LINGUIST List 12.1137

Wed Apr 25 2001

Books: Syntax

Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Kimberly Kahn, Syntax: Diachronic Syntax by Pintzuk, Tsoulas, and Warner (eds.)
2. Kimberly Kahn, Syntax: Comparative Dravidian Linguistics by Bhadriraju Krishnamurti

DIACHRONIC SYNTAX: Models and Mechanisms
Edited by Susan Pintzuk, George Tsoulas, and Anthony Warner, 
all at the University of York

Linguistic theory has undergone deep changes since the early 1990's,
given the widespread impact of Chomsky's Minimalist Programme, Kayne's
Antisymmetry Theory, and Kayne's Theory of Overt Movement. This work
has brought into sharper focus questions concerning the architecture
of linguistic theory that have a direct impact on our understanding of
the process of change. Here, Pintzuk, Tsoulas, and Warner have
brought together chapters which demonstrate the pivotal position of
historical syntax within the larger domain of research into the
nature, use, and acquisition of language. They show how current work
in historical syntax is responsive to theoretical advances in
linguistic theory, language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and
theories of language use, as well as to less adjacent fields such as
statistical techniques and evolutionary biology.

Contents: 
Chapter 1: Economy and Syntactic Change, Susan Pintzuk, George Tsoulas, and 
 Anthony Warner 
 Part I: Frameworks for the Understanding of Change 
Chapter 2: The Theoretical Implications of Syntactic Infixation, Ian Roberts 
Chapter 3: Competition and Correspondence in Syntactic Change, Nigel Vincent 
Chapter 4: Negation and Verb Position in Gothic and Early West-Germanic, 
 Ans van Kemenade 
Chapter 5: Evolutionary Perspectives on Diachronic Syntax, Ted Briscoe 
 Part II: The Comparative Basis of Diachronic Syntax 
Chapter 6: Adjuncts and the Syntax of Subjects in Old and Middle English, 
 Eric Haeberli 
Chapter 7: Statistics and Grammar, Anthony Kroch and Ann Taylor 
 Part III: Mechanisms of Syntactic Change: Features and Categories
Chapter 8: The Value of Ds from Old Spanish to Modern Spanish, Montse Battlori
 and Francesc Roca 
Chapter 9: Polarity Items in Romance, Ana Maria Martins 
Chapter10: Relabelling, John Whitman 
 Part IV: Mechanisms of Syntactic Change: Movement 
Chapter11: OV/VO Variation in Old Swedish, Lars-Olof Delsing 
Chapter12: The Evolution of do-support in English Imperatives, Chung-hye Han 
Chapter13: Verb Movement in Dutch Present-Participle Clauses, Jack Hoeksema 
Chapter14: Interacting Movements in the History of Icelandic, 
 Thorbj�rg Hr�arsd�ttir 
Chapter15: Null Subjects in Middle English Existentials, Alexander Williams 
Chapter16: Reanalysis in the Russian Conditional, David Willis

April 2001 392 pp.; 6 line illus
0-19-825027-4 paper $39.95
0-19-825026-6 cloth $90.00
Oxford University Press

COMPARATIVE DRAVIDIAN LINGUISTICS: Current Perspectives
Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, University of Hyderabad
Foreword by Murray B. Emeneau

This volume is a contribution both to comparative Dravidian studies
and to the theory of language change and lingusitic reconstruction.
It makes available the author's most important published articles on
Dravidian over the last forty years and includes a new and substantial
introduction to the field. The book concludes with a survey of
Dravidian language studies over the last thousand years and a critical
account of work since 1950. Those articles reprinted in the work
appear substantially unchanged, with individual comments.

 "To have these papers in a single volume will be of the greatest
value. The result will be virtually a compendium of comparative
Dravidian linguistics such as is nowhere else available. It will
instantly become a primary reference and tool for students of
Dravidian linguistics everywhere."--Professor William Bright,
University of Colorado

 "It is impossible to do serious work in Professor Krishnamurti's
principal chosen field without consulting the books and articles he
has written over a period of four decades. Almost everything he
has published is original, insightful, and authoritative, and put
together the collection would provide a sort of epitome of the
history of the comparative study of Dravidian languages over the
period in question."--Professor R. E. Asher, University of
Edinburgh

April 2001 448 pp.; 31 line illus, 12 maps
0-19-824122-4 $95.00
Oxford University Press