Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: A Minimalist Approach (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) [Paperback]

Andrew Radford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521477077 | ISBN-13: 978-0521477079 | Publication Date: August 28, 1997

A new textbook written for students with no background in syntax, which introduces them to key concepts of Chomsky's Minimalist program (e.g. merger and movement, checking, economy and greed, split VPs, agreement projections), as well as providing detailed analysis of the syntax of a range of different construction types. Illustrative material is mainly drawn from varieties of English (Belfast English, Shakespearean English, Jamaican Creole, etc.). There is a substantial glossary and extensive workbook section with helpful hints and model answers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Andrew Radford's new book is so welcome. ...an easy and painless way for philosophers to bring themselves up to speed on developments in Chomsky's minimalist syntax.... ...the book very effectively presents the emerging consensus within minimalist sybtax, and provides the necessary background for pursuing topics in the primary literature. I highly recommend it to my fellow travelers in linguistically-minded philosphy of language." Robert J. Stainton

"...for those who want to go beyond the surface of word order patterns and morphological amrking, digging for deeper insights into the syntax of a language, Radford's book will certainly be of help. ...linguists working with a functionalist orientation might find it interesting to know how the Minimalist Program combines formal syntactic representations with the functional concept of economy." Joost Zwarts, Notes on Linguistics

Book Description

A new textbook written for students with no background in syntax, and it introduces them to key concepts of Chomsky's Minimalist programme (eg merger and movement, checking, economy and greed, split VPs, agreement projections), as well as providing detailed analysis of the syntax of a range of different contruction types. Illustrative material is mainly drawn from varieties of English (Belfast English, Shakespearean English, Jamaican Creole, etc.). There is a substantial glossary and extensive workbook section with helpful hints and model answers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 572 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521477077
• ISBN-13: 978-0521477079
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Primer on Current Syntax, June 5, 2000

By 

Chris Haake - See all my reviews

This review is from: Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: A Minimalist Approach (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) (Paperback)

For the most part, Andrew Radford's book does an excellent job of bringing someone new to the nuances of syntactic theory up to speed. As someone with only a general background in the field (but also posessing a deep love of syntactic theory), I consider myself to be a very good test subject.

One of the book's strongest points is Radford's willingness to take the time and space necessary to explain each detailed step in a theory, derivation, etc. Although I did not need all of the detail all of the time, it was easy to skip those parts and move on. For those with VERY little background in syntactic theory, these carefully outlined steps will be quite helpful in understanding where Radford is taking the theories.

Another item of importance is Radford's occasional display of alternate explanations for certain empirical paradigms. Although even more alternates would have been more satisfying to me, too many would have made the 550-page book too cumbersome for some.

A third strong point for the book is its generous workbook sections, one for each chapter. In each section, the problems are carefully explained, and the examples are arranged in an order of progressive difficulty. By using the workbook sections, the student can much better grasp the ideas than by simply going over the chapter's supplied paradigms/answers.

There are, however, a few drawbacks to be kept in mind. First, only the initial (and easiest) of the workbook section's problems typically is given an answer. For a student doing independent study (like me), or for one with a teacher who is inattentive to the workbook section, this poses a major problem in that difficulties cannot be easily rectified. To make matters more confusing, a few of the workbook problems address issues which are not directly commented on in the chapter.

The other problem I noticed was the book's espousing certain ideas without any explanation thereof. For instance, the book subscribes to the binary merger theory but offers no real reasons for it (and also neglects to offer any current alternatives). This is not an argument against binary merger; I simply maintain that it would have been better for the reader to understand (even very basically) the author's reasoning behind this decision.

Despite these two problems, however, I highly recommend this text to anyone wishing to enter into the academic world of theoretical syntax and explore many of its nuanced facets.