Synopses & Reviews
The three volumes of Language Typology and Syntactic Description offer a unique survey of syntactic and morphological structure in the languages of the world. Topics covered include parts of speech; passives; complementation; relative clauses; adverbial clauses; inflectional morphology; tense, aspect and mood; and deixis. The major ways these notions are realized in the languages of the world are explored, and the contributors provide brief sketches of relevant aspects of representative languages. Each volume is written in an accessible style with new concepts explained and exemplified as they are introduced. Although each volume can be read independently, together they provide a major work of reference that will serve as a manual for field workers and anyone interested in cross-linguistic generalizations.
Synopsis
This unique three-volume survey brings together a team of leading scholars to explore the syntactic and morphological structures of the world's languages. Clear and broad-ranging, it covers topics such as parts-of-speech, passives, complementation, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, inflectional morphology, tense, aspect, mood, and deixis. The contributors look at the major ways that these notions are realized, and provide informative sketches of them at work in a range of languages. Volume 1 covers the parts-of-speech systems, word order, noun phrases, clause types, speech act distinctions, passives, and information packaging in the clause.
Synopsis
First in a three-volume survey exploring the syntactic and morphological structures of the world's languages.
About the Author
Timothy Shopen is former Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the Australian National University.
Table of Contents
1. Parts-of-speech systems Paul Schachter and Timothy Shopen; 2. Word Order Matthew S. Dryer; 3. The major functions of the noun phrase Avery D. Andrews; 4. Clause types Matthew S. Dryer; 5. Speech act distinctions in grammar Ekkehard König and Peter Siemund; 6. Passive in the world's languages Edward L. Keenan and Matthew S. Dryer; 7. A typology of information packaging in the clause William A. Foley.