From Book News, Inc.
For linguists working on Germanic or Indo-Aryan languages, syntacticians, and semanticists, a detailed treatment of the syntax of particles that focus, such as only and even in a cross-linguistic perspective. Argues that the derivation of logical forms is under the control, not only of the ECP and subjacency, but also of directionality of government and the standard word order parameter of a given language. For example head-final languages systematically disallow certain derivations of readings available in head-initial languages, because heads that deviate in their selectional properties from canonical head- finality impose a directionality barrier. Based mostly on German, but demonstrates applications in Bengali and related tongues. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Book Description
Directionality and Logical Form provides a detailed treatment of the syntax of focusing particles, such as only and even in a cross-linguistic perspective. The derivation of logical forms is shown to be under the control, not only of the ECP and subjacency, but also of directionality of government and the particular word-order parameter that holds in a given language: head-final languages systematically disallow certain derivations or readings that are available in head-initial languages. The reason is that heads that deviate in their selection properties from canonical head-finality project a directionality barrier. Various strategies are explored by which this barrier can be circumvented. Although the theory is developed mainly on the basis of the head position in German, it can be directly used to explain constraints on the scope of Wh-in-situ in Bengali and closely related languages. Audience: Syntacticians and semanticists interested in parametric variation, as well as linguists working on Germanic and/or Indo-Aryan languages.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Directionality and Logical Form provides a detailed treatment of the syntax of focusing particles, such as only and even in a cross-linguistic perspective. The derivation of logical forms is shown to be under the control, not only of the ECP and subjacency, but also of directionality of government and the particular word order parameter that holds in a given language: head-final languages systematically disallow certain derivations or readings that are available in head-initial languages. The reason is that heads that deviate in their selectional properties from canonical head-finality project a directionality barrier. Various strategies are explored by which this barrier can be circumvented. Although the theory is developed mainly on the basis of the head position in German, it can be directly used to explain constraints on the scope of Wh-in-situ in Bengali and closely related languages. Audience: The book will be of interest to syntacticians and semanticists interested in parametric variation, as well as linguists working on Germanic and/or Indo-Aryan languages.

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews