Morphology And Syntax An Introduction

This book gives a thorough, yet easily accessible introduction to the main branches of English linguistics. The book is aimed at beginning and intermediate students of English who have little or no previous experience in doing linguistics, and who are expected to achieve a working knowledge of English morphology, syntax and semantics. The book contains a large number of written exercises which allow the students to practice linguistic reasoning and their own argumentation skills. The students will also learn how to use secondary material, such as dictionaries and various types of internet sources, to support their analyses and argumentation. The book is accompanied by a website containing, among other things, audio material and short podcasts on complex topics as well as keys to the exercises in the book.

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.

The experience of having taught English language and morphology – syntax in particular – for more than seven years convinced the author that students of linguistics and translation mostly need a solid grounding in the course of morphology and syntax. Once they have a basic understanding of these two important areas, they have little trouble mastering English language as a whole. Hence, both morphology and syntax are important parts of linguistic knowledge and constitute a component of student's mental grammar. Of Course, the more courses are required of students within their discipline, the more they can benefit from the fields inside their major. Such factors often help students develop a positive attitude towards linguistics to be sensitized to the morphological and syntactic system of the language while being exposed to both morphology and syntax, and especially in an unfamiliar area. Obviously, an introductory book such as this has several limitations. First, there are entire subbranches of morphology and syntax that are not included. In terms of content, this book delimits both its scope and audience by shedding new light on a subject the problems and obscurities of which look inexhaustible. Therefore, a book of this kind is an attempt to, on the one hand, to make morphology and syntax – which usually appear to be incredible complicated at first glance – easier and, on the other hand, keep the standard high so that even postgraduate students can benefit from it; because the author strongly believes that students learn best by “doing” exercises, and, to this end,he has added dozens of practice exercises. In general, these require more research or analysis beyond what can be accomplished within a single classroom period. These exploratory exercises can also form the basis for short papers. Therefore, the book can be of immense help not only to students of linguistics and translation, but also to professors of linguistics and translation and research supervisors as well as advisors around the globe and in the Arab world in particular.

A lively introduction to the study of how words are put together.

Geert Booij's popular textbook examines how words are formed, compounded, and inflected in different languages. It shows how, when, and why to use methods of morphological analysis and explains how morphology relates to syntax, phonology, and semantics. The author considers the universal characteristics of morphology and how these are reflected in the workings of mind. The revised edition has been revised and updated throughout; it has a full glossary and a new chapter on the field's most notorious problem: the status of the word. 'The Grammar of Words by Geert Booij covers a broad range of topics from structural questions to psycholinguistic issues and problems of language change. This introduction to morphology is thorough and accessible and, like other works by this renowned author, especially strong at showing the significance of empirical facts for theoretical reasoning.' Ingo Plag, University of Siegen 'A book that is fully comprehensive in its coverage as well as exemplary in its clarity, written by one of the major scholars of contemporary lexical theory.' Sergio Scalise, University of Bologna

"Morphology is the study of how words are put together. A lively introduction to the subject, this textbook is intended for undergraduates with relatively little background in linguistics. Providing data from a wide variety of languages, it includes hands-on activities such as "challenge boxes," designed to encourage students to gather their own data and analyze it, work with data on websites, perform simple experiments, and discuss topics with each other. There is also an extensive introduction to the terms and concepts necessary for analyzing words. Topics such as the mental lexicon, derivation, compounding, inflection, morphological typology, productivity, and the interface of morphology with syntax and phonology expose students to the whole scope of the field. Unlike other textbooks it anticipates the question "Is it a real word?" and tackles it head on by looking at the distinction between dictionaries and the mental lexicon. This Third Edition has been thoroughly updated, including new examples and exercises as well as a detailed introduction to using linguistic corpora to find and analyze morphological data"--

The first comprehensive morphology textbook written in the framework of Distributed Morphology, firmly grounded in cross-linguistic theory Distributed Morphology is the theoretical framework that views morphology as syntactic, proposing that there is no divide between the construction of words and the construction of sentences. The first text of its kind, Morphology: A Distributed Morphology Introduction provides a thorough overview of Distributed Morphology using data and problem sets from a diverse selection of the world's languages. Divided into two parts, this valuable resource begins by describing the basics of morphology and then moves into an exploration of more advanced topics in morphology including morphosyntactic operations, cyclic derivation, the Mirror Principle, and non-compositional language. Each chapter includes a glossary of key terms, learning objectives, further readings, and illustrative examples to reinforce learning. Exercises and problem sets encourage students to develop their understanding and build confidence in the application of theory to practice. Through this valuable text, students will develop comprehension in morphological parsing and glossing, the concept of the lexicon, the different types of morphemes, the idea of paradigms, the basic practice of morphological analysis, and more. Offering detailed yet accessible coverage of morphological theory from the perspective of Distributed Morphology, this textbook: Introduces the methodology used in morphology, the basic assumptions of Distributed Morphology, and key concepts from lexical grammatical approaches to language Covers essential phonology, feature interaction, paradigms as linguistic objects, core ideas of syntax and syntactic derivation, and derivation and inflection in Distributed Morphology Includes a Quick Reference Guide with glossing abbreviations from the Leipzig Glossing Rules, a full IPA chart with instructions, and charts of phonological features Provides access to a companion website containing solutions to problem sets and additional instructor resources Morphology: A Distributed Morphology Introduction is the ideal textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in morphology courses or with an interest in specializing in morphology. Offering students an unparalleled overview of this growing field of morphology, this text will ensure that developing morphologists are well-equipped to employ the latest methods in Distributed Morphology to their own research and study.

The volume collects a selection of papers presented at a European Colloquium held at the Università degli Studi di Roma Tre in October 1997. It focuses on phenomena at the boundary between morphology and syntax, and provides analyses for data from the fields of both inflectional and derivational morphology and word order. Morpho-syntactic phenomena are analysed cross-linguistically and cross-theoretically, as typologically-different languages (European, Afro-Asiatic, American and Austronesian ones) are dealt with and compared according to a variety of approaches, from minimalism and lexical-functional grammar to grammaticalization theory, taking into account both synchronic variation and diachronic change. The volume is divided into three sections: I. Morphological phenomena and their boundaries, II. Morpho-syntax and pragmatics, and III. Morpho-syntax and semantics, as the interaction with the higher components of the grammar is seen as contributing to explaining variation in morpho-syntactic behaviour.