Understanding Syntax, 3rd Edition

Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, Understanding Syntax, Third Edition, discusses and illustrates the major terms and concepts essential to the study of sentence structure in the world’s languages. Word classes such as ‘noun’ and ‘verb’ are explained, and the properties of these categories are discussed. You will discover what is meant by the terms ‘subject’ and ‘object’, what a finite verb is, and what relative clauses look like. Concepts such as ‘gender’, ‘case’, and ‘subordination’ are introduced and exemplified, with extensive illustration from English and many other languages. Grammatical constructions and relationships within the clause are fully covered, including verb serialization, ergativity, and head- and dependent-marking grammars.

• Uses examples from a wide variety of languages to broaden your syntactical skills
• Includes exercises to consolidate your learning
• New case studies allow you to form a meaningful comparative understanding of syntax
• New further reading sections and references.This new edition has been updated and revised to meet the needs of today’s students. Difficult points are given fuller explanation, references have been updated, and important skills are taught, such as how to read examples from languages other than English.
• MAGGIE TALLERMAN is Professor of Linguistics, Newcastle University.Series editors: BERNARD COMRIE, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and GREVILLE CORBETT, University of Surrey.The Understanding Language series provides approachable, yet authoritative, introductions to major topics in linguistics. Ideal for students with little or no prior knowledge of linguistics, each book carefully explains the basics, emphasising understanding of the essential notions rather than arguing for a particular theoretical position.Other books in the Understanding Language series include:Understanding Language Testing (978 0 340 98343 0)
  Understanding Morphology, Second Edition (978 0 340 95001 2)
  Understanding Phonology, Third Edition (978 1 444 1204 7)
  Understanding Pragmatics (978 0 340 64623 6)
  Understanding Semantics (978 0 340 73198 7)
  Understanding Phonetics (978 0 340 92827 1)

Table of Contents

1 What is syntax?
2 Words belong to different classes
3 Looking inside sentences
4 Heads and their dependents
5 How do we identify constituents?
6 Relationships within the clause
7 Processes that change grammatical relations
8 Wh-constructions: Questions and relative clauses
9 Asking questions about syntax