Overview

This work represents the first full-scale attempt to provide a restrictive theory of parameters--the nature and limits of syntactic variation. Focusing on syntactic saturation, Webelhuth hypothesizes that in natural language these phenomena are subject to the ""Saturation Condition."" He explains the principles behind this condition and demonstrates how it imposes strong constraints on what counts as a possible parameter in natural language. Webelhuth goes on to test this theory against empirical evidence from seven modern Germanic languages: German, Dutch, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic.

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9780195070415

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""This study is a very important contribution both to German (and Germanic) syntax and to linguistic theory.""--Jindrich Toman, University of Michigan ""This study is a very important contribution both to German (and Germanic) syntax and to linguistic theory.""--Jindrich Toman, University of Michigan

This study is a very important contribution both to German (and Germanic) syntax and to linguistic theory. --Jindrich Toman, University of Michigan This study is a very important contribution both to German (and Germanic) syntax and to linguistic theory. --Jindrich Toman, University of Michigan

`Webelhuth's book is very clearly written ... an important contribution to syntactic theory ... presents a serious challenge to linguists interested in determining whether other languages, especially those that exhibit greater word order freedom than the Germanic languages ... can also be captured within this framework.' Michigan Germanic Studies

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