. Categories and constituents; 4. Phrase structure theory; 5. The structure of clauses; 6. The syntax of Spec-TP; 7. Head movement and the structure of root clauses; 8. Wh-movement; 9. Ellipsis: unpronounced syntax.