John M. Anderson: The Substance of Language

Three-volume pack

John M. Anderson

A revolutionary recasting of all aspects of linguistic theory
Throws new light on the relation between mind and language
Of interest to linguists in every field and of all persuasions

John M. Anderson: The Substance of Language

Three-volume pack

John M. Anderson

Description

The three volumes of The Substance of Language collectively overhaul linguistic theory from phonology to semantics and syntax to pragmatics and offer a full account of how the form/function relationship works in language. Each explores the consequences for the investigation of the conviction that all aspects of linguistic structure are grounded in the non-linguistic mental faculties on which language imposes its own structure. The first and third look at how syntax and phonology are fed by a lexical component that includes morphology and which unites representations in the two planes. The second examines the way morphology is embedded in the lexicon as part of the expression of the lexicon-internal relationships of words.

The Domain of Syntax explores the consequences for syntax of assuming that language is grounded in cognition and perception. It shows that syntax is characterized by a set of categories based on distinctions in what the categories are perceived to represent. The first part of the book traces the twentieth-century development of anti-notionalism, culminating in the assumption that syntax is autonomous. The author then looks at syntactic phenomena, many involving the fundamental notion of finiteness. He considers whether the appeal to grounding permits a lexicalist approach that would allow syntax to dispense not only with structural mutations such as category-change and 'empty categories' but with universal grammar itself.

Morphology , Paradigms, and Periphrases is concerned with the role of the lexicon, in particular its inflectional morphology, in mediating between the substantively different categories of syntax and phonology. In the first part of the book Professor Anderson looks at the central role of the paradigm in reconciling the demands of syntactic categorization with the available means of expression. He examines the expressive role of inflection, illustrating his argument with Old English verb morphology. In the second part of the book the author pursues the notion of grammatical periphrasis. He starts out from its role as a solver of the problem of defective or incomplete paradigms and then compares it with other analytic expressions. He concludes with a discussion of why studies of grammatical periphrasis have focused on verbal constructions. He looks at the mechanism by which grammatical periphrases compensate for gaps in the finite verb paradigm and what this reveals about the substantive differences between verbs and nouns.

Phonology-Syntax Analogies looks at the substantive and structural analogies betwem phonology and syntax and the factors that cause such analogies to break down. It considers the degree to which analogies between syntax and phonology result from their both being representational subsystems within the overall system of language. At the same time it examines how far semantic and phonetic properties limit such analogies. The book presents a powerful argument against the notion of an ungrounded autonomous syntax, which it sustains and supports by detailed grammatical analyses and a powerfully coherent conceptual understanding of the nature of language.

The many detailed proposals of John Anderson's fine trilogy are derived from an over-arching conception of the nature of linguistic knowledge that is in turn based on the grounding of syntax in semantics and the grounding of phonology in phonetics, both convincingly subsumed under the notion of cognitive salience. The Substance of Language is a major contribution to linguistic theory and the history of linguistic thought.

John M. Anderson: The Substance of Language

Three-volume pack

John M. Anderson

Volume I
Part I: The Substance of Syntax
1. The Retreat From Meaning
2. The Groundness of Syntax
3. Outline of a Notional Grammar
Part II: What Is and Is Not Syntax
4. Interrogatives
5. Issues in Clause Structure
Part III: A Notional Theory of Finiteness
6. Finiteness and Mood
7. Finiteness and Subordination
8. Finiteness and the Verb
9. Conclusion and Interface
Index
Volume II
1. Interface
Part I: Inflectional Structure, and its Consequences
2. The Interfacing of Morphophonology and Morphosyntax
3. The Periphrastic Prototype
Part II: The Domain of Grammatical periphrasis
4. Periphrases and Non-periphrases
5. Number and Case as Non-nounal
6. Non-verbal Periphrasis?
7. Conclusion
References
Index
Volume III
Part I: Introduction
1. Some Implications of Structural Analogy
Part II: Analogies
2. Phonology and Dependency
3. The Structure of the Basic Unit
4. Syntax and Non-linearity
Part III: Why Is Syntax Different
5. Categorization
6. Structure
7. Analogy and Dis-analogy, and Secondary Categories
General Epilogue
Bibliography

John M. Anderson: The Substance of Language

Three-volume pack

John M. Anderson

Author Information

John M. Anderson is Emeritus Professor of English Language at the University of Edinburgh. He has been a visiting professor at universities in Denmark, Poland, Greece, and Spain. 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); A Notional Theory of Syntactic Categories (CUP, 1997); Modern Grammars of Case (OUP, 2006); and The Grammar of Names (OUP, 2007).

John M. Anderson: The Substance of Language

Three-volume pack

John M. Anderson

Reviews and Awards

"The trilogy offers a complete overhaul of linguistic theory from phonology to semantics, syntax and pragmatics via the lexicon and morphology. The books will be of lasting value. Indeed, I believe that they will mark the field and be seen one day as the work of a truly exceptional twentieth and twenty-first century linguist."--Jacques Durand, University of Toulouse

"This is a work of considerable erudition. That erudition takes several forms. Firstly, Anderson exhibits a mastery of a very long Western grammatical tradition, stretching back to the Ancient Greeks, spanning the medieval period and the modern period. Secondly, his acquaintance with a wide range of contemporary work in syntax, morphology, and phonology is deeply impressive. Thirdly, he has an impressive acquaintance with more than just contemporary English: he has an in-depth knowledge of the history of English, particularly Old English, and is familiar with the structure of a wide variety of languages. This aids him greatly in his attempt to construct a specific version of 'general' (as opposed to Chomskian 'universal') grammar. He also exhibits a clear understanding of the conceptual assumptions underlying the frameworks he criticizes, and the details of the specific analyses adopted in those frameworks."--Philip Carr, Paul Valery University