Exploring Language Structure : A Student's Guide

Designed for those beginning to study linguistics, this is a lively introduction to two key aspects of the structure of language: syntax (the structure of sentences) and morphology (the structure of words). It shows students in a step-by-step fashion how to analyze the syntax and morphology of any language, by clearly describing the basic methods and techniques, and providing almost 100 practical exercises based on data from a rich variety of the world's languages. Written in an engaging style and complete with a comprehensive glossary, Exploring Language Structure explains linguistic concepts by using clear analogies from everyday life. It introduces a range of essential topics in syntax and morphology, such as rules, categories, word classes, grammatical relations, multi-clause constructions, and typology. Providing a solid foundation in morphology and syntax, this is the perfect introductory text for beginning students, and will fully prepare them for more advanced courses in linguistic analysis. Clearly describes the basic methods and techniques for analyzing the syntax and morphology of any language Contains almost 100 practical exercises based on data from a variety of languages Provides hundreds of well-glossed examples from languages in all areas of the world Explains linguistic concepts using clear analogies from everyday life Provides a solid foundation for more advanced courses in linguistic analysis Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Figures......Page 12 Tables......Page 13 Preface......Page 15 Acknowledgments......Page 17 A note on transcriptions......Page 18 Abbreviations used in grammatical glosses......Page 19 Abbreviations used in syntactic structure diagrams......Page 21 Other abbreviations......Page 22 1 Introduction to morphology and syntax......Page 25 The form–function composite......Page 27 Creativity and recursion......Page 29 Morphology and syntax......Page 31 Lexicon......Page 33 Three expression types compared......Page 35 Subtypes of lexical expression......Page 36 Classes in the lexicon......Page 38 Morphemes......Page 40 Types of morphemes......Page 41 Introduction to the exercises......Page 44 How to gloss linguistic data......Page 45 Rules......Page 47 Conceptual outline of chapter 1......Page 48 Notes......Page 54 Conceptual categories and the problem of labeling......Page 56 Derivational vs. inflectional categories......Page 61 The "big ten" morphological processes......Page 64 Position-class diagrams......Page 69 Process rules......Page 73 Conceptual outline of chapter 2......Page 78 Notes......Page 85 3 Morphophonemics......Page 87 Specifying the environments for morphophonemic rules......Page 91 How to pick an underlying form......Page 94 Rule ordering......Page 97 Nasal assimilation in English......Page 99 Types of morphophonemic rules......Page 102 Possession in Asheninka......Page 105 Summary of notational conventions......Page 107 Conceptual outline of chapter 3......Page 109 Notes......Page 116 4 Word classes......Page 117 Distributional properties of nouns......Page 118 Conceptual categories likely to be associated with nouns or noun phrases......Page 121 Types of nouns......Page 125 Semantic roles......Page 128 Semantically defined verb subclasses – scenes and argument structures......Page 131 States......Page 135 Position......Page 136 Factives......Page 137 Sensation......Page 138 Utterance......Page 139 Adjectives......Page 140 Adverbs......Page 141 Other word classes......Page 142 Pronouns and anaphoric clitics......Page 143 Auxiliaries......Page 146 Complementizers......Page 147 Determiners......Page 148 Particles......Page 149 Conceptual outline of chapter 4......Page 150 Notes......Page 156 5 Exploring subclasses......Page 157 Methodology......Page 158 Conceptual outline of chapter 5......Page 168 Notes......Page 174 A note about syntactic formalisms......Page 176 Syntax......Page 177 Constituency......Page 179 Hierarchical structure......Page 180 Grammaticality......Page 181 Tests for constituent structure......Page 182 Movement......Page 183 Substitution......Page 185 Coordination......Page 186 Omissibility......Page 187 Phrase structure rules......Page 189 Constituent structure trees......Page 190 Ambiguity......Page 204 Conceptual outline of chapter 6......Page 206 Notes......Page 211 7 Language typology......Page 213 Morphological typology......Page 214 Syntactic typology......Page 215 Examples of an OV and a VO language......Page 218 Pragmatic constituent order languages......Page 222 How to nalyzing the syntactic typology of a language......Page 226 Conceptual outline of chapter 7......Page 228 Note......Page 233 8 Grammatical relations......Page 234 Grammatical relations within noun phrases......Page 235 Grammatical relations in clauses......Page 236 Systems for organizing grammatical relations......Page 240 Analyzing grammatical relations systems......Page 245 Split systems......Page 247 Split intransitivity......Page 248 Split ergativity......Page 249 Conceptual outline of chapter 8......Page 253 Notes......Page 259 9 Voice and valence......Page 261 Reflexives and reciprocals......Page 265 Middle constructions......Page 270 Subject omission......Page 273 Passives......Page 274 Object demotion and omission......Page 279 Object incorporation......Page 280 Causatives......Page 282 Applicatives......Page 288 Dative shift......Page 293 Dative of interest......Page 294 Possessor raising or external possession......Page 295 Combinations of valence-related constructions......Page 296 Conceptual outline of chapter 9......Page 299 Notes......Page 310 Serial verbs......Page 312 Complement clauses......Page 315 Finite complement clauses......Page 317 Non-finite complement clauses......Page 318 Direct and indirect speech......Page 319 Adverbial clauses......Page 321 Reason and cause adverbial clauses......Page 322 Conditional clauses......Page 323 Clause chains and switch-reference......Page 324 Relative clauses......Page 325 The position of the head......Page 327 How the R-element is expressed......Page 329 Coordination......Page 333 Conceptual outline of chapter 10......Page 336 How to use this glossary......Page 344 References......Page 373 Subject and language index......Page 381 "Designed for those beginning to study linguistics, this is a lively introduction to two key aspects of the structure of language: syntax (the structure of sentences) and morphology (the structure of words). It shows students in a step-by-step fashion how to analyze the syntax and morphology of any language, by clearly describing the basic methods and techniques, and providing almost 100 practical exercises based on data from a rich variety of the world's languages. Written in an engaging style and complete with a comprehensive glossary, Exploring language structure explains linguistic concepts by using clear analogies from everyday life."--Jacket Designed for those beginning to study linguistics, this is a lively introduction to two key aspects of language structure: syntax (the structure of sentences) and morphology (the structure of words). It clearly describes the methods and techniques for analyzing morphology and syntax in any language, and provides numerous practical exercises