Semantic change is carried forward by specific individuals who think in particular ways. although it can be constrained by physiology and guided by social values. The measurement of color categories provides a close look at the various propelling incentives in a domain that is probably universal. Newly refined descriptive methods enhance such observations, because they permit verification of cognitive differences on the basis of correspondence between independently elicited orders of quantifiable data. Measurable change progresses through diverse trajectories in closely related Mayan languages whose social milieux are radically distinct. In Tzeltal, variation can be explained in terms of individual cognitive shifts within universal physiological parameters. But in Tzotzil a socially enforced conservatism creates tension between the preservation of traditional categories and the addition of new ones. The tension produces a taxonomy that is deeper than any others encountered by the major world color surveys. While a model of individual cognition explains how color categories change at the basic level, a social model accounts for differences between communities.

The present study re-examines the data of contemporary Russian conjugation in the framework of a semiotic concept of linguistic structure based on markedness as the informing principle. Emphasis is placed on demonstrating the coherence of expression and content that allows grammatical facts to subsist as such. This is achieved by analysing in detail how the relational values of the pertinent grammatical categories are represented diagrammatically in their phonological and morphophonemic expression. Setting explication of grammar as its goal, rather than description or predictability, the analysis articulates a radically different and explicitly hermeneutic perspective for linguistic inquiry.

Neither classical transformations nor global rules can account satisfactorily for the interaction of Quantifier Movement, Agreement, and Pronominalization in French. It is argued that an adequate treatment involves rules that enlarge networks of coreference in the course of syntactic derivations. Linguistic analogs of logical variables must be present at late stages of a derivation, giving rise to an interesting interplay between logic and syntax. The relevance of these facts with respect to some recently proposed extensions of the standard generative theory is discussed.

This paper offers a reply to Coopmans' 1984 critique of Hawkins 1979, 1980, 1982. Hawkins had attempted, inter alia, to make typological word order universals relevant to concerns of generative grammar. Coopmans denies this relevance. His critique raises fundamental issues about the nature of language universals and their explanation, and about research methodology. Some of these issues are taken up in this reply. It is argued that Coopmans' dismissal of the typological approach is neither well-founded nor very helpful in the current state of the art. The different methodologies have complementary strengths, and can be of considerable mutual benefit.

Double nominative and discontinuous possessive structures in Chinese are investigated. It is demonstrated that base rules as postulated in current syntactic theories cannot adequately handle these cases. It is argued that predicates can consist of an entire sentence; i.e., VP can be written as S. With minor modifications, this proposed rule will also accommodate problematic ‘topic-comment’ sentences.