Understanding Syntax

<p>Assuming no prior grammatical knowledge <i>Understanding Syntax</i> explains and illustrates the major concepts categories and terminology involved in the study of cross-linguistic syntax. Taking a theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint throughout this book:</p><ul> <p> </p> <li>introduces syntactic typology syntactic description and the major typological categories found in the languages of the world;</li> <p> </p> <li>clarifies with examples grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause including word classes and their syntactic properties; grammatical relations such as subject and object; case and agreement processes; passives; questions and relative clauses;</li> <p> </p> <li>features in-text and chapter-end exercises to extend the reader’s knowledge of syntactic concepts and argumentation drawing on data from over 100 languages;</li> <p> </p> <li>highlights the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of language.</li> </ul><p>This fifth edition has been revised and updated to include extended exercises in all chapters updated further readings and more extensive checklists for students. Accompanying e-resources have also been updated to include hints for instructors and additional links to further reading.</p><p>Understanding Syntax is an essential textbook for students studying the description of language cross-linguistic syntax language typology and linguistic fieldwork. </p>