Robert FreidinCambridge University Press, 8/9/2012EAN 9780521844277, ISBN10: 0521844274Hardcover, 298 pages, 25.2 x 17.7 x 1.8 cmLanguage: EnglishSyntax: Basic Concepts and Applications provides a systematic introduction to core topics in syntax, focusing on how the basic concepts apply in the analysis of sentences. Assuming no background in linguistic analysis, the book gives students a working knowledge of syntactic analysis from a minimalist perspective. Step by step it explains the fundamentals of phrase structure, movement and deletion. Well-placed exercises throughout reinforce and extend the concepts and analyses presented in the text, allowing readers to gain understanding of progressively complex issues at a comfortable pace. Much of the data comes from English, but crucial examples are also drawn from a range of other languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Irish, Welsh and Greek.1. The computational nature of human language2. Knowledge of language as an object of inquiry3. Categories and constituents4. Phrase structure theory5. The structure of clauses6. The syntax of Spec-TP7. Head movement and the structure of root clauses8. Wh-movement9. Ellipsisunpronounced syntax.Advance praise: 'This is the book I would recommend to anyone who wants to be gently led to know what the new view of human language is all about - and how much one can get out of a tiny English word.' Carlos P. Otero, University of California