Canonical Morphology and Syntax

This is the first book to present Canonical Typology a framework for comparing constructions and categories across languages. The canonical method takes the criteria used to define particular categories or phenomena (eg negation finiteness possession) to create a multidimensional space in which language-specific instances can be placed. In this way the issue of fit becomes a matter of greater or lesser proximity to a canonical ideal. Drawing on the expertise of world class scholars in the field the book addresses the issue of cross-linguistic comparability illustrates the range of areas - from morphosyntactic features to reported speech - to which linguists are currently applying this methodology and explores to what degree the approach succeeds in discovering the elusive canon of linguistic phenomena.