Modern Grammars of Case
Jun 2006 · OUP Oxford
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474
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About this ebook
This book addresses fundamental issues in linguistic theory, including the relation between formal and cognitive approaches, the autonomy of syntax, the content of universal grammar, and the value of generative and functional approaches to grammar. It focuses on the grammar of case relations, signalled by morphological case, prepositions, and word order. Part I offers a critical history of modern grammars of case, focussing on the last four decades and setting this in the context of earlier, including ancient, developments. The subjects considered include the evolution of ideas concerning deep structure and semantic and grammatical relations, and arguments for the maintenance of the traditional central position of case in the grammar. In parts II and III Professor Anderson examines the category of case and central unresolved issues in the grammar of case. The latter include questions relating to the idea of an ontologically-based grammar, particularly the degree to which syntactic categories and relationships are grounded in meaning, and the notion of linguistic creativity. This involves a consideration of the way in which cases may be identified and whether their distribution is determined through semantics. The book sheds new light on the interactions between meaning and grammar and on the structure and development of lexical and grammatical systems. The argument and its far-reaching consequences will be of wide interest to linguists, philosophers and others seeking to understand the workings of language.
About the author
John M. Anderson is Emeritus Professor of English Language at the University of Edinburgh where he worked successively as a lecturer (1966-76), reader (1976-88), and professor (1988-2001). He has been a visiting professor at universities in Denmark, Poland, Greece, and Spain; and given lecture series in Italy, Belgium, Austria, the former Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Hungary. His books include The Grammar of Case (CUP, 1971); Old English Phonology (with Roger Lass, CUP, 1975); Principles of Dependency Phonology (with Colin J. Ewen, CUP, 1987); Linguistic Representation (Mouton de Gruyter, 1992); and A Notional Theory of Syntactic Categories (CUP, 1997). He is currently writing a book (to be published by OUP) on the grammar of names. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail.
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