Dependency and Directionality

The direction in which the structure of sentences and filler-gap dependencies are built is a topic of fundamental importance to linguistic theory and its applications. This book develops an integrated understanding of structure building, movement and locality embedded in a syntactic theory that argues for a 'top down' approach, presenting an explicit counterweight to the bottom-up derivations pervading the Chomskian mainstream. It combines a compact and comprehensive historical perspective on structure building, the cycle, and movement, with detailed discussions of island effects, the typology of long-distance filler-gap dependencies, and the special problems posed by the subject in clausal syntax. Providing introductions to the main issues, reviewing extant arguments for bottom-up and top-down approaches, and presenting several case studies in its development of a new theory, this book should be of interest to all students and scholars of language interested in syntactic structures and the dependencies inside them.

Reviews & endorsements

'Marcel den Dikkenʼs book Dependency and Directionality is a must-read for syntacticians. It calls into question many long-held assumptions about the building of syntactic structures and replaces standard views with a challenging alternative that is supported with page after page of solid evidence.' Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

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Product details

• Date Published: March 2021
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781316628461
• length: 403 pages

• dimensions: 229 x 152 x 22 mm
• weight: 0.594kg
• availability: Available