Canonical Morphology and Syntax [Hardcover]

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.

1. What there might be and what there is: an introduction to Canonical Typology,Dunstan Brown and Marina Chumakina
2. A base for canonical negation,Oliver Bond
3. Canonical morphosyntactic features,Greville G. Corbett
4. Some problems in the typology of quotation: a canonical approach,Nicholas Evans
5. Unpacking finiteness,Irina Nikolaeva
6. The canonical clitic,Andrew Spencer and Ana Luis
7. Passive agents: prototypical vs. canonical passives,Anna Siewierska and Dik Bakker
8. The criteria for reflexivization,Martin Everaert
9. Possession and modification - a perspective from Canonical Typology,Irina Nikolaeva and Andrew Spencer
10. An ontological approach to Canonical Typology: laying the foundations for e-linguistics,Scott Farrar
References
Author Index
Language Index
Subject Index

Dunstan Brown is Professor of Linguistics at the University of York. His research interests include autonomous morphology, morphology-syntax interaction and typology. His recent work has focused on describing and understanding different aspels+