Survey of Contemporary Syntactic Theory

Author: Bolton
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory
The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory is an extraordinary accomplishment. Baltin and Collins have succeeded in assembling a sizeable number of the world's leading syntacticians, each of whom has produced a readable overview of the issues in his or her area of specialization. It is to the credit of the editors that this book is valuable both as a reference work and as a critical evaluation of current thinking. All linguists, not just syntacticians, stand to benefit from having a copy within reach.
Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington
This volume provides a comprehensive view of the current issues in contemporary syntactic theory. Written by an international assembly of leading specialists in the field, the 23 original articles in this volume serve as a comprehensive and useful reference for various areas of grammar. The chapters include analyses of non-configurational languages, across-linguistic comparison of important grammatical features that interface with semantics, discussions from the perspective of learnability theory, a discussion of thematic relations, and comparisons of derivational and representational approaches to grammar. These cutting-edge articles, combined with the editors' informative introduction and an extensive bibliography, grant readers the greatest access to the field of natural language syntax today.
Mark Baltin is Professor of Linguistics at New York University, where he has been teaching since receiving his Ph.D. from MIT in 1978. He has published widely on movement and ellipsis and served on the NSF Advisory Panel for Linguistics from 1996 to 1999. He is the editor, with Anthony S. Kruleman, of Alternative Conceptions of Phrase-Structure (1989).
Chris Collins served in the Peace Corps before enrolling in MIT's graduate program in linguistics. He is currently Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Cornell University and has published widely in the syntax of various African languages and general syntactic theory. He is the author of Local Economy (1997).