Understanding syntax understanding language 3rd edition. Edward arnold, 1998 georg marko maggie tallerman s understanding syntax is the second book in edward arnolds recently launched understanding language series. Project muse understanding syntax by maggie tallerman. Maggie tallerman is professor of linguistics, newcastle university. Understanding syntax edition 4 by maggie tallerman. The examples of middle english in i5 are from the prologue to chaucers wife of balhs tale, wrillen in the fourteenth century. Tallermans prose is clear and understandable and the examples clearly explain the concepts. Understanding syntax by maggie tallerman overdrive. The syntax of english and in fact of any language is highly complex, and the version.
A theoryneutral and descriptive viewpoint is taken throughout. The next chapter shows that the grammatical relations between the verb and its argu ments are not static and presents the bestknown processes of changing the valency of a verb by promoting objects to become subjects or by demoting subjects to an oblique phrase or even deleting them. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, understanding syntax, third edition. Maggie tallerman, understanding syntax, understanding language series, london. Uses examples from a wide variety of languages to broaden your syntactical skills.
Assuming no background in linguistic analysis, the book gives students a working knowledge of syntactic analysis from. Andrew carnie shelved 7 times as syntax avg rating 3. How words group together to make phrases and sentences the study of the syntactic properties of languages. Maggie tallerman understanding syntax facta universitatis. Usually this is the point where people start inventing things like agrop and so forth, based on examples that a simpler theory doesnt seem able to capture. Understanding syntax 3rd edition sil international.
Taking a theoryneutral and descriptive viewpoint throughout, this book. Well be looking at examples of sentence structure from many different languages in this book, some related. Clause structure is explained and illustrated, helping the. In linguistics, whmovement also known as whfronting, whextraction, whraising concerns rules of syntax involving the placement of interrogative words. Understanding syntax is an essential resource for any student of syntax. Understanding syntax tallerman rated it liked it jul 27, well provide a pdf copy for your screen reader. The extensive examples in the book come from a wide variety oflanguages, including.
It does have good explanations and the presence of a lot of examples from a wide range of languages, but it lacks an editor to cull the amount of words a lot of superfluous that and the content should be better organised. Assuming no prior grammatical knowledge, understanding syntax explains and illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology involved in the study of crosslinguistic syntax. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Maggie tallerman this is an introduction to the main categories, constructions, terminology and problems associated with syntax, providing a basis from which students can proceed to more advanced work. Understanding syntax understanding language 5th edition. If youre looking for a good introduction to syntax, this is a wonderful book for that purpose. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes such as noun, verb, adjective and then to a discussion of sentence. The book is organized well and both indices and contents pages do their jobs well, something ive found rare in many textbooks. Assuming no prior knowledge, understanding syntax illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology associated with the study of crosslinguistic syntax. In plain terms, it refers to an asymmetry between the syntactical arrangement of words or morphemes in a question and the form of answers to that question.
Here are some examples of how syntax governs english. Written in a lively, accessible style, tallerman uses a great range of examples from across the worlds languages to introduce the most important concepts in the study of grammar in a clear and comprehensive way. Written in a lively, accessible style, tallerman uses a great range of examples from across. Understanding syntax by maggie tallerman, hardcover. The book will be essential for courses in crosslinguistic syntax, language typology, and linguistic fieldwork, as well as for basic syntactic description. Understanding syntax by maggie tallerman goodreads. Other books in the understanding language series include. However it has many more characteristics which are of interest to syntacticians.
I had to do understanding syntax tallerman a bit of rereading to grasp some of the topics, but found it very interesting and worth the effort. Textbook suggestions for syntax, semanticspragmatics and. As stated above in the definition of syntax, every proper grammatical sentence or utterance is an example of syntax. Good book for students with little background in linguistics, besides the basic intro to linguistics class, and maybe even without it.
Understanding syntax by maggie tallerman, 9780415746984, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. The main part of the workbook covers the basics of english syntax. In this respect, clefting is like many of the other tests for constituents in that it only succeeds at identifying certain phrasal strings as constituents. While the shortcomings of the book at times show through rs excellent scholarship and precise analysis, the strengths, which far outnumber the weaknesses, reveal themselves continually as one reads. Tallerman describes impossible sentences as those that sound impossible to native speakers 5. Data from approximately 100 languages appears in the text, with languages representing widely differing geographical areas and distinct language families. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, understanding syntax, third edition, explains and illustrates the major terms and concepts essential to the study of sentence structure in the worlds languages. The author avoids writing a lacklustre, moreofthesame kind of introduction to syntax by bringing aspects. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes such as noun, verb, adjective and then to a discussion of.
Word classes such as noun, verb and preposition are introduced, and the properties of syntactic categories are discussed. This book, first published in 2007, provides a concise and accessible overview of the major syntactic phenomena of welsh. He also acknowledges that while we largely agree about what is and what is not a possible sentence of our language. Maggie tallerman s understanding syntax is the second book in edward arnolds lacklustre, moreofthesame kind of introduction to syntax by. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes. Understanding syntax understanding language maggie. I think the appeal of this book in on its use of several examples from languages around the. Georg marko maggie tallerman, understanding syntax. As the chapters in parts ivand v show, syntax is not the only interesting part of languagebut it is nonetheless central. The examples suggests that the each of the individual words could, put, off, the, and customers are not constituents, contrary to what most theories of syntax assume. This book contains examples from over 100 different languages. I have benefited from these books a lot and i advice you to read them in this order. Review quote tallerman s strongly comparative approach to introducing the basic concepts of syntax has materialised in a very readable and interesting book the table of contents, for example, contains errors that range from the rather absurd xyntax.
Understanding syntax by maggie tallerman and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes such as noun, verb, adjective. Very thorny questions arise, and half the fun of syntax is trying to think of a clever analysis that can accommodate all of the facts. A broad variety of topics are covered, including finite and infinitival clauses, noun phrases, agreement and tense, word order, clause structure, dialect variation, and the languages historical celtic background.
This website has a lot of links so help your understanding. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. I think the appeal of this book in on its use of several examples from languages around the world, and a downtoearth presentation of the main notions in. Maggie tallerman assuming no prior knowledge, understanding syntax illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology associated with the study of crosslinguistic syntax. Tallermans understanding syntax, now in its third, revised, expanded and improved edition, is a textbook aimed at. Basic concepts and applications provides a systematic introduction to core topics in syntax, focusing on how the basic concepts apply in the analysis of sentences. Tallerman says, the term is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of language 1. Outside of linguistics, syntax is sometimes rather casually associated with rulegoverned vocalizations e. My only stntax is with the book s numerous editing errors. Uses examples from a wide variety of languages to broaden the understanding syntax tallerman syntactic skills includes exercises to consolidate learning new case studies engage the reader with crosslinguistic syntax new further reading sections and references this new edition has been understanding syntax tallerman and revised to meet the.
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