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  • Book cover of The Grammar of Names

    This book is the first systematic account of the syntax and semantics of names. Drawing on work in onomastics, philosophy, and linguistics John Anderson examines the distribution and subcategorization of names within a framework of syntactic categories, and considers how the morphosyntactic behaviour of names connects to their semantic roles. He argues that names occur in two basic circumstances: one involving vocatives and their use in naming predications, where they are notdefinite; the other their use as arguments of predicators, where they are definite. This division is discussed in relation to English, French, Greek, and Seri, and a range of other languages. Professor Anderson reveals that the semantic status of names, including prototypicality, is crucial tounderstanding their morphosyntax and role in derivational relationships. He shows that semantically coherent subsets of names, such as those referring to people and places, are characterized by morphosyntactic properties which may vary from language to language. His original and important investigation will appeal to scholars and advanced students of linguistics and philosophy.

  • Book cover of The Substance of Language Volume III: Phonology-Syntax Analogies

    Phonology-Syntax Analogies looks at the degree to which analogies between syntax and phonology result from their being representational subsystems within the overall system of language, at why they sometimes break down, and at how far semantic and phonetic properties limit such analogies.

  • Book cover of Headhood, Elements, Specification and Contrastivity

    The papers in this volume focus on notions which are central to the work of John M. Anderson - the founder of Dependency Phonology - and to phonological theory: the idea of structural analogy between phonology and syntax; the head/dependent relation; the idea that phonological representations are best conceived of in terms of a set of privative elements (rather than as binary-valued features); and the related notions of contrastivity and specification (and non-specification). An important issue dealt with is the relationship between specification and derivationality, and the question whether derivations are necessary in phonological theory. Many of the contributions provide sound empirical support for the appeal to elements and to headhood at all levels of phonological analysis. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in current issues in phonological theory.

  • Book cover of The Substance of Language Volume I: The Domain of Syntax

    The Domain of Syntax explores the consequences for syntax of assuming that language is grounded in cognition and perception. He considers whether this permits a lexicalist approach to syntax that would allow it to dispense not only with structural mutations but with universal grammar itself.

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    John Anderson and Colin Ewen, two of the most notable exponents of 'dependency phonology', present in this book a detailed account of this integrated model for the representational of segmental and suprasegmental structure in phonology. Dependency phonology departs from traditional 'linear' models of phonology, and the more recent non-linear models of autosegmental and metrical phonology, in several respects. Unlike in these models, suprasegmental structure is derived directly from the segmental representations, and these representations are based on single-valued features, or components (rather than Chomsky and Halle-type binary features), linked by the dependency relation to form suprasegmental structures, with the exact nature of the dependency relations being directly determined by the properties of the segmental structure. Phonology is currently noteworthy for the diversity of views within the discipline, but no linguist or phonetician with a serious interest in phonology can afford to ignore this book or fail to be interested by it.

  • Book cover of Phonological Structure and the History of English
  • Book cover of Old English Phonology

    A detailed study of Old English, taking as its point of departure the 'standard theory' of generative phonology as developed by Chomsky and Halle. Dr Lass and Dr Anderson set out all the main phonological processes of Old English and against their larger historical background (including subsequent developments in the history of English). They propose many fresh solutions to long-standing problems in the history and structure of Old English. The result is an extensive and sophisticated treatment of this subject. An important theory is examined against a well-studied body of linguistic knowledge, and is partly validated and partly revised. The book will be important for all linguistics and historians of English and Indo-European.

  • Book cover of Explorations in Dependency Phonology
  • Book cover of The Substance of Language Volume II: Morphology, Paradigms, and Periphrases

    The three linked but independent volumes of 'The Substance of Language' collectively overhaul linguistic theory from phonology to semantics and syntax to pragmatics and offer a full account of how linguistic related to function. They comprise a powerfully coherent understanding of the nature of language.

  • Book cover of Linguistic Representation

    No detailed description available for "Linguistic Representation".