Modern Phrase Structure Grammar

This book provides an introduction to Generalised Phrase Structure Grammar (GPSG) and Head–driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG), theories which have formed one of the main currents in syntactic theory since 1980. GPSG enjoyed considerable influence in the mid 80s, and HPSG has had a growing impact in recent years. Both frameworks have been influential not only in theoretical linguistics but also in computational linguistics. They contain a rich body of ideas which deserve the attention of anybody interested in syntax. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduates and postgraduates and assumes no prior knowledge of GPSG. Each of the thirteen chapters includes notes and exercises.

Preface. 1. Preliminaries. 2. Classical Phrase Structure Grammar. 3. Syntactic Categories. 4. Rules and Principles. 5. Semantics. 6. Some Basic Structures. 7. Some Further Structures. 8. Raising and Control. 9. Unbounded Dependencies. 10. Anaphora. 11. Valency Alternations. 12. Some Further Phenomena. 13. Modern PSG and Other Frameworks. References. Index.

The author is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He has written many papers on English, Welsh, Breton and Polish syntax, and has made important contributions to both Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar and Head–driven Phrase Structure Grammar. He is also the author of an introduction to syntax, Syntactic Theory: A Unified Approach (1991). He is co–editor of Journal of Linguistics.

"This is an excellent textbook, written with the lucidity and care that we have come to expect from Bob Borsley′s work. It would make an excellent text for an advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate sequence in syntactic theory and practice". Robert D. Levi, Ohio State University "I recommend it to budding computational linguists in conjunctin with a practical course in HPSG grammar writing, and following one or two terms of relative theory–neutral syntax." Stephen Nightingale, University of Edinburgh