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E-book
Author Adger, David

Title Mirrors and microparameters : phrase structure beyond free word order / David Adger, Daniel Harbour, and Laurel J. Watkins
Published Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, ©2009

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 190 pages) : illustrations
Series Cambridge studies in linguistics ; 122
Cambridge studies in linguistics ; 122.
Contents Introduction -- Nonconfigurationality and polysynthesis -- The clausal spin -- Making mirrors -- Interface properties of clausal domains -- Anti-quantification and the syntax-semantics interface -- Conclusion
Summary "What is the nature of syntactic structure? Why do some languages have radically free word order ('nonconfigurationality')? Do parameters vary independently (the micro-view) or can they co-vary en masse (the macro-view)? Mirrors and Microparameters examines these questions by looking beyond the definitional criterion of nonconfigurationality - that arguments may be freely ordered, omitted, and split. Drawing on newly discovered data from Kiowa, a member of the largely undescribed Kiowa-Tanoan language family, the book reveals that classically nonconfigurational languages can nonetheless exhibit robustly configurational effects. Reconciling the cooccurrence of such freedom with such rigidity has major implications for the Principles and Parameters program. This novel approach to nonconfigurational languages challenges widespread assumptions of linguistic theory and throws light on the syntactic structures, ordering principles, and nature of parametrization that comprise Universal Grammar"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Kiowa language -- Syntax
Grammar, Comparative and general -- Syntax.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY -- Native American Languages.
Grammar, Comparative and general -- Syntax
Syntax
Kontrastive Syntax
Kiowa-Sprache.
Form Electronic book
Author Harbour, Daniel
Watkins, Laurel J., 1946-
ISBN 9780511658198
0511658192
0521517567
9780521517560