The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory

This volume provides a comprehensive view of the current issues in contemporary syntactic theory. Written by an international assembly of leading specialists in the field, the 23 original articles in this volume serve as a comprehensive and useful reference for various areas of grammar. The chapters include analyses of non–configurational languages, a crosslinguistic comparison of important grammatical features that interface with semantics, discussions from the perspective of learnability theory, a discussion of thematic relations, and comparisons of derivational and representational approaches to grammar. These cutting–edge articles, combined with the editors′ informative introduction and an extensive bibliography, grant readers the greatest access to the field of natural language syntax today.

Contributors. Introduction. Part I: Derivation Versus Representation: . 1. Explaining Morphosyntactic Competition: Joan Bresnan (Stanford University). 2. Economy Conditions in Syntax: Chris Collins (Cornell University). 3. Derivation and Representation in Modern Transformational Syntax: Howard Lasnik (University of Connecticut). 4. Relativized Minimality Effects: Luigi Rizzi (Université de Geneve). Part II: Movement: . 5. Head Movement: Ian Roberts (University of Stuttgart). 6. Object Shift and Scrambling: Höskuldur Thráinsson (University of Iceland). 7. Wh–in–situ Languages: Akira Watanabe (University of Tokyo). 8. A–Movements: Mark Baltin (New York University). Part III: Argument Structure and Phrase Structure: . 9. Thematic Relations in Syntax: Jeffrey S. Gruber (independent scholar). 10. Predication: John Bowers (Cornell University). 11. Case: Hiroyuki Ura. 12. Phrase Structure: Naoki Fukui (University of California). 13. The Natures of Nonconfigurationality: Mark C. Baker (McGill University). 14. What VP Ellipsis Can Do, and What it Can't, but not Why: Kyle Johnson (University of Massachusetts at Amherst). Part IV: Functional Projections: . 15. Agreement Projections: Adriana Belletti (Universitá di Siena). 16. Sentential Negation: Raffaella Zanuttini (Georgetown University). 17. The DP Hypothesis: Identifying Clausal Properties in the Nominal Domain: Judy B. Bernstein (Syracuse University). 18. The Structure of DPs: Some Principles, Parameters and Problems: Giuseppe Longobardi (University of Trieste). Part V: Interface With Interpretation:. 19. The Syntax of Scope: Anna Szabolcsi (New York University). 20. Deconstructing Binding: Eric Reuland and Martin Everaert (both Utrecht Institute of Linguistics). 21. Syntactic Reconstruction Effects: Andrew Barss (University of Arizona). Part VI: External Evaluation of Syntax: . 22. Syntactic Change: Anthony S. Kroch (University of Pennsylvania). 23. Setting Syntactic Parameters: Janet Dean Fodor (City University of New York). Bibliography. Index.

Mark Baltin is Professor of Linguistics at New York University where he has been teaching since receiving his Ph.D. from MIT in 1978. He has published widely on movement and ellipsis, and served on the NSF Advisory Panel for Linguistics from 1996 to 1999. He is the editor, with Anthony S. Kroch, of Alternative Conceptions of Phrase–Structure (1989). Chris Collins served in the Peace Corps before enrolling in MIT′s graduate program in linguistics. He is currently Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Cornell University and has published widely in the syntax of various African languages and general syntactic theory. He is the author of Local Economy (1997).

" The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory is an extraordinary accomplishment. Baltin and Collins have succeeded in assembling a sizeable number of the world′s leading syntacticians, each of whom has produced a readable overview of the issues in his or her area of specialization. It is to the credit of the editors that this book is valuable both as a reference work and as a critical evaluation of current thinking. All linguists, not just syntacticians, stand to benefit from having a copy within reach." Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington "Here is yet another impressive addition to Blackwell′s series of Handbooks in Linguistics" Canadian Journal of Linguistics