Features
£95.00
Part of Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
- Author: Greville G. Corbett, University of Surrey
- Date Published: October 2012
- availability: Available
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781107026230
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Hardback
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Features are a central concept in linguistic analysis. They are the basic building blocks of linguistic units, such as words. For many linguists they offer the most revealing way to explore the nature of language. Familiar features are Number (singular, plural, dual, …), Person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and Tense (present, past, …). Features have a major role in contemporary linguistics, from the most abstract theorizing to the most applied computational applications, yet little is firmly established about their status. They are used, but are little discussed and poorly understood. In this unique work, Corbett brings together two lines of research: how features vary between languages and how they work. As a result, the book is of great value to the broad range of perspectives of those who are interested in language.
Read more- Surveys a large number and wide range of different languages
- Brings together two main trends in linguistics, the more formal and the more data-oriented
- Takes examples from a broad spectrum of specialisms and approaches to linguistics
Reviews & endorsements
'Grev Corbett's latest book, Features, is the capstone in a portal of masterpieces. Like its predecessors on specific topics like gender, number and agreement, it exhibits Corbett's unique blend of typological breadth, clarity and morphosyntactic acumen. But it goes beyond them to show how a properly developed theory of features can help linguists get beyond their current impasse - 'like chemists without a list of the elements, or physicists with no account of particles', as he puts it in his introduction - towards a point where morphosyntactic theory is supple and comprehensive enough to deal rigorously with the full panoply of the world's linguistic diversity. Every linguist will benefit deeply from reading this book from cover to cover.' Nicholas Evans, Australian National University
See more reviews'Greville Corbett's astonishing linguistic erudition is deployed here in an indispensable, encyclopedic, theoretically thoughtful overview of a topic that linguists have too often treated in an ad hoc way. Corbett believes, correctly, that it is truly important that theoretical linguists should be clear on the facts about the range of features and values found in the languages of the world.' Geoffrey Pullum, University of Edinburgh
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×Product details
- Date Published: October 2012
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781107026230
- length: 338 pages
- dimensions: 253 x 178 x 20 mm
- weight: 0.82kg
- contains: 10 b/w illus. 14 tables
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Abbreviations
1. Why features?
2. Formal perspectives: the internal structure of features
3. Features for different components
4. Justifying particular features and their values
5. Typology
6. Canonical typology and features
7. Determining feature values: a case study on case
8. Feature-value mismatches
9. Conclusions
Appendix: standards and implementations
Reference
Author index
Language index
Subject index.Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses
- Linguistic Theory and Analysis I or Studies in Phonology
- Research in Linguistics
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