Theory of Operations on Syntax and Component Structure: Western Linguistics Series 10

Author: (English) Hawkins
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: Operational theory refers to the mechanisms and rules used by language users to process linguistic units and structures, and to explain linguistic phenomena. Based on operational theory, this book provides an in-depth explanation of word order in cross-linguistic contexts and other syntactic universals, and combines research in generative syntax, linguistic universals, linguistic typology, language processing, and psycholinguistics to reveal the high consistency between language operations and linguistic phenomena. This is a work that systematically investigates syntactic rules and other cross-linguistic rules based on principles of language processing. The book examines corpora from hundreds of languages, explaining Greenberg's word order universals and many other cross-linguistic rules. For readers in linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive science, and other related fields, this is a valuable and worthwhile read.