Surface Structure and Interpretation (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs)

ISBN: 0262691930

Author: Steedman, Mark

Condition: New

ReviewThe core of Mark Steedman's Surface Structure And Interpretation is a det ailed treatment of extraction, a focus on syntactic research since the early work of Chomsky and Ross. The topics addressed include the sources of subject-object asymmetries and phenomena attributed to the "Empty Category Principle), asymmetric islands, parasitic gaps, and the r elations of coordination and extraction, including their interactions with binding theory. In his conc lusion, Steedman relates "Combinatory Categorial Grammar" to other categorial and type-driven appr oaches and to proposals for minimalism in linguistic theory. Surface Structure And Interpretation is an important and progressive contribution to the academic field of linguistics. -- Midwest Book ReviewProduct DescriptionCombinatory Categorial Grammar (C.C.G.) offers a new approach to the theory of natural language grammar. Coordination, relativization, and related prosodic phenomena have been analyzed in C.C.G. in terms of a radically revised notion of surface structure. C.C.G. surface structures do not exhibit traditional notions of syntactic dominance and command, and do not constitute an autonomous level of representation. Instead, they reflect the computations by which a sentence may be realized or analyzed, to synchronously define a predicate-argument structure, or logical form. Surface Structure and Interpretation shows that binding and control can be captured at this level, preserving the advantages of C.C.G. as an account of coordination and unbounded dependency. The core of the book is a detailed treatment of extraction, a focus of syntactic research since the early work of Chomsky and Ross. The topics addressed include the sources of subject-object asymmetries and phenomena attributed to the Empty Category Principle (E.C.P.), asymmetric islands, parasitic gaps, and the relation of coordination and extraction, including their interactions with binding theory. In his conclusion, the author relates C.C.G. to other categorial and type-driven approaches and to proposals for minimalism in linguistic theory.Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 30ReviewBy making the physics precise enough to run on a computer, the authors open the door to a deeper understanding of classical reality, with the promise of a deeper understanding of all reality.-Piet Hut, Professor of Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study, PrincetonAbout the AuthorMark Steedman is Professor of Cognitive Science in the Division of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Surface Structure and Interpretation (1996) and The Syntactic Process (2000), both published by the MIT Press.