From Phrase Structure to the Simplified Scheme: Syntactic Structures of Altaic Languages: Syntactic Structures of Altaic Languages

Author: Litifu Tuohtui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: This book describes the syntactic structures of Altaic languages within the framework of Chomsky's series of generative syntax theories, including phrase structure rules and lexical insertion rules starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the X-bar theory in the 1970s, the government and binding theory, transformational-generative grammar, and the principles and parameters theory in the 1980s, and finally the Minimalist Program from the 1990s to the present. One of the book's key features is its solid and reliable corpus. This is because the author is Uyghur and speaks Uyghur as his native language, while also having long been concerned with other Altaic languages. In this regard, he fully leverages his advantages, and the corpus provided in the book is not only rich and diverse but also solid and reliable. This has not only laid a strong foundation for the book's writing but also made it convenient for others' research. Another important feature of the book is its willingness to break from tradition and not adhere to outdated practices. Instead, it boldly breaks free from the constraints of traditional grammar and strives to explore the grammatical structures of Uyghur and its related languages from a completely new perspective. For example, he abandons the Eurocentric traditional grammar's practice of emphasizing morphology over syntax and strictly separating the two, opting instead for a syntax-centered approach that studies morphology within the framework of syntax. This has opened up a new path in Altaic linguistics and provided relatively satisfactory solutions to many long-standing and contentious issues. Another notable feature of the book is that it starts from the actuality of Altaic languages, emphasizing the characteristics of Altaic languages through comparison.