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315 results in Grammar and Syntax

Page 1 of 16

The Cambridge Handbook of Distributed Morphology
  • Morphology after Syntax and Beyond
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by Artemis Alexiadou, Ruth Kramer, Alec Marantz, Isabel Oltra-Massuet
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    December 2026
    Print publication:
    31 December 2026
  • With contributions from a team of renowned scholars, this two-volume Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the Distributed Morphology (DM) framework, providing an overview of all major theoretical issues in morphology. This volume, the second, looks at morphology post-syntax within the Distributed Morphology (DM) framework, exploring its phonological and semantic aspects. It is divided into three parts; Parts I and II focus on morphology post-syntax, exploring its phonological and semantic aspects. Part III broadens the discussion to interfaces between morphology and other areas of linguistics and cognitive science, extending DM's reach well beyond core language components. Each chapter focuses on different theoretical issues, as well as empirical phenomena across a variety of languages. Filling a crucial gap in the domain of morphology, this volume is an essential resource for anyone who wants to understand the depth and scope of Distributed Morphology research.

The Cambridge Handbook of Distributed Morphology
  • Core Components and the Syntax-Morphology Interface
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by Artemis Alexiadou, Ruth Kramer, Alec Marantz, Isabel Oltra-Massuet
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    December 2026
    Print publication:
    31 December 2026
  • With contributions from a team of renowned scholars, this two-volume Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the Distributed Morphology (DM) framework, providing an overview of all major theoretical issues in morphology. This volume, the first, covers the core components of DM, its historical context, and its foundational principles. It is divided into three parts; Part I introduces the basics of DM and compares it with alternative models, Part II delves into the core components of DM, and Part III addresses key issues for the syntax-morphology interface. Each chapter focuses on different theoretical issues, as well as empirical phenomena across a variety of languages. Filling a crucial gap in the domain of morphology, this volume is an essential resource for anyone who wants to understand the depth and scope of Distributed Morphology research.

The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces
  • Edited by Antonio Fábregas, Laia Mayol, Clàudia Pons-Moll, Yanina Prystauka
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    December 2026
    Print publication:
    31 December 2026
  • The linguistic landscape has shifted considerably over the last twenty years, making it increasingly less clear how the key components of language (phonology, syntax, and semantics) communicate and interact with one another. With contributions from a team of renowned scholars, this volume addresses this gap by offering an interdisciplinary account of the current state of knowledge on linguistic interfaces. Chapters are split into five parts, and provide detailed, cutting-edge overviews of the main theoretical approaches to how grammatical components interact. The volume also includes in-depth descriptions of the empirical domains and individual phenomena in which the interface between syntax, semantics, and phonology becomes more informative, along with their psycholinguistic implications for processing and acquisition. Combining empirical data with theoretical analysis, it enables readers to assess and compare linguistic phenomena from multiple perspectives. It is essential reading for researchers and advanced students in syntax, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, phonetics and phonology.

The Cambridge Handbook of Minimalism and its Applications
  • Edited by Evelina Leivada, Kleanthes K. Grohmann
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    November 2026
    Print publication:
    30 November 2026
  • Minimalism – a long-established branch of Chomsky's Generative approach - has become increasingly influential not just in syntactic research, but across, and outside of, linguistics. Bringing together a team of renowned scholars, this handbook provides a comprehensive guide to current developments in generative syntactic theory, and its relevance to the interfaces, and to interdisciplinary applications to linguistics and beyond. Organised into five thematic parts, chapters cover minimalist perspectives on the linguistic interfaces, language in context and language development, formalist approaches to experimental syntax and computational modelling, and inter- and multidisciplinary explorations beyond language - including language pathologies, evolutionary perspectives, non-human cognition, and biolinguistics. Bringing together different theoretical points of view on the narrow syntactic and interface areas of theoretical linguistics, it is essential reading for academic researchers and advanced students across various subfields of linguistics, including syntax, semantics, morphology, phonology, discourse, language contact, and language change.

Theorizing about Syntax
  • Independent Thinking and Motivated Reasoning
  • Yafei Li
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    September 2026
    Print publication:
    31 October 2026
  • Taking a new look at some widely accepted analyses of such syntactic patterns as minimality, head-movement and LF, this book offers alternative theories while still working within the general Universal Grammar framework. It is the first of its kind to present an explicit and candid examination of how Motivated Reasoning (MR), the psychological tendency to substitute emotional reward for cold reasoning, affects the formulation and assessment of new ideas. Actual cases are used to illustrate the role of MR in the (subconscious) collection and interpretation of language data, and the association of such practices with theorization. It is also highlighted that the relation between MR and independent thinking is a double-edged sword, capable of either suppressing ideas not 'to one's taste' or facilitating the formulation of new ideas unique to each individual researcher. Covering a range of technical and meta-theoretical topics, this book is essential reading for theoretical syntacticians.

Language, Imitation and Creativity
  • Dialogic Resonance in Grammar and Pragmatics
  • Vittorio Tantucci
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    August 2026
    Print publication:
    31 August 2026
  • Linguistic imitation is not mere repetition, but is instead a foundational mechanism of language use. It underpins the engagement and categorisation of meaning as a conceptual pact among speakers. This book redefines imitation as the creative engine of human communication, showing how language evolves through our engagement with what others say. It discusses dialogic resonance – the reuse and reshaping of communicative constructions – as a unifying framework that bridges pragmatics and construction grammar. Combining evidence from first and second language acquisition, intercultural communication and neurodiverse interaction, the book highlights the crucial role of imitation in shaping social conformity, engagement, categorisation and innovation. It combines detailed qualitative case studies with innovative corpus-based and statistical analyses to provide new theoretical insights and methodological tools. It is essential reading for scholars and students of linguistics, psychology, education and sociology, and for anyone interested in how language emerges from the creative interplay of human voices.

The Cambridge Handbook of the Minimalist Program
  • Edited by Kleanthes K. Grohmann, Evelina Leivada
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    August 2026
    Print publication:
    31 August 2026
  • The Minimalist Program is a long-established branch of Chomsky's Generative approach to linguistics, which, since its first incarnation in the early 1990s, has become one of the most prominent frameworks for syntax. Bringing together a team of world-renowned scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive guide to current developments in generative syntactic theory. Split into five thematic parts, the chapters cover the historical context and foundations of the program, overviews of the major areas of research within modern syntactic theory, and a survey of the variety of phenomena dealt with within Minimalism through a focus on concepts, primitives, and operations. It offers in-depth perspectives on the core concepts and operations in the Minimalist Program for readers who are not already familiar with it, as well as a complete overview of the state-of-the-art in the field, making it essential reading for both scholars and students in the field.

Bivalency and Intransitivity
  • Antipassives and the Syntax of Voice
  • David A. Basilico
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    August 2026
    Print publication:
    31 August 2026
  • One of the few full-length, theoretical treatments of the antipassive construction, this book provides an in-depth study of antipassives and their interaction with applicatives and causatives in natural language, three constructions that have long represented a puzzle to syntacticians. It argues that the antipassive reveals more about the introduction of the external argument than the demotion or elimination of the direct object, and demonstrates that there are at least two types of antipassives-voice antipassives and verbalizing antipassives. Other valency-changing phenomena, like the applicative, causative and reflexive, and their interaction with the antipassive, are also addressed. The book takes a cross-linguistic view and includes data from the Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Halkomelem Salish, Yidiɲ, Diyari, Russian and Latvian, among others. Providing an up-to-date theoretical analysis of antipassives within the framework of generative linguistics, this is essential reading for researchers and advanced students whose focus is the syntax/semantics interface, especially valency-changing phenomena.

Comparing Syntax
  • An Introduction to Formal Language Typology
  • Ian Roberts
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    May 2026
    Print publication:
    31 May 2026
  • A thorough introduction to formal syntactic typology by a leader in the field, Comparing Syntax systematically covers syntactic variation across languages. The textbook covers word-order parameters, null subjects, polysynthesis, verb-movement, ergativity, interrogatives and negation within a comparative framework, ensuring that readers are able to engage with the key topics in the most up-to-date primary research literature. The comprehensive glossary, end-of-chapter exercises and annotated further reading lists allow readers to consolidate and extend their knowledge as they progress through the book. A self-contained work ideal for intermediate and advanced-level students, Comparing Syntax also builds on the author's Beginning Syntax and Continuing Syntax.

Language Rules!
  • Secrets of a Uniquely Human Ability
  • Asya M. Pereltsvaig
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    May 2026
    Print publication:
    14 May 2026
  • What are the key design elements of human language? How does it work? What makes it different from how animals communicate and convey information? How did it evolve, biologically speaking? In what respects do animals fail to do what we humans do so effortlessly? Language is a uniquely human trait, but without a degree in linguistics, it is difficult to comprehend how it works. This fascinating book addresses these and related questions in a lively and engaging way, and demonstrates the 'nuts and bolts' of how language actually works. Readers are introduced to key discoveries in the study of language, such as Chomsky's ideas about 'language faculty', and parallels are drawn with well-known issues in science, such as 'flat earth', the nature-nurture debate, and the teaching of language to apes. Language – something so universal to all human experience – is a fascinating cognitive system, and this book explains how, and why.

Voice and Argument Structure in Basque
  • Ane Berro, Beatriz Fernández
  • Published online:
    15 April 2026
    Print publication:
    05 March 2026
  • Basque is a language of central importance to linguists because it is a 'language isolate,' a rare type of language that is typologically 'alone' and cannot be classified as a part of any language family. Language isolates remain somewhat a mystery, and this book aims to provide an important piece of the puzzle, by both exploring the structure of Basque and shedding new light on its unique place within the languages of the world. It meticulously examines various properties of Basque, including the alignment of intransitive verbs, the introduction of dative arguments, the nature of psych predicates, the causative/inchoative alternation, impersonals, and morphological causatives. By doing so, it presents a comprehensive overview of Basque's intricacies within the realm of argument structure alternations and voice. In its final chapter, it provides an introduction to potential formal analyses of the topics discussed, paving the way for future research in the field. This title is part of the Flip it Open programme and may also be available open access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

Beyond Grammar and the Lexicon
  • Indicating and Depicting in Sign Language Discourse
  • Scott K. Liddell
  • Published online:
    27 March 2026
    Print publication:
    09 April 2026
  • Indicating and depicting are widely understood to be fundamental, meaningful components of everyday spoken language discourse: a speaker's arms and hands are free to indicate and depict because they do not articulate words. In contrast, a signer's arms and hands do articulate signs. For this reason, linguists studying sign languages have overwhelmingly concluded that signers do not indicate and depict as a part of signed articulations. This book demonstrates that signers do, however, indicate - by incorporating non-lexical gestures into their articulations of individual signs. Fully illustrated throughout, it also shows that signers create depictions in numerous ways through conceptualizations, in which the hands, other parts of the body, and parts of the space ahead of the signer depict things. By establishing that indicating and depicting are also fundamental, meaningful aspects of sign language discourse, this book is essential reading for researchers and students of sign linguistics and gesture studies.

The Acquisition of Relativization
  • Barbara Lust, Suzanne Flynn, Claire Foley, Charles R. Henderson, Jr., James W. Gair
  • Published online:
    05 February 2026
    Print publication:
    19 February 2026
  • How does a biologically-programmed language faculty interact with language experience in the acquisition of language across the world? Bringing together linguistic theory, language typology, and cross-linguistic experimental results from parallel studies of development in language acquisition, this book reports new research on the nature of the human competence for language acquisition. It investigates the acquisition of complex sentence formation through relativization -a fundamental component of language knowledge- through systematic, formally explicit, hypothesis-driven experimental studies from English, French and Tulu (in the US, Belgium and India). It demonstrates that across languages, the course of acquisition shares basic properties in keeping with universals of a language faculty, while at the same time, in all languages, specific relativization forms are achieved through development. The results show the power of an approach to the study of language acquisition which bridges linguistic theory of Universal Grammar with real-time creation of a specific language by the child.

The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax
  • Edited by Sjef Barbiers, Norbert Corver, Maria Polinsky
  • Published online:
    05 January 2026
    Print publication:
    04 September 2025
  • Bringing together a globally representative team of scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of comparative syntax, the study of universal and variable properties of the structure of building blocks in natural language. Divided into four thematic parts, it covers the various theoretical and methodological approaches to syntactic variation; explores dependency relations and dependency marking; shows how the building blocks of syntax both vary and display universal properties across languages, and explores the interfaces between syntax and other aspects of language structure. It also includes examples from a typologically broad range of languages, as well as data from child language, sign language, language processing, and diachronic syntax, giving a clear picture of the ubiquity of cross-linguistic variation. It serves as a source of inspiration for future research, and forges a deeper understanding of the variant and invariant parts of language, making it essential reading for researchers and students in linguistics.

Non-Canonical English Syntax
  • Concepts, Methods, and Approaches
  • Edited by Sven Leuckert, Teresa Pham
  • Published online:
    23 December 2025
    Print publication:
    28 August 2025
  • The term non-canonical syntax generally refers to deviations from 'typical' word order. These represent a fascinating phenomenon in natural language use. With contributions from a team of renowned scholars, this book presents a range of case-studies on non-canonical syntax across historical, register-based, and non-native varieties of English. Each chapter investigates a different non-canonical construction and assesses to what extent it can be called 'non-canonical' in a theory-based and frequency-based understanding of non-canonical syntax. A range of state-of-the-art methodologies are used, highlighting that an empirical approach to non-canonical syntactic constructions is particularly fruitful. An introduction, a synopsis, a terminological chapter, and three section introductions frame the case studies and present overviews of the theory behind non-canonical syntax and previous work, while also illustrating open questions and opportunities for future research. The volume is essential reading for advanced students of English grammar and researchers working on non-canonical syntax and syntactic variation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Uniformitarianism in Language Speciation
  • From Creolistics to Genetic Linguistics
  • Edited by Salikoko S. Mufwene, Enoch O. Aboh
  • Published online:
    10 December 2025
    Print publication:
    18 December 2025
  • Uniformitarianism is the widely held assumption that, in the case of languages, structural and other changes in the past must have been triggered and constrained by the same ecological factors as changes in the present. This volume, led by two of the most eminent scholars in language contact, brings together an international team of authors to shed new light on Uniformitarianism in historical linguistics. Applying the Uniformitarian Principle to creoles and pidgins, as well as other languages, the chapters show that, contrary to the received doctrine, the former group of languages did not emerge in an exceptional way. Covering a typologically and geographically broad range of languages, and focusing on different contact ecologies in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the book also dispels common misconceptions about what Uniformitarianism is. It shows how similar processes in different ecosystems result in different linguistic patterns, which don't require exceptional linguistic explanations in terms of creolization, pidginization, simplification, or incomplete acquisition.

Linguistic Illusions
  • A Case Study on Agreement Attraction
  • Dan Parker
  • Published online:
    30 October 2025
    Print publication:
    02 October 2025
  • Linguistic illusions are cases where we systematically misunderstand, misinterpret, or fail to notice anomalies in the linguistic input, despite our competencies. Revealing fresh insights into how the mind represents and processes language, this book provides a comprehensive overview of research on this phenomenon, with a focus on agreement attraction, the most widely studied linguistic illusion. Integrating experimental, computational, and formal methods, it shows how the systematic study of linguistic illusions offers new insights into the cognitive architecture of language and language processing mechanisms. It synthesizes past findings and proposals, offers new experimental and computational data, and identifies directions for future research, helping readers navigate the rapidly growing body of research and conflicting findings. With clear explanations and cross-disciplinary appeal, it is an invaluable guide for both seasoned researchers, and newcomers seeking to deepen their understanding of language processing, making it a vital resource for advancing the field.

Continuing Syntax
  • Hierarchy and Locality
  • Ian Roberts
  • Published online:
    03 October 2025
    Print publication:
    25 September 2025
  • A logical and clear exposition of hierarchy and locality by a leading figure in the field, Continuing Syntax takes students from an introductory level of syntactic theory to an understanding of cutting-edge research in the field. A comprehensive range of topics is covered, including configurationality, head-movement, clause structure, nominal structure, subjacency, barriers and phases, ensuring that students have a thorough understanding of all the main components of contemporary theory. The many example sentences, extensive glossary, end-of-chapter exercises and annotated further reading lists allow readers to embed and extend their knowledge as they progress through the book. A self-contained work ideal for intermediate-level students, this volume also builds on the author's Beginning Syntax, and lays the foundation for a third volume, Comparing Syntax, which introduces formal syntactic typology.

Pattern, Construction, System
  • A Unified Approach to Grammar and Lexis
  • Susan Hunston
  • Published online:
    21 August 2025
    Print publication:
    04 September 2025
  • Construction Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar take different approaches to the study of lexico-grammar, based on language as a cognitive and as a social phenomenon respectively. This is the first book to bring the two approaches together, using corpus-based Pattern Grammar as an underlying descriptive framework, in order to present a comprehensive and original treatment of verb-based patterns in English. It describes in detail two processes: deriving over 800 verb argument constructions from 50 verb complementation patterns; and using those constructions to populate systemic networks based on 9 semantic fields. The result is an approach to the lexis and grammar of English that unifies disparate theories, finding synergies between them and offering a challenge to each. Pattern Grammar, Construction Grammar and Systemic-Functional Grammar are introduced in an accessible way, making each approach accessible to readers from other backgrounds. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Composite Predicates in English
  • Processes of Specialization
  • Eva Berlage
  • Published online:
    09 May 2025
    Print publication:
    15 May 2025
  • Composite Predicates (CPs) are of particular interest to linguists in that only some of them are semantically restricted in present-day English, while others are not. This book explores the semantic-syntactic evolution of twenty-four different CPs in English from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, showing why some specialize over time while others do not. It highlights that the semantic scope and evolution of the morphologically and semantically related simple verb acts as a powerful predictor of whether or not a CP becomes semantically restricted in the course of time. In all those cases where CPs undergo specialization, semantic changes take place earlier than syntactic ones. Finally, large-scale corpus-analyses reveal that the CPs, which, in comparison to their morphologically simple verbs, can be considered analytic constructions, decrease from the nineteenth to twentieth century or show consistently low frequencies. This finding runs counter to the trend of English to become increasingly analytic.

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