Overview

Assuming no prior grammatical knowledge, Understanding Syntax explains and illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology involved in the study of cross-linguistic syntax. Taking a theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint throughout, this book: introduces syntactic typology, syntactic description and the major typological categories found in the languages of the world; clarifies with examples grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause, including word classes and their syntactic properties; grammatical relations such as subject and object; case and agreement processes; passives; questions and relative clauses; features in-text and chapter-end exercises to extend the reader’s knowledge of syntactic concepts and argumentation, drawing on data from over 100 languages; highlights the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of language. This fifth edition has been revised and updated to include extended exercises in all chapters, updated further readings, and more extensive checklists for students. Accompanying e-resources have also been updated to include hints for instructors and additional links to further reading. Understanding Syntax is an essential textbook for students studying the description of language, cross-linguistic syntax, language typology and linguistic fieldwork.

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9780367198411

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Reviews

Understanding Syntax is an essential resource for any student of syntax. Written in a lively, accessible style, Tallerman uses a great range of examples from across the world's languages to introduce the most important concepts in the study of grammar in a clear and comprehensive way. This is one of my favourite textbooks - I can't recommend it highly enough. Diane Nelson, University of Leeds, UK

Author Information

Maggie Tallerman is Emerita Professor of Linguistics at Newcastle University, UK

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