Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Syntax Guides

This book is a guide to the development of English syntax between the Old and Modern periods. Beginning with an overview of the main features of early English syntax, it gives a unified account of the grammatical changes occurring in the language during this period. Written by four leading experts in English historical syntax, the book demonstrates the ways in which syntactic change takes place and how these changes can be explained in terms of grammatical theory and language acquisition. The authors draw upon a wealth of empirical data and through a series of well-selected case studies they cover a wide range of topics including changes in word order, infinitival constructions and grammaticalization processes. This invaluable introduction to the significant changes in early English syntax will appeal to students and researchers in historical linguistics, theoretical linguistics and the history of English.

Clear and well-organised, this textbook is an introduction to Spanish syntax, which assumes no prior knowledge of current theory. Beginning with a descriptive overview of the major characteristics of the grammar, it goes on to describe facts about Spanish, such as its word order.

This clearly organised and accessible new book provides a comprehensive description of the major syntactic structures of Chichewa. Assuming no prior knowledge of current theory, it covers topics such as relative clause and question formation, interactions between tone and syntactic structure, and aspects of clause structure such as complementation.

Clearly written and comprehensive in scope, this is an essential guide to syntax in the Hungarian language. It describes the key grammatical features of the language, focusing on the phenomena that have proved to be theoretically the most relevant and have attracted the most attention. The analysis of Hungarian in the generative framework since the late Seventies has helped to bring phenomena which are non-overt in the English language into the focus of syntactic research. As Kiss shows, its results have been built into the hypotheses that make up universal grammar. The textbook explores issues at the centre of theoretical debates including the syntax and semantics of focus, the analysis of quantifier scope, and negative concord. This useful guide will be welcomed by students and researchers working on syntax and those interested in Finno-Ugric languages.

A concise and accessible guide to the syntax of Modern French, providing a clear overview of those aspects of the language that are of particular interest to theoretical linguists. Covering a broad variety of topics, it will be invaluable to students and scholars working on syntactic theory and comparative linguistics.

Welsh, like the other Celtic languages, is best known amongst linguists for its verb-initial word order and its use of initial consonant mutations. However it has many more characteristics which are of interest to syntacticians. This book, first published in 2007, provides a concise and accessible overview of the major syntactic phenomena of Welsh. A broad variety of topics are covered, including finite and infinitival clauses, noun phrases, agreement and tense, word order, clause structure, dialect variation, and the language's historical Celtic background. Drawing on work carried out in both Principles and Parameters theory and Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, it takes contemporary colloquial Welsh as its starting point and draws contrasts with a range of literary and dialectal forms of the language, as well as earlier forms (Middle Welsh) were appropriate. An engaging guide to all that is interesting about Welsh syntax, this book will be welcomed by syntactic theorists, typologists, historical linguists and Celticists alike.

The past quarter of a century has seen a surge in Chinese syntactic research that has produced a sizeable literature on the analysis of almost every construction in Mandarin Chinese. This guide to Chinese syntax analyses the majority of constructions in Chinese that have featured in theoretical linguistics in the past 25 years, using the authors' own analyses as well as existing or potential alternative treatments. A broad variety of topics are covered, including categories, argument structure, passives and anaphora. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research. This book will be invaluable both to students wanting to know more about the grammar of Chinese, and graduate students and theoretical linguists interested in the universal principles that underlie human languages.

A guide to Arabic syntax covering a broad variety of topics including argument structure, negation, tense, agreement phenomena, and resumption. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research.

Icelandic is a syntactically interesting language, with aspects of its word order, clause structure, agreement patterns and case system arousing much theoretical interest and debate in recent years. This is an informative and accessible guide to the structure of Icelandic, focusing in particular on those characteristics that have contributed greatly to syntactic research. Each chapter is divided into two main sections - providing both a descriptive overview and a discussion of the theoretical and comparative issues involved - and a wide range of topics are covered, including case, agreement, grammatical relations, thematic roles, word order, clause structure, fronting, extraposition, complement, adjuncts, pronouns, and inflection. Also explored in detail are the similarities and differences between Icelandic and other related languages. Presupposing only a basic knowledge of syntax and complete with an extensive bibliography, this comprehensive survey will be an important tool for all those working on the structure of Scandinavian and Germanic languages.

A complete guide to the phenomena and analyses of the syntax of Dutch. Composed by a leading specialist, the survey describes the data of Dutch syntax and the development of their analysis in full detail. Intended for students, specialists and linguists of all theoretical persuasions.

Provides an essential guide to Russian syntax and examines major syntactic structures of the language. Various grammatical puzzles are analyzed, especially in the areas of case and word order. It will be of interest to researchers and students of syntactic theory, of Slavic linguistics and of language typology.